The Games News

Duke Nukem Forever (DNF) is the upcoming First Person Shooter (FPS) from 3D Realms. The Garland, Texas-based company, 3D Realms, has been a multifaceted pioneer and innovator in the PC gaming industry. It is part four in a series of PC games featuring Duke Nukem as the hero. Parts one (Duke Nukem) and two (Duke Nukem 2) were side scrollers / platform games, and part three, Duke Nukem 3D, was an FPS. DNF will initially be released for Windows only. It is also possible, but not definite, that Duke Nukem Forever will be ported to the Macintosh. It all depends on whether or not DNF sells well enough. Editing tools like DukeEd, 3D Realms’ modified version of the multipurpose UnrealEd and many more will be included free on the Duke Nukem Forever CD for all of your level design, art importing, and scripting needs. The developers of DNF do not commit to any release dates. The only matter of concern here seems to be that Duke Nukem Forever (DNF) which has been in development for over 8 years now and the only choice the gamers have is to wait and watch!!!

With technology growing, game developers are beginning to consider placing advertisements in video games. What’s next, showing commercials while the game loads up? The only kind of advertisement that could possibly be acceptable for video games is advertisement that is visible in the background scenery of the video game.

There are a few examples of games where advertisement is acceptable: Sports games (advertisements on hockey boards, painting sponsors on NASCAR cars, etc.) and games with giant levels (games like the Grand Theft Auto series, first-person shooters with multiplayer levels, etc.). If advertisements become a mainstay in the video game world, it won’t just anger me but everyone else with a conscience. Gamers play games because they want to get out of the everyday world for just a few moments. With the introduction of advertisements, gamers could no longer leave reality without being reminded how much reality is still around.

Once upon a time, Nintendo was the king of the console and their only competition was lowly Sega. Then, two newcomers came into the picture: one an underdog with a long shot to succeed and the other a monopolizing company trying to grab yet another corner of the technological market. These two companies literally tore apart Sega and left Nintendo at the starting line trying to figure out why they had been knocked off of the right track.

Five years since Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft brought their next-generation systems onto the market, Nintendo is getting ready to release what just might be their ticket back into the VIP room of video games. The Nintendo Wii plans to not just launch Nintendo back into the spotlight, but to leave Microsoft and Sony in their dust. The key to Nintendo’s domination will be the success of the motion-controlled Wiimote and Nunchuck. If gamers enjoy these enough, all Nintendo will have to is sit back and watch the cash roll in.

Sony has recently unveiled its plan to release the new PlayStation 3. It is priced at a whopping $499 and $599 for the base and ramped-up versions of PlayStation 3 respectively. It is the price that is worrying both the gamers and critics alike. There is a serious concern that the price of the PlayStation 3 would be detrimental in the sales of the new console. It is widely said that the PlayStation 3 is the most advanced gaming console, but is it the most expensive too?

No, it is not, according to statistics, the console JDO, costing $700 was the costliest console ever. There can be two comparisons, one based on the actual cost and one based on the relative cost. In both the categories PlayStation 3 comes in the top five. The interesting thing to be noted here is all the high priced consoles have fared poorly in the market, in fact were big failures. All the high priced consoles, which included JDO, Neo Geo, CD1, and Saturn were good consoles but they lost out to their lower priced competitors. Experts say the same will not happen with PlayStation 3 because none of the high-priced consoles had a predecessor like the PlayStation 2.

What will happen to the high-priced PlayStation 3? Will it have the same fate as the other consoles or will PlayStation be an exception? We will have to wait and see.

In the ongoing study of violence caused by video games, a growing concern has been whether or not children have been more or less susceptible to the dangers caused by increasing violence in video games. While most have begun to believe that video games are bad for children which cause them to become more violent as they grow in age, others believe that video games are actually good for children. With most violent games receiving higher ERSB ratings (Mature and Adult ratings) and retailers being fined if they sell to minors, most individuals under the age of 18 are being restricted to purchasing or renting games that are designed for their age group. Most of these games have to do with some sort of sport or they have a cartoon-type of look and feel to it. With restrictions continuing to grow and the threat of fines for illegal distribution looming, children should be able to play video games without the thought of unnecessary violence polluting their experience.

Sony’s new PSP digital camera was put on display at the E3 2006 in March but is due to go on sale on November 2 in Japan. The camera is an add-on, called Chotto Shotto, which means the camera can be fitted into the existing PSP. It will cost approximately $50. The 1.3-mega-pixel camera is not just about taking pictures or recording videos; it comes with an in-built photo editor. The photo-editor allows viewing them as a slide show, modifying the existing photo and many more. The camera rotates 180 degrees making it possible to keep the camera screen right in front of you, irrespective of where the subject is. The camera also has a “zoom” function.

The pictures taken can be saved on the Memory Card in the PSP Media format and the videos in the .Avi format. On the downside, critics argue that the PSP camera is not even as good as a high-end mobile phone. The video recording options are not very innovative either. There are no games, which can be played using the PSP camera, which would definitely be fun. On the whole, the PSP camera looks awesome. It is just a matter of time before some more features are added to the PSP and surely we will have one of the best portable communication devices in our hands.

Sony announced the release date and prices for its much awaited PlayStation 3 video game console in May 2006 at the E3 conference in Los Angeles. The PlayStation 3 will be released on 11th November in Japan, 17th November in North America and will be available in Europe early next year. The PlayStation 3’s base model will cost $499 and an enhanced model will cost $599, substantially higher than its main competitors Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and Nintendo’s Wii. The PlayStation 3 has features like, a 20GB upgradeable Hard Disk, a Blu-Ray Drive, HDMI Port and many more, making it one of the most advanced gaming consoles ever made. But do these features justify the high price of the PlayStation3?

According to Sony, the high prices are justified but gamers are not convinced. Gaming community consider that, from whatever they have seen, the PlayStation 3 has not lived up to its expectations. Consoles are made for playing games and this version of PlayStation 3 doesn’t have many exciting games lined up. Even the much-hyped hardware is not as good as it should be. One of the PlayStation 3’s main marketing weapon, the Blu-Ray Drive according to critics, gives you images like a normal DVD player, nothing fancy. The gamers do have their doubts in mind, but will this actually have an impact on the sales of PlayStation 3. That has to be seen.

According to the reports, the long waited Super Mario Bros DS has sold 480,000 units on its debut, making it the fastest selling DS title ever. It shouldn’t come as a surprise as it can be considered as a marriage between the best names in their respective categories, Nintendo DS in the console category and Super Mario Bros in the gaming category.
Super Mario Bros boasts amazing graphics, which accompanies its 2D game play, which when coupled with the dual screen of the Nintendo DS, makes it simply irresistible. This time around, Mario has 3 others with him for company, Yoshi, Luigi and Wario. There are more levels to complete the game. For example one can play the game without actually having to complete all levels, which means replaying would just be fun. One of the new features of the Super Mario Bros DS are the minigames, in which you basically use the touch-screen feature of the DS. The DS also allows 2 players to wirelessly link with each other and play in the multi-player mode.
The notorius game, Super Mario Bros lives on in today’s world - where games are synonymous with extreme graphics - to actually prove that classics are very much alive.

During the final months of the development of Halo 3, the testers have begun testing the multiplayer aspect of the third and possibly final game in the series. Most of the testing has been on non-HDTV screens on a usual 4:3 480i NTSC TV screen. With the majority of the testing using non-HD definition, this means that Microsoft and Bungie are making sure that Halo 3 will be great for everyone, not just the lucky ones that possess HD. I am curious to see how the game will turn out. As an avid player of the first and the second Halo games alike, I played the multiplayer version to a point of insanity. It, in my opinion, is one of the greatest first-person multiplayer modes ever created. The hope that they continue their testing on the multiplayer and make it their top priority until the release of the game is one of my greatest concerns. The storyline of the game started on a downfall during the middle of Halo 2 while the multiplayer stole the spotlight. For college students and gamers alike, let’s all hope Halo 3 will live up to the hype.

In the upcoming months, both of Microsoft’s greatest competitors are releasing their next-generation systems to compete and possibly deter Microsoft’s seemingly relentless onslaught of the video game industry. Both of the competitors, Sony and Nintendo, will be ecstatic to hear that Microsoft has had no interest whatsoever of dropping the price of the Xbox 360.

With the Xbox Core system at $299 and the Premium system at $399, Microsoft has sold millions of the Xbox 360 while the people who buy it seem to aimlessly shell out the cash (or credit) to buy one. With the price of the Wii officially at $250 and the PlayStation 3 at a indecisive $599, the Xbox 360 stands right between both and should continue to sell the system with but a slight drop in sales due to the release of the two newer systems. With no price drop in sight for the Xbox 360, it will be interesting to watch the developments come mid-November.

Reggie Fils-Aime has just been promoted for President and Chief Operating Officer for the North American division of Nintendo and prior to that, he held the position of Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing. Reggie caught the attention of the gaming world in May 2004 at a press conference, where he famously said “My name is Reggie. I’m about kickin’ ass, I’m about takin’ names, and we’re about makin’ games” and no wonder he has a cult status among Nintendo fans. Critics love him too, not just for his words but for what he is doing for Nintendo and has done for companies like P&G and Pizza Hut, making “miracles” for every company. At VH1, as a senior marketing manager he increased the channel rating by increasing the number of teen viewers. At Pizza hut, he introduced the Bigfoot Pizza, which was of course a runaway success.

The success stories about Reggie could go on but one of his major achievements in Nintendo was the marketing of Nintendo Revolution nicknamed Reggielution, a little tribute to the marketing guru. Reggie in a very short time, has become one of Nintendo’s trump cards and with his marketing skills is expected he will elevate Nintendo to the numero uno position.

During Microsoft’s recent adventure to E3, the computer giant posted a new high score for bandwidth used: Over 600 Terabytes. Not 600 Megabytes or 600 Gigabytes, but a whopping 600 Tera (or Trillion) bytes. Microsoft posted these totals based on the seven million game demos, trailers, videos, and other content downloaded from Xbox Live during the week of E3, with the Halo 3 trailer covering over 2 million of those downloads. The sheer numbers alone (which I will remind you again was OVER 600 Terabytes) is such a staggering number, that I couldn’t even begin to think of how to fill 600 Terabytes worth of space. However, here are a few things that could possibly fill 600 Terabytes worth of space: 600,000 copies of Lord of the Rings or 200,000,000 copies of a single average mp3. This means that you would need about 200 iPods to hold that data. I think Apple would love the idea of Microsoft purchasing 200 iPods, but we won’t hold our breath for that day.

Oklahoma, Louisiana, and now Minnesota seem to be great places to raise your children, especially if you are raising video game playing teenagers. Due to recent signings of the “Inappropriate Games” bill, minors who purchase M-rated (Mature) and/or AO-rated (Adult Only) video games will levy a fine of $25 dollars, instead of fining the retailer who sold the game to the minor. This poses a paradox of sorts: Why fine the minor who bought it when it was the retailer who failed to ask for ID that sold it?

Minnesota Representative Barb Gordon, however, tried unsuccessfully to amend the bill so that retailers would get fined as well. “It’s the retailers that buy the games or rent the games that know what they’ve got there. If they choose to rent those to children then they ought to pay the fine,” said Gordon. That’s one statement, if you’re a state government that is trying to pass a bill of this sort, which you need to heed to. If you are going to punish one, then you should punish all. Fine the minor who bought it, the retailer who sold it, and the company who made it. There should be no fine line anywhere in this equation. If you’re going to punish someone, don’t be biased.

Bungie Studios is releasing a Windows Vista version of its first person shooter, Halo 2, still wildly popular after two years on the market. The game is slated to ship after the December release of the new Microsoft operating system. With the Xbox 360 release of Halo 3 slated for Fall 2007, you have to ask yourself, what’s the point? Why release the dated game on the PC platform around the same time the new version is being released? There are plenty of reasons to get this enhanced port. Halo 2 Vista supports a 16 multiplayer mode like the Xbox (although interplay between PC and Xbox is not possible) and overall gameplay is expected to be similar to the Xbox version. However, Bungie points to massive improvements in visuals. Halo 2 Vista will support DirectX 10, which brings with it nearly photorealistic enhancements. And the game will take advantage of next generation video cards and computer hardware. Read the rest of this entry »

Warren Spector, a game industry veteran and the President of Junction Point Studios, had said “You have a zero percent chance of success.” when he was taking about the independent developers. He also added that “You can’t go make Bejeweled-a puzzle game and then tell EA you want to make Madden”. These quotes of Mr. Spector simply lighten the present scenario of indie or small scale gamers. Today’s gaming industry is preaching its pawns on newer era of big budget games and graphics. Industry has big production houses like Electronic Arts, Sony and Activision which give no space for indies.

In this era of gaming evolution indie companies may find it difficult to compete with big bosses of gaming, but still they have opportunity with online market places like Xbox LIVE and Nintendo’s Virtual Console for smaller games. But the reality is quite different, the era of geniuses like Richard Garriott and John Carmark of Ultima and Id Software respectively are over. Read the rest of this entry »