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Written by Will
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Thursday, 14 May 2009 11:45 |
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This one's for you, Karl.
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Last Updated on Thursday, 14 May 2009 11:47 |
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Written by Karl
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Sunday, 10 May 2009 14:51 |
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The Sims has sold a lot of copies, and made a preposterous amount of money for EA along the way. So much, in fact, that there was a sequel that had an expansion pack for every concieveable whim of the end user. You want your virtual family trained and to exploit dancing mole rats? There is an expansion out there for you. While it is terribly easy to take the piss out of EA's franchise milking, The Sims has actually been a great series, and The Sims 3 promises to be a great addition to the series. Honestly, I have no idea how they could even add to the series to make it better, and whether Mr. Will Wright (or 'God', as we refer to him around these parts) was even involved in the development process. But I remained optimisic for the third iteration in this money-printing-but-actually-very-good series... ...Until I read the contents of the Collectors Edition (CE), which was announced around the same time as the game went gold. Oh by the way, it's gold so it should hit the shelves soon. If you have $70 burning a hole in your pocket (Yes, SEVENTY), and you have nothing better to spend it on, you can purchase The Sims 3 CE. Inside the box you get the game, an exclusive in-game sports car, tips and a hints book and a 2GB flashdrive. Seems like a good deal right? Lets review the contents: The game - You get this with the $50 standard edition. Exclusive in-game car - It won't effect your gameplay experience at all, so it's worthless. Tips and hints book - There is a very good reason sites like gamefaqs.com exists, and they are free. 2GB flashdrive - To do what with exactly? What does a flashdrive have to do with The Sims?
Buy the standard edition, ignore the fact that EA is trying to take your money and instead buy some candy or soft drinks. That's the s0rethumbs pro-tip for the day. Source: BigDownload
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Last Updated on Sunday, 10 May 2009 22:56 |
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Written by Retr0gamer
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Friday, 08 May 2009 18:33 |
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What's up s0re fetishists! Welcome to the s0re List, where surgical masks don't save you from anything. Here's what's making me s0re today.
s0re Item #1 - Nintendo Most Reputable Game Company Ninty fanboys rejoice! A survery says Nintendo is the most reputable game company. Certainly their squeaky clean family fun image (and Chairman's soft comebacks) have something to do with this. It pays to play the cuddly cute role, despite the disgruntled and segregated hardcore fanbase (we fell so abandoned...save for the handhelds for the most part).
s0re Item #2 - David Jaffe's Shenanigans Jaffe's at it again. This time he's passive aggressively posting his busines emails for the world to see. The original image of his email presumably hints at Twisted Metal PS3. This is great - for the most part, gamers love his transparency. People love his transparency. He tells it like it is. Jaffe for President!
s0re Item #3 - Space Invaders Xtreme 2 to invade near You Oh yeahh, this is what makes life so grand. Space Invaders Xtreme 2 is coming! The first Space Invaders Xtreme for the Nintendo DS really rocked. It rocked all retr0gamers' socks off, myself included. It was one of those epic take-anywhere-and-love-the-awesomeness type games that begged for a road trip or an open toilet. This has potential to be a classic (remake of a classic) series, with great gamemplay, graphics, and music its bread and butter. Can't wait to get s0re on it. The first game almost made me buy Space Invaders clothes.
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Last Updated on Thursday, 28 May 2009 12:21 |
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Written by Karl
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Thursday, 07 May 2009 12:03 |
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Today was a very sad day for those who grew up with Duke Nukem 3D in the nineties - 3D Realms closed its doors citing funding issues. The most tragic aspect is Duke Nukem Forever, the game that has been in the making for TWELVE years was probably months away from completion. George Broussard, boss of 3D Realms, told us in April that there was only 71 more tasks to complete from an initial list of 800-900. It was a great time to get excited for DNF, and now it's dead again. 3D Realms were hardly the most prolific of developers. The last game that they made was in 1997, titled Shadow Warrior. Obviously they missed the memo that stated developers should release games atleast once a decade. CVG has a great moratorium of DNF, and shows us how difficult the development process was. Artisically, the people who spent 12 years on it must be crushed because their work will probably never surface to the general public. It may still be completed at some point though. Take2, the publisher of it, stated: "We can confirm that our relationship with 3D Realms for Duke Nukem Forever was a publishing arrangement, which did not include ongoing funds for development of the title," said Take-Two VP of communications Alan Lewis. "In addition, Take-Two continues to retain the publishing rights to Duke Nukem Forever." I suddenly feel the urge to replay the final stage of Duke Nukem 3D. Anyone got a favorite Duke quote? Mine was "I'm going to rip off your head and shit down your neck," which still makes me chuckle. R.I.P 3D Realms, and good luck to the ex-employees with all future endeavours.
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Last Updated on Thursday, 28 May 2009 12:22 |
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Written by Will
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Wednesday, 06 May 2009 17:52 |
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All you StarCraft junkies can get your StarCraft II fix early with the beta-opt in. You may have to non-stop refresh on the site but it will be well worth it when all your nerd friends get crushed because of your beta-nerd experience. From Joystiq: - Go into your Battle.net account management area (specifically the Beta Profile Settings page), where you will be able to sign up for beta opt-in status for Starcraft II
- Upload a screenshot of your system specs (as directed)
- ???
- Profit
You are welcome
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Last Updated on Thursday, 28 May 2009 12:23 |
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Written by Karl
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Wednesday, 06 May 2009 07:48 |
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Bethesda has to be one of the most incompetent developers in the industry. They take a brilliant idea, like the Elder Scrolls games, and do good applying lashings of creativity and ingenuity to it. They create a staggering world that encourages exploration and various other gameplay elements that you simply don't find anywhere else.
They then take this brilliantly molded idea, and send it to their coding team, who proceed to ruin it.
Morrowind crashed whenever it felt like it. Oblivion had hundreds of tiny bugs and broken quests. Fallout 3 had random problems that effected random players, and even broke the game for some. 'The Pitt' DLC was broken upon release for the Xbox360, they fixed it, and it was still broken on some consoles.
Now, the final installment of the Fallout 3 DLC trilogy is out and it raises the level cap (finally) amongst other things. I can't be bothered to find out what stuff specifically, but its probably cool.
And if you are playing it on PC, guess what? It doesn't work because of a DRM error in the crappy Games for Windows installer. I must surely be in the majority when I say that I find this completely unsurprising.
I love Bethesda games, but good Lord they are buggy as hell. Source: 1UP
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Last Updated on Thursday, 28 May 2009 12:23 |
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Written by Karl
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Tuesday, 05 May 2009 09:42 |
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CNBC (via Joystiq) is openly questioning whether the GTA series is experiencing a slowdown. The Lost and the Damned sold approximately a million units, and Chinatown Wars only sold 89 000 units in March. In GTA talk, that is a financial failure. A catastrophic failure. But wait! What is this? Chinatown Wars was released on a 'casual' system and the expected sales were far too high to begin with? Lost and the Damned was a VERY niche product that could not be expected to emulate the success of GTA4? CNBC has thrown out a controversial point that is wrong in every sense of the word. If I recall correctly, every 'main' GTA game has sold more than the previous one. Given the global economic crisis, lower sales across all platforms and games are to be expected. Even the Wii is selling less. So, along with this trend, GTA is experiencing a slowdown. However, GTA5 will sell so much that the NPD's mind will explode. In sum, CNBC is wrong as they haven't analysed the GTA products properly and subsequently made a stupid sweeping statement. Honestly, I intended to make a coherent arguement here. But I just couldn't be bothered after CNBC's stupidity. Source: Joystiq
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Last Updated on Thursday, 28 May 2009 12:26 |
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Written by Retr0gamer
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Friday, 01 May 2009 11:52 |
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Hello girls and boys! Hopefully you're hungry, because it's time again to digest The s0re List! We're like the internet's dirty little secret...and maybe it's better that way. Follow us on Twitter and together we can wallow in our dirtiness on the internets. Well now that you understand the power in the scarcity of the insight we provide, here's what's making me s0re today...
s0re item # 1 - Why Breaking the Madden Tradition with Two Athletes is INGENIOUS " Madden Curse" believers now have twice the reason to fear with twice the players to get injured. Actually, I think EA did an ingenious move here by splitting face(mask) space on the cover.  Two athletes means twice the coverage (on a local and national level) and publicity for the players, teams, and cities of the team, and hence, twice the exposure and brand imaging for the Madden franchise. Secondly, EA picked TROY POLAMALU to appear opposite Larry Fitzgerald, which is fair considering they represent the past Superbowl teams, and ingenious because Polamalu, while an outstanding Safety, is one of the most injury prone players in the league (missed 8 games over the last 3 seasons). That means when he goes down next season, "Madden Curse" mania will be all over the media and EA will get more free advertising through media exposure.
EA could have easily gone with (and IMHO, should have gone with) Polamalu's team mate, Steelers linebacker James Harrison, last season's Defensive Player of the Year, who became the first undrafted player to win the award. He is an inspirational story and a model for perseverence and hard work (he was cut by the same Steelers team a couple years before, but didn't give up on his NFL career). I mean, he only returned an interception for a 100 yard touchdown in the most amazing play you'll ever see on the biggest stage in the game. Polamalu and his dreads are certainly recognizable icons in the NFL, but Harrison is the heart of the Steelers defense and would make a great poster child because of his backstory. Why didn't they go with Harrison? Both players won the Superbowl on the same defense. Both are iconic in the NFL. But Polamalu is more injury prone, and therefore he fits EA's money-mongering agenda a little better. Basically, "Madden Curse" has been embraced by EA as a perpetual marketing ploy. Every year we hear about whether there is a curse or not, whether so-and-so is going to get hit with an injury, blah blah blah. But the REAL WINNERS here? Electronic Arts.
s0re item #2 - Sony and Iwata comments on the Wii “According to our internal research, 87% of Wii consoles are connected to the largest TV screen in the household, which is set in the centre of the living room. …our consoles are not only out of the closet, they are also in the middle of the house. This shows what kind of our customers are playing Wii, as of January this year. As you can see, Wii is played by people in a wide range of ages, and male-female ratio is nearly equal. As I have mentioned, Wii has spread with nearly equal male-to-female ratio and is played by people of broad range of ages. Nearly 90% of the consoles are connected to the largest TV screen of the household in the living room. As for consoles which are already connected to the internet, video streaming or payment system has established through our videogame businesses.” - Satoru Iwata This is a classic case of the schoolyard harlequin baiting you into his game. The bully calls you a loser, and you respond meekly with something like, "Oh yeah, well I make better grades in math!" It's great that Iwata can come up with a statsheet of facts supporting his argument, but I personally would like to see some bite back from Iwata. Hiroshi Yamauchi, Nintendo's president before Iwata, would have never taken such an backhanded comment from a competitor. He is an old-school hardliner - when he first took over Nintendo from his grandfather, there was resentment from the workers and they had a strike against him. He responded by firing many long standing employees and others who weren't getting with the new program. I really think this is what Nintendo has been missing since 2002 - the take-no-crap swagger that used to make them the playground bully in the gaming industry. It starts from the top. s0re item #3 - Valve and Activision is like a Celebrity Breakup This drama just gets more fugly. Looks like a lot of finger-pointing, he-said/she-said, lawsuits and countersuits, baby mama's and baby daddy's, dirty-sexy-money, who boinked who, and probably the worst - mediocre games (well, L4D is ok). It's always the kids who suffer. Can't we all just get along?
s0re item #4 - Spore reaches 100 Million Mark  Well this is certainly impressive. EA, despite a rocky start with Spore (penis monsters, "sporn," that DRM debacle, EA's penchant for monopolizing everything), turned Will Wright's brainchild into a positive for the company. If you forgot, here's some shameless backlinking to help remind you how far we've come... You are welcome.
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Last Updated on Friday, 01 May 2009 12:02 |
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