Money is something that we talk about a lot on et geekera (and it’s something that is likely to come up again soon in an upcoming beta impressions post). However, we never really talk about some of the theory behind the rise of virtual economies in video games. Fortunately, PBS’ Offbook YouTube channel brought in a Cornell business professor and a Rutgers law professor to explain the theory and rise of video game economies.
Category Archives: Games
Infamous: Second Son’s Lead Designer Leaves Ahead of Launch
While it’s not unusual for employees to leave game developers around the launch of a game after their services are no longer required, the latest development over at inFamous: Second Son developer, Sucker Punch Productions, was certainly unexpected.
Very quietly, the lead designer on inFamous: Second Son, Jaime Griesemer, has left Sucker Punch Productions only days before the release of the game.
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Blizzard Closes the Diablo III Auction House
The gavel has banged for the final time in the controversial Diablo III auction house. The feature, whose addition was blamed for Diablo 3 having an always-online requirement, was closed on Tuesday ahead of next week’s launch of the Reaper of Souls DLC.
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Sony Officially Unveils Its PS4 Virtual Reality Headset, Project Morpheus
Sony kicked of the 2014 edition of the Game Developers Conference by revealing the current worst kept secret in gaming. Shu Yoshida used the company’s innovation-themed GDC keynote to officially unveil Project Morpheus, Sony’s virtual reality headset for the PlayStation 4.
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BioShock Infinite: Burial At Sea – Episode One Review: Beyond the Sea
As someone who has BioShock on their personal top ten games of all-time list and top three of 2013, I had to go back to play the DLC that marries the two worlds of Rapture and Columbia together. But is Burial at Sea capable of properly combining two memorable stories and two memorable settings into one cohesive whole or does Burial at Sea come off as nothing but BioShock fan service for the sake of nostalgia?
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Sony Raises PS4 Console and Game Prices in Canada
Back in January, we brought a story about EB Games Canada quietly raising prices on almost all of their new releases from $60 to upwards of $70 whether they were on current or last-gen consoles. Last month, Microsoft quietly announced that the price of Xbox One games would increase to $65 each. Now, Sony has announced that the price of the PS4 console in Canada will increase along with the price of games and peripherals.
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Valve Changes Steam Controller Design Ahead of GDC
While Valve’s upcoming Steam Controller had been much-anticipated by gamers for its revolutionary design, it looks like some of the more unique aspects of the controller will disappear. The touchscreen and surrounding buttons at the centre of the controller are being eliminated in the latest design iteration for the traditional controller face buttons.
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Little Racers Street Review: Top-Down, Bottom-Up
If you race it, chances are that I’m going to try to review it. That includes the recent release of Little Racers Street, former an Xbox Live Indie Game that was ported over to PC on Steam. I haven’t had the best of luck with top-down racing games but maybe this will be the one to change things for me. Maybe…
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Critics Corner: Dark Souls II
What happens when the most hyped game of the generation (so far) is beaten out on critical acclaim by the sequel to a mercilessly difficult cult hit? Well, I doubt it’ll lead it to being a sales blockbuster like the most triple of triple-As but I’d imagine that the critical acclaim of Dark Souls and Dark Souls II along with the praise from gamers would result in more copies of DS2 ending up in consoles than DS1.
While there was some talk about making Dark Souls 2 friendlier for new players, that doesn’t mean that the game is easier than its predecessor. There is more clear language in what various weapons and abilities do but that doesn’t make the game a cakewalk. Other than that and a little work on exposition, if you loved the first Dark Souls, chances are you’re coming right back for more.
But enough of what I have to say. Here’s what the critics think of Dark Souls II.
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Hearthstone Officially Launches
While it seemed like enough people were in the perpetual Hearthstone beta that it seemed like it may as well been considered released, Blizzard announced that it’s free-to-play card game was officially open for business to all gamers.
On Tuesday afternoon, Blizzard officially announced that the inn was open and Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft was launched for all gamers to play.
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