I wasn’t going to do this any more. I wasn’t going to look at NCsoft’s quarterly financials, yet again track how City of Heroes / Villains had yet again dropped in terms of revenue, make a guesstimate of how many players it still had, then move on to some other bete noire. I wasn’t going … Continue reading
The Unplayed Gaming List – October 2011
2011 has been a hell of a year for games. Despite calls from some circles that gaming today is awful and in the decline, when I look around I see a lot of strong gaming titles out (and coming out) that I want to find time to play. Hence: this list, to remind me at … Continue reading
Great Moments in Game Advertising – Celebrity Journalism And Gaming Journalism Collide; Results Not Pretty
Three issues with this particular article about Christina Hendricks being a character in EA’s Need for Speed: The Run. 1) The article itself. Yes, it probably is the first time a woman’s boobs have been downgraded in a video game versus real life, but comments like “Christina’s boobs are, like, totally the best thing about … Continue reading
Lemony Snicket on Occupy Wall Street
Occasionally you come across writing that packs a lot into very little. Lemony Snicket’s “Thirteen Observations made by Lemony Snicket while watching Occupy Wall Street from a Discreet Distance” is an incredibly pointed and witty take on the OWS movement and reactions to it. Copied from the original just in case that disappears; all credit … Continue reading
Why I Like “Suits”
I almost didn’t watch “Suits” on the grounds that Gabriel Macht was so god awful in “The Spirit” (although, to be fair, so was everyone in that film). Glad I did though – it’s one of the few shows I actually tune in to watch each week (even if Channel 7 is doing to “Suits” … Continue reading
Ruminations: Bastion (Supergiant Games) – Xbox 360
For a low budget / no budget game, Bastion certainly delivers. (I’ll throw a soft spoiler warning up here – I’m not spilling all the beans, but just hinting at some of the beans that are to be spilled over the course of the game.) – Game mechanics are simple and effective. What struck me … Continue reading
EA BioWare Cancels Christmas, New Year…
… for its employees working on Star Wars: The Old Republic anyway. With the announcement that SWOR is launching December 20 (US) / December 22 (EU), EA BioWare have basically put the SWOR team (and related infrastructure teams) on the crunch to launch on pretty much the last possible date of this year. But MMOs … Continue reading
Ruminations: Dante’s Inferno (Visceral Games) – Xbox 360
Games are very easy to forget. I should know – I’ve forgotten hundreds of them. From the C64 through to the Amiga 500 through to various chipsets of PC and alongside the arcades I used to spend a lot of time in, there are lots of games I’d probably remember if I saw them but … Continue reading
DCUO: Up, Up and Free-to-Play
As expected, Sony Online Entertainment have announced that DC Universe Online is going free-to-play (F2P). Starting in October – roughly 9 months following the subscription-based launch of DCUO – players can get back into Gotham and Metropolis with no money down. I could point and mock and make fun of some of the patently ridiculous … Continue reading
Crunch Time Is Wrong, But Gee This Game Is Fun!
GameSpot’s Andrew McMillen has an article up on the working conditions of game developers and why gamers should care. but unfortunately is misses its topic on a few levels and fails on its most important point – making gamers care. The first issue with the article are the games used to showcase extensive crunch times (“crunch” … Continue reading
World Class Villains 