Square Enix Countdown To A Press Release

It would seem the games industry has developed a bit of a love affair with the countdown of late and Square Enix are no exception with their latest one. Now I don’t have a problem with a countdowns in of themselves for a big film or game release, but to announce something? Of course Square aren’t the only ones up to this recently, both Activision and Konami are guilty too, but Square is now a repeat offender after their earlier effort for with Four Warriors of Light.

In the same way that IGN gave away the secret early for the Four Warriors of Light announcement, I can reveal this countdown will be to announce a game (probably a role playing one).

Free Trade?

Rob Fahey looks into the free to play model in his editorial for GamesIndustry.biz this week and a very interesting article it is too. He mainly talks about the economics of the free to play business model and how it will continue to reshape the videogames market now and in the not to distant future.

The Free Trade (GamesIndustry.biz)

Pimp My Live?

Will there be a new version of the Xbox 360 hardware next year? 1up seems to think so, but I reckon it will be cosmetic rather than anything radically different internally despite the future release of Natal. Which brings me to an interesting little article from Eurogamer’s Digital Foundry where they explore the issue.

Why Natal Won’t Launch with ‘Xbox Plus’ (Eurogamer)

Is Twitter The New Second Life?

Just a quick one today. There is a very interesting research study from Harvard University that suggests Twitter is more of a PR success than ‘real’ success. It reminds me of Second Life which turned out to be not a successful as it initially appeared. I should apologise as well for doing two entries about Twitter in less than a week, it won’t happen again. Promise!

Twitter hype punctured by study (BBC News)

Twittering The Light Fantastic

Perhaps the biggest story out of E3 is the integration of Facebook and Twitter into the Xbox Dashboard and while I don’t want to sound like a damp squib my initial enthusiasm has cooled somewhat.

People who use their Xbox regularly may well check their updates more often, but I think the the focus will be on these applications being read only. This is down to two main reasons:

1 – The Xbox controller isn’t really the best way of writing messages and sales of the communicator pad (a mini keyboard that fits into bottom of the controller) haven’t been massive.

2 – Unless you have loads of hardcore gaming friends I doubt many of your Facebook friends will interested in your achievements and ‘humourous’ gaming moments.

Having Twitter and Facebook on Xbox is a great idea and is something I will probably use to check my updates, but when it comes to adding content I’ll still be using my PC.

E3 2009 Predictions

Just to kill a bit of time today I thought I’d have a crack as making some predictions for the upcoming Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) 2009 in June.

Life begins at 80?

Like many of the 11 million World of Warcraft subscribers out there I have been looking forward to the Wrath of the Lich King expansion for quite some time now. Ah yes, the chance to enjoy new lands, new quests (well, more variations on the classic ‘kill x number of y’ quest), a new Death Knight class, and, of course, the new level cap of 80.

Having played WoW for over 2 years, and clocked up nearly 20 days of play time on my main character alone, I still don’t consider myself a hardcore player. Well, not compared to some.

The Walled Garden

The game starts and I run forward, my M16 clutched nervously in my hands, ready for the slightest movement. A second later a grenade bounces noisily near my feet and I am dead. Slumping back in my chair, I watch the Call of Duty 4 killcam replay my three second life. My killer had tilted up and thrown a grenade a second after spawning in. He did not move from his starting position and could not see me.

The beating I received in the next 10 minutes made even a pleasant chap like myself curse the (slightly) younger generation I no longer belong to. No matter what I did they were one step ahead. I hadn’t played Call of Duty in a while and I used to be be pretty good. My golden AK47 unlock means nothing now as someone else is at the top of the scoreboard. That was me a while back, a majestic lion bounding through the African savannah owning fools with squeeze of the right trigger, but now I am a gazelle, existing only to spawn and die in an unforgiving world of dedicated players who show no mercy.

How could that guy blindly throw a grenade and kill me mere seconds into the game? The truth is he knew I would be there. So the question is how?