Archive for the Gaming Category



E3 2011 has arrived and this will mark the 17th Electronic Entertainment Expo. We were given a sneak peek at Sony’s new handheld device, PSVita, as well as Nintendo’s new console called the ‘Wii U’. Microsoft’s big announcement was the unveiling of Halo 4 which seems a bit common of an announcement at this point but was still treated as a big deal by the executives at the company. Microsoft put in more effort by showcasing their Kinect, controller-free device along with some highly anticipated games to play on the new device.



-The Wii U will be Nintendo’s first attempt at graphical catching up as the next generation console will be the company’s first attempt at 1080p graphics. The CPU for the system will be an all-new design that is to be created by IBM. Company executives were more busy spending their time focusing on marketing the new Wii U controller which will be a touch-screen controller that can transfer game play to the controller even after the television has been turned off. Also, the controller will feature additional features such as a camera, microphone, gyroscope and near field communication that can interact with card games and be used for micro transactions with a credit card. The system won’t rely on 3D very much but will feature more online content and a Nintendo Network that will allow gamers to purchase their games online and interact with other gamers in a social manner through the store. The system will be showcased at the Consumer Electronics Showcase and will be ready to launch during the holiday season in 2012.
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The summer season is in full force and once again another Electronic Expo Event has come and gone. For those keeping count, this was the 16th expo to take place and it was held at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Once again, we got a chance to see the heavyweights like Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft show off what new surprises they have in store for the video game fans. Nintendo gave us our first introduction to the Nintendo 3DS which is Nintendo’s brand new 3D powered portable gaming device. Sony spoke more about their plans to advertise the playstation Move and also discussed their intentions to create a brand new paid-subscription service for the playstation network called ‘Playstation Plus’. Microsoft would not be left out of the sensor discussion as they hyped their own user-sensory device – Microsoft Kinect. All the major developers were on hand and they showcased the latest games to come out this holiday season as well as some new surprises which won’t be on store shelves for another year or two. Here’s a few of the games that caught our eye at the event…


Rage


-Rage is a first person shooter from id software. The game takes place in a post-apocalyptic world after an Asteroid crashes down and kills everything in sight. The survivors of the crash are humans who hid in pods buried deep beneath the ground and have now awaken to find themselves in a desert-like atmosphere. Of course, what would a post-apocalyptic world be without mutants as the enemies trying to kill all of the humans. This game will be running on a brand spanking new game engine called id Tech 5. Unlike other first person shooters, this game will feature a strong racing element to the game as the developers worked hard on trying to add racing combat as a main plot element in the game. Gamers will be able to drive dune buggys and also try to kill each other online with vehicles as the racing will be a strong multiplayer component of the game as well.
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The video game industry is a billion dollar business. For every great video game, there are 10 bad ones that are left sitting on store shelves or are tossed into the bargain bin and are never to be heard from again. The way in which we interact with video games has drastically changed as well. The old method of buying video games was to simply head on over to your local retailer, purchase the game, pop the cartridge or disc into your machine and begin to play the game. Nowadays, games have become more complicated with larger instruction manuals and the game aren’t ever really finished thanks to new updates from developers. Some new innovations such as the internet have allowed gamers to try and beat each other’s high scores or allow them to play against each other in competitive battlegrounds. Other new video game trends have  not been as kind and are only increasing the frustrations and anxiety of video game users to the point of an almost certain backlash. Here, we take a look at a few bad gaming trends that we hope are modified for the better or are completely annihilated in the near future.


Linear Gaming Design



-The first bad trend on our list is an obvious choice to any person that has ever played a video game before. A linear game forces gamers to follow only one path when trying to finish a video game. Some examples might include invisible walls where gamers see an interesting area on a map but aren’t allowed to go and explore that area since the video game developers didn’t make that area an active part of the map and don’t want the video game developer to venture off from the task that they’re supposed to complete. Video game testers are often left shaking their heads when they need to write down about being stuck in a glitched wall or can’t explore a part of the world that is inaccessible to them. It can be very frustrating when a user has difficulty trying to find something in a game that is obvious to the developers but isn’t as clear for the user. We are proud to say that many video game developers are trying to open worlds up  that will allow you to explore different parts of the game without being punished if you go offtrack a bit. Still, this is an issue that pops up year after year and can be quite frustrating for a gamer and take them out of the experience of the game.
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