The Nintendo Mirage

Nintendo has had a tumultuous, topsy-turvy year. The Wii U has been selling poorly behind weak game sales, on the other hand the 3DS and the original Wii are still selling very well. The 3DS even took the top spot in hardware sales for May in the US. Nintendo forsook E3 this year in a concentrated effort to reaffirm itself to fans and in many ways that may have been a smart move. Nintendo fans buy Nintendo consoles for Nintendo games; it has always been both a positive and a negative for Nintendo.

The Informed Gamer

The big three have put forth their best foot forward in the new generation and mounting evidence suggests Microsoft stumbled again, Sony soared and Nintendo was ignored. Sony dominated on the PR battle, and rightly so. Although many of the same features derided on the Xbox One were present in the PS4, including but not limited to publisher-driven DRM and subscription-based online play, Sony managed to come out of its conference virtually unscathed. Add to the fact that many games that appeared to be exclusives, but were later shown to be multiplatform, were announced during Sony’s conference and you have a clear winner.

Sony managed to cut the Xbox One of at the knees with a $399 price point, but that doesn’t include the $60 PS Eye. In the short term, failure to include the webcam-esque device with every console works in Sony’s favor, but in the long-term the Xbox One is the smarter move. Not only does it remove doubt about Kinect from the developers mind it also maintains the promise of smart Kinect use. Like the dual sticks use from Halo on the original Xbox, all the Kinect 2.0 needs is that one brilliant game that uses the Kinect in a way that others will copy. Attach rates of peripherals are deemed high when they are around 33%, yet the Kinect is guaranteed to be owned by every Xbox One owner.

Countdown to the Thunder Dome

It’s about that time of the year again, the Electronic Entertainment Expo, more commonly known as E3 is just a stone’s throw away. E3 is the gaming world’s version of the Super Bowl, with Titans battling it out for all the glory under the sun. Greatness at E3 doesn’t necessarily mean success down the road but the gaming industry doesn’t have many stories of dark horses. A game that wows at E3 usually brings dividends both critically and commercially, though there are always pitfalls to success.

E3 has lost some of its shine the last few years; this year will see Nintendo not attend in any real capacity. The Wii U is struggling and is seen by most as the lesser cousin to the PS4 and Xbox One. Nintendo is seeking to cut out the middleman to its consumers directly with Nintendo Direct. Nintendo Direct is the new online home for all news Nintendo, almost like the Nintendo Power days of old, whether this strategy works out for them in the short or long-term remains to be seen.

My Doctor

The news came down the pipeline that Matt Smith was hanging up his bow tie, as the Eleventh Doctor, in the classic British show Doctor Who. Smith, the third actor to play the titular Doctor in the modern series, was my first Doctor, at least the first one I had watched from the beginning.

 It makes me something of a neophyte but it also makes the news a little more poignant. Smith is ‘my doctor’ as Rose Tyler once said, and I’m sad to see him go. It’s the end of an era, even though the timings right. It’s the perfect time for the actor who came in quite celebrated critically to venture out and start new projects; it probably doesn’t hurt that he turned the big 3 0 either. 

There’s always a bit of nostalgic and bitter sweetness at the end of something. You acknowledge that you are affected by its end and it’s a nod to the fact that it was worth your time; we are always sad to see things we invested much of ourselves end. An ending means that something new must begin, there’s always the hesitation and wondering if it can surpass what has come before it. I’m sure I’ll go back to the old episodes and laugh and cry at the stories that are told counting down to the final episodes of the Eleventh. After all that, I’ll put them away looking forward to the next Doctor and new beginnings, but thankful for all the memories, it has been a pleasure.

Chronicles of the Old Republic II

I’ve been focusing on my Sith Juggernaut, Khusrau. She is a pretty badass tank, named in honor of the legendary emperor of the Persian Empire, the ‘Immortal Soul’ who guided Persia to its golden age. I’m finally wearing the Thana Vesh gear, something I’ve been lusting after since I first saw the incredible Thana Vesh. If you don’t know, Thana Vesh is one of the better known NPC’s in the game. Angry, powerful in the Force, always good for a snarky one-liner, Thana is the apprentice of the Commander of the Imperial forces of Taris.

Khusrau is a character I made sometime ago to help me get into endgame raiding. I have always shied away from anything that can’t be done solo. I play at all different hours of the day depending on my job, plus I play on a west coast server; it’s always been more expedient for me to solo to get the most bang for my buck.

Khusrau is pushing through the mid-30’s and I’m playing through the two part Revan dungeon quest. A sad fall for a once great legend, Revan is not the hero you remember from KOTOR. Various classes give insight on what happened but the last companion for the Jedi Knight, the former Emperor’s Wrath tells most of the story. Revan came with his closest general and friend seeking out the darkness he had felt, he learned too late that he had wasted the Star Forge’s potential on ships, it’s a sad tale but still is makes for good copy.

The MMO Tourist

I recently read a column by Christopher Coke, the owner of the blog Game By Night, that I thought was really good. The fact that it mirrored my own thoughts on the F2P MMO market had nothing to do with my conclusion. In any case, he wrote a well-written piece on a subject that isn't being written about enough. Here is my shout-out:

The Mass Effect TV Series

Non-gamers have never understood our fascination with the Mass Effect Trilogy. Love the ending, hate the ending; its hard to argue that there has been a finer video game product this generation. An enterprising gamer has cut the entire trilogy into the vein of a television show. It's nearly 60 episodes right now, but it's about the only way your significant other is ever going to understand why this game is so good. So here it is, the Mass Effect television series: