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.

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.

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