Backlog: The Embiggening – June, 2017
Nelson Schneider - wrote on 05/28/17 at 03:40 PM CT
Welcome back to another look into the near future! June is traditionally the start of the dreaded Summer Game Drought. Fortunately for all of us, this year, the deluge that started two months ago is continuing unabated. Should we be grateful for this influx of new releases, or is it transforming into a destructive monsoon of crap?
Only three pieces of shovelware are coming in June. By some cosmic coincidence, all of them happen to be racing shovelware to boot: “Cars 3: Driven to Win” will probably be the best bet for fans of Kart racing, as that genre has been quite neglected lately, “Micro Machines World Series” will probably be the best bet for fans of the also-neglected Vehicular Combat sub-genre (though it’s weird to see a new game based on toys from 25 years ago), and “The Official Motocross Game” (which was delayed from last month) should be the choice for those who prefer realism to fun.
There are a whopping 10 releases in the port/remaster/compilation …
Microsoft’s Reality Mix-Up
Nelson Schneider - wrote on 05/21/17 at 04:04 PM CT
Three years ago, I was rather excited about the potential of Virtual Reality hardware, like the Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, and PlayStation VR, as well as Microsoft’s weird, special snowflake take on the Reality gimmick, Augmented Reality via the prototype MS Hololens. We haven’t heard much about Hololens since E3 2015, and I was beginning to think that the lukewarm reception of VR technologies by the consumer public caused Microsoft to get cold feet about AR.
That is not the case! It appears that late last year, Microsoft partnered with some of their numerous third-party hardware manufactuerers, like Acer and Hewlett-Packard, to create a new type of headset device that shares more in common with VR than AR. These so-called ‘Mixed Reality’ headsets now have an official name – Windows Holographic – and were apparently up for pre-order for a while but no longer appear to be. These new MR headsets are supposed to work with a previously-unknown set of Microsoft motion …
5 Windows Store Games to Keep Your Elderly Mother Occupied
Nelson Schneider - wrote on 05/14/17 at 02:16 PM CT
Way back in 2014, I put together a list of 5 Wii games to help bridge the generation gap between Gen-X-ers and their mothers on Mothers’ Day. In the intervening time, the Wii came to the end of its glorious life and was replaced by the abysmal WiiU. In the same timeframe, Nintendo seems to have largely given up on the ‘Blue Ocean’ of non-gamers. Instead, apps have become the new way for non-traditional folks to enjoy a videogame or two.
While the new generation of Millennials surely has little to worry about regarding their parents and technology, Gen-X-ers with elderly parents are still in the same boat we’ve been in for 20 years: Mom and Dad just can’t figure out that darned computer. And don’t even try to teach them how to use a smartphone in their 60s unless you also want to explain to them how they managed to run-up massive data overages on their bill. No, the parents of Gen-X have been passed over by technology, but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible for them …
Xbox Scorpio: What It Will Be; What It Should Be
Nelson Schneider - wrote on 05/07/17 at 04:55 PM CT
While it still doesn’t have an official name or release date outside of ‘holiday 2017,’ recently new information has been revealed about the upcoming successor to the XBONE, the Xbox Codenamed ‘Scorpio.’ As an Xbox hater since the very beginning, when Microsoft began adapting many of the most annoying aspects of PC gaming for console gaming consumption, anything Microsoft might do that has ‘Xbox’ in the name is a hard sell for me. But the company has proven that the flow goes both ways, and I have gotten significant use and enjoyment out of a number of their console-centric ideas that found their way into the Windows PC operating system.
With Scorpio, Microsoft is running off a ‘four-pillar’ model, with four key areas of focus that they hope will allow their next effort to redeem the utter failure of the XBONE (and perhaps become the first Xbox console to turn a profit). These four pillars are as follows:
1. Regain the hearts and minds of …
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