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Please Stop Making Assassin's Creed Every Year

WARNING : This blog entry contains the ravings of a man who despises Assassin Creed games. All hatred towards the franchise is only of the author himself and his own personal opinions. If you don't like these opinions then please create your own blog and share your own idea's.




 Please Stop Making Assassins Creed Games Every Year.




 I will just be honest here because that is what this blog is about anyway.... independent thinking and views. I am not a fan of the Assassins Creed franchise, as a matter of fact, I hate these games with all of my being. I picked up and played the first Assassins Creed and enjoyed the experience so you cannot just argue that I am a hater. I must admit, it was hardly the best game I ever played nor was it even the most creative, yet, it was good enough to pass the time.
 The first Assassins Creed was a huge hit with gamers and sold a lot of units to say the very least. It was obvious that a new franchise was born with new releases regularly. You see, this is where things go astray. Video game developers, wanting to milk the fans and franchise itself of everything they are worth, decide that popular video game franchises should have "yearly releases" for some reason. It is at this very point when the decision to make a "yearly release" of a franchise that the before mentioned franchise becomes defiled.
 Any good triple A video game developer (or any developer) knows that it takes more than a year to create a solid, polished and lengthy video game. All this yearly franchise model crap does is create an atmosphere of desperation with impossible time schedules and over working of the creative staff which in turn destroys their motivation to create something special instead being forced to create something which meets the giving time frame. All of this adds up eventually to a video game franchise that slowly over the years becomes less, and less of the great game it used to be and more of the game it has had to adapt to be to meet demands of big corporations and their charts.
 Every yearly franchise tries to have their next franchise installment around Christmas so that all the little kid fans will bother their parents and ask for the latest rushed copy of their beloved video game franchise, thus ; ultimately selling more copies. The next step of the franchise defilement process begins when the developers run out of idea's and with little time to deliberate begin to come up with horrible idea's in the hopes to keep the game fresh and not stale. With Assassins Creed this lack of fresh ideas and original content shows in the form of the game moving from one time period to the next, back and forth, so that Pirates (how original) can be thrown in the mix along with bland Revolutionary War setting ......... Revolutionary War? Are you serious? The subject that put almost everyone I ever knew slap asleep in history class as the subject of a triple A video game? Ok, I'm even more disgusted now that I'm banging this out on my keyboard rather violently.
 In the end ..... the original Assassins Creed was a good game. Making the game into a franchise was a great idea because that is what some fans want and I respect the opinions of other gamers and their games. The true problem lays in the fact that these franchises should spread themselves out over a period of every two to three years to assure a unrushed, original and fresh approach to the game franchise.  In my opinion ..... waiting a few years for a new installment is worth it when the game released has the full potential to be so much more polished and full of original top notch content. That's just my two cents.

Free-To-Play Detroying Games And It's Your Fault

 

 As you can plainly see by reading some of this blog...... I really hate free-to-play games. Why? The answer comes in many forms and the first one is an age old saying of wisdom which hold true today.... Nothing in life is free. Big corporations love the free-to-play model of video games because it makes tons of money.  For a solid example : Candy Crush (FTP) has made more money than all of Nintendo games ever made combined. So, why does free-to-play games net so much money? Simple, they play off of peoples (mostly young) delusions that just maybe they can win without paying. There are some games that offer some free-to-play elements not needed to win, however, this is also harmful as it conditions the public mind for the real trap that is all but consuming good old fashioned video games. You know, the ones you buy to own then play it all you want.
  The free-to-play video game model has been devastating for the everyday gamer who loves ...well, to play video games. We can point the finger all we want at the developers who make these FTP video games, however, its actually the consumers fault for dumping their money into these shams. Its the hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people who fell into the "free" trap only to spend 6 times as much on a single game as a regular $60 price tag. These FTP games are made to be addictive and hoards of people lined up to purchase this new video game crack. The sounds of gems clanking together with swirling colors had got the best of these people and at the ultimate price of the future of video games.
 The profit margins for successful free-to-play games are so huge that more and more developers are making more of them and dumping more research and development on making these games even more addictive and malicious. Even old fashioned regular games like Call Of Duty are starting to slowly implement free-to-play aspects to their games only to later unleash the FTP flood in which the only way you can win a match is if you invest $250 in the game. Soon, all games will be free-to-play or have some form of free-to-play elements in there, thus; ruining the video game business as we used to know it for the next generation of crazy eyed smart phone wielding zombies holding scratch off cards. All of this because YOU thought that you were clever enough to play a free-to-play game and win without paying. How did that work out for you?

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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This Is Why Oculus Rift Is Being Sued By ZeniMax

 Why Is Oculus Rift And Founder Palmer Luckey Being Sued By ZeniMax Media?

 Virtual reality headset manufacturer Oculus is being sued by publisher, ZeniMax Media. I will set out to explain why this has come about and shall do it with relative ease as the answer is rather simple. Oculus Rift founder Palmer Luckey successfully crowd-funded his Oculus VR on Kickstarter in 2012. After years of research and development by Palmer Lucky and his crew the Oculus started to really look like a great idea with rave reviews by all video game developers (and testers for that matter) and especially those who funded the project like you and me..... the everyday John Doe's looking for a better gaming experience. Then in March 2014 Oculus was purchased by none other than Facebook for over 2 Billion dollars. Facebook's purchase of Oculus for this huge sum of money is when all the problems started. At this point ZeniMax who Palmer Luckey had worked for in the past seen their golden opportunity to profit off of others hard work.
  Considering that Palmer Luckey and his crew had been OPENLY developing Oculus for years without a peep from ZeniMax (besides maybe towards the obviously profitable end) during this time. Only when the true value of the Oculus system became known to the general public is when ZeniMax decided to pounce. This is only one example(albeit a great one) of other companies trying their very best to dip their hands into someone else's cookie jar.
  Virtual reality has in fact been around for a long time and first seen by general public at large with the release (not a very good release I may add) of Nintendo's "Virtual Boy" which like Oculus featured a headset which engulfs the eyes of the gamer. So technically ..... one could say that both ZeniMax and Palmer Luckey owe Nintendo for their work towards virtual reality. The simple fact of the matter is that Oculus Rift sold to Facebook for over 2 Billion big ones and everyone wants a piece of the pie. Just more proof that no matter how much you work or what you try to accomplish there will always be those waiting in dark corners to jump at the first opportunity to reach their slimy hands in 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