EA Being Dragged Through The Mud

Well it is ruff out here for EA, especial after a second class action lawsuit against them has been officially filed. Now I want to say that I feel bad for them, but that would not be completely true. As a gamer I have had it to about here, with developers and publishers releasing games that are not finish. Its about time this become a issue not just for gamers, but for those developers and publishers too, and there bottom line seems like a good place to start. I mention in a previous article called EA Turning Into Cancer For Developers, how I use to love EA, and how I would like to like them in the future. But EA has to go back to believing that gaming is a art, and there is no way you let a artist release a unfinished piece, so why release a unfinished game. Ubisoft got it right when they said in a interview that they would never release an unfinished Assassin's Creed game, not even to uphold a "annual release date" you can find that article here. Now you see that is what I am talking about, a game developer/publisher caring more about the quality of a game over a release date. EA already has a large fan base from all of there different franchises, and the way you grow a base is by of course periodically releasing a updated version of your game. But also by the quality, and undated functionally you put into your updated release. At first I thought EA was getting it when they pulled there NBA Live franchise, deciding to take it back to the labs to refine it,you know make it into a product worth playing. But then four years later, all I can think is did they just release a rehashed version of the NBA Live 10 game (the one they were afraid to release due to how horrible it was) with a updated roster.

I don't just want to pick on just EA, There are several gaming publishers, and developers who have release games that weren't completely finished. There was Bethesda's Skyrim, a game I really enjoy playing but it was patched up like a holey grail. There was Fable 3, Fallout: New Vegas,Dragon Age 2, Grand Thief Auto 5 and those are just a few. I know EA is thinking why is everyone picking on us, we were not the first or last company to release a blatantly unfinished game. But I say, "that is true" which is way a partly feel bad for EA, since they shouldn't be the only one's holding the bag on this. But because of the big publicity other gaming companies will think twice, no three times before they even think about release a unfinished game.

YouTube Wrecking Gamers Careers (Did We Just Get Scroogle?)

With YouTube taking down gamers video game footage, I have to wonder if we just got scroogled. YouTube's auto bots, have been taking down gamers video game footage due to copyrights issues, issues that most game developers don't even want to claim. Let's play videos, walkthroughs, and hints and tips videos all help sale video games. When I'm interested in a game but I'm still on the fence, I watch let's play videos or walkthroughs. They help me closed the deal on if I'm either going to get the game or if I'm going to wait til later to pick it up, if at all. It is a great way for gamers to be honest about their options of a game while allowing other gamers to see the game. Its almost like free press for game developers, except for the YouTubers who receive money for having commercials on their videos. Which is YouTube's big gripe, gamers making a profit off of showing their gameplay and it coming back, in the frame of a lawsuit, to bait YouTube in the butt. Great game companies like Ubisoft, Capcom, Blizzard, Deep Silver, and others have rallied around their gamers, but I don't see how they are going to keep that up since there is no way for them to keep reinstating every YouTuber's claim, there is just too many. Many YouTubers livelihood depend on ad revenues and +boogie2988 made a great video explaining that and telling off other YouTubers for being insensitive to that point. I understand YouTube's point of view, they have several law suits against them from the music industry for YouTubers making money off of music videos, and this is there way of preventing it from happening with the gaming industry. But it is not the same thing. Someone uploading a music video and basically pirating a music artist work is different then videogame commentary, in which you have to create content on top of content( game footage) , plus edit the video, and if they want to grow your audience then the commentary has to be original on top of everything else. YouTube what I'm trying to say is stop scroogling gameplay videos and find a way to fix your new copyright policy. Right now it is impossible for any up and coming game review, or let's play character to come out. I know bigger characters like +LevelCapGaming, +AngryJoeShow , +Matimi0 and others already have a base audience that will continually coming back, to watch anything that they put up, even vlog, while YouTube finds a way to calm down there auto bots and this ID content algorithm (and I'm not saying that those personalities above are not going through hardships either) But bigger channels unusually have some contacts within the industry, so at least some of there video contact can get un-flagged a little quicker then someone else who knows no one. Google/YouTube I know you can fix this, or make a better policy so user's videos aren't being taken over by anyone who wants to turn in a claim, to claim it.

Is 500GB of Hard Drive Space For Next-Gen Consoles (Xbox One, PlayStation 4) Enough?

For anyone who has a current generation console (PS3,Xbox 360), 500GB of hard drive space sounds like a lot. Most gamers are content with their present 80GB of hard drive space. But few have considered that the next generation console's games would eat there present console's hard drive space for breakfast. No wait breakfast is too big of a meal, let me rephrase, the next-gen console's games would eat your present console's hard drive space for brunch. Yeah brunch sounds more accurate. A PS4 game like Knack takes 37GB of  hard drive space when it is all said and done. Call of Duty: ghost takes up somewhere in the 45GB range. So when it all said and done, you might have maybe 12 games saved on your Next-Generation console. But that would only be the case if you had all 500GB of space to dictate to only your games. A part of any hard drive spaces goes to the system's operating system. So for the Xbox One you have 362GB of usable hard drive space, which equals about 8 games that you can have saved on your system. For the PlayStation 4 you have 408GB of usable hard drive space, which is a little better than the Xbox One, but it only equals about 9 games that you can have saved on your console. I think hardcore games can max out that much of available hard drive space in 6 months to a year, with causal players not far behind. In the beginning it might not be that hard to manage you available space but through the lifetime of your console, it is going to suck to only have 8 to 9 of your favorite games saved on your console. which will bring gamers to the inevitable, switching out their stock hard drives for a bigger one. while I talk about why the PlayStation 4 is special to women games in this link here , it is because of how easy it is for anyone (tech skills or not) to do the dirty deed of switching out the hard drive. For the Xbox One I know it is a lot more difficult and not so initiative, but if you want more information on how to get to the hard drive on the Xbox One checkout  this link here, it will take you to Geek.com where they go over some of hardships of getting to that elusive hard drive on the Xbox One. Now with the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 increasing digital game sales by 25% in only a month, this issues of hard drive space really needs to start getting some attention. You don't want to wait too long to switch out your hard drive because of the data you will lose, but you don't want to switch it out too early because it will void your warranty. I'm hoping that game developers can find a better way of utilizing the power that is available on both the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 without killing my hard drive space in the future. And that Xbox's One and PlayStation's 4 figure out ways to use cloud computing to alleviate some of the crazy amount of hard drive space next-gen-games require.

Who Thought the Share Button Would Be Big

How many times have you been playing a game on your console and you do something unbelievable and there is no one there to see it. There is no one there to recognize your skills or see your incredible fluke. With Sony’s share button on the PS4 controller all that has gone away. There has been over 800K videos of broadcast gameplay since the PS4 launched last month and over 20 million minutes of live streamed gameplay.  All this is according to VG 24/7. In the past it uses to be a pain in the butt to upload quality video’s to YouTube. Not many people wanted to spend the money for equipment, mics, video editors and etc. to post videos online. Yet we all felt like we had a little +LevelCapGaming  (a YouTube users who posts awesome gameplay videos online) in us. The share button has enable us to share our skills with tutorials, and how to’s, as well as boast about how good we are. I don’t know how many times I’ve yelled at my TV screen “Did You Just Not See That” and then thought oh right, there is no one here. I think even Sony is surprised that the Share button success, with Sony's Worldwide Studios president Shuhei Yoshida expressing how the share button “surpassed his wildest of expectations”. I've been thinking this for a while but  the “power to the gamers” slogan should really go to Sony PS4 campaign since it really has been empowering there gamers to share more and explore more, and to play more.

Borderlands 2 Free for PlayStation Plus Members

Today Borderlands 2 will be free for PlayStation Plus members. This is a great deal seeing as Borderlands 2 is one of the best games of 2012 and it offers a lot of loot, guns, and co-op fun. I have a full review here, where I tell you the good and the bad about Borderlands 2.I can tell you it has never been better to be a PlayStation plus member. Sony has been giving away some awesome titles of late. And not just any title but titles that gamers actually want to play. When I first heard that PlayStation Plus was going to be giving away games I thought it would be for older titles that already have better counterpart on the market or for some unheard of title that has already become irrelevant. But Sony is not holding back at all, they are giving away A list games, on top of the discounts for poplar games and 3GB of online data storage.  

EA Turning Into Cancer For Developers

EA (Electronic Art) was founded in 1982 and when I was a kid, I use to love seeing the EA badge on a game or hearing the " EA it's in the game" slogan. In fact I use to sing the slogan for everything even for things that weren't game related. Like shooting my sock into the sock drawer, "it was in the game". To Keep it simple EA use to produce and publish some awesome games. Old Medal of Honors like Allied Assault, the more older versions of Madden, Mass Effect 2, Need for Speed. But Lately when I see the EA badge on a game, my heart drops a little because "EA its in the game" has turned into "EA its for the money". Its like quality control has gone out the window for quicker release dates. Especial if the previous game was a hit. EA was founded on recognizing gaming as a art form hence their name Electronic Art (EA). But the way that EA has been pushing unfinished games out into the market makes me think that there new version of art is like a mobile phone app, something that needs to be updated weekly. Here are a couple of rules that I wished developers and publishers lived by number 1 not selling me a broken game, number 2 not having day one updates the size of half the game. Number 3 not selling me DLC that should have already been apart of the original game. Those are the three simple rules that gamers need both game dev's and publishers to follow. We are trusting these companies with are money before we even play the game especial when we buy the DLC bundle like packages since we have no idea what type of actual content is going to be on them besides a few screen shoots, that right there is us trusting you not to screw us over. On a rudimentary level we are expecting our games to work. And not some of the features on the back of the box but all of them. (I'm talking to you Rock Stars with that recent GTA5 online multi-player debacle). But I'm also talking about games like Battlefield 4, whose online issues are keeping gamers who purchased that type of game for only one reason, the online multi-player. EA's recent stock drop should be that wake-up call to get themselves together and produce and publish art, and not unrecognizable crap. Here's hoping that one day (and hopeful one day soon) I will be able to fall back in love with "it's in the game".    

Borderlands 2 a Gamer Girl's Review

Borderlands 2 was the much needed upgrade to the classic and well loved Borderlands 1 game that came out in 2009. If you have no idea what borderlands is or what the game is about, here it is in a nutshell. Borderlands is a first person shooter, with rpg elements, and a lot of loot. The things that made Borderlands 1 and now Borderlands 2 stand out in a sea of first person shooters is that cartoon art style (cell-shading) and the level of randomized loot that is in the game.



The Good

Guns
Let just start out with the good, and why I've spent hundreds of hours, playing and replaying Borderlands 2. The loot, the game boost that they have somewhere in the bazillion mark of available weapons in the game, if bazillion is even a number. And they are right, I have played this game through with every character more then twice and there are a lot of guns and grenades. If you want to snipe they have sniper rifles, if you want to mow someone down you can  use a sub-machine gun or rifles, if you want to blow something up they give you grenades, rpgs, and shotgun. Borderlands 2 basically has everything you could ever think of, which is what really made this game fun for me. I can play with any play style I want, and I can change my play style at any time to fit any situation.

Leveling
Who doesn't like rpg's? Well maybe I shouldn't say that, but if you like rpg's Borderlands 2 has enough rpg elements to make it feel like you are really turning your character into a kick-ass gun toting, powerhouse. The game starts you off with four characters, that have there own special abilities, making each one unique. (there is DLC currently out if you want to get an additional two characters.) Each character has there own skill tree with three branches, which allows you to make your character more offensive, defensive, or a little of both. The skill tress are well balance so you don't feel like you're playing at a disadvantage if you pick one character over another or if you pick one skill tree branch over another. Another plus to the leveling system is that you can reset the points you put into a skill tree branch at anytime. So if you started down one particular skill tree branch and wanted to relocate your points to suit how you are currently playing or just because you want too you can do that. It gives the game more replay value.

Art style
Not everyone is a fan of the cartoon art style. In fact I have friends who refuse to play Borderlands just because of that one reason. But the art style fits the game, and here is my reasoning behind that. If  the game had a more realistic art style it would be hard to buy into the fact that it takes over 100 bullets to kill a boss sometimes. People would be expecting one-shoot kills and etc like as if they were playing Battlefield or Call-of-Duty. Secondly the art style lends itself to the playful nature of the writing team. The jokes in this game wouldn't be half as funny if they were delivered in a more realistic art style game. Now onto how the game looks. It looks beautiful. The first borderlands game what literally stuck in brown, and neutral colors. But Borderlands 2 changed all that, and actually give us colors (red, deep blues, etc), and the cell-shading looks better then what it did in the first borderlands game, which already looked good.

The Bad

Character Customization 
This is the only thing I can really fault the game on, besides one other thing (but the other thing is more of a personal matter then a actual flaw I see in the game). Borderlands 2 offers character skins. Its Gearbox's way of letting people customize there characters. But it doesn't really work. Yes you can change you characters clothe with preset outfits, but all the outfits look the same, except they changed the colors. I'm sorry but that is not customization or at least not the customization we expect form a game developer like Gearbox. When we think about being able to customize our character we are thinking size, height, skin color, eye color, nose orientations and etc.I am not saying that this takes away from the game. You are in first person view, so its not like you can see your character beyond there hands, but this is the touch that Gearbox is missing out of there Borderlands 2 game. With all the different types of guns, and grenades, and locations that are in the game it would have been nice to have all different types of characters too.

Repeat, Repeat, Repeat
This is a wash, rinse and repeat type of game. But I wish it was more then that. You have to play the game twice just to max out your character, so i feel like you never get to see your characters full potential unless you repeat the game again. Which means playing and listing to the same content over and sometime over again. Now when you play it over again it is on a harder difficulty level, but after a couple of hours, due to the fact that you get better and stronger guns, you are basically just playing the game over and over again. Now this is more of a personal matter, since the game is meant to be repetitive to a point but playing a game 3 times with 4 or 5 and yes sometime 6 different characters is over kill.

Overall Score: 9/10

Hey this game provided me with so many hours of fun that it deserved the high score. The bad things that I did mention about the game never took away from the game play. I didn't even talk about the hours of fun I had playing co-op with family members, friends, and other random players online. There is no other game on the market that makes playing co-op this fun, and with such great game mechanics, letting other players drop in and out of your game, without messing up your game missions, or save file.