Forget her, she’s boring.
Wouldn’t you rather have GLaDOS from Portal as the voice of your electronic assistant instead?
That’s what I thought.
via dcoreythomas.com
Adam Blessener from Game Informer:
Is this going to be dumbed down for the “wider console audience”?
Firaxis is undeniably streamlining aspects of the game and removing no small amount of micromanagement, but from what I’ve seen I wouldn’t call it “dumbing down” the game so much as getting rid of tedium and uninteresting mechanics. Soldiers still die permanently, fog of war and line of sight are hugely important in combat, and you absolutely can lose the game if you screw up too badly.
X-Com was undeniably one of my favorite strategy game franchises growing up as a kid. It was pretty unforgiving, though, and I definitely remember lots of saving and reloading. I’m all for getting rid of tedium and injecting some modern day game design into this and any other “reimaginings.” We tend to look at old favorites with rose-colored glasses and this almost always leads to the inevitable internet outrage when developers announce these sort of tweaks.
via Game Informer
What could be a more fun iPhone game than shooting the crap out of zombies as a badass postapocalyptic British lawgiver? Turns out, there’s quite a bit of alternatives. I had the opportunity to review Judge Dredd Vs. Zombies for Comics Alliance late last year and while the core gameplay was competently fun, it was sucked dry by the hollow presentation and shameless difficulty due to a freemium model-friendly unlock system.
If you’re looking for an epic Judge Dredd gaming experience based on the comics, let’s stop right there. This is not the game for you. While the word “zombies” in the title could imply a tie in to Garth Ennis’ epic “Judgment Day” zombie storyline, Judge Dredd vs. Zombies involves nothing of the sort. The closest you get to a story is a single briefing screen telling you that Zombies have infested Mega City-One and that Judge Dredd is the “Solution.” In fact, other than scattered badges and the occasional logo in each level, the only sights you’re going to see are Judge Dredd, zombies, and generic looking building interiors. To be fair to the developer, though, it’s what was promised in the title and by golly that’s exactly what’s offered.
Read my full review on Comics Alliance here
The data plan for the 3G version of the PlayStation Vita will run you $15 for 250 MB or $25 for 2GB. There are no contracts, the company said during a presentation at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
It’s a slightly better deal than iPhone users who have to pay $15 for 200MB, but let’s be real here. Unless you’ve got a ton of disposable income, why would you pay another monthly data plan (assuming you’re a smartphone owner) for a purely gaming device?
Even without contracts involved, it’s still a hefty price to be paid to scratch that multiplayer game itch.
via Kotaku.
Another year, another Spike Video Game Awards show to suffer watch through. It’s got to be having some sort of success, or else they wouldn’t be putting it on every year, right? That, or the sponsorship money they’re getting from the games publishers and Kraft Macaroni and Cheese is enough to keep the show afloat.
Overall, the show was roughly the same as it was last year, maybe slightly better. Jason Scherier had a finely crafted open letter about the Spike VGAs that eloquently states why actual game enthusiasts have been so frustrated with the production each and every year. Honestly, there’s some elements the show nails, like the augmented reality elements and the actual awards themselves. Spike is wise to leave the nominations and selections of the awards themselves to people who know about the games themselves. That’s why the show hasn’t devolved into complete dreck – because the core of what they’re trying to accomplish is actually solid. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy the occasional potty-humor bit and I’m sure others do too. But we also know when that line is crossed into cringe-worthy unfunny. I don’t know, maybe Spike should hire Louis CK as a consultant? That guy gets how to incorporate crude humor in a way that is funny without insulting its audience.
Anyway, as long as the show stays awkward, I’ll have fun with these running diaries. Again, this year’s awards were on a Saturday night, so what follows is a retro-liveblog off my DVR.
“Inside our office, I’ve been recently declaring, ‘I’m going to retire, I’m going to retire,’” Miyamoto said through his interpreter. “I’m not saying that I’m going to retire from game development altogether. What I mean by retiring is, retiring from my current position.”
“What I really want to do is be in the forefront of game development once again myself,” Miyamoto said. “Probably working on a smaller project with even younger developers. Or I might be interested in making something that I can make myself, by myself. Something really small.”
Sad to see Miyamoto not overseeing Nintendo’s blockbuster titles anymore, but perhaps this is for the best. Bigger teams and bigger budgets on established franchises doesn’t really afford much room for radical innovation. You can bet I’ll be very interested to see what sort of games he cooks up himself or with a small team. Imagine if Miyamoto put his talents toward revolutionizing smartphone gaming just as he did the console industry way back when…
via Wired.com.
Currently, it’s got the basic functionality of things you’d want to do away from your Xbox, like check/send messages, achievements, and friend activity. You can even check out some streaming video content from the Xbox LIVE team. You can’t, however, browse the Xbox LIVE Marketplace and make downloads or purchases. This would be the logical next feature add and I’d be surprised if Microsoft didn’t implement this sooner rather than later. After all, allowing players to impulse purchase content on the go can only do good things for Microsoft’s bottom line.
Here’s a list of features from Major Nelson:
Some of the features include:
Read and send messages to friends
Manage your friends list, invite new friends
Read and Edit your full LIVE profile (name, bio, motto)
Change your avatar features/items with the avatar closet
View and compare your achievement progress with friends
From the very beginning our main competitors on the market were pirates. The question was really not if company x or y had better marketing or better releases, but more like “How can we convince gamers to go and buy the legit version and not to go to a local street vendor and buy a pirated one?” We of course experimented with all available DRM/copy protection, but frankly nothing worked. Whatever we used was cracked within a day or two, massively copied and immediately available on the streets for a fraction of our price.
We did not give up, but came up with new strategy: we started offering high value with the product – like enhancing the game with additional collectors’ items like soundtracks, making-of DVDs, books, walkthroughs, etc. This, together with a long process of educating local gamers about why it makes sense to actually buy games legally, worked. And today, we have a reasonably healthy games market.
In any case, I am not saying that we have eliminated piracy or there is not piracy in the case of TW2. There is, and TW2 was [illegally] downloaded by tens of thousands of people during the first two weeks after release. Still, DRM does not work and however you would protect it, it will be cracked in no time. Plus, the DRM itself is a pain for your legal gamers – this group of honest people, who decided that your game was worth the 50 USD or Euro and went and bought it. Why would you want to make their lives more difficult?
Again, the lesson here is to treat your would-be customers with respect and add enough value to your legitimate product to make pirating unattractive.
via PC Gamer
· Xbox 360 sold more than 960,000 consoles in the U.S. alone, with more than 800,000 sold within a period of 24 hours.
· More than 750,000 Kinect for Xbox 360 sensors were sold in the U.S. – standalone and bundled.
It’s amazing that a 6 year old console can still do these kinds of numbers, though keep in mind that that 24 hour sales period spike was undoubtedly due to a $100 price cut on the 360/Kinect bundle for Black Friday. The 750k quote for Kinect sales is also a little tricky as it includes sales from said Black Friday bundles too.
Nevertheless, with numbers like these, why would Microsoft need to rush out an “Xbox 720″ next year?
