Nothing’s been officially confirmed as yet, but come on, as if Diablo III won’t be coming to the consoles. It totally is, and what’s more, Blizzard have since revealed that they have crack squad of at least… three guys working on the threequel’s console iteration. "We're not announcing anything because, literally, there's three of us on the team right now ... but that's what we're trying to do... We're trying to build the best console team at Blizzard,” said lead console designer Josh Mosquiera out of BlizzCon.
Just short of hearing him yell, “A CONSOLE VERSION OF DIABLO III IS COMING WOO,” that’s a pretty open admission that the wheels are definitely in motion. As if to dangle the carrot ever more enthusiastically, Mosquiera then went on to underline what he’s been so forthright about previously: "Blizzard is really serious about going back to the console.”
Interestingly, despite his job title, Mosquiera’s been hard at work helping the PC version of the game come to fruition for the past five months now.
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Battlefield 3 HD Comparison
You know what week it is? It’s Battlefield 3 week. Send the cat to a shelter, divorce the spouse, board up the house: We’re going in. For some silly privileged reason, the Xbox 360 version of the game comes packing an HD textures install option that purportedly allows for much-improved graphical zing throughout. Yeah yeah, talk’s cheap and gamers get a lot of it. Does it really make a difference? Check out this handy comparison video and decide for yourselves.
Batman: Arkham City's Official Map App
One of things I neglected to mention in our review of Batman: Arkham City is that yes, it’s an open-world environment but no, it doesn’t have a mini-map down there on the right to help you along. This is something I really liked, because I hate having to fixate on the GPS when I could be enjoying the road and scenery. However, the lack of a mini-map has annoyed some gamers, so here comes iOS to the rescue with Arkham City’s Offical Map App. Pretty good if you’re busting your butt hunting down all those fiendish Riddler quandaries.
It’s pretty much a strategy guide for those gamers who want to get absolutely everything out of Arkham City, so use it with a little bit of caution if you don’t want to spoil things for yourself. At its most spoiler-riffic, this app’ll show you the location of all 350+ collectables and Riddler riddles. It’s $4, zoomable, and really sucks for Android users.
It’s pretty much a strategy guide for those gamers who want to get absolutely everything out of Arkham City, so use it with a little bit of caution if you don’t want to spoil things for yourself. At its most spoiler-riffic, this app’ll show you the location of all 350+ collectables and Riddler riddles. It’s $4, zoomable, and really sucks for Android users.
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Red Dead Redemption Designer Now Making A Movie
And it’s not Red Dead Redemption. Christian Cantamessa, who designed and co-wrote the wonderful Red Dead Redemption, is going Hollywood.
Cantamessa sold a script he co-wrote called Wake Cycle. According to Variety, the movie is set in an underground hyperbaric facility after a nuclear fallout. Every six months, two custodial workers can take care of the facility during a 90 minute period, or “wake cycle”, during which fresh air is available.
Cantamessa, who has worked on titles like Manhunt and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, will direct the picture. This isn’t his first cinematic effort.
In 2009, Cantamessa co-wrote and directed a short film called How I Survived the Zombie Apocalypse.
‘Red Dead Redemption’ Designer’s Apocalypse [Bloody-Disgusting]
Cantamessa sold a script he co-wrote called Wake Cycle. According to Variety, the movie is set in an underground hyperbaric facility after a nuclear fallout. Every six months, two custodial workers can take care of the facility during a 90 minute period, or “wake cycle”, during which fresh air is available.
Cantamessa, who has worked on titles like Manhunt and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, will direct the picture. This isn’t his first cinematic effort.
In 2009, Cantamessa co-wrote and directed a short film called How I Survived the Zombie Apocalypse.
‘Red Dead Redemption’ Designer’s Apocalypse [Bloody-Disgusting]
Ni No Kuni Gets Extra Help In The Cute Department
Mana Ashida is one of the most popular stars in Japan. She’s only seven, but she’s already done way more than those twice her age, including lending her seal of a approval to a stunning game.
Every other year, it seems like a pint-sized star captures the country’s imagination, whether that be Nozomi Ohashi with the Ponyo song or Seishiro Kato as child car dealer. Japanese entertainment doesn’t do anything half-assed, so when these kids become popular, they are everywhere.
The child star complex in Japan is similar to that in the West; the pressure is intense, the kids grow up fast and then they seem to disappear as quick as they appear.
In Japan, one of the most successful child stars in the modern era is Hibari Misora, who began acting as the Second World War was grinding to a halt, singing and dancing. She was the Shirley Temple of Japan. However, as she aged, she continued to record and became a truly iconic performer, selling millions upon millions of albums.
Ashida has also made her mark on music, releasing a top three hit single on the music charts, making her and her six-year-old collaborator, co-star Fuku Suzuki, the youngest performers ever to reach the top 10 in Japan. The tune, called “Maru Maru Mori Mori”, is the theme to a television show both Ashida and Suzuki appear in. It’s viewable in the gallery above, and it will probably make your teeth hurt.
She’s a “charisma” grade schooler, meaning that she’s famous among little kids — and even has a certain degree of influence. At my two-year-old’s pre-school, they play “Maru Maru Mori Mori” every week, and all the kids dance along. A couple weeks ago, I was sitting in a fast food restaurant, and the kids at the next table were singing this song over and over and over again.
Besides appearing in TV shows and feature films, Ashida is hosting a variety show starting this month. This makes her the youngest TV host on Japanese television. She also appears in a seemingly endless stream of commercials, selling everything from school supplies to homes to natural gas.
Her appearance in the Ni no Kuni DS commercials are no accident as she also voiced a character in the game. For the PS3 version, Ashida will once again act in the upcoming TV spots for the game.
Ashida is the latest in a long string of kiddy stars in Japan. Whenever they appear on television, they’re well-behaved and charming–something that most parents probably wish their own children were. Hopefully, they still get to be kids, too.
Every other year, it seems like a pint-sized star captures the country’s imagination, whether that be Nozomi Ohashi with the Ponyo song or Seishiro Kato as child car dealer. Japanese entertainment doesn’t do anything half-assed, so when these kids become popular, they are everywhere.
The child star complex in Japan is similar to that in the West; the pressure is intense, the kids grow up fast and then they seem to disappear as quick as they appear.
In Japan, one of the most successful child stars in the modern era is Hibari Misora, who began acting as the Second World War was grinding to a halt, singing and dancing. She was the Shirley Temple of Japan. However, as she aged, she continued to record and became a truly iconic performer, selling millions upon millions of albums.
Ashida has also made her mark on music, releasing a top three hit single on the music charts, making her and her six-year-old collaborator, co-star Fuku Suzuki, the youngest performers ever to reach the top 10 in Japan. The tune, called “Maru Maru Mori Mori”, is the theme to a television show both Ashida and Suzuki appear in. It’s viewable in the gallery above, and it will probably make your teeth hurt.
She’s a “charisma” grade schooler, meaning that she’s famous among little kids — and even has a certain degree of influence. At my two-year-old’s pre-school, they play “Maru Maru Mori Mori” every week, and all the kids dance along. A couple weeks ago, I was sitting in a fast food restaurant, and the kids at the next table were singing this song over and over and over again.
Besides appearing in TV shows and feature films, Ashida is hosting a variety show starting this month. This makes her the youngest TV host on Japanese television. She also appears in a seemingly endless stream of commercials, selling everything from school supplies to homes to natural gas.
Her appearance in the Ni no Kuni DS commercials are no accident as she also voiced a character in the game. For the PS3 version, Ashida will once again act in the upcoming TV spots for the game.
Ashida is the latest in a long string of kiddy stars in Japan. Whenever they appear on television, they’re well-behaved and charming–something that most parents probably wish their own children were. Hopefully, they still get to be kids, too.
Saturday, October 22, 2011
PayDay: The Heist Preview
PayDay: The Heist is a classic idea, clinically polished. You and up to three other players take the parts of robbers in a variety of scenarios, each with randomized elements. You play from a first-person perspective, and the overall feel is "Counter-Strike as a heist game." Each scenario has a variety of objectives, which vary depending on your actions and how the scenario randomly plays
PayDay: The Heist Preview
Boy, do I love killing cops, pistol-whipping innocent civilians, holding up banks, and being a general menace to society! I'm half-kidding; I certainly find these things contextually fun in Sony Online Entertainment's upcoming cooperative first-person shooter PayDay: The Heist, which casts you and up to three friends as a gang of thugs, lifted almost wholesale from The Dark Knight's intro scene. But -- all fire-fueling jokes aside -- I can't help feeling that this sleek little caper game will go down as one of 2011's most notorious "murder simulators," as closed-minded activists call them.
Friday, October 21, 2011
If your game sucks, don't charge $60 bucks.
I honestly don't get this. First let me correct the title if your game isn't as good as let's say the established AAA titles or franchises in its genre don't charge people $60 for it, because more than likely we're going to buy the known game and only rent your game.
But wait renting a game is good, because people actually played your game, and may want to buy it later. But honestly when you beat a game you rent, unless it really impressed you then there's no reason to go and buy it, and by pricing yourself with the big boys you put yourself in the same league as the big boys, and usually the big boys will run you over.
If your game is single player only, let's take Enslaved for example, and it's a good game, not great, but good don't you think you could potentially sell more copies if you brought your game in at a $30 - $40 rather than $60. It makes no sense to me. When you look at games that sell big numbers they are generally established franchises or have great multiplayer giving the game longevity to those who like multiplayer. If you aren't in one of those categories then you truly need to come out at $40 unless you know your game is on par with those games.
If your game is a 7/10 don't sell it for $60. Let's take Splatterhouse for example. After discussing it with people in my review the game has problems, personally I didn't run into any crashing issues like they did, but the game isn't a technical marvel in no way. It has framrate issues, screen tearing, and long load times. But my point is even if all this was fixed it probably would have gotten maybe 0.5 more points on its score. At the end of the day it's not a game for everyone, and it's not a very good game, it's just mediocre. And if your game falls into that category it should NEVER be over $30. Splatterhouse for example should be a PSN or XBLA title for $10 - $20, and most of the games in that same situation should join it there. Gamers are more than willing to take a chance if the price is right, and $60 for one of these games is oh so wrong. Dark Sector and The Darkness are probably the best examples of this type of game. Both of those games were good, but not for everyone and weren't up to par with the big boys. They should have been $20 or $30 titles and people would have felt OK with that, not to mention reviewers do take price into consideration.
But wait renting a game is good, because people actually played your game, and may want to buy it later. But honestly when you beat a game you rent, unless it really impressed you then there's no reason to go and buy it, and by pricing yourself with the big boys you put yourself in the same league as the big boys, and usually the big boys will run you over.
If your game is single player only, let's take Enslaved for example, and it's a good game, not great, but good don't you think you could potentially sell more copies if you brought your game in at a $30 - $40 rather than $60. It makes no sense to me. When you look at games that sell big numbers they are generally established franchises or have great multiplayer giving the game longevity to those who like multiplayer. If you aren't in one of those categories then you truly need to come out at $40 unless you know your game is on par with those games.
If your game is a 7/10 don't sell it for $60. Let's take Splatterhouse for example. After discussing it with people in my review the game has problems, personally I didn't run into any crashing issues like they did, but the game isn't a technical marvel in no way. It has framrate issues, screen tearing, and long load times. But my point is even if all this was fixed it probably would have gotten maybe 0.5 more points on its score. At the end of the day it's not a game for everyone, and it's not a very good game, it's just mediocre. And if your game falls into that category it should NEVER be over $30. Splatterhouse for example should be a PSN or XBLA title for $10 - $20, and most of the games in that same situation should join it there. Gamers are more than willing to take a chance if the price is right, and $60 for one of these games is oh so wrong. Dark Sector and The Darkness are probably the best examples of this type of game. Both of those games were good, but not for everyone and weren't up to par with the big boys. They should have been $20 or $30 titles and people would have felt OK with that, not to mention reviewers do take price into consideration.
BBCW launches CBeebies games app
Games based on popular CBeebies Games series Charlie & Lola, Teletubbies, 3rd & Bird and Numberjacks are available through a new app launched by BBC Worldwide.
CBeebies On The Go is available for free on the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad to pre-school children in Australia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka and South Korea.
Developed by Tag Apps, it includes matching pairs picture games for the Teletubbies and Charlie & Lola, a Kerwhizz jigsaw game and a 3rd & Bird tap-the-fruit challenge. It also holds a number of short video clips from popular shows.
Director of CBeebies investment at BBCW, Henrietta Hurford-Jones, said the team had “worked hard to build a product that upholds the core values of learning through play”.
She added: “This new kids’ app is a first for the Channels business, so the learnings from this pilot phase will help shape any future plans to roll CBeebies Games On The Go out to new territories and different devices.”
More than 53m homes have access to the CBeebies channel worldwide.
CBeebies On The Go is available for free on the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad to pre-school children in Australia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka and South Korea.
Developed by Tag Apps, it includes matching pairs picture games for the Teletubbies and Charlie & Lola, a Kerwhizz jigsaw game and a 3rd & Bird tap-the-fruit challenge. It also holds a number of short video clips from popular shows.
Director of CBeebies investment at BBCW, Henrietta Hurford-Jones, said the team had “worked hard to build a product that upholds the core values of learning through play”.
She added: “This new kids’ app is a first for the Channels business, so the learnings from this pilot phase will help shape any future plans to roll CBeebies Games On The Go out to new territories and different devices.”
More than 53m homes have access to the CBeebies channel worldwide.
The ultimate guide to chosing the right console
With 3 consoles on the market, and also PC gaming, not everyone can own everything, thanks to various reasons ranging from money, to time issues. Thankfully each of the Gaming systems on the market today are all vastly different.
Through this guide I hope to help you find the right one.
Finding the exact match for everyone is a challenge, and in no way do I guarantee that the console you end up being matched too will be the right one. To do this I will split each segment into multiple categories as follows:
-Age
-Economic Situation
-Previous and Current Hardware
-Interests
-Social Life
-The Future
Go through all of the sections, marking down which console fits you best for each section, the console that you get the most if the one that’s the best for you!
Section 1: Age
“Age group is a great way to determine your console, as the consoles are typically built around age groups.”
Age 5-9: Nintendo Wii: This is an obvious choice the pre-double digit child as both consoles feature a wide range of games specifically designed with this age in mind. The Nintendo systems also consist of mostly rated E games, which are perfect for this age group.
Age 10-18: Microsoft Xbox 360: Teenagers love FPS games, there fun, fast paced, and don’t have a huge learning curve, or deep stories, which is perfect for the teenage mind. All teenagers want to do is run, and blow shit up. The Xbox 360 was designed around FPS gaming, everything from the controller to the games it offers. (Those in the 10-12 age group will also have an extra special experience because most of the Xbox gamers are around the same age.)
Age 19-50: Sony PS3, PC: The Playstation 3 offers the best variety of games which is what people in the adult years want. A lot of Sony’s games feature rich and deep stories, and innovative game play that adults crave. PC Gaming also proves to have a huge variety of games, and adults are willing to keep their system upgraded to play the latest games.
Age 51-death: Wii: I know, how typical? Give the old people the casual console right? Well the stereotypes are true, The Elderly want simple, easy games, and the Wii delivers. Wii fit also allows them to stay active, without going to the gym. The controls are simple, and easy to follow, which is what old people want. Now if your dead, I am not sure what console you should choose.
Section 2: Economic Situation
“Gaming on a budget is not a bad thing, and is very possible in this generation.”
Low Budget ($200 or less): Wii: The wii offers the cheapest out of the box experience for those on super tight budgets. All you need is $200, a TV, and your good to go. The console comes with a game to start you off, and offers all the basics to get gaming started.
Moderate Budget ($250-400): Xbox 360: The Xbox arcade is cheap, being $199, however does not offer a pure out of the box experience, so you’re going to need to invest in some upgrades and games. You’re probably going to want to pick up a bigger hard drive, and your Xbox live subscription also, but overall it’s not that expensive.
Average Budget: ($400-$600): Sony PS3: While the console does start at $299, your also going to want to pick up a game and an extra controller, and maybe a headset. This will bring you well over the standard $299 price tag, making it the most expensive of the 3 consoles, but also offers the “You get what you pay for” experience.
High Budget: ($600+): PC: PC Gaming is expensive, but also is rewarding. Those willing to spend the extra few hundred are going to get the best gaming experience, at higher resolution, and with almost endless customization. You truly get the best experience if you pay the most.
Section 3: Previous and Current Hardware
“People don’t go from Sports Cars to Minivans, it just don’t work”
Previous Console (Xbox, PS2, Game cube, or Old Gaming PC): If you like that that console provided and are planning an upgrade, stick with the same company. The new consoles have mostly the same games and variety the old ones have. So if you have a PS2, stick with Sony and go PS3, same with Xbox and Game cube. As for the PC, if your case is capable of handling upgrades, just upgrade it and stick with PC gaming.
HD TV: PS3, Xbox 360: You bought a HD TV for a reason, to view HD content. The PS3 is the console of choice for HD TV Gaming, with all of the exclusives running at at least 720p, with some at 1080p. Those looking at the Xbox should note that it does not have a majority of native HD games, with many of them being up scaled.
3D TV/Monitor: PC: While the PS3 has just recently introduced 3D, PC has had it for a while, with many major PC games supporting it. PC games also provide the best 3D experience if your hardware is capable of it.
SD TV: Wii: The main issue with SD gaming with an HD console is reading the text. Thanks to the fact the Wii was designed for SD TV’s, text is completely legible, and the games look great
Section 4: Interests
“What you like to do always determines what you buy”
Action: Xbox 360: The Xbox 360 offers the most games featuring out of this world action sequences, and B movie games. Don’t expect a whole lot of realism here.
Graphics: PC, PS3: Some people have a huge interest in graphics, and these people want the best looking games possible. For graphic whores you want the PC or the PS3. The PC provides the highest resolution of any gaming device, and the PS3 is not that far behind.
Simulators: PC: For realism, nothing matches what the PC can offer. The PC has the most realistic shooters, racing games, and flight simulators of them all.
Casual Games: Wii: No doubting it, the Wii has the most casual games of them all.
Fighting Games: PS3: I would recommend the Xbox, as it basically has all the same fighting games as the PS3, but the PS3 has the superior D-Pad, which is needed in these settings.
Online: Xbox 360: Xbox live has the best gaming community of them all, with the best social features toping even the PC.
Section 5: Social Life
“Everyone is different, some are 30 year old virgins in their basements, others are party animals that have fun every day”
Party’s: Wii: For the type of people that have lots of girls over all the time will want to get the Wii, it offers the most party games designed for multiple people to play at once, and also involve a lot of movement, and jumping, if you know what I mean.
Casual Relationships: PS3: For those looking to have a casual, 1 on 1 relationship with someone, the PS3 is the way to go. It offers lots of Co-Op games like LittleBigPlanet that have lots of laughs to keep you together.
Bro Parties: Xbox 360: The Xbox has a lot of games that offer 4 player split screen, and let you kill each other, the perfect combination for a dude party.
Alone: PS3: Looking for the best single player games? The PS3 is your answer, with games like Infamous and Uncharted 2, it has the most major single player hits.
Alone, with online friends: Xbox 360: Xbox live offers the best social experience with friends that have the console also. It is also the best service to find friends on.
Section 6: The Future
“It may be good now, but in 1 week it will be outdated again”
Upgradability: PC: The great thing about the PC is the ability to upgrade to the latest hardware without buying the whole system. However, this is set back by the constant need to.
Lasting Appeal: PS3: of the game machines out on the market, the PS3 is the only one that still sees no need for an upgrade, meaning we probably won’t be seeing a new PS3 for a good while. Also much like Sony’s previous platforms, it will get good treatment even with the PS3 launches.
Motion Gaming: Wii: The Wii has motion gaming locked down, and its guaranteed to be full of motion games in the near future. While the PS3 and Xbox have motion setups planed, it’s uncertain how long they will last.
Controller free games: Xbox 360: Those looking for games that don’t need a controller, or fans of the old Eye toy have a new, modern way to do it. Xbox Kinect offers games that don’t need a controller, however the tech is still not proven.
Through this guide I hope to help you find the right one.
Finding the exact match for everyone is a challenge, and in no way do I guarantee that the console you end up being matched too will be the right one. To do this I will split each segment into multiple categories as follows:
-Age
-Economic Situation
-Previous and Current Hardware
-Interests
-Social Life
-The Future
Go through all of the sections, marking down which console fits you best for each section, the console that you get the most if the one that’s the best for you!
Section 1: Age
“Age group is a great way to determine your console, as the consoles are typically built around age groups.”
Age 5-9: Nintendo Wii: This is an obvious choice the pre-double digit child as both consoles feature a wide range of games specifically designed with this age in mind. The Nintendo systems also consist of mostly rated E games, which are perfect for this age group.
Age 10-18: Microsoft Xbox 360: Teenagers love FPS games, there fun, fast paced, and don’t have a huge learning curve, or deep stories, which is perfect for the teenage mind. All teenagers want to do is run, and blow shit up. The Xbox 360 was designed around FPS gaming, everything from the controller to the games it offers. (Those in the 10-12 age group will also have an extra special experience because most of the Xbox gamers are around the same age.)
Age 19-50: Sony PS3, PC: The Playstation 3 offers the best variety of games which is what people in the adult years want. A lot of Sony’s games feature rich and deep stories, and innovative game play that adults crave. PC Gaming also proves to have a huge variety of games, and adults are willing to keep their system upgraded to play the latest games.
Age 51-death: Wii: I know, how typical? Give the old people the casual console right? Well the stereotypes are true, The Elderly want simple, easy games, and the Wii delivers. Wii fit also allows them to stay active, without going to the gym. The controls are simple, and easy to follow, which is what old people want. Now if your dead, I am not sure what console you should choose.
Section 2: Economic Situation
“Gaming on a budget is not a bad thing, and is very possible in this generation.”
Low Budget ($200 or less): Wii: The wii offers the cheapest out of the box experience for those on super tight budgets. All you need is $200, a TV, and your good to go. The console comes with a game to start you off, and offers all the basics to get gaming started.
Moderate Budget ($250-400): Xbox 360: The Xbox arcade is cheap, being $199, however does not offer a pure out of the box experience, so you’re going to need to invest in some upgrades and games. You’re probably going to want to pick up a bigger hard drive, and your Xbox live subscription also, but overall it’s not that expensive.
Average Budget: ($400-$600): Sony PS3: While the console does start at $299, your also going to want to pick up a game and an extra controller, and maybe a headset. This will bring you well over the standard $299 price tag, making it the most expensive of the 3 consoles, but also offers the “You get what you pay for” experience.
High Budget: ($600+): PC: PC Gaming is expensive, but also is rewarding. Those willing to spend the extra few hundred are going to get the best gaming experience, at higher resolution, and with almost endless customization. You truly get the best experience if you pay the most.
Section 3: Previous and Current Hardware
“People don’t go from Sports Cars to Minivans, it just don’t work”
Previous Console (Xbox, PS2, Game cube, or Old Gaming PC): If you like that that console provided and are planning an upgrade, stick with the same company. The new consoles have mostly the same games and variety the old ones have. So if you have a PS2, stick with Sony and go PS3, same with Xbox and Game cube. As for the PC, if your case is capable of handling upgrades, just upgrade it and stick with PC gaming.
HD TV: PS3, Xbox 360: You bought a HD TV for a reason, to view HD content. The PS3 is the console of choice for HD TV Gaming, with all of the exclusives running at at least 720p, with some at 1080p. Those looking at the Xbox should note that it does not have a majority of native HD games, with many of them being up scaled.
3D TV/Monitor: PC: While the PS3 has just recently introduced 3D, PC has had it for a while, with many major PC games supporting it. PC games also provide the best 3D experience if your hardware is capable of it.
SD TV: Wii: The main issue with SD gaming with an HD console is reading the text. Thanks to the fact the Wii was designed for SD TV’s, text is completely legible, and the games look great
Section 4: Interests
“What you like to do always determines what you buy”
Action: Xbox 360: The Xbox 360 offers the most games featuring out of this world action sequences, and B movie games. Don’t expect a whole lot of realism here.
Graphics: PC, PS3: Some people have a huge interest in graphics, and these people want the best looking games possible. For graphic whores you want the PC or the PS3. The PC provides the highest resolution of any gaming device, and the PS3 is not that far behind.
Simulators: PC: For realism, nothing matches what the PC can offer. The PC has the most realistic shooters, racing games, and flight simulators of them all.
Casual Games: Wii: No doubting it, the Wii has the most casual games of them all.
Fighting Games: PS3: I would recommend the Xbox, as it basically has all the same fighting games as the PS3, but the PS3 has the superior D-Pad, which is needed in these settings.
Online: Xbox 360: Xbox live has the best gaming community of them all, with the best social features toping even the PC.
Section 5: Social Life
“Everyone is different, some are 30 year old virgins in their basements, others are party animals that have fun every day”
Party’s: Wii: For the type of people that have lots of girls over all the time will want to get the Wii, it offers the most party games designed for multiple people to play at once, and also involve a lot of movement, and jumping, if you know what I mean.
Casual Relationships: PS3: For those looking to have a casual, 1 on 1 relationship with someone, the PS3 is the way to go. It offers lots of Co-Op games like LittleBigPlanet that have lots of laughs to keep you together.
Bro Parties: Xbox 360: The Xbox has a lot of games that offer 4 player split screen, and let you kill each other, the perfect combination for a dude party.
Alone: PS3: Looking for the best single player games? The PS3 is your answer, with games like Infamous and Uncharted 2, it has the most major single player hits.
Alone, with online friends: Xbox 360: Xbox live offers the best social experience with friends that have the console also. It is also the best service to find friends on.
Section 6: The Future
“It may be good now, but in 1 week it will be outdated again”
Upgradability: PC: The great thing about the PC is the ability to upgrade to the latest hardware without buying the whole system. However, this is set back by the constant need to.
Lasting Appeal: PS3: of the game machines out on the market, the PS3 is the only one that still sees no need for an upgrade, meaning we probably won’t be seeing a new PS3 for a good while. Also much like Sony’s previous platforms, it will get good treatment even with the PS3 launches.
Motion Gaming: Wii: The Wii has motion gaming locked down, and its guaranteed to be full of motion games in the near future. While the PS3 and Xbox have motion setups planed, it’s uncertain how long they will last.
Controller free games: Xbox 360: Those looking for games that don’t need a controller, or fans of the old Eye toy have a new, modern way to do it. Xbox Kinect offers games that don’t need a controller, however the tech is still not proven.
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Why Mag Is Not Dead To Me
I edited it a tad, as I felt the need to share it with more than just the comment thread in the discussion of the article.
Have you played MAG? If so, and you're like me, you've enjoyed it the past year and couple months. The servers are still far from empty, and will most likely be quite lively for at least another year, which to me, is an exceptionally long run for a multiplayer shooter, especially given its need for a large number of players for their large games. On average with most shooters, 6 to 8 months is the max a title will see before players move on to another game and average players online begins to decline. Now, MAG is no exception to this, as the servers are most definitely not as full as they were a year ago, and we have mostly Killzone 3, Uncharted 2, and the host of other online exclusives for the PS3 to thank for this. So, yes, you're right. 256 players may have seemed like a gimmick to some, and it was its main marketing tool, but MAG did deliver, is still delivering, and will for at least another year. It has received countless updates averaging 1 major update every 3 to 4 months, the most recent being this past Feb. 23rd.
http://blog.mag.com/blog/20...
Other current shooters like Gears or Halo were designed for great 4 v 4, 8 v 8, etc. MAG was designed to be a great 128 v 128, or 64 v 64 depending on the game type of course. So as a daily player on MAG, I believe they've done a perfect job at maintaining a user base big enough for 256 players. I'm sure my clan of 100+ who I play with each day and the countless larger clans we play against and deploy with will vouch for that as well.
I've never had to wait long to join a game. Personally, if you ask me, most of the players still on MAG are very pleasant to play with as they are mostly made up of the really good dedicated veteran type, who always have mics, and will work with you. After playing MAG for so long, I start to recognize a lot of the players I play with who aren't even on my friends list. It's pretty cool when I can jump in a game by myself and have some random guy be like hey, I remember playing with you, let's group up.
So, I'll say it for the last time: MAG is far from dead.
On a random note, since it's bothering me, when I said:
"It's pretty cool when I can jump in a game by myself and have some random ground be like hey, I remember playing with you, let's group up."
Have you played MAG? If so, and you're like me, you've enjoyed it the past year and couple months. The servers are still far from empty, and will most likely be quite lively for at least another year, which to me, is an exceptionally long run for a multiplayer shooter, especially given its need for a large number of players for their large games. On average with most shooters, 6 to 8 months is the max a title will see before players move on to another game and average players online begins to decline. Now, MAG is no exception to this, as the servers are most definitely not as full as they were a year ago, and we have mostly Killzone 3, Uncharted 2, and the host of other online exclusives for the PS3 to thank for this. So, yes, you're right. 256 players may have seemed like a gimmick to some, and it was its main marketing tool, but MAG did deliver, is still delivering, and will for at least another year. It has received countless updates averaging 1 major update every 3 to 4 months, the most recent being this past Feb. 23rd.
http://blog.mag.com/blog/20...
Other current shooters like Gears or Halo were designed for great 4 v 4, 8 v 8, etc. MAG was designed to be a great 128 v 128, or 64 v 64 depending on the game type of course. So as a daily player on MAG, I believe they've done a perfect job at maintaining a user base big enough for 256 players. I'm sure my clan of 100+ who I play with each day and the countless larger clans we play against and deploy with will vouch for that as well.
I've never had to wait long to join a game. Personally, if you ask me, most of the players still on MAG are very pleasant to play with as they are mostly made up of the really good dedicated veteran type, who always have mics, and will work with you. After playing MAG for so long, I start to recognize a lot of the players I play with who aren't even on my friends list. It's pretty cool when I can jump in a game by myself and have some random guy be like hey, I remember playing with you, let's group up.
So, I'll say it for the last time: MAG is far from dead.
On a random note, since it's bothering me, when I said:
"It's pretty cool when I can jump in a game by myself and have some random ground be like hey, I remember playing with you, let's group up."
GDC: Swarm
Imagine your own pack of globular lemmings that you steer like a school of very self-sacrificing fish - sacrifice being the key word in Swarm. On hand to show off the madness this week at GDC were Shane Bettenhausen of UTV Ignition and Joel DeYoung of Hothead Games. Hothead, the guys behind the Penny Arcade games and DeathSpank, are now delivering an action-puzzler with a heavy dose of platforming fun.
Straight away the game teaches the essentials of life in control of the Swarm - namely, death. Your very first foray takes the little guys across a path littered with spikes that will inevitably skewer a hunk of the crew. No matter, they replenish at a future point - only to meet with similar attrition rates as you encounter bombs, leap chasms or encourage them to plow through obstacles.
You might say the titular blue guys are lacking in smarts, but what they're missing in grey matter they make up for in Borg-like assimilation and esteem for the greater good. Their willy-nilly heroics don't go uncounted, those deaths increase your multiplier and unlock medals for both quantity as well as quality.
While death is heavily rewarded keeping the little guys alive is necessary to collecting DNA and triggering pads. Still, the notion that the Swarmites exist to be destroyed is at the core of Swarm. Levels have score requirements, not Swarm requirements, which means you want them to drop like flies and get that multiplier sky high.
My college biology class leads me to believe that Swarm is educational, focusing on the collection of DNA for "Mother" so that she can get a new hat. It's science! As Swarmites expire across levels, it's possible to replenish the horde with little DNA clusters on the ground. You may only need one Swarmite at level end to finish, but getting there requires a great many more.
Reaching some malicious ventilation, it was necessary to send some of the Swarm into the pipeworks in order to clear the road ahead of poisonous gas. In a rather dire moment the Swarmites were tasked with picking up some bombs and lobbing them at a wall in need of destroying. Most of the Swarmites got it right while others picked up their comrades and chucked them into the explosion. Leave the swarm idle for too long and they get misadventurous, and like the infected in The Happening lose all their self-preservation and find the nearest way to off themselves.
In its more platforming guise you guide the 50 blob flock through perils like Pikmin with more action than strategy. The biggest trick to steering the Swarm is perfecting an almost breathing rhythm of gathering and dispersing your flock to propel them forward like a cheerfully suicidal jellyfish. Other essential moves are dashing to destroy obstacles and having the Swarmites climb one atop the other to form a teetering totem - that can be steered with care! Delivered through a side-on camera the swarm can travel up, down and around the space in 3D space. Moving like fish through water, controlling the swarm is eerily gratifying.
The game's leaderboards will track important things like level times, surviving Swarmites and of course: the kill count. As you play you'll be reminded of friend's high scores and will be able to follow which of the possible Swarmite deaths you've brought about.
Straight away the game teaches the essentials of life in control of the Swarm - namely, death. Your very first foray takes the little guys across a path littered with spikes that will inevitably skewer a hunk of the crew. No matter, they replenish at a future point - only to meet with similar attrition rates as you encounter bombs, leap chasms or encourage them to plow through obstacles.
You might say the titular blue guys are lacking in smarts, but what they're missing in grey matter they make up for in Borg-like assimilation and esteem for the greater good. Their willy-nilly heroics don't go uncounted, those deaths increase your multiplier and unlock medals for both quantity as well as quality.
While death is heavily rewarded keeping the little guys alive is necessary to collecting DNA and triggering pads. Still, the notion that the Swarmites exist to be destroyed is at the core of Swarm. Levels have score requirements, not Swarm requirements, which means you want them to drop like flies and get that multiplier sky high.
My college biology class leads me to believe that Swarm is educational, focusing on the collection of DNA for "Mother" so that she can get a new hat. It's science! As Swarmites expire across levels, it's possible to replenish the horde with little DNA clusters on the ground. You may only need one Swarmite at level end to finish, but getting there requires a great many more.
Reaching some malicious ventilation, it was necessary to send some of the Swarm into the pipeworks in order to clear the road ahead of poisonous gas. In a rather dire moment the Swarmites were tasked with picking up some bombs and lobbing them at a wall in need of destroying. Most of the Swarmites got it right while others picked up their comrades and chucked them into the explosion. Leave the swarm idle for too long and they get misadventurous, and like the infected in The Happening lose all their self-preservation and find the nearest way to off themselves.
In its more platforming guise you guide the 50 blob flock through perils like Pikmin with more action than strategy. The biggest trick to steering the Swarm is perfecting an almost breathing rhythm of gathering and dispersing your flock to propel them forward like a cheerfully suicidal jellyfish. Other essential moves are dashing to destroy obstacles and having the Swarmites climb one atop the other to form a teetering totem - that can be steered with care! Delivered through a side-on camera the swarm can travel up, down and around the space in 3D space. Moving like fish through water, controlling the swarm is eerily gratifying.
The game's leaderboards will track important things like level times, surviving Swarmites and of course: the kill count. As you play you'll be reminded of friend's high scores and will be able to follow which of the possible Swarmite deaths you've brought about.
GDC: El Shaddai
Shane Bettenhausen of UTV Ignition took precious GDC time to show me around El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron, a game that stubbornly defies classification. At times a third-person action game and others a 2D platformer, what El Shaddai is throughout is beautiful.
The game's art is similarly difficult to pin down, at times drawing on woodblock prints, at others on watercolor brushstrokes and often with surprisingly vibrant hues. With the game's Director, Producer and Art Director all sharing Okami credits, it's easy to see an artistic connection. Even so, the game is visually surprising. Much deference is given to the game's aesthetic, with no meters, bars or even combo indicators onscreen. Your health is measured through your attire, Enoch's armor and clothing falling away as you take damage. Enoch sports some rather nice jeans, a gift from Lucifel (Lucifer), who is fond of the future, designer duds and his cell phone calls to God. Enoch's deliberately asymmetrical armor does leave his left bum cheek covered only by his pants - his Achilles' heel, perhaps? It's when Enoch reaches a state of shirtlessness that you know you're in trouble. Once knocked out the screen will begin to wink shut as Enoch's eyes close, but mashing the shoulder and face buttons quickly revives him. Each successive near-death makes it more difficult to revive Enoch, however, and ultimately you can die. In the meantime, Enoch shrugs it off with a simple, "It's okay, no problem."
The art in 2D presents some interesting and beautiful moments - like using a cresting wave to traverse an area or times when inky blackness represents a pit but others where it is quite solid. In a bit of platforming trickery some distances are too long for Enoch to traverse with his double jump, but falling off the ledge allows for a third jump that spans the gap. There are no enemies in these 2D portions of the game, so the environment is both challenging and ripe for appreciation.
Act 3: Ezekiel is an early level in the game. Enoch begins weaponless with the ability to punch and kick, and once you've pummeled enemies into a blue aura hitting L1 allows you to steal their weapon. Not only do you deprive them of the weapon you now have a new, purified one to use. Purification is necessary as battling causes your weapons to become "defiled" and glow an angry orange. Swiping a weapon from an enemy solves the defilement problem as does skirting the battle and hitting L1. Since Enoch can only carry one weapon at a time doing battle with mixed enemies makes swapping weapons a strategic necessity.
While different weapons are better suited to different enemies, those preferring swordplay will be partial to the Arch. The Gale weapon lends itself to ranged combat as it allows for rapid movement and fires on enemies from a distance but becomes defiled more quickly, and trying to purify your weapon while under attack is a hazardous thing - none of the enemies will sit back and wait for a T.O. while Enoch goes about his weapon purification, these guys are aggressive. Enemies will also pummel you with two shields that make for powerful, if slow, attacks useful against a particularly large and nasty enemy I encountered in the demo. Later I battled two giant armored pigs, and trust me, giant armored pigs make formidable foes.
Since I wasn't played the dumbed-down for the press easy mode (or so they told me), battles were challenging and engaging. Taking down bosses requires skill and time. Combos are a matter of timing, and blocking just before an attack allows for parry. Bettenhausen says the game will take most players 12 hours to complete, but there is an in-game taunt that it is possible to complete in in 8 hours. How much of that requires pure skill versus evasive maneuvers remains to be seen.
El Shaddai's uniqueness may make it difficult to classify, but appreciating beauty, platforming and combat should come naturally to gamers.
The game's art is similarly difficult to pin down, at times drawing on woodblock prints, at others on watercolor brushstrokes and often with surprisingly vibrant hues. With the game's Director, Producer and Art Director all sharing Okami credits, it's easy to see an artistic connection. Even so, the game is visually surprising. Much deference is given to the game's aesthetic, with no meters, bars or even combo indicators onscreen. Your health is measured through your attire, Enoch's armor and clothing falling away as you take damage. Enoch sports some rather nice jeans, a gift from Lucifel (Lucifer), who is fond of the future, designer duds and his cell phone calls to God. Enoch's deliberately asymmetrical armor does leave his left bum cheek covered only by his pants - his Achilles' heel, perhaps? It's when Enoch reaches a state of shirtlessness that you know you're in trouble. Once knocked out the screen will begin to wink shut as Enoch's eyes close, but mashing the shoulder and face buttons quickly revives him. Each successive near-death makes it more difficult to revive Enoch, however, and ultimately you can die. In the meantime, Enoch shrugs it off with a simple, "It's okay, no problem."
The art in 2D presents some interesting and beautiful moments - like using a cresting wave to traverse an area or times when inky blackness represents a pit but others where it is quite solid. In a bit of platforming trickery some distances are too long for Enoch to traverse with his double jump, but falling off the ledge allows for a third jump that spans the gap. There are no enemies in these 2D portions of the game, so the environment is both challenging and ripe for appreciation.
Act 3: Ezekiel is an early level in the game. Enoch begins weaponless with the ability to punch and kick, and once you've pummeled enemies into a blue aura hitting L1 allows you to steal their weapon. Not only do you deprive them of the weapon you now have a new, purified one to use. Purification is necessary as battling causes your weapons to become "defiled" and glow an angry orange. Swiping a weapon from an enemy solves the defilement problem as does skirting the battle and hitting L1. Since Enoch can only carry one weapon at a time doing battle with mixed enemies makes swapping weapons a strategic necessity.
While different weapons are better suited to different enemies, those preferring swordplay will be partial to the Arch. The Gale weapon lends itself to ranged combat as it allows for rapid movement and fires on enemies from a distance but becomes defiled more quickly, and trying to purify your weapon while under attack is a hazardous thing - none of the enemies will sit back and wait for a T.O. while Enoch goes about his weapon purification, these guys are aggressive. Enemies will also pummel you with two shields that make for powerful, if slow, attacks useful against a particularly large and nasty enemy I encountered in the demo. Later I battled two giant armored pigs, and trust me, giant armored pigs make formidable foes.
Since I wasn't played the dumbed-down for the press easy mode (or so they told me), battles were challenging and engaging. Taking down bosses requires skill and time. Combos are a matter of timing, and blocking just before an attack allows for parry. Bettenhausen says the game will take most players 12 hours to complete, but there is an in-game taunt that it is possible to complete in in 8 hours. How much of that requires pure skill versus evasive maneuvers remains to be seen.
El Shaddai's uniqueness may make it difficult to classify, but appreciating beauty, platforming and combat should come naturally to gamers.
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Augmented to be a reality on PS5, Xbox 3 and Wii 3?
Okay, as early as this sounds, I have thought this over time and time again. I know we are on the brink of the next gen consoles (with Nintendo seeming to take first dibs with their Wii2/Stream/Cafe) but we have to ask ourselves this. With as much graphics and processing power that Playstation, Nintendo and Xbox can muster without being too expensive, there will come a point in time when the graphics can only get so "real". At that point it's almost the same as watching television and we all know how boring that can be at times. So I got to thinking about what the next leap in gaming would be after the next gen consoles (Thinking ahead, I know lol).
Lets start out by making this easy to understand from my perspective. With the introduction of the Wii, gaming has been changed forever. Motion gaming is here to stay, that much we know with both PS3 and Xbox360 following suite. So, with that said, I also began thinking about how graphics are becoming more realistic and when it gets to the point of looking "human", then what's next? Well you could always work on rendering, real-time situations and gameplay but even if gaming developers nailed that down, then you come to another dead end. There has to be something more for consoles besides graphics and gameplay or mark my words, "gaming will die".
Now, this is where things get interesting. If companies such as Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo wish to keep people connected to games, there has to be a shift in technology. Such a major shift that would set us into the next frontier in gaming... Virtual Reality. Yep, you heard me right.
Virtual Reality is inevitable whether you want to believe it or not and here's what evidence I've gathered that supports my claim.
First off, the increase of support and use of 3D. Every form of media is currently testing the waters from handheld gaming, network cable/satallite, cell phones, TVs and movie theatres have all seen a spike in interest for the support and continuation of 3D.
Secondly is the introduction of motion gaming. Of course this wouldn't have taken off had it not been for Nintendo. I remember attending E3 in 2006 when the Wii was introduced and avaliable to play on the show floor. It just felt... right.
Thirdly is a little periphiral by Sony that intrigued me, the Sharp Shooter. This was where things started coming together because with the introduction of Killzone and it being in 3D was enough to blow my socks off. This was almost as close as it got to virtual reality but that reality is still far off.
Now, I said above that these few things is what led me to believe that virtual reality is on the horizon. When you add all these things together, 3D, motion gaming, life-like graphics and a special periphiral, you have virtual reality. Now wait one minute before you go saying, "We already have all of that!". Not quite...
The special periphiral will be similar to 3D glasses except when you look through them, the landscape of the videogame is displayed through the glasses in real-time! I bet you're saying, "huh?!". But can you visualize it? Putting on a pair of glasses that give you an augmented reality of the game in your living room?! The technology that would drive this idea would be the pair of specialized glasses, a holographic emitter and reciever built into the glasses and the use of 3D technology. With all of this put together, we have virtual reality.
So now can you see my vision? This isn't impossible and if you don't believe me go take a look at (www.darpa.mil) and see for yourself. Technology is limitless given how fast it's developed these days. Give gaming consoles 15+ years and I can almost garantee gamers will be in their living rooms with special glasses roaming dark corridors in Resident Evil, running down the field on Madden and stalking your enemies with Call of Duty.
With that being said, I would love to see this happen. All signs point in this direction it's just a question of when, how much and is the gaming world ready.
Lets start out by making this easy to understand from my perspective. With the introduction of the Wii, gaming has been changed forever. Motion gaming is here to stay, that much we know with both PS3 and Xbox360 following suite. So, with that said, I also began thinking about how graphics are becoming more realistic and when it gets to the point of looking "human", then what's next? Well you could always work on rendering, real-time situations and gameplay but even if gaming developers nailed that down, then you come to another dead end. There has to be something more for consoles besides graphics and gameplay or mark my words, "gaming will die".
Now, this is where things get interesting. If companies such as Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo wish to keep people connected to games, there has to be a shift in technology. Such a major shift that would set us into the next frontier in gaming... Virtual Reality. Yep, you heard me right.
Virtual Reality is inevitable whether you want to believe it or not and here's what evidence I've gathered that supports my claim.
First off, the increase of support and use of 3D. Every form of media is currently testing the waters from handheld gaming, network cable/satallite, cell phones, TVs and movie theatres have all seen a spike in interest for the support and continuation of 3D.
Secondly is the introduction of motion gaming. Of course this wouldn't have taken off had it not been for Nintendo. I remember attending E3 in 2006 when the Wii was introduced and avaliable to play on the show floor. It just felt... right.
Thirdly is a little periphiral by Sony that intrigued me, the Sharp Shooter. This was where things started coming together because with the introduction of Killzone and it being in 3D was enough to blow my socks off. This was almost as close as it got to virtual reality but that reality is still far off.
Now, I said above that these few things is what led me to believe that virtual reality is on the horizon. When you add all these things together, 3D, motion gaming, life-like graphics and a special periphiral, you have virtual reality. Now wait one minute before you go saying, "We already have all of that!". Not quite...
The special periphiral will be similar to 3D glasses except when you look through them, the landscape of the videogame is displayed through the glasses in real-time! I bet you're saying, "huh?!". But can you visualize it? Putting on a pair of glasses that give you an augmented reality of the game in your living room?! The technology that would drive this idea would be the pair of specialized glasses, a holographic emitter and reciever built into the glasses and the use of 3D technology. With all of this put together, we have virtual reality.
So now can you see my vision? This isn't impossible and if you don't believe me go take a look at (www.darpa.mil) and see for yourself. Technology is limitless given how fast it's developed these days. Give gaming consoles 15+ years and I can almost garantee gamers will be in their living rooms with special glasses roaming dark corridors in Resident Evil, running down the field on Madden and stalking your enemies with Call of Duty.
With that being said, I would love to see this happen. All signs point in this direction it's just a question of when, how much and is the gaming world ready.
All The E3 2011 Times, Dates & Links You Need.
Welcome to my Official E3 2011 Times, Dates & Links blog post.
Just thought I would make a blog posting times, dates and links of most if not all of the E3 2011 press conferences.
I have tried to gather all the websites that will be showing live streams and videos.
I will try to post all the correct times, dates and links to help everyone but I may get some wrong. If I do and you spot it please tell me.
~~~~~
Microsoft, Sony & Nintendo Conference Times:
Microsoft Press Conference
Monday June 6th
US Pacific - 9:00 am
US Mountain - 10:00 am
US Central - 11:00 am
US Eastern - 12:00 pm
UK - 5:00 pm
Central European - 6:00 pm
Australia West - 12:00 am (June 7th)
Australia Central - 1:30 am (June 7th)
Australia East - 2:00 am (June 7th)
Live Streams
http://e3.gamespot.com/pres...
http://www.g4tv.com/e3-2011...
http://uk.ign.com/events/e3...
http://www.youtube.com/E3
http://www.ustream.tv/games...
~
Sony Press Conference
Monday June 6th
US Pacific - 5:00 pm
US Mountain - 6:00 pm
US Central - 7:00 pm
US Eastern - 8:00 pm
UK - 1:00 am (June 7th)
Central European - 2:00 am (June 7th)
Australia West - 8:00 am (June 7th)
Australia Central - 9:30 am (June 7th)
Australia East - 10:00 am (June 7th)
Live Streams
http://e3.gamespot.com/pres...
http://www.g4tv.com/e3-2011...
http://uk.ign.com/events/e3...
http://www.youtube.com/E3
http://www.ustream.tv/games...
~
Nintendo Press Conference
Tuesday June 7th
US Pacific - 9:00 am
US Mountain - 10:00 am
US Central - 11:00 am
US Eastern - 12:00 pm
UK - 5:00 pm
Central European - 6:00 pm
Australia West - 12:00 am (June 8th)
Australia Central - 1:30 am (June 8th)
Australia East - 2:00 am (June 8th)
Live Streams
http://e3.nintendo.com/
http://e3.gamespot.com/pres...
http://www.g4tv.com/e3-2011...
http://uk.ign.com/events/e3...
http://www.youtube.com/E3
http://www.ustream.tv/games...
~~~~~
EA & Ubisoft Conference Times:
EA Press Conference
Monday June 6th
US Pacific - 12:30 pm
US Mountain - 1:30 pm
US Central - 2:30 pm
US Eastern - 3:30 pm
UK - 8:30 pm
Central European - 9:30 pm
Australia West - 3:30 am (June 7th)
Australia Central - 5:00 am (June 7th)
Australia East - 5:30 am (June 7th)
Live Streams
http://e3.gamespot.com/pres...
http://www.g4tv.com/e3-2011...
http://uk.ign.com/events/e3...
http://www.youtube.com/E3
http://www.ustream.tv/games...
Just thought I would make a blog posting times, dates and links of most if not all of the E3 2011 press conferences.
I have tried to gather all the websites that will be showing live streams and videos.
I will try to post all the correct times, dates and links to help everyone but I may get some wrong. If I do and you spot it please tell me.
~~~~~
Microsoft, Sony & Nintendo Conference Times:
Microsoft Press Conference
Monday June 6th
US Pacific - 9:00 am
US Mountain - 10:00 am
US Central - 11:00 am
US Eastern - 12:00 pm
UK - 5:00 pm
Central European - 6:00 pm
Australia West - 12:00 am (June 7th)
Australia Central - 1:30 am (June 7th)
Australia East - 2:00 am (June 7th)
Live Streams
http://e3.gamespot.com/pres...
http://www.g4tv.com/e3-2011...
http://uk.ign.com/events/e3...
http://www.youtube.com/E3
http://www.ustream.tv/games...
~
Sony Press Conference
Monday June 6th
US Pacific - 5:00 pm
US Mountain - 6:00 pm
US Central - 7:00 pm
US Eastern - 8:00 pm
UK - 1:00 am (June 7th)
Central European - 2:00 am (June 7th)
Australia West - 8:00 am (June 7th)
Australia Central - 9:30 am (June 7th)
Australia East - 10:00 am (June 7th)
Live Streams
http://e3.gamespot.com/pres...
http://www.g4tv.com/e3-2011...
http://uk.ign.com/events/e3...
http://www.youtube.com/E3
http://www.ustream.tv/games...
~
Nintendo Press Conference
Tuesday June 7th
US Pacific - 9:00 am
US Mountain - 10:00 am
US Central - 11:00 am
US Eastern - 12:00 pm
UK - 5:00 pm
Central European - 6:00 pm
Australia West - 12:00 am (June 8th)
Australia Central - 1:30 am (June 8th)
Australia East - 2:00 am (June 8th)
Live Streams
http://e3.nintendo.com/
http://e3.gamespot.com/pres...
http://www.g4tv.com/e3-2011...
http://uk.ign.com/events/e3...
http://www.youtube.com/E3
http://www.ustream.tv/games...
~~~~~
EA & Ubisoft Conference Times:
EA Press Conference
Monday June 6th
US Pacific - 12:30 pm
US Mountain - 1:30 pm
US Central - 2:30 pm
US Eastern - 3:30 pm
UK - 8:30 pm
Central European - 9:30 pm
Australia West - 3:30 am (June 7th)
Australia Central - 5:00 am (June 7th)
Australia East - 5:30 am (June 7th)
Live Streams
http://e3.gamespot.com/pres...
http://www.g4tv.com/e3-2011...
http://uk.ign.com/events/e3...
http://www.youtube.com/E3
http://www.ustream.tv/games...
Online Gaming: The Good, The Mad & The Expensive
Things used to be so simple. We all had our consoles and knew exactly what to expect from them. There were no worries about it breaking if we breathed to hard near it, no update, update, update scenarios, no need for DLC as games were actually sold in there complete form and unless I'm looking through a rose tinted view I'm pretty sure the games of the time used to have a fair bit of longevity in comparison to their modern day counterparts. Oh, and no online play. And it's these online capabilities that have put this gen way above anything that came before.
Forget about graphics, sound and depth because back in the day the graphics being spewed out by our Sega MegaDrives and Super Nintendos' were the height of brilliance, there was nothing better. You never think at the time, one day we'll look back and laugh at these graphics and this mediocre sound were currently embracing, but you do, in the same way we'll one day look back at our current games and laugh. But forget about all that because as I said, we never knew what advances would be made over the coming years. It's the online side of things that has made this generation such a wonderful place to play. Friendships are formed, it provides a great field to test your skills and it can add an unlimited lifespan to an otherwise short game. It was there before of course, the last generation was capable of online play but it wasn't until this gen that the whole thing gathered unprecedented speed and numbers, and this new found love and desire for online play was never more apparent than during the recent PSN downtime.
Due to the hacking of the Playstation Network, the service was taken offline for a few weeks and caused much outrage among it's users. To be honest in some cases you'd have been forgiven for thinking a Sony exec had just strolled into their living room and gone about their PS3 with a sledgehammer, they were that put out.
It wasn't that Sony had removed the ability to play games, that was all still intact, it's just that by removing the ability to play online it felt as though you were left with half a console. Such is the importance of online play these days that when it's removed gaming can become a much greyer place to spend time. There are of course a wonderful array of single player experiences to be had, it's just that in most cases, unless you're heading into the world of Mass Effect, Oblivion or some other monster RPG you'll probably have reached the end credits within a few measly hours.
Online gaming has quickly become the staple diet for the majority of console gamers. Within just a few brief years the online battlefields have seen something of a population explosion, gamers craving the challenge of facing a living, breathing human opponent gathered to wage war and fire insults at one another. The culmination of this new found injection of players and importance of online play meant that the PSN being offline recently due, let's not forget, to a security breach meaning our personal details had been lost to hackers was met with an interesting reaction.
Sony: Well, the network has been hacked, the hackers' aquired access to all your personal details and potentially your credit card details. So with that in mind we're shutting the Playstation Network down for the foreseeable future while we rectify things.
Gamer: WHAT!!!!! NO BLACK OPS ONLINE!!!!!! NOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sony: Don't worry, you can still use the PS3 for games, it's only the Network and online gaming that will be unavailable.
Gamer: Kill me now, take my PS3 and burn it, I'm getting a 360 they never have any trouble! (hmmm)
Weeks pass.
Sony: After a few weeks hard work we're pleased to announce that the PSN is back up and running.
Gamer (now sporting a suntan and a new girlfriend) : Mwah Mwah, I LOVE YOU GUYS SOOOOO MUCH!!!!!!
In goes Black Ops, straight online and all is well with the world once again.
Gaming has gone through more of an evolution over the last five years than it ever has before, we're now at a point were the online side of things has almost certainly surpassed the single player in an awful lot of gamers priorities when buying. We've seen online only games hit the shelves and recently online passes introduced. The companies know the value of online play to us gamers and have dollar signs in their eyes. Will we pay? Of course we will, and unfortunately they know we will.
Call of Duty Elite anyone?
But here's an idea for the likes of Activision and co, before asking us to pay a little bit more on top of the £40 we've just paid for the game and the yearly subscription we already pay Microsoft (if you're buying on Xbox) plus the map packs you'll release at extortionate prices and the online access code we'll need if we've bought pre-owned or want to use it on more than one console, before all that, why not try releasing a game that's worth forty of our british pounds in the first place. Five hour campaigns and re-hashed multiplayer don't quite cut it anymore.
So many of us love to play online, we used to be able to just buy the game and we were set, there was no extra outlay to impact the wallet. Those days seem sadly numbered. My only hope at the moment is that Activision have over-estimated the importance of the CoD franchise and this new venture will fail and prevent other companies from following suit, yeah fat chance. At the very least maybe they've just played into Battlefield 3s' hands and that game can take it's well deserved place upon the FPS throne. Now that might just happen.
Forget about graphics, sound and depth because back in the day the graphics being spewed out by our Sega MegaDrives and Super Nintendos' were the height of brilliance, there was nothing better. You never think at the time, one day we'll look back and laugh at these graphics and this mediocre sound were currently embracing, but you do, in the same way we'll one day look back at our current games and laugh. But forget about all that because as I said, we never knew what advances would be made over the coming years. It's the online side of things that has made this generation such a wonderful place to play. Friendships are formed, it provides a great field to test your skills and it can add an unlimited lifespan to an otherwise short game. It was there before of course, the last generation was capable of online play but it wasn't until this gen that the whole thing gathered unprecedented speed and numbers, and this new found love and desire for online play was never more apparent than during the recent PSN downtime.
Due to the hacking of the Playstation Network, the service was taken offline for a few weeks and caused much outrage among it's users. To be honest in some cases you'd have been forgiven for thinking a Sony exec had just strolled into their living room and gone about their PS3 with a sledgehammer, they were that put out.
It wasn't that Sony had removed the ability to play games, that was all still intact, it's just that by removing the ability to play online it felt as though you were left with half a console. Such is the importance of online play these days that when it's removed gaming can become a much greyer place to spend time. There are of course a wonderful array of single player experiences to be had, it's just that in most cases, unless you're heading into the world of Mass Effect, Oblivion or some other monster RPG you'll probably have reached the end credits within a few measly hours.
Online gaming has quickly become the staple diet for the majority of console gamers. Within just a few brief years the online battlefields have seen something of a population explosion, gamers craving the challenge of facing a living, breathing human opponent gathered to wage war and fire insults at one another. The culmination of this new found injection of players and importance of online play meant that the PSN being offline recently due, let's not forget, to a security breach meaning our personal details had been lost to hackers was met with an interesting reaction.
Sony: Well, the network has been hacked, the hackers' aquired access to all your personal details and potentially your credit card details. So with that in mind we're shutting the Playstation Network down for the foreseeable future while we rectify things.
Gamer: WHAT!!!!! NO BLACK OPS ONLINE!!!!!! NOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sony: Don't worry, you can still use the PS3 for games, it's only the Network and online gaming that will be unavailable.
Gamer: Kill me now, take my PS3 and burn it, I'm getting a 360 they never have any trouble! (hmmm)
Weeks pass.
Sony: After a few weeks hard work we're pleased to announce that the PSN is back up and running.
Gamer (now sporting a suntan and a new girlfriend) : Mwah Mwah, I LOVE YOU GUYS SOOOOO MUCH!!!!!!
In goes Black Ops, straight online and all is well with the world once again.
Gaming has gone through more of an evolution over the last five years than it ever has before, we're now at a point were the online side of things has almost certainly surpassed the single player in an awful lot of gamers priorities when buying. We've seen online only games hit the shelves and recently online passes introduced. The companies know the value of online play to us gamers and have dollar signs in their eyes. Will we pay? Of course we will, and unfortunately they know we will.
Call of Duty Elite anyone?
But here's an idea for the likes of Activision and co, before asking us to pay a little bit more on top of the £40 we've just paid for the game and the yearly subscription we already pay Microsoft (if you're buying on Xbox) plus the map packs you'll release at extortionate prices and the online access code we'll need if we've bought pre-owned or want to use it on more than one console, before all that, why not try releasing a game that's worth forty of our british pounds in the first place. Five hour campaigns and re-hashed multiplayer don't quite cut it anymore.
So many of us love to play online, we used to be able to just buy the game and we were set, there was no extra outlay to impact the wallet. Those days seem sadly numbered. My only hope at the moment is that Activision have over-estimated the importance of the CoD franchise and this new venture will fail and prevent other companies from following suit, yeah fat chance. At the very least maybe they've just played into Battlefield 3s' hands and that game can take it's well deserved place upon the FPS throne. Now that might just happen.
In Defense of Call of Duty Elite! (And Other Related Things)
(BTW, there is a tl;dr version at the bottom if you don't care to read everything).
A lot of what we heard about the newly unveiled Call of Duty Elite service is actually going to be free (here is the list http://www.gamespot.com/new...
Originally, many expected all those to be charged for. And, if those were indeed part of the charged service, I'd be upset myself.
Thing is, Activision is actually doing something good! They are giving us fan service! They are finally offering an official community hotspot, with a ton of features that any self-respecting high title multiplayer game ought to have-- oodles of stats and community features that a social multiplayer like Call of Duty needs.
First, I want to explain why I think people hate Activision and Call of Duty-- I wont cover all reasons, so bear with me a bit because I think it leads to a point about Elite:
There are many who immediately panic and rage at Activision charging for a service, but I really do think Elite is blown way out of proportion. I generally see a lot of misinformation about Activision and its moral principles in the industry. Take the $15 map packs for example. I'm sure some of you have read my defence for those, and I do think it's a justifiable price.
In short: Call of Duty map packs cost $3/map, same as many other shooters' DLC.
The real problem with Activision and Call of Duty is, of course, annual milking. It's not so much that the game fails to evolve-- I think Call of Duty's evolution is up to pace with any other game releasing a sequel. The problem of course, is the fact that each annual title only does so much before overwhelming the market with yet another title. The gameplay evolution is minimal when you consider the fact that Treyarch practically mimics Infinity Ward. However, the jump from MW1 to MW2 is what one would ordinarily expect from a sequel, and I expect MW3 to be a significant change too (for the better remains to be seen but that's besides the point)
If just the Modern Warfare line existed, I don't think there would be much reason to complain, honestly. Granted, the titles have gotten worse year after year. Call of Duty 4 was great, World at War was too, -- and Modern Warfare 2 was terribly flawed, and Black Ops was a technical mess. It seems to me that while Infinity Ward adds new gameplay mechanics, Treyarch simply adds supporting features to what IW has laid down.
If anything, Activision deserves harsher criticism for they are at the top of the hierarchy and ought not to be making these amateur grievances-- it's about high time we get dedicated servers on consoles as well as a technically mastered game on all platforms. There is no excuse for that, and to me, that's the biggest issue with Call of Duty.
Call of Duty's true crime then, is the unacceptable stumbles that comes with each yearly release (that and the fact that they churn titles left and right each year)
Then of course, there is Call of Duty's undeniable influence over your favorite shooters as well as the fact that it can sell with brand power (something that makes people very upset and works hand in hand with the former point about COD's influence). They are two faults that I do not hold Activision accountable for at all. That fault falls not on COD fans or Activision but on developers of other games (I'm looking at you, Zipper, Guerilla Games, Naughty Dog, and in some circles, Bungie even)
I'm tired of developers taking undeniable mechanics from Call of Duty as much as anyone else, but I think people wrongly blame Activision/COD for what has happened to their favorite games when in fact its publishers who bend to the culture.
Then of course there is the fact that Call of Duty really is an average built shooter with an unprecedented fanbase-- something that seems morally wrong to the more dedicated gamer.
All this helps monument to the hysteria surrounding Elite, Call of Duty's future, and the faith people are putting in Battlefield 3. With all the attention Call of Duty has on its shoulders, people immediately assume the worst: That Activision, being the evil cancer that they are, will do something that will impact everything else we love.
But is it really that bad? I don't think so.
Let's take a quick look at Bungie Pro, Bungie's paid subscription service for Halo:
"Bungie Pro is an add-on service that enhances your gaming experience:
Expand your Fileshare
Upgrade your File Share from 6 to 24 total slots! Share more of your screenshots, maps, films, and gametypes. Stand out from the community crowd with a Bungie Pro background for all your files.
Bungie Pro Video Browse through our most popular clips
Share your gameplay film clips in high quality (360p example) or high definition (720p example) formats. You'll get five render minutes per month!
How much does it cost?
Six months of Bungie Pro is 320 Microsoft Points. Additional minute packs (50 render minutes each) can be purchased right on Bungie.net for $5 USD"
Would you pay for this? Probably not. But there are those who do.
And this is exactly what I expect Elite to be. But I'll go a step further and throw caution to the wind and say that Elite is actually looking to be an even better service than Bungie Pro. Entering tournaments and winning actual prizes, for one, is a great little incentive, as well as simply entering in-game tournies with friends to see how far one can go. Call of Duty, in these ways, is a highly competitive social game and it's great to see these sort of features in a title.
There is a lot we still don't know about Elite, but I do not expect it to be vastly different than Bungie Pro. In the end, there is no major issue with what Call of Duty Elite is doing. There seems to be though, a looming fear that Elite is a disguise for Activision to do more sinister things, but this is a slippery slope argument.
I think the problem Activision faces is coming up with things to make a larger portion of its people WANT to pay for it. But if it manages to keep the basics free without giving us disadvantages on the playing field, then I don't honestly see the big deal. Elite sounds like it will have a minimal impact much like Bungie Pro.
In reality, they aren't doing anything evil. I know people are quick to trash Activision out of distaste, but the fact is that they have revealed that a lot of what ought to be free is indeed going to be. So, that is actually a good thing and I'm glad to see a popular game like COD getting the long awaited community features and in-depth stats that Bungie has for Halo.
Now, if there is any concern to be had, it's over Modern Warfare 3's gameplay. Infinity Ward is 1-1 when it comes to the Modern Warfare franchise. There is a lot of reason to expect MW3 to be terrible, but to me, a lot hinges on three very big things MW2 got wrong:
-Sensible gameplay balance
-Dedicated servers
-Moderation
It's probably important to note that MW3 will use Treyarch's technology when it comes to Moderating, meaning hacking wont be like it was in MW2. That only leaves the need for dedicated servers and gameplay rooted closer to the first Modern Warfare and farther away from the second. It's shameful that Call of Duty was so gutted of these things, and I don't blame people for shunning MW3 based on MW2's issues, but I for one will remain neutral on Modern Warfare 3's multiplayer until I see something more substantial.
A lot of what we heard about the newly unveiled Call of Duty Elite service is actually going to be free (here is the list http://www.gamespot.com/new...
Originally, many expected all those to be charged for. And, if those were indeed part of the charged service, I'd be upset myself.
Thing is, Activision is actually doing something good! They are giving us fan service! They are finally offering an official community hotspot, with a ton of features that any self-respecting high title multiplayer game ought to have-- oodles of stats and community features that a social multiplayer like Call of Duty needs.
First, I want to explain why I think people hate Activision and Call of Duty-- I wont cover all reasons, so bear with me a bit because I think it leads to a point about Elite:
There are many who immediately panic and rage at Activision charging for a service, but I really do think Elite is blown way out of proportion. I generally see a lot of misinformation about Activision and its moral principles in the industry. Take the $15 map packs for example. I'm sure some of you have read my defence for those, and I do think it's a justifiable price.
In short: Call of Duty map packs cost $3/map, same as many other shooters' DLC.
The real problem with Activision and Call of Duty is, of course, annual milking. It's not so much that the game fails to evolve-- I think Call of Duty's evolution is up to pace with any other game releasing a sequel. The problem of course, is the fact that each annual title only does so much before overwhelming the market with yet another title. The gameplay evolution is minimal when you consider the fact that Treyarch practically mimics Infinity Ward. However, the jump from MW1 to MW2 is what one would ordinarily expect from a sequel, and I expect MW3 to be a significant change too (for the better remains to be seen but that's besides the point)
If just the Modern Warfare line existed, I don't think there would be much reason to complain, honestly. Granted, the titles have gotten worse year after year. Call of Duty 4 was great, World at War was too, -- and Modern Warfare 2 was terribly flawed, and Black Ops was a technical mess. It seems to me that while Infinity Ward adds new gameplay mechanics, Treyarch simply adds supporting features to what IW has laid down.
If anything, Activision deserves harsher criticism for they are at the top of the hierarchy and ought not to be making these amateur grievances-- it's about high time we get dedicated servers on consoles as well as a technically mastered game on all platforms. There is no excuse for that, and to me, that's the biggest issue with Call of Duty.
Call of Duty's true crime then, is the unacceptable stumbles that comes with each yearly release (that and the fact that they churn titles left and right each year)
Then of course, there is Call of Duty's undeniable influence over your favorite shooters as well as the fact that it can sell with brand power (something that makes people very upset and works hand in hand with the former point about COD's influence). They are two faults that I do not hold Activision accountable for at all. That fault falls not on COD fans or Activision but on developers of other games (I'm looking at you, Zipper, Guerilla Games, Naughty Dog, and in some circles, Bungie even)
I'm tired of developers taking undeniable mechanics from Call of Duty as much as anyone else, but I think people wrongly blame Activision/COD for what has happened to their favorite games when in fact its publishers who bend to the culture.
Then of course there is the fact that Call of Duty really is an average built shooter with an unprecedented fanbase-- something that seems morally wrong to the more dedicated gamer.
All this helps monument to the hysteria surrounding Elite, Call of Duty's future, and the faith people are putting in Battlefield 3. With all the attention Call of Duty has on its shoulders, people immediately assume the worst: That Activision, being the evil cancer that they are, will do something that will impact everything else we love.
But is it really that bad? I don't think so.
Let's take a quick look at Bungie Pro, Bungie's paid subscription service for Halo:
"Bungie Pro is an add-on service that enhances your gaming experience:
Expand your Fileshare
Upgrade your File Share from 6 to 24 total slots! Share more of your screenshots, maps, films, and gametypes. Stand out from the community crowd with a Bungie Pro background for all your files.
Bungie Pro Video Browse through our most popular clips
Share your gameplay film clips in high quality (360p example) or high definition (720p example) formats. You'll get five render minutes per month!
How much does it cost?
Six months of Bungie Pro is 320 Microsoft Points. Additional minute packs (50 render minutes each) can be purchased right on Bungie.net for $5 USD"
Would you pay for this? Probably not. But there are those who do.
And this is exactly what I expect Elite to be. But I'll go a step further and throw caution to the wind and say that Elite is actually looking to be an even better service than Bungie Pro. Entering tournaments and winning actual prizes, for one, is a great little incentive, as well as simply entering in-game tournies with friends to see how far one can go. Call of Duty, in these ways, is a highly competitive social game and it's great to see these sort of features in a title.
There is a lot we still don't know about Elite, but I do not expect it to be vastly different than Bungie Pro. In the end, there is no major issue with what Call of Duty Elite is doing. There seems to be though, a looming fear that Elite is a disguise for Activision to do more sinister things, but this is a slippery slope argument.
I think the problem Activision faces is coming up with things to make a larger portion of its people WANT to pay for it. But if it manages to keep the basics free without giving us disadvantages on the playing field, then I don't honestly see the big deal. Elite sounds like it will have a minimal impact much like Bungie Pro.
In reality, they aren't doing anything evil. I know people are quick to trash Activision out of distaste, but the fact is that they have revealed that a lot of what ought to be free is indeed going to be. So, that is actually a good thing and I'm glad to see a popular game like COD getting the long awaited community features and in-depth stats that Bungie has for Halo.
Now, if there is any concern to be had, it's over Modern Warfare 3's gameplay. Infinity Ward is 1-1 when it comes to the Modern Warfare franchise. There is a lot of reason to expect MW3 to be terrible, but to me, a lot hinges on three very big things MW2 got wrong:
-Sensible gameplay balance
-Dedicated servers
-Moderation
It's probably important to note that MW3 will use Treyarch's technology when it comes to Moderating, meaning hacking wont be like it was in MW2. That only leaves the need for dedicated servers and gameplay rooted closer to the first Modern Warfare and farther away from the second. It's shameful that Call of Duty was so gutted of these things, and I don't blame people for shunning MW3 based on MW2's issues, but I for one will remain neutral on Modern Warfare 3's multiplayer until I see something more substantial.
GTA V & Jet Packs
Are you a GTA Fan? Have you played many of the games in the series? Do you browse the internet? If so chances are you encountered what has become a rather spirited debate amongst gamers. The inclusion of the Jet Pack.
Before we begin I would like to say that over the course of the Grand Theft Auto series we saw an increase of travel options. Not only do we see the number of cars increase but we then see the addition of other vehicles: Bicycles, Water Craft, Helicopters, Planes, Dirt Bikes, Hovercraft and yes the Jet Pack. I feel that GTA IV took a step back in removing a lot of these options. The GTA series (headed by Rockstar) is a series that paves the way for sandbox games. When IV was released a lot of gamers complained about the lack of airborne travel options available. In this short piece I will attempt to make the case for the inclusion of the Jet Pack.
My criteria for any vehicle in the GTA series is that a working model needs to exist in real life. We need the technology. So no UFO's or the like.
Does the technology Exist? Surely. Jet pack experiments have been going on since World War 2 believe it or not! The device was first looked into by the Germans called "Himmelstürmer" (Heaven stormer) and was later picked up by Bell Aerosystems for further testing. Through the course of these years and up to today many advancements have been made.
Today a company called Jetpack International makes a number of models that have flown a variety of distances for varying lengths of time. Last I checked the T-73 model (attainable for $200,000 w/training) clocked a flight of 9 minutes.
Likewise Tecnologia Aeroespacial Mexicana has a model available for the general public and offers training for $200/hr.
This is usually when I encounter my first argument: fuel. "Scotch" they begin, "Those Jet Packs only fly for a short period of time. That would be unrealistic to include this technology."
Would it? Since when does fuel add any sort of vehicular restriction in the GTA series? The people that say this don't seem to have a problem with cars, helicopters and boats that never need to be refueled. So this should be a non issue right?
Overall we aren't talking alien or futuristic technology here. It exists. I think it would further diversify the transportation options. It was nice in GTA:SA to switch to my Jet Pack and bee line to a destination. It's a good mode for seeking out those hidden packages and easter eggs.
Still too unrealistic? It doesn't even need to be part of the main story. Make it purchasable after unlocking it through a variety of optional side quests and give us something else to spend our hard earned dollars on. That way people that hate the idea will never know its there and those who want to seek out this guilty pleasure can. Everyone wins.
Before we begin I would like to say that over the course of the Grand Theft Auto series we saw an increase of travel options. Not only do we see the number of cars increase but we then see the addition of other vehicles: Bicycles, Water Craft, Helicopters, Planes, Dirt Bikes, Hovercraft and yes the Jet Pack. I feel that GTA IV took a step back in removing a lot of these options. The GTA series (headed by Rockstar) is a series that paves the way for sandbox games. When IV was released a lot of gamers complained about the lack of airborne travel options available. In this short piece I will attempt to make the case for the inclusion of the Jet Pack.
My criteria for any vehicle in the GTA series is that a working model needs to exist in real life. We need the technology. So no UFO's or the like.
Does the technology Exist? Surely. Jet pack experiments have been going on since World War 2 believe it or not! The device was first looked into by the Germans called "Himmelstürmer" (Heaven stormer) and was later picked up by Bell Aerosystems for further testing. Through the course of these years and up to today many advancements have been made.
Today a company called Jetpack International makes a number of models that have flown a variety of distances for varying lengths of time. Last I checked the T-73 model (attainable for $200,000 w/training) clocked a flight of 9 minutes.
Likewise Tecnologia Aeroespacial Mexicana has a model available for the general public and offers training for $200/hr.
This is usually when I encounter my first argument: fuel. "Scotch" they begin, "Those Jet Packs only fly for a short period of time. That would be unrealistic to include this technology."
Would it? Since when does fuel add any sort of vehicular restriction in the GTA series? The people that say this don't seem to have a problem with cars, helicopters and boats that never need to be refueled. So this should be a non issue right?
Overall we aren't talking alien or futuristic technology here. It exists. I think it would further diversify the transportation options. It was nice in GTA:SA to switch to my Jet Pack and bee line to a destination. It's a good mode for seeking out those hidden packages and easter eggs.
Still too unrealistic? It doesn't even need to be part of the main story. Make it purchasable after unlocking it through a variety of optional side quests and give us something else to spend our hard earned dollars on. That way people that hate the idea will never know its there and those who want to seek out this guilty pleasure can. Everyone wins.
Nick Jr., MTVN expand in Asia
Rugrats and music fans in Singapore and Malaysia will be able to tune in to “Dora the Explorer” and 24-hour music videos, docus and concerts with the launch of Viacom’s Nick Jr. and MTVN HD in the territories in coming weeks.
Nick Jr Games. will bow on Singapore’s Starhub from May 18, while MTVN HD will air on Telekom Malaysia Berhad’s HyppTV in Malaysia from June 1.
Nick Jr. will be available on the StarHub TV’s Kids Basic Upsize Group, while MTVNHD will be available to existing StarHub TV’s Entertainment Basic Group customers who are subscribed to the Basic HD Upsize group.
TM will offer the two channels a la carte to its subscribers on HyppTV, Malaysia’s newest pay TV service.
The services will roll out to the rest of the region at a date to be announced.
Nick Jr Games. will bow on Singapore’s Starhub from May 18, while MTVN HD will air on Telekom Malaysia Berhad’s HyppTV in Malaysia from June 1.
Nick Jr. will be available on the StarHub TV’s Kids Basic Upsize Group, while MTVNHD will be available to existing StarHub TV’s Entertainment Basic Group customers who are subscribed to the Basic HD Upsize group.
TM will offer the two channels a la carte to its subscribers on HyppTV, Malaysia’s newest pay TV service.
The services will roll out to the rest of the region at a date to be announced.
Official Pokemon Game Coming To Smartphones
The Pokemon Company is set to bring an official Pokemon Online game to smartphone devices, marking the first time that an official Nintendo-copyrighted app will be available on the iOS and Android.
Called Pokemon Iie Tap (rougly Pokemon: Say Tap?), the app appears to be a rhythm game where players “tap on Pokemon indigo trading cards to the beat of a song from the anime,” according to a translation by consumer video game site GamesRadar.
According to the game’s official announcement, it will be available for most iOS devices, as well as Android devices running version 2.1 of the platform.
Though this is the first iOS or Android application to carry an official Nintendo copyright, it is not the first mobile app of any kind: a Pokemon mobile phone game called Pokemate was released in Japan in 2006.
Though it is a rarity, Nintendo does have a history of releasing official games on platforms that are not its own, including a promotional Flash game to promote its Tingle character.
A release outside of Japan has not been announced.
Called Pokemon Iie Tap (rougly Pokemon: Say Tap?), the app appears to be a rhythm game where players “tap on Pokemon indigo trading cards to the beat of a song from the anime,” according to a translation by consumer video game site GamesRadar.
According to the game’s official announcement, it will be available for most iOS devices, as well as Android devices running version 2.1 of the platform.
Though this is the first iOS or Android application to carry an official Nintendo copyright, it is not the first mobile app of any kind: a Pokemon mobile phone game called Pokemate was released in Japan in 2006.
Though it is a rarity, Nintendo does have a history of releasing official games on platforms that are not its own, including a promotional Flash game to promote its Tingle character.
A release outside of Japan has not been announced.
Friday, October 14, 2011
Disney-branded Facebook games coming in 2012, Playdom head says
Can we all just say, “finally?” During a panel named “The Rise of Social Games” at the f8 Facebook Developers Conference in San Francisco, Disney Interactive and Playdom head John Pleasants revealed that two to four Facebook games surrounding Disney xd brands will hit Facebook in 2012. The general topic of the panel was the fact that branded social games are taking off.
Pleasants was joined on the panel by Kabam CEO Kevin Chou, EA Interactive head Barry Cottle and Zynga CBO Owen Van Natta. Facebook director of games partnerships Sean Ryan moderated the panel with the preface that branded games will take over the Facebook platform. And he might be right: EA just released The Sims Social, Zynga will soon re-brand its new Adventure World with Indiana Jones and Kabam recently announced The Godfather: Five Families.
Playdom, which Disney acquired in July 2010 for a whopping $740 million, is ahead of the pack with two branded games on Facebook: ESPNU College Town and ESPN Sports Bar & Grill. Both games performed well, thanks to advertising through the ESPN TV network. While Disney owns the ESPN brand, notice how neither of those actually involve the insanely popular Disney characters we’ve come to love.
Honestly, we’re surprised this didn’t happen sooner. Consider this: Disney has its own cable TV channel through which it could, in theory, advertise whatever it wants. Pleasants didn’t get into why it’s taken this long for disney channel games to throw its cast of characters into Facebook games, but did reveal the power of the Disney name.
Gnome Town, which Playdom launched in the summer–and we enjoyed quite a bit–peaked at 530,000 daily players. But just plopping the Disney logo on top of the existing one made users more likely to spend in the game just through trust of the company’s name, according to Pleasants. “We think it’s an advantage, if you put game play first,” Pleasants said.
It’s comforting to hear this emphasized by these developers. (Kabam’s Chou shared the same sentiment.) Branded games on Facebook are OK in my book, but the last thing anyone wants to see is the genre become a branding machine.
Pleasants was joined on the panel by Kabam CEO Kevin Chou, EA Interactive head Barry Cottle and Zynga CBO Owen Van Natta. Facebook director of games partnerships Sean Ryan moderated the panel with the preface that branded games will take over the Facebook platform. And he might be right: EA just released The Sims Social, Zynga will soon re-brand its new Adventure World with Indiana Jones and Kabam recently announced The Godfather: Five Families.
Playdom, which Disney acquired in July 2010 for a whopping $740 million, is ahead of the pack with two branded games on Facebook: ESPNU College Town and ESPN Sports Bar & Grill. Both games performed well, thanks to advertising through the ESPN TV network. While Disney owns the ESPN brand, notice how neither of those actually involve the insanely popular Disney characters we’ve come to love.
Honestly, we’re surprised this didn’t happen sooner. Consider this: Disney has its own cable TV channel through which it could, in theory, advertise whatever it wants. Pleasants didn’t get into why it’s taken this long for disney channel games to throw its cast of characters into Facebook games, but did reveal the power of the Disney name.
Gnome Town, which Playdom launched in the summer–and we enjoyed quite a bit–peaked at 530,000 daily players. But just plopping the Disney logo on top of the existing one made users more likely to spend in the game just through trust of the company’s name, according to Pleasants. “We think it’s an advantage, if you put game play first,” Pleasants said.
It’s comforting to hear this emphasized by these developers. (Kabam’s Chou shared the same sentiment.) Branded games on Facebook are OK in my book, but the last thing anyone wants to see is the genre become a branding machine.
Phineas And Ferb 3D Game – Disney XD Games 63
New Disney Game – Phineas and Ferb
Disney released a new game. Phineas and Ferb 3D online game. Klick here to read the complete review.
The new game is available at the Disney XD discovery channel. Get ahead of the game before its officially released next week!
Disney is introducing the brand new DisneyXD game. Phineas and Ferb in: The Transport inators of Doooom!
Doofenschmitz is up to his old tricks again, and who has gone missing? Phineas! Help Ferb find his brother and try to help Agent P thwarth Doofenschmitz evil plans!
Check out this new exciting Disney XD online game before all others do at the Disney Cartoon network games website!
Check out Disney’s cartoon network to find a lot of amazing games and news. Disney offers a lot of cartoon games on their site. So head over to the Disney XD site and play the new Phineas and Ferb – The Transport-inators of Doooom! game!
Have Fun!
Disney released a new game. Phineas and Ferb 3D online game. Klick here to read the complete review.
The new game is available at the Disney XD discovery channel. Get ahead of the game before its officially released next week!
Disney is introducing the brand new DisneyXD game. Phineas and Ferb in: The Transport inators of Doooom!
Doofenschmitz is up to his old tricks again, and who has gone missing? Phineas! Help Ferb find his brother and try to help Agent P thwarth Doofenschmitz evil plans!
Check out this new exciting Disney XD online game before all others do at the Disney Cartoon network games website!
Check out Disney’s cartoon network to find a lot of amazing games and news. Disney offers a lot of cartoon games on their site. So head over to the Disney XD site and play the new Phineas and Ferb – The Transport-inators of Doooom! game!
Have Fun!
Play the Scary Maze Game With Your Friends!
Have you ever played the Scary Maze Game 8 now? If not, brotha you haven’t lived!!! This maze game is the most awesome game on earth! But in order to play it you MUST have a partner in the room with you. So go find a friend, co-hort, or even an enemy – it doesn’t matter! Then match your wits and your mouse skills with the game and see if you’re awesome enough to win the BIG prize at the end!
Chinese Couple Sells All Three Kids to Play Online Games
A young Chinese couple has sold all three of their children in exchange for money to play online Nick jr games at Internet cafes, reports a southern Chinese newspaper.
According to Sanxiang City News, the couple met in an Internet cafe back in 2007 and bonded over their obsession with online video games. A year later, the parents — who are both under 21 — welcomed their first child, a son. Days after his birth, they left him home alone while they went to play online agame at an Internet cafe 30 km away.
In 2009, Li Lin and Li Juan welcomed their second child, a baby girl, and came up with the idea to sell her for money to fund their online game obsession. They did so, receiving RMB 3,000 (less than $500), which they spent entirely shortly after. The couple then proceeded to sell their first child and got 10 times as much for him — RMB 30,000, or about $4600.
Upon having their third child — another boy — the parents followed in their previous footsteps and also got RMB 30,000 for him.
They were finally turned into authorities when Li Lin’s mother found out what her son and his girlfriend had done.
When asked if they missed their children, the parents answered, “We don’t want to raise them, we just want to sell them for some money.”
Sanxiang City Newsreports the couple didn’t know they were breaking the law.
According to Sanxiang City News, the couple met in an Internet cafe back in 2007 and bonded over their obsession with online video games. A year later, the parents — who are both under 21 — welcomed their first child, a son. Days after his birth, they left him home alone while they went to play online agame at an Internet cafe 30 km away.
In 2009, Li Lin and Li Juan welcomed their second child, a baby girl, and came up with the idea to sell her for money to fund their online game obsession. They did so, receiving RMB 3,000 (less than $500), which they spent entirely shortly after. The couple then proceeded to sell their first child and got 10 times as much for him — RMB 30,000, or about $4600.
Upon having their third child — another boy — the parents followed in their previous footsteps and also got RMB 30,000 for him.
They were finally turned into authorities when Li Lin’s mother found out what her son and his girlfriend had done.
When asked if they missed their children, the parents answered, “We don’t want to raise them, we just want to sell them for some money.”
Sanxiang City Newsreports the couple didn’t know they were breaking the law.
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
FarmVille-creator Zynga acquires new target: Angry Birds
After the acquisition hungry Zynga lost out on Bejeweled creator PopCap (which was purchased by Electronic Arts for $750M), AllThingsD says that the social game maker has purportedly set Angry Birds maker Rovio in its sights. The two companies have purportedly been talking about a deal, though official sources are staying mum for now.
There are plenty of reasons that these two companies would make fine-feathered friends, mostly a combination of the fact that Rovio has ambitious plans for Angry Birds, aiming to hit 1 billion downloads (what better way to do that than by harnessing the power of Zynga's existing audience) and that Zynga has been focusing more on its mobile games business of late (maybe as a way to stop relying too much on Facebook for its success).
If Zynga does manage to capture Angry Birds, our first bet will be on just how soon the company would migrate the mobile gaming hit to Facebook, much like it recently did with another big mobile 'get,' Words with Friends.
[Via All Things D]
There are plenty of reasons that these two companies would make fine-feathered friends, mostly a combination of the fact that Rovio has ambitious plans for Angry Birds, aiming to hit 1 billion downloads (what better way to do that than by harnessing the power of Zynga's existing audience) and that Zynga has been focusing more on its mobile games business of late (maybe as a way to stop relying too much on Facebook for its success).
If Zynga does manage to capture Angry Birds, our first bet will be on just how soon the company would migrate the mobile gaming hit to Facebook, much like it recently did with another big mobile 'get,' Words with Friends.
[Via All Things D]
Zynga, Treasure Isle GM leaves social games for social love, joins eHarmony
Sometimes ... you just have to follow your heart. TechCrunch reports that Zynga executive Jeremy Verba (pictured far right) has left his position as GM of hit game Treasure Isle to become the CEO of eHarmony, the ubiquitous online dating service. (I think we've all seen that old white guy tout the service enough on TV.) Confirmed on his Linkedin profile, Verba worked with Zynga since December 2009.
While Treasure Isle certainly isn't Zynga's most popular, it's still worthy of "hit" status at 5.6 million monthly players and over 1 million of those being daily players, according to AppData. The timing sounds even more odd when you consider that the company could go public any day now, raising another cool $1 billion and realizing a potential $20 billion valuation. Perhaps it was simply the title of CEO that lured him in. (Though, I'd personally want to be with the potentially most valuable games company ever.)
As Verba leaves the company, Zynga is reportedly reeling in a number of execs from other games companies, namely EA. Just this year, former EA CCO John Schappert has joined Zynga. It's also rumored that Jeff Karp, VP of the publisher's EA Play division, has left for Zynga along with Mark Turmell, creator of NBA Jam and formerly senior creative director at EA Sports.
According to TechCrunch, eHarmony has enjoyed growth through its mobile apps and generally across its web offerings, and operates in 16 countries. Hey, maybe the guy just got bored of being on top in the games biz. But considering the guy has a wife and kids, according to his Twitter profile, we seriously doubt he's looking for anything more than prestige and a pay upgrade. We've contacted Zynga for comment.
[Image Credit: Susan Bratton]
Why do you think Verba left Zynga for eHarmony? Do you think this could spur a trend of execs leaving Zynga, too? Sound off in the comments. 1 Comment
While Treasure Isle certainly isn't Zynga's most popular, it's still worthy of "hit" status at 5.6 million monthly players and over 1 million of those being daily players, according to AppData. The timing sounds even more odd when you consider that the company could go public any day now, raising another cool $1 billion and realizing a potential $20 billion valuation. Perhaps it was simply the title of CEO that lured him in. (Though, I'd personally want to be with the potentially most valuable games company ever.)
As Verba leaves the company, Zynga is reportedly reeling in a number of execs from other games companies, namely EA. Just this year, former EA CCO John Schappert has joined Zynga. It's also rumored that Jeff Karp, VP of the publisher's EA Play division, has left for Zynga along with Mark Turmell, creator of NBA Jam and formerly senior creative director at EA Sports.
According to TechCrunch, eHarmony has enjoyed growth through its mobile apps and generally across its web offerings, and operates in 16 countries. Hey, maybe the guy just got bored of being on top in the games biz. But considering the guy has a wife and kids, according to his Twitter profile, we seriously doubt he's looking for anything more than prestige and a pay upgrade. We've contacted Zynga for comment.
[Image Credit: Susan Bratton]
Why do you think Verba left Zynga for eHarmony? Do you think this could spur a trend of execs leaving Zynga, too? Sound off in the comments. 1 Comment
Investors won't be happy until Nintendo starts making iPhone games
Well, get to it, why dontcha? The San Francisco Chronicle reports that Nintendo investors are calling for the massive creator of Mario to make iPhone and Android games ... or else. With the drastic price cut of its flagship handheld system, the 3DS, in less than six months since its release, investors say that it's time Nintendo tries something new, regardless of what it's said in the past.
Recently, Pokemon Co. announced an iPhone game revolving around the ubiquitous pocket monsters, Pokemon Say Tap (pictured). It almost instantly saw the company's stock spike their highest in four months with the assumption that Nintendo might be getting into the mobile games business, according to the SF Chronicle. But the company quickly pointed out that this was not the case, and just as quickly those gains turned into losses.
"They just don't get it," MF Global FXA Securities Ltd. said in a sales note that day, according to the SF Chronicle. "Sell the stock, because a management once feted for creative out-of-box thinking have just shown how behind the times they are."
Nintendo has repeatedly affirmed that it will not develop games that do not use its hardware, which clearly has investors in a tizzy, as the company was recently forced to slash its profits forecast for 2011 by a whopping 82 percent. "Smart phones are the new battlefield for the gaming industry," Masamitsu Ohki, a fund manager at Stats Investment Management Co, told SF Chronicle. "Nintendo should try to either buy its way into this platform or develop something totally new."
But if the numbers--Apple is now the most valuable company in the world, while Zynga is poised to become the most valuable games company globally--weren't enough for Nintendo, will investor complaints be? Well, it looks like price cuts and apologies haven't worked to appease Nintendo's investors (nor has its announced intent on entering the digital goods space), so it appears as if the Mario maker doesn't have much of a choice. [Ed. Note: Remember kids, today's the last day to get your 3DS at the discounted price and with 20 free games at Wal-Mart. Don't walk, run!]
Do you agree that it's about time for Nintendo to get into iPhone games for real? How else could it survive in the rapidly-changing games inudstry? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment
Recently, Pokemon Co. announced an iPhone game revolving around the ubiquitous pocket monsters, Pokemon Say Tap (pictured). It almost instantly saw the company's stock spike their highest in four months with the assumption that Nintendo might be getting into the mobile games business, according to the SF Chronicle. But the company quickly pointed out that this was not the case, and just as quickly those gains turned into losses.
"They just don't get it," MF Global FXA Securities Ltd. said in a sales note that day, according to the SF Chronicle. "Sell the stock, because a management once feted for creative out-of-box thinking have just shown how behind the times they are."
Nintendo has repeatedly affirmed that it will not develop games that do not use its hardware, which clearly has investors in a tizzy, as the company was recently forced to slash its profits forecast for 2011 by a whopping 82 percent. "Smart phones are the new battlefield for the gaming industry," Masamitsu Ohki, a fund manager at Stats Investment Management Co, told SF Chronicle. "Nintendo should try to either buy its way into this platform or develop something totally new."
But if the numbers--Apple is now the most valuable company in the world, while Zynga is poised to become the most valuable games company globally--weren't enough for Nintendo, will investor complaints be? Well, it looks like price cuts and apologies haven't worked to appease Nintendo's investors (nor has its announced intent on entering the digital goods space), so it appears as if the Mario maker doesn't have much of a choice. [Ed. Note: Remember kids, today's the last day to get your 3DS at the discounted price and with 20 free games at Wal-Mart. Don't walk, run!]
Do you agree that it's about time for Nintendo to get into iPhone games for real? How else could it survive in the rapidly-changing games inudstry? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment
Bazinga! Big Bang Theory: Mystic Warlords of Ka'a nerds up Facebook
And you thought the fact that Dungeons and Dragons is coming to Facebook was nerdy. Now, a real collectible card game, based on a fake collectible card game, has hit Facebook. Dire Wolf Digital has released Big Bang Theory: Mystic Warlords of Ka'a to the platform.
And yes, it's entirely inspired from the dorky card battle game that Sheldon, Leonard, Howard and Raj duke it out through on the wildly popular CBS sitcom of the same name Well, without the subhead, of course.
The game, said to be in "preview beta," released in late July and plays much like classic card games of nerdery like Magic: The Gathering, Yu-Gi-Oh and Pokemon cards, but with a far simpler interface and play style. (Full disclosure: all of which I played in my hay-days of intense nerdom.) The way cards defeat each other in battle is governed by a simple rune system--a glorified rock, paper, scissors game, it seems.
Players stack these cards up against one another amidst the quirky, witty dialog you expect from the show every week. Once this effective game of War (remember that game?) is over, some of those cards hit the "Battle Line," which is where you can damage your opponent.
Mystic Warlords of Ka'a in action
At this time, there are two factions of cards to play with, and players can duel their friends, too. Now, if only Sheldon's drawn-out, crazy explanations continued throughout the game.
Click here to play Big Bang Theory: Mystic Warlords of Ka'a on Facebook Now >
Are you a fan of the Big Bang Theory? What other sitcoms do you wish would get their very own Facebook games? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment
And yes, it's entirely inspired from the dorky card battle game that Sheldon, Leonard, Howard and Raj duke it out through on the wildly popular CBS sitcom of the same name Well, without the subhead, of course.
The game, said to be in "preview beta," released in late July and plays much like classic card games of nerdery like Magic: The Gathering, Yu-Gi-Oh and Pokemon cards, but with a far simpler interface and play style. (Full disclosure: all of which I played in my hay-days of intense nerdom.) The way cards defeat each other in battle is governed by a simple rune system--a glorified rock, paper, scissors game, it seems.
Players stack these cards up against one another amidst the quirky, witty dialog you expect from the show every week. Once this effective game of War (remember that game?) is over, some of those cards hit the "Battle Line," which is where you can damage your opponent.
Mystic Warlords of Ka'a in action
At this time, there are two factions of cards to play with, and players can duel their friends, too. Now, if only Sheldon's drawn-out, crazy explanations continued throughout the game.
Click here to play Big Bang Theory: Mystic Warlords of Ka'a on Facebook Now >
Are you a fan of the Big Bang Theory? What other sitcoms do you wish would get their very own Facebook games? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment
Zynga was worth $11.5 billion in March, and is tailing Activision Blizzard
And it has soared past EA's $6.35 billion. In its most recently revised S-1 filing to the Security and Exchanges Commission (SEC), Zynga wrote that its valuation was at $11.5 billion in March of this year, TechCrunch reports. The FarmVille maker made a number of other revisions to its filing for IPO, or when the company will become available for public trade on the stock market. This means that Zynga is worth almost twice as much as EA, the veteran video games publisher responsible for iconic hardcore game franchises like Madden and Battlefield.
Not to mention it means that Zynga likely still intends to file for IPO, which many expect will raise another $1 billion for the company and boost its valuation to up to $20 billion, amidst a recent stock market plunge and shrinking confidence. This puts Zynga just under Activision Blizzard, the publisher known for the Tony Hawk and Guitar Hero series worth $12.17 billion, according to NASDAQ. Keep in mind, that this number is from five months ago. And is Zynga was just $500 million or so beneath Activision then, it could arguably be worth more than the company right now based on how fast it has grown.
However, valuation is based on a numerous amount of factors that contribute to market perception of a company's worth, and not necessarily actual net worth (as is market cap). In addition, the company might have made itself even more attractive to investors, writing that just 63 percent of its revenue comes from its top three games, CityVille, Empires & Allies and FarmVille. Compare that to four years ago, when 93 percent of its revenue came in from its top games.
The main takeaway here is that A. Zynga seems to have no intention of backing out on its IPO, which is said to happen this fall, and B. Zynga is worth lots and lots of money--possibly more than the most valuable games company in the world. I honestly thought I'd never see the day ... no, I'm not crying. Someone must be cutting onions in here. You can read the full SEC filing right here, if you want to be bored to tears.
[Image Credit: JoopDorresteijn]
Do you think Zynga could become the most valuable games company in the world? How will the previous giants of the industry react, and will they survive? Sound off in the comments. 4 Comments
Not to mention it means that Zynga likely still intends to file for IPO, which many expect will raise another $1 billion for the company and boost its valuation to up to $20 billion, amidst a recent stock market plunge and shrinking confidence. This puts Zynga just under Activision Blizzard, the publisher known for the Tony Hawk and Guitar Hero series worth $12.17 billion, according to NASDAQ. Keep in mind, that this number is from five months ago. And is Zynga was just $500 million or so beneath Activision then, it could arguably be worth more than the company right now based on how fast it has grown.
However, valuation is based on a numerous amount of factors that contribute to market perception of a company's worth, and not necessarily actual net worth (as is market cap). In addition, the company might have made itself even more attractive to investors, writing that just 63 percent of its revenue comes from its top three games, CityVille, Empires & Allies and FarmVille. Compare that to four years ago, when 93 percent of its revenue came in from its top games.
The main takeaway here is that A. Zynga seems to have no intention of backing out on its IPO, which is said to happen this fall, and B. Zynga is worth lots and lots of money--possibly more than the most valuable games company in the world. I honestly thought I'd never see the day ... no, I'm not crying. Someone must be cutting onions in here. You can read the full SEC filing right here, if you want to be bored to tears.
[Image Credit: JoopDorresteijn]
Do you think Zynga could become the most valuable games company in the world? How will the previous giants of the industry react, and will they survive? Sound off in the comments. 4 Comments
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Mafia Wars 2: Like Facebook fan page to unlock prizes in final game
While little is known about Mafia Wars 2 in terms of it's actual gameplay, we do know that prizes are being offered for users that Like the game's Facebook fan page. If this entire promotion looks familiar, it's because EA/Playfish pulled this one during the Sims Social pre-launch hype, and now we're seeing it again here.
Either way, we know that there will eventually be nine prizes available to unlock, although only seven of them have been revealed. These prizes are limited to varying (increasing) amounts of Likes, and will be unlocked in the final game upon launch if we reach those milestones in time. Here's the complete rundown:
Black Mohawk Hair - 20,000 Likes
Casino Row T-Shirt - 50,000 Likes
Graffiti Wall - 100,000 Likes
Skull Bandana - 250,000 Likes
Animated Lions - 500,000 Likes
Tribal Tattoo - 1 million Likes
Stripes Baseball Cap - 1.5 million Likes
Two additional prizes have yet to be revealed. So far, the fan page has only gained 70,000 Likes, so we've only managed to unlock the Black Mohawk Hair and Casino Row T-Shirt as prizes. Since the game's announcement is so new, and the hype train has barely left the station, I'd imagine we'll see that number climb slowly at first, and then monumentally as the game comes closer and closer to launch. And once we find out what those final two prizes are, we'll make sure to let you know.
Are you excited about Mafia Wars 2? If the game doesn't offer any incentive for users to switch from the original to this new version, will you? Sound off in the comments.
Either way, we know that there will eventually be nine prizes available to unlock, although only seven of them have been revealed. These prizes are limited to varying (increasing) amounts of Likes, and will be unlocked in the final game upon launch if we reach those milestones in time. Here's the complete rundown:
Black Mohawk Hair - 20,000 Likes
Casino Row T-Shirt - 50,000 Likes
Graffiti Wall - 100,000 Likes
Skull Bandana - 250,000 Likes
Animated Lions - 500,000 Likes
Tribal Tattoo - 1 million Likes
Stripes Baseball Cap - 1.5 million Likes
Two additional prizes have yet to be revealed. So far, the fan page has only gained 70,000 Likes, so we've only managed to unlock the Black Mohawk Hair and Casino Row T-Shirt as prizes. Since the game's announcement is so new, and the hype train has barely left the station, I'd imagine we'll see that number climb slowly at first, and then monumentally as the game comes closer and closer to launch. And once we find out what those final two prizes are, we'll make sure to let you know.
Are you excited about Mafia Wars 2? If the game doesn't offer any incentive for users to switch from the original to this new version, will you? Sound off in the comments.
CrowdStar, others dock in Sibblingz Spaceport for mobile social games
If we haven't driven home yet that mobile will be massive in the future of social games, we clearly haven't done our job. Luckily, news like the fact that Sibblingz has signed on It Girl creator CrowdStar and a number of other developers to use its Spaceport service helps us make good on that.
TechCrunch reports that--in addition to CrowdStar--BitRhymes, IKIGames, LuckyLabs, Fortune Planet and DeezGames have signed on to use Spaceport to create mobile versions of their Facebook games. Spaceport is Sibblingz's cloud-based game development platform that allows developers like CrowdStar to create mobile games that work on both iOS and Android devices.
Essentially, it allows developers to create a mobile game once and have it run on multiple mobile devices. The platform makes use of coding languages like Javascript and HTML5, but neither of which are known for making robust or fully-featured games on iPhones or Android phones. However, Sibblingz claims that games built on Spaceport feature an app-like experience.
What Sibblingz means is that, while these games are built using simpler code languages, they will perform like, say CityVille Hometown by Zynga. That game was built using tools specifically for iOS devices and is thus more visually impressive and feature-rich than mobile browser games. However, according to TechCrunch, developers can even create games specifically for iPhones and iPads through Spaceport.
Sibblingz also says that developers can make games for Facebook's worst-kept secret, Project Spartan--an initiative to bring Facebook to mobile devices through browsers using HTML5 complete with full-featured apps and games--through Spaceport. Jeez, on paper it sounds like Spaceport can do anything but make the cash flow.
Regardless, what's important to take away here is that social game developers realize that mobile is where it's at. Frankly, it's one area where clear winners have yet to be defined, much unlike Facebook (ahem, Zynga and EA). At this point, anyone could come out a winner on mobile, and perhaps the companies that embrace cross-platform game creation like CrowdStar will have the upper hand.
Do you think these developers have a chance at winning the mobile race these social game creators are running with Spaceport? Who do you think will ultimately win the mobile social gaming war? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment
TechCrunch reports that--in addition to CrowdStar--BitRhymes, IKIGames, LuckyLabs, Fortune Planet and DeezGames have signed on to use Spaceport to create mobile versions of their Facebook games. Spaceport is Sibblingz's cloud-based game development platform that allows developers like CrowdStar to create mobile games that work on both iOS and Android devices.
Essentially, it allows developers to create a mobile game once and have it run on multiple mobile devices. The platform makes use of coding languages like Javascript and HTML5, but neither of which are known for making robust or fully-featured games on iPhones or Android phones. However, Sibblingz claims that games built on Spaceport feature an app-like experience.
What Sibblingz means is that, while these games are built using simpler code languages, they will perform like, say CityVille Hometown by Zynga. That game was built using tools specifically for iOS devices and is thus more visually impressive and feature-rich than mobile browser games. However, according to TechCrunch, developers can even create games specifically for iPhones and iPads through Spaceport.
Sibblingz also says that developers can make games for Facebook's worst-kept secret, Project Spartan--an initiative to bring Facebook to mobile devices through browsers using HTML5 complete with full-featured apps and games--through Spaceport. Jeez, on paper it sounds like Spaceport can do anything but make the cash flow.
Regardless, what's important to take away here is that social game developers realize that mobile is where it's at. Frankly, it's one area where clear winners have yet to be defined, much unlike Facebook (ahem, Zynga and EA). At this point, anyone could come out a winner on mobile, and perhaps the companies that embrace cross-platform game creation like CrowdStar will have the upper hand.
Do you think these developers have a chance at winning the mobile race these social game creators are running with Spaceport? Who do you think will ultimately win the mobile social gaming war? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment
Earn 4 free FarmVille Farm Cash in Capital One promotion
At this rate, perhaps we should just rename FarmVille "Capital OneVille." Why? Yet another cross-promotional activity has launched in the game, allowing users to walk away with 4 free Farm Cash. Unlike the Capital One farm and goat, or even the Capital One free gift that can be sent to friends, this promotion is found where most other free Farm Cash promotions are located: underneath the FarmVille gameplay area.
This promotion is a fairly lengthy one. Once you launch the activity window, you'll need to watch a full Capital One trailer, and can then answer some quiz and survey about what you've seen or the Capital One brand in general. Don't worry - these "quiz" questions are incredibly easy, and if I had to make a guess, it likely wouldn't matter which way you answered; you'd still likely get the Farm Cash at the end.
After manually answering one fill-in-the-blank question, the activity will finally be complete, and you'll be the proud owner of 4 free Farm Cash. This is double the amount of Farm Cash we normally see released in such promotions, so at least it excuses a bit of the additional time it takes to complete this particular activity. As usual, you'll want to complete this promotion as soon as you see it pop-up underneath your game; there's no telling when it will expire, and you will have missed your chance.
Have you seen the Capital One promotion appear under your gameplay area in FarmVille? What will you do with your four free Farm Cash? Sound off in the comments.
This promotion is a fairly lengthy one. Once you launch the activity window, you'll need to watch a full Capital One trailer, and can then answer some quiz and survey about what you've seen or the Capital One brand in general. Don't worry - these "quiz" questions are incredibly easy, and if I had to make a guess, it likely wouldn't matter which way you answered; you'd still likely get the Farm Cash at the end.
After manually answering one fill-in-the-blank question, the activity will finally be complete, and you'll be the proud owner of 4 free Farm Cash. This is double the amount of Farm Cash we normally see released in such promotions, so at least it excuses a bit of the additional time it takes to complete this particular activity. As usual, you'll want to complete this promotion as soon as you see it pop-up underneath your game; there's no telling when it will expire, and you will have missed your chance.
Have you seen the Capital One promotion appear under your gameplay area in FarmVille? What will you do with your four free Farm Cash? Sound off in the comments.
FarmVille Lighthouse Cove: Splurge on an Unwither Ring for your new farm
Even though the actual act of farming isn't the main focus of FarmVille's third farm the Lighthouse Cove (rather, the focus is on creating a resort village with buildings, trees or even animals), if you really don't want to have to worry about farming (specifically, losing your crops) ever again, you can purchase an Unwither Ring specifically for your new farm so that your new crops will never wither... ever. Even if you happen to forget you've planted crops in your new farm, or plant short-growing crops that happen to wither quicker than you imagined, this Unwither Ring will prevent all that.
Of course, just because you're purchasing one for a new farm doesn't mean the price of this luxury / convenience has gone down. A single Unwither Ring costs 250 Farm Cash, and you can either keep one for yourself, or purchase one to send to a friend (a very, very lucky friend). If the color matters, this new version of the Unwither Ring comes in a lovely purple box.
As usual, this Unwither Ring release isn't permanent, as you'll only have 12 days to purchase one for your Lighthouse Cove. While the item will permanently function on that farm, your ability to purchase is fading fast. Still, is the current equivalent of over $45 US worth the convenience of never having to worry about your crops' time limit? We'll leave that up to you to decide.
Will you purchase an Unwither Ring for your Lighthouse Cove farm? Do you have a ring on your other farms? If so, were they worth the purchase? Sound off in the comments.
Of course, just because you're purchasing one for a new farm doesn't mean the price of this luxury / convenience has gone down. A single Unwither Ring costs 250 Farm Cash, and you can either keep one for yourself, or purchase one to send to a friend (a very, very lucky friend). If the color matters, this new version of the Unwither Ring comes in a lovely purple box.
As usual, this Unwither Ring release isn't permanent, as you'll only have 12 days to purchase one for your Lighthouse Cove. While the item will permanently function on that farm, your ability to purchase is fading fast. Still, is the current equivalent of over $45 US worth the convenience of never having to worry about your crops' time limit? We'll leave that up to you to decide.
Will you purchase an Unwither Ring for your Lighthouse Cove farm? Do you have a ring on your other farms? If so, were they worth the purchase? Sound off in the comments.
FarmVille Lighthouse Cove: New items come with sale prices for a limited time
On top of releasing new items in the FarmVille marketplace this evening, Zynga has also given us an extra incentive to go shopping by placing (most of these) new items on sale, but only for a limited time. These items come in the Lighthouse Cove theme, which, as you'll recall means that you can either place them on your Lighthouse Cove proper, or can place them on other farms as well. Just remember that if you purchase them on your Home or English farm and then want to move them to the Lighthouse Cove, you won't be able to move them back and forth until we've been given the ability to access storage across all three farms. Without further ado, here's a look at this week's available items.
Trees
Autumn Cherry Tree - 5 Farm Cash (down from 8)
Bradford Pear Tree - 10 Farm Cash (down from 14)
The Autumn Cherry Tree is the level one tree in this equation, meaning you can earn Bradford Pear Trees for free from Mystery Seedlings. These sale prices bring the trees back down to the prices we used to see trees priced at normally, so make sure to snag one (some) if those cheaper prices are acceptable to you.
Animals
Brown Maine Coon - 8 Farm Cash (down from 10)
Brown Pinto Mini - 22 Farm Cash (down from 26)
The Brown Maine Coon is simply a brown version of the original Maine Coon that's available for 200,000 coins, permanently. It does, however, come with its own mastery sign, so you'll need to splurge on at least one if you want to be eligible to earn it. As for the Brown Pinto Mini, this is a new horse that gives you 2,600 experience points upon purchasing it.
Buildings
Fisherman's Shack - 16 Farm Cash (down from 20)
New England Inn - 30 Farm Cash
If you're taking the supposed "purpose" of Lighthouse Cove seriously (that being to create a building-centric resort town), you'll be happy to see that this Fisherman's Shack placed on sale, as you'll be able to further flesh out that building with this "home" for even cheaper than before. Interestingly, the New England Inn isn't on sale, but it's not the only one that's not been given the sale price treatment.
Decorations
Autumn Creek - 12 Farm Cash (down from 15)
October Picnic - 3 Farm Cash
Flowery Picket - 5,000 coins
Porch Swing - 50,000 coins
Tree Arch - 10,000 coins
As I said before, here's another set of items that haven't been given sale prices. While this is expected with coin items, as coins are free to come by, I am surprised that the October Picnic hasn't been priced at 1 or 2 Farm Cash instead of 3, just so it too could be "on sale." Either way, make sure to check your storage for a Tree Arch, as it's been released before in previous events. Also, while an item called the "Porch Swing" has been released before, please note that this item is different.
As usual, all of these items are on a time limit, and will only be around for the the next 13 days. Happy farming!
Which of these items will you purchase for your farms? Have you been using these Lighthouse Cove items on other farms as simply decorations, or are you keeping them on your new farm? Sound off in the comments.
Trees
Autumn Cherry Tree - 5 Farm Cash (down from 8)
Bradford Pear Tree - 10 Farm Cash (down from 14)
The Autumn Cherry Tree is the level one tree in this equation, meaning you can earn Bradford Pear Trees for free from Mystery Seedlings. These sale prices bring the trees back down to the prices we used to see trees priced at normally, so make sure to snag one (some) if those cheaper prices are acceptable to you.
Animals
Brown Maine Coon - 8 Farm Cash (down from 10)
Brown Pinto Mini - 22 Farm Cash (down from 26)
The Brown Maine Coon is simply a brown version of the original Maine Coon that's available for 200,000 coins, permanently. It does, however, come with its own mastery sign, so you'll need to splurge on at least one if you want to be eligible to earn it. As for the Brown Pinto Mini, this is a new horse that gives you 2,600 experience points upon purchasing it.
Buildings
Fisherman's Shack - 16 Farm Cash (down from 20)
New England Inn - 30 Farm Cash
If you're taking the supposed "purpose" of Lighthouse Cove seriously (that being to create a building-centric resort town), you'll be happy to see that this Fisherman's Shack placed on sale, as you'll be able to further flesh out that building with this "home" for even cheaper than before. Interestingly, the New England Inn isn't on sale, but it's not the only one that's not been given the sale price treatment.
Decorations
Autumn Creek - 12 Farm Cash (down from 15)
October Picnic - 3 Farm Cash
Flowery Picket - 5,000 coins
Porch Swing - 50,000 coins
Tree Arch - 10,000 coins
As I said before, here's another set of items that haven't been given sale prices. While this is expected with coin items, as coins are free to come by, I am surprised that the October Picnic hasn't been priced at 1 or 2 Farm Cash instead of 3, just so it too could be "on sale." Either way, make sure to check your storage for a Tree Arch, as it's been released before in previous events. Also, while an item called the "Porch Swing" has been released before, please note that this item is different.
As usual, all of these items are on a time limit, and will only be around for the the next 13 days. Happy farming!
Which of these items will you purchase for your farms? Have you been using these Lighthouse Cove items on other farms as simply decorations, or are you keeping them on your new farm? Sound off in the comments.
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
FarmVille Pic of the Day: AlexisSkrull's petting zoo
A few days ago, I featured a massive FarmVille zoo. However, plenty of folks complained that it was just too crowded and busy. While it was a super detailed zoo, the jumbled appearance diminished its aesthetic appeal. Today's featured zoo farm resolves many of the issues present in the old farm, by attempting a simpler approach to the FarmVille zoo.
Today's featured farm, created by AlexisSkrull, is in many ways quite humble. For instance, it doesn't even fill the whole farm plot and there are no fancy complex illusions to be found. However, the simplicity of the fenced in pens full of animals is charming. It reminds me of the early days of FarmVille and FrontierVille, when all I had was a few animals, crops, and some decorations that I was forced to buy in order to complete goals.
Of course, in reality this farm is far more detailed than my boring starter farm. There are unique habitats and exhibitions built for various animals. So make sure to look closely at the images below to get the full effect of AlexisSkrull's farm.
Click the images to make them larger.
farmville featured alexisskrull zoo farm farmville featured alexisskrull zoo farm
farmville featured alexisskrull zoo farm farmville featured alexisskrull zoo farm
What do you think of AlexisSkrull's zoo farm? Which zoo farm do you prefer?
If you have an AWESOME FarmVille farm that you want to see featured on Games.com, please email a picture to editors@games.com, Include a few words about the inspiration for your design and maybe a few tips for people who need an assist!
Today's featured farm, created by AlexisSkrull, is in many ways quite humble. For instance, it doesn't even fill the whole farm plot and there are no fancy complex illusions to be found. However, the simplicity of the fenced in pens full of animals is charming. It reminds me of the early days of FarmVille and FrontierVille, when all I had was a few animals, crops, and some decorations that I was forced to buy in order to complete goals.
Of course, in reality this farm is far more detailed than my boring starter farm. There are unique habitats and exhibitions built for various animals. So make sure to look closely at the images below to get the full effect of AlexisSkrull's farm.
Click the images to make them larger.
farmville featured alexisskrull zoo farm farmville featured alexisskrull zoo farm
farmville featured alexisskrull zoo farm farmville featured alexisskrull zoo farm
What do you think of AlexisSkrull's zoo farm? Which zoo farm do you prefer?
If you have an AWESOME FarmVille farm that you want to see featured on Games.com, please email a picture to editors@games.com, Include a few words about the inspiration for your design and maybe a few tips for people who need an assist!
Google+ opens its doors to all, but (hopefully) mostly social gamers
The proverbial veil has been lifted, everyone. Google+ is finally open to the public, meaning anyone can join Google's social network regardless of whether they've been invited through a friend. More importantly, this means the service, which soft-launched back in August to a controlled amount of users through invites, is open to even more social gamers than before.
Granted, there are only 16 games so far on Google+ Games. But surely the company hopes, that with an influx of potential players, that developers will become even more interested in Google as a social gaming destination. However, there are several arguably basic social features that aren't yet a part of the Google+ developer API, or application programming interface.
Namely, the posts that players can push through to the Games Stream from a Google+ game are not interactive. This means that the viral nature of social gaming is severely hindered on the network--players cannot directly help one another through the Games Stream like the can through the Facebook News Feed. This essentially thwarts what is popularly believed to give social games their name.
At the moment, players can only post general updates such as, "I scored 5 bajillion points in Bejeweled Blitz!" However, Rovio played somewhat of a smarter game with Angry Birds on Google+ Games, and introduced a friend gate to most of its content, meaning players have to add so many friends to access new levels. Luckily, Google has already stated that it's working to introduce more robust features over time.
Regardless, omissions like this serve as proof that Google+ Games, while impressive in its scope, ambition and support, is still a nascent gaming platform when put up against competitors like Facebook. With this news, perhaps the race Google+ is running has changed track to whether Google+ Games can keep up with the demands and needs of its players, rather than its competitors.
[Via Inside Social Games]
Have you tried out Google+ Games yet? Do you think, after what you experienced, that Google has a chance at competing in the social games world? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment
Granted, there are only 16 games so far on Google+ Games. But surely the company hopes, that with an influx of potential players, that developers will become even more interested in Google as a social gaming destination. However, there are several arguably basic social features that aren't yet a part of the Google+ developer API, or application programming interface.
Namely, the posts that players can push through to the Games Stream from a Google+ game are not interactive. This means that the viral nature of social gaming is severely hindered on the network--players cannot directly help one another through the Games Stream like the can through the Facebook News Feed. This essentially thwarts what is popularly believed to give social games their name.
At the moment, players can only post general updates such as, "I scored 5 bajillion points in Bejeweled Blitz!" However, Rovio played somewhat of a smarter game with Angry Birds on Google+ Games, and introduced a friend gate to most of its content, meaning players have to add so many friends to access new levels. Luckily, Google has already stated that it's working to introduce more robust features over time.
Regardless, omissions like this serve as proof that Google+ Games, while impressive in its scope, ambition and support, is still a nascent gaming platform when put up against competitors like Facebook. With this news, perhaps the race Google+ is running has changed track to whether Google+ Games can keep up with the demands and needs of its players, rather than its competitors.
[Via Inside Social Games]
Have you tried out Google+ Games yet? Do you think, after what you experienced, that Google has a chance at competing in the social games world? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment
Mobile social game taps into 700K player base for children's charity
Parallel Kingdom 700,000K players
What do you do when you're a well-respected mobile game with 700K players worldwide? You design a virtual soup can helmet and sell it to your players for charity! At least, that's what Per Blue's Parallel Kingdom is doing (with Playmob) for the SOS Children relief in North Kenya.
SOS Children's Villages is an independently operated, international organization that's been saving kids since 1949. Currently, funds are needed for emergency food and medical aid due to a severe drought in the area. Soup Can Helmets cost 550 Food each (the virtual currency of Parallel Kingdom), which is the equivalent of $5.50 USD and enough to feed three children. Since the helmet is priced with Food, it's possible for you to not spend any real money on the helmet for it to still count. (In fact, for those of you who haven't liked the game's Facebook page yet, there's a free 100 Food offer that you can use towards a helmet purchase.)
According to Per Blue, this charity drive is at its halfway point with only a week left to go. So far, 550 Soup Can Helmets have been sold, which means 1,650 children have been cared for. If you play the game, you can buy the Soup Can Helmet in the PK Swag section of your local Trade Post until September 29.
Parallel Kingdom Donate Food
If you're new to the game and feeling adventurous, then after the tutorial stage, click on the Food tab on the bottom of your game screen to reach the Get Food menu. You'll see the Donate Food option, but it's really just a notice for the charity drive. Instead, you need to go to Travel, click on a Trade Hub (the one in Madison, WI is one of the two biggest ones), and locate your Local Trade Post, which should be a white building with a red roof buried under a dozen other players who are represented as little heads. Finally, you need to be at Level 2 to be allowed to purchase the helmet. (If you get lost, fire up the in-game chat. Special thanks goes to MisMoon, MoldyBanana, and ZeroGr@vity for their help.)
Parallel Kingdom Trade Post
Parallel Kingdom is best described as FourSquare meets a MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role playing game). It surpassed a half million players in June, was voted 2009 Best Augmented Reality App Second Place (first place went to XMG Studio Inc.'s Pandemica) and 2009 Best MMO Game Third Place (beaten by ngmoco's Eliminate Pro, with Miraphonic's Epic Pet Wars in first place). Although Parallel Kingdom is not a true Facebook game (its Facebook game app simply links you to register on the website), it does possess Facebook Connect and can be played on your PC with a web browser.
Would you try out a game just to donate to charity? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment
What do you do when you're a well-respected mobile game with 700K players worldwide? You design a virtual soup can helmet and sell it to your players for charity! At least, that's what Per Blue's Parallel Kingdom is doing (with Playmob) for the SOS Children relief in North Kenya.
SOS Children's Villages is an independently operated, international organization that's been saving kids since 1949. Currently, funds are needed for emergency food and medical aid due to a severe drought in the area. Soup Can Helmets cost 550 Food each (the virtual currency of Parallel Kingdom), which is the equivalent of $5.50 USD and enough to feed three children. Since the helmet is priced with Food, it's possible for you to not spend any real money on the helmet for it to still count. (In fact, for those of you who haven't liked the game's Facebook page yet, there's a free 100 Food offer that you can use towards a helmet purchase.)
According to Per Blue, this charity drive is at its halfway point with only a week left to go. So far, 550 Soup Can Helmets have been sold, which means 1,650 children have been cared for. If you play the game, you can buy the Soup Can Helmet in the PK Swag section of your local Trade Post until September 29.
Parallel Kingdom Donate Food
If you're new to the game and feeling adventurous, then after the tutorial stage, click on the Food tab on the bottom of your game screen to reach the Get Food menu. You'll see the Donate Food option, but it's really just a notice for the charity drive. Instead, you need to go to Travel, click on a Trade Hub (the one in Madison, WI is one of the two biggest ones), and locate your Local Trade Post, which should be a white building with a red roof buried under a dozen other players who are represented as little heads. Finally, you need to be at Level 2 to be allowed to purchase the helmet. (If you get lost, fire up the in-game chat. Special thanks goes to MisMoon, MoldyBanana, and ZeroGr@vity for their help.)
Parallel Kingdom Trade Post
Parallel Kingdom is best described as FourSquare meets a MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role playing game). It surpassed a half million players in June, was voted 2009 Best Augmented Reality App Second Place (first place went to XMG Studio Inc.'s Pandemica) and 2009 Best MMO Game Third Place (beaten by ngmoco's Eliminate Pro, with Miraphonic's Epic Pet Wars in first place). Although Parallel Kingdom is not a true Facebook game (its Facebook game app simply links you to register on the website), it does possess Facebook Connect and can be played on your PC with a web browser.
Would you try out a game just to donate to charity? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment
Putting the 'face' in Facebook games: Arkadium and Image Metrics
Arkadium is likely best known on Facebook for games like Mahjongg Dimensions and Cooking Mama, but that's about to change. Thanks to a brand new partnership with Image Metrics, an animation studio best known for the facial capture technology it provides to traditional game developers, your own face could be the star of Arkadium's next Facebook game.
During an interview with Gamasutra, the new found duo revealed Portable You, a new toolset for Facebook game developers--starting with New York City-based Arkadium--to allow players to include their own face as the centerpiece of their avatars. Using a simple webcam, Portable You, embedded in any given Facebook, could create a 3D rendering of your head and face.
By the way, that picture to the right is a 3D reproduction of an actress's face done by Image Metrics--it's not real. But we doubt Portable You will be as powerful. This is especially considering the technology was bought through an acquisition of Big Stage earlier this year.
"Mostly we've been the user of our own technologies," Image Metrics CEO Robert Gehorsam said to Gamasutra. "But we've also really come to realize and believe there's a major shift going on in how people want to represent themselves, express themselves and communicate online, starting with creating your own character in a game."
"We work directly from video; we don't require any kind of markers, or the special makeup," Gehorsam told Gamasutra. "We can go directly from a video screen or from a single image to 3D animation... through a whole bunch of equations that recognize the face in a 2D context. It's not a photo; it's really 3D."
Sure, this has the potential to introduce a never-before-seen level of immersion to Facebook games. The idea of representing or expressing yourself more accurately than ever has plenty of charm. But the more pressing question I have for Image Metrics is: How well does Portable You render beards?
What do you think this type of technology means for Facebook games in the future? Would you ever place a 3D version of yourself into your favorite Facebook games? Sound off in the comments. Add CommentAdd Comment
During an interview with Gamasutra, the new found duo revealed Portable You, a new toolset for Facebook game developers--starting with New York City-based Arkadium--to allow players to include their own face as the centerpiece of their avatars. Using a simple webcam, Portable You, embedded in any given Facebook, could create a 3D rendering of your head and face.
By the way, that picture to the right is a 3D reproduction of an actress's face done by Image Metrics--it's not real. But we doubt Portable You will be as powerful. This is especially considering the technology was bought through an acquisition of Big Stage earlier this year.
"Mostly we've been the user of our own technologies," Image Metrics CEO Robert Gehorsam said to Gamasutra. "But we've also really come to realize and believe there's a major shift going on in how people want to represent themselves, express themselves and communicate online, starting with creating your own character in a game."
"We work directly from video; we don't require any kind of markers, or the special makeup," Gehorsam told Gamasutra. "We can go directly from a video screen or from a single image to 3D animation... through a whole bunch of equations that recognize the face in a 2D context. It's not a photo; it's really 3D."
Sure, this has the potential to introduce a never-before-seen level of immersion to Facebook games. The idea of representing or expressing yourself more accurately than ever has plenty of charm. But the more pressing question I have for Image Metrics is: How well does Portable You render beards?
What do you think this type of technology means for Facebook games in the future? Would you ever place a 3D version of yourself into your favorite Facebook games? Sound off in the comments. Add CommentAdd Comment
FarmVille: Free Crab Shack with any Farm Cash purchase
While the "free-gift-with-purchase" feature in FarmVille has continued to grow, giving users a way to stock up on extra animals that they may have missed in their original releases in the game, until recently, that's all the feature has been: a way to earn animals. Now, though, we're starting to see trees and even buildings come into the mix.
For example, the latest offering is the Crab Shack, which was originally released during the New England event way back in July of 2010, and then again in the Birthday Classics even earlier this year. Interestingly, this is one building that cost coins during its previous releases in the game, but if (for whatever reason) you never picked one up, here's a chance to earn one for as little as $1. For that price, remember you'll also earn 4 Farm Cash.
The reason this building is so significant is that it basically screams to be added to the Lighthouse Cove farm, which all players were given access to earlier this week. And since we can't (as of this writing) pull items out of storage from our others farms into the Lighthouse Cove, this is as close as you're going to get to having any of this theme on your land for the foreseeable future.
As usual, this free Crab Shack offer will only be around for a limited time, so make sure to login to your farm sooner, rather than later, if you want to take advantage of this deal.
Will you purchase a Farm Cash bundle as part of this free-gift-with-purchase giveaway? Would you pay Farm Cash to access your "other farm" storage in the Lighthouse Cove? Sound off in the comments.
For example, the latest offering is the Crab Shack, which was originally released during the New England event way back in July of 2010, and then again in the Birthday Classics even earlier this year. Interestingly, this is one building that cost coins during its previous releases in the game, but if (for whatever reason) you never picked one up, here's a chance to earn one for as little as $1. For that price, remember you'll also earn 4 Farm Cash.
The reason this building is so significant is that it basically screams to be added to the Lighthouse Cove farm, which all players were given access to earlier this week. And since we can't (as of this writing) pull items out of storage from our others farms into the Lighthouse Cove, this is as close as you're going to get to having any of this theme on your land for the foreseeable future.
As usual, this free Crab Shack offer will only be around for a limited time, so make sure to login to your farm sooner, rather than later, if you want to take advantage of this deal.
Will you purchase a Farm Cash bundle as part of this free-gift-with-purchase giveaway? Would you pay Farm Cash to access your "other farm" storage in the Lighthouse Cove? Sound off in the comments.
CityVille Capital One Bank: Everything you need to know
While we already knew that Capital One would be appearing via a new bank building in CityVille, we didn't know the exact details until now. That's right - the promotion has launched in the game this evening, bringing with it the "branded business" in the form of the Capital One Bank. This bank looks like a fairly modern building, and has Capital One written along the top corner, but overall isn't overly "advertising." It costs 5,000 coins to add to your town, and must be built using four energy to build the frame.
From there, you won't be able to actually name your building, but you can operate it using Goods like other businesses. Specifically, the Bank requires 100 Goods to put into service and will reward you with 500 coins once those Goods are used. What makes this particular business special however is that it introduces "branded business mastery" to the game.
While this doesn't give us any sort of indication as to what other "branded" businesses will be coming to the game, we do know that we have just over a month to master this one. As with upgrading businesses, mastering the Capital One Bank will require you to continually stock and collect from the business whenever possible, with each round giving you a single point. Once you reach 50 points, you'll receive your reward, which we know is some form of decoration (probably a statue), but don't have the specific name as of this writing.
As for purchasing the building, it has a different time limit than that for actually earning your decorative reward. You can only purchase the Capital One Bank from the store for the next 28 days, giving you around a week to earn the decoration even after that point. Good luck!
Check out the rest of our CityVille Cheats & Tips right here.
What do you think of this Capital One Bank and the new branded business mastery feature? What sorts of branded businesses do you hope Zynga releases in the future? Sound off in the comments.
From there, you won't be able to actually name your building, but you can operate it using Goods like other businesses. Specifically, the Bank requires 100 Goods to put into service and will reward you with 500 coins once those Goods are used. What makes this particular business special however is that it introduces "branded business mastery" to the game.
While this doesn't give us any sort of indication as to what other "branded" businesses will be coming to the game, we do know that we have just over a month to master this one. As with upgrading businesses, mastering the Capital One Bank will require you to continually stock and collect from the business whenever possible, with each round giving you a single point. Once you reach 50 points, you'll receive your reward, which we know is some form of decoration (probably a statue), but don't have the specific name as of this writing.
As for purchasing the building, it has a different time limit than that for actually earning your decorative reward. You can only purchase the Capital One Bank from the store for the next 28 days, giving you around a week to earn the decoration even after that point. Good luck!
Check out the rest of our CityVille Cheats & Tips right here.
What do you think of this Capital One Bank and the new branded business mastery feature? What sorts of branded businesses do you hope Zynga releases in the future? Sound off in the comments.
Pioneer Trail Capital One Goals: Everything you need to know
While we've already taken a look at the Capital One cross-promotions in FarmVille and CityVille, Pioneer Trail's version of the promotion is definitely the most complex, taking four goals to complete. The first of these goals introduces you to the Capital One Goat, who hopes that you can help him find his lost band mates, and bring their bandstand to life on your Homestead. That's right - there's a new building to create as part of this cross-promotion, along with the four goals. Here's a complete rundown of the event.
Sterling the Bloodhound
* Collect one Bandstand Upgrade Part
* Visit Capital One Facebook Page
* Craft Sterling's Guitar in the Bandstand
First things first, the Bandstand can be purchased inside the store for under 10 coins if you have the discount enabled in your game. You won't have to whack a frame or collect items to create a functioning Bandstand; however, you will have to collect these parts to upgrade the building. This is done by clicking on the Bandstand and then clicking "Upgrade" on the menu that appears. From here, it's the familiar process of asking your friends for items.
You'll need to collect 10 each of Stage Lights, pieces of Band Merchandise and Concert Wristbands, all of which are earned through general news posts, while 15 each of Sandbags and Scaffolding are earned by sending out individual requests to your friends for help. The final item - the five Band Groupies - are earned by completing these new goals, as they'll be earned automatically. That being the case, you don't have to be in too great of a rush to collect the rest of the ingredients, as you literally can't complete it anyway.
As for finishing this first goal, you'll need to head inside your Bandstand to craft items as you would in other buildings. From there, you'll need three Guitar Fretboards and five Guitar Strings to actually craft the guitar. These are both new items, requiring you to tend goats or simply ask your friends to help you earn them, among other tasks. Finishing the entirety of this first goal will give you 250 XP, Sterling the Bloodhound and 250 coins.
Toonie the Bear
* Chop 10 Trees on your Neighbors' Homesteads
* Feed 30 Goats on your Homestead
* Craft Toonie's Upright Bass in the Bandstand
Again, you'll need to head inside the Bandstand to craft Toonie's Upright Base, which requires three Tailpieces and five Bass Strings. Again, you can ask your friends to send you the Bass Strings, and can craft the Tailpieces, also inside the Bandstand.
Once you finish this second goal, you'll receive 500 XP, Toonie the Bear and 500 coins.
Penny the Bullfrog
* Feed 30 Geese on your Homestead
* Have or Collect 3 Termites
* Craft Penny's Banjo in the Bandstand
Again, just head inside the Bandstand to see the parts you need to craft Penny's Banjo (in this case the Banjo Pot and Banjo Pick), and then make sure you have three termites from the Oak Tree collection to finish this one off. For doing so, you'll receive 750 XP, Goat and Penny (the two remaining band members) and 5 Band Groupies. Remember those Groupies that you needed to complete the upgrade of the Bandstand? There you go.
Entertainment, Not Food
* Collect the Upgraded Bandstand Bonus Once
* Collect 10 Wildberries
* Harvest 50 Corn
Like a regular building, the Bandstand has a daily bonus that can be collected, so complete that and these other simple (albeit time-consuming) tasks and you'll be golden. You'll receive 1,000 XP, a Rockin Horse (a new mount for your avatar that wears sunglasses) and 1,000 coins for finishing this final goal.
All told, we're not given an expiration date for when this cross-promotion and these goals will leave the game, but your best bet would be to finish everything off as soon as possible just to make sure you don't miss out on anything. Have fun!
Check out the rest of our FrontierVille Cheats & Tips right here.
What do you think of this entire Capital One promotion in Pioneer Trail? Are you going to make your avatar ride this horse-with-shades? Sound off in the comments.
Sterling the Bloodhound
* Collect one Bandstand Upgrade Part
* Visit Capital One Facebook Page
* Craft Sterling's Guitar in the Bandstand
First things first, the Bandstand can be purchased inside the store for under 10 coins if you have the discount enabled in your game. You won't have to whack a frame or collect items to create a functioning Bandstand; however, you will have to collect these parts to upgrade the building. This is done by clicking on the Bandstand and then clicking "Upgrade" on the menu that appears. From here, it's the familiar process of asking your friends for items.
You'll need to collect 10 each of Stage Lights, pieces of Band Merchandise and Concert Wristbands, all of which are earned through general news posts, while 15 each of Sandbags and Scaffolding are earned by sending out individual requests to your friends for help. The final item - the five Band Groupies - are earned by completing these new goals, as they'll be earned automatically. That being the case, you don't have to be in too great of a rush to collect the rest of the ingredients, as you literally can't complete it anyway.
As for finishing this first goal, you'll need to head inside your Bandstand to craft items as you would in other buildings. From there, you'll need three Guitar Fretboards and five Guitar Strings to actually craft the guitar. These are both new items, requiring you to tend goats or simply ask your friends to help you earn them, among other tasks. Finishing the entirety of this first goal will give you 250 XP, Sterling the Bloodhound and 250 coins.
Toonie the Bear
* Chop 10 Trees on your Neighbors' Homesteads
* Feed 30 Goats on your Homestead
* Craft Toonie's Upright Bass in the Bandstand
Again, you'll need to head inside the Bandstand to craft Toonie's Upright Base, which requires three Tailpieces and five Bass Strings. Again, you can ask your friends to send you the Bass Strings, and can craft the Tailpieces, also inside the Bandstand.
Once you finish this second goal, you'll receive 500 XP, Toonie the Bear and 500 coins.
Penny the Bullfrog
* Feed 30 Geese on your Homestead
* Have or Collect 3 Termites
* Craft Penny's Banjo in the Bandstand
Again, just head inside the Bandstand to see the parts you need to craft Penny's Banjo (in this case the Banjo Pot and Banjo Pick), and then make sure you have three termites from the Oak Tree collection to finish this one off. For doing so, you'll receive 750 XP, Goat and Penny (the two remaining band members) and 5 Band Groupies. Remember those Groupies that you needed to complete the upgrade of the Bandstand? There you go.
Entertainment, Not Food
* Collect the Upgraded Bandstand Bonus Once
* Collect 10 Wildberries
* Harvest 50 Corn
Like a regular building, the Bandstand has a daily bonus that can be collected, so complete that and these other simple (albeit time-consuming) tasks and you'll be golden. You'll receive 1,000 XP, a Rockin Horse (a new mount for your avatar that wears sunglasses) and 1,000 coins for finishing this final goal.
All told, we're not given an expiration date for when this cross-promotion and these goals will leave the game, but your best bet would be to finish everything off as soon as possible just to make sure you don't miss out on anything. Have fun!
Check out the rest of our FrontierVille Cheats & Tips right here.
What do you think of this entire Capital One promotion in Pioneer Trail? Are you going to make your avatar ride this horse-with-shades? Sound off in the comments.
Baseball Superstars: The League goes for a grand slam on Facebook
Just in time for the playoff season in the states (Philadelphia NL East Champs! ... sorry), Gamevil has released its very own baseball simulator on Facebook, Baseball Superstars: The League. The Korean and Los Angeles-based developer best known for the Zenonia series of RPGs (role-playing games) on the iPhone released this social version of its hit baseball sims on iOS.
Of course, EA Sports and Playfish have already staked their claim to the sub genre on Facebook with World Series Superstars, but already Gamevil has one thing going for it: global multiplayer. That's right, once you choose your team's name, logo and specialty between Power, Accuracy and Speed, you can jump into games immediately with anyone playing the game.
While you will certainly need Facebook friends to play in Exhibition games, those looking for a fast and easy Quick Play game, the world's digital baseball managers await you. There's also a Home Run Derby mode as well as full-blown tournaments, which are coming soon. And the gameplay is surprisingly interactive, having players actually swing at pitches with clicks.
Baseball Superstars Logo
Baseball Superstars features a full-blown pitching system as well, in which players select from a variety of pitches and choose exactly where they land in or around the strike zone. There are also a number of commands you can give to base runners to attempt to steal bases. All in all, this looks like an impressively full-featured baseball game on Facebook at launch.
While much of the game has players tweaking their stadiums like most sports games on Facebook, it's the actually Quick Plays and Exhibition games that are the meat and potatoes of Baseball Superstars, and what could make this game a competitor to existing social sports games. "It builds upon our years of strategic advances in the global games market, and shows that we can adapt and offer a unique yet competitive social games experience," VP and head of Gamevil USA Kyu Lee said in a release.
Baseball Superstars gameplay
Baseball Superstars is just Gamevil's second release on Facebook after Train City, which didn't do so hot, according to AppData. Considering the hype train that is US baseball in September and October, baseball fans (the closet Facebook game-loving ones, at least) are going to be on the hunt for a new experience on Facebook.
And it looks like Gamevil will be there to meet them with a Facebook game that actually focuses on, you know, the baseball? Hey, the second time can still be a charm, too, right?
Click here to play Baseball Superstars: The League on Facebook Now >
Have you tried this new baseball Facebook game yet? What do you think of Gamevil's second entry into the Facebook game space, and what about their existing iOS games? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment
Of course, EA Sports and Playfish have already staked their claim to the sub genre on Facebook with World Series Superstars, but already Gamevil has one thing going for it: global multiplayer. That's right, once you choose your team's name, logo and specialty between Power, Accuracy and Speed, you can jump into games immediately with anyone playing the game.
While you will certainly need Facebook friends to play in Exhibition games, those looking for a fast and easy Quick Play game, the world's digital baseball managers await you. There's also a Home Run Derby mode as well as full-blown tournaments, which are coming soon. And the gameplay is surprisingly interactive, having players actually swing at pitches with clicks.
Baseball Superstars Logo
Baseball Superstars features a full-blown pitching system as well, in which players select from a variety of pitches and choose exactly where they land in or around the strike zone. There are also a number of commands you can give to base runners to attempt to steal bases. All in all, this looks like an impressively full-featured baseball game on Facebook at launch.
While much of the game has players tweaking their stadiums like most sports games on Facebook, it's the actually Quick Plays and Exhibition games that are the meat and potatoes of Baseball Superstars, and what could make this game a competitor to existing social sports games. "It builds upon our years of strategic advances in the global games market, and shows that we can adapt and offer a unique yet competitive social games experience," VP and head of Gamevil USA Kyu Lee said in a release.
Baseball Superstars gameplay
Baseball Superstars is just Gamevil's second release on Facebook after Train City, which didn't do so hot, according to AppData. Considering the hype train that is US baseball in September and October, baseball fans (the closet Facebook game-loving ones, at least) are going to be on the hunt for a new experience on Facebook.
And it looks like Gamevil will be there to meet them with a Facebook game that actually focuses on, you know, the baseball? Hey, the second time can still be a charm, too, right?
Click here to play Baseball Superstars: The League on Facebook Now >
Have you tried this new baseball Facebook game yet? What do you think of Gamevil's second entry into the Facebook game space, and what about their existing iOS games? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment
NHL Superstars coming to Facebook in October
Adding to its popular brand of "Superstars" titles on Facebook, Electronic Arts has announced the production of NHL Superstars for Facebook. This new game, as reported by ShackNews, comes on the heels of EA's NHL 12 on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 breaking franchise records for the biggest launch week in the franchise's history.
As for the franchise's jump onto the Facebook ice, we're told this: "NHL Superstars will bring an all-new NHL experience to millions of hockey fans by enabling players to build and manage their ultimate team of professional hockey players. With dynamic and accessible gameplay, fans can compete head-to-head in games against their Facebook friends from around the world."
While specific details are still lacking as to what we can exactly expect from NHL Superstars, we can't imagine EA / Playfish breaking the mold. We'll likely be able to collect cards that contain professional hockey players, and then trade those cards out to create the best team possible. Each player will likely have stats, and we'll be able to use those players in virtual hockey games against others for supremacy.
We don't have a specific release date for NHL Superstars, although the game is set to take to the ice sometime in October. We'll make sure to give you a complete look at the game when we know more.
Are you excited to see NHL Superstars come to Facebook? Which players will you look for to create your perfect team? Sound off in the comments.
As for the franchise's jump onto the Facebook ice, we're told this: "NHL Superstars will bring an all-new NHL experience to millions of hockey fans by enabling players to build and manage their ultimate team of professional hockey players. With dynamic and accessible gameplay, fans can compete head-to-head in games against their Facebook friends from around the world."
While specific details are still lacking as to what we can exactly expect from NHL Superstars, we can't imagine EA / Playfish breaking the mold. We'll likely be able to collect cards that contain professional hockey players, and then trade those cards out to create the best team possible. Each player will likely have stats, and we'll be able to use those players in virtual hockey games against others for supremacy.
We don't have a specific release date for NHL Superstars, although the game is set to take to the ice sometime in October. We'll make sure to give you a complete look at the game when we know more.
Are you excited to see NHL Superstars come to Facebook? Which players will you look for to create your perfect team? Sound off in the comments.
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