4
May
2010
Sometimes good things…
Well it’s been fun blogging for the past couple years, but sometimes good things have to come to an end. Be sure to follow me on Twitter to stay up to date as to what’s going on with me!
8
Apr
2010
TGC 2010 Panel: The Future of the Shooter
Panel from Triangle Game Conference 2010
Panelists:
- Jeff McGann
- Juan Benito
- Shaun McCabe
- Patrick Sebring
Moderated by: John Farnsworth from Epic Games Read the rest of this entry »
8
Apr
2010
Game-On! Triangle Game Conference v2.0
Triangle Games Conference – Raleigh, North Carolina April 7th-8th
http://www.trianglegameconference.com/
For those of you not in the know, Triangle Games Conference is in its second year and is bigger and better than ever! It has expanded more than 50% since its inaugural year last year. The Research Triangle area of North Carolina (Chapel Hill, Raleigh, Durham) is the third largest video game development cluster area in the United States. (right behind the Bay area, CA and Los Angeles) However, the big draw for this convention and this area is the fact that it is the World’s largest region for video game engines. That is mainly because of the incredible success and the legs that Unreal Engine 3 has in the gaming industry.
Main companies in the area: Epic Games, Insomniac Games, Red Storm, and EA even has a presence here.
Sidenote: The governor of NC, Beverly Purdue, is going to be making an appearance at the conference today to show her support of the industry and the business is brings to the region.
Expect more coverage from me about this event in the next day or so, including a liveblog of panel speakers!
1
Mar
2010
Stop Bitching about the PS3 Glitch
This is getting truly out of hand. The PSN has been glitching for less than 24 hours and people are saying that this is comparable to the RROD devastation that afflicted early chipsets of the Xbox 360s. How fickle are people that they can’t remember history and what has happened not even a year and half ago now.
*Flashback to December 31st, 2008.*
All was well as children around the world were preparing to watch the new year’s eve celebration as the clock struck midnight. However, fate had a different sort of new years resolution for little Jimmy and the 12 other people around the planet that bought 30gb Microsoft Zunes. Because as the clock stuck midnight, every single 30gb Zune on the entire planet bricked simultaneously. Consequently the tech community freaked out, dubbing the event as the ‘Red Ring of Zune’. It turned out that this was only an internal clock issue and after 24 hours all of the Zunes (all 13 of them worldwide) returned to normal.
Now back to present day. How is this so dissimilar from what is occurring right now with the ‘fat’ PS3s? We’re lucky that our systems didn’t brick. They’re still playable for non-trophy games: ie Valkyria Chronicles, Metal Gear Solid 4, Resistance: Fall of Man, Heavenly Sword. This is the perfect opportunity to go back and play those games. Or better yet, use your system as a blu-ray player, since it is arguably the best one of those on the market. Moral of the story is that people are overreacting about this entirely situation which will more than likely auto-correct itself within a matter of hours.
What’s your take on this ‘ApocalyPS3’ (it pains me to even type that phrase). Is it just fuel for the trolls to go to town on? That’s my own personal opinion. What’s yours? Comment below.
Sony’s official advice on the situation.
UPDATE!
The PS3 is now working again. There are no patches, just turn on your PS3 and it works!
14
Jan
2010
TPR – Rant 3: Third Party Support for the Wii Waining
Pardon some of the background noise in the podcast. I just recorded my thoughts while I was driving down the road, and it actually turned out to be something interesting. Let me know what you think.
-Will
11
Jan
2010
My (awful) GameFly Experience
This is the actual message that I sent to GameFly. From what I’ve heard from everyone, I’m not the only one in this boat. The sad fact of the matter is that originally, when I first signed up, they seemed to expedite their shipping to draw me in. Now that I’ve been a customer for a long time, it feels like I’m on the back burner and they get to me last. Anyways, this is copied and pasted from what I sent to them:
I’d like to take a second just to formally complain about how dreadfully slow your turnaround time is. I have followed all of your guidelines for having at least 10 games in “My GameQ” so that the process can be expedited, however this fails to have any positive effect on my service. I find myself OFTEN waiting about a week before something is shipped out to me once you have received my previous title. Then once it is shipping I have to wait another 2-3 business days until the game is actually in my hands. I have upgraded to a 2-game account because of this delay, but then there are times like currently when I actually have NO games at my house because both of them are either in the mail to you, or you have not processed a new game for me yet. This ends up equating to around 1-2 weeks per month (at least) that are eaten up by lag time on your end. The problem here is that I am paying good money for your company’s inefficiency. Please do something to remedy this situation immediately or I will be forced to take my business elsewhere.
Thanks, Will Powers (long standing client)
http://thepowerreview.com
http://twitter.com/uncyrus
Do you think that this will change anything? Well, I’ll be forced to wait the 2-4 business days to find out, won’t I? /facepalm Customer service at this company is a joke.
23
Sep
2009
Playstation Reality Show “The Tester” Starts Making Cuts
Just to recap, Playstation announced their own reality show they were going to product called The Tester. In this contest, gamers would be pitted against each other in battles of both skill and knowledge competing for a grand prize of a job testing games for Sony. Applicants were asked to submit a video explaining why they wanted to be on this show.
After all of the entries were submitted and run through, Sony has made their first cuts in an effort to narrow down the pool of talent. Starting today producers of this show have begun to call individuals whose videos caught their eye in order to schedule them for followup interviews. If you submitted a video application, cross your fingers in hopes that you will be receiving a call in the next day or so. Good luck, and may the best gamer win!
21
Sep
2009
The Effect of Next-Gen Re-Releases on the Gaming Industry
Because of the issue of backwards compatibility only being available in select PS3 SKU’s and it being limited among select X-Box games on the 360, a new phenomenon has started to arrive on the scene: Next-Gen Re-Releases. This has been something that has been present for a while in the form of Downloadable Content (DLC), some of the more recent and bigger names of the titles span from Marvel Vs. Capcom 2 which received a graphics update as well as online compatibility, all the way to the recent release of TMNT: Turtles in Time Re-shelled.
The market is obviously there for these past titles to be re-released and consumers are demanding them. But more recently Sony’s Santa Monica offices are trying a new approach by releasing the God of War collection on a Blu-ray disk for the PS3. This package will include the original two titles in the series completely remastered from their PS2 states to run in native 720p HD graphics at 60 frames per second. Not only this, but unlike other classic games that are just offered through the various online marketplaces: PSN, XBLA, and Wii-ware, this God of War bundle will come with full trophy support, adding a new twist to two classic games. But really, the icing on the cake is that despite all of this work in remastering and adding new code to existing games, the release price for this bundle will only be 2/3 of what a standard new game retails at. $40 for next-gen updates to classic titles may just be the sweet spot.
But, why would a company spend all of this time and effort on games that have been out for years? Well, the developers surveyed the fans (Source) and simply asked them what they wanted done. This comes at a great time, because it will lead hype and anticipation for the March 2010 release of the sequel God of War III on the Playstation 3. Obviously it pays to listen to your fans, because as of now, a month and a half before the release of this new collection, it is in the Top 5 sales of all PS3 games on Amazon.com. (Source)
Now the question really is, knowing all of this, what effect will this have on the industry? If developers are focusing all of their resources on remastering classic games, then there will never be any forward progress made in the way of new IPs. There has to be a balance, and I do think that God of War has struck that balance. The way they are handling this timeline, they are allowing 4-5 months of play on the release of their classics collection in order to build the anticipation for the release of the next iteration in the series. In this you have the best of both worlds.
People that never got the chance to experience the original games (because they lived under a rock on in inner Siberia) will be able to play them in their remastered HD glory, but even more important, fans of the series will be able to wet their appetite on 720p Kratos months earlier than they expected to. This God of War collection really is an experiment as to how well the public will receive remastered games in disk form rather than just as Downloadable titles. Depending on the success of this title, we could potentially see lots more “collections” rolling out. Possibly a remastered Team ICO collection (ICO and Shadow of the Colossus)? It’s important to keep in mind that one of the most highly demanded titles is a remastered version of Final Fantasy VII.
In the end, the best part about this scenario is that everyone benefits from it. As long as developers don’t become complacent by ONLY remastering their classic titles, then gamers, developers, and the entire industry will all reap the rewards from seeing the most demanded games resurface in this generation.
Please leave questions or comments at the end!
1
Jul
2009
TPR Podcasts: Rants – Episode 2 : The Problem With MetaCritic
Here’s the second installment of the series of TPR micro-podcasts: Rants. Hope you guys enjoy. Please leave your feedback in the comments section to let me know what you think!
PSN – UNCyrus
Skype – UNCyrus
26
Jun
2009
TPR Podcast- Rant Episode #1: Motion Controllers
This is the first installment of a series of “mini-podcasts” (3-5) minutes long. Please give me some feedback, leave your comments as to what you want me to talk about on the next Rant, etc. Enjoy!
PSN – UNCyrus