GTA 5 CONFIRMED RELEASE WINDOW!

BIG NEWS!

If you have been one of the MANY that have been searching Google/Bing/The whole internet for farther GTA 5 news, filtering through all the fake videos using GTA 4 and an Ice Enhancer mod, look no farther!

This official announcement from Rockstar states that it will be taking place in a Re-imagined modern-day southern California, as well as Pre-orders starting NOVERMBER 5th, 2012! That's way more news then we have become accustomed to. They are also saying there's LOTS more info coming in Novermber.

Hurricane Sandy Shutdown Midnight Releases of AC3

Hurricane Sandy has been quite a troublemaker lately, so bad that GameStop shutdown ALL Northeast locations, resulting in no Assassins Creed Midnight release for the Northeast. I'm pretty sure all gamers understood though, I mean I wouldn't want to die getting to a Midnight release. That doesn't mean that their won't be MANY dissappointed gamers though.

Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale

Many fans of the Super Smash Bros. Series, are extremely skeptical of this game, mostly because they call it a direct ripoff of Super Smash Bros. 

I have a different outlook, I've played the Super Smash Bros. series and enjoyed it quite a bit, I just hated playing with my friends because they were way to good, I never really got above Rookie Status, I did have fun playing as Kirby though. Anyways, I had a great time playing the beta, instead of using a health system, they use a "Kill System". You can get hit as many times as you want, but once someone activaties their "Super" you better watch out! You have 3 different levels of Supers, each level more powerful then the last, each super is also tailored to each individual character making you want to try each character's super on every level of power. 

The two levels in the Beta were pretty fun and entertaining to watch and play in. The only characters that I played were Kratos and Colonel Radec. Kratos was fun because, he was a really fast character, he was pretty devastating too, because he used his whip to grab people in mid air and continue to juggle them.

Colonel Radec was also extremely fun to play, however he is a little cheap. He has Sniper that he can pull out, that blasts whoever he hits across the level. He also has a few other weapons of amazing destruction. 

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HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!!!!!!

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The Freedom of the Internet is Disappearing as we Know it!

SOMETHING THAT WILL CHANGE THE INTERNET FOREVER IS COMING!

What am I talking about? The Six Strike System, is set to come out this fall. appeals are going to cost you $35 and you will only be refunded if you win, that's not even the worst of it. 

If they suspect you of Illegally downloaded something, they will notify whoever has the Copyright, then the Copyright holders can choose to press charges. Goodbye internet freedom, youtube downloaders, file-sharing sites, sharing music with friends, etc.

This is something I want STOPPED dead in it's tracks, how else are you going to get gamesaves, Nostalgic games from your childhood without spending hundreds of dollars? I'm actually scared about this system, I'm sure everyone else will agree. It even says "we will be going after Joe Consumer, not sophisticated pirates" That doesn't sound right. Go after the people who aren't complete geniouses. The only way around it that I can see, is exchanging flash drives with each other, or will they invent a system to track those too? Where will it stop? Are we going to let them control us like this?

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Video Game Marketing

I'm cutting it close this week!

So, here it is 10 AM on a wednesday, no post in mind whatsoever. This week flew by, but as I was writing a post for another blog I post to I started thinking about the Marketing of games.

Some games I've played were INCREDIBLE but there wasn't much marketing, so not a lot of people knew about it. Just Cause 2 is a great example of this, It's like GTA in a way but with the missing gameplay elements fixed. 

GTA 4 failed to include planes, and only had about 3 or 4 different helicopters, however Just Cause 2 has about 4 or 5 different planes, not as many car variations, 4 different helicopters, and what I think is the best of all: Dual Hook Grappling Hook and The 24/7 Parachute. 

The rag doll physics aren't anywhere near GTA 4's, The driving isn't even close to realistic, but that's not what this game is about, it's all about fun and destruction, kind of like Saints Row in a way.

Another one is SSX, I personally haven't played it but have played the demo a number of times. I thought it was great with bringing back the series in a new way, however even with following it closely, It was released before I know it, I found out it was released when I went into GameStop to look around. 

Alright, enough of that. Some Marketing techniques I've seen lately are really impressive. You've got GTA 5 with one trailer over a year ago, A fictitious Twitter Account being reactivated, and "Leaks" from RockStar Employees. Hawken has it's own Mini-Series to promote the game, it's like a Live-Action Mech Mini-Movie all for one game. Far Cry 3 has been releasing bits and pieces of the game through different themed videos called "The Island Survival Guide", not to mention being EXTREMELY secretive of the Map Editor.

What Strategies have you seen among different games/companies?

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Could replaying games relax you more then playing a new one?

Is it true?

I saw an article last week about a study involving TV reruns, Group A watched a bunch of reruns of TV shows they were familiar with, while Group B watched shows that they were unfamiliar with.

THE RESULTS

Group A reported having LESS stress then Group B, they say because Group A already knew what was going to happen, their mind didn't have to work as hard as Group B.  That lead me to ask the question, 

Can the same be applied to certain games?

Obviously this will only work with a very small amount of games, ones that have a linear story with only one path to go on throughout the game. Will two different groups have varied stress levels like in the TV experiment? The game for group A would have to be a game that has no plot changes, no gameplay changes, every play through has the same result every time. While Group B could play any game they want, such as a Sandbox or an FPS. I'm interested in what the results would be.

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So long gamer mags :(

Old News

      This is old news, but in case you haven't heard: Nintendo Power is no longer being published! This saddened Nintendo Power fans across the world, which got me thinking............

Are ALL Gamer Mags Going to Disappear?

      I don't mean disappear as in completely be nonexistent, but disappear as in no more hardcopies, no more magazines. Game Informer is definitely pushing that way, every time I go to renew my Powerup Rewards card at GameStop, they try their hardest to persuade me toward the digitalized version. I know the digital version is better; instantly delivered, updated throughout the month, clickable links, etc. Only one problem, there is nothing physical to look back on. Ever since I got a GameStop card, I've kept every issue and every now and then it's fun to look back at all the years, all the issues that I have acquired. Even the covers are incredible!

Are Gamer Mags a Part of YOUR life?

      Should EVERYTHING be digital? I don't think so, like I said before I love having the physical merchandise after, it's like actually getting something for the subscription vs. a bunch of webpages. 

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