Hello everyone out there at Calm Down Tom, The Human Printing press Shaun Meyers (Kyo Akiara) here with another series of articles for you all, The News of the Day, which will be a collection of various news, links and a few new indie games out there each day.
The first of many happenings out there in the gaming world is Microsoft registering the domain for an Xbox 8, which I believe to be a direct link to the Windows 8 platform! but with little information it’s all speculation at this point.
EA has been in the news a bit in the past few days first is the 800,000 subscribers to the Battlefield Premium DLC package, and today they have now announced two things. The first was that they plan to make Premium Subscriptions for other games that they own. These are quotes EA Labels President Frank Gibeau used in recent article over at Gamespot “We actually think our Premium service exceeds what Elite does–from a value standpoint, from a content standpoint, and longer term we think that we can bring more properties into that offering, and that’ll be great for the business,” Gibeau said. and “This is an industry where people have a lot of one-upsmanship, and if somebody innovates, you match it or you exceed it.” So it looks like since the success of the battlefield premium and Activision starting things with Call of Duty Elite, EA has found the opportunity to use these subscriptions to make even more money for map packs and other DLC within other franchises. In all honesty I’ve never been a big fan of DLC, especially when it’s only a couple maps or skin. I’ve always supported expansion packs but unfortunately I see DLC being here for a long time.
The second piece of news that EA let out was about them planning to go full digital in the near future. Here are a few quotes from EA Labels President Frank Gibaeu on this topic from an article over at incGamers.com
“We have a clear line of sight on it and we’re excited about it,” he said. “Retail is a great channel for us. We have great relationships with our partners there. At the same time, the ultimate relationship is the connection that we have with the gamer.
“If the gamer wants to get the game through a digital download and that’s the best way for them to get it, that’s what we’re going to do. It has a lot of enhancements for our business. It allows us to keep more that we make. It allows us to do some really interesting things from a service level standpoint; we can be a lot more personalized with what we’re doing.”
“But if customers want to buy a game at retail, they can do that too. We’ll continue to deliver games in whatever media formats make sense and as one ebbs and one starts to flow, we’ll go in that direction,” Gibeau continued.
“For us, the fastest growing segment of our business is clearly digital and clearly digital services and ultimately Electronic Arts, at some point in the future… we’re going to be a 100 percent digital company, period. It’s going to be there some day. It’s inevitable.”
I myself see gaming being a digitally run business in the near future as well with services like OnLive, Steam, Amazon Digital, EA Origin, Gamestop Impulse, Gamefly, Gamers Gate and GOG.com the market for digital gaming continues to increase and will only continue to increase over the years.
The next set of news on the list today is a pretty huge set of news, and a pretty startling set of news at that. A EU court justice ruled that gamers are free to resell Digitally Bought games. Reported in Eurogamer The Court of Justice of the European Union publishers are legally unable to stop people reselling digital games. These are quotes from the article: “An author of software cannot oppose the resale of his ‘used’ licences allowing the use of his programs downloaded from the internet.” “The exclusive right covering the distribution of a copy of a game is “exhausted on its first sale,” “Therefore, even if the licence agreement prohibits a further transfer, the rightholder can no longer oppose the resale of that copy.” Pretty huge news, I only hope this doesn’t end up hurting PC gaming in the long run because it’s been starting to come back after a long couple years of barely anything. There is a ton more detail on this topic over at Eurogamer definitely worth a read and this is some pretty big stuff
These past few days also saw the announcement of a few new games as well including the Hitman HD Collection for PS3 as well as Okami HD also for the PS3, and Total War: Rome II. Heres a Live Action Teaser Trailer for you all :Rome II Total War Teaser Trailer.
Tony Hawks Pro Skater HD is also getting a THPS3 DLC for $5. There is also likely no Roster expansion for the next Super Smash Brothers, which Brawl had 35 characters in all due to lack of feasible characters, but this is all speculation of course.
Mount and Blade: With Fire and Sword Dev Snowbird are working on new Pirate themed RPG named. The list of features includes:
- Sea battles with intuitive and easy control system;
- The real-time boarding fights that throw player in the centre of the action;
- Detailed management and customization of both the fleet and the crew;
- Complex siege system allowing the players to storm forts, harbors or entire cities;
- Different kinds of artillery: shipboard cannons, mortars and howitzers;
- Random events system that keeps players question their decisions during their voyage;
- True ‘Carribean’ atmosphere of the vast and dangerous world;
- Unique NPCs whose design based on the real historical figures;
- Various multiplayer modes featuring the sea and land battles, boarding and sieges.
You can expect this game out some time this autumn.
A new Assassin’s Creed 3 Trailer for the 4th of July has been released as well: Assassin’s Creed 3 4th of July Trailer
Here’s a Gameplay walkthrough for the upcoming Resident Evil 6 as well: Resident Evil 6 Gameplay Walkthrough from G4TV
A 1 hour long video of gameplay footage for Star Wars Battlefront 3 hit the internet as well! Star Wars Battlefront III Gameplay Footage! Been waiting for a long time for this game myself, Loved Battlefront 2.
This caught me off guard but a website popped up for Final Fantasy VII PC showcasing a number of new information about the long awaited return of this popular game: http://finalfantasyviipc.com/en Final Fantasy VII PC Announcement Trailer
To Finish off the Article I’d like to spread the word about some Indie Games as well, I love indie games and the indie devs that make them, here is a short list of videos for them
The First is a game called The Sparkle 2: Evo The Sparkle 2: Evo Gameplay
Since everybody loves Zombies this game is called Project Zomboid: Project Zomboid Early Build
The next Indie game is for racing game fans called Aquadelic GT which is a speed boat racing game: Aquadelic GT Teaser
The Next game on the list is a game called Data Jammers: Fast Forward ( reminds me of Audiosurf and I love Audiosurf) DataJammers: Fast Forward Trailer
And the Final game I’d like to show you today is a first person puzzle platformer called Pulse Shift: Pulse Shift Introduction
One final Indie game that I’d happily show you is a game called DLC Quest, a comedic game that mocks DLC’s and the current state of the gaming industry:DLC Quest Trailer
Well that’s it for today everyone, thanks for reading and I’ll be back with more news soon!