General gaming

General gaming

Origin Sale Hypocrisy Renders Executive Comments Worthless

Posted: 18 Jun 2012 03:46 PM PDT

Origin sales

The statements made by videogame company executives when they shift into marketing speak mode can be difficult to believe. They are invariably going to talk up their employer -- that's to be expected. When they aren't boasting but are merely outlining plans for the future, though, it seems reasonable to believe what they're saying, particularly when those plans could be perceived as negative. That's what makes it so surprising that Origin has a significant sale on a selection of games in the U.K. not two weeks after the head of Origin made it clear sales of this magnitude were not in the cards for EA's digital distribution service.

During E3 earlier this month, EA's senior VP of global ecommerce, David DeMartini, made it clear Steam-style, "going-out-of-business" sales would not be coming to Origin. Rock, Paper, Shotgun reports today that a variety of games are currently upwards of 50 percent off in the U.K.; Darksiders, Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit, and Battlefield: Bad Company 2 are 75 percent off, while Dragon Age: Origins can be had for 87.5 percent off. To see such a sale following DeMartini's statement would be jarring enough; what makes it stranger is he had a very specific reason for why this practice was being avoided.

Civilization V: Gods & Kings Review: Improvements You Can Believe In

Posted: 18 Jun 2012 03:36 PM PDT

With each new installment of the Civilization series we can make a long list of everything we miss from the previous game. It's a trend going back as far as Civ II, which is definitely where the game peaked in terms of complexity. The more modern incarnations would never see, say, a ten year long game that ends in a 1700-year-long, inescapable war. "Accessible" shouldn't necessarily be a dirty word, but in stripping out or simplifying things like forms of government and internal revolt, Civ has definitely lost something that made it special. Which is why it's so good to see an expansion like Gods & Kings, which adds some much-needed depth and complexity to a game that sometimes feels like it's been trimmed down to the bone.

Religion and espionage provide welcome new strategic options that we've sorely missed since moving on from Civ IV. Where before religion had been folded into a single Piety social policy tree and religious buildings just counted toward culture points, now we have a full system in place for founding, defining, and spreading religions, along with a third "faith" currency. When starting a simple pantheon, we can adopt tenets like tithing (if we want to gain extra gold) or holy warriors (if we feel like using our faith to build an army). Spreading a religion to allies and enemies provides greater advantages to the founder of the religion, but also grants minor perks for the people who actually control those cities. Population and proximity determine how a particular belief system spreads, and Great Prophets and missionaries can speed the process by converting an entire city in one go. Best of all, while doing this won't make you any friends, neither will it actually constitute an overt act of war. Killing a prophet as he makes his way to your holy city on the back of an ass, however, will.

Metal Gear HD Collection Review: The Best Stealth Action Anytime, Anywhere

Posted: 18 Jun 2012 01:47 PM PDT

A few weeks ago, after realizing I've bought no less than five different versions of both Metal Gear Solid 2 and 3, I took to Twitter for feedback. Was I the only person guilty of re-buying these games so often? I've owned the original releases, the upgraded versions (Substance and Subsistence), the Metal Gear Solid Essentials Collection -- only because the original MGS wasn't available digitally at the time -- last fall's excellent high definition re-releases, and Snake Eater for the 3DS. The sum total of purchasing just these two installments alone hit over $350.00, money that could have easily gone towards buying other games I wasn't as familiar with.

I posed this question not as an indictment against rereleases or as a means to find validation, but to bring my admiration for the Metal Gear series into perspective. A majority of the responses to my question were positive. "I feel ya man, " replied Twitter user ?Randy Holmun? "I've got Snake Eater four times, Sons of the Patriots three times, and Peace Walker twice. May be getting [the] 3DS soon." "You are like me....a true MGS fan," Twitter user Steve Burgan chimed in.

Posted by Shri Krishna

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