It’s time to do our first roundup of critics reviews for next-gen games. Since the PlayStation 4 came out first, I thought that it would be a good idea to start with the PS4’s big first-party exclusive. While Xbox One fans aren’t getting an exclusive FPS at launch, PlayStation fans are getting Killzone: Shadow Fall to kick off the new generation. It’s not what I’d call a PlayStation trademark franchise but it’s what Sony are leading with.
Reviews of KSF are mixed. While some critics really enjoyed it, there are many complaints that Killzone: Shadow Fall doesn’t match its pretty next-gen visuals with next-gen gameplay. However, there aren’t any suggestions as to what next-gen gameplay is. I’m not saying that devs should be allowed to retread the same old gameplay without updating it but if you can’t quantify what improved gameplay is, can you mark a game down for it?
While a good number of us were focused on the PlayStation 4 launch last Friday, in San Francisco, there was a little bit of good news to cheer us all up. The folks at the Make-a-Wish Foundation turned downtown San Francisco into Gotham City so five-year-old leukemia survivor Miles Scott could live out his dream of being Batkid.
If you’re a fan of both Haven and the original Star Trek, you might have been in your glory watching this week’s episode. There was the allusion to the classic The Trouble with Tribbles with the episode’s title and a classic Star Trek-style alternate universe story which was also a trick from last season of Haven. So what trouble can there be if there aren’t any Troubles.
Video games are growing in popularity in Iraq. While they may have previously been frowned upon, they’re seen as a social activity and a safe activity given the dangers in the country now. [The New Yorker]
A lot has been made out of corporate-sponsored review events being held for next-gen consoles and games. Here’s how they really work. [/r/Games]
Tom, of personal favourite gaming blog CalmDownTom.com, explains why he and his site didn’t review Call of Duty: Ghosts. [Calm Down Tom]
Skipped out on an early next-gen console for a new PC like me? Well, you’ll be glad to know that your DDR3 RAM is almost out-of-date tech. DDR4 RAM is coming down the pipe in the next month or so. [Hardware Pal]
By the way, if you’re worried about the early reliability of the PlayStation 4, reports indicate that less than 1% of units aren’t working right now. This article reports a failure rate of under 0.2%. Sony’s official line is 0.4%. It’s not perfect but at least it’s not red ring of death bad. Nothing could be that bad. [ARGD]
As the current console generation went on, games increasingly tried to be like interactive movies. The goal seemed to be to recreate the Hollywood experience but with you playing the starring role using a controller. While one could argue that Heavy Rain may have gotten the closest, no game captured the fun of the summer blockbuster while releasing a solid game quite like Naughty Dog.
Since today marks both the launch of the PlayStation 4 and our 7 For 7 series, I thought that it was only appropriate to kick off with the epic PlayStation 3 exclusive Uncharted 2: Among Thieves.
So Trevor’s trailer out in the desert away from Los Santos isn’t exactly the sort of place that you would show off but Michael and Franklin sure live in some pretty nice homes in Los Santos.
As anyone who games knows, the economics of a game is very different from the economics of real life. So how much would buying a house like the one’s featured in Grand Theft Auto V cost you? Our friends at Movato did some valuation work and came up with the multi-million dollar answer.
We’re just a little over a week away from the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who and the Day of The Doctor special. To get us ready for it, the BBC have created a little prologue introducing us to John Hurt’s character from The Name of The Doctor with a little assist from the Eighth Doctor, Paul McGann. See, they didn’t forget about Eight.
It’s all aboard the hype train as we run down the last few hours before the launch of what is undeniably our first proper next-generation video game console. The PlayStation 4 is going to be the first next-gen console out of the gate.
Chances are that you’re up to date on the latest PS4 news and are adequately hyped (or jaded, if you’re an Xbox fanboy) but just in case you aren’t, it’s time for the return of et geekera’s Hype Train.
One of my top twelve games of 2012 is coming back with a vengeance in 2014 thanks to a free expansion pack. Coming in early 2014 (along with a new iPad release of the game), Subset Games is release the FTL: Advanced Edition expansion pack.
Yes, we’re still going to be making our list of the seven best games of the seventh generation of video game consoles. The first article is just going through final edits now before being posted on Friday while the next two are most of the way through the first draft.
Seeing as the list hasn’t been finalized (though I have five or six games that I’d call locked in), there’s still time to nominate one or more of your favourite games from the current generation for the list. A couple of games from the first round of nominations are in the 7 For 7 list so your voices are being heard.
You can nominate a game (or games) by leaving a comment below, firing us an email to etgeekera [at] gmail.com or filling in the submission form below.
The first game will be named on November 15th with a new entry every Friday until the end of the year.
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