While E3 may not officially begin until Tuesday this week, the action has already begun. Trailers of big-name games are being released or leaked, the PSP Go has been a hot topic of conversation, and of course Microsoft will try to begin the whole mess tomorrow with a bang, as the company hosts the show’s first press conference. What do we expect from E3 this year?
This platform adventure game launches some exciting action, puzzle solving and dynamic scenarios in an impressive visual palette.
This week we have the mole giving us some solid information about what to expect in Sony’s future with both the PS3 and PSP, the cracks in GameStop’s armor, and we present a few tips on how to be an effective PR professional in the world of gaming. Also, we talk about the challenges of dealing with the gay and lesbian community in online gaming, in the same week Rockstar announced the Ballad of Gay Tony. Let’s see what the world of gaming was talking about this week.
Tiger Woods has become one of EA’s more popular franchises. It might not rival the yearly payday that Madden provides, but the series of golfing titles enjoys a steady fanbase and has even found success on the Nintendo Wii, where the Wiimote is wielded like a golf club. This year’s update provides MotionPlus support for added accuracy, in fact. The series has been successful at adapting to differing platforms, and now we’ll see a similar adaptation for the PC: the next iteration of the series for home computers may bypass retail stores entirely, instead depending on a subscription-based pricing model.
It’s a common complaint from gamers when they look at release lists: there are just too many games to play during the holiday season. Wouldn’t it be better if game releases were spread out throughout the year? Research firm EEDAR has taken the time and effort to crunch the numbers, and the data it dug up is interesting… and won’t lead to many changes in the behavior of publishers.
Microsoft has hit quite the milestone today, as sales of the Xbox 360 have hit 30 million worldwide, with 20 million active members of Xbox Live. Sales of the hardware this year are up 28 percent, which Microsoft claims is the highest jump of any of its competitors.
While there was an older image of what the peripheral for Scratch! may look like, the company has set the record straight with an official look at the hardware that will ship with the game. Called the Scratch Deck, this is how you’ll be living your DJ fantasies. Everyone should take a nice look and compose their thoughts.
If you played the original Boom Blox on the Nintendo Wii, you’ll be forgiven if you’re slightly deflated by the first play session of Bash Party. The game doesn’t make any radical leaps in control, or graphics, or design, but the more you play, the more you’ll realize that the tweaks and additions scattered around the game make this sequel a much more robust experience… with longer legs to match. Bash Party gives fans more of what they want, while not breaking what they enjoy. That’s a strategy that remains hard to argue with.
Just in time for E3, Sony has revealed the official name for its latest entry into the PixelJunk series of downloadable games for the PS3. Announced roughly a month ago, Sony held a a reader contest to decide the game’s name. After narrowing the selection down to a handful, the winning entry was drawn from a hat; the game’s title is now PixelJunk Shooter, a name that seems simultaneously simple and appropriate.
