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.

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.