Hey everyone. J.P. here with the latest in news of the Gaming World. In the world of Microsoft, it has been announced as of November 1st, the price of Xbox Live has increased by $10. This will make the year subscription for the Gold Membership to $59.99. The Silver Membership will still remain free for anyone that wants it, but remember that it won't allow you to have the online features, like playing online, Netflix and whatnot.
Electronic Entertainment Design And Research, or EEDAR, analyst Jesse Divnich stated that the $10 increase is still a great value for all the stuff that Xbox Live offers. To be honest, I do not feel that it is worth the $10 increase unless you actually use all the extra crap that is on Xbox Live, like Twitter, Facebook, ESPN, Video Kinect and Netflix (The only thing I use out of that stuff is the Netflix). I think that Microsoft should allow the users to have the options if they want to use all the other EXTRA Apps (except Netflix... We need our Netflix on the XBox. Ha Ha), then they can go for the extra $10 a month. If the users do not wish to have use those extra things then we should not have to pay the extra money for something we won't ever use.
He goes on to say that the data they have collected from their consumer pools indicate 30% of Xbox 360 consumers have played a video game online 15 times or more in the last 3 months, compared to 23% for the PS3 and 10% for the Wii. Well No Shit Sherlock. There have been a lot of great games that came out for the Xbox 360 in the past few months and people like to play with their friends online. The data only states for playing video games online, not using all that extra crap applications. VIDEO GAMES! Jeeze, What Morons! They also state that the fee will do little to impact the "positive momentum" of the Xbox 360. Greedy Bastards they are if you ask me. Who knows, soon they might charger you by the minute to talk to your friends like a phone service over Xbox.
I love playing online with my Xbox 360 and I like some of the features that are presented like playing with friends online and Netflix, but that is it. I do not think it is worth paying $10 extra a month to use stuff I will never use.
Well, that's it from me. Let me know what you think of this and until next time. Keep on Gaming.
Hey everyone. J.P. here with the latest and greatest in news of the Gaming World. With Xbox 360 and PS3 coming out with all these great games in the next coming months, what about our good ol' pal the Wii? Are they going to have any great games coming out soon? I have to say yes. If you own a Wii, you know as well as I do that they do not have a lot of great games out. The games I have personally enjoy, and I feel that others might agree with me, have been Super Smash Brothers Brawl, Super Mario Bros Wii, Mario Kart, Red Steele 1+2, Super Mario Galaxy 1+2, Star Wars: The Forced Unleashed and Wii Fit. There might be a few other games but I do not think that they are many that are worth playing on the Wii. But I feel that the Wii is ready for a comeback. The games coming out soon I feel will bring the Wii back on top. Nintendo has finally decided to go old school with their games as you may have noticed in the Super Mario Bros. Wii game. The new games look very appealing and I am glad that some new great game are finally coming out for the Wii. Some of the new games for the Wii are Metroid: Other M. For anyone that has ever enjoyed a Metroid game, this is going to be the next generation of Metroid Lovers. This game has everything that we love about Metroid and some new things that make it even better. Watch the trailer and decide for yourself. This game will release Aug. 31st.
The next game that looks really interesting coming out for the Wii is Kirby's Epic Yarn. There hasn't been a new Kirby game since the days of the Nintendo 64. I have always been a fan of Kirby since I first played it on the Gameboy and to be honest, words cannot describe how awesome this game looks. The trailer looks amazing as well as the game play. Look at the trailer and judge for yourself. This game is released on Oct. 17th.
Are you a fan of Donkey Kong? Who isn't to be honest. When Donkey Kong Country came out for the 64, it just blew my mind. If you felt about Donkey Kong Country as I did well you better get your Bayer aspirin because you might have a heart attack. Nintendo will release Donkey Kong Country Returns on Nov. 21st. I know.. I am excited too. The game sticks to its roots and will definitely appease the fans of the Donkey Kong Country series.
Do you remember the game NBA Jam? Some of you are saying yes. Myself, it was one of the few basketball games that I actually loved playing. All the funny looking players, insane dunks and crazy sayings from the announcer like "Boom Shaka Laka", "Kaboom", and "He's on Fire." Oh the great memories. Well, now you can enjoy those memories on the Wii with NBA Jam from EA Sports. I will definitely get back into backetball games with this one. To my brothers, when this game comes out, it's on... NBA Jam will release Oct. 5th.
What about those fans of the greatest shooter of all time Goldeneye? When will they get to re-experience the great classic shooter for the Wii. The time has come and your prayers have been answered. The new Goldeneye 007 will be released sometime in November. I am a huge fan of the 64 version and to be honest, if they mess this game up there will be hell to pay. HELL I SAY! The gameplay is just like the original and the game looks great. Check it out for yourself.
Remember watching Fantasia as a kid? Remember how dark it was, but still amazing? Epic Mickey is the next thing to it. This dark tale of Mickey's adventure has taken characters and locations of Disney's ideas from the past 80 years. This dark tale is about Mickey who discovers the magic brush and creates a horrific creature on accident with it. That creature comes alive and has destroyed the world that Mickey and his friends live in. It is his job to undo the damage his creation has caused and return teh world back to normal. From all the pictures and trailers that I have seen, this game is a definite to own. This game seems to have potential and definite replay value. See for yourself.
Last but not least, the Wii will release a brand new Zelda game called The Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword. To describe this game, actually renders me speechless. Majestic is the only thing that comes to mind and the only thing that will ever come to mind. That is it, plain and simple. Majestic... The game designers want to still tinker around with the game and clean it up more so it won't be released until sometime early next year. Watch the trailer and enjoy.
Well that's it for me. If you don't have a Wii, I suggest that you plan on having one soon. These games will bring the Wii back on top, in my opinion. Love it, Hate it, it's up to you to decided if you are interested in what Nintendo has to bring to the table. I'm J.P. giving you the What's What in the Gaming World.
Hello everyone. J.P. here with a question for you all. Where is the line drawn to where it is fair for Casual and Hardcore Gamers? I think in order to answer this question, we have to look into what defines a casual and hardcore gamer. "A casual gamer is someone who plays video games for about 0 to 7 hours a week," said Rich from GameXCape. "Any more than that would make you a hardcore gamer." But not all people define casual and hardcore gamers by time spent playing games. "I feel as though a casual gamer is one that plays games on a rare basis. usually in a social setting with friends, or in a party atmosphere. Or perhaps only plays a select few games," said Stephen Culton, an Xbox 360 gamer. " A Hardcore gamer would be someone who plays almost religiously. The usually either have a set time they sit down to play. A hardcore gamer plays online for a good majority of their game session. Also, a hardcore gamer tends to collect all the titles in a certain series, or franchise of games." Personally, I feel that a Hardcore gamer plays games a lot but also takes them too seriously. A Casual gamer can also play a lot but plays just for fun, not taking games seriously. They just play to enjoy the game. Well, for a clear definition of what Casual and Hardcore gamers are, well there really isn't one. They are pretty much defined by either however many hours they play or how they play. Nothing is set in stone. But what happens when casual gamers and hardcore gamers come together? Most of the time, nothing good. I like to consider myself as a Casually Hardcore gamer, mainly I play a lot but I don't take the games seriously. During my games, I have seen hardcore gamers treat casual gamers pretty badly. This isn't all the time mind you but a lot of the time it happens. This sucks for the casual gamers because they will lose interest in the game and that's not fair. But know, casual gamers, not all hardcore gamers are bad people. "Personally I will play with anyone who isn't a total jerk. I don't shun "n00bz" because everyone has been there at some point. Sometimes you can offer helpful advice to someone new," said Robert Culton, a hardcore gamer for Xbox 360. So what can be done to make it fair for everyone? Some people think that games should be paired up by comparing people's overall stats or their skill level, like Rich and Robert. Some people just like it the way it is like Hardcore PC gamer Rousbell Orozco. "I don't think anything should be changed," he said. Personally, I feel when it comes to fairness, I feel that the programmers should make it to where the number of people that join groups should be a bit fewer, to make it fair, and the overall stats should make a huge impact in which group a person is placed in. This would make the games fair. I feel it would balance everything out when playing and would prevent the likely chance of getting whole teams of hardcore gamers. Let me know your thoughts. Until next time, this is J.P. with what is going on in the gaming world.
Hey everyone. J.P. here for GameXCape, giving you the news that gamers want to know. As most people know, Halo Reach is coming out pretty soon. Yes. I am excited just like everyone that has ever been a fan of the Halo series. Soon gamers like me, will finally have a new game to play. Though most people are counting down the minutes until it's release on September 14th, cheaters and people that leave mid-game often or how Bungie calls them "rage quitters" might not enjoy the game as much as others.
Nobody likes to play with cheaters and everyone hates it when teammates leave during a game, leaving you short handed. Well, Bungie doesn't like them either. Bungie's Community Director, Brian Jarrard, talks about the steps that Bungie is taking to eliminate these types of players. “We actually have new tools now to detect that and eventually, people who do this habitually will actually be penalised,” he continued, “We want to be able to remove them from the population so they can’t make everyone else keep having a bad time.”
What about the cheaters? No worries about them now. "Unfortunately, there’s just a lot of really smart people out there with a lot of spare time who keep finding new ways to break things that weren’t supposedly able to be broken." (I really hate those kind of people. People mainly cheat because they can't play the game at all and need to cheat to be as good as the rest of us.) For those people that are still going to try and break Halo Reach, Bungie has something to say to you; "We have all sorts of different severities from auto-detecting people on certain infractions and issuing the appropriate punishment, to having the Live team themselves basically make someone unable to connect to Live period." said Jarrard, "You know, we won’t hesitate to ban people,"
Finally! A game company is taking the initiative to make gaming fair for everyone. If only some other companies did the same as Bungie. *Cough Activision Cough Cough.* Some people worry about people getting banned if they leave the game a couple of times or lose connection or whatever. Well as previously stated above, only habitual game quitters will get in trouble. It will be ok if you leave a game a few times. So no worries unless you make it a habit... I am just glad I won't have to worry about people cheating now when I play Reach. I am sure a lot of other people are glad as well. Well, that is all I have for now. Let me know how you feel and until next time, keep on gaming.
