Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines sinks teeth into retail
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The day after Half-Life 2 hit the market, the second game to be powered by developer Valve&#39;s Source engine followed suit. Activision announced that Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines has shipped for the PC.
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Faced with lagging sales and a plummeting stock, the computer maker tries a new tack: retail stores
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Blake Commagere devoted all his time and energy to creating a game in which Facebook friends virtually bite each other. The goal of the application is to make zombie characters on profile pages stronger and more powerful with every bite. Commagere's goal is also to make money, although Facebook did...
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They hoped to cash in. Now they're stuck holding loads of hardware after sagging demand guts aftermarket values. In Game|Life.
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In not-too-secret online forums, Wesley Snipes' latest movie, "Blade: Trinity," is the subject of intense discussion and evaluation. But unlike typical movie fan sites, the chatter from visitors to Web sites like VCDQuality.com doesn't key on the vampire film's plot, acting or bloody visual effects. Instead, computer users dish out praise or criticism on the caliber of video and sound achieved by online groups whose sole mission is to make available unauthorized copies of Hollywood films within a day or two of a movie's debut, if not before.
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Tycho:  As suggested by Gabriel's recent communique, pokemania is not only going strong but has burst, like some foul canker, and the infection has spread.  It's true that I have built a so-called "Leaf Deck," but this is because I was fairly certain they would beat me up if I didn't.  Now he's hauling in his case of Next Quest figurines each day, as I myself once hauled a tacklebox of Necrons, only I need to stress that it was more awesome when I was doing it, because Necrons are unkillable harvesters of flesh and not some kind of weird fox or living scarf.  It's absolutely fucked that I have spent almost fourteen years trying to reveal the subtle glories of table gaming, only to be cast down time and time again.  However wise my counsel, it apparently lacked that crucial munchkin component.    After I completed Half-Life 2: Episode Two - perfectly acceptable entertainment, but nowhere near the revolutions found elsewhere on the same platter - I started to wonder how they would deliver the third episode to the same platform in the next year or so.  I doubt they'll have another four games to accompany it, but who knows:  they're a bizarre company where extraordinary things happen.  Left 4 Dead, Counter-Strike, Day of Defeat, and Episode 3 might look pretty nice on there together.  On the PC, of course, one simply clicks a couple times to get whatever they want, and then leverages Valve's fairly incredible community implementation to get things done.  You could accomplish all of this using only the tip of your nose.      On the Playstation 3, even with Valve's distaste for native development, there's already several precedents for direct delivery of individual titles.  On the 360, where Arcade is Microsoft's only concept for delivering titles in their entirety, the hundred and fifty meg limit falls hard around some titles, hemming them in.  But there's a weird (read: psychotic) eyelet where where larger-form product can escape: as content drops for retail titles.  I was surprised that there was no option for this in The Orange Box itself.  Now that Valve is in a position to write a game once and then compile it to different platforms, a retail release - called "Steam," and including two or three catalog titles - could be delivered as an anchor for their considerable franchise power almost in  perpetuity.  After years of fairly positive digital delivery experiences through Steam, I have to say that I found purchasing a Valve product in a retail context almost unpleasant - and not just because it entails hauling around my considerable bulk.  Retail has been a raw deal for a long time now in developer terms, and I avoid it whenever possible.  I should solicit another piece by an insider here for the post, and I know just the guy.  When he breaks down the way royalties work in the industry, you'll be surprised it isn't just Electronic Arts that's left, selling Electronic Arts games in EA branded stores.
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Tycho:  To fully communicate Lair, you really to need a video component - and the review over at Gametrailers really sets things straight.  The abrupt storytelling, technical stumbles, and strange behavior are all much better delivered by the game itself than by my hyperbole.       (CW)TB
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There's big money in those wrinkles. How the makers of cosmetic fillers and smoothers are trying to tap into a new market.
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The consumer electronics retailer stumbles as its larger rivals thrive.
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Perhaps just as good as the release of Half-Life 2 this week is the introduction of Steam, a service that lets gamers buy and download sophisticated PC games. It's the way game retailing ought to be. Commentary by Suneel Ratan.
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Gabe: I don"t read game reviews. I honestly don"t see any reason to. It"s not hard to rent a game and see for yourself if it"s any good. I don"t know why I should care what number someone I don"t know and will never meet has attached to the latest game. I picked up Enchanted Arms the day it came out because I"m a fan of classic turn based RPG"s. Now there are a lot of bad games in this genre but there are also some real gems. Series like Shadow Hearts and Shin Megami Tensei are proof that the genre has grown beyond just Final Fantasy. I"m happy to say that Enchanted Arms is another of the good ones. I"ve been hooked on it since I dropped it into my 360. Robert also grabbed a copy and we have little chat sessions every morning about how awesome the game continues to be. Tycho happened to hear one of these Enchanted Arms lovefests and was actually surprised. He told us that for the most part all the reviews of the game said it"s pretty bad or at the very best only okay. I was really surprised that reviewers could have gotten this one so wrong so I hit gamerankings to see for myself. I found the Games Radar review especially bad.
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The zealots may scream bloody murder, but growth depends on video games appealing to casual gamers as well.
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Tycho:  You might want to see this, or you might not:  I know that Gabriel has sworn off all exposure to the game, which may also be your policy.  Even so, this is the first time they've shown the distaff side of the character creator, so maybe you'll rescind your earlier mandate.  A video with a similar theme popped up over at 1up as well, and it does things a little differently:  I don't like its look at the character creator as well, but the cut they have of the intro is far superior.  If you watched the other one, you're in for a penny, in for a pound:  you should check it out.    There's a lot of other content out today as well  at GameTrailers - but the whole thing is a minefield of spoilers so I'll understand if you hold back.  The intro itself (from the 1up cut) is perfectly executed.  Understand that I am almost the optimal audience for this sort of game, but even so.  I see a lot of game content, and you need to dig pretty deep to generate actual wonder.      I was excited to learn that they got Jack Wall in to do the soundtrack - he's worked with BioWare before, but he also did the soundtrack for Myst IV: Revelations - one of my all-time favorites.    (CW)TB
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It&#39;s been copied by rivals, disparaged by social critics, attacked by politicians and snapped up - check the sales numbers after just one week on the shelves â-y gamers.
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What is the Free City Supershop? Hard to say. Maybe itÂs the future of retail.
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Things could be better for the Goth retailer.
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The retailer hits its stride after shedding Eckerd Drugstores.