In a recent poll given by IGN, multiple developers from different companies said they plan on releasing games for next gen consoles before January 2014. While Microsoft nor Sony has said when they are releasing the next gen consoles, if developers are saying when they are releasing games, then they probably know something we don’t know. Add on top of that the fact that some of those same developers, 60% to be exact, said they do not plan on making games for current consoles after 2013.
According to this same poll, an overwhelming 80% of developers agreed that the new Xbox is the easiest to develop for with many believing Microsoft will be the overall sales leader after 5 years due to this.
If Xbox is the overwhelming early leader, then the Wii U is definitely trailing the pack with 63% of developers saying it will be the most difficult to develop for; with one going as far to say, “we won’t be working on Wii U due to these complexities.” Does this mean Nintendo is going to have to rely on 1st party developers again? Only time will tell, but that seems to be the direction they are headed in right now.
Microsoft and Sony said they will not be revealing anything about the new systems at E3 this year, but with the Wii U being rumored to release late this year, I wouldn’t be surprised to at least hear some whispering about the new Xbox and Playstation.
It’s been a hell of a run for Atlus’ masochistic monster that took the gaming world by storm. The controller-shattering, mind-melting, painstakingly difficult Demon’s Souls will finally be taken offline on May 31st, 2012. Atlus will also hold two final world events (one for each half of the month of May) for anyone who wishes to pop in and finish up the last few trophies while it’s a whole lot easier with pure white/black world tendencies. Continue Reading…
According to super analyst Michael Pachter, the PS3′s lagging sales could very well lead to yet another price cut announcement at E3. With Nintendo’s Wii U launching later this year, and sure to have a strong showing during Nintendo’s E3 keynote, Sony would be best to capitalize on this event by making the PS3 even more attractive to consumers who still haven’t jumped on board.
He says there’s a good chance Microsoft might consider a cut as well.
“We expect hardware sales to rebound once price cuts are implemented, but expect a recurrence of the dip next holiday, partially buffered by some modest contribution from the introduction of the PS Vita in February and the Wii U later this year. Recent slowing of Xbox 360 hardware sales could cause Microsoft to consider a price cut by E3. We do not expect an announcement of a next- generation console from Microsoft until the Xbox 360 core model is priced below $200, likely around this time next year. PS3 hardware sales should continue to lag those of the Xbox 360, and we expect sales to trend downward by 10 – 20% monthly, until Sony cuts prices once again, likely at E3,” he wrote.
While I think a sub $200 price point might never happen, Sony would really make some headway in the sales department by cutting their losses and going all-in by getting the 120gb PS3 model down to the $199 or even $149 price range.
Hear me out on this: If Sony made the most basic PS3 model low enough to almost hit that impulse buy range, there’s a very good chance that more users would pick it up as their ‘netflix machine that can play games’. I also wouldn’t be surprised if Microsoft at least shows a prototype for their next console as well, so Sony really needs to do something to steal the show this year if they plan on catching up to the 360′s sales dominance.
Mass Effect 3 sold 890,000 copies in the first twenty four hours. A few days later, roughly 890,000 people were very, very angry about how the game ended. So much so that one particular individual filed a false advertising complaint with the Federal Trade Commission – going to assume he’s a big fan of Mordin Solus. So angry were the fans that several measures were taken in an attempt to garner their attention about the ending.
One of those was the Retake Mass Effect movement, which has over 60,000 likes on Facebook and has raised over $80,000 for the Child’s Play charity. Another involved copious amounts of red, blue and green cupcakes given directly to Bioware, which were promptly donated to a local youth group.
Don't let the different colors fool you... They all taste the same.
There are blogs, YouTube videos, entire forums casting the voices of frustration and disappointment with the ending. Angry fans even went so far to give it scathing reviews based purely on the ending, tarnishing the reputation of an otherwise perfect game. Amazon currently has over 400 one out of five ratings, most purely based on the final 10 minutes of the game and have had the game experience described like “being left at the alter.” The average on Metacritic is currently a 9.3, while the user ranking has it down at a 4.9. Hell hath no fury like a fanboy’s scorn.
And it was this very scorn that prompted a response from Bioware co-founder Dr. Ray Muzyka which basically states how sorry he is that the fans feel that way, and basically… Bioware is listening. And, lo and behold…
Today EA – a company legendary for nickel-and-diming their customers to death (who could forget the $100 digital car scandal?) – has announced free DLC that contains new “cinematic sequences and epilogue scenes,” for Mass Effect 3 that will also contain more closure and context for the end of the game sometime this summer for PC, 360 and PS3.
So does this prove Ebert’s point that games are not considered art, because the fans are compromising the artist’s original vision? This writer does not think so. Great works of art have been changed over time (J. R. R. Tolkien re-wrote The Hobbit several times before the version that’s out today was complete) why should games be any different? Let’s face it: the ending was bad and rushed. Going back and adjusting the story, giving some clarity to the many mysteries behind some unanswered plot points and giving closure to our favorite secondary characters would be throwing the biggest supporters of this game – who’ve been going on five years now – a bone.
And no, it doesn’t compromise the artist’s vision.
…Unless someone else does it:
Written, Directed, Starring, Produced, Edited by Ryan A Herrera
“Mass Effect 3: Extended Cut” will be out sometime this summer for free, on PC, Xbox Live and the PlayStation Store.
It seems the guys over at Konami are having a bit of trouble deciding on exactly when they want this game’s launch. Originally scheduled for release in the fall of 2011, Konami pushed the release to January 24 and then to March 6th. Now Konami has confirmed that the collection will now arrive in stores on March 20.
Perhaps the reasoning behind the delay is because they want the newest edition to the series, Silent Hill: Downpour, to debut first. It seems likely as March is appearing to be a promising month for Silent Hill fans. Two newtitles, Silent Hill: Downpour and Silent Hill: Book of Memories along with the HD Collection are all set to be released within the next 3 weeks.
