While it certainly means less for us here to talk about, I wish stories like this just didn’t happen. This happened during the working day, so no one here at the site knew this was happening until a skype call with a friend of the site pretty much after the fact. A hacker who has been named, but we will not be giving the time of day ran a rampage across the internet gaming world in the name of a vendetta against an individual game streamer.
Mother Nature: What a Bitch
If you are like me, then you decided despite expecting (and getting) a VERY lack-luster show, to watch the VGX awards…. and then you were floored by the announcement trailer for a game called “No Man’s Sky.”
Courtesy of Hello Games. (They made it and are making the game, after all.)
Well, the game has been well under development and that video was all in game, but we may all be crossing our fingers for the guys behind it, as they may well be underwater… literally.
Games Expand in More Ways then One
Yesterday, big news hit the gaming world. Blizzard finally set a date Reaper of Souls’ release. But this is not the only big news on the horizon: Consoles may finally see a serious MMO company bringing it’s titles to them.
Can’t Trust Their Word
Guys, I know at least a few people who are going to be pissed to hear this, but there is currently a story going around we need to talk about: Apparently XBox One still has online DRM built into the system.
Ys II (PC) Review
I’ve waited too long to play this game. It is sold bundled with Ys I and yet, while I played that one months ago, Ys II sat on my digital shelf collecting virtual dust for a long time before I brought it out. I honestly can not give a good reason for this either aside from other titles got in the way. Still, the time has come and Ys II is now complete. So how was it? Did it improve anything over the original? Absolutely. Come have a read.
Starting to See the True Range of a Steam Machine
…and this is about to get interesting. Last month, iBuyPower released some rather skimpy information about their own machine, but included a $500 price tag and a hint (via the defined graphic chipset) that it will be a powerhouse, outclassing the hardware in it’s console counterparts. We can neither confirm nor deny if this will be the case without more details, but knowing that they opted into a chipset from the latest generation available, we can certainly speculate. But may be a very low-end SteamMachine based on what news released today.
PC Just Got Easier…. Again
About a year ago, we used a similar headline as we watched Big Picture Mode make playing PC on your living room TV far more convenient via an interface designed to be entirely used with your controller if you desired. At the same time, we saw Nvidia announce the Geforce Experience, a system that would custom-setup your game for you so that it took the maximum advantage of the setup in your PC (provided you are using their graphic card of course). But this is only the beginning. Step on in to see the new frontier to make PC gamers more secure in their purchases.
Gamenight Cancelled
Unfortunately, we have to do this, and said as much on the facebook page. This morning, I found out about events going on that have have made this weekend no longer available for a gaming night. And since we have not received any donations we can count as raffle entries, this also means the raffle has been called off. Instead, we will take the games (both mentioned and unmentioned in previous posts) and lock them away until next year’s Extra Life events, where we will start a raffle well before the big night.
Sorry to anyone who was looking forward to this, but since we neither got the participation and now personal affairs will likely keep me too busy this weekend to actually run the gaming night side, this is how it has to be.
Path of Exile (PC) Review
When I saw this game in beta, it had my attention. The skill tree alone had my attention and my curiosity due to it’s size. However, I generally do not like to play betas these days. I had my fill of the games going online/offline at will to be patched and fixed and the server-wipes removing my character in the process from Darkspore alone. So when this game officially launched, I knew I was diving in. It had been a while since I played a good ARPG, and a game that promised to be one without costing a cent was simply something I had to see for myself. I think I can safely say, believe the hype about this one and get ready for a good time.
2 Weeks till we have our Raffle And oh Yeah… Persona 5 is Announced
A lot of excitement in the air this morning! First and most direct to the site, our Extra Life Raffle is in 2 weeks. Yes, the main event has come and gone, but we will be having a gamer night on Dec 7th, during which we will be having a LIVE raffle based on donations made to our Extra Life page. Read on for more:
Someone OutValved Valve?
In a word, yes… someone did this over a year ago when the world saw a mod for Half-Life 2 called Black Mesa. Did you forget it? You may have, but it was a huge step in the direction everyone had expected from Valve when they showed us that Half Life 1 would be remade with the Source engine. What we got from Valve was the same old content with little updates that was modified to work with the new engine.
What we wanted, however, Black Mesa gave us as a free mod for Half-Life 2…
F.3.A.R. (PC) Review
Once again, we play a game I have a history with. I actually bought it at launch, excited to see how one of my favorite series would end, but ultimately, had to shelve it for a while. You see, when I bought it, I did so expecting a friend of mine to do the same and the two of us would tear through this game in co-op mode. My friend held back, however, as his computer basically melted down the week before. And the moral of the story is don’t ignore your computer acting wrong because you know it’s probably just the roughly 60 viruses you got on it surfing porn. It never turns out well, and to the best of my knowledge he left PC space after that.
As for me, this game then sat on my shelf for the next 2 years, till Max joined up with this site. We both had the game and decided we would tag-team it for some October fun. And while we thought better of that, well… I’ll talk about that in the review. Come on in.
Extra Life Last Minute Raffle GameNight!
UPDATE (11/17/13): As of this morning, the $4,000,000 mark has been met! This event is still on and we ask anyone interested to donate, but congratulations to the Extra Life charity! As of now the total is double last year! Let's see just how far we can take this!
If you have been following us on our facebook page, you already knew we were planning to do this. But for those who did not, we are simply not done with Extra Life this year. With the goal of $4,000,000 raised this year in not just striking distance, but casually swatting distance, we wanted to step up and do something extra cool for the event. To this end, we will be streaming one more gamer day, and while this is not a 24-hour marathon, we will be raffling off a prize or two. Interested? Read on for more details.
The Unfinished Swan (PS3) Review
Sometimes, we all find “that game.” It’s a title we know we are going to find interesting, but are not sure we will enjoy, and most of our friends will probably not want to hear about… and we buy it anyway. For me, this probably happens a lot more then I would care to admit… and this would be one of them. The question, however, is was it worth it? I believe the best answer I can give you is “yes.” Not a “FUCK YEAH!” but… “yes. Im glad I played this.”
Extra Life Marathon Report Part 2
Now that we have covered the general marathon results, it’s time to recap how things went for us specifically. There are probably many who could care less about this, and you, I encourage to skip this entry. But for those of you who want to see, please, read on….
Extra Life Marathon report Part 1
And as Sunday morning rolled in, the Extra Life main marathon drew to a close. I must apologize now for not updating right away, but between schedules and finally needing to sleep, I simply was incapable of writing. Still, it was a great time to be had and I simply hope you enjoyed yourselves as much as we did… oh yeah… and the BIG important news of the night:
As of now, Extra Life has brought in $3,600,211!!!!!
A big congratulations are in order for all the gamers who participated. For a more detailed report of the night, please read on:
It’s EXTRA LIFE TIME!
While this entry is being posted a few days early, we have BIG news for the event! First, and foremost, we are still using our UStream page to broadcast our gaming, but we will be showing the video here as well! We have other details to reveal which should improve your viewing greatly from last year, so please, feel free to click and read more!
Last Week Before Extra Life!
We are now in our last week before the big event, and now it’s time to bring in the as much as we can for the event. But it is also time to explain a little bit of our plans. As with last year, we will be broadcasting via Ustream and you are welcome to watch us play as well as comment. However, since last year we have had the good fortune of upgrading the laptop doing the recording so it can actually run descent resolutions without overheating, so we should be able to broadcast in high def.
And we also now have a list of games to expect. Of course no list is final as we can be persuaded mid-day, but since Blizzard and Trion have been so kind to the Extra-Life event, we will be planning on some Diablo 3 and Defiance.
But now is the time… let’s get our last efforts in and use this to do some good for the kids.
Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs (PC) Review
About a year ago in the name of keeping October spooky, I picked up and reviewed Amnesia: The Dark Descent. To put it bluntly, the game completely floored me and I found myself quickly putting it up as the game all horror games should strive to reach. So when I found out a sequel was in the works, I couldn’t be more excited about it! If they had released this game at full price, I would have bought it at launch. As soon as the pre-order was announced for $15, I snapped it up on Gog.com. And now as I sit here having finished the game, I’m not sure this new romp into madness was even worth that.
One Month to Go! Join Us at Extra Life!
Ok, it’s now reaching crunch time. Extra Life is almost here, and it’s shaping up to be the biggest one yet! So my question for you, if you are a gamer (and if you visit this site, you probably are), why aren’t you here with us? Seriously, think about that question for a second. On Nov. 2nd, gamers the world over will let loose on their couches, in front of their PCs, around the kitchen table, and in various halls for 25 hours of nonstop gaming time with friends, family, online, and anywhere they are… and this will happen in the name of helping kids who are seriously sick. We have a chance to do what we love, and help out someone who really needs it in the process. Why not be a part of that?
But What Does it Mean? SteamOS
Last week, Valve has told us they would be making 3 announcements which would mark an expansion to their universe. Rescently, the first such announcement came forward in the form of revealing SteamOS, a new Linux distribution built around the Steam platform. They will be releasing it and forever keeping it free to download for everyone. Now I can already hear a lot of gamers laughing at the concept that Valve is backing Linux and a few predicting their doom, but they might want to stop and think about that. It could and would never replace Windows overnight, but Valve is doing some things right here and leveraging their own weight in the PC world in a way that could well lead to trouble for MS.
Earthbound (WiiU) Review
Welcome to yet another RPG most people missed when it came out. For many it slipped under the radar. For me, I only saw it in a "Sears Christmas catalog” where it included pictures of the wrong game’s screenshots. Suffice it to say that along side not having any real interest in RPGs to begin with a the time, there was no way in hell I was going to play this game when it first came out for the SNES. However, having heard stories about how good it is, finding out it would be rereleased for the WiiU made this one of the games I got the console for. So was it worth it? Well… yes, but it wasn’t everything it was cracked up to be. Let’s have a closer look.
Today, A Legend is Lost
Anyone, and I mean ANYONE who considers video games in any means a hobby has seen the end of one of the most important faces in the industry. This morning, Hiroshi Yamauchi has passed away at the age of 85. Most of you are probably wondering who the hell this person is, but you all know the effect of his life. You know because you play games at home, and they have had almost 30 years here in the states (over 30 in Japan) to evolve since just about dying with Atari’s dominance.
This is the man who decided to push Nintendo away from selling cards and to entering the electronic entertainment industry, who would lead them to enter the US console market and single handedly save the console industry in the US, and who would ultimately personally pick one of the most influential minds in game development, Shigeru Miyamoto. Suffice it to say, his impact is not overstateable.
I’m not asking you to feel sad or mourn or anything of the sort, but it would be a disservice to not mention the passing of the single most important human being in the history of video games and the path it would take by being the one who would restart it all. If you have any interest in the history of it all, it’s worth your time to read about this man, and as long as you enjoy it, there is a respect to send his way.
Thank you.
Source: Gamasutra
For Better or Worse, Atlus has a Buyer
The drama is finally over. As of right now, Sega’s parent company Sega Sammy Holdings has bought Index Corp., and everything that goes with it. Atlus is now in their hands. Honestly, I’m not sure how I feel about this. While I think Sega as a name fits well with a lot of the games Atlus makes in studio, I’m also a little disappointed, and Sega can directly be responsible for that.
From the “God I Hope this is a Troll, But Im not so Sure” Files
Wow… just wow… For those of you who want a dose of stupid this morning, I have a good one for you. This morning I was just cruising the GT forums really just to get some casual entertainment while I woke up and stumbled on a topic that made me kinda chuckle in the PC section:
Now, you know I clicked this. After all, I remember how badly GTA IV was ported and I figured this would be some wise-ass telling Rockstar not to bother because they didn’t want more shitty games. So, again, looking for a light chuckle, I clicked. And found myself face to face with a youtube video about how someone made a petition on change.org to prevent it…. and already had 8000 signatures. As per the link, he isn’t making this shit up. Someone actually put this up.
Get Your God Damned Social Crusades OUT of Our Gaming!
Seriously, this one has been brewing for a while, and if the title sounds angry, well it should. This is a problem. It is a problem with society as a whole. Maybe it’s because things like the internet have made it possible to both find bigger groups of like-minded people and spread ideas faster, but it seems like everywhere you turn, someone has to push whatever in their minds is an extreme social injustice, obsessed to the point where everything they do has to reflect this core belief. They are obnoxious about it, dismissive of anyone who disagrees, and insulting to anyone who simply doesn’t think it belongs there. And now, this has come to gaming. God help us.
EA Beat Valve to Digital Innovation? Huh….
It has been previously noted in the gaming world that the beta of Steam contained lines of code specifically setup to show if you lent out or borrowed a game from a friend. Stop and reread that if you were unaware, but it appears game sharing is in the works for Steam at some point. However, this (as far as I know) has never fully been setup for beta or active versions of the platform as of yet… but while waiting, it seems EA is moving forward to make digital sales more enticing to buy from them… they now have a full refund return policy in Origin.
From the “This Just Might be True Files”
Ironically, while looking over Kotaku this morning, a page I rarely take seriously, a story happened to catch my eye by it’s title and picture alone. “Extreme GameStop Pricing Leaves Some Fans Calling Scam” with a nice picture from the cover of what could easily by my personal favorite game on consoles… Xenoblade Chronicles. The story seems to be about how used copies of the game (previously sold out throughout the USA in both new and used forms, and having tried to help a friend get his own copy, I can speak to this through experience), is suddenly and readily available in used form from the chain. So what’s so bad about that?
Extra Life is Upon Us!
November is fast approaching, and with it, Extra Life 2013. For those of you who are new to this event, Extra Life is a yearly held gaming marathon. The goal of this is to have a great time doing what we love as one community all over the planet, and to do so raising money to help kids with cancer. Sound interesting to you? Then why don’t you join us?
This entry is a personal invitation of several kinds. It is an invitation to join the cause and help save kids from cancer… and if you desire, our team for it. It is an invitation join in a 25 hour event where gamers around the world will be playing together with this one goal in mind. And it’s an invitation to have fun doing all of it.
And i f you can’t make it for the Nov 2nd, it’s an invitation to help us by donating to this cause. You can do this by the thermometer at the right of this website. It will remain there until a few weeks after the marathon is finished, in case people need a rain-date to play.
Thank you for listening, and welcome.
This entry is a personal invitation of several kinds. It is an invitation to join the cause and help save kids from cancer… and if you desire, our team for it. It is an invitation join in a 25 hour event where gamers around the world will be playing together with this one goal in mind. And it’s an invitation to have fun doing all of it.
And i f you can’t make it for the Nov 2nd, it’s an invitation to help us by donating to this cause. You can do this by the thermometer at the right of this website. It will remain there until a few weeks after the marathon is finished, in case people need a rain-date to play.
Thank you for listening, and welcome.
Darksiders 2 (WiiU) Review
Welcome to the WiiU! This is a sentence that, sadly, few people can really say. But I have recently gotten my hands on the system. Once I had satisfied my curiosity about all the various extra features the system has, it was time to pick up a game and play, and I already had my first game picked out. It took a little bit of hunting, but I came home with Darksiders 2. So how was it? Well, I wish it could have been as amazing as my last time playing the original Wii (since the WiiU plays all Wii games, I unplugged and put it away), but that would simply be unreasonable. Instead, well, read on.
Trouble Brews Over the Heads of Atlus
We all saw the warning signs a fairly recently when Index, the company that owns Atlus, was investigated for fraud. At that moment, fans of Atlus’s work began to worry and even wonder what would happen to the company. But a few were calm and told us all to wait and see. I hate to say it, but the time for waiting is over. Index is set to start selling off it’s “operations,” and as such, we can only assume Atlus is on it’s way to a new home. Fans of Persona and Shin Megami Tensei, you now have permission to be nervous about your favorite franchises.
This is exceptionally cruel to fans of Persona, as it wasn’t so long ago that Atlus registered a domain for Persona 5. Let’s hope they can get the game out and the alleged misdeeds of their parent company don’t end the series before we get to see what their newest game would be.
RetroVirus (PC) Review
When I saw this game, I knew I had to have it. It wasn’t a question of if, it was when and how. Back in the day, I was a big fan of the Descent series of games, and finally a new game in the same style was making it’s way out to market. This game could have sold me on anything, but after finishing playing it, I think putting it on PC was indeed the best choice they could have made. Sadly, the reason for this is not a happy one, but a matter of brute strength.
Still, all this is of little important compared the all important question of how was it. And all I can do is smile at the question and say “come on in and see.”
From the “wtf, how are you so dumb?” files: People Petition to get the Old Xbone back
Did you have to read that title a few times? Cause this is no joke. Right now on change.org, there is a petition to get Microsoft to return the XBone’s policies to require always online and be exactly what it showed itself to be during E3. Those same policies that caused hard-core followers of the Microsoft machine to stream away to pre-order PS4s, and even trade in their 360s to get PS3s in protest, are being requested by petition.
SimCity (2013) (PC) Review
Now here’s a game that brought controversy with it’s launch. From the very beginning, people were pissed off (and rightly so) that they couldn’t get into the game or would get kicked out as the servers lost contact. Others would claim a moral high ground calling these server demands DRM and declaring corporate greed as the reason others couldn’t play and they refused to buy it. And while I still think such an attitude over a multiplayer game is kinda… dumb… the game was a real mess.
But time has passed, and as the dust settled taking the major bugs at launch with it, I have decided it was time to play. After putting the game down, I’m not to sure the game itself is worth the cash you will have to drop to play. Read on to hear more.
We hit our 5,000th view!
Not much to say tonight… just wanted to thank you all. As of tonight, we hit another milestone when our 5,000th view was clicked on. We intent to stick around, so expect that number to keep growing!
Thank you again
FINALLY! We have PSO2 news!
Sometimes, it pays to troll the internet and forums… and while so far E3 has not revealed anything for PSO2, we may finally have reason for this. According to PSO-world.com, Sega has confirmed that the North American release of the game has been delayed. However, they have not explained why. The good news is that this means it is still coming. But this could also me we are waiting on a new version to be developed….
Cry of Fear (PC) Review
This simply looked amazing. The trailers had my attention and with it being free, I knew I was going to play this game from the first day I saw it. It also wasted no time in showing me why this was a great choice to play. But that is not to say that everything was great here. In fact, this game held a very dark secret which I must now warn you about. A great game released broken, is still a broken game, and for this reason, I must warn people about Cry of Fear before they take it up.
Chrono Trigger (DS) Review
Sometimes, we all miss games. This is exceptionally true when they come out after you’ve lost interest in the platform they are on. This would be one of those games for me, since by the year the game came out, I had moved onto PCs for the most part. So when I found this title available for my DS I have to admit, I was interested. But it had to wait due to everything else portable I’ve wanted to play (including multiple Persona and Phatnasy Star titles). But this game’s time has come…. and proved why classic games are truly classics. Come on in and have a read.
The “Villainous” Used Game
Before I begin talking about this, let me be up front and tell you that I was inspired this morning watching Jim Sterling mix it up and give his own views in his latest Jimquisition. This is an amazing commentary series and one I highly recommend my readers keep up on. If you want to watch his latest, you can see it here. But this time, while I agree with a lot he has to say, I can’t say he covered the topic quiet as much as I would like… let’s begin, shall we?
We Called It….
We called it and this week, MS confirmed it. They are lined up to lose the new generation of gaming. Tuesday, they revealed their new system and… wow… not even armed with the information we had last time, could we predict this would go so wrong.
Ys I (PC) Review
Sometimes, you just need to look back on the history of gaming to see what you may have missed as a kid playing only the games you knew about. This is one of those games I missed and you most likely did as well. But having found later entries in the series striking my interest, a relaunch of the original title struck me as a great place to begin playing with the series. So how was the start? Not perfect, but not bad. Come see for yourself.
Join us in Defiance!
Officially, we have our first weekly game, and we start Monday. After the show, feel free to join us! Read on for details.
We Now Have a Steam Group
And we will soon be hosting a weekly game, tracked by said group. Check it out by the link to the right of the page or by clicking here! Come join us and help us pick a night to do a weekly game of Defiance! More details will follow via the group and future updates, so stay tuned!
DLC Quest (PC) Review
Sometimes, you see a game that despite the warnings, you know you just have to try. The core idea is just too interesting, too funny, too odd, or maybe you just want to see how bad the game is. DLC Quest was one of those games for me. In this case, I enjoy it when a developer with good wit makes fun of things going on. But even looking at the trailer, I wasn’t expecting much more then this. So when the game hit Steam for a cheap price, I decided “what the hell” and picked it up. This morning, I started and finished this game. Now it’s time to ask the question… was it worth it?
Poker Night at the Inventory (PC) Review
I’m about to say something I never thought I would say…. let’s play poker. Seriously, when I started this site, I never thought I would sit down and review a poker game for it. But here we are and here I am, after a round or two with Max, StrongBad, The Heavy, and Tycho. And while I could never argue with the company, I must be very up front here. This game taught me there are definitely some card games I just plain don’t like.
Crysis 3 (PC) Review
A lot of you probably looked at the title of this game and rolled your eyes as yet another First Person Shooter comes forward. And yet another “end of a trilogy” title to boot. I can’t blame you for this. There have been a lot of games that want to follow this format as of late, and frankly, I am rather tired of it too. But at the same time, I’ve been excited for this specific one. After all, I have been a fan since the original hit PC back in 2007. So now we have finally finished the story that started about 6 years ago… and how does it hold up? Well, why don’t you step inside and have a read…
Calling on Our Readers to Back the NERD!
Before we begin, no… the the AVGN (or Angry Video Game Nerd) is not in trouble… but he may have just announced some epicly awesome trouble for us to get into. AVGN is launching his own VIDEO GAME and right now, it’s waiting on Greenlight for us to welcome him to our Steam Libraries. Want to know more? Read on after the jump!
Holy shit… Epic May Have Done It!
This morning, I saw an amazing story from the guys at PC Gamer. Apparently Epic and Mozilla have been working together to put the Unreal 3 engine online. Think about that for a moment… the engine used for more current generation games then any other is currently in beta to run on websites!
This is, to excuse the pun, epic news! Should Epic and Mozilla make this work, we are looking at the potential of AAA titles working on anything with enough juice and a web browser…. including future TVs themselves… without a console or anything else attached. Yes, I'm saying it. THIS is the kind of tech that could end the need for consoles or any other device in your living room outside of the TV itself to play games with. Time will tell if this proves to be, but if you want to see it for yourself, take a look after the break.
AntiChamber (PC) Review
Now this is a game I’ve been excited to play. I knew it was in the works 2 years ago, and was already biting at the bit. Something to compare to Portal, but with even less concern about physics instead focusing exclusively on the logic? Yes! Sign me up! The day the game came out, I bought it, but it would be a while till I could play since I was still in the middle of Xenoblade Chronicles. And now, after making my way through that massively long game, I cleared this one in literally about 5 hours…. So was it worth the wait? Well… yes… yes it was.
Xenoblade Chronicles (Wii) Review
When a new generation of consoles comes around, we expect them to take over for the old. This has happened recently to the Wii, and yet the system also got something fairly unique in the form of a very hefty RPG to send it off. After 95 hours of game-time with it, it’s time to talk about it, and sendoffs don’t get much better then this.
My Prediction: Microsoft Loses the Next Generation
Heavy words to say before the system comes out, but if IGN isn’t lying and really verified the information they just published, Microsoft could be starting knee deep in their own shit.
If you didn’t play it then files:
You GOTTA love GOG sometimes… and lately, they’ve been giving me a lot to love nostalgically. A few weeks ago, System Shock 2 hit their service… now, they have released 2 more from the days of old, even if they are likely not as well known. But these are games, that for two VERY different reasons, really should be tried out by everyone.
Get The Hell Over It, People!
Seriously, after the past few days online, this is the best thing I can say. I can understand the aggravation from people trying to play SimCity. It must suck badly that you want to play your new game, but due to the game being online and everyone else wanting to play at the same, you have to wait in a que or worse, plain can’t get in. This is good reason to be upset. I mean, you bought the game, you should be able to play it.
But what we are seeing online goes well beyond the aggravation of gamers who are rightfully aggravated. What we are seeing is a bunch of children who need to go outside once in their lives. Get the fuck over it people, for god’s sake!
Greenlight Special II
Today we have a very special Greenlight Special for you. Once a month, Valve releases what games made the cut and will officially launch on Steam among the thousands we get to select from. This week, that list has been made available to the public. You can view it from Steam’s own Press Releases here, but in addition to showing you what games we supported this week, we felt it would be worth your time to see both our top five games that are now certain to hit Steam.
Noted Releases III
Finally, a small breather. This week has been a bit leaner for releases to catch our eye then the past few, but that doesn’t mean nothing happened. In fact we are sure a lot of you found these very interesting… or will.
Noted Releases II
Well it’s that time again, and we are ready with a few more interesting titles that have come around to gamers. Once again, some are brand new, and some have been around, but are now available in places they were not before… but all are interesting in their own right. So please, have a look, and check out anything you find more interesting….
GreenLight Special
And here is another new series we are starting on the Red Sector. As you most likely know, Valve has recently introduced a system in which users can collectively tell them what games they wish to see on Steam. In this article we will go through five select games currently waiting to be “greenlighted” and why they should get some special attention. If you agree with us, your upvote could be the one that lets us all see these games on a platform many PC users enjoy. But enough of an explanation… let’s get started!
Noted Releases
We’ve been thinking here at the Red Sector, and while we clearly have spent time talking about current news in gaming and what might happen depending on how it goes, we spend shockingly little time in the Now of gaming. And with 2013 already exploding out of the gates, this is a bit of a shame. To remedy this, we are beginning two new series of articles. The first of which you are about to enjoy, as we go over the releases that caught our eye, for whatever reason. Some will be for good, others for bad, but all to give you a heads up on what we have seen. Now, without any further adieu, let’s see the releases of this week.
How Would Digital Resale Work?
The question came to mind yesterday morning. I was just reading through my usual morning list of sites, and PC gamer had produced an article talking about how Valve is being sued in Germany over the inability to resell used games on their service. Now I’m sure a lot of you just scoffed at the very idea, and in fact that was my first impression as well. I mean, digital download means the only thing you own for good is the CD-key, and who’s to say that you don’t copy it someplace and use it later? Isn’t that why PC games in general can not be sold used and haven’t been able to since sometime around 2004?
But with a little thought, I came to the conclusion that this may not be so impossible to do, and in fact it may well be Valve who, once again, could lead the way! Curious? Step inside….
…..Once Again, Jim has it right
And I need to share it. Watch this video…. and pass it along (video after the break if you want my take on it):
Preserving Games As a Generation Ends
As the gaming world knows, the 7th generation of console gaming is nearing it’s completion. A number of bargain hunters will probably begin looking into the systems they missed (self included) to experience the remaining gems before the next takes over. And normally, this process could wait till we could get bargains on the old hardware and games… but this generation is different. This generation, consoles took on a lot of PC features like digital sales and online patches. The problem with this is that being closed systems, once the system’s service goes offline, access to these pieces will no longer be available. And with the WiiU out now to be followed quickly by the next xbox and playstation, this will be an issue for collectors pretty quickly. This is a word of warning… and maybe to get an early start on what you might have missed out on.
Because It’s Cool if Everyone Hates Him
Ok, gamer community, it’s time we had a little chat. It’s time to grow up a little. Right now there is a debate going on in this country about violent video games, and as we can expect, someone from Newgrounds decides to take video revenge on the NRA for pointing the finger (unjustly) at us. But there are two problems with this… the first being the obvious that one idiot online is NOT the entire community, but it is one idiot giving ammo to the argument against violent games.
But at the same time, the other is something in our own community we need to look at… gamers, reviewers, and article writers alike.
Happy Birthday to Us!
Yep. It’s true. As of this weekend (Friday, to be exact) the Red Sector is 1 year old! And we have already done a lot of growing. As I keep saying we are far from done changing, and in fact we have a few changes brewing as we speak right here and now. Expect to see them soon. But what else has changed? Well, why don’t you come in and see.
Doctor Who: The Eternity Clock (PC) Review
Here is a game that while I was interested as a fan, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I had previously tried a Dr. Who game created directly by the BBC, and to put it mildly, I was unimpressed. But knowing this was both a different kind of game and not one that was released as free promotional material for the TV series, I had some hopes this would prove a lot better then the previous titles. So when it came out, I picked it up, hopes still high. I just finished the title this morning… and I think the Doctor has finally had a descent outing in the gaming world.
Every once in a while….
You see something you just need to share…. anyone else looking REALLY forward to this game?
Well, the Burning has Been Called Off….
Once again, the Game Overthinker has alerted me to an update on the Connecticut Game-Burning ceremony. It has been cancelled. And while this is good news, it bothers me that I can’t just be happy with that… not when in his next breath (and that of many others), he is to look for the next scape-goat. Guys… ok, for once, this really isn’t about video games. I wish it was, but… just click on if you are interested.
The Old Guard May have to Watch Out for the Ancient Guard
Well you guys heard me make the prediction. It wasn’t a hard one to make, but in my what-if article, I laid out that if what I expected happened, we would be looking at a PC/console hybrid from Valve… Linux PC in function, but console in form. They have now officially announced it. Now it’s time to see if they can succeed. I believe personally that this will be based entirely on the sales they can pull off (and depending on if you believe the rumors about Sony allowing publishers to block used sales or Microsoft going digital only, the path to do so may only be getting easier), but it would seem the 800 lb. gorilla of the PC world is not the only one looking to expand their empire.
So… the Symbolism of Burning Media hasn’t Struck These People?
I REALLY did not want to have to talk about this. It’s the kind of retarded shit that should not get attention and be forgotten. But when a fellow blogger I read posted based on their findings at Polygon, and this morning I found an article about it on PC Gamer, it’s only a matter of time till this shit hits Reddit and every other major online publication. Me keeping silent won’t make a difference.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)