PS4 Already Profitable for Sony

 Traditionally video game console divisions have always lost money ..... sometimes vast amounts of money. They try to turn a profit by sale of software, monthly or yearly paid subscriptions, digital content and accessories to name just a few. Microsoft and Sony have for years sold most of their gaming hardware at a loss just to get these consoles into peoples living rooms where they can then work on turning profits through sales as mentioned above.
 The fact that Sony has announced and verily proven that their PS4 division is already profitable is simply amazing and news I'm sure they and their stock/bond holders are very exited about. Nobody can deny that the launch of the Playstation 4 was a sweeping success. While Sony it seemed was making all the right moves and focusing on core gamers the competition Microsoft was busy playing defense over their policies that the gaming community simply hated even long time Xbox fans like myself.
 Microsoft just recently announced and began selling Xbox1 consoles without the connect included (which was mandatory before) and sales began to pick up. Sony has proven that they learned their lesson last generation when the PS3 launch was a complete failure for some time because of the heavy price tag and other bad decisions on Sony's part. Sony launched the PS4 for $100 less than the Xbox1 and the connect was optional as it rightly should be. Consumers just do not like products they don't want nor need pushed upon them because the corporation feels its the right thing to do (for their pockets) and Sony has obviously picked up on these basic consumer rules.
 The end result of Sony playing the better hand this generation is clear as ice at this point as Playstation 4 moves 8 million consoles and turns a profit on hardware faster than any gaming generation before this one. This can only mean huge things for Sony and mostly their consumers who have PS4's in their homes because Sony will be more motivated than ever to deliver the best gaming experience focusing more on the gamer themselves than trivial market numbers. There are allot of great things in store for Playstaion 4 owners and we can only hope now that other hardware developers in the future play their cards as well as Sony this Gen because these things benefit everyone and that's the most important thing of all.

Free To Play Model Destroying Video Games

  Everyday gamers are beginning to see more and more games that are so-called "free to play". These games represent the inevitable decline of the gaming culture as a whole. What started out as an experiment to see if some extra money could be made on the side for extra content morphed into a complete nightmare for every gamer. Now, the so-called "free to play" model is fast becoming the standard for more and more games usually the more addictive sort for obvious reasons. The allure of games that are "free" ensnare gamers into actually spending more money than they would if they just purchased a game at full price.
 I would much rather purchase a game that I am interested in at the $60 price tag for a triple A title than get a "free" game which can ultimately cost anywhere from a hundred dollars to thousands of dollars just to win or progress at a decent speed without having to wait for days just to move forward in your progress. This new "free to win" method is nothing more than a con game that banks off of games which the developers and verily their stockholders know are very addictive for maximal effect on the gamers wallet.
  Even worse is the discovery that these "free to play" games are trying to target young children with names like candy----- ect. in the hopes that these children can talk, or rather, beg and cry enough to their parents to have them kick out their credit cards as to pay for their children's expensive new hobbies. This is what developers are now calling the future of gaming (in reference to free to play) and are working on more and more clever ways to implement the most effective money sucking methods imaginable just so that one can progress in an addictive new game.
  Don't get me wrong here ..... I see nothing wrong with developers trying new methods, however, these same methods are becoming more seriously alarming. Instead, I suggest that these developers raise the price of games slightly for a better profit and just leave the free to play model behind. Trust me it would be much better than the rapidly approaching alternatives. Not only are free to play games deceptive with their hidden costs and addictive gameplay, but, at the same time creating great damage to the video game industry and compromising the quality of new games altogether.

                                                                                                           J30-06K


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Call Of Duty The End Of A Era.

 When the first online multiplayer Call Of Duty 4 Modern Warfare was released on November 5, 2007(North America) gaming was changed at that very instant. Who can forget the feeling of overwhelming fun while playing with your friends online to see who could get the most kills or simply win against your opponents? The solid gameplay, great maps and mesmerizing background music (MW still has the best music) sucked gamers in from all over the world and created something of a digital subculture.
 By the time Call Of Duty World At War was released on November 11, 2008(North America)millions of gamers were flocking to stores trying to get their hands on a copy at midnight or even trying to get a copy before the official release date for an advantage over others. A new Era had begun .... one which would dominate first person shooters for the next 6 years.  Those who played the game well and placed high on the old traditional leaderboards were met with fame from the Call Of Duty community and some even became rather wealthy. It was the all American youthful dream..... to become a pro or semi pro COD player and make money doing what you loved to do.
  Around this time (2008-2009) Youtube began to explode with countless channels filled with fresh and original Call Of Duty gameplays and/or commentaries, which in turn , led to many Youtube partnerships, money and online fame. This success went on for years with Call Of Duty video's getting countless views  and copies of the games flying out of the stores faster than they could keep them stocked. These were in fact the "golden years" for Call Of Duty and verily the gamers who played them. Like all "golden years" in history they always come to an end sooner or later and COD is no different.
 The Call Of Duty franchise began to make drastic changes to their successful formula starting in 2011 with the release of Call Of Duty Black Ops on November 9th of that same year. COD Black Ops was a huge success selling millions of copies world wide and shooting Call Of Duty into superstar status. However, something strange began to happen after the release of COD Black Ops 2 on November 13, 2012. Gamers began to slowly realize that the COD brand was somehow becoming stale and repetitive. Youtube began to fill up with so many channels dedicated to Call Of Duty gameplays and/or commentaries that the system was flooded with content making it impossible to compete because to compete with millions of other channels uploading the same material is like a needle being found in a haystack.
 Then on November 5, 2013 the death blow came about with the release of Call Of Duty Ghosts. Ghosts was not received well at all outside the hardest of core COD fans and received bad reviews from all angles. Old Call Of Duty players who have been stomping on COD since COD4 or WAW found themselves trading in their copies of Ghosts for other games or simply quitting gaming altogether ( Most hardcore COD fans only play COD). Youtube gaming channels began to sit there dormant and inactive. There is no denying the facts and even the developers admit that the series has become rather stale with yearly new releases and few new upgrades to boot. The developers began to complain that a single year was hardly enough time to create a top tier COD game and it was beginning to show in Ghosts.
 Now its 2014 and there is already talk and video previews of the next Call Of Duty "Advanced Warfare" ( sounds familiar doesn't it? MW3 anybody?) and they are obviously trying to spice things up a little bit. Apparently, Sledgehammer Games who have been working on this next installment seem to think that making COD even more futuristic is the answer when this is what the problem has been with the franchise since Ghosts. In one last desperate attempt to regain their dominance in the field of online multiplayer first person shooters they have created what looks like from the previews a rather far flung futuristic Titanfall concept. We can notice, if we look close enough, soldiers scaling walls like spiderman and deploying gadgets from the Halo series. It was bad enough that COD Ghosts had included a shootout in outer space and now they want to incorporate Mass Effect and Halo into the next COD. I'm sorry, but I must say now that this approach just is not going to change the current downhill path of Call Of Duty, rather, it will lead to its decline even faster.

                                                                                                        J30-06K

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