Game Pre-Orders and Day-One Buys – Why they need to change

Go back a good fifteen years and the pre-order and day-one purchase used to secure you something more than a shiny steel case or exclusive content. Being among the first to lay cash down, secured you the full gaming experience early. Pre-orders and day-one buys used to be worth the extra cost. Now however, things have changed. Head to your favourite gaming store, online retailer or gaming client and you’ll not only pay an average of 15% more to pre-order or ‘day-one’, you’ll miss out on fully revised games for that all-important first playthrough. Larger hard drives, faster broadband speeds, increasing development costs and strict publisher deadlines, have made developers more reliant on post-release updates (patches). The kick in the teeth Don’t like the idea of Steam’s ‘Early Access’? Well, guess what? Paying £44.99 – £54.99 for that PC/Xbox One/PS4 game that was bug-ridden on release, isn’t far off that. The gamers who come along 2 weeks – 2 months after (once the game has been fully patched), not only experience the game as it was meant to be played, they’ll more than likely have purchased the game at a discounted price! Are devs and publishers really looking after their early supporters? What can be done? Are the developers at fault? Of course not. Post-release patching is an essential part of improving the product via customer feedback. The problem lies in the pricing. It’s not what the publishers/developers are doing – it’s what they’re charging and when. Remember the tactics supermarkets used? Once a new game was released, it was priced at discount for the first 1-2 weeks. After that, it went back up to its standard RRP. Okay, so their logic was vey different (buy more-sell cheap-sell faster) but this is a very interesting model. What if developers could use this pricing method to better support their early...

Max’s Power and the World of Life is Strange

<Page 1 – Life Is Strange: Why you should play Max’s Power Once the photography lesson ends, (where Max had the tornado daydream), you’ll slowly make your way to the rest room. There’s lots to interact with on the way. Pictures, trophy cabinets, lockers, vending machines, just about everything can be examined and Max will share her thoughts on just about everything and everyone. After reaching the perfect location for a private meltdown, a quick splash of water isn’t quite enough for what Max is about to experience: Yup, Max can not only capture life through a lens, she can bend it at will! However, with great power, comes great responsibility as Max will face many situations where she’ll be able to utilise this new ability to completely change how certain events play-out. Spare a friend from a nasty bump on the head, question someone to then rewind (armed with better knowledge, for more potent questions) and even save lives! The World of Life Is Strange Max discovering this power is just a fraction of Life Is Strange. A missing girl and suspicious behaviour among both teachers and students, will put Max’s investigative skills to the test. One thing is for certain. Blackwell Academy has some dark secrets… Throughout Life Is Strange, Max will need to visit various locations around Arcadia Bay. Blackwell Academy will fully open-up, becoming the games primary focus as the episodes progress, but you’ll also explore other streets around the bay, dinners, scrap yards and more. Each of these locations may have limited boundaries, but its the characters and possibilities within those boundaries, that make Life Is Strange such a joy to play. Life Is Strange truly is the modern ‘point and click’ adventure. You’ll not only want to help Max, you’ll really care for those close to her and because of this, you’ll be...

Life Is Strange – Why you should play

I’ll admit, Life Is Strange totally took me by surprise. After finishing a few of Telltale’s games, I was in the mood for a little more episodic adventure. I’d already heard that the game wasn’t action-focused, but I put that to one side and downloaded the demo from PSN. It was easily the best decision I had made, since owning a PS4. Meet Max Caulfield Life Is Strange focuses on a young aspiring photographer named Maxine Caulfield (Max). She’s currently attending boarding school and you’ll take her perspective during what seems to be a nightmare, mid-class. Reminiscent of Alan Wake, Max finds herself near her towns lighthouse, during an aggressive storm at night. Max has no idea how she got there and it’s here that you take control of Max, cautiously guiding her to the safety of the lighthouse. Once at the lighthouse cliff-top, you come face to face with a powerful tornado that’s seconds away from tearing through the village! Before this destructive force of nature can wipe-out both you and the lighthouse, Max suddenly wakes-up at her classroom desk. Still in shock after such a realistic nightmare, Max continues with class. Here, you’re introduced to the point-and-click mechanics of Life Is Strange. The way you can interact with most of your surroundings, reminds me of Shenmue. A lot of effort has gone into making Max’s world spring to life and everything you interactive with, is even rewarded with audio dialog from Max. This isn’t only a great way of depicting the characters and world of Life Is Strange, but its also allowed Dontnod to inject some much-welcomed humour. A life hand-painted The first thing you’ll notice about Life Is Strange, is the games unique graphic style. Hand-painted scenery (and many other world objects) make up this beautiful episodic adventure. It may not jump-out at you at first,...

WWE Network UK – What exactly do you get?

The WWE Network is now in the UK and can be enjoyed via your games console, PC, laptop, tablet or mobile. So, is it worth the cost and will live events also be available for UK subscribers? Let us breakdown EXACTLY what you’ll receive once you sign-up to the WWE Network: WWF/WWE Pay Per Views Armageddon – 10 shows (1999 -2008) Backlash – 11 shows (1999 – 2009) Bad Blood – 2 show (2003 – 2004) Battleground – 2 show (2013 – 2014) Bragging Rights – 2 shows (2009 – 2010) Breakdown – 1 show (1998) Breaking Point – 1 show (2009) Capital Carnage – 1 show (1998) Capitol Punishment 1 show (2011) Cyber Sunday – 3 shows (2006 – 2008) Elimination Chamber – 4 shows (2010 – 2013) Extreme Rules – 6 shows (2009 – 2014) Fatal 4 Way – 1 show (2010) Fully Loaded – 3 shows (1998 – 2000) Great American Bash – 5 shows (2004 – 2008) Hell In A Cell – 6 shows (2009 – 2014) In Your House – 3 shows (1995 – 1997) Inserrextion – 3 shows (2001 – 2003) Invasion – 1 show (2001) Judgement Day – 11 shows (1998, 2000 – 2009) King Of The Ring – 10 shows (1993 – 2002) Money In The Bank – 5 shows (2010 – 2014) New Years Revolution – 3 shows (2005 – 2007) Night Of Champions – 7 shows (2008 – 2014) No Mercy – 10 shows (1999 – 2008) No Way Out – 12 shows (1998, 2000 – 2009, 2012) One Night Only – 1 show (1997) One Night Stand – 4 shows (2005 – 2008) Over The Edge – 2 shows (1998 – 1999) Over The Limit – 3 shows (2010 – 2012) Payback – 2 shows (2013 – 2014) Rebellion – 4 shows (1999 – 1998) Rock Bottom – 1...

Max Payne 1 & 2 – HD Remasters or Full Remakes?

Microsoft have the Master Chief collection, Sony have The Last of Us and Square will do it as much as they can to inject cash into Final Fantasy XV (or simply make it back). Of course, we’re on about HD remasters and remakes. But what about Max? The first Max Payne gave the PC game industry what it desperately needed. Strong characters, a dark and mature story line, the birth of game bullet-time (that Remedy still swear was in development long before the first Matrix movie was released) and a photo realistic engine created an action-packed cocktail that brought Max Payne’s tragedy and vengeance to life. ————————————————————————————————————– Related Articles  – Gears of War Trilogy Remake ————————————————————————————————————— The sequel worked well with the original games feedback and added motion capture, physics, a more user-friendly bullet time mechanic and even a new love interest for Max. Both games proved that if made right, the third person action genre could thrive on both PC and console. But although we all know some form of remake is well-overdue, should Rockstar release HD remasters or go all-out and bring us a full remake of Max Payne 1 and 2? I don’t know about you guys but after playing the 3rd instalment, I couldn’t help but imagine what the original games would look like on next-gen hardware! Although a full remake to a next-gen engine would be truly amazing for Max Payne’s original journey, an HD remaster would surly be welcomed at the very least. What are your thoughts on a re-release of the original Max Payne games? Hit the comments and let us know!...

id – The journey to DOOM 4

DOOM The original DOOM may not have been the first FPS but it was the most influential release of its genre. The beauty of the game was its simplistic but addictive gameplay. If it moved…you shot the crap out of it! You never had to worry about on-coming hostages and there was’t a squadmate in sight to give commands to. You were a nameless, sole surviving marine, stranded on a planet where every being wanted you dead. Shoot and move, baby. Shoot and move! The simple objective and fast-paced gameplay would infect any who dared take on that first zombie grunt with their standard-issue. I still remember the first time I glanced over screenshots of DOOM (PC). Those screen captures blew my fragile, little mind! The shotgun barrel detail with its realistic shine and the marines gloved-hand, as it sprung-up to reload…it all looked so real! Once I finally got to play the game, I couldn’t believe the frame-rate (John Carmack enabled Doom to play at blistering speed!) or the fact that dead bodies stayed where the fell! That distinct, forceful sound as the doors opened and closed, flickering light effects and obscure, shadow-cast corridors really helped give DOOM the atmosphere needed to convince the player they were fighting for their survival on an alien planet. DOOM 3 We all expected id’s masterpiece to be remade at some point. So as expected, when news finally came and screenshots hit the net, we simply couldn’t get enough! ‘Done when it’s done’ became id’s motto. I’m still convinced that saying is the ‘kiss of death’ for any game studio… When DOOM 3 was finally released it was all about the engine. Those flickering light effects and drawn shadows, suddenly became advanced dynamic per-pixel lighting. This gave DOOM 3 its trademark horror-like look and suspenseful feel. DOOM 3 certainly had the spooky environments and...