This year’s E3 should be interesting as we head back to the no holds barred approach to gaming conferences. While E3 tried to go all PG for the last few years, it’s time to get back to the serious business of hype-o-rama. Microsoft’s on board with it and plans to “break the bank” in terms of hypesville.
Microsoft Game Studio’s producer Phil Spencer said:
“[It’s] very exciting, because there’s a lot of stuff on the docket and maybe we’ll break the bank a little bit and talk about things that are further out, which will hopefully get the community excited.”
Microsoft continues to hammer home big announcements at the E3 events even while in the ho-hum lull of the past few E3 events. Last year they nailed Sony with the Final Fantasy XIII announcement and hyped up the New Xbox Experience. What are they going to pull out this year now that we’ve seen Gears of War 2 and have a pulse on some of their Halo ideas?
They’re talking about hyping games further down the pipeline, perhaps to keep people jazzed about what the future holds even in these economic down times. It’s important to keep gamers focused on what is to arrive on the 360 so they don’t sway towards the opposing consoles in moments of doubt.
Of course, this begs the question, will Sony pull out even more hype? Will Nintendo continue to give mediocre showings with “I told you so” sprinkled in their message? Only time will tell.
(Thanks, Eurogamer)
@ Black Friday 2012
I was pretty disappointed in how “Black Friday” was handled in Romania. Plenty of retailers increased the price a week before, so that they could do a 40% slash to get the price back to the old value.
@Nintendo Power’s last issue released
It also depends how many people want it. Here’s an example: our major cable provider decided to not renew the contract it had with Discovery Channel. Why? Because just 0.9% of the people watched it.
How many people read “Nintendo Power”?
@Blizzard acquired ‘Project Blackstone‘ domain
It could be a preventive buy, I guess. Still, not really hyped about it, Blizzard lost me since always-online DRM; last game I played from them was Warcraft III and Frozen Throne.
@Dead Island: Riptide banned in Germany
Funny though, there are plenty of games (not just Gears of War) where players blow other human-like character to bits, and those are still available in Germany.
But hey, what do I know, perhaps the baddies in those games bleed green goo …
@QOTW: No.
Not interested to comment on any of the news articles, I just came to ask: “Guess who has two thumbs and got the Wii U before Paul did?”. I did.
@QOTW: Never
Just found out about this podcast and was amused that there was a topic discussed, I just held a speech on in school. Censoring, banning etc. in Germany.
The USK is all right, they just rate the games like any other institue that rates games. The problem is the BPjM (the young protection thing you translated). They decide what gets banned and lands on the index etc. They’re not only after games, but after media in general. They just recently banned Steel Panther’s 1 year old album “Balls Out” for no reason given. Wrote them a mail (respectful, of course) and got no answer whatsoever. So did the German Metal Hammer-magazine. Same answer.
They ban whatever they want to. Sometimes there’s no system behind it. Dishonored came out here completely uncensored, this means I, as Corvo, can decapitate enemies and throw their heads around. Kinda humiliating to the corpse, isn’t it?
If anyone is interested in how cuts on games look like, I recommend http://www.schnittberichte.com
especially the Bulletstorm one.
QOTW: Never.
@QOTW:
Yeah… Nintendo World yes, Nintendo Power NO.
Nintendo World had the “Approved By Nintendo” seal, so, i bought them for a couple of years…