Why Everyone Else is Wrong: a Case for the Xbox 360
Jonzor - wrote on 11/21/12 at 10:51 AM CT
Who “won” the 7th Console Generation? I guess that depends on what you think “winning” is. Does making the most money “win”? How many points is having the most popular game worth? Is losing all of your online community’s personal information through a FREE online service better or worse than a paid-for online service that doesn’t give your info away and shut down for a month?
Your opinion of which console “won” probably boils down to a shockingly small number of variables. Maybe you like RTS games and MMORPGs more than anything else. No one’s going to convince you that anything other than the PC won. Maybe you like shaking spray paint cans that your grandmother and little sister can also enjoy. Well, the Wii is the only console the three of you will ever need.
A lot of people will make this more complicated than it needs to be... muddy the water to try and confuse you. Ultimately be unable to remove their biases from the discussion. So the first …
The New PlayStation Store: What Horrors Hath Sony Wrought?
Nelson Schneider - wrote on 11/17/12 at 04:26 PM CT
After the latest PlayStation 3 hack was revealed, Sony pushed through a whole bunch of updates, both to the PS3’s Cross Media Bar and to the PlayStation Store. Nick believes these updates to be desperate attempts by Sony to avoid having their current home console violated by pirates in the same way that their late PlayStation Portable (PSP) was. I honestly don’t know if that is the case or if the timing of the hack and this string of updates is a coincidence.
What I do know, though, is that the new PlayStation Store interface is an unholy abomination. The original PlayStation Store was decent. It was fairly snappy and free of clutter, with one big promotional box on the front page. It had clear categories for games, DLC add-ons, movies, and all the other minor pointless stuff that nobody cares about (like PS3 Dynamic Themes and 49-cent PSN avatars (because, obviously, it would be insane to let people upload their own avatars, like Steam does, for example)). It further broke …
The FPS is Dead... Long Live the FPS!
Chris Kavan - wrote on 11/14/12 at 12:09 PM CT
Even though there may be people who disagree, the FPS genre is not only here to stay, it's apparently more popular than ever. Sure, you can complain that all the games are the same: brown, bland with a focus on multiplayer where you're more likely to get tea-bagged by a 12-year-old, who is spouting some racist slurs at you, than anything else. But despite this generic characterization, it seems that people just don't care - and, in fact, two recent releases may just be the shot-in-the-arm the video game industry needs.
If you haven't been playing attention, the video game industry has been been in a slump. I don't know about you, but 11 months of declining sales is bad no matter what business you happen to work for. Yet November looks to finally reverse this trend - and not just because of the WiiU.
I'm talking about two juggernauts of FPS glory being released within weeks of each other: first up, we have Halo 4, which has already broken records as the best-selling game in the …
Sequels vs. DLC: Make Up Your Minds, Devs!
Nelson Schneider - wrote on 11/11/12 at 02:49 PM CT
When it comes to milking the success of a popular game, devs and publishers can go one of two ways. The first, and most steeped-in-tradition option, is to crank out a sequel… then another… then another. While this has worked for a long time, it also builds up a set of expectations around a long-running franchise that can lead to catastrophic backlash if any given sequel doesn’t live up to its pedigree. Case in point: The ‘Final Fantasy’ and ‘Legend of Zelda’ franchises are well into the double-digits, and have both suffered high-profile flops this-gen. Sequels that stray too far from their original formula or feel like slap-dash rehashes thrown-together just for the sake of generating some quick revenue damage a franchise’s reputation at worst, or feel tired and spread-thin at best.
The alternative to constantly running on the sequel treadmill is the relatively new concept of downloadable content. DLC can create the same quick revenue stream (at a smaller price per …
Square Enix Now a "Complete Failure." I Wonder Why...
Nelson Schneider - wrote on 11/08/12 at 11:26 AM CT
One of the former bosses at Squaresoft has been tweeting gloom and doom about the merged monstrosity, of which his company is one of the component parts (along with former Squaresoft competitor, Enix, and Western publisher, Eidos).
I wonder why Square Enix is such a failure... maybe because they made a craptastic entry in their signature flagship franchise and, instead of cutting their losses, insisted on cranking out two more direct sequels to the abomination? Maybe it's because they sit on their hands and barely produce any new games, and when they do produce something, it's bad, weird, or completely out of character for its existing franchise?
Let's discuss what's wrong with Square Enix in the comments!
How Much Would YOU Pay for a Pristine Copy of Atari Air Raid?
Chris Kavan - wrote on 11/06/12 at 09:41 PM CT
I know I'm not alone in that I like to collect items. Other members of this site have quite the game and strategy guide collection themselves. However, there comes a point in time when you have to decide what kind of collector you're going to be: casual or hardcore. You will know when you step over that line - if you spend as much on a video game as you would a new vehicle, that's hardcore.
Take this recent example of what is regarded as the rarest game for the Atari 2600: Air Raid. A near pristine copy was found (the only known copy with an intact instruction manual) and was sold for an Atari Record - and actually the record for any non-prototype, non-competition video game, ever. So, how much you ask? How about $33,433.30.
What is the most you've spent on a game? For me, at least recently, I dropped $149.95 on the collector's edition of Star Wars: The Old Republic (which I have yet to play, sadly). I thought that was a pretty good chunk of change for a single game - even …
Wreck-It Ralph: Finally a Video Game Movie That Works
Chris Kavan - wrote on 11/04/12 at 01:13 PM CT
Hollywood has hurt me too many times. Why is it so hard to make a decent movie out of an existing franchise? I mean, it's right there - character, story, action, emotion (most of the time) - all you have to do is come up with an interesting and novel way to present that to audiences. But has Hollywood really ever had success with that? Well, let's see what we have had up to deal with up to this point in time:
Remember this?
Or this?
Or THIS?
If you do, I'm sorry, because those are all examples of how easy it is to take a great video game and turn it into a terrible film. Even the movies that I thought were OK - Silent Hill, Resident Evil, Tomb Raider - are just that: OK. They don't add anything to the video game experience. They are mediocre at best - entertaining, but ultimately empty.
But, this weekend, I'm happy to report a movie finally captures the spirit of video games and manages to make a film that doesn't just work as an animated film, not just a video game …
Backlog: The Embiggening - November, 2012
Nelson Schneider - wrote on 11/03/12 at 02:23 PM CT
Welcome to another look into the near future. The holiday build-up continues this month as developers endeavor to get as many titles as possible onto the shelves of bricks & mortar retailers in time for Black Friday.
The overwhelming assault of licensed games continues, with the immense list of titles playable on every viable platform (as well as dead platforms like the Wii, DS, and PSP) stacking up to form the foundation for a veritable Tower of Babel to confuse, coerce, and appeal to buyers’ worst judgment. In November we’re getting games based on Nickelodeon TV horrors like “Big Time Rush,” “Bubble Guppies,” “Dora the Explora,” and “Victorious.” Not to be left behind, Cartoon Network is contributing a portion of awfulness as well, with new “Ben 10” and “Adventure Time” titles. Outside of those two big IP mills, November will also see new releases covering “Dragon Ball Z,” “NASCAR,” “Winx Club,” “The History Channel,” “LEGO Lord of …
Original Crew Aims to Kickstart "Shadowgate" Remake
Nelson Schneider - wrote on 10/31/12 at 11:03 PM CT
While there have been a number of spiritual successors and soulless sequels to old point-and-click games recently, the original crew behind the classic graphical adventure, "Shadowgate" wants to remake their game with new puzzles, enhanced gameplay, and an expanded mythos. While I loved "Shadowgate" back in the day, the horrors of "Shadowgate 64" and "Beyond Shadowgate" have me leery of this. I want it to be good, but I'm afraid to get my hopes up!
Controller Retrospective
Nelson Schneider - wrote on 10/27/12 at 07:17 PM CT
The ways in which we interact with the virtual worlds of videogaming are incredibly important, despite the fact that a proper player:game interface recedes into the background. The best controller is one you can forget about because it fits perfectly into your grip and has ergonomically-placed and responsive buttons. With the WiiU just around the corner and its promise to revolutionize the player:game interface with its tablety Gamepad, it seems like a good time to take a walk down memory lane and remember the controllers of the past, both the great and the awful. Of course, there have been an incredible plethora of terrible third-party controllers, and few good ones, so this list is confined to first-party offerings. Here are my favorites and least favorites.
Top 5:
1. Xbox 360 Controller
My choice for best controller may seem surprising, considering I don’t own an Xbox 360 and never have anything nice to say about it. Well, I’m saying something nice about it now: The …
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