The Xbox One is all about taking over your living room, from your TV to your Blu-Ray player and of course video games themselves. The Kinect adds a bit to the ease of access for this, allowing you and your family to say simple voice commands for common actions like volume control, pausing movies and even switching channels on the TV.
It was just last week we learned that the Xbox One would forgo including a headset in the box for online chat. Instead the system would rely on its Kinect peripheral for your voice chatting needs. For a myriad of reasons this isn't ideal, but perhaps more eye opening is the fact that existing 3rd party headsets would not work with the Xbox One. So we did what any good site would do, we hit up our community.
Microsoft has updated its policies on the Xbox One regarding the always online requirement of the system, or rather, the 24 hour check. Along those lines the policies regarding trading, lending, and reselling of your physical games were confusing and unclear leading many consumers to wonder if they should invest in the $500 console. Today Microsoft listened in part and started to refine the system's features five months before release.
It was just this morning we posted a giant editorial on the next generation of gaming and where things are headed. In a way, just the simple fact that I had to write that headline is a bit infuriating. The fact that games are being treated as software licenses, they are not protected under the first sale doctrine of the United States law, is sometimes hard to comprehend - but such is the legal mumbo jumbo that is US Law.
As details are being revealed from the unveiling of the Xbox One, it appears Microsoft is going to be changing what it means to "own a game." The changes could have a drastic affect on the used and rental market for games while also making it easier for co-op gamers in a single household. How are they going to do that? Every game for the Xbox One will be installed to the hard drive, and if you want to install a game to another Xbox Live Account you'll need to pay a fee. Perhaps this is the end to having to buy multiple copies of games to play co-op in one house?
This generation has seen a variety of change occur on the gaming landscape with the introduction of microtransactions, the mass appeal of DLC, the rise of game prices, and the controversial "online pass system." At least one of those things are changing for the time being, with EA announcing it's no longer going to require an online pass for its games.
I've got to give major props to Lucy Bradshaw, general manager of Maxis at Electronic Arts. She's put out a letter to consumers that's pretty frank regarding the SimCity launch - which we all know hasn't been the smoothest.
It was only this morning we told you how server woes continue for EA's SimCity. Many users are unable to connect, join regions, and play the basic game. There are long wait times similar to an MMO for users as they attempt to play the game. Unfortunately things seem to have gone from bad to worse as the first major patch for the game has been released. Patches are normally a good thing - but in this case - not so much.
GameSpy has recently come under new ownership by a company called Glu Mobile. Unfortunately it looks like the first thing the incoming regime did is what happens a lot in corporate takeovers, they trimmed the fat so to speak. With that they shutdown a lot of multiplayer servers for several older PC games. Many co-op titles like Neverwinter Nights, Hidden and Dangerous 2, SWAT 4, and Star Wars: Battlefront no longer had any multiplayer functionality - though some games do allow LAN or direct connection options.
Ghost Recon Future Soldier does feature the promises couch co-op gameplay, but sadly it's limited to the game's Guerilla co-op mode. This mode is a survival based mode where players fight through 50 waves of enemies. A long time ago, in a news post far far away and more recently on various online retailers it was claimed that Future Soldier supported couch co-op gameplay through its campaign. Sadly, that isn't the case.
All day yesterday I was checking the PlayStation Network Store via my Vita, hoping to see a content update so I can download Unit 13, the latest co-op shooter from Zipper Interactive. I'm on the review for the game, so time is crucial for me, as I want to get the most out of the experience. To my disappointment the game wasn't available until almost 8:30PM Eastern last night, after which, I needed to wait almost two and a half hours for the 1.2GB game to download. Sadly, these superfluous issues with time were only the beginning.
The PC version of Dungeon Defenders has been the superior version for numerous reason, the biggest being it's had a half dozen pieces of DLC already available. The other being the game has been available for some ridiculously cheap prices on Steam. While console gamers have gotten their own sale on the game, it hasn't been anywhere near as cheap. Sadly it looks like console gamers aren't going to ever get the DLC for the game too.
