Monday, January 13, 2014

Gamer's Source 1-13-14

Another day, another dollar...for someone at least. Welcome to Gamer's Source, a daily news segment with the top five news stories in gaming today. As always, there are opinions and speculation, so feel free to share your own in the comments. Without further ado...



-->
NUMBER One!

According to Microsoft exec Phil Spencer, Xbox One will not be the last home console the company makes. Taking to Twitter yesterday, Spencer talked about his own opinion on the often talked about idea that the current console generation will be the last.

This is not necessarily surprising, despite Microsoft and Sony working towards creating extensive cloud gaming infrastructures. For those who haven’t been paying attention, Sony’s new console has sold over 4.2 million since launch and Xbox One has sold over 3 million units. This is just under 3 months on the market. Though these numbers do not compare to the current numbers of the predecessors (roughly 80 million units a piece) the numbers still show that console gaming is still alive and kicking, despite what some people are saying. For numbers information, IGN has a great article that you can check out here.

NUMBER Two!

A post on developer Maxis’s blog has announced that SimCity will finally get an offline mode. After an incredibly buggy launch on top of the outcry from fans of the series for the game being online only, general manager Patrick Buechner revealed that the next update (updated 10) will be available for free and will grant access to all content that’s been previously downloaded. Though no release date has been announced, development is apparently wrapping up soon, so the game update should be released before long.

Though I’m sure there are plenty of current players that are excited about this, the move feels like too little too late. SimCity has been plagued by terrible decisions by the developers and game breaking bugs that were so bad many people dropped the game entirely most people either hate the game or have forgotten about it entirely. After this patch, it’s probably time to just drop the game and start on the next iteration and make it better.

Number THREE!

Team Meat has given an update on what makes The Binding of Isaac Rebirth different from the flash game it derives from. In a recent blog post, Edmund McMillen, creator of the game, says that owners of the original game will get a sizeable discount when the newest iteration releases on Steam, PS4 and PS Vita. McMillen states that the game will be upgraded, being twice the size of the original and include new characters, items, controller support and a vastly different art style.

He also mentions that he would love to release the project on other platforms, but that is entirely up to them, mentioning Nintendo may specifically not want to release the game due to its heavy religious themes. Though no true release date was given, McMillen did say that the project is over half way completed.

The beauty of the internet is that it allows the community of gamers to get better insight in what is going on with development. It’s really cool to see Edmund update everyone about this highly anticipated indie title and to see that he’s being completely open about putting it on as many platforms as possible. I personally can’t wait for its release.

Number FOUR!

Naughty Dog has released some more content on the story download content to The Last of Us, Left Behind. In an interview with IGN and the Official PS Blog, actresses Yaani King and Ashley Johnson, whom play Riley and Ellie respectively, divulged tidbits of information about the prequel story. After being away for over 45 days, Riley returns to lead Ellie out of the orphanage and into the wild outside the quarantine zone. According to both actresses, the game will be a little more fun, but retain what makes the Last of Us so special. There is still no release date, though IGN has an exclusive new clip.

I love the tease, but hate it so much. The Last of Us is one of my favorite games of all time, and I can not wait for this download content. Just give it to me already!!! 

NUMBER FIVE!

There is no number five. It happens when there's a slow news day and I refuse to put up news that isn't news. 

SO as usual leave your comments below and keep the conversation going.

1 comment:

  1. I'm glad to see Team meat working on another project. Yeah I used to be a sim city fan but after that whole debacle I refuse to partake. It will be interesting to see how both Sony and Microsoft handle this new generation and the next one. Technology moves so fast these days you wonder if they will adopt the cell phone model of iterating on their platforms.

    ReplyDelete