Tag Archives: consoles

iPhones are flying off shelves. Your grandparents frequently go on 27-hour Farmville binges. OnLive and Gaikai may actually be powered by magic. So, this triple threat has consoles six feet under, right? Not even close, says GameStop president Tony Bartel.

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Take a stroll through the past with this oddly entertaining look at the loading screens for past gaming consoles.
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Long ago, in the innocent, youthful days of February, Blizzard fielded talk about a Diablo III console port. It was just a job listing, said the secretive giant, and “not an announcement.” Now, though? Well, no promises just yet, but we’d say this is definitely the next best thing.

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Hell has officially frozen over.

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Look, consoles, it’s not you. It’s Blizzard.

Well, ok, it’s also kinda you.

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Move over, cops vs. robbers. Make way for keyboard and mouse vs. gamepad.

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NPD’s Anita Frazier reckons 2010 will be a “really exciting year” for the games industry, with Q1 to possibly be the “biggest quarter in videogame history” thanks to titles that slipped from 2009.

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The Guardian has a list up of the current consoles available on the market – excluding handhelds – and lists the pros and cons of each one that you should consider before making a purchase. PC and Mac are listed as well.

When it came to whether or not to recommend Wii, the article stated that it “offers a perfect introduction to videogames”, but if you are in the market for better graphics or “ground-breaking” games – PS3 and Xbox 360 are the way to go.

After stating that, and giving PS3 a compliment in a round about way, the article then suggests that the only reason to purchase the Sony is if the consumer harbors an “obsession with the PlayStation brand”. Citing the £250 price point and exclusives such as Tomb Raider and Grand Theft Auto becoming multiplatform as reason to stay away, the Guardian called PS3 a “disappointment for gamers”.

So, that leaves Xbox 360 to contend with, and the article claimed that the “best games portfolio” was present on 360, but if you wanted a great machine, splurge for the £200 Elite as the Arcade version’s “all but useless without a hard disk”.

There was really nothing to be noted in the PC and Mac recommendations, other than the obvious comment that one has to have a “powerful 3D graphics card” to run most games, and since the majority of Macs lack one, it’s hard to find games for that system.

Take from the list what you will, but as far as price points are concerned, the article failed to mention that for an extra £50, you are getting a Blu-ray player with PS3 as well, compared to regular DVD with Xbox 360.

Then again, it was written from a games-centric perspective, so there ya go.

The writing’s been on the wall for months, but only now has Ubisoft finally finished with the formalities and said, “Oh yeah – that.”

Speaking with IGN, a Ubisoft rep confirmed that the sparse console RTS landscape won’t be seeing Massive’s blip on the radar after all.

“World of Conflict: Soviet Assault will be released for the PC later this month. A console version of World in Conflict is not planned for release at this time,” the rep said.

Bummer. And Soviet Assault’s vocal controls seem pretty much tailor-made for consoles too. Shame, that.

Bailiffs at the door? Repossession notices hidden from the wife at the back of the shed? The holes in little Billy’s shoes impossible to disguise any more? Don’t worry: buy an Xbox 360 and the global financial disaster will be a million miles away this Christmas.

In what probably isn’t the most tasteful press release in the world, Microsoft’s claimed that “British families are set to spend more quality time together than in the last ten years this Christmas, as the economic downturn drives more families to stay at home and enjoy entertainment together.”

Thankfully, Xbox 360 is here to save the day.

“In tough economic times, home entertainment products traditionally do well, as consumers tend to want to stay in and save money,” said Martin Olausson, Director of Digital Media Research at Strategy Analytics.

“Gaming and entertainment consoles like the Xbox 360 are seen as good value, given they can entertain the whole household through Christmas and beyond.”

And beyond? Hot shit. Full thing after the break.

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John Carmack reckons PCs are still better for FPS. He probably knows what he’s talking about, so it’s best to agree with him.

“The keyboard/mouse interface is definitely still the superior interface for a competitive first-person shooter experience, much better than an analog joypad,” he told PC Gamer.

PCs are better than consoles at other things too, apparently.

“The browser environment is faster—navigating web pages on the console is a really tedious experience… And I do think there’s the whole idea of PCs being everywhere, and having a game that you can play just about anywhere. Anywhere there’s a PC, if you’ve got a few minutes you can download Quake Live content and jump in and play your game,” he said.

And there you have it. Consoles: rubbish.

More through there.

Blizzard’s COO Paul Sams, speaking to GI at the company’s Worldwide Invitational in Paris last weekend, said that the reason Blizzard games don’t appear on consoles is because Blizzard games aren’t appropriate for consoles. The man has a point.

“It’s really an issue of the games that we’re making,” he said. “I think a lot of companies and a lot of management teams sit down and look at the Wii as being popular, or that the Xbox 360 is doing well, and try to figure out what their product plans will be for that platform.

“We don’t care. Our attitude is, what game will we make? This is the game we want to make, so what is the appropriate platform for that game? And if the answer is PC only, then we’ve proven that we’re comfortable with that.”

Lots more through the link.