Can OnLive Be A Success When It Launches In Europe?

The cloud gaming service, OnLive, makes its way to Europe in September, but can it be a success and become the ‘fourth option’ for gamers?

Being from the UK, I’ve gotten quite used to having to wait for most technological things to make their way here.  But if we Brits are anything, we are patient.  However, every once in a while something will come around that even my almost saintly level of British patience can’t take.  OnLive is one of them.

OnLive is somewhat of an enigma here in the UK and across Europe in general.  Since its launch at E3 2010, any solid pieces of information in relation to its European release have been few and far between.   Read On »

Dark Souls: As It Once Was, So Shall It Be

They’re not ready for this…or are they?

As someone whose gaming career began in the days of the 2600, I have borne witness to a shift in the arc of game design.  Now, most everyone will agree games are ultimately about entertainment.  What changed was the root of that entertainment.  Games now tend towards providing a bit of escapism for the player without them having to put much effort in.  Think of it as an interactive movie where the obstacle, be it a giant monster or arcane puzzle, is merely a plot device moving you on to the next scene.  Those who wish for a greater challenge have the option to increase the difficulty, but rare now is the game where the difficulty simply “Is”.  Dark Souls, like its spiritual predecessor Demons Souls, is such a game.

Some of you already get it, others of you require a frame of reference (due to my advanced age, no doubt) to really understand what this means.  The entertainment value in many games of the 8 and 16 bit eras was drawn from the challenge they posed.  Battletoads, Ninja Gaiden, Zillion, TMNT, Ghouls and Ghosts, Shinobi, and R-Type come to mind.  Read On »

Bungie Waves Goodbye to Ten Years of Halo

Bungie’s Halo: Combat Evolved is widely credited as the game that single-handedly put Microsoft’s Xbox Console on the map.  Released in November of 2001, it rapidly began to break records selling over one million units just a few months later in April 2002.  It would go on to sell over five million copies and forever associate the Master Chief, Halo, and Bungie with the Xbox and Xbox 360 consoles.

Halo has become a cultural phenomenon on a scale that only popular sci-fi juggernauts such as Star Wars and Star Trek have seen.  Books, comics, action figures, and even LEGO Read On »

Why PSN Pass Isn’t Necessarily a Bad Thing

Recently, IGN received confirmation from Sony that they would be “instituting a network pass program for PS3 games with online capabilities”; one game of note was the upcoming Resistance 3 which prominently featured a PSN Pass label.  Of course, the gamer community and even Wedebush Morgan Analyst, Michael Pachter himself threw in their two cents regarding this move by Sony.

The PSN Pass is similar to the one time codes that you receive when you purchase a new game and wish to use all of the online features.  Electronic Arts and THQ were the pioneers in implementing this, and other game companies such as Warner Brothers Interactive Entertainment have been using this feature increasingly.  The primary purpose of which is to ensure that the games companies recoup profits that they have long held as lost due to the used videogames market that companies like GameStop so thrive on. Read On »

Duels of the Planeswalkers 2012: Summon your credit card.

I love Magic: The Gathering.  The very concept of summoning minions to wreak havoc upon mine enemies while flailing indiscriminately with arcane destruction has resonated so strongly with me to reflect in my character choice in near every MMO I’ve played.  I clearly recall trips to the hobby shop in Utica to stock up on booster packs and say goodbye to my hard earned allowance.  Hot summer days spent sheltered in basements and garages, hoping that the cards fall just right so I can snag that rare my opponent was unlucky enough to wager.  Good memories, one and all…except that one time I thought Dave was going to attack me after I won the Phantasmal Forces that he had just acquired…but mostly good overall.

So when Duels of the Planeswalkers dropped on XBL I took just short of a New York minute to buy that sucker and get back in it.  For a brief while I was flying high on nostalgia and the thrill of battle.  Being a sucker for straight-color decks Read On »

Put the Snake Back in the Box…

Dear Kojima Hideo-san, please make a third Zone of the Enders game.  It is nearing the ten year mark and we have rumors, and naught else.  Jehuty was so awesome I forgave you for Leo Stenbuck, the most irritating protagonist this side of EVERYONE in Shining Force Neo and roughly half the cast of Evangelion …And speaking of heavy-handed philosophy in a format unsuited for it using characters who only manage to make those watching… Read On »

Sony Announces The Not Playstation Portable 2

It goes without saying that after yesterday morning, sites like Kotaku have gone absolutely ape crazy with their coverage of the Sony Press Conference last night of the Next Gen Portable (formerly dubbed as the PSP2 by everyone in the media and consumer market circles, except Sony).  And who can blame them? I’ve only had my PSP for a short time, but I very much enjoy the look, feel, and features that are available on… Read On »

2011 – A Year To Look Ahead To

Greetings and Happy New Year to all!  Today marks a new beginning in not only our own lives, but in the industry we love the most.  The Video Game industry!  Soon we’ll be looking at year-end sales figures of the big three game consoles, and then shortly after it’s off to the races as a new line-up of fantastic games are coming down the line this year.

In The Short

If you haven’t been keeping up, I’ve signed up for the One A Day Project.  My goal is to bring you at least two in-depth reviews or articles on our industry per week this year.  Starting off this week, I’ve already put the wraps on my PSP Review (Yep.  Finally got one!), and a review on a little PSP game that’s sure to make big waves, Invizimals.

In The Long

This year I’ve got plenty of stuff planned.  I’ve got my 2011 predictions to get out, a whole slew of reviews for the year including Marvel vs. Capcom 3, The 3rd Birthday, and Bulletstorm in the short-term.  E3 2011 of course.  And some on-site event coverage of some of the gaming related events in the Midwestern US and Canada.

This year promises to be bigger, better, and much more interesting than the last.  I don’t know about you, but I’m very excited.

I’ll let you get back to your champagne hangovers now.

~W75

OnLive Delivers Through The Cloud. But Will It Succeed?

Recently, OnLive began offering their OnLive Game System for pre-orders online for a very attractive price of $99.  This game system features a revolutionary way of accessing games and content through the use of “The Cloud” as opposed to the more traditional physical media formats that you see in today’s consoles. But what is OnLive?  What does it do?  How does it work?  And more importantly, what effects, if any, will it have on the… Read On »

VGChartz Sales Data On Kinect Sparks Remarks From Greenburg

Yesterday, VGChartz released initial sales data for Kinect for the Xbox 360, stating that the device had sold almost 480,000 devices between its launch on November 4 to the week ending November 6.  For two days worth of sales, it’s not a figure to laugh at.  Especially considering that it took the Playstation Move four weeks to reach a similar number.

But Mr. Aaron Greenburg, Chief of Staff for Interactive Entertainment Business at Microsoft, is indeed, laughing.  Per his post on Twitter, “LOL’ing at sales reports from VGChartz, why do people release info as official when there is no source or science behind the #s?”

VGChartz has come under fire before for the accuracy of the data that it reports.  Many times, their data will be corrected when groups such as NPD release their own tracking data.  However, with NPD no longer reporting their data to the public, VGChartz is the only source left for many bloggers, myself included, to gather semi-accurate sales data.

Brett Walton left a comment in the Kinect article stating, “I’m a little disappointed that a senior figure like Mr Greenberg decides to comment in such an immature way rather than maybe offer the actual figure for example.

As ever, it is entirely possible that our figures aren’t perfect (they are only estimates from samples afterall), but they shouldn’t be that far out.”

So is this another example of VGChartz guesstimates being way out of what the actual numbers are?  Or could Mr. Greenburg be clutching on to the real sales data because the true numbers aren’t as impressive?

Stay tuned.

~W75