Tag: news

UPDATE 2: Introducing: WinBreak.com FORUMS!

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I’ll be the first to admit that WinBreak.com is still a small site – and sometimes adding forums to small sites only forces you to see how nobody wants to register for your puny blog. But the service will be in place, just in case you ever change your mind! 🙂

Yes, WinBreak.com is launching our very own Forum. A link to the forums will be located on the right side of the blog, under the Users Panel at all times. Located conveniently over at http://NuAngel.net/forums, you can register and start posting away in your favorite current-gen console’s forum, or just post in the general area. If we see a demand for additional forums, subforums, or just overall clarification and cleaning up of the current interface, it’s just a few clicks away.

They are still a great deal under construction, with more features to come, and a little bit more visual continuity ahead, but they are fully functioning and I encourage you to participate!

Update 1: It appears as though PHPBB isn’t quite playing nice with FireFox browsers. If you want, please leave some feedback (in the forum, or as a comment here) and let us know if the forums are working for you!

Update 2: Registration problems have been resolved. Thank you to PimpMethod for bringing them to my attention. You will no longer be required to enter “CAPTCHA” data upon registration (at least until the forums become spam heavy or I can resolve the issue with CAPTCHA pictures not showing up).

Hey Gamers: We're still going mainstream!

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See that picture? It’s a little resized, so let me tell you. It’s MSNBC.com‘s main page. And what you can navigate to through the “Tech & Science” menu? That’s right, Games! In a time when Video Games are the new Rock’n’Roll, and everyone else is condemning us for watching Lesbian Alien Porn (to quote DeaconBlade 360), MSNBC is finally embracing gamers and gaming.

CNN & FoxNews (the two other “24 hour news networks” here in the United States) aren’t featuring “Games” on either of their front pages – but we wouldn’t expect them to, as they spend their time bashing games. Perhaps it was more of a push from the “MS” half of the joint venture, but it feels good to know that someone out there is taking us more seriously, and looking for some postive stories, some good in it all.

It’s a multi billion dollar a year industry which is being studied more and more. Here’s to the concept of gamers not having to close the blinds and turn off the lights to indulge in a hobby!

2008: Family fun, girl gamers, IPTV, and more!

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While it was reported yesterday that video game sales in Japan are expected to peak this year, and fall over the next two to three years. Meanwhile, in the states, even the Christian Science Monitor admits that gaming is still tapping into new (see: female) audiences. So much so that the powers that be over at C|Net’s news.com have determined 2008 to be the year of gaming, and companies like Sigma Designs have started partnering with our beloved Microsoft to work on the ability to provide 16 simultaneous streaming video channels to a “set top box” – potentially even the Xbox 360. The pull the gaming industry has on other industries is growing, as the whole video game “fad” becomes more of a cornerstone of American living. Take that, Fox News.

EA's John Riccitiello claims games are equal to movies…

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In an interview with Financial Times (FT) EA’s Chief Executive stated that we are in a time when “the greatest games will be viewed by almost everybody as being as important as Best Picture at the Academy Awards.“

Oh how I wish it were true, but I have to disagree with Mr. Riccitiello. One of the best games of the last few years was undeniably Mass Effect. Unfortunately for the industry, we spent more time talking about a 30 second scene than the brilliant quality of the game as an interactive piece of fiction – a piece of art. There was a graphic sex scene somewhere in the middle of Schindler’s List, too, but that’s not what people remember, or what people focused on. But unfortunately for video games like the upcoming Grand Theft Auto IV, clearly rated “M” for Mature (age 17+) in the United States, the media will have nothing to say of the brilliant script, fantastic voice talent, and fine details in imagery that go into the game. No, they’re going to focus on virtual use of drugs and alcohol, objectification of women, and violence. All of which were themes of many prominent films.

The silver lining to the FT article, was the undeniable success of the video game industry. His appointment to this position and decision to split EA into several lables all comes with a bit of pressure. “Under the 16-year tenure of his predecessor, Larry Probst, the company had grown from sales of $102m in 1991 to $3bn in revenues last year.”