Blog Archives
Titanfall Beta Impressions: Pilots and Rockets and Mechs, Oh My
One of the most hotly anticipated games of 2014 just wrapped up its beta testing period. For the majority of interested gamers, this was their first chance to play the heavily hyped and critically acclaimed Titanfall.
I somehow managed to get into the beta despite the fact that I rather detest multiplayer in first-person shooters. Granted, that’s mostly a function of my being terrible at FPSs. Single-player campaigns, like BioShock, I’m fine. Throw me into something like Planetside 2 and I’ll be into a sub-0.1 K/D ratio. Could Titanfall convert me from FPS neophyte to another shooter junkie? No but that doesn’t mean that it isn’t still fun.
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Titanfall Data Miners Uncover New Game Modes and Maps for Full Release
When the internet is excited about something, people are going to find a way to find out more about it. Yesterday, intrepid data miner and NeoGAF user, RazorUK, discovered two new multiplayer game modes not seen in the beta, a number of new weapons and perks for both pilots and titans, and 12 new maps that will be available in the game at launch.
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Critics Corner: Dungeon Keeper (Mobile)
No, I’m not letting this go. I’m not sure what the worst thing about the free-to-play mobile edition of Dungeon Keeper is. The denigration of a much heralded franchise for a quick buck is pretty bad. The fact that the game isn’t so much free-to-play as it is fee-to-play with microtransactions that are hardly “micro” isn’t any better. Maybe it’s the fact that the game is likened to Clash of Clans in Dungeon Keeper clothing after we talked about King ripping off and being ripped off by other games.
The 2014 mobile game purporting to be Dungeon Keeper might not be the worst free-to-play mobile game ever made. It may not even be the worst free-to-play mobile game released in the last couple of months. Dungeon Keeper represents much more than itself. It shows how broken the mobile market is. Whether it was called Dungeon Keeper or Crypt Master or Confrontation of Demons, it would still be an abomination of a game when it’s not there to entertain but to panhandle.
But enough of what I think. Let’s see what the critics have to say.
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It’s Not Free-to-Play but Mobile Gaming That Is Broken
The big story in the games news world right now is EA’s mobile release of Dungeon Keeper. The original Dungeon Keeper was released in 1997 and was an instant cult hit. Gamers loved it and game designers were influenced by it. Even today, Dungeon Keeper is often among the top sellers on GOG.com.
The mobile version of Dungeon Keeper pretends to pay homage to the cult classic and instead bastardizes it with the worst free-to-play microtransactions system that many people have seen. While we’re used to free-to-play cash grabs, this might be the most blatant attempt to stop gameplay at every possible turn to squeeze the player for more money.
I don’t think, however, that the problems with Dungeon Keeper Mobile aren’t a result of the free-to-play model. If you go looking for free-to-play games, not all of them are blatant cash grabs. However, when you look at it more closely, you find that so-called games designed to print are really a mobile gaming problem.
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EA and Xbox One Paying for Positive YouTube Videos
Anybody who is overly positive about almost anything in the gaming world is almost instantly hit with accusations of being bought by a publisher. Most of the time, statements like these are completely outlandish and unfounded. On rare occasions, though, these accusations find the mark.
Recently, it came to light that Microsoft was paying Machinima content creators for positive coverage of the Xbox One. Now, various outlets on the internet have revealed that EA has also been paying YouTubers for positive coverage of its games.
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Fan Rewrites Mass Effect 3 in ME3: Vindication
You can say a lot of things about fans of BioWare’s Mass Effect 3 but you can never accuse them of not being dedicated to the cause. Last week, Mass Effect fan, Gerry Pugliese, released his year-long passion project, Mass Effect 3: Vindication.
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SimCity to Add an Offline Single Player Mode
After 10 months of saying that the game needs to always be connected to the internet for the game to run its complex calculations despite evidence to the contrary, Maxis has finally found a way to make 2013’s SimCity work when playing offline. In a blog post, Maxis’s GM says that Update #10 will include a mode that will allow you to play when you’re not connected to the internet.
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EA Facing Two Investor Lawsuits Over Battlefield 4
I know that Battlefield 4 launched with more than its fair share of bugs and might earn EA yet another Worst Company in America award but I didn’t think that it would be this poorly received.
Two law firms are currently investigating whether a class-action lawsuit can be launched on the behalf of EA investors as a result of statements made by EA officers about the game, their knowledge of the state of the game and the impact that had on the company’s share price.
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38 Studios Auction Brings in $320,000 But Not for 38’s IPs
We’ve been following the story of the failed 38 Studios on and off for the last year or so and it doesn’t look like the drama surrounding the bankrupted Kingdoms of Amalur developer is going to end any time soon.
In last week’s intellectual property focused auction, the court-appointed received didn’t receive sufficient offers for the rights to the Amalur MMO and sequel to KoA: Reckoning. While the 38 Studios IPs didn’t sell, the major IPs held by 38’s subsidiary, Big Huge Games, were sold for $320,000.
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7 Best Games of the 7th Generation: Mass Effect Trilogy
Last week, when talking about Skyrim, I mentioned that a number of games outside the RPG genre incorporated elements of RPGs into their games. These included things like skill points, customization, inventory systems, questing, deep stories, dialogue tree and more of the classic RPG tricks.
This week’s entry into the 7 Best may have started life as being a bit more of an RPG than a third-person shooter but evolved into a third-person shooter that retained the strong influence of RPGs. Of course, if I boiled down the Mass Effect Trilogy to a series of gameplay mechanics and the evolution of the mechanics, I’d be missing the whole point of the franchise. Mass Effect’s strong suit and its claim to fame is the story.
et geekera 