Same Xbox Time, Same Xbox Channel
Posted: November 21, 2012 Filed under: TV, Video games | Tags: kinect, microsoft, playstation 3, Television, wii, xbox, xbox 360, xbox 720, Xbox TV Leave a commentMicrosoft, obviously upset at the fact that I never boot up my 360 and let my Xbox Live membership lapse, has been dropping hints as though they were objects heated to a point of uncomfortableness that they may be launching Xbox TV.
Ouya — the open source, Android powered console — is a go
Posted: August 9, 2012 Filed under: News, Opinion, Video games | Tags: 3ds, android, handheld gaming, katsuhiro harada, kickstarter, microsoft, nintendo, open source, ouya, playstation, playstation 3, sony, tekken, vita, wii, xbox 360 Leave a commentYesterday I talked about “The Future of Handheld Gaming” wherein I said quite definitively that phone-gaming is a bit of a fad and true handheld gaming can (and hopefully will, survive).
Somewhat related to that is the news that Ouya — the open source console powered by Android — pulled $8.6 million dollars via Kickstarter. They’ve lined up some companies, too, and well, are now accepting pre-orders. This is huge news, of course: while the Vita has been stumbling its way through cross-play gaming, with an Android console that becomes a huge reality — taking games with you on your cell phone seems to be a real possibility.
The only question is, will developers jump for it?
Katsuhiro Harada — Mr. Tekken — recently said that he believes that a one-console future is the way to go, and while that would make things a cinch for devs and likely help the big three settle their differences, it at one point seemed unlikely. I remember imagining as a kid that that would be the future… I kind of doubt it these days, but with projects like Ouya going big, Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft are going to have to find a way to compete. Ouya will likely feature tons of free games — courtesy of Android’s already huge library — as well as premium content designed for the Ouya itself. Something open source like this will be ripe for piracy, too — SNES/NES/GB roms on your Android powered console? Probably.
God knows console sales have been interesting over the last little while, but with a retail price that pretty much trounces the competition, not to mention the 3DS and Vita, I’d be worried if I was one of the big three.
Xbox 720: One Step Forward (and Two Steps Back)
Posted: February 8, 2012 Filed under: News, Opinion, Video games | Tags: amazon, bioware, blu-ray, buy used, desert rose band, ea, ebook, electronic arts, gamestop, gta, gta; san andreas, k-rose, kindle, kinect, Kotaku, mass effect, microsoft, new games, penny-arcade, piracy, playstation, san andreas, screwed, sony, thq, used games, xbox, xbox 360, xbox 720 6 CommentsReading this over at Kotaku reminded me of GTA: San Andreas – specifically when you turned to K-Rose and the song One Step Forward was playing. Read the rest of this entry »