Category Archives: Long Read
Columns and long-form posts
Bungie’s Destiny: Much Ado About Nothing (Yet)
Not surprisingly, Bungie’s unveiling of their in-development Destiny to an assembled group of gaming press was massive news. After all, Bungie developed the Halo franchise, produced five well-received games in the series and have moved on to a much-anticipated new IP that will be published by Activision.
If you checked any of the major gaming blogs or news sites, Destiny’s unveiling wasn’t a one post piece of news. Writers dedicated multiple posts to news about the game but all those posts had one thing in common. Bungie didn’t unveil anything of substance about Destiny. Read the rest of this entry
Share this:
Sony Officially Launches the PS4; Here’s What We Know
As expected, last night’s big Sony PlayStation event was the official announcement of the PlayStation 4. Okay, the existence of the PS4 was never in doubt nor was there any doubt that yesterday’s announcement would be unveiling the PS4. We didn’t actually get to see the console itself but we learned all about it and even got to see some teasers of games for the upcoming console. Read the rest of this entry
Share this:
What to Expect In Tonight’s PlayStation Announcement
Tonight is Sony’s big PlayStation event. While it hasn’t been officially confirmed, we all expect that tonight will be the official announcement and unveiling of the PlayStation 4. Since Sony announced that there would be an announcement, the PS4 rumour mill has kicked up a notch.
Before tonight’s big event, here’s a look at some of the big news and rumours we expect to officially have confirmed or denied about the PS4. Read the rest of this entry
Share this:
The Death of the Arcade Sports Game
Growing up, I got an NES when I was about four or five years old. I had that console all the way until I was 11. Naturally, I logged a lot of hours on the dozen or so games that I did have for that system. Perhaps no game got put through its paces like Blades of Steel. I wasn’t the only one who did, though. Hockey fans all know about the classic game that had hitting everywhere, slap shots ricocheting off the boards and more than a few fights.
If you’re a child of the 90s, it might not have been Blades of Steel but there was certainly a classic sports game that was simple yet fun that you poured hours into. Football fans had Tecmo Super Bowl. Basketball fans spent their time on fire playing NBA Jam.
But look at the sports games released now. How many noteworthy sports game releases are what could be described as arcade-y? Not since 2010’s remake/updated NBA Jam released on the Wii have we had a new arcade-style sports game that wasn’t kart racer. It certainly seems as though a genre that has spawned quite a few cult hits is now all but dead.
Share this:
There’s Nothing Wrong with BioWare Adding Same Sex Relationships to SWTOR
If you have read what I wrote about Mass Effect 3 and the ending controversy at my other blog, The Lowdown Blog, I’d understand if you thought very poorly of BioWare. I think of what I wrote as tough love. I really like BioWare games. My first love from BioWare was Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. Despite the ending, I still love the Mass Effect series.
That’s why I’m stepping up to bat to defend them from some of ridiculous criticisms over the addition of same-sex relationships to Star Wars: The Old Republic. Read the rest of this entry
Share this:
The Economics of Video Game Development
A few weeks back, one of the hot stories in the video game world was that Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 reached gross sales of $1 billion in only 15 days. What sounded like good news for publisher Activision was quickly reigned in by writers pointing out that CoD: Blops 2 sold fewer copies to reach $1 billion of gross sales than 2011’s CoD: Modern Warfare 3.
This raised an interesting question in my mind: How profitable are video games to make? Even if Blops2 sold fewer copies, shouldn’t Activision still have covered the sunk costs of development and marketing after paying for the variable costs of each unit sold? Read the rest of this entry
et geekera 