Call Of Duty Is Doomed

    THE BEGINNING ....... and the end


   I know what you are thinking ...... "this guy is a major hater",  however,  I feel obliged to inform you that I have been one of the Call Of Duty franchises best and most hardcore supporter since the first online COD. As a matter of fact, I have run clans with thousands of members from all over the world and built a rather large following based around the COD franchise games. I have been blessed with great clan websites, partnered youtube channels, large facebook base and much more all because of Call Of Duty. With that being said and now out of the way lets get down to business shall we?
  I recently retired from playing Call Of Duty and verily running my successful COD clan MvK* ( Most Valuable Killers ) and now only play video games with new and fresh idea's to explore and have fun with. You see, Call Of Duty started out amazing, thus; the very large following, however, after many years of implementing stale idea's and repetitive gameplay the franchise has hit rock bottom. You may say to yourselves that COD is doing just fine, however, this could not be farther from the truth. In fact, the COD franchise has been doing rather bad as of lately with its last 3 releases. When the franchise began to move away from the original idea's that made the franchise great to begin with the fans noticed. Gone were the days of MW, World At War and Modern Warfare 2, the best COD games ever made and apparently never to be matched again.


 NEW RELEASE EVERY SINGLE YEAR .


  With a new Call Of Duty every single year the quality and vision has fallen to almost laughable lows. With tight schedules to keep and very little feedback from the most hardcore of supporters the new games roll out un-polished and lacking in almost every single way imaginable. The rushed games appear with horrible graphics using the very same engine that has been used for well over 7 years with what they refer to as "upgrades to the old engine" ..... in other words the same engine. The maps are always horrible with no real vision or imagination and utilizing gimmicks like "Missile Launch Sites" in the hopes that a missile taking off every few minutes will cover up the fact that the map is otherwise boring and not very clever. It seems that the developers solution to all of the yearly COD staleness is to make each new COD installment more and more "futuristic" leading to an even more out of touch game that the core supporters have come to like. Now, with the new "Advanced Warfare" game release imminent ....... it seems as though COD fans will be playing nothing less than a rip off of Halo, Titanfall, and Star Wars just to name a few. Since when did Call Of Duty which used to be based on actual warfare like World War 2 turn into a science fiction movie night for nerds who eat popcorn while watching old versions of Star Trek?


 OH NO .... NOT ANOTHER DLC.


 Now its time to really start hitting hard. The entire COD DLC con game is one of the very reasons I have decided to switch to indie games on next gen and triple A games on my new gaming PC. As soon as you buy a copy of the rushed new Call Of Duty game it begins to sell you the next maps that was removed from the full version of the game ( yes the DLC was made with the rest of the game ) that cost you the full price of at least $60 and attempts to sell you the rest of the partial game you already purchased. How does that make any sense? People actually get excited for the non stop DLC releases that just never seem to stop coming. In other words, after you buy a partial un-polished and rushed game at the full retail price of $60 you then spend an additional $15 per map pack (unless you get season pass also for a ridiculous amount) you in all honesty spend well over $100 for a single game. As if that wasn't bad enough ..... now COD is selling EVERYTHING , you can now purchase skins ( designs ) for your guns , a wolf instead of the usual dog and on and on it goes infinitum.


ANNOYING LITTLE KIDS
 
 I remember when me and my vast network of COD friend could play the game for days without hearing so much as a sqeek from an undeveloped 9 year old. Now, all you can hear on your mic (or through your Television) is the horrible sound of an ocean of little kids mad at their parents for not getting enough hugs yelling and screaming into their $300 headphones just so that everyone can hear the terrible sqeeking sound in full ear splitting HD sound. You will be hard pressed to find a single match of COD without a bunch of little kids who faked being sick so that they can stay home while their parents are at work and yell obscenities at the top of their little pink lungs which would lead to them being swiftly grounded if their parents were home to hear them. At thi9s point, it is very safe to assume that most mature older gamers have vacated COD for something a little more respectable.


 THE MEANING IS LOST


  In the Call Of Duties of old gamers competed for the number one spot on the leaderboards seeking fame and fortune and many a gamer has achieved these things. Not any more........ the meaning of COD is lost forever and where gamers used to make names for themselves for being great at the game or doing something big on COD is now a huge empty void. Simply put, nobody cares anymore. The old days of famous gamers like codemajic (just an example) are now lost forever  in a sea of sludge where every single little sqeeky 9 year old thinks himself the greatest in the world no matter how bad he is or how much he yells into his mic when his Mommy is not home. Call Of Duty youtube video's have hit a brick wall lately with only the usual large channels making any money or getting any real views while everyone else uploads gameplays that nobody wants to watch anymore. The old days are gone ...... welcome to the future and I hope you enjoy playing Advanced Warfare with your new headset on mute 100% of the time..... after all,  that's your only option unless your some kind of sicko who enjoys listening to little kids scream non stop obscenities about your family.

Are Call Of Duty Players Real Gamers?

                                        

 In my experience of playing with and/or alongside other Call Of Duty players since the first online COD was released I found that almost all gamers who play COD almost never play anything else. Most hardcore Call Of Duty players only own COD games and spend all their time playing this single franchise. This leads us, of course, to the question of the day....... Are Call Of Duty players really gamers? The answer to that is a profound "NO". Now, I understand that this will make many a COD player mad at me and I can already see the disgust on their faces while they read this article, however, before you get high blood pressure allow me to explain in detail and defend my case.
 I'm a popular guy on PSN and have quite a few friends most of which play COD religiously. I have tried in vein to get some of my closest COD friends to buy or check out a great new game many times to no avail. Simply put, they will not purchase another game and even if they do after only 2 hours of playing it will put it away and get right back on Call Of Duty again. The only exception to this rule was GTA5 and even after its release everyone was right back on Call Of Duty soon thereafter. Mind blowing I know.
 Now, in my defense I will bring up Infinity Ward's Mark Rubin who in an interview with OXM LINK  said that

"The majority of people who play Call Of Duty games aren't really hardcore gamers or even gamers for that matter."    Mark Rubin Of Infinity Ward

 Wow, now that's some harsh words coming from somebody who actually brought you Call Of Duty. They even go farther with this buy saying in the same article as the link above :

"They aren't hardcore gamers, or even gamers, but they play Call Of Duty every night. And those guys are going to continue to play regardless of the platform. So I think not only will we continue to engage with that existing player base, but we'll take next gen and see how far we can go with it."

 What this guy who actually makes COD games is saying here is that no matter what they create or do these COD fans will buy the game regardless and mindlessly. I don't think most people understand  the depth of this here. For example..... there are a lot of COD fans who buy game consoles and expensive audio headsets just to play one game. In other words a Call Of Duty fan will buy a $420 PS4 along with the $60 copy of COD, $50 in Playstation plus( which is needed to play online) for a year and maybe even a $150 pair of gaming headsets all to ever only play a single game and nothing more. That's a grand total of around (on average) $680 just to play COD. That's a lot of money to drop to play a single game or even three really.
 In order to be called a true gamer or a so called hardcore gamer ..... one must be fluent in regards to most games and genres and spend equal time with different games including understanding the video game market and keeping up with video game news..... then you are a true hardcore gamer, otherwise, your just a another person who just spent $680.00 dollars to play a single game.

The Watch Dogs Independent Review

 For this review I'm not going to waste my time writing about how the story unfolds and everything else you can find in other reviews that have been out for days now. What I will write about however is the gameplay .... very simple. After reading other online reviews from the mainstream video game sites I became concerned that just maybe I had wasted $60 on a GTA5 clone with 20 hours of gameplay. Well I'm here to tell you that non of this is true whatsoever.
 Watch Dogs had around 2 years, since first being announced, for feelings to build up about what the game would be like and what was possible in game by those who have been anticipating the games release. There was (and still is) a lot of talk about Watch Dogs being a GTA5 clone. Watch Dogs should not be compared with GTA5, or any other GTA for that matter, simply because Watch Dogs is in most ways its own game with its own defined personality. Comparing all open world games with GTA5 all because, well, there open world games, is not fair for the genre as a whole.
 When I first jumped in the game I wasn't very exited at all for awhile until I started to get about 2 hours into the game. That is when I began to realize the huge scope and grand scheme of the game in its entirety. Admittedly, some aspects of the game such as phone hacking peoples bank accounts and checking into their past was somewhat stale after awhile, but, with so much other stuff to do these are very small gripes which only effect the gameplay in a very minute way if at all. The possibilities of hacking street lights, cameras and a plethora of other devises across the huge world map becomes infinite.
 While just walking around enjoying the view and maybe looking for some hidden objects random crimes would happen that would pop up on your handy smart phone. These were always different and can go in any of thousands possible ways all depending upon your own imagination and how you use your hacking skills and environment. Sick of chasing the bad guy? No problem .... hack the transformer and blow it up as the bad guy runs by sending his body flying like a rag doll in a horrible yet realistic way. Working on the campaign is equally as fun as free roaming and you can always take a break from the main story to finish side missions, find hidden object, collect cars, ect.
 It seams to me that those who complain about this game lack a certain amount of imagination the is seriously required to play and enjoy this game to its full potential. I suggest to those who had worked out in their minds what Watch Dogs "was going to be" for two years replay the game again with an open mind and how the "game is going to be" according to how Ubisoft had made it. A game that at first seems like a let down had turned out being a great game with huge potential all depending upon the player and I respect Ubisoft  for putting the ultimate power in the hands of those who play the game not create it. In the end, Watch Dogs is a huge game with tons to do and an almost endless amount of replay value. With a few updates in which Ubisoft is going to release over the course of the next few months Watch Dogs will even grow better. For those who have decided to purchase this game..... just remember, Watch Dogs treats you just like you treat it. If you approach the game with little imagination you will not enjoy the game or find it "good". If you go in with an open mind with the understanding that this game can go any way you want it to .... then you'll love it like I do.

Verdict :  9/10

The Slow Death Of Triple A Video Games

 If you think that the endless flow of indie game titles keep coming at us randomly then you need to be better informed on the present gaming model. The real reason why gamers are getting hit by endless streams of indie games is because triple A video games are now fast becoming obsolete. Don't get me wrong, I love indie games and think they are great, however, there true intention is to replace expensive triple A games for much cheaper alternatives. Making a triple A title is almost like building a warship or going to outers pace, no seriously, that's how much money and man power goes into these projects.
 To put this thing in perspective .... in order for a triple A video game to make money it has to sell millions of copies and even then the profits can be small in comparison to the work and time invested in such a project. For instance, lets say for sake of argument that a triple A video game cost 30 million dollars to produce. Without going into the complicated math (this can be verified on other sites) even if the 30 million dollar game sells 3 million copies , after costs , that game has probably made 40 million dollars. Yes, that right, a game that costs 30 million to make, if it sells well ( 3M ) will only make 10 million dollars more than what it cost in the first place.
 More and more we are hearing complaints from big developers who produce triple A titles that its almost impossible to make money. Short of getting lucky and hitting the jackpot with consumers buying up the game and becoming a hit with very good reviews its a complete waist of money. These are the reasons that we will see a huge decline in triple A titles and more mid level games and indie's. Developers are now begging to realize that by simply creating great content sells and it does not have to cost 30 million dollars to do so.
 This can all be a great thing for the future of gaming in my own personal opinion considering that most triple A games are more focused on size and graphics than actual fun and innovative game-play in which consumers want. Gamers are sick of paying $60 for triple A games that can be beat in 8 to 15 hours ( with few exceptions ) and mostly consist of the same old shoot 'em up content. Recently, we have been seeing very successful games by small developers who can make huge profits as the cost of development is down while the quality of the game itself is high. The moral of the story is that
triple A titles will still be made by those who like to gamble, however, they will be few and far between.

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.

Breaking : Comcast And Electronic Arts Partnering To Battle Consoles.

 Maybe one of the most important developments in gaming history is getting ready to take place. Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:EA) and Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) might be partnering to stream games via T.V using a service which would effectively bypass major gaming consoles. If this would happen (and it looks like it will) EA games would be available to Comcast subscribers. Gamers who use Comcast's service to play games will be able to use their tablets as controllers.
 This deal has come about after wide talk about the inevitable decline of the home gaming console and this deal confronts that possibility head on. Moves are being made in high places in anticipation of video game console decline and this partnership will start the giant wheels turning. The bottom line here is that EA is ahead of its competition by diversifying beyond revenue from console gaming. This deal represents a brilliant key move for both EA and Comcast.
 Cable is getting ready to die off so that the next generation of home entertainment can take over. The future of home entertainment can only be very similar to what EA and Comcast are doing with this partnership and others will surly follow. We all know by now that Xbox1 has chosen to take the T.V entertainment path with features that include watching T.V while playing video games and much, much more. Just maybe Microsoft had seen all this coming and created their next gen console based on a set-top-box concept for a very good reason. I don't know about you but I'm going to go take a look at how much EA stocks are going for because I just might pick up a few.

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.

Is Far Cry Every Year A Good Idea?

 I'm a huge fan of the Far Cry series and have spent countless hours playing FC2/3 and had lots of fun doing so. With the surprise hit and performance of Far Cry 3 the powers that be have now decided that its in their best interest to release a new FC game every single year. This would be great news for fans of the series, however, for those in the know its a really bad idea. You see, the time taken to develop FC1, FC2 and Far Cry 3 was paced in the spans of years which polished and truly great games need to succeed. In other words, any great game requires more than one year to develop. Now that Far Cry has been sold out as a yearly release the quality will be seen to drastically drop until the series ends in shame with islands filled with pirates and bad guys in Robocop uniforms shooting space weapons at your character.
 We have seen this happen time and time again in many series which end up being rushed to meet release dates with the end results of 6 hour campaigns that are not only short but bland and broken. How Ubisoft figures it can produce a huge open world with tons of non linear gameplay in a year is totally beyond me. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that Far Cry 4 will be bad..... I'm just saying that it will start getting bad and fast with yearly, rushed releases.
 One of the few problems I found while playing and verily beating Far Cry 3 was the complete lack of re-playability once the game was finished. The game was fun while it lasted but after I finished the game I never popped the game in my PS3 ever again which is a shame considering I still play FC2 every once in awhile. Now Ubisoft is openly stating that they are focusing more on the multiplayer aspects of far Cry 4 as to expand its re-playability. This is the wrong strategic move to make on their part as the Far Cry experience has always been its huge open world and single player campaign.
 So just as most video game series who release yearly are doomed to failure in the end so is Far Cry unless they stick to the proven formula which has made the series the huge hit it has been and fans have come to love. Without these things that have defined Far Cry over the years the franchise shall simply get lost and mixed up with the countless other yearly franchises which only make money on the fact they bank on the true fans high hopes that this time it will be different.

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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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.