NUMBER One!
Ouya is trying to make itself more competitive with a new subscription program. According to sources found by Gamasutra, the micro-console will be getting a new 'all you can play' subscription program for a flat fee every 12 months, similar to PlayStation Plus on Sony consoles, except open to all games and not a selection of titles.
Developers will be compensated as if the game had been downloaded individually, ensuring that developers will continue to receive the money they would receive as if the game had been sold. The service will cost $59.99 and will give players access to ALL games under $30 for 12 months. All DLC is included, expect for expendable items, typically found in free to play games.
This is a bold move. Ouya has been struggling since launch to really find a foothold in the living room. Between the lack of games and no media exposure, it's fight or flight time, and the company seems to be fighting back. It'll be interesting to see just how successful this program is, because similar programs might sprout from it's success. Best of luck and get on it gamers! The pass can be found here.
NUMBER Two!!
Airtight Games, developer behind Murdered: Soul Suspect and Quantum Conundrum, has reportedly closed. According to Gamasutra, Geekwire made a trip down there last week to find the doors closed and the office equipment being sold off. My thoughts go out to all who were effected.
This is a shame, but slightly not surprising. Murdered: Soul Suspect was not very well received critically and Soul Fjord was only released on Ouya, so sales could not have been great. Hopefully the talented crew will find homes in other places.
Number THREE!!!
A new study shows that video game violence may lead to making better moral decisions rather than increasing violence. Co-authored by Matthew Grizzard of the University at Buffalo and researchers at the Michigan State University and the University of Texas, the study surveyed 185 participants and randomly assigned them to play a shooter either as a terrorist or as a UN solider.
"We found that after a subject played a violent video game, they felt guilt and that guilt was associated with greater sensitivity toward the two particular domains they violated — those of care/harm and fairness/reciprocity," states Grizzard. "Rather than leading players to become less moral, this research suggests that violent video-game play may actually lead to increased moral sensitivity." You can find the study here.
There seems to more and more research showing how violence in video games does not create violence in people, and I personally can not agree more. I see myself feeling guilt often, especially in games where bystanders are involved. For instance, playing through the last two inFamous games on evil was hard for me emotionally, because I constantly felt bad about running up and just beating the crap out of people just to get my evil karma up. What about you, dear reader? Do you feel bad about being bad in games?
Number FOUR!!!!
Despite your own personal feelings about virtual reality headsets, developers seem to be interested, as Oculus has announced over 100 000 development kits have been sold. This number includes bother first and second generation kits, equating to 60 000 first generation and 45 000 second generation kits being sold. Second generation kits will start shipping by the end of July, according to Oculus.
It's interesting to see the numbers on these kits, especially with VR being so on the fence for most people. I'd be interested to know how many of Sony's developers have Morpheus as well, because the more these kits release, the greater the chance that mainstream games will include them. Having yet to try any of the big name VR headsets, I'd like to take each one for a spin and see just what it is like wearing them and gaming in my living room.
Here's a short list of some interesting, but self explanatory stories of the day:
- Escape Dead Island, an adventure mystery game set between Dead Island 1 and 2, has been announced for PS3, Xbox 360 and PC.
- Satoru Awata has had a bump in his approval rating from Nintendo's board.
- Crimsonland lands on PS4 July 15th.
- New DLC coming to Watch_Dogs.
- CD Projekt RED announces The Witcher MMO.
- 10 new cars have been added to Forza 5.
- Twilight Princess DLC will be coming to Hyrule Warriors.
- The DualShock 4 controller is now usable on the PS3.
- Tales of Hearts R will launch on November 14th.
- Sacra Terra: Kiss of Death launching on PS3 next Tuesday (July 8th)
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