Yearly Archives: 2013

E3 2013: PlayStation 4 Won’t Allow Online Passes (Updated)

UPDATE: Scott Rohde, software product development boss for Sony Worldwide Studios America, has spoken to Gamasutra and explicitly said that “we’re not going to allow online pass.” DRM was off, then on, now off again. The title of the article has been updated to reflect this new information with the original article following.

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Tags: DRM, E3, E3 2013, PlayStation 4, PS4, Sony, Used Games

E3 2013: Nintendo Trends Upward but is Still Missing the Killer App

Jun 12

Posted by Steve Murray

Coming into E3, many people were considering a move to the Wii U as it was the only console that was confirmed to not be actively battling its consumer’s rights. Then Sony came out on Monday night and destroyed everything that the Xbox One stood for.

Nintendo has a lot to gain at E3 this year despite not being there. That relied on Sony falling flat on its face. They were very prepared for that with a line-up of the expected first-party franchises and a third-party sizzle reel. The problem was that they were missing the big guns that were needed to pit them strongly against the PlayStation 4.

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Tags: 3DS, E3, E3 2013, Nintendo, Super Mario Bros, Wii U

Comic Book Pull List for June 12, 2013

Jun 11

Posted by Steve Murray

It’s a good week to be a Superman fan, the new Superman reboot Man of Steel is in theatres this weekend and there’s no possible way that it can be worse the Superman Return. There’s also a new Superman comic series that debuts this week after last week’s new series. This one is Superman Unchained #1 and is the first of my picks of the week.

If you’re looking from something from Marvel, you should check out Wolverine and the X-Men #31. The series is a bit hit and miss but it’s hits are big hits. And now for something a bit different. Dark Horse has a new series based on My Chemical Romance’s latest album, Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys, with The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys #1. That’s the first time I remember seeing a comic series based on an album.

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Tags: Pull List, Release List

Survive, if you can, The Walking Dead: 400 Days

Telltale Games has some more zombie survival action from their award-winning epic The Walking Dead: Season One in the upcoming DLC 400 Days. The DLC covers the stories of five new characters as they try to survive the first 400 days of the zombie apocalypse. You can play these stories in any order and the decisions you make will affect the story going forward. Basically, it’s the same Telltale The Walking Dead you love with a new cast of characters. Maybe this is even a teaser for Season Two? Probably not. They’ll probably all end up dead.

The Walking Dead: 400 Days will be available this summer for all the same platforms as The Walking Dead: Season One with the addition of PlayStation Vita which will be getting its own port of the game complete with 400 Days.

Posted on June 11, 2013 | Video

Building (Critical) Consensus: State of Decay

Jun 11

Posted by Steve Murray

Just after implying yesterday that we’ve been inundated with generic zombie games, we get an indie game that does the opposite of The Last of Us. While TLoU is about the story, the characters and the approach to how you play, Undead Labs’ State of Decay is an unabashed zombie survival horror.

The presentation of State of Decay might not be perfect but the depth of the gameplay and combination of the various gameplay mechanics make this one of the best zombie games ever made. It’s just too bad that it’s an XBLA exclusive. I’d love to try this on PC.

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Tags: Indie, Microsoft Studios, State of Decay, Undead Labs, Xbox 360

E3 2013: Sony Wins the Next Generation in June

Jun 11

Posted by Steve Murray

Sony had one simple mission heading into their 2013 E3 press conference: Don’t screw it up! Microsoft handed Sony an absolute gift at every turn from the Xbox One’s DRM to privacy issues to used games to rentals to the price.

Not only did Sony not screw up their press conference, they committed the video game console equivalent to homicide. Sony played the Rains of Castamere live on stage and slew the Xbox One in a bloody and violent way that saw them destroy Microsoft’s next-generation challenger in every way possible. Even George R.R. Martin was shocked at the carnage.

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Tags: E3, E3 2013, PlayStation 4, PS4, Sony, Sony Computer Entertainment

E3 2013: You Can’t Spell EA without Shooters and Sports

Jun 11

Posted by Steve Murray

Peter Moore opened EA’s 2013 EA press conference by saying that Electronic Arts was going to show off 11 new titles for next-gen consoles during the event. What he neglected to mention is that EA was showing off 10 games that were shooters or sports games and Mirror’s Edge 2. Did you know that you can’t spell “Electronic Arts” without “shooter” or “sports?”

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Tags: DICE, E3, E3 2013, EA, Electronic Arts

E3 2013: Microsoft’s Xbox One Plays Games but for a Big Price

Jun 10

Posted by Steve Murray

After getting all of the ugly business about DRM, used games, TV, apps and always-connected Kinect out of the way before E3, Microsoft got down to the business of trying to actually trying to sell the upcoming Xbox One as a gaming console.

For their E3 press event, Microsoft came at us with scads of games, both multi-platform and exclusive to the Xbox One to make us forget about all the bad press about the last few months leading up to today’s big showing. Well, until they announced the launch price.

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Tags: E3, E3 2013, Microsoft, Xbox One

Kojima Unveils the Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain Gameplay Trailer

I’m furiously working on my write-up of the Xbox One press event and hope to have that online in a couple of hours. For now, let’s tide you over with this fantastic trailer for Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. It’s supposed to be actual gameplay footage and, if it is, it looks amazing. Maybe this next generation of consoles isn’t such a bad thing, even if MGS5 looks a bit like Red Dead Redemption.

Posted on June 10, 2013 | Video

Building (Critical) Consensus: The Last of Us

Jun 10

Posted by Steve Murray

As the current console generation slowly grinds to a close, the quality of games has gone up a notch this year as developers are able to get every last bit of performance out of the technology. The result is games that are visually stunning while still having a compelling narrative and fun gameplay.

While we’ve had couple of early game of the year contenders in Tomb Raider and BioShock Infinite and a couple more coming up later in Grand Theft Auto V and Beyond: Two Souls, this week’s big release just vaulted to the top of the list. Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us came in with massive hype because of who was developing it, even if it could have ended up being just another zombie game.

Instead, as seems to be the case for Naughty Dog releases during this generation, The Last of Us may not just be the game of the year but the best game released on the PlayStation 3 and one of the greatest games ever made.

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