Menu Close

Video Gaming Alive and Well From An Investor’s Standpoint

Charles-Dutka 6 Comments

Reading through analyst reports of various companies involved in the gaming sector and recent numbers showing a decline in the number of gaming sales, I begin to wonder what the market at large thinks of this. Many, I believe, will take this at face value and make the mistake of thinking that the industry is starting to level off and that we will slowly see revenue for gaming companies begin to taper.

What the individual investor may not realize is the fact that we are in the middle of a major transitional period. And they don't pay attention to the number of quality releases in the recent months. Most members of the “hardcore” gaming community, of which I proudly belong, realize this. The major transitional phase is the fact that two new systems are on the way, and a large number of people have yet to make up their mind as to which system they'll have in the following year. The other issue is that we are comparing numbers via year-over-year percentiles, and we should be comparing figures of the the few months before the release of the last major consoles. If we were to do so, we would see a significant increase.

This, combined with gaming having been in an off-season during the summer, with only a few definite day-one buys around, is most certainly what is bringing the numbers down. The exact opposite should be happening over the course  of the next few months. Although this may not be the proper technical term, I believe that the gaming industry is currently going through  "accumulation." People are starting to chart out their options and fill out birthday and Christmas lists. In my opinion, the coming years will show a significant rise in game sales, console sales (obviously) and the biggest rise yet in DLC.

For anybody saying “sell” to the likes of TTWO (Take Two Interactive), ATVI (Activision-Blizzard), and even SNE (Sony) you may be sorely disappointed at your lack of risk tolerance in the years or even months to come. Investors aren't always gamers but if they were, they'd understand all this, and be primed to strike.

Read more →

Call of Duty: Ghosts & Micro-Transactions: What’s The Deal?

Charles-Dutka 11 Comments

A large portion of the PSXE readership most likely is not playing Black Ops II multiplayer with any frequency. That's understandable.

But for those of you who haven’t, you will probably not be surprised to hear that in your absence there has been the institution of micro-transaction-like “packs,” which contain a camo / weapon skin, a title and a new reticule. There is another option to open up five new pages of custom slots (which you cannot switch between in-game). They usually run about a dollar.

My question is can we expect to see this continue in Call of Duty: Ghosts ? I am aware Ghosts is being made by Infinity Ward and not Treyach but could Activision be the ones behind the institution of these mini-packs? No doubt it is a seriously profitable proposition. With Activision being a very successful corporation (and one that actually verged on bankruptcy at one time), it's inevitable that they would be happy to accept any added income.

Personally, I'd be thoroughly disappointed to see this continue to a level that seriously effected gameplay. Unfortunately, I would not be much surprised. Taking into account that the PlayStation Plus membership is required along with the Season Pass, which bundles the DLC as well as the option of getting the packs individually; one may think this is enough for the gaming giant. But, who knows? Maybe not.

There is also the fact that the multi-billion-dollar World of Warcraft is seeing a steady decline in subscribers, which means Activision may be looking to defray some of those losses. So, for those of you who care, what do you think? Are you against the micro-transaction format? Will Ghosts be laden with micro-transactions, and if so would that change the way you play or even turn you off the game all together?

Read more →

Brigmore Witches DLC Impressions: It’s Finally Daud’s Turn

Charles-Dutka 3 Comments

Single-player-oriented DLC is always a treat. It's a somewhat rarefied form of downloadable content that I have always felt deserves a bigger place in the industry. If you are of the same mind and happen to enjoy the stealthy encounters of Dishonored , this might be the expansion for you.

One may ask, though, what of the first and second DLC packs? Well, the Brigmore Witches brings you up to date quite rapidly and has more than enough information laying around in books and pages to satisfy this requirement. In this third pack of DLC, you get the satisfaction of playing as the villain, Daud.

One thing to keep in mind throughout this adventure- remember to save and save often. There are checkpoints, but they're far and few between and forgetting to save can lead to definite frustration. The dreary and dingy settings are continuously immersive and enjoyable, keeping with Dishonored’s original dystopian steampunk-es universe. The controls are also the same; the only drawback is having to re-assign your preferred powers to the d-pad at the beginning of your journey and also re-learn/upgrade these powers from scratch. Luckily, you start with more than enough money, so you'll soon be on your way to earning the powers one would expect an evil backstreets assassin to have.

There are some refreshing new enemies, such as evil witches (lacking warted noses) as well as undead hounds. Plus, the addition of stun mines and baffle dust add a less lethal approach to the traditional methods in the original gameplay. The other notable difference is the new powers which you have available to you. There is the ability to call in assassins to do the dirty work for you (which works quite well), and of course the ability to pull enemies towards you, after which you can do what you please with them. As in the Knife of Dunwall pack there is also the option of bribes which come in quite handy.

In the previous edition of these packs, the bribes were really quite expensive; however, in this one, the bribes seem to be much less. Or, maybe gold is just more abundant. The bribes range from small things – a crate of loot “accidentally” dropped from a smuggling ship at a very chance location of which you happen to have the particulars of – to obtaining an overseer disguise to get you into places such as a high-security prison facility. However, with the addition of these new features comes the withdrawal of one of my very favorite skills, Possession. No longer can you turn into a plague-carrying rat or deadly fish.

They didn’t so much sacrifice old skills as add new and entertaining ways of dominating your environment and toying with your enemies, so the lack of Possession is tolerable. Overall, for ten bucks I can confidently say that if you have been considering dipping back into this thrilling gameplay of Dishonored , the Brigmore Witches pack is the way to go.

Related Game(s): Dishonored

Read more →

Can We Make An Argument For Separate Call Of Duty Games?

Charles-Dutka 19 Comments

Another Call of Duty, surprise surprise. Now don’t get me wrong: I am a fan and defender of Activision's multi-million dollar franchise. But maybe it’s time the already separated fan base go their own ways.

Now, besides the blatant haters there is a small group of individuals who buy the game specifically for the single player campaign, and that's it. Then there are the people who buy it and jump straight into the multiplayer universe and never look back. And lastly, there are the individuals who do both and enjoy it without issue.

However, every year the same comments seem to arise. The campaign is too short, it’s not a single-player centric production and honestly, why do they even bother? Normally, I would just disagree and point out that Black Ops II was about as near an equivalent to Hollywood blockbuster action movies as I’ve ever seen in the gaming industry. But this time I am actually going to agree in terms of the campaign- why do they bother?

Wouldn’t everybody benefit if they launched two titles a year? One for single player and one for multiplayer…? They already have two studios doing both sides of the coin so why not just split the game in two? A: Double your profits (although possibly not) & B: give the people who don’t want to spend hard earned money on a relatively short campaign a full, completely in-depth experience with no multiplayer option. It would have a comprehensive trophy system excluding multiplayer awards, totally new characters and possibly a less predictable, entirely unique and even dare I say risky approach. And then, make the multiplayer version even more expansive, and maybe learn how to launch map packs on both systems at the same time 😉

Now, this to me sounds like a fantastic idea. I would probably buy both or buy a Hardened Edition version with both discs. Would you buy Call of Duty if there was a version completely dedicated to storytelling that has a longer and more in-depth campaign? Better story, new characters etc.? Or would zero copies sell of the single player and billions of the multiplayer? Could this move hurt or even end Call of Duty? Just a thought.

Read more →

Why Must We Bid Goodbye To One Of Gaming’s Original Genres?

Charles-Dutka 43 Comments

Unfortunately, it seems that there are really no side-scrollers left in the world.

The good old fashioned Castlevanias, original Ninja Turtles, Super Metroid, Double Dragon, Sonic, Mega Man, and so many other great classics have all but disappeared. Perhaps they exist in the form of rarified, off-beat exclusively PSP and downloadable games. But for the vast majority of the gaming world they seem to be going extinct at an alarming rate.

Which, to me, is rather strange. I would think that it's the perfect genre for the digital world. Not incredibly difficult to make, doesn’t have to be particularly fancy and can still be tons of fun. Huge bang for your buck as they always and perhaps surprisingly contained quite a bit of replay value. Has the player base changed so much that they just wouldn’t be profitable? Sure, we see them pop up now and then but in truth, this used to be a massive genre with rabid fans. As soon as Castlevania went 3D, I felt the tide turning and possibly saw it as the end of side scrollers. And in reality its slow demise began well before that. Will future generations grow up saying, "what’s a side scroller?" So, I guess my question is, what happened? Where did it all go and where did all the fans go?

And with technology as it is today we could do very cool RPG side scrollers. TIme effected environments, all sorts of hidden rooms and secret stashes of gold or weapons guarded by complex puzzles. Absolutely massive map with inside and outside environments and fast-travel points. Different climate zones with different enemies. You could have a much more in-depth experience than was ever offered before. Maybe that detracts from the enjoyment of the classic side-scroller but as far as I’m concerned it’s not the simplicity of it. It doesn't have to be simple, it’s just a whole different type of gameplay that I find myself missing quite frequently.

Come on! Mario?! Hello? One of the very roots of gaming itself and yet the entire genre is going the way of the dinosaurs? There’s so much that could be done with this; I just see it as a complete waste of one of the longest lived and most fun play styles ever invented. I can’t be the only one who has asked these questions or noticed the side-scroller's quiet decline. So, what do you think?

Related Game(s): Castlevania, metroid, mario

Read more →

Some Hands-On Time With Dishonored: Dunwall City Trials Pack

Charles-Dutka 3 Comments

Those of you who had the privilege of playing Dishonored should have some fond memories of Blinking up to chandeliers, Possessing rodents, and the ever so gratifying assassination of a target in whichever creative way you chose.

Well, Bethesda recently came out with the Dunwall City Trials pack, which contains a few twists on how we classically viewed the stealth/action/adventure game.

Right off the bat, I will say that there is a disappointing lack of story. But that wasn’t really the intention for this DLC as it is more based around individual challenges. There are four “modes” for each situation they decide to land you in. These consist of Mobility, Stealth, Action, and Puzzle. Stealth is by far my favorite of the modes as it is quite simply what the game was made for in the first place. Also, you get all sorts of fuzzy warm memories of air assassinations and carnivorous rats.

There are only two such challenges, but they do take a fair amount of time and the difficulty was a little higher than the game's initial setting was. And each one is uniquely different; for example, one relies on you finding clues to determine your target, which can be done in a variety of ways. You may also choose to use more or less clues and jump, or Blink, rather, to conclusions. The other variant of this particular challenge style includes infiltrating a gigantic mansion and taking everything that you can find! A big plus to this mode is that there is no timer whatsoever, unlike most of the other modes in this pack (with the exception of “Action”).

Next up: Action. Well this is pretty much a last-man-standing scenario. Survive waves of enemies and feel free to brutally assault an innocent merchant for ammo and goodies, or kill him for upgrades. He does not show up for a while so if you do kill him, make sure you choose his final hours wisely. He is actually in a glowing aura of gold, primarily so he doesn't blend in. There is a bit of a twist when it comes to this mode, which we find in oh-so-many modern games.