Will You Pay For Xbox Live Next Generation?
Good thing I just auto-renewed, right? Haha?
When Xbox Live debuted 11 years ago, it made some sense that paying $35-$50 a year for access to the service made sense. All of the competition was on broadband – none of those dial-up laggards – and everyone had a headset, among many other standard features that Microsoft required of Xbox Live developers. Now in a time when only the sturdiest of MMOs can still charge monthly for their gaming service, paying for Xbox Live makes less sense than ever. What can Microsoft do to make it a value again?
‘Minecraft’ Creators Finally Bring Us ‘Scrolls’ Beta, Plus A Launch Trailer
It’s finally here!
A lot of people may only know for about Mojang’s Scrolls from the news that Elder Scrolls maker Bethesda was suing their pants off for name conflict in one of the stupidest lawsuits ever. Well, starting next week, you can get into the public beta action by putting down a $20 pre-order at your local Scrolls.com, a domain that was probably so expensive that I’m sure Mojang would’ve cried every night had they needed to change their name.
Rush Bros (PC) Review: A Sum Less Than Its Parts
Rush Bros has an interesting pitch, but the game doesn’t deliver.
What if you could take the thrill of gaming speed runs, the instant restart and solid game mechanics of Super Meat Boy, and levels based on the pulsing, reactive action of your own music? You have to admit, that’d be a pretty sweet game, but this isn’t it. Despite its ambitious premise of creating a platforming game that’s endlessly replayable, the game falls short on nearly every front, winding up as a promising platformer with nowhere to jump.
Get Caught Up With ‘Dance Central 3’; All DLC Discounted
I am not one of these people.
When I bought a Kinect, Dance Central was a game I knew I had to have. Like many aspiring parents who bought a Wii Fit to try and lose pounds, I bought Harmonix’s dance simulator to try and get more active. Ha. Hahaha. Hahaha. Anyway, Dance Central 3‘s DLC is on sale this week, up to 50%.
Microsoft Wants To Sell 100M Xbox 360s Before Closing Up Shop, But How?
This, but, like, cheaper. Or smaller.
While 77.5M units sold the Xbox 360 won’t be considered PlayStation successful (at least, their first two consoles), but it’ll simply have to do for Microsoft’s second console, one that lost its early lead to the Wii and later, the PlayStation 3. Microsoft has said that they’ll sell 25 million consoles in the next five years to reach that goal and plan to kick off their effort with a big announcement at E3 to come. But as current-gen sales cool off, how could they possibly attain this? I’ll tell you.
Are People Really Still Mad About The Xbox One Unveil?
Everything will make much more sense in a few hours!
It’s been over 50 hours since Microsoft unveiled their new console, but the reaction appears to still be largely negative, which wasn’t the impression I got, but there might’ve been a key difference: Microsoft had already stated that this wasn’t a games event. Do you realize how much this changes their E3 press conference? On the flip side, people, (even developers! (even games sites!)) seem to be giving Sony a lot of credit where, in places, it’s largely undeserved and so little information is available.
Time To Throw Away That Tube TV; Xbox One Won’t Support It
I didn’t notice the lack of analog output before, did you?
When you think about it, the Xbox 360 kinda launched at an awkward time. It supported resolutions up to 1080p if your TV supported it, but it was all through the three-cable component video feed. Since many gamers still clung to their big CRT-based sets, like me, Microsoft needed to establish parameters for two major sets of display ratios. No longer. If you want an Xbox One in your house, you need HDMI. No analog trickery is going to work this time.
Would You Buy A New ‘Crackdown’ Game On Xbox One?
While the franchise was never triple-A quality, it was still a lot of fun.
It only takes the quick glimpse of a Crackdown achievement on display at Microsoft’s Xbox One premiere to set forth a bunch of rampant speculation about the future of the franchise. When Microsoft made the announcement seven years ago that they had brought on David Jones, the original creator of Grand Theft Auto, to make an exclusive first-party title for the Xbox 360, the crowd went wild. But is there any value left in the series after all these years?
Star Command (iOS) Review: The Spaceship Manager Of My Dreams?
To boldly go…
It’s been eight months since I reviewed FTL: Faster Than Light, but we’re still waiting for many of Kickstarter’s first class of games to graduate to really understand if crowdfunding is a viable way to make them – and not just make them, make good ones. I must admit, Star Command was the first game I bought for my iPad – a new purchase all its own – and I look forward to more games like it. Like FTL, Star Command is a spaceship manager, but unlike that masochistic Roguelike, this integrates hints of X-COM and Bullfrog-era strategy tropes to become a charming strategy game all its own.
‘Wizardry’ And ‘Mortal Kombat’ To Release Digitally: “Hello, Old Friends!” And “Why Are You Still Here?”
Wizardry? OHAI!
Today we got a couple of interesting press releases. One of them got me really excited because it takes me back to younger days when gaming was on the rise and new developers were pulling out all the stops in attempts to constantly one-up each other. The other was really interesting because it gave me the same sense of morbid fixation one gets whilst watching crash tests at the end of a night of binge drinking and serial fornication.
Gosh, I love those crash test videos!
