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Assassin’s Creed 4 Expected to Sell Less than AC3

If you’re an Ubisoft investor (or just a massive Ubi fan), the bad news just keeps coming. On the same conference call in which Ubisoft announced the delays of both Watch Dogs and The Crew, Ubisoft also announced that they were expecting sales for their flagship game Assassin’s Creed IV to be less than Assassin’s Creed III.

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Tags: AC4, Assassin's Creed IV, Business of Gaming, Ubisoft, Ubisoft Montreal

Netflix Scores the Greatest Customer Service Win of All-Time

Wait, it’s possible to have a good customer service experience? Somebody should have told that to United Airlines before they left me stranded overnight for the second time on my vacation a couple of years back and Telus before they hung up on me while I waited for help with a tech issue.

Imgur user normanh found out that not all experiences with customer services reps are painful after contacting Netflix. The resulting conversation might be the best customer service experience in recorded history.

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Posted on October 16, 2013 | Image

Watch Dogs Delayed to Spring 2014

Oct 16

Posted by Steve Murray

One of the most hotly anticipated games of the fall and what was expected to be the starting point of a new anchor franchise for Ubisoft has been pushed back by a few months.

Yesterday, Ubisoft made the surprise announcement that Watch Dogs would be delayed until the spring of 2014 to ensure that the game met their quality standards.

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Tags: Ubisoft, Ubisoft Montreal, Watch Dogs

It’s Down to the Wire Again for GoD Factory: Wingmen

Oct 16

Posted by Steve Murray

Earlier this year, we told you about the Kickstarter funding campaign for GoD Factory: Wingmen, a space combat simulation slash MOBA by Canadian indie developer Nine Dot Studios.

While the game may have failed in its first Kickstarter campaign over the course of this spring but Nine Dot hasn’t given up. They’re back with a second Kickstarter campaign to fund GoD Factory: Wingmen but they need your help to get it funded before the deadline in less than 48 hours.

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Tags: GoD Factory: Wingmen, Indie, Kickstarter, Nine Dots Studio

Comic Book Pull List for October 16, 2013

Oct 15

Posted by Steve Murray

I realized something this week. The first of the Justice League books since the conclusion of Villains Month comes out this week. I thought that I completely missed one of the three series making a return but I was wrong. It all begins again with Justice League of America #8 which ties in with the Forever Evil miniseries and the other fallout from the Trinity War. Speaking of Forever Evil tie-ins, The Flash’s foes, The Rogues, debate their place in the new world in Forever Evil: Rogues Rebellion #1.

In other series that caught my eye, IDW has a new Star Trek series that will go into the history of Khan (KHAAAAAAAAN!) in Star Trek: Khan #1. And if you’re looking for comics that have a bit more of a Halloween vibe, might I recommend X-Files: Season 10 #5 and Dark Horse’s new supernatural series S.H.O.O.T. First #1.

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Tags: Pull List, Release List

Building (Critical) Consensus: Skylanders: Swap Force

Oct 15

Posted by Steve Murray

Disney Infinity learned an important lesson this summer: When you come at the king, you best not miss. When they released the game this summer, while it was praised for the sandbox mode, it was criticized for technical issues and campaigns that didn’t allow crossover of characters between franchises which made the whole thing a bit of a cynical cash grab. Now, Skylanders is back with the third installment in the franchise.

With the third installment of Skylanders in as many years, many reviewers were concerned that the franchise would be tired and repetitive. However, Vicarious Visions’ new additions to the franchise with the character creation was a fun addition to the game, even if it seemed a bit simple to snap two figure pieces together. Young or old, the critics say that you’ll have fun with Skylanders: Swap Force. Your wallet, on the other hand, may end up in agony.

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Tags: Activision, Skylanders, Skylanders: Swap Force, Vicarious Visions

Valve Shows Off the Steam Controller

Valve has officially released the first video of their upcoming Steam Controller in action. They show off the controller with a number of games, including some that you wouldn’t necessarily consider using a controller for. While Portal 2 and Counter-Strike: GO make sense with the controller, Valve showed some of the Steam Controller’s unexpected range by using it to play Civ V and Papers, Please. I’d say that the controller certainly has some potential.

Posted on October 15, 2013 | Video

Building (Critical) Consensus: Pokemon X & Y

Oct 14

Posted by Steve Murray

I have no scientific proof of this but I’m pretty sure that everyone from my age and younger (from, say, 25 down to old enough to play games) has been exposed to Pokemon at some point. Whether it’s the games or the anime or even the trading card game (which Wizards of the Coasts brought to America to try to get kids into TCG and move them onto Magic: The Gathering), everyone knows Pokemon. So, naturally, it’s massive news and a massive event when Game Freak releases a new Pokemon game that is the first major update to the formula that everyone loves.

While the basic underlying formula of the Pokemon franchise hasn’t changed, that doesn’t mean that reviewers don’t love the latest entry into the franchise. The worst review right now is 70% because of the current lack of an import feature from previous games and some framerate issues. The rest of the critics still love the classic formula and adore the new 3D art-style that Game Freak adopted for their first game on the 3DS. If you already have an opinion of Pokemon games from previous generations, it’s not likely that your opinion of this game will be any different.

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Tags: 3DS, Game Freak, Nintendo, Pokemon X, Pokemon Y

Haven: New Girl Review

Oct 14

Posted by Steve Murray

Last week on Haven, everyone was happy because Audrey was back in town. Then everyone was angry because it wasn’t Audrey but Lexi who was back in town. Now, everyone’s got a gun and is threatening to do a lot of shooting. And that doesn’t mention that someone is using mind control on some of the townsfolk. Lexi is right. Why do people still live in Haven?

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Posted in TV/Movie Reviews

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Tags: Haven, Review, Stephen King, Syfy

Geek Links of the Week

Oct 11

Posted by Steve Murray

Were you amped up for the new R series of AMD Radeon graphics cards? Well, if you’ve already got a 7000 series Radeon HD card, you don’t need to upgrade because it’s just the same old. Well, I was saving up for nothing. [Tom’s Hardware]

This list is an absolutely perfect comparison of Game of Thrones / A Song of Fire and Ice characters to game consoles. [Giant Bomb Forums]

What happens when you tweak Madden 25 to give the worst team in football a 5’0″, 400-pound quarterback who can only run or throw the deep ball? You break Madden. [SB Nation]

Rockstar is apologizing to gamers because of early troubles with GTA Online by giving everyone $500,000 of in-game money. [Official PlayStation Magazine UK]

I’m not in the habit of running ads but I’d bet a lot of people are interested in the upgrades to Deus Ex: Human Revolution – Director’s Cut. It’s has a pricing structure based on whether or not you own the game and/or the DLCs. Best of all, it’s not $60 for the full game. [Square Enix]