The Cross-Platform Conundrum

Depending upon where you stand as a gamer, you already know that this time in a console cycle is either very exciting, or completely numbing.  The arrival of a new console is heralded with unprecedented media coverage, gamer fanfare, and usually a degree of hyperbolic rambling that make the new machines seem powerful enough that they could be ushering in the Singularity.  Of course, this same level of fervor can be looked at with a certain degree of bemusement too.  After all, when all is said and done, gaming consoles facilitate your enjoyment of gaming, they don’t create it.  The same way that a set of golf clubs allow you to enjoy golf (if that’s your thing), but by definition, the clubs are not golf. So then, outside of the mire of information that is flooding...

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Dead Rising 3 and the Potential of Next Gen

Now that we are little more than a week away from the beginning of an entirely new generation of gaming consoles, even a cursory glance at the launch lineup for either machine will likely instill a feeling of familiarity.  While there are a couple of new games that could conceivably represent the start of successful new IPs, the rest can’t help but convey a draining sense of franchise fatigue.  Of course, this fatigue is nothing new, it has now been upon us for several years, and will likely be with us for many more, given the industry has embraced a model of yearly or bi-yearly franchise releases.  It was of great surprise to me then, that one of the games that most appealed to me on a personal level was exactly what I was most disappointed to see – a franchise title. An...

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The Imitation Game: Franchise or Forgery?

It sometimes feels as though the debate surrounding games as art is forever stuck in a cyclical mire.  For every game that indicates some transcendent shift toward the artistic, several more insist on dragging it, kicking and screaming, back to disposable hobby territory.  Though this cycle may seem frustratingly rote, maybe the process of advancement toward art form can better be observed through the processes of development, rather than the final (and singular) output of any given development cycle.  As I write this, Batman: Arkham Origins is sneaking its way into stores, and no doubt, many millions of PS3s and X360s.  With it though comes not just the excitement of a new installment in a beloved franchise, but also trepidation carried by the widely acknowledged shift...

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Small Steps or Giant Leaps? The True Next Gen Battle

Now that E3 is finished for another year, the show has left us with a blur of new information regarding the coming year. There were some new Ips, some long dormant franchises are being resurrected, existing series’ are being continued, but this was no ordinary year for E3, it was a transition year. The big news from the show was a more formal detailing of the next generation consoles – Microsoft in one corner with their Xbox One, and Sony in the other with Playstation 4. While the reveals of new consoles and their software are usually an even to savor, much of the spectacle this year fell flat. People didn’t seem to be wowed by executive’s espousing the ways in which the leap from one generation to the next will transform the way we play (and experience) games. No, people seemed to...

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The Lesser of Two Evils

When Resident Evil was first unleashed upon the gaming world in 1996, few people could probably imagine the tumultuous struggle with identity into which the series would eventually descend. In many ways, Resident Evil was the quintessential product of its generation – a game whose design was very much informed by the technical limitations of Sony’s first Playstation. As the series and the hardware upon which it appears have evolved, so have the foundational elements of the series. The quality of the character models has risen significantly, fixed viewing perspectives have given way to a fully player controlled camera, and the detailed yet flat pre-rendered backgrounds have long since given way to fully three-dimensional environments. Yet despite the technological advances the series...

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Press [A] to Start is live!

Press A to Start. What does that phrase mean to you? Maybe it represents the anticipated first step into an exciting journey? Maybe it doesn’t do much more than conjure up a variety of good memories spanning the lifetime of a beloved hobby. Maybe it represents something different altogether. To me, it represents the beginning of a dialogue – a conversation between myself, friends, and just as importantly - the digital realization of all the hard work by any given dev team. In fact, some of my most cherished gaming memories involve talking about games, just as much as playing them. But what then does the conversation revolve around? Gameplay? Sure, that’s a part of it. Narrative? That has a place too. The truth is, games can spawn any number of topics, from a variety of different...

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Coming soon

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