Folks, 2013 will be a distant memory soon. But before we say farewell, let's take care of some last minute business. The NPD of November.
At number 10: Fifa 14 by EA for the 360, PS3, PS4, XBone and Vita. Too bad it ain't on the PC.
At number 09: Disney Infinity by Disney Interactive for the Wii, Wii U, 360, PS3 and 3DS.
At number 08: Just Dance 2014 by Ubisoft for the 360, PS3, Wii U, XBone and PS4. Dancing fever has hit Generation 8.
At number 07: Skylanders Swap Force by Activision Blizzard for the 360, PS3, Wii, Wii U, 3DS, XBone and PS4. Spyro and co are still going strong.
At number 06: NBA 2K14 by Take 2 Interactive for the 360, PS3, PS4, XBone and PC. I don't see much of a difference in polygon count and textures
At number 05: GTAV by Take 2 Interactive for the 360 and PS3. Hey, where did Saints Row IV go?
At number 04: Madden NFL 25 by EA for the 360, PS3, PS4 and XBone. And with the Season coming to a close.
At number 03: Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag by Ubisoft for the 360, PS3, PS4, XBone, PC and Wii U. Shiver me Timbers across everything
At number 02: Battlefield 4 by EA for the 360, PS3, PS4, XBone and PC. WARNING: Glitch hazard.
And at Number 01: Call of Duty: Ghosts by Activision Blizzard for the 360, PS3, PS4, XBone, PC and Wii U. Still number 1 despite lower than usual reviews.
As for the hardware, the PS4 is the top selling platform of the month thanks to an earlier than usual release. But the XBone did well at 909,132, selling 101,000 per day. Watch out PS4, the XBone may be catching up to you.
The 360 did around 647K. Not bad for a system going out. The Wii U made a small jump to 220K, but both systems are triumphed by the 3DS at around 770K, beating last year's sales.
What will December 2013's sales bring? Stay tuned and have a happy new year.
Works Cited:
NeoGAF
Tuesday, December 31, 2013
Tuesday, December 24, 2013
Industry done goof
Folks, we're nearing Christmas and it seems to be a jolly good time, is it?
Well not so much. Throughout the last week or so, it seems some bad omens have been popping up in the industry from consoles going horribly wrong to Youtube's constant flagging.
Well, let's round up the following Industry Done Goof segments
1) Killer Instinct Tournament spoiled by XBone 24 hour check in
Call this the worst thing to happen to any gaming tournament. During a Killer Instinct tournament, the XBox One lost its connection and the game was stopped completely.
To the announcer's cries of "Xbone, no!" the console boots players back to the main menu and the "Do you own this game or app?" message pops up.
"If you have a game disc, insert it now," read the on-screen instructions. "If there is no disc, make sure you are signed into Xbox Live. If you don't have rights for playing it, you'll need to buy it at the Xbox Store."
The prompt did not give competitors, who were playing together locally, the chance to save their progress and the battle was being livestreamed through Twitch at the time. From the video, it appears that the prompt was triggered when the Xbox One lost connection to the internet. The competitors were unable to continue from where they left off and the video ends with the announcer seeking help in restarting the game.
Well that's going to look bad on Microsoft's part if you can't play a tournament with a derped console.
2) Youtube's flagging simulator
Recently, many users are angry at Youtube over its videos getting flagged, meaning that any revenue made on Youtube videos all thanks to its overuse of Content ID as stated below
According to TubeFilter, YouTube told these MCNs last week that it would begin pre-screening a sample of their affiliates' videos for copyright violation before the video posts to YouTube in a process that could take as little as a few hours or up to a few days. The pre-screening system is also based on good behavior, so to speak, and affiliates who are never caught uploading copyrighted material will be checked less frequently.
That system seems to be causing some problems now, as popular YouTube channels are seeing a spike in copyright violation notices, which caused YouTube to remove ads from the video but not to necessarily take it down. For many very popular channels, this means a significant loss of revenue.
Really scary. Many believe that 1st party companies are flagging videos based on copyright content. But the real detail of this is even deeper. So deep that it might be scary.
What's more, the copyright violation flags seem to come from third parties that don't own the rights to the game in question. As VentureBeat reports, a lot of the videos flagged have been pre-approved by game publishers for monetization on YouTube and Twitch. But in one example, a YouTuber received a copyright violation notice for including video of Metro: Last Light from a company called 4GamerMovie. Deep Silver, the company that actually owns Metro: Last Light told VentureBeat that “it fully permits YouTube creators to monetize videos featuring their games.”
Yep. How's that for scary? When an unknown source that doesn't own the right to a franchise manages to trick Youtube into flagging a video for copyright violations, you know something is wrong.
3) EA under fire
They say when a game is bugged, developers will try to fix it up and call it a day, right? Not so with Electronic Arts. Recently, a group of shareholders have filed a lawsuit against EA for lying about its game Battlefield 4
On Tuesday, securities law firm Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP filed a complaint that will likely lead to a class action lawsuit against Electronic Arts in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California on behalf of Ryan Kelly and anyone else who purchased EA stock between July 24 and December 4 of this year.
The complaint names EA as an entity as well as a few top EA men -- including Peter Moore, Andrew Wilson, and Blake Jorgensen -- as defendants, alleging that they violated the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and knowingly or recklessly made false or misleading public statements about the quality of Battlefield 4 in a gambit to juice sales.
The complaint alleges that senior EA executives knew -- and did not disclose to the public or public shareholders -- that Battlefield 4 was a buggy, incomplete mess that would not be able to function as advertised if it was released on schedule.
An incomplete mess? How dare you. It's not a glitch, it's a feature.
But of course, EA had to sp...I mean defend this one. With a bit of insult to injury applied
Once again, there are a few good quotes cited in the complaint, including a statement from an EA representative to Polygon's Dave Tach that read: "First, we want to thank the fans out there that are playing and supporting us with Battlefield 4. We know we still have a ways to go with fixing the game — it is absolutely our No. 1 priority. [...] We're not moving onto future projects or expansions until we sort out all the issues with Battlefield 4. We know many of our players are frustrated, and we feel their pain. We will not stop until this is right."
The complaint further alleges that EA senior executives sold stock at inflated prices prior to the release of Battlefield 4, thus profiting from hype surrounding the game.
For example, the complaint alleges that EA CEO Andrew Wilson sold 40,000 shares of stock at a share price of $25.50 on July 26, with proceeds from the sale totaling more than $1 million -- $1,020,000, to be exact.
Ya know what? I think I'll just sit this one out.
4) Yoshi's Island invades Sonic Lost World
Okay. So this isn't a You Done Goof moment. But it's still something I wanna bring up.
Last week Wednesday, SEGA released a new DLC for Sonic: Lost World on Wii U. But what makes this DLC rage worthy isn't because it's 100% free, but because of the content on it. That's right. Yoshi's Island.
The Wii U version of Sonic: Lost World is getting two exclusive add-ons, one of which is a Yoshi-themed level that is available now as free DLC, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata announced today during a Nintendo Direct presentation.
Both pieces of DLC are levels are based on Nintendo franchises. "Yoshi's Island Zone" is a side-scrolling Sonic level that's filled with "Yoshi-themed thrills," said Iwata. That includes pipes, coins, Shyguys and piranha plants, along with Sonic's traditional loop-de-loops.
"Yoshi's Island Zone" is now available as a free download in the Wii U eShop. Iwata did not provide details on the other DLC level.
Actually, he did, as rumor has it the next DLC may be a Zelda themed DLC and it may be due out sometime next year. So Sonic fans, keep your eyes peeled, for Ganondorf may have snuck into this Sonic game to give the blue boy a run for his money.
Works Cited:
Polygon
Ars Technica
Gamasutra
Polygon
Well not so much. Throughout the last week or so, it seems some bad omens have been popping up in the industry from consoles going horribly wrong to Youtube's constant flagging.
Well, let's round up the following Industry Done Goof segments
1) Killer Instinct Tournament spoiled by XBone 24 hour check in
Call this the worst thing to happen to any gaming tournament. During a Killer Instinct tournament, the XBox One lost its connection and the game was stopped completely.
To the announcer's cries of "Xbone, no!" the console boots players back to the main menu and the "Do you own this game or app?" message pops up.
"If you have a game disc, insert it now," read the on-screen instructions. "If there is no disc, make sure you are signed into Xbox Live. If you don't have rights for playing it, you'll need to buy it at the Xbox Store."
The prompt did not give competitors, who were playing together locally, the chance to save their progress and the battle was being livestreamed through Twitch at the time. From the video, it appears that the prompt was triggered when the Xbox One lost connection to the internet. The competitors were unable to continue from where they left off and the video ends with the announcer seeking help in restarting the game.
Well that's going to look bad on Microsoft's part if you can't play a tournament with a derped console.
2) Youtube's flagging simulator
Recently, many users are angry at Youtube over its videos getting flagged, meaning that any revenue made on Youtube videos all thanks to its overuse of Content ID as stated below
According to TubeFilter, YouTube told these MCNs last week that it would begin pre-screening a sample of their affiliates' videos for copyright violation before the video posts to YouTube in a process that could take as little as a few hours or up to a few days. The pre-screening system is also based on good behavior, so to speak, and affiliates who are never caught uploading copyrighted material will be checked less frequently.
That system seems to be causing some problems now, as popular YouTube channels are seeing a spike in copyright violation notices, which caused YouTube to remove ads from the video but not to necessarily take it down. For many very popular channels, this means a significant loss of revenue.
Really scary. Many believe that 1st party companies are flagging videos based on copyright content. But the real detail of this is even deeper. So deep that it might be scary.
What's more, the copyright violation flags seem to come from third parties that don't own the rights to the game in question. As VentureBeat reports, a lot of the videos flagged have been pre-approved by game publishers for monetization on YouTube and Twitch. But in one example, a YouTuber received a copyright violation notice for including video of Metro: Last Light from a company called 4GamerMovie. Deep Silver, the company that actually owns Metro: Last Light told VentureBeat that “it fully permits YouTube creators to monetize videos featuring their games.”
Yep. How's that for scary? When an unknown source that doesn't own the right to a franchise manages to trick Youtube into flagging a video for copyright violations, you know something is wrong.
3) EA under fire
They say when a game is bugged, developers will try to fix it up and call it a day, right? Not so with Electronic Arts. Recently, a group of shareholders have filed a lawsuit against EA for lying about its game Battlefield 4
On Tuesday, securities law firm Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP filed a complaint that will likely lead to a class action lawsuit against Electronic Arts in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California on behalf of Ryan Kelly and anyone else who purchased EA stock between July 24 and December 4 of this year.
The complaint names EA as an entity as well as a few top EA men -- including Peter Moore, Andrew Wilson, and Blake Jorgensen -- as defendants, alleging that they violated the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and knowingly or recklessly made false or misleading public statements about the quality of Battlefield 4 in a gambit to juice sales.
The complaint alleges that senior EA executives knew -- and did not disclose to the public or public shareholders -- that Battlefield 4 was a buggy, incomplete mess that would not be able to function as advertised if it was released on schedule.
An incomplete mess? How dare you. It's not a glitch, it's a feature.
But of course, EA had to sp...I mean defend this one. With a bit of insult to injury applied
Once again, there are a few good quotes cited in the complaint, including a statement from an EA representative to Polygon's Dave Tach that read: "First, we want to thank the fans out there that are playing and supporting us with Battlefield 4. We know we still have a ways to go with fixing the game — it is absolutely our No. 1 priority. [...] We're not moving onto future projects or expansions until we sort out all the issues with Battlefield 4. We know many of our players are frustrated, and we feel their pain. We will not stop until this is right."
The complaint further alleges that EA senior executives sold stock at inflated prices prior to the release of Battlefield 4, thus profiting from hype surrounding the game.
For example, the complaint alleges that EA CEO Andrew Wilson sold 40,000 shares of stock at a share price of $25.50 on July 26, with proceeds from the sale totaling more than $1 million -- $1,020,000, to be exact.
Ya know what? I think I'll just sit this one out.
4) Yoshi's Island invades Sonic Lost World
Okay. So this isn't a You Done Goof moment. But it's still something I wanna bring up.
Last week Wednesday, SEGA released a new DLC for Sonic: Lost World on Wii U. But what makes this DLC rage worthy isn't because it's 100% free, but because of the content on it. That's right. Yoshi's Island.
The Wii U version of Sonic: Lost World is getting two exclusive add-ons, one of which is a Yoshi-themed level that is available now as free DLC, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata announced today during a Nintendo Direct presentation.
Both pieces of DLC are levels are based on Nintendo franchises. "Yoshi's Island Zone" is a side-scrolling Sonic level that's filled with "Yoshi-themed thrills," said Iwata. That includes pipes, coins, Shyguys and piranha plants, along with Sonic's traditional loop-de-loops.
"Yoshi's Island Zone" is now available as a free download in the Wii U eShop. Iwata did not provide details on the other DLC level.
Actually, he did, as rumor has it the next DLC may be a Zelda themed DLC and it may be due out sometime next year. So Sonic fans, keep your eyes peeled, for Ganondorf may have snuck into this Sonic game to give the blue boy a run for his money.
Works Cited:
Polygon
Ars Technica
Gamasutra
Polygon
Sunday, December 1, 2013
A New Gen Dawn part 2: NPD October 2013
Now with all this new generation gameapalooza, you all wonder what the previous generation has been doing. Well look no further than October's NPD.
At number 10: WWE 2K14 by 2K Games for the 360 and PS3. Do you smell what the Rock is cookin?
At number 09: LEGO Marvel Superheroes by Warner Bros Interactive/Traveler's Tales games for the 360, PS3, Wii U, 3DS and PC. Hey wait a minute. Isn't Marvel apart of Disney?
At number 08: Skylanders Swap Force by ActivisionBlizzard for the 360, PS3, Wii, Wii U and 3DS. I wonder what ever happened to Crash Bandicoot?
At number 07: NBA 2K14 by 2K Games for the 360, PS3 and PC. Bet you can't jam.
At number 06: Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag by Ubisoft for the 360, PS3 and Wii U. Shiver me timbers, where's the PC version?
At number 05: Batman Arkham Origins by Warner Bros Interactive for the 360, PS3, Wii U and PC. I dunno, I actually do miss Kevin Conroy as Batman
At number 04: Battlefield 4 by Electronic Arts for the 360, PS3 and PC. Will this have the guts to bring down Call of Duty?
At number 03: Pokemon Y by Nintendo for the 3DS. Actually, this isn't the superior version.
At number 02: Pokemon X by Nintendo for the 3DS. This is because of Charizard X
And at Number 01: Grand Theft Auto 5 by Take 2 Interactive for the 360 and PS3. But I sure miss the wackiness the earlier games had.
Apparently, thanks to Pokemon, the Nintendo 3DS holds its lead over the 360 with the former at 452K and the latter at 166K.
The next generation is upon us. How well will the 2 new systems sell? And what of the older systems? Will they hold up? Or will they fall? Stay tuned.
Works Cited: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=715970
At number 10: WWE 2K14 by 2K Games for the 360 and PS3. Do you smell what the Rock is cookin?
At number 09: LEGO Marvel Superheroes by Warner Bros Interactive/Traveler's Tales games for the 360, PS3, Wii U, 3DS and PC. Hey wait a minute. Isn't Marvel apart of Disney?
At number 08: Skylanders Swap Force by ActivisionBlizzard for the 360, PS3, Wii, Wii U and 3DS. I wonder what ever happened to Crash Bandicoot?
At number 07: NBA 2K14 by 2K Games for the 360, PS3 and PC. Bet you can't jam.
At number 06: Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag by Ubisoft for the 360, PS3 and Wii U. Shiver me timbers, where's the PC version?
At number 05: Batman Arkham Origins by Warner Bros Interactive for the 360, PS3, Wii U and PC. I dunno, I actually do miss Kevin Conroy as Batman
At number 04: Battlefield 4 by Electronic Arts for the 360, PS3 and PC. Will this have the guts to bring down Call of Duty?
At number 03: Pokemon Y by Nintendo for the 3DS. Actually, this isn't the superior version.
At number 02: Pokemon X by Nintendo for the 3DS. This is because of Charizard X
And at Number 01: Grand Theft Auto 5 by Take 2 Interactive for the 360 and PS3. But I sure miss the wackiness the earlier games had.
Apparently, thanks to Pokemon, the Nintendo 3DS holds its lead over the 360 with the former at 452K and the latter at 166K.
The next generation is upon us. How well will the 2 new systems sell? And what of the older systems? Will they hold up? Or will they fall? Stay tuned.
Works Cited: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=715970
Friday, November 29, 2013
A New Gen Dawn Part 1: Winter is coming
Folks, the next generation of gaming is here. That's right, I'm talking about
As it stands, both the Playstation 4 and the X-Box One are out on the market. And so far, both have sold 1 million units each on their respective launches
Microsoft claims it has sold more than one million Xbox One consoles in the first 24 hours after it hit the market.
The Xbox One went onsale
on November 22 in Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany,
Ireland, Italy, Mexico, New Zealand, Spain, the UK and the U.S.
With a million consoles sold in less than one day on the market, Microsoft has matched Sony, which said it has sold more than one million PlayStation 4 consoles in 24 hours.
"We are working hard to create more Xbox One consoles and look forward to fulfillingholiday gift wishes this season,” wrote Yusuf Mehdi, Xbox's corporate Vice President of Marketing and Strategy, in a statement.
It happens to Apple. It happens to Sony. And now its happening to Microsoft, which last week officially launched the Xbox One
in 13 markets around the world. According to a handful of reports from
across the Web, a small number of consoles are hobbled by a mechanical
glitch that affects the disc drive, yielding all sorts of crunching and
grinding noises when a game is loaded. (This video sums it up pretty well.)
For its part, Microsoft has said that the problem affects a "very small amount" of devices – although the company did not specify the precise number.
NOOOOO! Not a broken system. Even though replacing it will get you a new game.
Okay, I change my mind. The Playstation 4 is the system to get
Some of the thousands of early adopters who shelled out for Sony'sPlayStation 4 console, launched today in the US, have already reported mysterious system failures.
The entertainment giant's support forums are littered with threads, some more than a dozen pages long, devoted to problems users are experiencing with their new powerful consoles.
Gamers have complained of hardware glitches that caused systems to reset
and display a blinking blue light. Additionally players have reported
issues with the console's physical HDMI connection.
Suggested workarounds in the forums and elsewhere online have included fiddling with theHDMI port
to remove any bits of metal obstructing the cable plug, and forcing a
reformat of the PS4's hard drive by removing and reinserting the drive.
GENERATION 8
As it stands, both the Playstation 4 and the X-Box One are out on the market. And so far, both have sold 1 million units each on their respective launches
Sony’s next-gen PlayStation 4 console is off to a good start .
The company announced today that it has sold over 1 million consoles in
just 24 hours. Sony’s PlayStation 4 only launched on Friday in the US
and Canada, so it's an impressive start for just two regions. "We are
thrilled that consumer reaction has been so phenomenal," says Andrew
House, president and group CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment. "Sales
remain very strong in North America, and we expect continued enthusiasm
as we launch the PlayStation 4 in Europe and Latin America on November
29th."
The Xbox One went on
With a million consoles sold in less than one day on the market, Microsoft has matched Sony, which said it has sold more than one million PlayStation 4 consoles in 24 hours.
"We are working hard to create more Xbox One consoles and look forward to fulfilling
1 million each. And in only 24 hours or less. That's impressive for systems that don't have Backward Compatibility. And if you ask me, the X-Box One is the one to get because...it's Microsoft. And knowing them, they have the best system ever that is 100% flawless.
For its part, Microsoft has said that the problem affects a "very small amount" of devices – although the company did not specify the precise number.
NOOOOO! Not a broken system. Even though replacing it will get you a new game.
Okay, I change my mind. The Playstation 4 is the system to get
Some of the thousands of early adopters who shelled out for Sony's
The entertainment giant's support forums are littered with threads, some more than a dozen pages long, devoted to problems users are experiencing with their new powerful consoles.
Suggested workarounds in the forums and elsewhere online have included fiddling with the
NOT SONY AS WELL! WHAT IS THIS, RED RING OF DEATH PHASE 2?
But not to worry. Both are on the case for the moment.
Anyway, how well will these systems do on Black Friday? And what about the NPD of October? Stay tuned because "Winter is Coming."
Works Cited: The Verge
Thursday, November 7, 2013
Call of Dully
The anticipation for the next generation consoles is heating up. Who will win the fight: X-Box One or Playstation 4? Well that's not going to matter, because that's nothing compared to the one game that dominates every year: Call of Duty!
2 days ago, Activision released the latest chapter in the Call of Duty franchise dubbed "Call of Duty: Ghosts" across the Playstation 3, X-Box 360, Nintendo Wii U and the Windows PC(Steam). However, this also marks the first time the franchise will be on the X-Box One and the Playstation 4: The former out on the 15th, and the latter out on the 22nd.
However, not everyone is on board with this newest chapter in the Call of Duty franchise. Case in point: a number of reviews.
Polygon's Russ Frushtick: 6.5/10
Call of Duty: Ghosts is mired in a distinct lack of ambition. Outside of the stellar Extinction mode, Ghosts follows more often than it leads, bringing with it familiar missions, modes and experiences. Ghosts feels like an accountant's sequel, with just enough content to justify a new installment. It just never goes beyond that.
Giant Bomb's Jeff Gertsmann: 60
Ghosts offers the same style of video game combat that Call of Duty has had since 2007. The core of it is still engaging and can be very thrilling, if you're receptive to this type of action. In fact, it's still my favorite online multiplayer shooter. But the bells and whistles surrounding the game are muted and missing, leaving behind that same core without giving you enough new and exciting reasons to come back. Even with the improved graphics to be had on next-generation consoles, I'd rather play Black Ops II.
Quater to Three's Tom Chick: 40(The Lowest score so far)
And so that’s the sum total of Call of Duty: Ghosts. The disappointing single-player, the usual multiplayer, the slightly confused squad bot matches, and a nifty co-op Extinction mode that could use more maps. When you start Ghosts, the logos for three separate studios flash onscreen, which speaks volumes about what follows. Here is several different things, some of them intriguing, some of them familiar, most of them slight. Frankly, I’d rather have fewer better things, because this is like picking through a sack of candy instead of having dinner. For those of us who aren’t devout adopters of the usual multiplayer, a big bag of modest distractions can’t compare to something with the depth, breadth, legs, and unique identity of, say, Battlefield 4, Grand Theft Auto 5, or Splinter Cell: Blacklist. Does anyone really like getting a gift basket?
And finally: Destructoid's Jim Sterling: 5/10
Call of Duty may have picked up a reputation as one of the laziest, most callously developed cash cows in the business, but I've always believed that reputation was undeserved. Call of Duty: Ghosts, however, with its slapdash campaign and unambitious multiplayer, contains enough factory-standard cynicism to earn itself plenty of scorn. Nothing Ghosts does is especially bad, but nothing Ghosts does is worth paying any attention to. It exists to exist, a stopgap bit of filler spat out as the industry transitions from one generation of consoles to another.
Contrary to the old saying, you can teach an old dog new tricks. Black Ops II demonstrated that with style. Ghosts, however, is a dog that simply doesn't want to change. It knows what it is, and sticks with it. It would be a respectable endeavor, if it didn't lead to such an underwhelming and predictable little product. What a sleepy, sleepy dog.
Metacritic currently points it at a 74/100. A good score, but not as impressive as the previous chapters in the franchise. Which gets to one question: What happened? Has the Call of Duty franchise finally lost its midas touch? Do people no longer care about serving up American Patriotism? Or is it just Infinite Ward mucking up the game?
Regardless, it seems Call of Duty: Ghosts is not without its own flaws that weights it down from being terrific. Time will tell if this game makes the November NPD next month, or if it finally shows its age and marks a decline in the franchise overall.
One last thing before I go, Jim Sterling's review of Call of Duty: Ghosts marks the final review of his on Destructoid. From 2006 to 2013, Jim Sterling has provided comical articles on the website and his Escapist video "Jimquisition." He will now join Escapist Magazine as apart of the same team that Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw and Bob "MovieBob" Chipman are apart of.
Thanks for those memories, Jim. Though I haven't forgiven you for giving Sonic Lost Worlds a better review than the other sites. XP
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.832758-Jim-Sterling-Leaves-Destructoid-UPDATE-Jim-Joins-The-Escapist
Works Cited:
Polygon
Giant Bomb
Quarter to Three
Destructoid
Metacritic
2 days ago, Activision released the latest chapter in the Call of Duty franchise dubbed "Call of Duty: Ghosts" across the Playstation 3, X-Box 360, Nintendo Wii U and the Windows PC(Steam). However, this also marks the first time the franchise will be on the X-Box One and the Playstation 4: The former out on the 15th, and the latter out on the 22nd.
However, not everyone is on board with this newest chapter in the Call of Duty franchise. Case in point: a number of reviews.
Polygon's Russ Frushtick: 6.5/10
Call of Duty: Ghosts is mired in a distinct lack of ambition. Outside of the stellar Extinction mode, Ghosts follows more often than it leads, bringing with it familiar missions, modes and experiences. Ghosts feels like an accountant's sequel, with just enough content to justify a new installment. It just never goes beyond that.
Giant Bomb's Jeff Gertsmann: 60
Ghosts offers the same style of video game combat that Call of Duty has had since 2007. The core of it is still engaging and can be very thrilling, if you're receptive to this type of action. In fact, it's still my favorite online multiplayer shooter. But the bells and whistles surrounding the game are muted and missing, leaving behind that same core without giving you enough new and exciting reasons to come back. Even with the improved graphics to be had on next-generation consoles, I'd rather play Black Ops II.
Quater to Three's Tom Chick: 40(The Lowest score so far)
And so that’s the sum total of Call of Duty: Ghosts. The disappointing single-player, the usual multiplayer, the slightly confused squad bot matches, and a nifty co-op Extinction mode that could use more maps. When you start Ghosts, the logos for three separate studios flash onscreen, which speaks volumes about what follows. Here is several different things, some of them intriguing, some of them familiar, most of them slight. Frankly, I’d rather have fewer better things, because this is like picking through a sack of candy instead of having dinner. For those of us who aren’t devout adopters of the usual multiplayer, a big bag of modest distractions can’t compare to something with the depth, breadth, legs, and unique identity of, say, Battlefield 4, Grand Theft Auto 5, or Splinter Cell: Blacklist. Does anyone really like getting a gift basket?
And finally: Destructoid's Jim Sterling: 5/10
Call of Duty may have picked up a reputation as one of the laziest, most callously developed cash cows in the business, but I've always believed that reputation was undeserved. Call of Duty: Ghosts, however, with its slapdash campaign and unambitious multiplayer, contains enough factory-standard cynicism to earn itself plenty of scorn. Nothing Ghosts does is especially bad, but nothing Ghosts does is worth paying any attention to. It exists to exist, a stopgap bit of filler spat out as the industry transitions from one generation of consoles to another.
Contrary to the old saying, you can teach an old dog new tricks. Black Ops II demonstrated that with style. Ghosts, however, is a dog that simply doesn't want to change. It knows what it is, and sticks with it. It would be a respectable endeavor, if it didn't lead to such an underwhelming and predictable little product. What a sleepy, sleepy dog.
Metacritic currently points it at a 74/100. A good score, but not as impressive as the previous chapters in the franchise. Which gets to one question: What happened? Has the Call of Duty franchise finally lost its midas touch? Do people no longer care about serving up American Patriotism? Or is it just Infinite Ward mucking up the game?
Regardless, it seems Call of Duty: Ghosts is not without its own flaws that weights it down from being terrific. Time will tell if this game makes the November NPD next month, or if it finally shows its age and marks a decline in the franchise overall.
One last thing before I go, Jim Sterling's review of Call of Duty: Ghosts marks the final review of his on Destructoid. From 2006 to 2013, Jim Sterling has provided comical articles on the website and his Escapist video "Jimquisition." He will now join Escapist Magazine as apart of the same team that Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw and Bob "MovieBob" Chipman are apart of.
Thanks for those memories, Jim. Though I haven't forgiven you for giving Sonic Lost Worlds a better review than the other sites. XP
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.832758-Jim-Sterling-Leaves-Destructoid-UPDATE-Jim-Joins-The-Escapist
Works Cited:
Polygon
Giant Bomb
Quarter to Three
Destructoid
Metacritic
Thursday, October 31, 2013
NPD September 2013: Ghoulish edition
Before we wrap up October, first things first. A big and hearty congratulations to Valve and the Steam service for reaching the 65 million mark.
Valve announced that its Steam platform now has 65 million users, with the last 12 months alone bringing a 30 percent increase in active accounts.
Steam reached its current milestone as Valve prepares to launch Steam Machines, an initiative that aims to bring PC gaming to the living room with dedicated
hardware , a platform-specific operating system, and a gaming-optimized controller. Currently, Steam hosts over 3,000 downloadable games from a broad spectrum of publishers and independent developers.
"The main goal of Steam has always been to increase the quality of the user's experience by reducing the distance between content creators and their audience," said Valve president Gabe Newell. "As the platform grows, ourjob
is to adapt to the changing needs of both the development and user
communities. In the coming year, we plan to make perhaps our most
significant collaborations with both communities through the Steam Dev
Days and the Steam Machines beta."
Valve announced that its Steam platform now has 65 million users, with the last 12 months alone bringing a 30 percent increase in active accounts.
Steam reached its current milestone as Valve prepares to launch Steam Machines, an initiative that aims to bring PC gaming to the living room with dedicated
"The main goal of Steam has always been to increase the quality of the user's experience by reducing the distance between content creators and their audience," said Valve president Gabe Newell. "As the platform grows, our
It's rather obvious that the Steam service is doing a lot to attract the end user. With low-priced sales, collectables, and a more open-ended service, Steam is the number one system for gamers nowadays.
But onto the Console peasants of September.
At number 10: Saints Row IV by Deep Silver for the 360, PS3 and PC. The Real GAT V is in the house.
At number 09: Minecraft by Mojang and Microsoft for the 360. I use to be a great miner, but then I took a Creeper to the face.
At number 08: NHL 2014 by Electronic Arts for the 360, and PS3. Just in time for Hockey season.
At number 07: Disney Infinity by Disney Interactive for the 360, PS3, Wii, Wii U and 3DS. Now when are they gonna put Marvel and Star Wars characters in? Oh, and some Muppets as well
At number 06: Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 Remix by SquareEnix for the PS3. R.I.P. Wayne Allwine, the previous voice of Mickey Mouse
At number 05: FIFA 2014 by Electronic Arts for the 360, PS3 and Vita. Now this is real football
At number 04: Diablo III by ActivisionBlizzard for the PC, 360 and PS3. Stay awhile and listen.
At number 03: NBA 2K12 by Take 2 Interative for the 360, PS3 and PC. Now if this won't let Michael Jordan return to basketball, I dunno what will?
At number 02: Madden NFL 25 by Electronic Arts for the 360 and PS3. Pigskin powerhouse.
And finally at number 01, at its highest yet: Grand Theft Auto V by Take 2 Interactive for the 360 and PS3. Online problems not withstanding.
While GTA is the highest selling game of the franchise and in any September, it is not the highest opening month, right behind the Call of Duty franchises.
Speaking of which, after topping the PS3, Wii and Wii U for along time, the 360 finally gets knocked out of 1st place by the PS3. The Wii U, despite it's sluggish sales, got a nice jump in sales due to the price, though we are hoping an additional set of games will boost it up. Regardless, the 3DS is still the number one console to beat.
Speaking of which, what kind of sales will the Pokemon franchise do next month? Keep your eyes peeled.
Works Cited:
Sunday, October 20, 2013
The Good the Bad and the Ugly: Pokemon and Street Fighting
It's been more than a week since Pokemon X and Y debut on the 3DS. Unlike previous entries in the series, Pokemon X and Y is the first title with a worldwide simultaneous release. That means the title released across Japan, Europe and the Americas. But how well did this new chapter in Pokemon history do? Well according to Destructoid, it actually sold 4 million in just 2 days.
Nintendo's first worldwide Pokemon launch was a success. They report that that Pokemon X and Pokemon Y managed to sell more than 4 million units across Japan, Europe, and The Americas this past weekend, October 12 and 13.
They've never done a worldwide launch before, so this is a first, but even looking at regional launches this would have been the fastest-selling 3DS game of all time.
And compared to the last Pokemon title launch, Black and White 2, X and Y are beating it by more than 70 percent, says Nintendo.
The series weighs in at more than 245 million games sold worldwide. Five sets have exceeded 10 million: Diamond/Pearl, Ruby/Sapphire, Black/White, HeartGold/HeartSilver, and FireRed/LeafGreen.
Impressive of Nintendo to sell that much Pokemon. With familiar faces like Pikachu, Meowth and Mewtwo, along with the return of the Kanto trio(Bulbasaur, Charmander and Squirtle), Pokemon X and Y will bring along fun for the entire family.
Or so we all think.
Recently, a bug that occurs in the outer ring of Lumiose City will prevent you from reloading your game if you save and quit in that ring. To prevent that, ether save within the inside of the city, or inside a building(Especially a Pokemon Center or the Gym at the center of the city). And according to Destructoid again, Nintendo is aware of this.
A few days ago, we made light of a potential game-breaking glitch for Pokemon X & Y -- if you save outside in Lumiose City, your game may crash and your save file may become corrupt. While a Reddit user seems to have discovered a potential fix in mashing your home button until it works again, Nintendo has become aware of the issue, and is working on a more long term solution.
Apparently their fix will work on already corrupted files, as well as making sure it doesn't happen again. An ETA hasn't been given, but if you have a massive amount of Pokemon already attached to your save, you may as well wait before restarting entirely. In the meantime, make sure you save inside of buildings in Lumiose.
Scary isn't it?
But what's scary is outside of Pokemon. For those of you hoping for an X-Box One or Playstation 4 take on Street Fighter IV: Ultra Hyper Epic Combo Edition, well I'm afraid I have some sad news. Due to the lack of resources, Capcom is unable to do a Next Generation Port of Street Fighter IV, or any new fighter. This, according to a tweet from Yoshinori Ono to the website "Gamin Realm"
More bad news regarding Capcom. When asked by a fan if the company would be bringing Ultra Street Fighter IV to next gen consoles, Yoshinori Ono responded with a very grave statement:
Earlier this year we reported (through GameIndustry) that Capcom had a very minuscule amount of cash in the bank. The company is currently in financial disarray. Then the news surfaced that Capcom of Europe is planning to cut more than half of its staff members. Combining those two older reports with Ono’s recent remark, it’s clear that Capcom is seriously, undeniably in trouble.
Not to mention that fighting games aren’t necessarily as resource-heavy as say adventure or 3D action games. The fact that the company cannot afford to make a fighting game, or even port a fighter is devastating news.
As I stated in our earlier reports, I personally cannot feel sorry for the company. What goes around comes around. This is what happens when you betray your fans and kill off beloved franchises.
A dire future for Capcom? What will we do without having a ultra realistic E. Honda lay the smackdown on Guile? Oh the humanity. OH THE SADNESS!
Works Cited:
Destructoid article 1
Destructoid article 2
Gaminrealm
Nintendo's first worldwide Pokemon launch was a success. They report that that Pokemon X and Pokemon Y managed to sell more than 4 million units across Japan, Europe, and The Americas this past weekend, October 12 and 13.
They've never done a worldwide launch before, so this is a first, but even looking at regional launches this would have been the fastest-selling 3DS game of all time.
And compared to the last Pokemon title launch, Black and White 2, X and Y are beating it by more than 70 percent, says Nintendo.
The series weighs in at more than 245 million games sold worldwide. Five sets have exceeded 10 million: Diamond/Pearl, Ruby/Sapphire, Black/White, HeartGold/HeartSilver, and FireRed/LeafGreen.
Impressive of Nintendo to sell that much Pokemon. With familiar faces like Pikachu, Meowth and Mewtwo, along with the return of the Kanto trio(Bulbasaur, Charmander and Squirtle), Pokemon X and Y will bring along fun for the entire family.
Or so we all think.
Recently, a bug that occurs in the outer ring of Lumiose City will prevent you from reloading your game if you save and quit in that ring. To prevent that, ether save within the inside of the city, or inside a building(Especially a Pokemon Center or the Gym at the center of the city). And according to Destructoid again, Nintendo is aware of this.
A few days ago, we made light of a potential game-breaking glitch for Pokemon X & Y -- if you save outside in Lumiose City, your game may crash and your save file may become corrupt. While a Reddit user seems to have discovered a potential fix in mashing your home button until it works again, Nintendo has become aware of the issue, and is working on a more long term solution.
Apparently their fix will work on already corrupted files, as well as making sure it doesn't happen again. An ETA hasn't been given, but if you have a massive amount of Pokemon already attached to your save, you may as well wait before restarting entirely. In the meantime, make sure you save inside of buildings in Lumiose.
Scary isn't it?
But what's scary is outside of Pokemon. For those of you hoping for an X-Box One or Playstation 4 take on Street Fighter IV: Ultra Hyper Epic Combo Edition, well I'm afraid I have some sad news. Due to the lack of resources, Capcom is unable to do a Next Generation Port of Street Fighter IV, or any new fighter. This, according to a tweet from Yoshinori Ono to the website "Gamin Realm"
More bad news regarding Capcom. When asked by a fan if the company would be bringing Ultra Street Fighter IV to next gen consoles, Yoshinori Ono responded with a very grave statement:
Earlier this year we reported (through GameIndustry) that Capcom had a very minuscule amount of cash in the bank. The company is currently in financial disarray. Then the news surfaced that Capcom of Europe is planning to cut more than half of its staff members. Combining those two older reports with Ono’s recent remark, it’s clear that Capcom is seriously, undeniably in trouble.
Not to mention that fighting games aren’t necessarily as resource-heavy as say adventure or 3D action games. The fact that the company cannot afford to make a fighting game, or even port a fighter is devastating news.
As I stated in our earlier reports, I personally cannot feel sorry for the company. What goes around comes around. This is what happens when you betray your fans and kill off beloved franchises.
A dire future for Capcom? What will we do without having a ultra realistic E. Honda lay the smackdown on Guile? Oh the humanity. OH THE SADNESS!
Works Cited:
Destructoid article 1
Destructoid article 2
Gaminrealm
Monday, October 7, 2013
NPD August 2013: Sonic returns edition
Before we get down to our late NPD again, first things first. I wanna give a big congratulations to Sonic the Hedgehog for making his return to the Smash Bros scene almost 7 days ago.
Sonic will join returning characters like Mario, Link, Pikachu, Samus, Donkey Kong and Pit, and will join newcomers like Mega Man in the new Super Smash Bros game.
And now, the dark moment before the storm. NPD August 2013. And once again, Madden comes in swinging.
At number 10: Pikmin 3 from Nintendo for the Wii U. More cuddly than Justin Bieber that's for sure.
At number 09: Final Fantasy XIV Online: A Realm Reborn by SquareEnix for the PS3 and PC. They finally got it right.
At number 08: Payday 2 by 505 Games for the 360 and PS3. Who needs a boatload of cash to make a game when you got this?
At number 07: NCAA Football 14 by EA for the 360 and PS3. Madden's younger brother.
At number 06: Mario and Luigi: Dream Team by Nintendo for the 3DS. A part of the Luigipalooza going on this year for everybody's favorite green brother
At number 05: Minecraft, originally published by Mojang, for the 360 published by Microsoft. Building fun, now in console form
At number 04: Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist by Ubisoft for the 360, PS3, Wii U and PC. Rest in Peace: Tom Clancy: 1947-2013
At number 03: Disney Infinity by Disney Interative for the 360, Wii, PS3, Wii U and 3DS. Watch out Skylanders.
At number 02: Saints Row IV by Deep Silver for the 360, PS3 and PC. Remember folks, believe in the GAT
And finally at number 01: Madden NFL 25 by EA for the 360 and PS3. So, uhh, when is 2K Games gonna get the license?
Game sales have gone up 21% year over year. That's good news for the market as gamers are buying in drove across the 360, PS3, Wii, 3DS and even the Wii U is starting to get into gamers.
However, the hardware side of things have taken a turn for the worse. The 360, the highest ranked console platform, is below 100K this month. The 3DS has done more than the 360 has, while the Vita is still dead last.
Rumor has it that the new Zelda bundle may have done something to help with the Wii U. Is it true? And is the console industry being held back by the upcoming hardware? Or is it something more sinister? Stay tuned
Works Cited:
NeoGAF
Sonic will join returning characters like Mario, Link, Pikachu, Samus, Donkey Kong and Pit, and will join newcomers like Mega Man in the new Super Smash Bros game.
And now, the dark moment before the storm. NPD August 2013. And once again, Madden comes in swinging.
At number 10: Pikmin 3 from Nintendo for the Wii U. More cuddly than Justin Bieber that's for sure.
At number 09: Final Fantasy XIV Online: A Realm Reborn by SquareEnix for the PS3 and PC. They finally got it right.
At number 08: Payday 2 by 505 Games for the 360 and PS3. Who needs a boatload of cash to make a game when you got this?
At number 07: NCAA Football 14 by EA for the 360 and PS3. Madden's younger brother.
At number 06: Mario and Luigi: Dream Team by Nintendo for the 3DS. A part of the Luigipalooza going on this year for everybody's favorite green brother
At number 05: Minecraft, originally published by Mojang, for the 360 published by Microsoft. Building fun, now in console form
At number 04: Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist by Ubisoft for the 360, PS3, Wii U and PC. Rest in Peace: Tom Clancy: 1947-2013
At number 03: Disney Infinity by Disney Interative for the 360, Wii, PS3, Wii U and 3DS. Watch out Skylanders.
At number 02: Saints Row IV by Deep Silver for the 360, PS3 and PC. Remember folks, believe in the GAT
And finally at number 01: Madden NFL 25 by EA for the 360 and PS3. So, uhh, when is 2K Games gonna get the license?
Game sales have gone up 21% year over year. That's good news for the market as gamers are buying in drove across the 360, PS3, Wii, 3DS and even the Wii U is starting to get into gamers.
However, the hardware side of things have taken a turn for the worse. The 360, the highest ranked console platform, is below 100K this month. The 3DS has done more than the 360 has, while the Vita is still dead last.
Rumor has it that the new Zelda bundle may have done something to help with the Wii U. Is it true? And is the console industry being held back by the upcoming hardware? Or is it something more sinister? Stay tuned
Works Cited:
NeoGAF
Sunday, September 29, 2013
A week of Steam
Last week on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, Valve and the Steam service got a boatload of announcements set to shake up the PC gaming industry and the Console gaming industry. Their goal is set: To compete against Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft and Apple.
The first announcement was a new OS called SteamOS. This Operating system is based off the Linux Operating System. While this version of Linux will let you play games and view videos, you are only limited to the games compatible with Linux
When it comes to gaming, SteamOS will work particularly well for audio performances and reducing input latency. Yet, only Linux games will work on SteamOS. While many games are now available on Linux, it still has a long way to go compared to Mac OS and especially Windows. That’s why you will be able to run Steam on your Windows or Mac computers in another room and then stream your games to your living room using SteamOS. Latency shouldn’t be an issue, as everything happens on your local network.
That's right. The ability to run your favorite games from your computer to the Steam OS. Similar to what Sony will be doing with an alternative version of its Playstation Vita system called Vita TV, in which you can stream PS4 titles from the system to the Vita TV. Complicated, isn't it? Sure you could hook your PC to the TV, but some people don't want to.
As a matter fact, on Wednesday, the second announcement was the SteamBox itself. But it wasn't just one console, it was many.
Entertainment is not a one-size-fits-all world. We want you to be able to choose the hardware that makes sense for you, so we are working with multiple partners to bring a variety of Steam gaming machines to market during 2014, all of them running SteamOS.
That's right. A variety of machines. Steam Consoles will be a variety for everyone to choose from. You can pick your favorite and lock it in. But that's not all, Valve is also doing a contest where 300 lucky Steam Customers will win a beta console(With some strings attached: They are property of them and you're not allowed to sell them). Here's what you need to do
1) Get at least 10 Steam friends
2) Join the Steam Universe community group
3) Accept the Beta Terms of Service
4) Make your Steam profile Public
5) Play one Steam game on the Big Picture Mode with a controller(The Logitech F310 is recommended)
If you complete these by late October, you will get a badge and will qualify for a chance to win one of 300 beta consoles.
And finally, to top things off, Valve decided to announce a Steam Controller. I bet it's gonna be like those 360/PS3 knock-offs
Oh my goodness. IT'S GOT NO THUMBSTICKS! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
Wait, wait. Calm down. I bet people aren't gonna buy this controller because it has no thumbsticks or d-pad
Dan Tabar is an indie game developer at Planetoid Pioneers studio Data Realms, and he was one of several indie developers who had hands-on demos with the controller at Valve's Bellevue, WA headquarters on Labor Day this year.
What he described was an extremely flexible, mappable controller -- perhaps the most flexible control option this side of a keyboard and mouse setup -- that offers generous tactile feedback.
"[Valve is] really trying to think things through," said Tabar. "They're asking, 'Do we really need thumbsticks? Why are the fingers on the back [of the traditional controller] not doing anything? Why not have paddles there?' The thing I find most exciting is that Valve is just rethinking it. We're totally going to be making Planetoid Pioneers with this controller in mind," he said.
Chris Remo, designer and writer at The Cave developer Double Fine had a hands-on of the Steam Controller at the San Francisco studio.
Remo played a couple different games: Double Fine's upcoming point-and-click adventure game Broken Age and the already-released platform-adventure game The Cave.
"We just plugged it in, and it worked," he said. "We didn't have special support for it or anything. It worked really, really well. I was really impressed with the mouse imitation. It doesn't feel like a trackpad."
Remo said the controller has a tiny speaker in it that offers audio feedback – a subtle "tick" sound that increases and decreases in speed (he compared it to the Wheel of Fortune wheel's sound), depending on how you use the track pad. If you "fling" your thumb across the trackpad – if it's mapped to the mouse – the ticking increases in speed, and slows down as the virtual momentum of your action slows.
"It sounds like there's actually a mechanical device in there, which really makes it feel mechanical, but not in a clunky way," Remo said. "It just feels really high-tech and precise. … I can't stand trackpads on laptops, and this felt really good to me. There was almost no learning curve as far as accuracy goes."
On Twitter, Ichiro Lambe with AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! developer Dejobaan Games also said the haptic feedback of Valve's new controller was a highlight of the device.
"It feels like you're moving your thumbs over a rough surface, though it's all virtual," Lambe said. "From a tech standpoint, think about something that can click whenever you tell it to... Simple example: you move your finger 1 inch up, and it ticks 10 times...You flick it up, and it starts ticking, like you've spun a wheel."
O.O
Excuse me, one moment. I'm gonna go yell out the window proclaiming the death of thumbsticks and damning Valve for this.
Works Cited:
TechCrunch
Steam(Valve)
Gamasutra
The first announcement was a new OS called SteamOS. This Operating system is based off the Linux Operating System. While this version of Linux will let you play games and view videos, you are only limited to the games compatible with Linux
When it comes to gaming, SteamOS will work particularly well for audio performances and reducing input latency. Yet, only Linux games will work on SteamOS. While many games are now available on Linux, it still has a long way to go compared to Mac OS and especially Windows. That’s why you will be able to run Steam on your Windows or Mac computers in another room and then stream your games to your living room using SteamOS. Latency shouldn’t be an issue, as everything happens on your local network.
That's right. The ability to run your favorite games from your computer to the Steam OS. Similar to what Sony will be doing with an alternative version of its Playstation Vita system called Vita TV, in which you can stream PS4 titles from the system to the Vita TV. Complicated, isn't it? Sure you could hook your PC to the TV, but some people don't want to.
As a matter fact, on Wednesday, the second announcement was the SteamBox itself. But it wasn't just one console, it was many.
Entertainment is not a one-size-fits-all world. We want you to be able to choose the hardware that makes sense for you, so we are working with multiple partners to bring a variety of Steam gaming machines to market during 2014, all of them running SteamOS.
That's right. A variety of machines. Steam Consoles will be a variety for everyone to choose from. You can pick your favorite and lock it in. But that's not all, Valve is also doing a contest where 300 lucky Steam Customers will win a beta console(With some strings attached: They are property of them and you're not allowed to sell them). Here's what you need to do
1) Get at least 10 Steam friends
2) Join the Steam Universe community group
3) Accept the Beta Terms of Service
4) Make your Steam profile Public
5) Play one Steam game on the Big Picture Mode with a controller(The Logitech F310 is recommended)
If you complete these by late October, you will get a badge and will qualify for a chance to win one of 300 beta consoles.
And finally, to top things off, Valve decided to announce a Steam Controller. I bet it's gonna be like those 360/PS3 knock-offs
Oh my goodness. IT'S GOT NO THUMBSTICKS! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
Wait, wait. Calm down. I bet people aren't gonna buy this controller because it has no thumbsticks or d-pad
Dan Tabar is an indie game developer at Planetoid Pioneers studio Data Realms, and he was one of several indie developers who had hands-on demos with the controller at Valve's Bellevue, WA headquarters on Labor Day this year.
What he described was an extremely flexible, mappable controller -- perhaps the most flexible control option this side of a keyboard and mouse setup -- that offers generous tactile feedback.
"[Valve is] really trying to think things through," said Tabar. "They're asking, 'Do we really need thumbsticks? Why are the fingers on the back [of the traditional controller] not doing anything? Why not have paddles there?' The thing I find most exciting is that Valve is just rethinking it. We're totally going to be making Planetoid Pioneers with this controller in mind," he said.
Chris Remo, designer and writer at The Cave developer Double Fine had a hands-on of the Steam Controller at the San Francisco studio.
Remo played a couple different games: Double Fine's upcoming point-and-click adventure game Broken Age and the already-released platform-adventure game The Cave.
"We just plugged it in, and it worked," he said. "We didn't have special support for it or anything. It worked really, really well. I was really impressed with the mouse imitation. It doesn't feel like a trackpad."
Remo said the controller has a tiny speaker in it that offers audio feedback – a subtle "tick" sound that increases and decreases in speed (he compared it to the Wheel of Fortune wheel's sound), depending on how you use the track pad. If you "fling" your thumb across the trackpad – if it's mapped to the mouse – the ticking increases in speed, and slows down as the virtual momentum of your action slows.
"It sounds like there's actually a mechanical device in there, which really makes it feel mechanical, but not in a clunky way," Remo said. "It just feels really high-tech and precise. … I can't stand trackpads on laptops, and this felt really good to me. There was almost no learning curve as far as accuracy goes."
On Twitter, Ichiro Lambe with AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! developer Dejobaan Games also said the haptic feedback of Valve's new controller was a highlight of the device.
"It feels like you're moving your thumbs over a rough surface, though it's all virtual," Lambe said. "From a tech standpoint, think about something that can click whenever you tell it to... Simple example: you move your finger 1 inch up, and it ticks 10 times...You flick it up, and it starts ticking, like you've spun a wheel."
O.O
Excuse me, one moment. I'm gonna go yell out the window proclaiming the death of thumbsticks and damning Valve for this.
Works Cited:
TechCrunch
Steam(Valve)
Gamasutra
Thursday, September 19, 2013
Atlus the Hedgehog
It was only a couple of days ago that Atlus was its own company. But just recently, Atlus and its parent company: Index Corporation, was bought out. The buyer in question? SEGA Sammy
Sega Sammy Holdings will acquire Index Corporation, the parent company of Japanese publisher and developer Atlus, for ¥14 billion ($140 million) in November, according to the company.
According to Sega's business transfer agreement notice, Sega expects to "achieve steady flows of revenue" through the acquisition of Index's video game IPs. Further revenue growth is expected by exploiting the IPs across online PC gaming and smartphone content. The company also aims to "maximize the value of acquired IPs" by releasing them across pachislot, pachinko and amusement machine segments.
Sept. 18 marked the conclusion of business transfer agreement, according to the notice, and Nov. 1 is the tentative due date for the transfer of Index, pending approval from the court under by Civil Rehabilitation Act.. Sega Dream Corporation was established on Sept. 5 as a subsidiary of Sega Sammy Holdings to oversee the transfer of Index operations. Sega Dream Corporation's name is slated to change in the future.
What does that mean? That means expect the next Persona game to feature Sonic the Hedgehog, Alex Kidd, Ulala, Alys, Vyse the blue Rogue, and Segata Sanshiro
Special congratulations goes to SEGA for at least getting them before Electronic Arts.
But while one buyout has gone as expected, another one is being held back. What I'm talking about is ActivisionBlizzard separating itself from Vivendi. Back in July, it was confirmed that ActivisionBlizzard would split from Vivendi and operate as an independent company. But one shareholder is protesting this and has halted the sale from going through.
Call of Duty and World of Warcraft publisher Activision-Blizzard's previously announced deal to buy back its majority stake from parent company Vivendi hit a new snag today, as the company announced the transaction had been temporarily halted pending the outcome of an ongoing lawsuit.
Last week, Activision-Blizzard shareholder Douglas M. Hayes filed suit against the publisher through the Delaware Chancery Court. The suit alleges that the company's CEO, chairman and an elite investor group will disproportionately benefit from the buyback, and should instead leave the buyback deal to a vote by non-Vivendi stockholders, such as the plaintiff. As a result of the filing, Activision-Blizzard has come under a preliminary enjoiner from the court, forcing the company to temporarily halt its buyback proceedings until either the injunction is successfully appealed or the purchase is approved by vote.
In the midst of this, Activision-Blizzard released a statement reaffirming its commitment to the stock buyback from Vivendi, as it outlined in July. The company added that it is "exploring the steps it will take to complete the transaction as expeditiously as possible." This may mean acquiescing to a vote from non-Vivendi stockholders or continuing to campaign for an appeal to modify the injunction.
In other words, expect a delay in the next expansion to World of Warcraft and a slightly watered down version of Call of Duty: Ghosts.
Unfortunately, we must conclude this with some sad news. Hiroshi Yamauchi, former president of Nintendo, has passed away recently. Here's the news of his recent passing
Works Cited:
Polygon
Gamasutra
Nintendo Insider
Sega Sammy Holdings will acquire Index Corporation, the parent company of Japanese publisher and developer Atlus, for ¥14 billion ($140 million) in November, according to the company.
According to Sega's business transfer agreement notice, Sega expects to "achieve steady flows of revenue" through the acquisition of Index's video game IPs. Further revenue growth is expected by exploiting the IPs across online PC gaming and smartphone content. The company also aims to "maximize the value of acquired IPs" by releasing them across pachislot, pachinko and amusement machine segments.
Sept. 18 marked the conclusion of business transfer agreement, according to the notice, and Nov. 1 is the tentative due date for the transfer of Index, pending approval from the court under by Civil Rehabilitation Act.. Sega Dream Corporation was established on Sept. 5 as a subsidiary of Sega Sammy Holdings to oversee the transfer of Index operations. Sega Dream Corporation's name is slated to change in the future.
What does that mean? That means expect the next Persona game to feature Sonic the Hedgehog, Alex Kidd, Ulala, Alys, Vyse the blue Rogue, and Segata Sanshiro
Special congratulations goes to SEGA for at least getting them before Electronic Arts.
But while one buyout has gone as expected, another one is being held back. What I'm talking about is ActivisionBlizzard separating itself from Vivendi. Back in July, it was confirmed that ActivisionBlizzard would split from Vivendi and operate as an independent company. But one shareholder is protesting this and has halted the sale from going through.
Call of Duty and World of Warcraft publisher Activision-Blizzard's previously announced deal to buy back its majority stake from parent company Vivendi hit a new snag today, as the company announced the transaction had been temporarily halted pending the outcome of an ongoing lawsuit.
Last week, Activision-Blizzard shareholder Douglas M. Hayes filed suit against the publisher through the Delaware Chancery Court. The suit alleges that the company's CEO, chairman and an elite investor group will disproportionately benefit from the buyback, and should instead leave the buyback deal to a vote by non-Vivendi stockholders, such as the plaintiff. As a result of the filing, Activision-Blizzard has come under a preliminary enjoiner from the court, forcing the company to temporarily halt its buyback proceedings until either the injunction is successfully appealed or the purchase is approved by vote.
In the midst of this, Activision-Blizzard released a statement reaffirming its commitment to the stock buyback from Vivendi, as it outlined in July. The company added that it is "exploring the steps it will take to complete the transaction as expeditiously as possible." This may mean acquiescing to a vote from non-Vivendi stockholders or continuing to campaign for an appeal to modify the injunction.
In other words, expect a delay in the next expansion to World of Warcraft and a slightly watered down version of Call of Duty: Ghosts.
Unfortunately, we must conclude this with some sad news. Hiroshi Yamauchi, former president of Nintendo, has passed away recently. Here's the news of his recent passing
Today marks a sad day indeed as Nintendo’s former president Hiroshi Yamauchi has passed away aged 85, Nikkei reports.
After his grandfather suffered a stroke Yamauchi-san stepped in as Nintendo’s president back in 1949, a role he held until 31st May 2002 when he passed the role to Satoru Iwata.
It was still a traditional card company when he had taken over, although his decision to diversify soon lead it into the electronics industry and to stride into the increasingly popular arcade market across North America. When his son-in-law couldn’t find success with games such as Radar Scope, Space Fever and Sheriff, he turned to the young Shigeru Miyamoto who dutifully delivered Donkey Kong in 1981. The rest, as they say, became history.
Hardware development teams created the portable Game & Watch and later produced the Famicom, which we obviously know as the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). His leadership grew the console’s success through predicting what consumers would want in terms of the software that was being produced, with the company subsequently releasing the Super Famicom, Nintendo 64, and GameCube under his watchful guidance.
Whilst he has been readily attributed as being one of the richest men in Japan due to being Nintendo’s largest shareholder, he donated much of the 7.5 billion yen that he earned through Nintendo’s success with the Wii and Nintendo DS to build a new cancer treatment center in Kyoto.
His efforts contributed to the sheer influence that Nintendo’s output have had on countless people across the world. Rest in peace, Yamauchi-san.
After his grandfather suffered a stroke Yamauchi-san stepped in as Nintendo’s president back in 1949, a role he held until 31st May 2002 when he passed the role to Satoru Iwata.
It was still a traditional card company when he had taken over, although his decision to diversify soon lead it into the electronics industry and to stride into the increasingly popular arcade market across North America. When his son-in-law couldn’t find success with games such as Radar Scope, Space Fever and Sheriff, he turned to the young Shigeru Miyamoto who dutifully delivered Donkey Kong in 1981. The rest, as they say, became history.
Hardware development teams created the portable Game & Watch and later produced the Famicom, which we obviously know as the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). His leadership grew the console’s success through predicting what consumers would want in terms of the software that was being produced, with the company subsequently releasing the Super Famicom, Nintendo 64, and GameCube under his watchful guidance.
Whilst he has been readily attributed as being one of the richest men in Japan due to being Nintendo’s largest shareholder, he donated much of the 7.5 billion yen that he earned through Nintendo’s success with the Wii and Nintendo DS to build a new cancer treatment center in Kyoto.
His efforts contributed to the sheer influence that Nintendo’s output have had on countless people across the world. Rest in peace, Yamauchi-san.
Hiroshi Yamauchi: November 7, 1927 – September 19, 2013
Works Cited:
Polygon
Gamasutra
Nintendo Insider
Saturday, September 7, 2013
NPD July 2013: The new village arrives
Well once again, we have a late NPD report to talk about. But before we get to that, a quick story about a UK Game Tester who was finally paid for testing a game out for Sony.
A game tester who worked for a Sony Computer Entertainment Europe studio in the United Kingdom has been paid £4,600 for helping to test Killzone: Mercenary for three months in 2012. The payout is the result of a settlement between SCEE and tester Chris Jarvis, who claimed that he had to work nine-hour-days at Guerrilla Cambridge as an intern.
Jarvis claims that he was initially supposed to "shadow" a developer at the studio so he could get "first-hand experience," but that never happened. Instead he claims that the company put him to work as a tester for the game's 3D artwork.
"I was basically clicking buttons to make sure the pictures that had come in from China were working," he said. "It's normally part of the Environment Artist's job. It's time-consuming and boring work. I was at the end of my overdraft and I didn't know what to do, so I looked into my rights and found that I was legally doing the work of an employee."
After this happened, Jarvis claims that he politely informed the company that the change in why he was at the studio meant that he was entitled to some compensation (the national minimum wage). Jarvis claims that Sony did not respond very well to that demand:
"They were very dismissive and told me I was a volunteer and that's how I could work for free," he said. "I thought they would say they had made an honest mistake. If they got someone in to do the job it would have cost £100 a day. But they said that I was a volunteer so not entitled to any pay."
Finding no recourse within the company, Jarvis went to HM Revenue and Customs and sued Guerrilla Cambridge for unpaid wages. Jarvis sought about £3,600, but before the matter went before a scheduled tribunal, Sony paid him the full amount plus an additional £1,000. The company also asked him to sign a "gag order," which he declined to do.
Makes us wonder what's really going on behind the scenes at our favorite video game companies(eyes at Nintendo)
Anyway, let's get down to the Top 10 games of July
At number 10: Lego Batman 2: DC Superheroes by Warner Bros Interactive for the 360, Wii, DS, PS3, 3DS, Wii U, PSVita and PC. Interesting fact: LEGO is the only company that has both the DC Comic AND Marvel Comic license
At number 09: NBA 2K13 by Take 2 Interactive for the 360, PS3, Wii, Wii U, PSP and PC. NBA Jam this ain't
At number 08: Injustice: Gods Among Us by Warner Bros Interactive for the 360, PS3 and Wii U. Scorpion DLC now available on all 3 platforms
At number 07: Battlefield 3 by EA for the 360, PS3 and PC. Call of Duty they ain't.
At number 06: Far Cry 3 by Ubisoft for the 360, PS3 and PC. Don't forget to check out Far Cry: Blood Dragon
At number 05: Animal Crossing: New Leaf by Nintendo for the 3DS. It's your town, your rules.
At number 04: Call of Duty: Black Ops II by ActivisionBlizzard for the 360, PS3, Wii U and PC. Still going strong
At number 03: The Last of Us by Sony for the PS3. I still think there should be more playable female protagonists
At number 02: Minecraft by Mojang and Microsoft for the 360. The PC version still rules
And finally at number 01: NCAA Football 14 by EA for the 360 and PS3. And we're not even into Madden season yet.
Overall, Retail sales are down 19% year over year. Though the 3DS is number one with the 360 right behind, the handheld only made a measly 137K while the 360 is at 107K, which is barely above the competition. Is this slowdown expected? Or is things gonna get worse next year?
Only 2 months left till Pokemon X and Y hit the market. And Nintendo's 2DS is also on its way. Will that be the kick in the pants Nintendo needs to dominate? Stay tuned.
Works Cited:
Game PoliticsNeoGAF
A game tester who worked for a Sony Computer Entertainment Europe studio in the United Kingdom has been paid £4,600 for helping to test Killzone: Mercenary for three months in 2012. The payout is the result of a settlement between SCEE and tester Chris Jarvis, who claimed that he had to work nine-hour-days at Guerrilla Cambridge as an intern.
Jarvis claims that he was initially supposed to "shadow" a developer at the studio so he could get "first-hand experience," but that never happened. Instead he claims that the company put him to work as a tester for the game's 3D artwork.
"I was basically clicking buttons to make sure the pictures that had come in from China were working," he said. "It's normally part of the Environment Artist's job. It's time-consuming and boring work. I was at the end of my overdraft and I didn't know what to do, so I looked into my rights and found that I was legally doing the work of an employee."
After this happened, Jarvis claims that he politely informed the company that the change in why he was at the studio meant that he was entitled to some compensation (the national minimum wage). Jarvis claims that Sony did not respond very well to that demand:
"They were very dismissive and told me I was a volunteer and that's how I could work for free," he said. "I thought they would say they had made an honest mistake. If they got someone in to do the job it would have cost £100 a day. But they said that I was a volunteer so not entitled to any pay."
Finding no recourse within the company, Jarvis went to HM Revenue and Customs and sued Guerrilla Cambridge for unpaid wages. Jarvis sought about £3,600, but before the matter went before a scheduled tribunal, Sony paid him the full amount plus an additional £1,000. The company also asked him to sign a "gag order," which he declined to do.
Makes us wonder what's really going on behind the scenes at our favorite video game companies(eyes at Nintendo)
Anyway, let's get down to the Top 10 games of July
At number 10: Lego Batman 2: DC Superheroes by Warner Bros Interactive for the 360, Wii, DS, PS3, 3DS, Wii U, PSVita and PC. Interesting fact: LEGO is the only company that has both the DC Comic AND Marvel Comic license
At number 09: NBA 2K13 by Take 2 Interactive for the 360, PS3, Wii, Wii U, PSP and PC. NBA Jam this ain't
At number 08: Injustice: Gods Among Us by Warner Bros Interactive for the 360, PS3 and Wii U. Scorpion DLC now available on all 3 platforms
At number 07: Battlefield 3 by EA for the 360, PS3 and PC. Call of Duty they ain't.
At number 06: Far Cry 3 by Ubisoft for the 360, PS3 and PC. Don't forget to check out Far Cry: Blood Dragon
At number 05: Animal Crossing: New Leaf by Nintendo for the 3DS. It's your town, your rules.
At number 04: Call of Duty: Black Ops II by ActivisionBlizzard for the 360, PS3, Wii U and PC. Still going strong
At number 03: The Last of Us by Sony for the PS3. I still think there should be more playable female protagonists
At number 02: Minecraft by Mojang and Microsoft for the 360. The PC version still rules
And finally at number 01: NCAA Football 14 by EA for the 360 and PS3. And we're not even into Madden season yet.
Overall, Retail sales are down 19% year over year. Though the 3DS is number one with the 360 right behind, the handheld only made a measly 137K while the 360 is at 107K, which is barely above the competition. Is this slowdown expected? Or is things gonna get worse next year?
Only 2 months left till Pokemon X and Y hit the market. And Nintendo's 2DS is also on its way. Will that be the kick in the pants Nintendo needs to dominate? Stay tuned.
Works Cited:
Game PoliticsNeoGAF
Friday, August 30, 2013
The Wii U and the 2DS
Some things are happening with Nintendo lately involving the Wii U and the 3DS. Though Nintendo has been having a hard time selling the Wii U, they seem to have the games this holiday season to help combat against the X-Box One and Playstation 4.
Still, it seems Nintendo ain't taking any chances.
"All you
need to do is look at the numbers," Fils-Aime said. "At this point in
time the Wii install base was beginning to approach three million—this
is U.S. numbers—and as we sit here today, the Wii U installed base is at
about 1.5 million. So clearly the sales pace is different. But I will
also tell you that the focus on making sure that this holiday—its second
holiday—is really strong is actually quite consistent with the way
we've always thought about our hardware launches."
A bold move on Nintendo's part. But what about our sacred basic set?
Nintendo has all but phased out the white 8GB version of the Wii U, a system that retailers seemed to begin dumping this past spring. That "basic" version of Nintendo's console had originally sold for $299, sans pack-in game. "That has largely sold through in the marketplace," Fils-Aime said. "There is not much of that particular configuration out and we don't expect there to be much at all come September 20."
Wait a minute. You mean to tell me that you're phasing out the White 8GB version of Wii U? Well how am I suppose to waste money on the cheapest system possible when you only have the 32GB version available? If there was only some sort of price cut....oh wait. N/M. Let's move onto the next topic: The 3DS.
For the past few months, the 3DS, despite its small sales, has finally dominated the X-Box 360. But it looks like Nintendo is releasing an even cheaper version of their handheld that is aimed at a younger crowd with: Nintendo 2DS
The system will go on sale in October for $129, far cheaper than the current 3DS. It will be compatible with all your 3DS and DS titles, and it lacks 3D and a Clamshell design. Suitable for all your little kids needs.
But what's that you say? You think the 2DS looks ugly. You think it looks alot like an Axe.
Hah. Ridiculous. If it were anything like an Axe, it would do something like this.
I now officially feel sorry for the Playstation Vita. It didn't even deserve that.
I now leave you with a small set of paragraphs of a heart touching story about a blind girl and her Nintendo Wii U.
Back when the Wii U was launched, I had hoped for things like Netflix allowing us to stream a movie to the TV as well as display it on the GamePad simultaneously so Jen could have her own display and sit on the couch with the rest of us to enjoy a movie. This ended up not being the case, but the seed was planted for the GamePad being a display that could move with her.
I looked through the library of Wii U games as they were released to find something we could play together in this way but could not find anything that would work. New Super Mario Bros U had the feature, but she would die pretty quick and became frustrated. It wasn't what we wanted. But when I got home last Sunday with my new boxed copy of New Super Luigi U in hand, I had an epiphany about the new character that Nintendo decided to replace its signature plumber Mario with...Nabbit.
Nabbit is different because this character is basically invulnerable. I'm talking you can run about the screen and you will just pass around enemies without being "bumped" or "tossed" anywhere so you are free to move about. This lead to a character Jennifer could play and run with, but without the frustrations that plagued her before. She still can fall into a hole, but then Nabbit is tossed into a bubble and she gets to "shake" the remote to let us pop it which she thought was hilarious. I was amazed at how quickly she picked up the mechanics and started jumping gaps and running about. I would smile as she got her face so close to the screen that a platform would pop up when her nose tapped it from time to time before she figured out it was a touch screen too.
People complain and argue that the GamePad is an unnecessary accessory on a system that is failing to launch fast enough. They complained that the Wii Remote was too simple and could not allow for "proper" gaming. Yet here I sit able to say that the Nintendo Wii U...with it's GamePad and ability to use the Wii's Remotes has led to me playing a game with my daughter directly for the first time. Where at night when my wife goes to work at the hospital me and the boys could join into a 3 player game while my daughter would watch a movie finally have a 4th player. We are together and my daughter has broken another "she can't".
Works Cited:
Kotaku
Zenspath
Still, it seems Nintendo ain't taking any chances.
Nintendo's
home console can be yours for just $299.99 starting September 20, the
house of Mario announced today. That's a $50 price cut for a console
that's about to get a steady flow of Nintendo-made games but that's been
struggling to sell at even half the pace of its predecessor.
The Wii U will sell in two models: the existing black deluxe model bundled with the pretty-good game compilation Nintendo Land or in a new Zelda model. An image of the latter leaked last week.
That Zelda console is black, but its GamePad controller is etched with Zelda-style script The bundle will also include vouchers to download a digital (duh) copy of the Hyrule Historia Zelda lore book and a copy of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD.
Both
consoles include 32GB of on-board flash memory. The system can be
connected to self-powered hard-drives for more storage capacity.
"Obviously
we want to drive Wii U momentum," Fils-Aime said of the reasoning behind
the price drop. "We've been very clear that software is what drives
hardware. And we feel very good about the line-up of software for Wii U.
Taking the added step to improve the value just reinforces our
commitment to make sure that Wii U has a strong holiday this year and is
set up to be a strong platform into the future."1
The Wii U has been struggling to catch on in its first year, a fact Nintendo, to their credit, isn't trying to hide.
A bold move on Nintendo's part. But what about our sacred basic set?
Nintendo has all but phased out the white 8GB version of the Wii U, a system that retailers seemed to begin dumping this past spring. That "basic" version of Nintendo's console had originally sold for $299, sans pack-in game. "That has largely sold through in the marketplace," Fils-Aime said. "There is not much of that particular configuration out and we don't expect there to be much at all come September 20."
Wait a minute. You mean to tell me that you're phasing out the White 8GB version of Wii U? Well how am I suppose to waste money on the cheapest system possible when you only have the 32GB version available? If there was only some sort of price cut....oh wait. N/M. Let's move onto the next topic: The 3DS.
For the past few months, the 3DS, despite its small sales, has finally dominated the X-Box 360. But it looks like Nintendo is releasing an even cheaper version of their handheld that is aimed at a younger crowd with: Nintendo 2DS
The system will go on sale in October for $129, far cheaper than the current 3DS. It will be compatible with all your 3DS and DS titles, and it lacks 3D and a Clamshell design. Suitable for all your little kids needs.
But what's that you say? You think the 2DS looks ugly. You think it looks alot like an Axe.
Hah. Ridiculous. If it were anything like an Axe, it would do something like this.
I now officially feel sorry for the Playstation Vita. It didn't even deserve that.
I now leave you with a small set of paragraphs of a heart touching story about a blind girl and her Nintendo Wii U.
Back when the Wii U was launched, I had hoped for things like Netflix allowing us to stream a movie to the TV as well as display it on the GamePad simultaneously so Jen could have her own display and sit on the couch with the rest of us to enjoy a movie. This ended up not being the case, but the seed was planted for the GamePad being a display that could move with her.
I looked through the library of Wii U games as they were released to find something we could play together in this way but could not find anything that would work. New Super Mario Bros U had the feature, but she would die pretty quick and became frustrated. It wasn't what we wanted. But when I got home last Sunday with my new boxed copy of New Super Luigi U in hand, I had an epiphany about the new character that Nintendo decided to replace its signature plumber Mario with...Nabbit.
Nabbit is different because this character is basically invulnerable. I'm talking you can run about the screen and you will just pass around enemies without being "bumped" or "tossed" anywhere so you are free to move about. This lead to a character Jennifer could play and run with, but without the frustrations that plagued her before. She still can fall into a hole, but then Nabbit is tossed into a bubble and she gets to "shake" the remote to let us pop it which she thought was hilarious. I was amazed at how quickly she picked up the mechanics and started jumping gaps and running about. I would smile as she got her face so close to the screen that a platform would pop up when her nose tapped it from time to time before she figured out it was a touch screen too.
People complain and argue that the GamePad is an unnecessary accessory on a system that is failing to launch fast enough. They complained that the Wii Remote was too simple and could not allow for "proper" gaming. Yet here I sit able to say that the Nintendo Wii U...with it's GamePad and ability to use the Wii's Remotes has led to me playing a game with my daughter directly for the first time. Where at night when my wife goes to work at the hospital me and the boys could join into a 3 player game while my daughter would watch a movie finally have a 4th player. We are together and my daughter has broken another "she can't".
Works Cited:
Kotaku
Zenspath
Monday, August 19, 2013
I hate being bored....but something did pop up
Man. I hate boredom. Next to waiting for new consoles to poke fun at to Disney Infinity now out on consoles, there isn't much to look at. I wonder what will pop up in front of me.
It’s been revealed that the Call of Duty: Ghosts unveiling was actually done on PC, with Xbox One controllers plugged in. With only three months before the launch of both the console and the game, some may be worried by this, although it’s not really as bad as it sounds.
Wait a minute. You mean to tell me that the unveiling of Call of Duty: Ghost was done on the PC? Well that's gonna mess up those who wanted to buy it on the consoles.
Anyway, various news sources pointed out that the Call of Duty unveiling wasn't done on the X-Box One, but on a PC with similar specs to an X-Box One. As a matter of fact, IGN's Scott Lowe has this to say.
This week’s Call of Duty: Ghosts event wasn’t just the first opportunity to see the game’s much-anticipated multiplayer content, it was also my first chance to see how the new Xbox One controller performs when playing a competitive first-person shooter. While the controller wasn’t paired with the Xbox One console — rather, PCs configured to next-gen specs — the demos highlighted the new changes to the ergonomics, thumbsticks, d-pad, and trigger design.
If you want to see more about Call of Duty: Ghosts, check out the video below
Works Cited:
GamesReviews
It’s been revealed that the Call of Duty: Ghosts unveiling was actually done on PC, with Xbox One controllers plugged in. With only three months before the launch of both the console and the game, some may be worried by this, although it’s not really as bad as it sounds.
Wait a minute. You mean to tell me that the unveiling of Call of Duty: Ghost was done on the PC? Well that's gonna mess up those who wanted to buy it on the consoles.
Anyway, various news sources pointed out that the Call of Duty unveiling wasn't done on the X-Box One, but on a PC with similar specs to an X-Box One. As a matter of fact, IGN's Scott Lowe has this to say.
This week’s Call of Duty: Ghosts event wasn’t just the first opportunity to see the game’s much-anticipated multiplayer content, it was also my first chance to see how the new Xbox One controller performs when playing a competitive first-person shooter. While the controller wasn’t paired with the Xbox One console — rather, PCs configured to next-gen specs — the demos highlighted the new changes to the ergonomics, thumbsticks, d-pad, and trigger design.
If you want to see more about Call of Duty: Ghosts, check out the video below
Works Cited:
GamesReviews
Thursday, August 8, 2013
NPD June 2013: After Comic-Con edition.
Folks, I'm running late again reporting for the NPD in August instead of July. Man, why do I keep getting late over this?
Before I get into details, last week Phil Fish rage quits over a tweet and ends up cancelling Fez II.
Polytron's Phil Fish has quit the games industry, cancelling the development of Fez II in the process.
Fish announced his decision through various channels on Sunday. He gave no specific reason for the move.
A statement published on the official Polytron website read: "Fez II is cancelled. I am done. I take the money and I run. This is as much as I can stomach. This is isn't the result of any one thing, but the end of a long, bloody campaign. You win."
Poor Fish. He's been fried badly. And now we'll never know the sequel to Fez. But what was it that caused the Fish to lose it?
While Fish claims that his departure is the culmination of a, "long, bloody campaign," it is believed that a recent Game Trailers video may have been the final straw.
In an episode of the GT web series Invisible Walls, Marcus Beer called out Phil Fish and Jonathan Blow for refusing to offer comment to Game Informer on rumours about Microsoft's decision to allow self-publishing on Xbox One. Beer called both Fish and Blow "hispter ***holes" and "tosspots" for their lack of communication with the press, saying, "You should be grateful that these guys still consider what you say to be something of use."
Fish subsequently took to Twitter to provide more context for his decision. "To be clear, I'm not cancelling Fez II because some boorish **** said something stupid," he said. "I'm doing it to get out of games.
"And I'm getting out of games because I choose not to put up with this abuse any more."
In other words, this is what happens when fish and beer meets. You end up getting a tasty, breaded dinner, or someone named Marcus Beer should have felt bad for what he did.
Anyway, Lemme count down the Top 10 games of June 2013.
At number 10: Luigi's Mansion Dark Moon by Nintendo for the 3DS. Who's up for pranking Luigi with a Ghost costume?
At number 09: Battlefield 3 by Electronic Arts for the 360, PS3 and PC. It still ain't like Call of Duty
At number 07: Donkey Kong Country Returns by Nintendo for the 3DS and Wii. No Kremlings allowed
At number 06: Injustice: Gods Among Us by Warner Bros Interactive for the 360, PS3 and Wii U. Meanwhile, Cyborg got in trouble for eating Raven's Nachos.
At number 05: NBA K13 by Take 2 Interactive for the 360, PS3, Wii U, PSP and PC. Good thing Dennis Rodman didn't screw up this Top 10
At number 04: Call of Duty: Black Ops II by Activision Blizzard for the 360, PS3, PC and Wii U. I'm surprised this game is still doing well with Ghosts coming around the corner
At number 03: Minecraft by Microsoft for the 360. Wait a minute, Minecraft? How did that make it onto the Top 10?
At number 02: Animal Crossing: New Leaf by Nintendo for the 3DS. Hey wait a minute. How did that get up there?
And at Number 01: Last of Us by Sony for the PS3. Nothing more needs to be said.
But what about hardware sales? Well, it is official. The 3DS truly overtook the 360.
Nintendo 3DS: 225K
Xbox 360: 140K
Is it a transition, or is something more sinister on the horizon? Stay tuned for the NPD July 2013 as we bring you more on the NPD fallout.
Works Cited:
Games Industry
NeoGAF
Before I get into details, last week Phil Fish rage quits over a tweet and ends up cancelling Fez II.
Polytron's Phil Fish has quit the games industry, cancelling the development of Fez II in the process.
Fish announced his decision through various channels on Sunday. He gave no specific reason for the move.
A statement published on the official Polytron website read: "Fez II is cancelled. I am done. I take the money and I run. This is as much as I can stomach. This is isn't the result of any one thing, but the end of a long, bloody campaign. You win."
Poor Fish. He's been fried badly. And now we'll never know the sequel to Fez. But what was it that caused the Fish to lose it?
While Fish claims that his departure is the culmination of a, "long, bloody campaign," it is believed that a recent Game Trailers video may have been the final straw.
In an episode of the GT web series Invisible Walls, Marcus Beer called out Phil Fish and Jonathan Blow for refusing to offer comment to Game Informer on rumours about Microsoft's decision to allow self-publishing on Xbox One. Beer called both Fish and Blow "hispter ***holes" and "tosspots" for their lack of communication with the press, saying, "You should be grateful that these guys still consider what you say to be something of use."
Fish subsequently took to Twitter to provide more context for his decision. "To be clear, I'm not cancelling Fez II because some boorish **** said something stupid," he said. "I'm doing it to get out of games.
"And I'm getting out of games because I choose not to put up with this abuse any more."
In other words, this is what happens when fish and beer meets. You end up getting a tasty, breaded dinner, or someone named Marcus Beer should have felt bad for what he did.
Anyway, Lemme count down the Top 10 games of June 2013.
At number 10: Luigi's Mansion Dark Moon by Nintendo for the 3DS. Who's up for pranking Luigi with a Ghost costume?
At number 09: Battlefield 3 by Electronic Arts for the 360, PS3 and PC. It still ain't like Call of Duty
At number 07: Donkey Kong Country Returns by Nintendo for the 3DS and Wii. No Kremlings allowed
At number 06: Injustice: Gods Among Us by Warner Bros Interactive for the 360, PS3 and Wii U. Meanwhile, Cyborg got in trouble for eating Raven's Nachos.
At number 05: NBA K13 by Take 2 Interactive for the 360, PS3, Wii U, PSP and PC. Good thing Dennis Rodman didn't screw up this Top 10
At number 04: Call of Duty: Black Ops II by Activision Blizzard for the 360, PS3, PC and Wii U. I'm surprised this game is still doing well with Ghosts coming around the corner
At number 03: Minecraft by Microsoft for the 360. Wait a minute, Minecraft? How did that make it onto the Top 10?
At number 02: Animal Crossing: New Leaf by Nintendo for the 3DS. Hey wait a minute. How did that get up there?
And at Number 01: Last of Us by Sony for the PS3. Nothing more needs to be said.
But what about hardware sales? Well, it is official. The 3DS truly overtook the 360.
Nintendo 3DS: 225K
Xbox 360: 140K
Is it a transition, or is something more sinister on the horizon? Stay tuned for the NPD July 2013 as we bring you more on the NPD fallout.
Works Cited:
Games Industry
NeoGAF
Wednesday, July 24, 2013
Good bye Darkstalkers?
Folks, it's been awhile since I posted last. I was at the San Diego Comic-Con enjoying the time there. I also test drove 4 Wii U titles and 1 3DS title
Super Mario 3D World
Sonic Lost Worlds
Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze
Bayonetta 2
Zelda: A Link Between Two Worlds.
BTW, for those of you who own a Wii U, download Earthbound to the system and check it out. You will not regret it.
Speaking of Comic-Con, some sad news. The Darkstalker's franchise, which suppose to have been resurrected, is recently put back in its grave. Destructoid has this to report
Capcom is done with Darkstalkers for the foreseeable future, it seems. Speaking with Siliconera at San Diego Comic-Con, Capcom product manager Matt Dahlgren suggested the beloved fighting game franchise is being put on ice following the tepid release of Darkstalkers Resurrrection.
"Darkstalkers Resurrection did not perform as well as we would have liked to perform," Dahlgren lamented, confirming early reports of disappointing sales. "There is nothing Darkstalkers on the immediate horizon for sure," he added, dashing any hope of seeing the long-awaited fourth installment in the series anytime soon.
Dahlgren's words echo those of former Capcom senior vice president Christian Svensson. The recently departed executive indicated the title was selling poorly a few months back. Svennson chalked up the lackluster performance to a lack of promotion and the declining popularity of fighting game re-releases. Perhaps a full-fledged sequel might have fared better at market.
A darn shame. Really. I didn't buy the game because I haven't touched my 360 in awhile. But it still sucks that the Darkstalkers franchise would once again be thrown into the morgue again. Who knows when the next time we'll see Darkstalkers again.
Works Cited:
Destructoid
Super Mario 3D World
Sonic Lost Worlds
Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze
Bayonetta 2
Zelda: A Link Between Two Worlds.
BTW, for those of you who own a Wii U, download Earthbound to the system and check it out. You will not regret it.
Speaking of Comic-Con, some sad news. The Darkstalker's franchise, which suppose to have been resurrected, is recently put back in its grave. Destructoid has this to report
Capcom is done with Darkstalkers for the foreseeable future, it seems. Speaking with Siliconera at San Diego Comic-Con, Capcom product manager Matt Dahlgren suggested the beloved fighting game franchise is being put on ice following the tepid release of Darkstalkers Resurrrection.
"Darkstalkers Resurrection did not perform as well as we would have liked to perform," Dahlgren lamented, confirming early reports of disappointing sales. "There is nothing Darkstalkers on the immediate horizon for sure," he added, dashing any hope of seeing the long-awaited fourth installment in the series anytime soon.
Dahlgren's words echo those of former Capcom senior vice president Christian Svensson. The recently departed executive indicated the title was selling poorly a few months back. Svennson chalked up the lackluster performance to a lack of promotion and the declining popularity of fighting game re-releases. Perhaps a full-fledged sequel might have fared better at market.
A darn shame. Really. I didn't buy the game because I haven't touched my 360 in awhile. But it still sucks that the Darkstalkers franchise would once again be thrown into the morgue again. Who knows when the next time we'll see Darkstalkers again.
Works Cited:
Destructoid
Wednesday, July 10, 2013
NPD May 2013: Plus two bait and switches
Folks, before I go talking about the May 2013 NPD, which I am more than a month late on, I wanna discuss two issues that appeared before us.
Issue one: Nintendo demanding Smash Bros Melee to be taken down on EVO, then reversing their course.
I've actually questioned Nintendo lately. Questioned if they have any backbone what so ever. Last night, I thought they did have a backbone.
Competitive Smash Bros. fans have been working for years to gain acceptance from the greater fighting game community. Smash Bros. is very different from Street Fighter, Tekken, and Virtua Fighter, but as many have said, it still is a fighting game, despite what some of the more exclusionary members of the FGC may tell you.
These years of effort have more or less paid off. After raising nearly $100K for Breast Cancer research, Smash Bros. Melee was set to be a marquee title at Evo 2013 this weekend. As the live stream phenomena has grown in prominence and popularity over the years, so has Evo's online presence. Evo 2011 was streamed by over 2.2 million viewers (still working on digging up numbers for 2012). That's more than Bayonetta sold in the US.
You'd think that Nintendo would jump at the chance to use Evo to appeal to this passionate, influential cross section of videogame culture, but it looks like they have other plans. Nintendo has prevented Evo from streaming Smash Bros. Melee in any way. As a result, Evo has pulled Melee from the streaming aspects of the event, swapping it out for Persona 4: Arena and King of Fighters XIII.
Finally. It seems Nintendo did grow a backbone. But then they had to go and shrink said backbone when this was reported
Nintendo has reversed its decision! They're now allowing Melee to stream at Evo this year. Though Nintendo has its share of old codgers that don't know how to internet, maybe this proves that their younger colleagues have the capacity to shake them into reality, and in just a few hours no less.
Nintendo. What are you doing? You're just letting a bunch of kids take over. No wonder you're doomed to go into 3rd party. You have no backbone at all.
But then again, they have a better backbone compared to what I will discuss next
Issue 2: Demands for the original XBox One.
Sometime after E3, Microsoft announced that the X-Box One would remove a number of DRM features that left many fans angry. Well, those fans have had enough and want to tell the world that they want to be restricted.
Fans are petitioning Microsoft to bring back the restrictive DRM policies previously planned for the Xbox One, asking for a return to online check-ins and demolished ownership rights. Elsewhere, dogs around the world are asking owners to buy them tighter collars.
"This was to be the future of entertainment," writes campaign leader Dave Fontenot. "A new wave of gaming where you could buy games digitally, then trade, share or sell those digital licenses. Essentially, it was Steam for Xbox. But consumers were uninformed, and railed against it, and it was taken away because Sony took advantage of consumers uncertainty.
"We want this back. It can't be all or nothing, there must be a compromise."
The sudden pushback against Microsoft's shocking policy reversal has been interesting, with people suddenly swarming from the woodwork to defend the original Xbox One. Weird how, as soon as something goes away, there magically appears an army of those who loved the thing. Human nature, I suppose.
In any case, I'd find it hilarious if this thing gained ground. Not that Microsoft would appear so publicly weak as to re-reverse its decision, but I'm amused by so people declaring the Xbox One was the "future" when platform holders have continually struggled to handle the "present."
Where did Microsoft get all this sudden blind trust from people?
This isn't a Blind Trust, Jim Sterling. These are honest to goodness fans who wouldn't mind having their rights taken away all for pure gaming bliss. You don't know what they want, you need to bow before gamer guys, and I wouldn't mind a future where I have no gaming rights what so ever.
And now with those two issues out of the way, time to make this NPD a fast one.
At number 10: Lego Batman 2: DC Superheroes from Warner Bros Interactive for the 360, Wii, DS, 3DS, PS3, Wii U, PSVita and PC. The beginning of a DC Sandwich.
At number 09: Battlefield 3 from Electronic Arts for the 360, PS3 and PC. Tastes like Miracle Whip
At number 08: Bioshock Infinite by 2K Games for the 360, PS3 and PC. This ain't no mystery meat
At number 07: NBA 2K13 by 2K Games for the 360, PS3 and PC. Just don't ask Dennis Rodman to slice the tomato
At number 06: Metro: Last Light by Deep Silver for the 360, PS3 and PC. Purely leftovers from THQ's buyout.
At number 05: Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon by Nintendo for the 3DS. Luigi's serving up some ghoulish grilled chicken.
AT number 04: Dead Island: Riptide by Deep Silver for the 360, PS3 and PC. You want some onions with that?
At number 03: Donkey Kong Country Returns by Nintendo for the 3DS and Wii. Are you sure bananas go great on a Sandwich?
At number 02: Call of Duty: Black Ops II by ActivisionBlizzard for the 360, PS3, PC and Wii U. Tastes like Best Foods Mayonaise
And finally, at number 01: Injustice: Gods Among Us by Warner Bros Interactive for the 360, PS3 and Wii U. And that tops the tasty sandwich
But what about the hardware fries and chips? Well there is good news and bad news. The good news is, the best systems this month are the 3DS and X-Box 360. The bad news? Both sit at around 114K and a bit at 115K. A horrible month for hardware, but decent for software.
I wonder if NPD June's NPD numbers will serve up hot dogs or Hamburgers?
Works Cited:
Destructoid Article 1
Destructoid Article 2
Issue one: Nintendo demanding Smash Bros Melee to be taken down on EVO, then reversing their course.
I've actually questioned Nintendo lately. Questioned if they have any backbone what so ever. Last night, I thought they did have a backbone.
Competitive Smash Bros. fans have been working for years to gain acceptance from the greater fighting game community. Smash Bros. is very different from Street Fighter, Tekken, and Virtua Fighter, but as many have said, it still is a fighting game, despite what some of the more exclusionary members of the FGC may tell you.
These years of effort have more or less paid off. After raising nearly $100K for Breast Cancer research, Smash Bros. Melee was set to be a marquee title at Evo 2013 this weekend. As the live stream phenomena has grown in prominence and popularity over the years, so has Evo's online presence. Evo 2011 was streamed by over 2.2 million viewers (still working on digging up numbers for 2012). That's more than Bayonetta sold in the US.
You'd think that Nintendo would jump at the chance to use Evo to appeal to this passionate, influential cross section of videogame culture, but it looks like they have other plans. Nintendo has prevented Evo from streaming Smash Bros. Melee in any way. As a result, Evo has pulled Melee from the streaming aspects of the event, swapping it out for Persona 4: Arena and King of Fighters XIII.
Finally. It seems Nintendo did grow a backbone. But then they had to go and shrink said backbone when this was reported
Nintendo has reversed its decision! They're now allowing Melee to stream at Evo this year. Though Nintendo has its share of old codgers that don't know how to internet, maybe this proves that their younger colleagues have the capacity to shake them into reality, and in just a few hours no less.
Nintendo. What are you doing? You're just letting a bunch of kids take over. No wonder you're doomed to go into 3rd party. You have no backbone at all.
But then again, they have a better backbone compared to what I will discuss next
Issue 2: Demands for the original XBox One.
Sometime after E3, Microsoft announced that the X-Box One would remove a number of DRM features that left many fans angry. Well, those fans have had enough and want to tell the world that they want to be restricted.
Fans are petitioning Microsoft to bring back the restrictive DRM policies previously planned for the Xbox One, asking for a return to online check-ins and demolished ownership rights. Elsewhere, dogs around the world are asking owners to buy them tighter collars.
"This was to be the future of entertainment," writes campaign leader Dave Fontenot. "A new wave of gaming where you could buy games digitally, then trade, share or sell those digital licenses. Essentially, it was Steam for Xbox. But consumers were uninformed, and railed against it, and it was taken away because Sony took advantage of consumers uncertainty.
"We want this back. It can't be all or nothing, there must be a compromise."
The sudden pushback against Microsoft's shocking policy reversal has been interesting, with people suddenly swarming from the woodwork to defend the original Xbox One. Weird how, as soon as something goes away, there magically appears an army of those who loved the thing. Human nature, I suppose.
In any case, I'd find it hilarious if this thing gained ground. Not that Microsoft would appear so publicly weak as to re-reverse its decision, but I'm amused by so people declaring the Xbox One was the "future" when platform holders have continually struggled to handle the "present."
Where did Microsoft get all this sudden blind trust from people?
This isn't a Blind Trust, Jim Sterling. These are honest to goodness fans who wouldn't mind having their rights taken away all for pure gaming bliss. You don't know what they want, you need to bow before gamer guys, and I wouldn't mind a future where I have no gaming rights what so ever.
And now with those two issues out of the way, time to make this NPD a fast one.
At number 10: Lego Batman 2: DC Superheroes from Warner Bros Interactive for the 360, Wii, DS, 3DS, PS3, Wii U, PSVita and PC. The beginning of a DC Sandwich.
At number 09: Battlefield 3 from Electronic Arts for the 360, PS3 and PC. Tastes like Miracle Whip
At number 08: Bioshock Infinite by 2K Games for the 360, PS3 and PC. This ain't no mystery meat
At number 07: NBA 2K13 by 2K Games for the 360, PS3 and PC. Just don't ask Dennis Rodman to slice the tomato
At number 06: Metro: Last Light by Deep Silver for the 360, PS3 and PC. Purely leftovers from THQ's buyout.
At number 05: Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon by Nintendo for the 3DS. Luigi's serving up some ghoulish grilled chicken.
AT number 04: Dead Island: Riptide by Deep Silver for the 360, PS3 and PC. You want some onions with that?
At number 03: Donkey Kong Country Returns by Nintendo for the 3DS and Wii. Are you sure bananas go great on a Sandwich?
At number 02: Call of Duty: Black Ops II by ActivisionBlizzard for the 360, PS3, PC and Wii U. Tastes like Best Foods Mayonaise
And finally, at number 01: Injustice: Gods Among Us by Warner Bros Interactive for the 360, PS3 and Wii U. And that tops the tasty sandwich
But what about the hardware fries and chips? Well there is good news and bad news. The good news is, the best systems this month are the 3DS and X-Box 360. The bad news? Both sit at around 114K and a bit at 115K. A horrible month for hardware, but decent for software.
I wonder if NPD June's NPD numbers will serve up hot dogs or Hamburgers?
Works Cited:
Destructoid Article 1
Destructoid Article 2
Sunday, June 30, 2013
Sony and Nintendo from E3
Zzzz. Wha? Did I fall asleep again? Oy, now I'm really late on E3.
But before I go down that path, there is a bit of bad news. A few days ago, it was announced that Atlus's parent company, Index Holdings, has filed for bankruptcy.
Atlus’ parent company Index Holdings has declared bankruptcy at Tokyo District Court.
The company, which bought Atlus in 2006, is 24.5 billion yen in debt, which is roughlyt USD $250 million or GBP £160 million.
President Yoshimi Ochiai and Chairman Masami Ochiai intend to resign.
The Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission of Japan have been investigating the company for allegedly improper accounting via fictitious transactions, specifically under the suspicious of exaggerating revenues using round-trip transactions.
Meanwhile, Atlus Japan said everything is still on track with their upcoming game releases. Etrian Odyssey Untold: The Millennium Girl was released today in Japan, and Dragon’s Crown is due out on July 25.
A real bummer, isn't it? While we praise the company for the games it puts out, its parent company is getting slammed hard, financial wise.
But now, onto the losers of E3: Sony and Nintendo. I mean, what is so great about two Japanese companies when an American company is on the verge of owning these two next generation? It's not like the Playstation 4 was priced at Three Hundred and Ninety Nine Dollars.
Sony has finally revealed release information about its PlayStation 4 console: that it plays used, lent or rented games with no restrictions and its price: $399. That translates to 399 euros, and £349 where applicable, or if you missed it, $100, 100 euros and £70 less than what Microsoft just announced for the Xbox One. There's no specific release date or month yet, just "this holiday season" in the US and Europe. The official spec list confirms that for four bills, you get the system, a controller, USB, HDMI and power cables -- but no PlayStation 4 Eye.
SON OF A*CENSORED*
But I'm not here to panic. They don't have as many interesting titles as X-Box One.
FINAL FANTASY XV? AND KINGDOM HEARTS 3? Is this some kind of joke?
No, I am not gonna fall for this. I heard these games are coming to the X-Box One. The One is better than the Four. The One is better than the Four
Perhaps the biggest news post-console reveal here at Sony's E3 presser: the PS4 will play used games without any restrictions or authentication. In broader terms, that means that when you purchase physical media, that disc can then be traded-in at retailers like GameStop, lent / sold to friends or kept forever as part of your enduring library. What's more, unlike Microsoft's controversial Xbox One 24-hour offline gaming window, PS4 owners will not have to connect to the internet in order to continue playing games. Effectively, that makes the PS4 fully playable offline; it also arguably hands the E3 2013 crown to Sony. For a brief instructional (and intentionally cheeky) demo on how this used game process works, check out Sony's homemade video after the break.
Arrgh. This has got to be a sick joke. I'm already upset over Microsoft abandoning its DRM. What is Sony doing here?
But there is something at least good coming out of this.
Sony is delivering mixed blessings here at E3: while it's more than willing to avoid DRM on the PlayStation 4, it just echoed Microsoft's approach to multiplayer services. You'll now need a PlayStation Plus subscription to play online. That may be a small price to pay when both Plus and the PS4 itself are cheaper than Xbox Live and the Xbox One, but it's an unfortunate extra cost for those used to getting their multiplayer gaming for free.
Hah. Eat that free online gaming. You want to play online? You gotta pay yer fee.
But what about Nintendo? I bet they don't have anything worthwhile. And don't say Super Mario 3D World or Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze. Those two don't count. At least give me something worth while.
Wait. Is that Bayonetta? I thought she was Microsoft forever. WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?
Okay. Calm down. Calm down. Everything will be alright. They can't hit me even worse than that.
A Transformation-like Gundam-style RPG from MONOLITH SOFTWARE?" What is this? What's going on here?
Don't worry. It's going to go away. At least they can't surprise me with Smash Bros and put Mega Man into it.
.....
Ya know what? I think I'm gonna go sulk in a corner and cry on how Nintendo and Sony are picking on Microsoft with all this.
Works Cited:
Gematsu
PS4 E3 2013 information
Nintendo Direct E3 2013 info at Engadget
But before I go down that path, there is a bit of bad news. A few days ago, it was announced that Atlus's parent company, Index Holdings, has filed for bankruptcy.
Atlus’ parent company Index Holdings has declared bankruptcy at Tokyo District Court.
The company, which bought Atlus in 2006, is 24.5 billion yen in debt, which is roughlyt USD $250 million or GBP £160 million.
President Yoshimi Ochiai and Chairman Masami Ochiai intend to resign.
The Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission of Japan have been investigating the company for allegedly improper accounting via fictitious transactions, specifically under the suspicious of exaggerating revenues using round-trip transactions.
Meanwhile, Atlus Japan said everything is still on track with their upcoming game releases. Etrian Odyssey Untold: The Millennium Girl was released today in Japan, and Dragon’s Crown is due out on July 25.
A real bummer, isn't it? While we praise the company for the games it puts out, its parent company is getting slammed hard, financial wise.
But now, onto the losers of E3: Sony and Nintendo. I mean, what is so great about two Japanese companies when an American company is on the verge of owning these two next generation? It's not like the Playstation 4 was priced at Three Hundred and Ninety Nine Dollars.
Sony has finally revealed release information about its PlayStation 4 console: that it plays used, lent or rented games with no restrictions and its price: $399. That translates to 399 euros, and £349 where applicable, or if you missed it, $100, 100 euros and £70 less than what Microsoft just announced for the Xbox One. There's no specific release date or month yet, just "this holiday season" in the US and Europe. The official spec list confirms that for four bills, you get the system, a controller, USB, HDMI and power cables -- but no PlayStation 4 Eye.
SON OF A*CENSORED*
But I'm not here to panic. They don't have as many interesting titles as X-Box One.
FINAL FANTASY XV? AND KINGDOM HEARTS 3? Is this some kind of joke?
No, I am not gonna fall for this. I heard these games are coming to the X-Box One. The One is better than the Four. The One is better than the Four
Perhaps the biggest news post-console reveal here at Sony's E3 presser: the PS4 will play used games without any restrictions or authentication. In broader terms, that means that when you purchase physical media, that disc can then be traded-in at retailers like GameStop, lent / sold to friends or kept forever as part of your enduring library. What's more, unlike Microsoft's controversial Xbox One 24-hour offline gaming window, PS4 owners will not have to connect to the internet in order to continue playing games. Effectively, that makes the PS4 fully playable offline; it also arguably hands the E3 2013 crown to Sony. For a brief instructional (and intentionally cheeky) demo on how this used game process works, check out Sony's homemade video after the break.
Arrgh. This has got to be a sick joke. I'm already upset over Microsoft abandoning its DRM. What is Sony doing here?
But there is something at least good coming out of this.
Sony is delivering mixed blessings here at E3: while it's more than willing to avoid DRM on the PlayStation 4, it just echoed Microsoft's approach to multiplayer services. You'll now need a PlayStation Plus subscription to play online. That may be a small price to pay when both Plus and the PS4 itself are cheaper than Xbox Live and the Xbox One, but it's an unfortunate extra cost for those used to getting their multiplayer gaming for free.
Hah. Eat that free online gaming. You want to play online? You gotta pay yer fee.
But what about Nintendo? I bet they don't have anything worthwhile. And don't say Super Mario 3D World or Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze. Those two don't count. At least give me something worth while.
Wait. Is that Bayonetta? I thought she was Microsoft forever. WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?
Okay. Calm down. Calm down. Everything will be alright. They can't hit me even worse than that.
A Transformation-like Gundam-style RPG from MONOLITH SOFTWARE?" What is this? What's going on here?
Don't worry. It's going to go away. At least they can't surprise me with Smash Bros and put Mega Man into it.
.....
Ya know what? I think I'm gonna go sulk in a corner and cry on how Nintendo and Sony are picking on Microsoft with all this.
Works Cited:
Gematsu
PS4 E3 2013 information
Nintendo Direct E3 2013 info at Engadget
Thursday, June 20, 2013
Microsoft: From E3 to now
Last week Monday, Microsoft talked more about the X-Box One and the system that will unite gaming under one DRM roof. I mean, how much will this system cost?
Despite Microsoft's enthusiasm for its next-generation console, one important piece was missing from its Xbox One announcement last month: the console's price. Luckily, the company's E3 press event presented the firm with the perfect time to remedy the mistake: the Xbox One will sell for $499 in the US, 499 euros in Europe, and £429 in the UK when it launches this November. The console will be rolling out to 21 countries in all, so let the countdown to launch day begin!
499 US Dollars. Alot cheaper than when the PS3 released at 599 US Dollars. Woot. We're better than Playstation 3.
But it's not just that cost, but also where it will be available....
Microsoft has now provided a full list of those 21 countries: United States, France, Netherlands, Canada, Germany, Switzerland, Mexico, Spain, Russia, Brazil, Italy, Sweden, Australia, Ireland, Norway, New Zealand, Belgium, Finland, United Kingdom, Austria, Denmark
Guess what Japan: YOU DON'T GET AN X-BOX ONE!
But what great games did the X-Box One get? Well from games like Metal Gear Solid V, to the next Halo, Microsoft is providing high quality games as long as you keep phoning home.
Who cares if this game is also coming to the 360, PS3 and PS4. Heck, it should be only on that console if you want to play.
Seems there's no putting down Master Chief.
But the biggest surprise is the return of an old fighting franchise to compete against both Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat. That's right, I'm talking about Killer Instinct
The game itself will go free to play and will offer Jago available right off the bat. So I hope you got your card ready since there will be NO Microsoft points. I mean, who needs those other has-been fighting franchises? They never made any sense compared to Killer Instinct.
But that's not all. Wanna create your own games? Leave it to the Smartglass enabled, needs Kinect Project Spark
You can go ahead and wipe Angry Birds off since you can create a better and Angrier Birds.
BTW. Ignore anyone saying that this game is also coming to PC and the 360. Because this is X-Box One only
I mean, why are they claiming it's also for the 360 and PC? The 360 is outdated trash and the PC? I wouldn't use that for games if I can't use the One controller to rule all.
And that's it for the X-Box One. I can assure to you that happy days are ahead for Microsoft
You told us how much you loved the flexibility you have today with games delivered on disc. The ability to lend, share, and resell these games at your discretion is of incredible importance to you. Also important to you is the freedom to play offline, for any length of time, anywhere in the world.
So, today I am announcing the following changes to Xbox One and how you can play, share, lend, and resell your games exactly as you do today on Xbox 360. Here is what that means:
An internet connection will not be required to play offline Xbox One games – After a one-time system set-up with a new Xbox One, you can play any disc based game without ever connecting online again. There is no 24 hour connection requirement and you can take your Xbox One anywhere you want and play your games, just like on Xbox 360.
Trade-in, lend, resell, gift, and rent disc based games just like you do today – There will be no limitations to using and sharing games, it will work just as it does today on Xbox 360.
In addition to buying a disc from a retailer, you can also download games from Xbox Live on day of release. If you choose to download your games, you will be able to play them offline just like you do today. Xbox One games will be playable on any Xbox One console -- there will be no regional restrictions.
These changes will impact some of the scenarios we previously announced for Xbox One. The sharing of games will work as it does today, you will simply share the disc. Downloaded titles cannot be shared or resold. Also, similar to today, playing disc based games will require that the disc be in the tray.
......
You were suppose to be the One console future where you held us all in the palm of your hands.
Excuse me, while I go weep in the corner.
Works Cited:
Engadget E3 2013 Microsoft Links
Xbox.com
Despite Microsoft's enthusiasm for its next-generation console, one important piece was missing from its Xbox One announcement last month: the console's price. Luckily, the company's E3 press event presented the firm with the perfect time to remedy the mistake: the Xbox One will sell for $499 in the US, 499 euros in Europe, and £429 in the UK when it launches this November. The console will be rolling out to 21 countries in all, so let the countdown to launch day begin!
499 US Dollars. Alot cheaper than when the PS3 released at 599 US Dollars. Woot. We're better than Playstation 3.
But it's not just that cost, but also where it will be available....
Microsoft has now provided a full list of those 21 countries: United States, France, Netherlands, Canada, Germany, Switzerland, Mexico, Spain, Russia, Brazil, Italy, Sweden, Australia, Ireland, Norway, New Zealand, Belgium, Finland, United Kingdom, Austria, Denmark
Guess what Japan: YOU DON'T GET AN X-BOX ONE!
But what great games did the X-Box One get? Well from games like Metal Gear Solid V, to the next Halo, Microsoft is providing high quality games as long as you keep phoning home.
Who cares if this game is also coming to the 360, PS3 and PS4. Heck, it should be only on that console if you want to play.
Seems there's no putting down Master Chief.
But the biggest surprise is the return of an old fighting franchise to compete against both Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat. That's right, I'm talking about Killer Instinct
The game itself will go free to play and will offer Jago available right off the bat. So I hope you got your card ready since there will be NO Microsoft points. I mean, who needs those other has-been fighting franchises? They never made any sense compared to Killer Instinct.
But that's not all. Wanna create your own games? Leave it to the Smartglass enabled, needs Kinect Project Spark
You can go ahead and wipe Angry Birds off since you can create a better and Angrier Birds.
BTW. Ignore anyone saying that this game is also coming to PC and the 360. Because this is X-Box One only
I mean, why are they claiming it's also for the 360 and PC? The 360 is outdated trash and the PC? I wouldn't use that for games if I can't use the One controller to rule all.
And that's it for the X-Box One. I can assure to you that happy days are ahead for Microsoft
You told us how much you loved the flexibility you have today with games delivered on disc. The ability to lend, share, and resell these games at your discretion is of incredible importance to you. Also important to you is the freedom to play offline, for any length of time, anywhere in the world.
So, today I am announcing the following changes to Xbox One and how you can play, share, lend, and resell your games exactly as you do today on Xbox 360. Here is what that means:
An internet connection will not be required to play offline Xbox One games – After a one-time system set-up with a new Xbox One, you can play any disc based game without ever connecting online again. There is no 24 hour connection requirement and you can take your Xbox One anywhere you want and play your games, just like on Xbox 360.
Trade-in, lend, resell, gift, and rent disc based games just like you do today – There will be no limitations to using and sharing games, it will work just as it does today on Xbox 360.
In addition to buying a disc from a retailer, you can also download games from Xbox Live on day of release. If you choose to download your games, you will be able to play them offline just like you do today. Xbox One games will be playable on any Xbox One console -- there will be no regional restrictions.
These changes will impact some of the scenarios we previously announced for Xbox One. The sharing of games will work as it does today, you will simply share the disc. Downloaded titles cannot be shared or resold. Also, similar to today, playing disc based games will require that the disc be in the tray.
......
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!
You were suppose to be the One console future where you held us all in the palm of your hands.
Excuse me, while I go weep in the corner.
Works Cited:
Engadget E3 2013 Microsoft Links
Xbox.com
Friday, June 7, 2013
April NPD 2013: The Calm before the storm
Folks, E3 is just around the corner. Can you smell that new era smell? Smells alot like greenbacks. In a few days, Microsoft will be talking about the Always-on X-Box One and why it will dominate a market of non-DRMed systems.
But before we do that, we better get down to the doom and gloom that is the NPD. Actually, there is a small bright spot.
At number 10, MLB 13: The Show from Sony for the PS3 and Vita. Baseball at its finest.
At number 09, Lego City Undercover: The Chase Begins by Nintendo and Traveler's Tales for the 3DS. Any change of Chase becoming apart of Smash Bros 4 by any chance?
At number 08, Skylanders Giants by Activision Blizzard for the Wii, 360, PS3, 3DS and Wii U. At 5 O'Clock, Spyro the Dragon on trial for Asheep and Battering Ram.
At number 07, NBA 2K13 from 2Kgames for the 360, PS3, Wii, Wii U, PCP and PC. Bet Michael Jordan can't dunk this
At number 06, Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon from Nintendo for the 3DS. Who needs the Real Ghostbusters when you have Luigi?
At number 05: Defiance from Trion worlds for the 360, PS3 and PC. Perhaps one of the most open of games out there.
At number 04: Call of Duty: Black Ops II from Activision Blizzard for the 360, PS3, PC and Wii U. No dogs allowed on this game.
At number 03: Bioshock Infinite from 2K games for the 360, PS3 and PC. Somehow, I do miss the days of Rapture
At number 02: Dead Island: Riptide from Deep Silver for the 360, PS3 and PC. You do look good on the barbeque.
And finally at number 01: Injustice: Gods Among Us from Warner Bros for the 360, PS3, and Wii U. Now we can answer on who the better hero is: The Flash or Green Lantern
But overall, game sales are down that month and even more so, there is barely any new games that made the list with Injustice serving as the bright point.
Now there is good news and bad news. The good news is, the X-Box 360 is number 1 again for the 21st consecutive month in a row. But the bad news?
Only 130K units sold. A huge drop with the 3DS right behind it.
The PS3 is rumored to have sold even less than that. And the Wii U, down at around 37K. The biggest loser is the PS vita, which sold even less than 20K.
It's a dire market. Does May bring better sales? Stay tuned.
Works Cited:
NeoGAF
But before we do that, we better get down to the doom and gloom that is the NPD. Actually, there is a small bright spot.
At number 10, MLB 13: The Show from Sony for the PS3 and Vita. Baseball at its finest.
At number 09, Lego City Undercover: The Chase Begins by Nintendo and Traveler's Tales for the 3DS. Any change of Chase becoming apart of Smash Bros 4 by any chance?
At number 08, Skylanders Giants by Activision Blizzard for the Wii, 360, PS3, 3DS and Wii U. At 5 O'Clock, Spyro the Dragon on trial for Asheep and Battering Ram.
At number 07, NBA 2K13 from 2Kgames for the 360, PS3, Wii, Wii U, PCP and PC. Bet Michael Jordan can't dunk this
At number 06, Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon from Nintendo for the 3DS. Who needs the Real Ghostbusters when you have Luigi?
At number 05: Defiance from Trion worlds for the 360, PS3 and PC. Perhaps one of the most open of games out there.
At number 04: Call of Duty: Black Ops II from Activision Blizzard for the 360, PS3, PC and Wii U. No dogs allowed on this game.
At number 03: Bioshock Infinite from 2K games for the 360, PS3 and PC. Somehow, I do miss the days of Rapture
At number 02: Dead Island: Riptide from Deep Silver for the 360, PS3 and PC. You do look good on the barbeque.
And finally at number 01: Injustice: Gods Among Us from Warner Bros for the 360, PS3, and Wii U. Now we can answer on who the better hero is: The Flash or Green Lantern
But overall, game sales are down that month and even more so, there is barely any new games that made the list with Injustice serving as the bright point.
Now there is good news and bad news. The good news is, the X-Box 360 is number 1 again for the 21st consecutive month in a row. But the bad news?
Only 130K units sold. A huge drop with the 3DS right behind it.
The PS3 is rumored to have sold even less than that. And the Wii U, down at around 37K. The biggest loser is the PS vita, which sold even less than 20K.
It's a dire market. Does May bring better sales? Stay tuned.
Works Cited:
NeoGAF
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