I can not read Japanese at all, but an update to Square-Enix’s official Final Fantasy XIII-2 site has a picture of an absolutely gorgeous special edition Playstation 3, as seen below, and a Japanese release date.
An interview found on GamesIndustry.biz (original story here)
talks about the intentions of GameStop to come out with their own tablet in the
near future. You may have noticed
the signs in the GameStop windows advertising that they are going to start
accepting iOS for trade now, so this news may or may not be a shocker. With the amount of money and popularity
that is going into the tablet and handheld market, this move by GameStop really
is not that much of a surprise, but the success (or failure) of a tablet
supported by a store like GameStop could change the store drastically.
Gears of War 2, Fallout 3, and Borderlands; what do all of
these games have in common? While
the list may consist of many things, one of the most apparent is the fact that
all feature a post-apocalyptic setting. While the first is largely a story driven, linear path game,
the other two focus on the fact that you, as the character are in an open world,
and can really do whatever you want whenever you want. There is a main storyline, but often
this storyline is quite short (in the case of Fallout 3) or quite shallow (in
the case of Borderlands, although some may argue it had been designed as such),
and the true depth of the gameplay comes through exploration and the discovery
and completion of side quests. The
problem with this is that in both of these games, there is really no succinct
way of accomplishing exploration.
In Fallout, there is fast travel, but if you die before you discover the
location, then you have to start back at square one, and the only other way to travel is to walk…a lot.
With the case of Borderlands, a vehicle system is put into pay with
extremely basic customization options, but often times there is not too much to
explore, and vehicles are used to get straight from point A to B, then are
ditched. With each of these two games attempting vehicle use in open world gameplay, but not quite hitting the nail
on the head, an alternative is needed to get it right.
Enter Rage, the upcoming entry from id Software (the
gentlemen who brought you the Doom and Quake franchises). Watch any video and it is apparent that
Rage is heavily focused on the first person shooting experience, but there is
also a very strong vehicle component to the game. Buggies cannot only be used as transportation from city to
city, but there are also online modes where one can race buggies against other
opponents. Up until this point,
racing and first person shooting have, for the most part, stayed far away from
each other, but what Rage is hoping to accomplish may in fact change the genre
in some very unique ways.
At the Square-Enix press conference, Square announced that it plans on following in the footsteps of many others in the industry and release a new HD rerelease from the Final Fantasy series.
An interesting, if cryptic, post hit the Playstation blog today with a call for the “ultimate Playstation gamer”, or gamers to be more precise, as they’re looking for “a few”. It’s all very vague.
I
read a pretty appalling article on Gizmodo last week about an OkCupid
match gone wrong… it sparked a little fire in my blood… my simple plea today is this: gamers and non-gamers
alike, please stop judging people based solely on the games they play.
Sony
has tried to push a lot of products on us these days. There’s been
3DTVs, motion controllers like the Move/Sixaxis, and UMDs. With the
exception of Blu-ray, Sony has yet to really sell their ideas. As much
as they try it seems they can’t grab the majority for one reason or
another. However, one interesting idea to come out of Sony might
actually be going somewhere.
