Category Archives: Long Read
Columns and long-form posts
Five Dream E3 Announcements for the Xbox One
Having written my dream announcements list for the PlayStation 4’s keynote at E3, I thought that it would only be fair to give Microsoft’s new console equal time with their own list of dream announcements for the Xbox One.
Now, I’m not an Xbox guy. I’ve never owned either of the Xbox consoles but at one point considered getting the Xbone before the official unveil. However, that unveiling had nothing that appealed to me. So for my dream announcements for the X1, I’ll try to balance between dream announcements for those firmly in Xbox’s camp and those still not sold in the Xbox One.
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Five Dream E3 Announcements for the PlayStation 4
Sure, I could sit here and wax business about what I think Sony will announce for the PlayStation 4 because it will make sense from a business perspective. And as interesting as I like analyzing the business implications of the actions of the video game industry, I love to loosen up my tie, roll up my sleeves and just game.
So rather than go through the rumour mill for the five most likely announcements that Sony will make at its big E3 press event, here are the five announcements that I most want Sony to make for the PlayStation 4.
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Console Wars: The Xbox One’s Failure to Launch is a Marketing Problem
Having had a few days to digest the two very different launch events for Sony’s PlayStation 4 and Microsoft’s Xbox One, I’ve come to a realization. As much as people don’t seem to like the Xbox launch, it wasn’t a failure in and of itself. In fact, I believe that Microsoft successfully accomplished what it set out to do.
The Xbox One and PlayStation Four both play video games. However, if you were to watch the two launch events, I’d understand if you were a little confused by that statement. While the PlayStation 4’s launch emphasised how it plays games and how it augments that with the social networking and sharing features, the Xbox spent comparatively little time talking about the games.
The difference in the launches was an example of how the console manufacturers are positioning their next-gen consoles in the market.
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Microsoft Launches the Xbox One; Here’s What We Know
Microsoft didn’t hide that yesterday’s big announcement would be for the next-gen Xbox but they sure did manage to surprise with that name. The third-generation Xbox console is the Xbox One whose name represents that it’s an all-in-one system for the living room.
It was that all-in-one nature of the Xbox One that formed the majority of Microsoft’s presentation. Unfortunately, that emphasis on the all-in-one Xbox came at what was essentially the de-emphasis of games as the core of the Xbox One.
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What to Expect From Tomorrow’s Xbox Announcement
We’re just a short few hours from the big next-generation Xbox console. I’d like to say that it’s going to be the Xbox 720 but we really don’t know what it will be called yet. Heck, two weeks ago, we were all convinced that it would be called the Xbox Infinity before we found out that the name and logo was a hoax.
Before we all gather ’round to watch Microsoft’s big show, we take a look at the news and rumours about the final next-gen console to be revealed.
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Star Trek: The Video Game (PS3) Review: He’s Dead, Jim
At this point, there is nothing I can say at add to the conversation about Star Trek: The Video Game. The consensus puts this games in with Aliens: Colonial Marines and The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct in a three-way race for the worst game of 2013. It’s a shame because I had high hopes for it considering that it was a Star Trek game developed by a pretty good Canadian developer.
Since nothing I can write will be a revelation when it comes to this game, I thought I’d take an in-depth look at everything good and bad in Star Trek and make it the most detailed review you can find of this game.
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EA Repeats as Worst Company In America and are Trying for Three-in-a-Row
In an unprecedented feat of terribleness, Electronic Arts has become the first-ever repeat winner of The Consumerist’s Worst Company in America poll. This year, they once again beat Bank of America to claim the Golden Poo.
While the Worst Company in America is a misnomer for The Consumerist’s poll as these things tend to degenerate into something closer to the most hated company, EA should still be taking heed of the massive victories they’ve been able to score in the poll. The problem is that they’re convinced that the results of the poll are largely unfounded. Sounds like EA wants to three-peat.
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Mass Effect 3: Citadel DLC Review: An End, Once and For All
This is it, isn’t it? One last ride with Commander Shepard as we take on a group of well-armed and ill-intentioned bad guys in order to save the galaxy with our friends in tow. BioWare made us well aware that this was going to be the final piece of DLC released for Mass Effect 3. In effect, Citadel would be a send-off for the series that people had invested so much time and energy into over the last six years.
So how was our ride into the sunset with Commander Shepard and crew?
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The Unauthorized History of Mass Effect 3
Today marks the one-year anniversary of the release of BioWare and EA’s Mass Effect 3. The highly anticipated conclusion to the Mass Effect trilogy launched on March 6, 2012, to great reviews from the gaming media but was almost immediately at the centre of a massive controversy among fans over its ending and DLC practices.
Let’s look back at the history of ME3 from launch to today to see what happened and when it happened to make one of 2012’s most anticipated games one of its most controversial. Read the rest of this entry
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The Detailed Breakdown of Mass Effect 3: Reckoning Multiplayer DLC
The final Mass Effect 3 multiplayer add-on pack is being released today. BioWare says that today’s Reckoning DLC will be the fifth and last free piece of downloadable content for ME3’s multiplayer mode.
As usual, BioWare is being tight-lipped about the details of Reckoning. If you do enough digging, you might be able to piece together what you’ll get when you download the DLC. But why do that when we’ve already compiled all the info and rumours about Reckoning for you. Read the rest of this entry
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