Live Blogging E3: Xbox
I haven’t really live blogged anything in a while, and E3 is a great excuse. Microsoft’s press conference is about to start.
Let’s do this!
Destiny – The Vanilla Ice Cream of Gaming
I was talking to several friends who occasionally and casually game and they all asked me my thoughts on Destiny, the latest shooter/mashup from Bungie. They had seen the marketing blitz and were wondering if the game was worth playing. The best analogy I could come up with (and after some deeper reflection, the one that still fits) was that Destiny is a good bowl of vanilla ice cream. Not just any vanilla ice cream, a really good kind. Ben & Jerry’s good. However, it’s the only thing in the bowl. The realization here is that for all the marketing hype about the greatness of Destiny, it’s incomplete. It’s ice cream without any sunday accoutrements. It has no chocolate sauce, no whipped cream, no jimmy’s and no cherry on top. While there’s nothing inherently wrong with good ice cream, it’s just that without it being made into a full dessert experience, you’re left wondering how good it could have been if only they had opted for the waffle cone. (more…)
Microsoft E3 Briefing, live blogged
Watching the MS E3 briefing this morning. This is a “stream of conscientiousness” thing, will update with details after.
Opening:
Nope
That title alone should clue you in to my opinion about the new Xbox, but I’ll try to be as even-handed in discussing the finer points as I can. It’s not necessarily bad, it’s just not something I feel like I’m going to be interested in.
You couldn’t actually be any more wrong
I was browsing over my normal lunch-hour gaming news and blog posts when I came across two that are both so perfectly timed that it can’t be a coincidence AND so completely and totally wrong. There is an article, which originated from a stockholders conference call by Electronic Arts CFO Blake Jorgensen, and an article from outspoken former Epic Games designer CliffyB, both of which are dealing with the subject of “microtransactions”. That term, when referring to video games, are fees that gamers pay for content. I’ll start with the relevant quotes before I tear them a new one…
Hardware Review: Razer Gaming Peripherals
About two months ago, I had a mysterious email from PC Gamer magazine. I had won a contest for a new set of gaming hardware and a copy of XCOM:Enemy Unknown. They asked for my address and I never heard anything else from them. Then, a couple weeks ago, random packages started arriving at my doorstep, one each day for several days. Wrapped in brown paper, with no return labels, and inside were a new Razer Lycos Keyboard, a Razer Imperator mouse, and the game.
Of course, the first thing I did was hook everything up and run it through it’s paces. What I came away with was an increasing gratitude that I had won these items, and not actually purchased them. I hate to look a gift horse in the mouth, but compared to my existing hardware, Razer unfortunately doesn’t stack up.
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