Microsoft’s E3 Slagfest

July 16, 2008

These comments are related to Microsoft’s E3 conference and showing. You can read an account here.

Considering that Microsoft has started loosing its grip on exclusive 3rd party properties to multiplatform-ism, unaided by weak first party support, they have done a fantastic job this E3 with the limited resources available. Much like my predictions, they flaunted their exclusives while added value to their already existing services.

As for their showing of casual games, I’m also quite pleased with how they avoided copying motion control and instead focused on key software to appeal to the casual audience (even though they still don’t understand them and everything except for Lips is destined for complete failure). The new front end and Mii styled rip offs are neat as well. What frustrates me though is how they have tarnished a more than solid showing with rude and outlandish comments regarding the “console war” and how the Xbox 360 is trampling all over it, casual gaming and the Playstation 3.

While Microsoft ought to be pleased about Final Fantasy XIII making the leap to their console, such a move doesn’t represent the pulling power of the Xbox brand at all, it represents a struggle to break even in a consolidating industry. This didn’t stop Microsoft’s cock headed gloating by Don Mattrick; “Final Fantasy joins a long list of former PlayStation franchises finding a new home on Xbox 360,”. He later raves of how Microsoft have been tallying the number of previous “Playstation exclusive” games making the switch to Microsoft’s console. (more…)

- Link Me


Tags: casual gaming, e3, microsoft, xbox 360
Posted in Analysis | Comments (3)

Some Explanations + Answering the Killer Instincts 3 Rumour

May 27, 2008

Some Explanations

First and foremost, I really ought to explain myself over the recent kafuffle of why I haven’t been posting as frequently as usual in the past two weeks or so.

In the time that I have been studying at University (about a year and a half) I have formulated my own plan of attack on how to deal with the business end of each semester (in which I am currently in). My goal for this time has always been to complete my work as early as possible to ensure that I get plenty of free time at the end of the semester to revise for exams and just simply relax. This works well as many of my courses have major assignments instead of exams which means that this gives me the opportunity to finish the semester as early as I decide.

Over the past 2 weeks I have been busting my guts so that I can finish the lion’s share my work early and as of today I am at that stage which means no more blog neglection! All I have left with work is essentially one essay and two exams which I have roughly a month to prepare for. Pretty sweet eh?

Answering the Killer Instincts 3 Rumour

I’ve been aware of this little story for a few weeks now but it was only yesterday that I realized just how legit it was. You may be familiar with the barrage of rumors circulating the internet about the revival of Rare’s Killer Instinct franchise, well it turns out that Rare themselves have been adding to the fire and with a little help for yours truly. ^_^

A few weeks back at Microsoft’s Gamers Day, NeoGAF poster NeXuSDK took the following picture at one of Rare’s booths.

It is of a fake poster alluring to a new KI game, only problem is that the screenshots are old renders that were posted on this blog a few months ago and the accompanying text is highly suspect.

This posters appears to have started a rumour in American video game publication; Electronic Gaming Monthy in which Xbox 360 Fanboy later dismissed with reference to this article posted on my site.

I’m not really sure what to make of this. I am under the assumption that some eager KI fan could have just quickly created this and stuck it up at the Rare booth. One the other hand, Rare have been known to pull stunts like this before. What do you think?

- Link Me


Tags: Killer Instinct, rare, rumour, xbox 360
Posted in Industry Issues | Comments (1)

Why I View the Xbox 360 as a Gaming Non-Event

May 8, 2008

For some months now I have been continuously asked if I would like to write for someone’s Xbox 360 website. They’d seen my work on the blog and thought that it’d be great if I could contribute articles to their site. Unfortunately I disagreed with them for two reasons, most importantly I do not own and don’t plan on buying an Xbox 360 (the other being that I don’t like to write about press releases :(). While talking this over with my brother later on we generated some strong discussion justifying our lack of interest in the 360. Here are some of our main points.

NB: I don’t intend to disregard or downplay the Xbox 360 at all because in most regards it is a fantastic console and deserves the attention that it has garnered. I am writing this piece to show why, for me personally, in my situation why there is very little incentive in owning the console.

The Xbox Experience = PC Gaming on your TV

(Two points in One)

When the original Xbox as first announced many gamers were of the opinion that the predominate orientation of software design would be essentially derived from PC game design and in some ways it did. Since it’s conception I have had and still maintain this view about the console and its successor. The multimedia features, online play and software line all are largely lifted straight from the PC. This isn’t to say that these points are in anyway bad for the console, in reality this has allowed Microsoft to chase a particular type of consumer and has paid in dividedens.

Not all of the reasoning for this can be placed on Microsoft’s shoulders. Many popular PC publishers are now resorting to console ports to meet their bottom line and generally speaking this by large has effected console game development significantly.

For some reason, as people have become more accustomed to the Xbox consoles, the previous negative connotation seems to have disappeared over the years. This, in my opinion works in converse to these systems slowly taking the role of multimedia PC.
(more…)

- Link Me


Tags: gears of war, halo, live arcade, microsoft, online, xbox 360
Posted in General Gaming | Comments (16)



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