General Game News

[Henry88]

This is a tale of fans with a tremendous affection for the slightly less appreciated of Link’s Nintendo 64 adventures and, perhaps, a little too much time on their hands.

Pablo Belmonte and Paco Martinez are two men who ostensibly work in the gaming industry and have fond memories of The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask. So fond, in fact, that they desire to see an HD remake on the Wii U and, if Nintendo itself is amenable, are willing to do it themselves. To this end, they’ve put up a sizable chunk of trailer.



Clocking in at almost two minutes, the trailer features familiar settings and characters from the game with redone model and texture work, extremely impressive lighting and shading effects that make it look like something one would expect to find on a console as powerful as the Wii U.

Nintendo is famously stingy about giving out licenses to produce content for its hardware, and exponentially more so when it comes to handing off their trademark franchises to other developers, but this trailer at least does its part to whet the appetite for a Zelda title in full HD.

http://news.cheatcc.com/Article.aspx?PostID=380717

[Compound]

Just announced at SDCC- Activision's releasing a new Marvel game video game in 2013.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/smJAiOFM2AY?version=3" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/smJAiOFM2AY?version=3</a>

That sounds suspiciously like Nolan North too.

[Pak-Man]

It was Nolan North in Marvel Vs. Capcom 3...

OK, so that actually looks really, really awesome. Since it's not tied to the movie, and it looks like Marvel's letting 'pool get a little M-Rated, this has a lot of potential. :^)

[Sideswipe]

Nolan North is in every game!

[Space version 2.0]

Nolan North is in every game!

Except Skyrim...unless you have the Fall of the Space Core mod

[SJP]

Actually, something funny I found out about Nolan North, love 'im or hate 'im...ever hear of this game?



No, he's not pictured on the cover...before he was leading man Nathan Drake, Deadpool, Raph in the TMNT movie, and dozens of other roles from small to large, he played a sidekick who claims he's actually a dragon.  You should believe him, because he said it, and that's clearly the truth.  He's not lying or anything...honest.

The game itself is too many Myst-like puzzles with a decent enough story and environment to explore, but it's one of those things where you go back and think, "so this is what he was doing before he was getting a steady paycheck."  He actually does a pretty good job in it, all things considered, though thinking back on it he's one of those people that when you see them act, you see the actor, not the character.  You know, the Christopher Walken syndrome.

[Sideswipe]

Nolan North does an awesome Walken impression too.

[MartyS (Gromit)]

Actually, something funny I found out about Nolan North, love 'im or hate 'im...ever hear of this game?



No, he's not pictured on the cover...before he was leading man Nathan Drake, Deadpool, Raph in the TMNT movie, and dozens of other roles from small to large, he played a sidekick who claims he's actually a dragon.  You should believe him, because he said it, and that's clearly the truth.  He's not lying or anything...honest.

The game itself is too many Myst-like puzzles with a decent enough story and environment to explore, but it's one of those things where you go back and think, "so this is what he was doing before he was getting a steady paycheck."  He actually does a pretty good job in it, all things considered, though thinking back on it he's one of those people that when you see them act, you see the actor, not the character.  You know, the Christopher Walken syndrome.

Just played the demo for that.  Wow, horrible voice acting. Nice background graphics but the characters and interface are not what you would expect from a game that came out in 2006, seems about 10 years older than that.

[Henry88]

Bioware finds itself in hot water after their Star Wars MMO fails to take the throne from Activision/Blizzard’s World of Warcraft.

Once fan favourites and creators of popular games such as Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (KOTR), Jade Empire and the Mass Effect series have slowly fallen from the good graces of gamers after they were acquired by the popular publishing giant Electronic Arts (EA).

EA put Bioware incharge of creating Star Wars: The Old Republic (SWTOR), a subscription based Massively Multiplayer Online game (MMO) which was planned to be EA’s World of Warcraft killer.

The Warcraft franchise is owned by Activision/Blizzard and World of Warcraft is the most popular MMO to date. EA claims that it invested around $200 million into the project but analysts estimate that EA’s stake in the project might be as much as over half a billion dollars. If that’s the case then TOR is one of the most expensive games ever developed.

“I think it’s safe to say that the total all-in investment in ‘Star Wars’ is probably approaching half a billion dollars, EA has minimized its risks as much as it can on this bet, but it’s still a risky bet. To the extent that any one game defines his tenure, it’s going to be how ‘Star Wars’ performs.” said Doug Creutz who is an analyst at Cowen & Co.

The game launched for America and Europe in December 2011 and three months later in Australia. Initially the game was met with a favourable reception from fans and broke MMO records with the number of subscriptions at launch. It was received well with critics having an average Meta score of 85 on Metacritic.

“We previously described to folks that 500,000 subscribers saw the game as substantially profitable, but it's not the kind of thing that we would write home about,[But] anything north of 1 million subscribers is a very profitable business." said EA CEO John Riccitiello in an interview on February 2, 2011.

Things were looking good for EA post launch as SWTOR had reached over two million subscription count and was on its way to becoming a well established MMO in the market. Things took an ugly turn as the early adopters of the MMO soon discovered that not only was SWTOR full of game-breaking bugs and lacking polish that should’ve been there because of the long development time and the large budget.

However, Bioware was not remedying the situation quickly enough. Gamers who complained on the official forums were either ignored or banned by the SWTOR community manager. The online hate for the game sprouted new internet memes such as ‘Bioware’s Tortanic’ and ‘Titanic the 2nd’.

This escalated to a point where the fans got sick and tired of waiting for game update patches that would fix or incorporate features that were promised to them by Bioware and EA on day one. As a result there has been a significant drop in subscriptions. It is estimated that there are only around 60,000 subscribers left out of the two million.

This has resulted in Bioware to merge game servers, a usually simple operation, which also did not go according to plan as it has been reported that many users have lost their created character in the game after the server merge or are being forced to create new ones if they want to continue playing on the new merger servers.

Bioware announced on EA’s Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) show that the game will be going free to play up until Level 15 in the game. Never a good sign for a subscription based MMO so early in its life. Judging by other failed MMOs, SWTOR can be expected to go fully free to play after three or four months if the decreasing subscription trends continue.

http://blogs.bettor.com/Star-Wars-The-Old-Republic-EAs-very-own-Titanic-a166103

[Henry88]

A Bioware Austin employee has lashed out at fans regarding the state of the recently launched massively multiplayer online (MMO) Star Wars: The Old Republic (SWTOR) according to GamerTechTv.

SWTOR or ‘Tortanic’ is being called one of the biggest blunders of this generation as Electronic Arts (EA) has thrown away over $500 million of development and marketing funds for the project and will now have to make it free to play because of the rapidly decreasing player count.

The failure of the MMO has caused a significant drop in EA’s share price and has lead to major layoffs at Bioware Austin. The Bioware employee, who wishes to remain anonymous, has stated that fans are in part responsible for how the MMO turned out.

“EA blames us and to some extent they’re right to. But it was fan feedback from the day we opened the forums that encouraged us to design it for the fans the way it is and that included making it more like Kotor then an MMO like Wow,” he stated mentioning that gamers actually wanted SWTOR to be more like Knights of the Old Republic (KOTOR), a single player role playing game by Bioware before it was acquired by EA, rather than World of Warcraft (WoW).

Fans have called him out and claim that Bioware is just pointing fingers for their own failure as they opened the official forums on September 12, 2011 where as the game came out three months later on December 20, 2011. It is hard to believe that three months worth of fan feedback could influence the game that was in development since 2006.

This news has also confirmed what every gamer could see coming a mile away. EA is finally about to swallow the bitter pill and make Star Wars: The Old Republic completely free to play. It’s either that or let the game die and be forgotten as the user base dwindles until there is no one left.

The employee also commented on the current situation at Bioware Austin as the layoffs mean that the remaining team is short handed and is having problems coping with the major changes required to make the game free to play. There has been no official announcement regarding SWTOR going free to play from EA so far but gamers can be certain that it is coming soon.

http://blogs.bettor.com/Anonymous-Bioware-Insider-blames-fans-for-SWTOR-Video-Games-Update-a173317

Electronic Arts (EA) CEO John Riccitiello believes that Microsoft and Sony will be rolling out their new hardware by next year following the Nintendo Wii-U which will arrive first this holiday.

The majority of the publishers and developers have been against the decision by Microsoft and Sony to extend the current generation console life cycle by adding motion controls. The reason behind this is that most of the top publishers have already started developing or already completed next generation intellectual properties and games but because of the delay they are unable to get a return on their investment.

Crytek, DICE, IO Interactive, Ubisoft, Epic Games and Square Enix already have their next generation graphics engines ready but right now there are no consoles to fully support them and releasing games on PC exclusively is not that profitable. Thus, the majority of the developers and publishers are not considering it and just want to wait it out.

EA boss Riccitiello claims that the delay of next generation is one of the main reasons why EA’s stock price has been taking a hit since the publisher has already invested in new next generation IPs, which it chose not to reveal at electronic entertainment expo (E3). However, since there are no consoles out to launch the games on, the publisher can’t get a return on their investment.

"I think a major catalyst coming forward and the most important catalyst coming forward is visibility on next-gen consoles because that NPD data…that can and should be reversed out at some point probably starting next year," stated Riccitiello when discussing the NPD data which shows that game sales have decreased overall when compared to last year.

According to the NPD reports, video games sales have decreased by 29 percent where as total hardware sales have taken a much larger hit and are down by 45 percent when compared to those of last year. Riccitiello believes that the decreasing sales trend will force Sony and Microsoft to launch their next generation consoles by 2013.

Another possible reason is that Nintendo will be bringing its console first to the market, as the Wii-U is slated for release this holiday. It is likely that Microsoft and Sony, not wanting Nintendo to take a significant lead and capture a lot of the market share, will also work on rushing their consoles out and according to Riccitiello that will be in 2013.

http://blogs.bettor.com/Electronic-Arts-predicts-Next-Gen-arrival-in-2013-Video-Games-Update-a173178

[Pak-Man]

SWTOR is actually an awesome game. If there's a flaw, it's that a good story needs a good resolution. It's hard to provide resolution when the goal is to keep the player playing forever. To put it crudely, just like sex, no matter how awesomely mindblowing it is, a good story needs a climax or everyone just ends up frustrated...

[MSTJedi]

I'm looking forward to SWtoR going free-to-play. I'll gladly pay full price for the game to "authenticate" the copy I have installed on my computer for the current 15 level trial. I just have an intense hatred of the subscription model of online games. I don't even bother with XBL Gold unless I can get it for free or $1/month.

[Compound]

Mists of Pandaria gets a release date: September 25. Which is about two months before I expected it to be released.

[Lembach]

SWTOR is actually an awesome game. If there's a flaw, it's that a good story needs a good resolution. It's hard to provide resolution when the goal is to keep the player playing forever. To put it crudely, just like sex, no matter how awesomely mindblowing it is, a good story needs a climax or everyone just ends up frustrated...

I think it's more like dating a real hot chick. She's gorgeous. You have a blast wining and dining her for weeks. Then when you get to "end game" and get the panties off, she has no vagina.

[Pak-Man]

It's official: The Old Republic is going free-to-play:

http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/07/31/star-wars-the-old-republic-going-free-to-play

Free to play nets you up to level 50 access to all class and race combinations.

Really, playing through the different class stories (Which is pretty much what you do up to level 50) is the part of the game I'm enjoying most. They'll have to offer up some pretty awesome expanded content if they want to keep my $15 a month...