This week’s episode is full of news that aren’t described below, as the games the guys have played get a lot of analysis.
The news, incidentally, includes:
Let us know what you think.
The news items include: EA and NFL extend Madden license til 2030 – NFLPA still far apart, former Battlefield 6 campaign boss calls out EA for leaving him and other developers out of the credits after closing his studio in 2024, Ubisoft has come up with a new way to avoid saying the word ‘layoffs,’ with a ‘voluntary career transition program’ offer that some employees won’t be able to refuse, ‘Pacifist Battlefield completed’, Palworld studio Pocketpair says its new publishing division won’t handle games that use generative AI: ‘We don’t believe in it’, Two Point Museum gets Vampire Survivors content in free update.
In addition:
Let us know what you think.
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Imagine we told you the story of a game where you hack things up over and over and over and over by clicking the mouse to gain items. These items allow you to go into harder areas of a dungeon and hack things up over and over again. Would you buy into it? Probably not.
Yet Diablo, since its inception, has fascinated gamers with the fundamental goals of hacking and slashing your way to a hellish beast in hopes to hack and slash him as well. It does, however, have a firm storyline which has gotten better with age and usually marvels gamers with graphic advancements set to blow the mind.
Diablo II had some nice graphics, but they were not mind blowing and earth shattering but the game continued to be fun to play. So fun, some gamers continue to play Diablo II even today, grinding out armor and weapons. What’s the fascination?
Blizzard Entertainment seems to be born on the wind of success, each title pulling more gaming headlines than the last. Diablo III has taken over gaming RSS feeds, headline news and has presented itself on social media sites like it was the second coming (perhaps, just the opposite?)
Diablo 3, graphically, and functionally, seems to highly exceed the levels it set with the last two titles. Destructible environments being one of the best additions to the franchise, along with new classes, weapons and enemies.
The core of the game, based on the gameplay footage, is fundamentally the same: beat baddies in excess and capture cool items. Blizzard has mastered the “grind” for items and the repeated quest plots in all of its title, especially World of Warcraft, but they’ve done it in an addicting manner. We know its repeatative yet we desire to continue to play. Work of genius.
How much Diablo 3 can a single person play before growing bored? For most, boredom is quite the opposite of the hack and slash experience, choosing to sit down with their Fritos and Soda and waste away the days.
For those that ran out to pickup a 20GB Xbox 360 for the low low price of $299… sit down. This may hurt a bit. Their is a new rumor stating the Xbox 360 is undergoing another price cut, for all consoles in their full array of consoles.
Let’s just get this over with quick:
This is a highly competitive price cut making the Xbox 360 much more desirable, a price closer (and in some case beating) the Nintendo Wii. Imagine, a graphically powerful console for a price near that of the “last generation” graphics of the Wii.
Of course, those purchasing a Wii aren’t buying it because you’re saving money on a next-generation console. In the end, if this price cut is real, we’re seeing the next-generation console market really dropping to some realistic figures.
Bad for Sony, considering they’re still trying to make money on their expensive box. No doubt Sony’s in this for the 10-year plan but if they can’t keep competitive with Microsoft people may ignore you for the next 10-years because it’s too costly.
(Thanks, Kotaku)
