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E3 2013: PlayStation 4 Won’t Allow Online Passes (Updated)

UPDATE: Scott Rohde, software product development boss for Sony Worldwide Studios America, has spoken to Gamasutra and explicitly said that “we’re not going to allow online pass.” DRM was off, then on, now off again. The title of the article has been updated to reflect this new information with the original article following.

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Tags: DRM, E3, E3 2013, PlayStation 4, PS4, Sony, Used Games

E3 2013: Nintendo Trends Upward but is Still Missing the Killer App

Jun 12

Posted by Steve Murray

Coming into E3, many people were considering a move to the Wii U as it was the only console that was confirmed to not be actively battling its consumer’s rights. Then Sony came out on Monday night and destroyed everything that the Xbox One stood for.

Nintendo has a lot to gain at E3 this year despite not being there. That relied on Sony falling flat on its face. They were very prepared for that with a line-up of the expected first-party franchises and a third-party sizzle reel. The problem was that they were missing the big guns that were needed to pit them strongly against the PlayStation 4.

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Tags: 3DS, E3, E3 2013, Nintendo, Super Mario Bros, Wii U

Survive, if you can, The Walking Dead: 400 Days

Telltale Games has some more zombie survival action from their award-winning epic The Walking Dead: Season One in the upcoming DLC 400 Days. The DLC covers the stories of five new characters as they try to survive the first 400 days of the zombie apocalypse. You can play these stories in any order and the decisions you make will affect the story going forward. Basically, it’s the same Telltale The Walking Dead you love with a new cast of characters. Maybe this is even a teaser for Season Two? Probably not. They’ll probably all end up dead.

The Walking Dead: 400 Days will be available this summer for all the same platforms as The Walking Dead: Season One with the addition of PlayStation Vita which will be getting its own port of the game complete with 400 Days.

Posted on June 11, 2013 | Video

E3 2013: Sony Wins the Next Generation in June

Jun 11

Posted by Steve Murray

Sony had one simple mission heading into their 2013 E3 press conference: Don’t screw it up! Microsoft handed Sony an absolute gift at every turn from the Xbox One’s DRM to privacy issues to used games to rentals to the price.

Not only did Sony not screw up their press conference, they committed the video game console equivalent to homicide. Sony played the Rains of Castamere live on stage and slew the Xbox One in a bloody and violent way that saw them destroy Microsoft’s next-generation challenger in every way possible. Even George R.R. Martin was shocked at the carnage.

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Posted in Games, Long Read

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Tags: E3, E3 2013, PlayStation 4, PS4, Sony, Sony Computer Entertainment

E3 2013: You Can’t Spell EA without Shooters and Sports

Jun 11

Posted by Steve Murray

Peter Moore opened EA’s 2013 EA press conference by saying that Electronic Arts was going to show off 11 new titles for next-gen consoles during the event. What he neglected to mention is that EA was showing off 10 games that were shooters or sports games and Mirror’s Edge 2. Did you know that you can’t spell “Electronic Arts” without “shooter” or “sports?”

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Tags: DICE, E3, E3 2013, EA, Electronic Arts

E3 2013: Microsoft’s Xbox One Plays Games but for a Big Price

Jun 10

Posted by Steve Murray

After getting all of the ugly business about DRM, used games, TV, apps and always-connected Kinect out of the way before E3, Microsoft got down to the business of trying to actually trying to sell the upcoming Xbox One as a gaming console.

For their E3 press event, Microsoft came at us with scads of games, both multi-platform and exclusive to the Xbox One to make us forget about all the bad press about the last few months leading up to today’s big showing. Well, until they announced the launch price.

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Tags: E3, E3 2013, Microsoft, Xbox One

Kojima Unveils the Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain Gameplay Trailer

I’m furiously working on my write-up of the Xbox One press event and hope to have that online in a couple of hours. For now, let’s tide you over with this fantastic trailer for Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. It’s supposed to be actual gameplay footage and, if it is, it looks amazing. Maybe this next generation of consoles isn’t such a bad thing, even if MGS5 looks a bit like Red Dead Redemption.

Posted on June 10, 2013 | Video

Microsoft Has Lost the Console War Before It Started

Jun 10

Posted by Steve Murray

The Microsoft keynote event at E3 is about to begin and it doesn’t really matter. Over the last few weeks, Microsoft has repeatedly shot itself in the foot when promoting their upcoming Xbox One. They think that they can do no wrong with their next-gen console but the reality is that the can do nothing right.

Microsoft is walking into E3 thinking that they’re Justin Bieber, they’re on top of the world and full of swagger. They are Justin Bieber but everyone sees them as Justin Bieber, self-important douche, with a bit of Amanda Bynes’ delusional separation from reality.

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Posted in Games, Long Read

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Tags: Business of Gaming, E3, E3 2013, Microsoft, Xbox One

The State of Gaming in 2013 (Infographic)

The 2013 edition of the Electronic Entertainment Expo, also known as E3, officially kicks off tomorrow but the show really kicks off today with the big keynote presentations by the big names. Importantly, we’re about three hours from Microsoft’s Xbox One presentation and about twelve hours from the PlayStation 4 event.

We’ll have full recaps of the two keynotes tomorrow but let’s head into E3 with this look at the current state of gaming. This infographic looks at how gamers play, what they spend their money on and their thoughts on the next generation of consoles.

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Posted on June 10, 2013 | Image

Five Dream E3 Announcements for the Xbox One

Jun 7

Posted by Steve Murray

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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