A New Gen Dawn Part 1: Winter is coming

Folks, the next generation of gaming is here.  That's right, I'm talking about

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

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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."

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 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 on sale 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 fulfilling holiday gift wishes this season,” wrote Yusuf Mehdi, Xbox's corporate Vice President of Marketing and Strategy, in a statement.

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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.

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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.

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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

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Some of the thousands of early adopters who shelled out for Sony's PlayStation 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 the HDMI 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.

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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

Mashable

CS Monitor

The Register

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

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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.

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 Giant Bomb's Jeff Gertsmann: 60

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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.

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Quater to Three's Tom Chick: 40(The Lowest score so far)

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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

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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. 

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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