by Ravi Sinha
The Games Conference 2008 at Leipzig will be an event to remember… and in true expo disappointment fashion, one to loathe. For every hopeful announcement, there were at least one or two others that went morality hunting.
At least one of the Sony-oriented announcements, concerning the release of several of AAA titles for their console, was undeterred. Hence, in the coming months we can confidently look forward to LittleBigPlanet, Bioshock and Fallout 3 on the PS3 this October. In corelation with the above “evil must balance good” disclosure, Sony underlined quite a few awkward points that we’ve magnified for your benefit. Sony at least put in a decent effort — Microsoft didn’t seem bothered, and Nintendo was just too good to show up this year. Also: Conflicting reports of Mirror’s Edge being a timed exclusive for the PS3.
Click here to continue reading ‘Disappointments of Leipzig GC 2008′
Gaming lends itself to great career options, but there’s still a segment of society that thinks otherwise. The problem is production — not that those with gaming as their career options haven’t given back for “all the earth’s oxygen they’ve wasted” over the years. Who else could popularise the 1-10 score as a substitute for in-depth analysis that still gives consumers headaches and developers sleepless nights?
But 16-year-old Blake Peebles decided that taking part in Guitar Hero competitions and winning free games, equipment and food was leagues better than getting a job and running the rat race like the rest of the world. The real Whopper? His parents actually let him.
“We couldn’t take the complaining anymore,” said Mrs. Peebles. “He always told me that he thought school was a waste of time.” The PTA is gonna have a field day with this.
It is not for us to judge what a person should take up as a career option. Dozens of people become freedom fighters, insurgents and campus fiction writers every day, and nobody bats an eye or eyes a bat. But this goes against the popular parenting notion that “games are bad for you”, doesn’t it?
Whatever happened to all those parents on the other side of the battle lines shooting to kill the gaming industry advocates? So they are not all alike, are they? Hmmm… Interesting.
If anything, this incident points out just how much parenting is responsible, if not completely then partly, for a child’s growth or deterioration. Even if the guy dropped school for an actual music career, it wouldn’t be such a big deal, but the difference between actual guitar strings and coloured electronic buttons must have been very foggy in his case.
And what happens when the world finally realises Rock Band is the superior franchise? Let’s see Blake’s skills on “Rock and Roll All Nite” (Expert Level) feed him then.
Source: Ripten
by Ravi Sinha
Blizzard Entertainment’s Diablo was released in 1997, and featured 3 character classes, non-restrictive character development, and… well, like Doom, you had your weapons/spells and your chaotic hell-spawn. What else was there to understand?
Forget mini-quests, NPC party members, branching story-lines, sub-classes and turn-based Dungeons and Dragons rule-sets. Simply slaughter as many enemies as you could, all in an attempt to quell the ultimate evil, Diablo himself.
Co-op play over LAN was available and the stark contrast of single player was compensated by a buddy’s presence. The atmosphere PC gamers felt was similar to how console gamers felt when playing any Final Fight or Streets of Rage. The enemies doubled, but then, so did the fun. Click here to continue reading ‘Do we need Diablo 3?’
“When the streets are clear and the cops have died down, we’ll be back on the streets…” and that too with mouse-look, it seems. Rockstar and Take-Two Interactive have finally confirmed the hopes (and subsequently greater suspicions) that their multi-million selling next-gen crime epic, Grand Theft Auto IV would be coming to the PC on the 18th and 21st of November in North America and Europe respectively. Sam Houser, founder of Rockstar Games stated,
“We are very excited to be releasing the PC version of Grand Theft Auto IV. The whole team is dedicated to bringing an amazing gaming experience to the PC. The game looks and plays beautifully on PC and we can’t wait for people to play it.”
Interestingly, as cited by Gamecyte, the PC edition sports the Games for Windows Live logo, Microsoft’s official multiplayer service for PC Live users; the same service that allows Xbox Live users to compete with PC Live user in titles like Halo 2. With the announcement also stating a “newly expanded multiplayer just for the PC,” a cross platform multiplayer experience is very likely.
Grand Theft Auto IV, touted as one of the best games ever made with perfect scores from all major game publications and websites, sold 3.6 million units on the day of its release and about 6 million units in its first week, enough to make even Iron Man gargle like his cardiac power source had been removed. The sales of GTAIV in that week equaled nearly $540 million with profits for Take-Two standing at $98.2 million. Still no word yet on the Indian release but with the releases of several big-name titles like Metal Gear Solid 4 and Ninja Gaiden 2 virtually coinciding with their American counterparts, you can bet we’ll be pimping alongside the rest of the world very soon.
Source: Blue’s News, Gamasutra
by Ravi Sinha
By now, many would have heard of the controversy surrounding the Sony Playstation Network game, Fat Princess but for those who haven’t: Fat Princess is about two teams consisting of about 8 to 32 people each who must rescue their princess, captive as she is in another castle… er, your opponent’s base. Your opponents can oppose you, however, by going into the forest to find cake and fatten your princess up with, hence making her harder to carry and requiring more players for the effort. Click here to continue reading ‘Obesity in Gaming a Crime?’
