Wednesday 23 December 2009
MAG - What is it good for?
Having spent some time on the Beta I really can't see the long term playability of the game. Ranking up, weapons and clans are all well and good but the 'samey' feel the of actual minute to minute experience I think will lead to this game sitting on the shelf for a lot longer than it's played. Okay it looks damn good and the massive warzone is pretty impressive but the whole thing lacks a story arc. At least with the COD MW games you get the satisfaction of having ended something as well as the Multiplayer options.
Ubisoft leans towards edutainment
Assassins Creed 2 is one of those games which like a good book, you just can't keep away from for too long. With its rich accurate historical content or people, places and politics, art collection the game can very easily be converted to an immersive tour of 15th century Italy.
Proof perhaps that if Uncharted 2 was associated with movie play and feel then Assassins Creed 2 could be best associated with something of a merger between an edutainment game. I can see Ubi' branching out into 'academic' console games. take out Ezio and you can have a whole variety of ways to get kids into exploring 15th Century Italy and everything going in in Politics, religion and art during that time - with various (Ubi)rewards along the way that kids could collect in actual ubi games.
Proof perhaps that if Uncharted 2 was associated with movie play and feel then Assassins Creed 2 could be best associated with something of a merger between an edutainment game. I can see Ubi' branching out into 'academic' console games. take out Ezio and you can have a whole variety of ways to get kids into exploring 15th Century Italy and everything going in in Politics, religion and art during that time - with various (Ubi)rewards along the way that kids could collect in actual ubi games.
News: Paid PSN subscription detailed - ComputerAndVideoGames.com
Rumours about Sony putting a subscription service out on the Playstation Network have been circulating in the web for some time. Starting off with speculation in various gaming sites and blogs and gradually becoming more substantial in recent months.
Finally the Computer And Video Games website News: Paid PSN subscription detailed - ComputerAndVideoGames.com have some images of a survey which includes reference to 'cross game chat' and interestingly something called "Full Time Trial - 1st Hour is Free".
Now this latter feature really caught my interest. Is this in itself an early indication of another service on the horizon? This looks to me like the emergence of the option ot purchase major games which are purchased and played completely on-line. So the entire single player as well as MP feature is an on-line experience with no Blu-Ray purchase option (like Warhawk and Burnout Paradise) available.
I can see the cash registers in Sony’s eyes rolling already as they cut out the retailer and all the costs of physical media (manufacture, distribution, logistics etc)
Ypu may recall the little box some people were touting at Game shows last year, that offered all games on-line.
Well with ever increasing bandwidths at ever decreasing prices, Sony offering cloud storage for game saves, perhaps Sony have jumped ahead and embraced the future. Cutting out the retail shops and Developers already setting up shop in the playstation store perhaps buying games on-line only may be much nearer than we think
Finally the Computer And Video Games website News: Paid PSN subscription detailed - ComputerAndVideoGames.com have some images of a survey which includes reference to 'cross game chat' and interestingly something called "Full Time Trial - 1st Hour is Free".
Now this latter feature really caught my interest. Is this in itself an early indication of another service on the horizon? This looks to me like the emergence of the option ot purchase major games which are purchased and played completely on-line. So the entire single player as well as MP feature is an on-line experience with no Blu-Ray purchase option (like Warhawk and Burnout Paradise) available.
I can see the cash registers in Sony’s eyes rolling already as they cut out the retailer and all the costs of physical media (manufacture, distribution, logistics etc)
Ypu may recall the little box some people were touting at Game shows last year, that offered all games on-line.
Well with ever increasing bandwidths at ever decreasing prices, Sony offering cloud storage for game saves, perhaps Sony have jumped ahead and embraced the future. Cutting out the retail shops and Developers already setting up shop in the playstation store perhaps buying games on-line only may be much nearer than we think
Sunday 20 December 2009
BBC News - Chinese proposal to meter internet traffic
BBC News - Chinese proposal to meter internet traffic
This is the interesting bit
"The ITU also stressed that the Chinese proposal did not involve modifying the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) - one of the core specifications that controls how data flows around the internet - as Mr Servida has alleged.
An ITU spokesman said: "The ITU has no plans to modify the BGP protocol, which is not an ITU-T standard.
"A proposal has been made, and is being studied, to use BGP routers to collect traffic flow data, which could be used, by bilateral agreement, by operators for billing purposes."
China's' desire to monitor and meter internet traffic could easily lead to a 'surf tax' to enable countries to collect revenue to pay for their connections to the global net.
This could very easily lead to the love of all utility corporations TARIFFS.
You pay one subscription to your ISP
And then you choose your tariff based on where and how much of the world you want to surf around in.
This then opens up the option of companies providing gateway subscriptions so if your on a Euro only tariff you can buy a US tariff News or documentary or entertainment tariff just to browse those sites.
I can see SKY and other media broadcast corporations salivating at this potential money spinner.
It'll be like privatising utilities all over again.
This is the interesting bit
"The ITU also stressed that the Chinese proposal did not involve modifying the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) - one of the core specifications that controls how data flows around the internet - as Mr Servida has alleged.
An ITU spokesman said: "The ITU has no plans to modify the BGP protocol, which is not an ITU-T standard.
"A proposal has been made, and is being studied, to use BGP routers to collect traffic flow data, which could be used, by bilateral agreement, by operators for billing purposes."
China's' desire to monitor and meter internet traffic could easily lead to a 'surf tax' to enable countries to collect revenue to pay for their connections to the global net.
This could very easily lead to the love of all utility corporations TARIFFS.
You pay one subscription to your ISP
And then you choose your tariff based on where and how much of the world you want to surf around in.
This then opens up the option of companies providing gateway subscriptions so if your on a Euro only tariff you can buy a US tariff News or documentary or entertainment tariff just to browse those sites.
I can see SKY and other media broadcast corporations salivating at this potential money spinner.
It'll be like privatising utilities all over again.
Friday 11 December 2009
M.A.G. Not my cup of tea
I played the beta for several hours and was put off by the lack of a story arc or endgame. A characterless FPS, each mission was then 'same old same old'.
Maybe we've been spoiled by the current handful of excellent Mp content in games such as: MW2, Uncharted 2, Borderlands (what a cracker that is) which give you a more interesting context for popping a cap or two.
Maybe we've been spoiled by the current handful of excellent Mp content in games such as: MW2, Uncharted 2, Borderlands (what a cracker that is) which give you a more interesting context for popping a cap or two.
Thursday 10 December 2009
Famitsu gives FFXIII only 39/40!
IGN has revamped itself and very nice it is too. I'll be visiting it a bit more often.
I see that it is reporting that Famitsu has only rated Final Fantasy XIII a 39/40.
And quite rightly too perhaps judging by the reasons given.
I suspect the useful reviews will come a few weeks after the games release after the devotees and general rpg pundits have had a chance to spend a good few days with the whole experience.
Much as I love FFX (where it all began for me!) and had a hoot with FFX-II. I tired of the turn based combat when I discovered the glories of Next-Gen FPS starting with R:FOM.
I'd be interested to see whether the combat style will sit comfortably / survive with the gaming world that now has (i) faster pace and (ii)vastly improved graphics, (iii)deeper, richer, more dynamic environments, (iv) improved NPC AI and (v) deeper characterisation and story.
I see that it is reporting that Famitsu has only rated Final Fantasy XIII a 39/40.
And quite rightly too perhaps judging by the reasons given.
I suspect the useful reviews will come a few weeks after the games release after the devotees and general rpg pundits have had a chance to spend a good few days with the whole experience.
Much as I love FFX (where it all began for me!) and had a hoot with FFX-II. I tired of the turn based combat when I discovered the glories of Next-Gen FPS starting with R:FOM.
I'd be interested to see whether the combat style will sit comfortably / survive with the gaming world that now has (i) faster pace and (ii)vastly improved graphics, (iii)deeper, richer, more dynamic environments, (iv) improved NPC AI and (v) deeper characterisation and story.
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