Odds and Ends

Well, my first GameFly game came in on Thursday, Splinter Cell: Conviction. Let me tell you, it is AWESOME. It’s better than what I expected. The stealth aspects are exciting, as you’re constantly looking for the next hideout to avoid detection. When you do get in trouble, the game makes you pay for it if you don’t use your head. You need to use cover and darkness to get out of sight quickly from enemies. Once you get them thinking your somewhere else (by the new “Last Know Position” feature) you can sneak behind the enemies and flank them from when they least expect it. Overall, it’s pretty freaking awesome.

That’s a preview of what’s to come, a little teaser. I’ll be doing a full review shortly, once I finish the game sometime this week or next. Be on the lookout for it by the 26^th.

In news, today NPD group announced they will no longer be releasing monthly console sale numbers. Not that this has a huge impact to the average gamer, but it is a significant announcement for media outlets like Joystiq, IGN, Gamespot, etc. as well as publishers/developers. (If you have an expensive subscription, you still get access to these numbers, but those numbers cannot be published) There are some things this announcement has me wondering. First, is why did NPD feel the need to pull the numbers now? I mean, with Move just being released, and Kinect right around the corner, it would be interesting to see console sales numbers for either system after their motion controls hit the market. Add to that the fact that this is a month before the holiday season retail boom really hits. Second, are first party companies going to release the numbers themselves? If they do, it will most likely be numbers shipped, not sold, and we can’t guarantee they’ll be accurate. But overall, I think for most people, all this does is prevent the “My favorite console sold more than your favorite” garbage all over the internet.

That’s all I’ve got for now. Happy Gaming!

-SS

GameFly

So I know it’s been a while since I’ve posted, but with school, hockey, and the like going on, I’m a pretty busy guy. No excuse, I know, I know. So anyway. This weekend at drill, a friend of mine and I got into a discussion about the upcoming fall season. I asked him if there was any game he was looking forward to playing this gaming season, and he said “No. None at all. This could be one of the worst years for gaming in a while.” And he’s right. Just look at the past 3 or 4 years release schedules, and look at this year. No Halo, no Gears, no real killer titles. Sure Call of Duty: Black Ops is coming, but honestly, I’m kind of over Call of Duty; as there’s a new one each year. When will developers and publishers stop milking their cash cows for as much as they are worth? I mean, hasn’t the Call of Duty thing run its course? I find it odd that there are people out there who buy Call of Duty every year, and don’t touch the single player. Now I’m not saying I’m not guilty of that too, but I don’t buy what is essentially the same game every year for the same experience. Not going to happen. I wish developers would take a step away from certain franchises to keep things fresh. Look at Gears of War, Halo, Forza, Bioshock, etc etc. These franchises don’t have yearly iterations, which means when the sequels do finally release, it’s that much more exciting. As a gamer, I enjoy fresh new experiences, and I don’t think I’m alone on that. If they released a Halo every year, do you think they’d be as good as they are, and do you think people would be as excited about them? No.

So you’re probably wondering why the title is “GameFly” when I’ve been ranting about yearly iterations, well, today I signed up for a GameFly account for the first time. My roommate has convinced me that it’d be better if I rented, and the more I thought about it, the more he’s right. I have WAY too many games that I havn’t played enough, and would have been better off just renting, instead of buying. The first title is Splinter Cell: Conviction, a game I’ve wanted to play. So this way, I can rent it, play it, and decide if I like it to keep playing it until I beat it. If not, just send it back and wait for the next one. We’ll see how it goes.

Until next time. –SS