And it’s hard on gamers to just not buy games that use microtransactions; some of our most beloved series are heading down this path and whether or not the content is worth the extra money is an individual decision. Counting on big-name distributors not to do whatever they can to make money doesn’t leave a whole lot of room for hope, but, short of boycotting popular series and supporting games that do it right, there’s little gamers can do to stop the waves of cha
While it appears that no one is quite certain exactly when The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening first arrived for the Game Boy in North America, that didn’t stop Nintendo from remastering and eventually releasing the title for the Game Boy Color on December 15, 1
I’ve never really liked soccer. Unfortunately, here in the UK, it’s a mainstay of our society — when two men meet for the first time, a usual topic of small talk would be something along the lines of ‘So, which team do you support?’ Usually I grit my teeth and mutter something popular: ‘Oh, Chelsea for sure. That Abramovich did some great things. Anyway, how about that swimming competition the other day
Randomly pointing at various options and hoping for the best, I pushed through the confusion and found myself taking control of Leeds, a team that I didn’t know much about. Again, the list of options was incredibly daunting. Who do I choose to make up my team? How do I train them? In which position should I have them play? I just wanted to get into a match and watch my team play, how on Earth was I supposed to know the rest of this st
On paper, the plan is being executed to perfection. Cisco (Carlos Valdes) uses his new superpower to sense big things in his new girlfriend’s future, those big things get even bigger when a magical villain comes to town, establishing himself as too much for masked vigilantes, and chasing the now-fully-revealed Hawkgirl off into their own series . It’s a thing of shared universe beauty if it can be pulled off, and Crump is up to the task of playing an immortal villain. Unfortunately and, perhaps fittingly, it’s the velocity that becomes the prob
Many free-to-play games have in-game currency that can be purchased with real money, giving those who are willing to shell out actual money a reward. That’s all well and good, but many gamers feel it sets the stage for unbalanced play, as people willing to spend real cash may get better weapons or more play time to level
Tetris was actually a pack-in with the original Game Boy, which is what contributed to its insane popularity and monumental sales, and the game a ‘DX’ variant for the Game Boy Color which only further enhanced its popularity. The game proved to be the perfect pickup-and-play puzzler and its addictive mechanics are still intact even after all this t
Even if microtransactions might be backed by good intentions, that doesn’t change the way they feel to gamers. EA’s own Mass Effect 3 ‘s day-one DLC had many fans up in arms —if the DLC was ready at launch, why wasn’t it included in moba Game Meta analysis, especially since it contained a character many long-time fans of the series were dying to see? It’s easy to be cynical; EA knew players wanted to know more about the mysterious Protheans and knew they’d be willing to pay money for it, so it’s possible they changed their business model for more profit. That, coupled with the introduction of war resources that required multiplayer grinding for the best ending, microtransactions to get better weapons and characters in multiplayer, and the controversial ending, left fans of the series feeling exploited and skeptical for the fut
Earlier in this article, I said that HeroesHearth Esports was a favorite to win. However, by most accounts Team Dignitas is the favorite to win the Western Clash this weekend. Just this year, they grabbed 2nd at Mid-Season Brawl, 1st at the HGC – Phase 1 EU Pro League, and 1st and Phase 1’s Western Clash. They have yet to lose a match this phase, and I don’t see them deviating from that dominating p
So what’s the future business model for games? It depends on the individual company and the product they’re producing. A single-player RPG seems like fixed price is the right model, but considering the popularity of online multiplayer, we’re seeing fewer and fewer of them. As time goes on, the purely single-player experience may fall by the wayside—already, we’re seeing more games implement multiplayer modes in previously single-player ga
It’s possible that these issues will be remedied in the crossover’s second half, but only time will tell. For now, it’s enough to say that the stars and characters sharing the same set will undoubtedly get fans demanding nothing more than that excited. But in hindsight, any one of these subplots – Hawkman’s return, Vandal Savage’s arrival, Kendra coming to grips with her past and taking a leap of faith, or receiving more than a single sentence of guidance from Barry – could have carried enough drama for its own episode. If the crossover ends with the heroes taking flight together, fans would have the right to feel they were robbed of the journey to take