It’s that time of year again. Love is in the air, suicide rates are spiking, and businesses everywhere are lying and trying to take advantage of you. Some companies are spending millions in television advertising to convince you that buying pajamas on the internet will get you laid. Or perhaps the woman you desire will finally surrender to you once she sees that you’ve bought her a teddy bear that cost more than the Prestige Edition of Modern Warfare 2? What about diamonds, or the boxes of chocolates where you only end up getting one or two bites of the one you really like? Maybe a really expensive, super-special arrangement of flowers from that guy with the commercials who gives off the distinct impression he might be considering marriage someday in the state where they make the pricey teddy bears? That’s not likely to do it either.
The brutal truth is that the only people guaranteed to be stimulated this evening are the flower shop owners and Hallmark store managers. Plus, in the opinion of this aging writer, if you’re having to pay for it you’re with the type of chick you might as well try and get the money back from once she’s refilled your health meter. Instead you need to keep your Modern Warfare 2 NVGs turned on and eyes peeled for the type of girl that cares more about a players Mana then his gold. A woman who’ll start an Army of Two with you and always give her all playing Co-op even when you’re wounded and it looks like you won’t have ammo enough to make it to the next save checkpoint.
Things aren’t going well for Champions Online, Cryptic’s half-baked MMO that I tried to warn you about before the game even released. In an attempt to appease angry subscribers, Cryptic has decided to make the next planned expansion, Vibora Bay (now called Revelation), available for free. I guess Cryptic saw the light and thought it may not be in their best interests to rip-off the same people they screw on a daily basis, especially those poor bastards who purchased lifetime subscriptions.
Revelation will be available on March 10, 2010.
Cryptic State of the Game, Wherein They Act Humble and Apologetic:
We have a lot going on right now both at Cryptic, and with Champions Online in particular. There are huge changes afoot, and rather than spend a lot of time with the preamble, let’s sink our collective teeth into the meat of the matter.
Scrubbing the Kitchen Sink
As we all know, the Kitchen Sink patch had numerous issues that made it onto Live. The reasons for this boil down to two key areas:
In the mood for not spending money on a good game for your Apple iPhone? Thought so. You may be interested to know that Reign of Swords, winner of Spike TVs 2008 Best Hardcore Mobile Game for 2008, is available for free. This deal only lasts today so act quickly!
Reign of Swords is a turn-based strategy game along the lines of Heroes of Might and Magic, supports online multiplayer and has collectible items embedded within the game.
Long ago, Chris Sawyer created a little economic simulation game called Transport Tycoon, sort of a blend between Sim City and a business simulator. Transport Tycoon proved itself a minor hit at the time but has withstood the test of time as a certified classic. Chris Sawyer went on to create Rollercoaster Tycoon, which proved far more lucrative.
Now an open source version of Transport Tycoon (OpenTTD) has been released and the result is pretty exciting. Better yet, it’s available now and for free, so if you’re already bored of your Christmas presents then you have a solution.
What’s the scoop on Transport Tycoon?
Significant enhancements from the original game include for example: read more…
Remember when the Playstation 3 launched and Sony execs tripped all over themselves to say things like consumers were confused over all the SKUs of Xbox 360s, only to introduce a fleet of new PS3 SKUs? Remember when Sony execs criticized Microsoft for having two different models for Xbox Live in Silver and Gold? Funny how things change.
Kaz Hirai of Sony has officially confirmed that 2010 will bring a paid subscription to the Playstation 3.
During the presentation, which emphasized Sony’s plans to make its game business profitable in the next fiscal year, Sony Computer Entertainment CEO Kaz Hirai confirmed the plans. “We will be building upon our current free [PSN] service offering with premium content and services to start the subscription model,” he told attendees.
Perhaps to assuage PS3 owners’ fears that they would soon have to pay to play online, Hirai issued a subsequent statement indicating the present level of service would remain gratis.
“SCE will further increase sales by offering users new entertainment through the combination of hardware, software, peripheral, and PlayStation Network,” Hirai said in a statement given to British outlets, such as CVG. “Especially in the online area, we are studying the possibility of introducing a subscription model, offering premium content and services, in addition to the current free services.” (Emphasis added.)
As of press time, US Sony reps had not offered Hirai’s statement or further clarification about its subscription plans for the PlayStation Network. Luckily, though, the “current free services” currently offered on PSN include online play, Facebook integration, and Netflix video streaming. On Xbox Live, both of those features are only accessible at the Gold membership level, which costs at least $50 per year.
There are a ton of books available that proclaim to offer the inside story of George Lucas and his company LucasFilm, but none are better than Droidmaker, written by Michael Rubin. This mammoth 518-page tome details the creation of Pixar, LucasFilm’s CGI revolution, the creation of its videogame empire and tons of technical aspects that make for fascinating reading.
All of this is now available for free, as the author has decided to unleash his work for one and all.
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