Migration

Posted on 19 October 2010 by Jack

In the future, one of the bigger reasons behind Kinect and Move’s subpar performances won’t be the price or the “me too” copycat nature of their advertising (although those will be big), it will be asking families to migrate those two consoles out of the kid’s bedroom or the basemen and into the family room so they can play “Kinectimals” and “Kinect Adventures” and whatever Sony’s calling their Wii Sports ripoff. I just don’t see that happening.

This is in regards to existing Xbox 360 and PS3 owning households, mind you. Good luck convincing anyone to buy a new console, the accessory and game this holiday.

So bitter

Posted on 15 October 2010 by Jack

Seriously now, what an absolute waste of one’s life.

Sound of silence

Posted on 12 October 2010 by Jack

NPD is eliminating free video game numbers reports. The sound you just heard were hundreds of video game bloggers crying out in unison, as if their biggest story of each month was suddenly snuffed out of existence. Because it was.

Personal space

Posted on 6 October 2010 by Jack

Comment of the week:

Kinect is not a controller, it’s a mother simulator.

“Move away from the TV, and tidy your room!”

Seriously now, personal bias and kidding aside, what a fricking crock of horse manure this Kinect thing will be.

Lacking foresight

Posted on 5 October 2010 by Jack

Silly people. Love him or hate him (hate him), Mark Rein isn’t talking about portable gaming replacing consoles when he talks about convergence between the two in the near future—he’s talking about what overall gaming will look like.

Think about it: Obviously games look better on a 50-inch HDTV with a controller as the primary input device. But if you look at the trends, in the future everyone will have an iPhone-sized supercomputer in their pocket capable of effortlessly wireless docking with an input device and driving a huge display.

Hell, who’s to say you even have to remove the device from your pocket or interact with its tiny touchscreen at all?

It starts with the 3DS, Nintendo’s next true console.

358/2 ways to say ridiculous

Posted on 21 September 2010 by Jack

If Japanese developers really want to get out of the rut they seem to think they’re in (and believe me they are in a rut), maybe they should start by changing the ridiculous names they give all their big titles?

Duck!

Posted on 13 September 2010 by Jack

It’d be really great if the 3DS didn’t follow the lead of what’s currently happening in the 3D space and decided not to put out games that feature cliche items flying at or pointing at the viewer from the inside the screen.

Goes for third parties too, although these Capcom screens (while really sharp) aren’t too encouraging.

Collateral damage

Posted on 9 September 2010 by Jack

An unfortunate side effect of the male-dominated boy’s club known as video games: We’re missing out on a brilliantly voice-acted female Commander Shepard.

Boys club

Posted on 8 September 2010 by Jack

Gaming cannot change for the better so long as the gatekeepers and atmosphere are the same as they’ve been since the beginning.

You want to be taken seriously, gamers and developers? Interactive movies and sweeping cliched storytelling aren’t the answer.

Dead weight

Posted on 2 September 2010 by Jack

Why must video game developers continue to bolt on useless multiplayer modes to their great single-player games? Are they that afraid of the vocal minority backlash? Are one player games really that bad?