Lots of Resident Evil 4 remake and Cyberpunk 2077 discussion as well as the following news items:
Let us know what you think.
When I was a little boy gamer I would spend a bit of my allowance on Electronic Gaming Monthly a great little gaming magazine. Unfortunately, young gamers will never understand what the industry was like twenty years ago. In a time before the Internet, the only place to get gaming news for a young kid was a glossy magazine. Today, EGM closes its doors and we’re losing a historic piece of gaming history.
Granted, there were other glossy magazines prized by young boys too, but we were old enough to purchase Electronic Gaming Monthly, now known as EGM by the hip and cool. Although EGM was founded in 1989, many adults between the age of 29 and 35 probably spent their youth flipping through the pages reading the reviews and editorials.
The days of the magazine are drawing to an end for many industries, with video game websites covering everything from truly hardcore to highly niche, we all demand our information as soon as possible. If a company like Ziff Davis is selling its properties, we want to know the minute it is announced, when 1UP is purchased by UGO we want to know the minute the ink dries. Why? Because we can.
January 2009 marks the last issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly. After Hearst Corporation (owner of UGO) purchased 1UP from Ziff Davis it was announced that EGM would be seeing its last issue. Sure, there was a chance this would occur without the acquisition as well but the sadness wouldn’t be any different. We’re sure the staff will find a great home writing for another publication or in the online world, but it is sad just the same.
Along with the sad news of EGM closing, we’ve heard a number of folks at 1UP have also been effected by Hearst Corporations purchase of 1UP which has many people out of a job during tough economic times. There has been rumor the 1UP podcasts being ditched as well, but we have heard nothing official yet (please comment with official stories if you hear).
Of course, 1UP is “officially” rejoicing at the news but we know this is part of the “smoke and mirrors” that is an acquisition. A few, now former, 1UP folks have been using twitter and game forums to voice their own “opinions” of the purchase.
This is a rough economic time for many people, printed magazines, online publications and others. The only shining light is knowing many of these individuals will find new places to call home or start brand new online publications to compete against their old company. Talent will not go restricted, they will no doubt group together to form new aged publications to show off why the big boys are flailing in the dark.
We wish them all well in their efforts to find success.
Xbox 360‘s been seeing success in Europe, but nothing compares to the success they’ve seen since the recent price cuts. Sales for the 360 are up 214% which is pushing them past the two-to-one sales ratio against the more expensive PlayStation 3.
We’re assuming this 214% increase is due to the cheaper price combined with a large selection of great game titles. No doubt Microsoft is happy to hear the news that their price cut went over so well in all countries. Unfortunately, we’re not so sure a straight PlayStation 3 price cut would drastically change the sales ratio because the PS3 still has very few exciting games when compared to the Xbox 360 which has a year head start on its bigger competitor.
Microsoft’s new to console success, being the odd duck last generation. They’ve learned a lot and has kicked up the competitive nature of console gaming, giving PlayStation 3 a run for its money. Competition is wonderful and is probably making Sony’s exec’s wonder what tactic to chooes next.
Of course, the Wii is a sales rampage and has been for a few years now. At this point, it’s not even fair to compare the two. However, we’re sure Microsoft will eventually come out and boast their recent European victories as sales figures solidify and become “official.”
Can Sony put up any Resistance to this market domination?
Read on for more press release information from ChartTrack.
This week’s episode of Gaming Podcast has a special guest co-host, Andrew Yoon, formerly of Joystiq and currently in card game and video game development. The Gaming Flashback is the one that started them all: LEGO Star Wars: The Video Game.
The slow news week includes:
The Question of the Week: “What is your favorite, if any, LEGO videogames?”
