Will Touch Controls Replace Button Controls?

I'm In The Middle On This One

I love Touch Screen controls, however they can definitely be a hassle. Especially if you're dealing with Analog Sticks, touch analog sticks have never worked for me in the past. I guess I'm just stuck in my controller way of things. I love using triggers instead of having to touch to shoot.

However, touch controls are the future to an extent.I don't think they will completely replace the controller, but prepare for more touch controls VS. button controls. 

I'd be completely fine if every controller just had an LCD screen installed for important stats, like ammo count, or health, or weapon selection. That would also clear up clutter on the HUD in the game.

Just think of GTA IV with an LCD screen in the controller for car stats, or the mini-map. Mission objectives for Halo, Power-Ups accquired in Mario Kart, you get my point. I know the Dreamcast had an screen embedded into the controller, unfortunately I was never able to see it in action.

Would You Like to See Screens Embedded Into Controllers?

Share your ideas in the comments!

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GTA 5 NEWS, PS ALL-STARS BATTLE ROYALE, AND DEAD ISLAND!

The Second Trailer Has Been Released!

There has been a TON of news all over the web about GTA V. Just like for the first time ever you have 3 playable characters, which are interchangeable during a mission in order to get 3 different perspectives of what is happening. I'm sure that will add a lot of replayability. 

The Economy system is said to be a lot more useful, it's not going to be like GTA IV where after you beat it, money is pretty much useless. You won't be able to buy real estate, so I hope this system delivers. 

The map will be bigger then Red Dead Redemption, GTA IV, and GTA San Andreas COMBINED! THAT"S HUGE! I just hope it doesn't have a lot of bland areas and hopefully there's a fast travel system so you don't have to drive, fly, or boat from one end of the map for every mission.

I have to be honest, this trailer made me take a DOUBLE-TAKE! That has never happened to me for a game trailer, I thought it was a live action shot when the couple was fighting, but as I looked closer I could tell it was gameplay. That's the closest I've ever seen for indistinguishable!

Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale Releases November 20th

Will you be picking it up? I know I will, but probably not on day one. It's not that kind of game for me, I figure it'll keep me entertained for a few weeks, start gathering dust, then occassionally being popped in for a nice change in my gaming cycle.

Dead Island

I've been playing a lot of lately, I forgot how fun this game is. I love being able to cut off/break limbs, create new weapons, and just have an Open-World, Unlimited Time, Zombie playground. The trucks are pretty much useless, with terrible handling and physics. But, that's not where the game is, it's focused on the zombies and the damage dealt to them. When you see a giant zombie walking towards you, with no arms, trying to bite you, there's nothing you can do but laugh. Even funnier, is when their arms are broken and they just flail them about with no control. In case you haven't played it yet. It's an RPG-type game but not at the same time. You can Upgrade stats, upgrade weapons, gain experience, have a ton of slots to carry items, yet it feels like an action game. 

Kind of imagine an FPS, only with Melee weapons and VERY few guns. The money is ALWAYS useful, because over time your weapons lose strength and you must repair them to deal all the damage you can. Even though I beat the game (Theoritically) I still find myself scouring weapons to sell, and searching for money or spare parts. Because I don't have enough to repair my weapon or create ammo. 

The reason why I theoritically beat it is, once you have the option of going to the prison, you can't come back. I went to the prison with my first character and got bored with the game pretty fast, that is until I restarted, now I just have fun ruining Zombie's second chances at life.

It's definitely worth a pick up, it should be pretty cheap since it's been out for awhile as well.

Buy Dead Island on Xbox 360, PS3, or PC

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The Cost of A Game

IT'S A LOT MORE THEN IT USED TO BE!

I'm not just talking about graphics or technology. I'm talking about the Marketing behind it all. Back in the N64 days all you had were a few commercials and magazines for the hype. 

Now you have Special Pre-Order packages, Big budget websites, online communities, and more recently...

Live Action Series!

I've seen this with two upcoming games so far; Hawken and Far Cry 3. The budget is MASSIVE, hiring actors, directors, building sets (or traveling to sets), makeup artists, props, the list goes on and on. 

Hawken is going to be an intense live-action mech battle, while Far Cry 3 is going to be more focused on surviving an island full of Psychopaths. 

I wouldn't be surprised if the next GTA 5 trailer (which is scheduled for 11/14/12) would consist of a teaser for a Live Action Series. 

THE WEBSITES

Have been SO much more complex over the years, not only do you have millions of players logging on, but you have to manage the stat uploads/game progression, heatmaps, interactive features, the community, not to mention the customizeable player profiles; that's a lot to manage.

Not to mention all of the people who are working behind closed doors to keep the network live, site live, fixing site bugs, on top of that you have animators, programmers, etc. working on the DLC content.

Quite awhile ago I heard that each game takes AT LEAST $1 MILLION to make! That's a pretty big hit if the game sells way worse then expected.

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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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