Alot of people have been asking me for my E3 predictions, especially regarding Microsoft’s presser. I will not only give my personal predictions but also address many E3 rumors flying around the net. Hit the jump for my vision of Microsoft’s future.
This morning, Motus Games officially unveiled its Darwin motion controller on its website, with videos including one showing the Darwin being used as a lightsaber with LEGO Star Wars. It had us wondering - is this the long-rumored Xbox 360 motion controller?”We’re leaving it to the console-makers and publishers to announce whatever they want to announce,” said Motus chairman Satayan Mahajan. “There’s a lot of rumor — some of it true, some of it not true.”
There is a rumor floating around the internet that the Xbox 360 will be slimmed down. In a way, the Xbox 360 has already been shrunk down from it’s original 2005 model (the Xenon motherboard), and continues to do so everyday even though it might not be apparent. As VentureBeat reports, Microsoft looks for new ways to cut down its costs (in the form of compact, efficient motherboards) and passes on to consumers in the form of price cuts. (more…)
When Sony announced the impending release of firmware v2.40 over a week ago, many gamers were excited that the PlayStation 3 would finally gain many of the popular features absent in its current entertainment package. The prospect of an in-game cross media bar (XMB) and a Trophy system tantamount to LIVE’s achievements suggested that the Xbox 360 would lose much of the edge it has had over its competitors in the early years of the console war. (more…)
Tiberium isn’t the first first-person shooter EA has created out of its popular Command & Conquer real-time strategy franchise, but it is the first attempt in over half a decade. As such, Tiberium will bring all the latest technology to the fray, and developer EALA looks to craft a game that will blend the squad control of the RTS games with intense first-person shooter gameplay. Along the way, Tiberium will also fill in huge holes in the history of the Command & Conquer universe. We finally got our first look at Tiberium recently, and EA showed off some of its core gameplay and features.
Even though you are halfway across the store, you can still hear it. It is a sound that grates on everyone’s nerves: a whiney and spoiled child throwing a temper tantrum. If the children do not get a particular item, they will throw a fit making sure everyone around can hear their plea. You look around and see people starting to cover their ears trying to avoid the shrieking cries from the child while praying that their ear drums will not burst. You are starting to reach your breaking point, and about to purchase the item for the child to shut them up, it suddenly becomes silent. You being to wonder if the parents caved in, the child received much needed discipline, or they just left the store.
And the winner is… Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision), BioShock (2K Games) and The Orange Box (Electronic Arts and Valve Software); each picked up four statues at the 11th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards last night. The award ceremony was hosted by comedian and avid video game player Jay Mohr at the Red Rock Resort in Las Vegas.
2007 was a stellar year for Xbox 360’s software library—but can Microsoft pull it off again in ‘08? Microsoft’s Shane Kim, expectedly, believes so.In a one-on-one interview between Microsoft Game Studios VP Kim and New York Times reporter Seth Schiesel during the DICE Summit in Las Vegas, Schiesel pointed out how Xbox 360’s 2008 software lineup pales in comparison to a year that saw BioShock, Mass Effect, Halo 3, The Orange Box and other heavy hitters.
The 2008 games lineup just doesn’t seem as “stacked” as last year, Schiesel said.
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Microsoft will make sure that the Xbox 360 benefits most from the GTA IV launch, and from a content standpoint it “already owns it”, says Microsoft Game Studios boss Shane Kim.
Speaking to US magazine Wired at the DICE summit, the Microsoft games boss said that making sure it owns the launch of Grand Theft Auto IV from a platform perspective “is really important.”
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I hear the term GAMER all the time. Usually it is used with disgust as someone asks if I am one. By GAMER, they mean a sweaty teen in his parent’s basement, or a sweaty 40 year old in his mother’s basement. They really are referring to a biased term used by media know-it-alls, and clueless game company execs to describe hardcore gamers. So, my answer is sometimes NO and sometimes MAYBE. I don’t really have a definitive answer because I like games and I play games, and I make games, but my total being is not summed up with that one title. Especially one that is used with such derision by so many in the media so often. Gamer to them is a sickness. I once even had a mild case of it. But the media and even big game companies seem to be prescribing either aspirin (casual games) or open heart surgery (Halo 3 online with achievements) to the ailment these days. (more…)