Newsflash

Codemasters hat “einfach mal so” allen Community-Foren das Licht ausgeknipst, angeblich weil der Vertrag mit dem Forenbetreiber ausgelaufen ist. Das mag grundsätzlich vielleicht schon stimmen, nur reiht es sich in eine lange Liste von unprofessionellem Verhalten und offensichtlicher Dämmlichkeit seitens Codemasters ein. Vielleicht sollte Terry Tate mal vorbeischauen…

DICE entwickelt sich zum neuen Microsoft und benutzt seine User (Gamer) als Betatester für Battlefield 4. Dumm nur, dass die Leute dafür den vollen Kaufpreis bezahlen mussten und das Spiel schon erschienen ist.

Die neue Topstory der Washington Post bzgl. Ed Snowden und der NSA. Da der Artikel in englisch und lang ist, hier die Kurzfassung: die NSA erfasst täglich die Standortdaten von nahezu jedem Mobiltelefon auf der Erde. Überrascht ?

Sigmar Gabriel versucht den SPD Mitgliedern die Vorratsdatenspeicherung schmackhaft zu machen, indem er behauptet, sie habe geholfen den norwegischen Attentäter Anders Breivik zu überführen. Das ist erstmal sachlich und inhaltlich falsch. Das ist aber auch so extrem respektlos gegenüber den Opfern, dass ich gar nicht weiß, was ich dazu sagen soll.

Großartiger Kommentar von 4Players Chefredakteur Jörg Luibl zu den Next Generation Konsolen. Unbedingt lesen !

Fast hätte ich es vergessen. Morgen erscheint mit Gran Turismo 6 ein potenzieller Systemseller für die Playstation. Dummerweise (erstmal) nur für die PS3. Gut gemacht Sony !

Launch Title Comparism: XBOX One & PS4 vs. XBOX 360 & PS3

So there they are: the Xbox One and the PS4 – the long awaited NextGen video game consoles. And so far both are a really big disappointment for me. Mainly because they lack good launch titles. But how was it back in the days when Xbox 360 and PS3 were released ? Enjoy !

Note: This comparism is based on http://www.metacritic.com/ data from the 28th of November 2013. Because of a increasing number of reviews the ratings per game will change afters this date (applys only to the XBOX One and PS4 games). All games that were rated not later than 6 days after the earliest release of the console have been considered. Example: the console launched on the 20th of march. All games, including those rated on the 26th of march are considered. A game released on the 27th of march is not considered. We call this the +6 rule.

 

XBOX One XBOX 360 Playstation 4 Playstation 3
Launch date
22.11.2013 22.11.2005 15.11.2013 11.11.2006
Available games (+6 rule)
22 28 24 16
Games with rating (+6 rule)
14 28 16 15
Average rating (+6 rule)
69 points 76 points 78 points 71 points
Best game (+6 rule)
87 points(FIFA 14) 89 points(Call Of Duty 2) 93 points(flower) 86 points(Resistance: Fall of Man)
Worst game (+6 rule)
27 points(Fighter Within) 62 points(FIFA 06: Road to FIFA World cup) 48 points(NBA Live 14) 33 points(Mobile Suit Gundam: Crossfire)

Now the conclusions (all with +6 rule in mind, don´t forget):

  • the XBOX 360 had more launch titles than the XBOX One
  • the Playstation 3 had less launch titles than the Playstation 4
  • Sony increased their number of launch titles, Microsoft decreased it
  • the XBOX 360 launch titles had better overall ratings than the XBOX One launch titles
  • the Playstation 3 launch titles had worser overall  ratings than the Playstation 4 launch titles
  • Microsoft won the overall ratings battle of the last console generation, Sony wins now
  • the XBOX 360 had a higher rated game than the XBOX One when applying +6 rule
  • the Playstation 4 had a higher rated game than the Playstation 3 when applying +6 rule
  • again Microsoft wins the higher rated game battle of the last console generation, again Sony wins now
  • the XBOX One had a lower rated game than the XBOX 360 when applying +6 rule
  • the Playstation 3 had a lower rated game than the Playstation 4 when applying +6 rule
  • and again Microsoft did better in the last console generation, Sony wins now

Well – was that a surprise for you ? Comment !

2013 may be a good gaming year…

…and you know why ? Because in the first 4 months of the year great things happened already and more to come. Here is a short list of games / consoles I´m looking out for:

  • Tomb Raider (PC, PS3, XBOX 360) – already released

This is the reboot of the famous Tomb Raider series, with a younger more vulnerable Lara Croft. I played it on the PS3 all the way through and I liked it. Some say that this might be a more or less cheap Uncharted copy but I think it isn´t. It has the same game mechanic here and there but it adds it´s individual note. Besides it looks really great, the story is well told and I felt pretty much entertained by this new Tomb Raider. I´ve played the german version and it has a very good localization with german actress Nora Tschirner – who did a really good job – as Lara Croft.

Gametrailers review: http://www.gametrailers.com/reviews/7zar52/tomb-raider-review

  • Ouya (Android console) – June 2013, Kickstarter backers and preorders shipped earlier

The Ouya is an Android gaming console designed from scratch and financed with a very successful Kickstarter campaign. Why I believe in it ? I think a dedicated Android gaming console is overdue because the smartphone / tablet mobile devices aren´t made for core gamers (and probably never will, though they improve). Android as an open ecosystem offers endless possibilities to developers, companies and fans so there will be (and already are) much more games available at launch than for any other console in the world. I´m not quite sure if we´ll see A+ titles on Ouya, or at least not so soon, but in the meantime the core gamer can spend days and hours emulating his hero games from past decades or explore the built-in Ouya store. Plus it will feature some great apps that already exist on Android and are easy to port (like XBMC). Last but not least the Ouya is so small in size, you can take it with you anywhere you´ll go.

Kickstarter campain video: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ouya/ouya-a-new-kind-of-video-game-console

  • The Last Of Us (PS3 exlusive) – June 2013

“The Last of Us is genre-defining experience blending survival and action elements to tell a character driven story about a population decimated by a modern plague. Cities are abandoned and being reclaimed by nature. Remaining survivors are killing each other for food, weapons and whatever they can find. Joel, a ruthless survivor, and Ellie, a young teenage girl who’s braver and wiser beyond her years, must work together to survive their journey across what remains of the United States.”

Well – that was a part the official game description. And it´s supposed to be the next big thing by Naughty Dog, the developers of Uncharted. Why everybody is so psyched about the game ? I guess these people played Uncharted 1 – 3. Like I did. I´m not so quite sure that Naugthy Dog can´t fail with this (like some do believe), but I´m very curious to find out.

Extended Red Band Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4pYIsaZqE0&feature=player_detailpage

  • Beyond: Two souls (PS3 exlusive) – October 2013

This is the successor to 2010s Heavy Rain by developer Quantic Dream, that made it to the top position of my favourite game list. Not so much is known about the game itself so far, but Wikipedia says: “The game is centered around questions about what happens after death. The game lets the player take Jodie Holmes through 15 (8-23) years of her life on a journey to discover the true meaning of the entity, Aiden, alongside her throughout the story. The game’s producer noted that players might be able to find out “what lies beyond” after playing the game.” I think it will be a great game, because Quantic Dream CEO David Cage recently said, that publisher Sony gives them the freedom to do what they want to do. And the last time they did it like this, the result was stunning.

E3 2012 trailers: http://www.gametrailers.com/e3/videos/py6dhs/e3-2012–trailer

  • GTA V (PS3, XBOX 360, PC still unconfirmed) – September 2013

Not much to say here I guess. Everything we know so far about GTA V sounds great, looks great and will be great (hopefully). Like you say nowadays: too big to fail.

Trailer #2 Gameplay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMa_H17IL48

  • Broken Age (PC, 4 other plattforms that are not confirmed so far) – Q2 2013

Broke Age will be the next point and click adventure by (adventure) developer legend Tim Schäfer. It was financed on Kickstarter and the first really popular and successful camapign there. It was announced as a classical point & click adventure and raised $3,336,371 (the campaign goal was 400k). I always liked adventures and I hope that this will be a very oldschool, but very good adventure.

Official Teaser Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWM4R5JsakE

  • Watch Dogs (PS3, PS4, XBOX 360, PC, WiiU) – unconfirmed, currently fall 2013

Wikipedia says: “Watch Dogs (stylised as WATCH_DOGS) is an upcoming open world action-adventure video game, developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4,[5] Wii U,[6] and the Xbox 360.[7] Watch Dogs centers on the player’s ability to hack into various electronic systems, either to obtain and control information or to destroy those devices completely at specific times.”

The game got my attention because of it´s superb graphics. Later I (we) found out that it will be a launch title for the Playstation 4 which explained the graphics, becaused they seemed to good for the current PS3 / XBOX 360 generation. Also the principle of being able to hack in everything and everywhere could form a quite interesting game mechanic. There is only one problem. The game is developed by Ubisoft Montreal and I really don´t agree with their latest games (Assassins Creed). Hopefully they´ll do better here.

E3 2012 Trailers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U46GDVGgoRE

  • Playstation 4 (console) – fall 2013

So 2013 will also see a new Playstation. 7 years after the release of the Playstation 3. I´m not really psyched about this, mainly because I still have bad memories of the PS3 launch. A incredible high price, launch titles that weren´t as good as promised (Motorstorm) and a shitty controller. Hopefully Sony will do better with the PS4.

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=x7QhUL8NUK4

As a last point some rumors (or wishes):

  • Forza 5 (maybe as a launch title for the new XBOX)
  • a good rally game falling down from the sky (probably not Dirt 4)
  • more A+ indie games