Xbox: Upcoming Indie Games

 

The Fall/Winter gaming season is chock full of games on the XboxOne from AA publishers, also coming to PS4 consoles.  Games like Shadows of Mordor, Dragon Age: Inquisition, Halo: The Master Chief Collection (XboxOne only), Assassin’s Creed: Unity & Rogue, and Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare will all be released between now and the end of the year. 

However, the indie developers (other than Project Spark) get little to no love from either gaming “journalists” or console manufacturers prior to the release of the game.  Well, so far the tripe AAA titles have all been lackluster or vastly disappointing, Diablo III: Ultimate Evil Edition being an exception.

There are three games very high on my radar from independent developers that look interesting and worth the investment. 

Lords of the Fallen by Ci Games as gotten the most coverage from gaming press and websites and releases on 28 October 2014.  The game looks to have a decent story and challenging gameplay without the penalties found in Darksouls. 

Crimes and Punishment: This is Sherlock Holmes from Frogwares releases this month on the One, PC, and the 4.  I admit it, I’m always interested in game play of this type since I’m an avid reader of mysteries.  The game play looks immersive and interesting.  I will post our review after we’ve had a chance to play and experience Holmes and Watson on the One.

Styx: Master of Shadows from Cyanide Studios releases in October for PC and next-gen consoles as a digital releases.  Game play looks interesting and much truer to the origins of the Assassin’s Creed franchise than the last several releases from Ubisoft.  Besides who can resist playing as a Goblin?

What I find fascinating, is that all three indie game developers are located overseas (Poland, Lithuania, and France to be precise).  So, is the future of good, unique gaming coming from Europe while North American developers languish and turn out tried and true games that no longer push the envelope?

Technorati Tags: XboxOne,PS4,gaming,consoles,Styx: Master of Shadows,Crimes and Punishment: This is Sherlock Holmes,Lords of the Fallen,Frogwares,Cyanide,CI Games,Dragon Age Inquisition,DAI,Call of Duty Advanced Warfare,Shadows of Mordor,Sunset Overdrive,Assassin's Creed Unity,Assassin's Creed Rogue,Ubisoft,Halo: The Master Chief Collection,Diablo III

Gamescom 2013: EA Press Conference Gamess that Energized Me

 

DRAGON AGE INQUISITION … I cannot begin to say how much I am looking forward to the release of this game.  It is going to be a long year of patient waiting however since it doesn’t release until Fall 2014.  I am more than willing to wait for a polished, immersive game in comparison to the huge disappointment that was Dragon Age II.

Exclusive Boss Mode for XboxOne!  Boss Mode game play will be available via Kinect or Smartglass and is playable as Crazy Dave or as Dr. Zombot.

Titanfall new game play footage on new map looks engaging.

While I’m not interested in the game, FIFA 14 on XboxOne and PS4 does look bloody fantastic.

Technorati Tags: EA,Electronic Arts,Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare,Dragon Age III: Inquisition,Titanfall,Gamescon 2013,XboxOne,PS4,console gaming,Xbox,video games,smartglass

Gamescom 2013: Lords of the Fallen

Gamescon started today in Cologne, Germany and the first game that caught my undivided attention was not even on my radar: Lords of the Fallen.  The RPG is coming to PC, PS4, and XboxOne in 2014.  The video for the game can be seen here and it seriously has my full attention.

Technorati Tags: Lords of the Fallen,XboxOne,Playstation 4,PS4,PC,Xbox,RPG,Gamescon

E3: Preview Day Impressions

 

Firstly, congratulations to EA for being the only presentation out of the four to start on time.  Seriously, being punctual isn’t that difficult and there is zero excuse for Sony’s presentation starting twenty minutes late!

Microsoft presentation was by far the smoothest and most comprehensive one of the day.  There were no glitches, no background audio disturbances, and no incredibly annoying “hostess” (Aisha Tyler for Ubisoft) trying and failing to make bad jokes and sexual innuendoes every where she thought they might succeed.  Several games exclusive to the XBox One have my full and complete undivided attention: Ryse, Son of Rome, Project Spark, Dead Rising 3, and Quantum Break.  I am very much looking forward to using Smart Glass integration with console gaming.  It is also a huge hit here that it is an all-in-one comprehensive entertainment box that will allow us for the first time to ditch the cable box for good. 

EA presentation was informative, fast paced, fun, and showed off great game play while talking about technical advances.  Dragon Age III has my attention from EA, which was expected.  But quite a few things at the EA event looked interesting as well.  That brief teaser for a new Star Wars: Battlefront game had me drooling with anticipation.  Plants v. Zombies: Garden Warfare and Titanfall are both intriguing for very different reasons and I will undoubtedly play both.

UbiSoft conference was just awful.  It was more about Aisha than the games unfortunately, because Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag looks amazing and Tom Clancy’s The Division looks like it is definitely worth delving into.  South Park: The Stick of Truth will satisfy the nine-year old in all of us and I admit, I too will be playing it come this holiday season.  Watchdogs looks beautiful but the story premise may actually be a little too close to recent events to be enjoyable. 

Sony’s press conference was embarrassing.  Sony’s persistent need to troll Microsoft only showed their fear of being outclassed by the XBox One and their presentation was amateurish.  Oh I understand they wanted to solidify their fan base from being tempted away to the XBox One but unnamed insults and mentions were in extremely poor taste.  I am also stunned that anyone is naive enough to believe Sony’s claims that they are not going to have digital rights management on their games.  Please remember, Sony is the gaming corporation that was vulnerable to hackers and left millions of peoples personal information fall into the wrong hands.  Only The Dark Sorcerer looked at all interesting or compelling for games on the new console.  The other games presented were completely unappealing and uninspiring.  Sony and their game developers broke no new ground with any game presented last night as an exclusive.

Preview day presented some nice new titles to look forward to, existing titles expanding their franchises, and hardware that will make it all possible.

Technorati Tags: Xbox One,PlayStation 4,Microsoft,Sony,EA,Electronic Arts,Ubisoft,Aisha Tyler,Plants v. Zombies: Garden Warfare,Titanfall,Ryse: Son of Rome,Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag,Star Wars: Battlefront,South Park: The Stick of Truth,Tom Clancy's The DIvision,Watchdoges,The Dark Sorcerer,DargonAge III: Inquisition,Project Spark,Dead Rising 3,Quantum Break

PlayStation 4: Wrap-Up

Yesterday, Sony revealed that the PlayStation4 will release Holidays 2013 and was much more forthcoming with specifications.  However, what they did no show was the console itself.

Here are the specifications:

• Main Processor: Single-chip custom processor
  CPU : x86-64 AMD "Jaguar", 8 cores
  GPU : 1.84 TFLOPS, AMD next-generation Radeon™ based graphics engine
• Memory
  GDDR5 8GB
  Hard Disk Drive – no details were provided beyond the console containing a hard disk
• Built-in
  Optical Drive (read only)
  BD 6xCAV
  DVD 8xCAV
  I/O
  Super-Speed USB (USB 3.0) 、AUX
• Communication
  Ethernet (10BASE-T, 100BASE-TX, 1000BASE-T)
  IEEE 802.11 b/g/n
  Bluetooth® 2.1 (EDR)
  AV output
  HDMI & Analog-AV out
  Digital Output (optical)
• *Specifications are subject to change without notice.

There is an emphasis on social media with the PS4.  A button on the new dual shock controller instantly allows the player to share favorite moments via Facebook.  PS4 players will also be able to stream game play via UStream in real-time.    A light bar on the controller helps identify players and transitions the controller into a Move controller, although the Move is still compatible with the PS4.

The PlayStation Cloud will stream games from all previous PlayStation consoles.  It currently appears that the PS4 hardware is incompatible with older, legacy discs.  The PSVita will be able to play games from the PlayStation Cloud.  And FYI, current PS3 purchases will NOT carry over to the PS4.

The PS4 has eliminated the boot-up time of previous consoles.  The PS4 will power-down to suspend mode which eliminates the boot-up time and instantly allows the gamer to carry-on where the previous gaming session left off.  Background downloading  instantly allowing the gamer to play digital titles, and allowing the console to update while in suspend mode.

The PSVita is the “ultimate companion”, according to Jack Tretton, President and CEO of PlayStation.  Ultimate goal is to make most PS4 games playable on the PSVita.  In addition, PlayStation Applications are coming for iPhone, iPad, and Android users which will allow those devices to act as a second screen for the PS4.

Games releasing with the PS4, include (but of course are subject to change):

• Diablo III from Blizzard (also releasing for PS3)
• Destiny from Bungie (also releasing for PS3)
• Watchdogs from Ubisoft
• Infamous: Sucker Sam from Sucker Punch
• Killzone: Shadow Fall from Guerilla Games
• Drive Club from Evolution Studios

More details will be released in the coming months I’m sure.  There was no mention of pricing of the new console.

 

Technorati Tags: PlaySration4,PlayStation 3,PlayStation,Sony,Blizzard,Activision,Ubisoft,PSVita,Cloud gaming,Guerilla Games,Bungie,Destiny,iPhone,iPad,Android,Diablo III,UStream,Facebook

Consoles: Used Games and their future

Console users have reason to be concerned about the details released today regarding Sony’s patent issued in September 2012.  The patent essentially has the potential to eliminate the used game market for Sony gaming consoles.  Quoting the patent,

A technology of digital rights management (DRM) is introduced to prevent the electronic content from being used unlimitedly. Typically, DRM is a technology for the prevention of the unlimited copy of electronic content. To this end, the inventor recognized that there are cases where it is difficult to suitably restrict the use of electronic content, stored in the recording medium like DVD and commercially traded.

Translated into plain English, it requires a usage code to be tied to the player account and the player’s device to run the hard copy of the game.  Gone would be the days of purchasing used games or renting them from sources such as Gamefly. 

Sony has not stated publically that this patent will be applied to the future, as of yet unannounced, PS4.  But it does raise all kinds of unanswered questions regarding the console and families:

• Do all members of the family have to purchase games individually?
• What about coop games that run off one disc?
• How does this DRM technology affect games downloaded onto the console directly from the Playstation Network?

Should Sony go through with implementation of this technology on the PS4 and not answer questions directly related to same household users, I would expect to see a severe decline in the market share of the Playstation console.  I understand that developers and manufacturers have concerns about not getting a percentage cut of the used game and rental game market, but truthfully there are better solutions.  Here are just a couple that spring to mind:

• Stop manufacturing needless discs and make all games immediately available for download – should reduce the cost to procure for the consumer and drastically reduce the used game market going forward
• Offer packages with tiered pricing, that allows a console to play any game in the Production Catalog for a year – i.e. Console access to EA Sports for $200 for a year
• If discs can’t go away (inconceivable to me but assuming), then drastically reduce the packaging and the price point, allowing more consumers to purchase games on a whim and not run the risk of burning $60 bucks on a crappy game.

Source

Technorati Tags: Sony,patent,console,PS4,used games,download,Gamefly