In-Game Advertisements and Social Media Integration

I think in the near future f2p games will feature a ton of social media integration that essentially incentivizes the players to advertise the game.

Also, in-game advertisements. I wouldn't be surprised to see both in Blizzard's fabled Titan.

Bioshock: Infinite Review

BIOSHOCK: INFINITE REVIEW

This is quite literally the best game I have ever played.

Nay, it is the best experience of my life.

I am weeping right now. Indeed, I am unaware how, from this day onward, I will be able to experience ordinary life such as this, knowing that it pales in comparison to the beauty exhibited in this game. Bioshock: Infinite has changed the way I view video games as a narrative medium, and how I view my life as a human being. It is the most perfect game ever constructed, the magnum opus of our time, and deserves a place among the works of artists like Goethe and Dante.

8/10

Update: Minor Absence

I'm in the middle of moving to another state, so updates will come even less frequently than I had originally hoped. My life has sort of been in flux for a while, but I plan on relaunching this as soon as things settle down.

What I'm kind of working on, or at least have planned:

Reviews of:

• FULL Review of Primorida -- it deserves it
• Ni No Kuni
• Fire Emblem Awakening
• Etrian Odyssey IV
• Atelier Ayesha

I may combine several of those JRPGs into a more broad look at the sudden influx we've had recently. (Also, when did I turn into such a weeaboo?)

Possible YouTube coverage of:

• Shattered Haven
• Other indie/gog games in the future

I'm planning to relaunch this entire thing because it's been rather unfocused. Originally, I had planned to do more industry analysis, which will remain, but I've also become more interested in informal reviews and analysis of games. Very likely that you will see some sort of YouTube commentary along with the relaunch, because I feel that is the superior medium to do reviews of games.

Otherwise, I'll still be around and drop whatever weird industry predictions I have on this blog, so it won't be exactly dead, but I'm giving you less pretense that there will be much else for the time being.

Blizzard TCG?

I'm guessing that the Blizzard announcement today is going to be something along the lines of a TCG or Tabletop. We'll see in a few hours at PAX.

... different from out other games...
... get your hands on.

Edit: Also, it may be called Heroes of Warcraft and be something along the lines of Hero Academy/MTG: Planeswalkers.

Flyers/leaks below:

Starcraft 2: Heart of the Swarm Original Ending Do Not Steal

Diablo 3 for consoles -- are you *really* surprised?

You fucking shouldn't be.

My twitter is currently being set ablaze by butt devastated Diablo fans who somehow didn't see this coming.

Four player co-op? No skill points? Only four or five skills at once? Do you really think this game wasn't designed to be played on a console? I mean, even the matchup system is incredibly consolized. And yes, I'm going to pretend that's a word.

To be honest, I am not surprised that Activision/Blizzard designed the game to be seamlessly ported to consoles at a later date -- but I am a little surprised that they bothered porting it at all, given how terrible the game is and how few people are playing it. I figured the console release (and possible expansions) may never see the light of day, considering how bad the game is.

I hope none of you are still under any deslusions that Blizzard isn't a dead, mutilated corpse in Activision's corporate trophy room right now.

Dark Days Ahead for Microsoft

Rumors are abound that Microsoft is going to be releasing Office on Linux.

The implications of this are interesting. Linux is possibly taking off as a viable platform for PC gaming as Valve and others are beginning to invest in it as a platform. Open platforms are good for PC gamers. I've been following Linux for a long time (and I've used it for more than a decade), and I honestly do believe that we're starting to see the first signs of cracks in the armor of Microsoft.

I won't get into a whole analysis, but the days ahead for Microsoft could be dark. Very, very dark.

As Linus Torvolds said, "If Microsoft ever does applications for Linux it means I've won."