Julian Kluk of Clever Noob has found some interesting patterns with Square Enix’s marketing of next week’s Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII. Square Enix has a spent a lot of time marketing the game’s tie-ins with older Final Fantasy titles through DLC attire for Lightning and including a number of FF7 Easter eggs in LR:FF13. Could this all be a sign of Square Enix getting people ready for a Final Fantasy VII remake?
Yearly Archives: 2014
It’s Not Free-to-Play but Mobile Gaming That Is Broken
The big story in the games news world right now is EA’s mobile release of Dungeon Keeper. The original Dungeon Keeper was released in 1997 and was an instant cult hit. Gamers loved it and game designers were influenced by it. Even today, Dungeon Keeper is often among the top sellers on GOG.com.
The mobile version of Dungeon Keeper pretends to pay homage to the cult classic and instead bastardizes it with the worst free-to-play microtransactions system that many people have seen. While we’re used to free-to-play cash grabs, this might be the most blatant attempt to stop gameplay at every possible turn to squeeze the player for more money.
I don’t think, however, that the problems with Dungeon Keeper Mobile aren’t a result of the free-to-play model. If you go looking for free-to-play games, not all of them are blatant cash grabs. However, when you look at it more closely, you find that so-called games designed to print are really a mobile gaming problem.
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Comic Book Pull List for February 5, 2014
Robocop was on TV this weekend in Canada. And by Robocop, I mean the original 1987 movie starring Peter Weller not this year’s reboot/remake that I have rather low expectations for. And that reboot is where we start this week’s pull list. If you’re interested in that movie, Boom! has a prologue for the upcoming release with Robocop: Hominem Ex Machina.
And to make up for that, here are a pair of comics from each of the big two. DC ends their Batman: Black and White miniseries in Batman: Black & White #6. Elsewhere, Lex Luthor (not the Jesse Eisenberg one but the real Lex Luthor) makes a big move with big consequences in Forever Evil #5. On the Marvel side of things, we have a pair of debuts. Loki gets his own series which isn’t shocking given his popularity. You can check him out in Loki: Agent of Asgard #1. And Ms. Marvel is back with a new series that Marvel promises will be epic in Ms. Marvel #1.
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Microsoft Denies Last Week’s Xbox One Leaks, Publishers Confirm Them
Last week, we told you about some alleged leaks from inside Microsoft talking about their plans for the Halo franchise on the Xbox One and plans for the console itself. While The Verge confirmed some of the details, Microsoft was understandably upset and denied the veracity of the leaks. It turns out that some of their publishing partners aren’t on the same page and have done some quiet confirming of their own.
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Sony Launches PlayStation Now Beta with Nine Games
While the full launch of the PlayStation Now service is hotly anticipated, the first wave of games in the beta may just cool expectations slightly. The closed beta invites for PS3 users went out last week and the early list of available games aren’t all the epic titles that people were hoping for.
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Commander Shepard: A Dramatic Reading by Mark Meer
Any time I get to feature Mark Meer doing something cool, chances are that I’ll take it. That includes this video of Mark doing a dramatic reading of the lyrics to Miracle of Sound’s Mass Effect tribute song Commander Shepard. Maybe I’m biased but I think this is absolutely fantastic.
Remember, you can fight like a Krogan, run like a leopard but you’ll never be better than Commander Shepard.
I should go.
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BlackBerry Tries Improving Its Fortunes with Donuts
Last Friday, BlackBerry tried turning around its fortunes in Canada with a special promotion at Canadian institution. Tim Hortons is a coffee shop that is a national icon with stores all across the country. One of their flagship stores in downtown Toronto had a special promotion with free coffee for BlackBerry users. Tim’s also used the opportunity to unveil the BlackBerry donut which is has vanilla icing, purple sprinkles and blackberry jelly. This was to show off the new Timmy’s app on BlackBerry that let’s you pay with your BB10 phone.
I don’t know if this will help BlackBerry at all but at least the donut might be tasty. Tim’s coffee, on the other hand, is just awful.
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Eisenberg, Not Heisenberg, to Play Lex Luthor in Batman vs. Superman
After hearing the news that The Social Network star Jesse Eisenberg was cast as Lex Luthor, I think that DC Comics fans were in a state of collective shock. Considering that Bryan Cranston was interested in the role and would have been absolutely perfect, fans were absolutely flabbergasted that Jesse Eisenberg will get the leading antagonist role for Man of Steel 2, AKA Batman vs. Superman.
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Geek Links of the Week
This is the single most comprehensive look at how gamers deal with morality systems in games that you’ll ever read. Absolutely fascinating piece. [Journal of Games Criticism]
You know, I’d like to change my Twitter handle to something shorter but still easily identifiable as my own personal account. After reading the experiences the man formerly known as @N had when someone stole his PayPal and GoDaddy accounts to steal his Twitter handle, I think I’ll keep my undesirable handle. [The Next Web]
Remember last week’s post about Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition’s framerate? Well, turns out that the initial reports were mostly accurate. While the PS4 had a wider range of FPS than anticipated, the Xbox One version never climbed above 30 FPS and was outperformed by an average of over 20 FPS. [Digital Foundry]
The man behind the Black Mesa mod for the Source Engine got his hands on Valve’s new VR device. Here are his impressions. [Carlos Montero]
If it was Doritos, it would be the most cliche gamer snack ever but this is pretty close. In Japan, you can now get packets of Mountain Dew flavoured Cheetos. [FoodBeast]
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Final Fantasy XIII Goes 16-Bit For Lightning Returns Story Trailer
I’ll make an admission up-front before I run this trailer: I made it about an hour into Final Fantasy XIII before I was so bored to tears that I stopped. I saw my sister playing it too and that did nothing to pique my interest. Neither of us could be bothered to buy FFXIII-2 either. It’s a shame because I was a huge Final Fantasy fan in the PS1 and PS2 era (but who wasn’t).
So when I got the press release for the latest Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII, I thought it was just another generic story trailer to fill you in on the last two games. Instead, Square Enix broke the mold and retold the first two Final Fantasy XIII games in 16-bit graphics and audio. It looks amazing and harkens back to the epic Final Fantasy VI (or FF3 in America).
I don’t like running trailers and doing everyone else’s PR work on the blog but the uniqueness of this trailer is worth a second look. By the way, the trailer contains many, many spoilers.
et geekera 