Sony : "No More 3rd Party Support For Vita" .

 Just the other day Sony made a rather nasty announcement concerning the Playstation Vita in that Sony will no longer be supporting 3rd party games for the handheld console. This is bad news for those like me who have invested heavily in the PS Vita. Sony announced that the Vita will focus mostly on indie titles and PS4 remote play. So now that the days of Persona 4 Golden and triple A Vita titles like Killzone Mercenary gone, what are we going to do with this $300 paperweight? Well, I have an idea....... invest in digital PSP titles. Still keep your hard copies of Dragons Crown and Gravity Rush, however, the Vita's PSP library is rather large and bursting with great games.
 Which PSP games should I get for my Vita you ask? Well, the answer to that question is easy even if you initially do not agree with me. I have spent over a thousand dollars on digital games from PSN, a majority of it for the PS Vita and I can tell you that some of the very best games for Sony's handheld are PS1 classics and PSP games. The digital collection of PSP titles are amazing and contain some of the best games of all time and are truly timeless in that you can never grow tired in playing them. These kind of games are the best because they can offer hundreds of hours of gameplay, many different endings and replay value galore. Who cares about AAA Vita games that you can beat in less than 5 hours when you can invest between $10-$20 on a timeless classic which never grows old and seems as though it was meant to be played in the palm of your hand for many, many months.
  One of the very best games that fall into the above category of timeless greats which offer almost endless play value is the classic PS1 game turned PSP remake "Final Fantasy Tactics : The War Of The Lions". This is the premier game of all time and if you never even liked Final Fantasy games .... its still all good because this does not play like a FF game in that it is a tactical strategy game and the best ever made on any platform. This game runs for $10 on PSN as a Vita download and I give you my word is one of the best boredom killers all of all time and is easily worth $20 instead of the $10 asking price. Sure, this game will kick your teeth in if this is your first ( or even second ) tactical RPG, however, if you can figure out the mechanics and master the first few stages after a few re-starts ...... you'll be on your way on one of the greatest video gaming adventures you have ever embarked upon.
 So, to make a long story short ...... Sony has turned its back on the Playstation Vita just as we all feared they would. They continuously fail to announce new games besides cheep indies and HD remakes. They announced that they will no longer support 3rd party AAA development for the handheld console as to focus on indies and PS4 remote play. So while your waiting for that AAA title or 3rd party game you want badly but shall never come..... why not pick up Final Fantasy Tactics  War Of The Lions and spend the next few months mesmerized with ways to create better classes with stronger magical attacks that shoot down from the sky in a cornucopia of colors.

The Scary Future Of Virtual Reality In Gaming

  If some people think now that video games can be overwhelming to certain people who take them far more seriously than they probably should just imagine the future of video games once this now tweaked technology is unleashed upon the masses. I love video games and probably play them more than I really should, however, I know others who go way beyond even that into the realm of video game addiction. Video game addiction is very real and I personally know a person who needed to get professional psychological help for such an addiction. There are actual cases where gamers have actually died playing video games for super long periods of time because their bodies shut down from total lack of sleep, food and water. There are even other cases where peoples kids have been neglected and some of these children even died from malnourishment while their parents/parent played marathon video game sessions.
  These sort of things do not happen all that often, however, there are fears that once highly advanced  virtual reality headsets like the soon to be released occulus rift hit store shelves that these rare and somewhat isolated instances of neglect whether to ones self or their children will spike. Not only is occulus rift in development and acquired by Facebook for use on their already addictive Facebook platform, but; Sony has a similar devise in development for use with the playstation 4 video game console and the project is well enough advanced to give people hands on experiences with this new technology.
 Just imagine how many 'not so happy with their lives individuals' shall become snagged in a world where one would have to really struggle to identify true reality. This new technology is destined to become the new age getaway for those who are not happy with their lives, reality, family or just simply looking for the thrills they cannot achieve in the real world. Sure, the idea is great and I cannot wait to purchase my first pair, however, at the same time, I wonder and to be honest, worry that this may lead to a worsening problem with health and obesity in which America is already struggling with. There is a real problem with obesity, heart disease, diabetes, ect here in the States and its really hard for any true realist not to see how this will turn out in the end. I only hope that this newly advanced technology can add to our general fun and not effect us in a negative manner. Sure, there are those who could benefit greatly from this technology such as people who suffer from paralysis or injury which effects  their ability to move around or get outside allot. This is just one of those things in which we must wait and see how it all plays out. In the meantime I'm going to hop back on my console for some Diablo3.

Microsoft Still Feeling The preasure To Sell Xbox

 Microsoft again found itself on the defense about selling off its gaming division in the face of worried investors. Don't believe me? Just Google it yourself and you will be rather surprised about how much speculation there really is and the amount of valid concern. Some of the most painful articles in regards to Microsoft's Xbox1 ( gaming division ) comes strait from the big dog Forbes in an article titled " The Three Ways Forward For Microsoft And The Xbox One " and I can assure you that all three options described therein are not at all what Microsoft wants to face.
 For a long time now Microsoft big wigs (investors) who hold major stock and bond holdings in the corporation have been pushing Microsoft to simply sell off its unprofitable gaming division and focus more on software in which the company was founded to do. It seems as though those very investors became rather uncomfortable with the poor performance of Windows 8 not to mention the gaming division losing millions and millions of dollars to boot.
 News just recently got worse for Microsoft after Sony proudly announced that the PS4 has sold 8 million consoles (not shipped) to consumers , while Microsoft refusing to publish actual sales of the Xbox1. Come to find out Microsoft had "shipped" 5 million consoles ton stores with no telling how many of those were actually sold to consumers like Sony's numbers. Now, in the Forbs article about "three ways forward" one of those proposed "ways" have already been implemented that being to cut the Kinect nobody ever wanted. The second option is so horrible even seasoned Xbox fans will get week in the knees when they read the proposed solution which is ....... cut the disk drive. Ouch. Now its down to the very last option which is non other than to cut the price just to somewhat compete with the runaway success of Playstation 4.
 In my opinion Microsoft can implement all the options they see fit to no avail. Its simply too late now that PS4 and Sony's master publicity stroke has mesmerized the masses. While Microsoft was busy announcing the Xbox1 and assaulting their fans with always online-DRM, forced Kinect and countless other unwanted policies akin to bullying..... Sony was telling and giving the gaming community what they wanted. Is the Xbox1 going to go away in the immediate future? Of course not. Sooner or later though Microsoft is going to run out of money to keep flushing down the toilet.

Watch Dogs Released / Review's

 Reminder : Today is the long anticipated 27th of May 2014 ..... the launch date for Watch Dogs.

  I'm going to pick up my pre-order copy right now so my review of the game itself will not be up until Thursday. Until then however, I can say that other reviewers are giving this game a average of 8 out of 10. Polygon has scored the game an 8 as well as gamespot and destructoid. Also important to note is that Forbes had some very harsh things to say about Watch Dogs which makes me wonder if I didn't just waste two years waiting for this game to release. I will quote from the Forbes review here "Like GTA5 before it, sometimes it's not enough to simply be big and well made. Watch Dogs feels like a collection of promising concepts with nothing solid holding them together" and also quoted from Forbes " The characters are so uninteresting they're almost unsalvageable, and though gameplay is polished to a mirror shine, it just doesn't do enough to stand out in the genre" end quote.
 So in other words basically everyone is giving this game a score of 8 out of 10 the only reason being for the 8 instead of the 6 is because its "polished". Sounds like they keep making excuses for a bad game because the people who invested in this game via stock bond holders don't want to loose any money. While we are just being brutally honest here ..... they even had an extra 6 months when they delayed the game as to make it better. With a delay of 6 months to make the game better and still end up with a bland story and characters is a huge let down and the 8 out of 10 "I feel sorry for you but its polished" reviews says it all.

Video Game Market To Reach $111 Billion By 2015

 Well it looks like alot of us has been making investments in the wrong fields. After looking over some numbers in regards to the future of video gaming I was blown away by the amount of money generated by the video game industry. After studying some stock market trends going back to 2013 and ending in 2015 some truly amazing figures surfaced.
 We all know that mobile games are fast becoming the new way to game but did you realize that mobile games are the fastest-growing segment of the market, with revenue set to double between 2013 and 2015 from $13.2 billion to $22 billion?

Graph : Video Game Market Revenue, 2012-2015

1. Segment                                      2012          2013          2014          2015
2. Video Game Console               37,400      44,288        49,375       55,049
3. Handheld Video Games           17,755      18,065        15,079       12,399
4. Mobile Games                           9,280       13,208        17,146       22,009
5. PC Games                                14,437       17,722        20,015       21,601
6. Total Video Game Market       78,872       93,282      101,615     111,057  

Source : Gartner (October 2013)

In other words besides the temporary reduction in game console hardware sales during 2013 growth will resume again in 2014 with the sales of next generation gaming hardware from $15.9 billion to $22.7 billion in 2015. In other words ..... gaming is going to do great going into 2015 and investments in these fields should seriously be studied.
   

Will Facebook Compete With PS4 And Xbox1 ?

 Now that social media titan Facebook has acquired Oculus Rift virtual reality for 2 billion dollars a discussion needs to be had about what they plan on doing with this technology. 2 billion dollars is a vast amount of money and therefore a giant corporation such as Facebook must have surly had plans before the purchase of Oculus.
 Sure, we can all imagine millions of people sitting around their houses meeting people and talking to their friends as if they were standing right there in full HD virtual reality. The implications of such can go far beyond that of friends meeting over the Facebook Oculus. We are talking about full blown business meetings, house shopping, looking at a potential cars to buy, going on a vacation to the Bahamas just to name a few of the seemingly endless possibilities.
 Beyond the obvious such as those stated above imagine next Facebook going head to head with gaming consoles and verily P.C's. We all know that Facebook has had video games that you can play with your friends but just imagine if Facebook rolled out a whole new type of gaming business. After all they did dish out 2 billion dollars and I'm sure they want to bleed every red cent out of the Oculus. The move in my opinion was genius..... imagine if Facebook had not purchased Oculus. Without Oculus Facebook itself would have become obsolete within a year or two at most. Friends hanging out on Oculus in video game worlds and/or chat rooms would have put a swift end to the golden era of Facebook social media in a single swipe.
 Facebook did not "want" to buy Oculus they had no choice but to purchase Oculus to secure their own future and with a device like that 2 billion I am sure can be doubled rather fast. The future of social media is ever changing and this landmark deal proves as much. There are changes coming to the way people interact online whether on social networks, at work or gaming and I think Facebook just won the grand chess game of social media.

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.

Why You Should Keep Your Ps3 Console

 Even in the wake of a great and well deserved (after 8 years) launch of next generation consoles you will not find me at Gamestop trading in my Playstation 3 any time soon. Sure, its wonderful having the new shiny consoles to play on and experiment with, however, there are a few things in which these next generation gaming machines cannot offer us (me) at this time. What can that possibly be you ask? The answer to that question is rather simple....... All my games in which I have acquired over the many long years of the generation past. Not just games really but really good games. Games that are hard to come by and still expensive like all my top tier Playstation one classics like Final Fantasy, Chrono Trigger, resident evil and Harvest Moon just to name a few. Then there are the Ps2 classics like Persona and countless others. Thousands of hours invested into some of the best games ever created some of which to this day remain unfinished. Countless newer games of all different kinds of genres still begging to be played or some elusive trophy earned.
 Bottom line is .... even though I shall enjoy next gen as much as the next person , I will keep intact my vast collection of digital and/or hard copies of timeless masterpieces (and some crap of course) all massed together on one working console. No matter how many next gen pixels pound upon my retina's or advanced AI destroyes my avatar ....... I will always find myself crawling back to those great games that I and many others love. The moral of the story then is the one important question ...... Is it really true next gen hardware if its not backward compatible? I mean come on Sony and Microsoft its 2014 make your consoles to fit the needs of us gamers instead of your pockets.

Watch Dogs Is A GTA5 Clone

  Watch Dogs was supposed to be released around the same time as the mega hit Grand Theft Auto 5 (GTA5 went on to sell over 33 million copies world wide since) , however, the long anticipated game was delayed from an original November 19, 2013 (U.S) release date to May 27, 2014 date. So, why was Watch Dogs delayed by Ubisoft for such a long period of time? I know the answer to this question and I will now set about to let you in on the secret also.
  When GTA5 was released I remember Ubisoft talking about how great the game was. I mean, these people at Ubisoft really were blown away by the quality of the huge world and the details therein. There was also talk about how GTA5 was putting pressure on Ubisoft to live up to current expectations when it comes to triple A video game production especially open world games such as Watch Dogs. What happened was that Ubisoft watched GTA5 turn into a mega hit breaking all the records right in front of their eyes and they knew at that time that Watch Dogs would be overlooked during the GTA5 hype which took the world by storm. After all 33 million copies sold at $60 a pop is no small feat in the least.
 So basically, after seeing what RockStar games had done with GTA5 Ubisoft became, shall we say, a little worried that their game Watch Dogs would seem like childs play compared to GTA5 and would never be able to compete alongside RockStar for the open world city theme. In face of all of this, Ubisoft decided at some round table with all the big heads that it was in the companies best interest to delay the release of Watch Dogs and use that time to refine and add to the game as much as possible as to try to live up to the quality and verily the success of GTA5. It would not surprise me a bit if Ubisoft had to redo most of the game and add very large amounts of material to make it on par (or as close as possible) with GTA5.
 So the question now remains ....... Was all of this good for Watch Dogs as a game? Yes, of course it was. We can thank the people at Rockstar Games for putting the pressure on other developers to push the limits of gaming. Its good to know that there are those developers who are so good at what they do that they motivate others to push themselves even harder and in the end.... deliver the gamers something they deserve for their hard earned money.

Playstation Vita : The Good And The Bad

 The Good :

1. The Vita is one of the most powerful gaming handhelds ever created and launched to rave reviews. IGN scored the system 8.5/10, Cnet.com gave the system a 4/5, The Gadget Show gave it a 4/5 and in 2012, the PS Vita won T3's "Gaming Gadget Of The Year" award beating Nintendo 3DS and more. There is no doubt that the Vita system is a worthy handheld gaming device.

2. A beautiful 5-inch(16.9) OLED multi touch capacitive touchscreen that can produce 17 million colors. The OLED screen is one of the very best features of the system and is simply breathtaking to look at while playing a quality game or just watching youtube video's.

3. Even though AAA titles are few there are troves of quality indie games that alone make the Vita worthwhile as a handheld gaming device.

2. Most of the best PSP (Playstation Portable) games from Sony's last generation handheld can be downloaded to the Vita making it even more versatile.

3. Solid design which gives the Vita owner confidence that their hardware is sturdy and safe from being easily broken. There have been very few reports of hardware problems with the Vita which require a replacement unit.

4. Playstation 1 support (PS1 Classics) which put some of the best historical games ever made right in the palm of your hand and on the go. Nothing is better at killing time than playing FF7 while waiting in a doctors office. These older games look amazing on the OLED screen and can be adjusted any way you see fit like utilizing dual analog sticks if you so wish.

THE BAD :

1. The Playstation Vita is very costly and comes with many hidden additional costs. At launch I paid $250.00 for the Vita alone(WiFi) not counting the $40 and sometimes even $50( yes, Black Ops I'm looking at you) games and a quality case($30) you will surly need for your shiny new piece of hardware.

2. Lack of third party games (non Indie) and failure to bring some of the best native Japanese Vita games to the West.

4. High cost of the best PS1 games and verily the PSP games.

5. Most of the features of the Vita like rear touch pad and tilt control are hardly ever put to use in the games for the Vita which makes the price seem even more unnecessary considering these things are why it is so expensive to begin with.

6. Finally and worst of them all are the "proprietary" memory cards which are ridiculously expensive and the 64GB card almost impossible to find and if you do will set you back $100.

                              

Playstation4 Sells 7 Million Units While Microsoft Remains Silent.

 Sony has announced that the new Playstation4 console has sold over 7 million units. Keep in mind these figures do not include "shipped" units, only those which have already been sold. Meanwhile, Microsoft has remained silent and has failed to release even a peep of sales figures which points to the fact that they are hiding the numbers. Even with the release of the highly anticipated next-gen title Titanfall, XboxOne sales seem to be in a slump.
 Microsoft has already been warned by their heavy and influential investors that the company has been making mistakes, too many in fact, that these same investors and/or stockholders feel rather uncomfortable, or better yet, damn worried about their investments in Microsoft considering Windows8 was a complete flop and the Microsoft gaming division has yet to turn a profit. These same investors and stockholders are holding very serious negotiations to have the Microsoft gaming division sold off so that Microsoft can focus more on what they were supposed to do to begin with..... make solid working software. Even this software business in now in danger with the advent of tablets and super sized smartphones which are rather rapidly making laptops and tabletops P.C's obsolete.
 Even though Sony themselves have enough problems of their own it now seems that they are the clear winner of the next generation gaming console wars which puts them in a rather pleasant situation with their smiling investors. Which way will all this go? Please leave your comments below and let us know your take on these developments.

                                                               Written By J30-06K