If you want to get down to your game music on your own time, make sure to check it out!
http://www.gamemusicbundle.com/
http://www.gamemusicbundle.com/
The more I played Skyward Sword the less I liked it. Like many Nintendo games or even consoles, there are some core features and gimmicks that can be entertaining under very specific circumstances, yet they’re utterly bogged down by obsolete conventions, repetitious filler, and undeniable proof that the Wiimote flat-out doesn’t work as a viable replacement for a standard controller...Even when the many flaws or ineffective controls aren’t getting in the way, it’s all just so familiar. Skyward Sword imitates not only other, better role-playing games and past Mario/Zelda titles, but it also copies and pastes massive chunks of content from within itself as well. I know that fans and Wii loyalists will rabidly delight in this game, but until Nintendo learns some new tricks or, at the very least, can keep up with other modern day developers, I think I’ve finally, reluctantly, outgrown the Zelda series.Head over to Gamesbeat to read the rest.
With all of these things in mind, I respect that Saints Row: The Third might not be a game for everyone. Specifically, those who do not find joy in the act of inflicting terrible, fiery, dildo-y pain on whatever innocent polygonal creature happens to wander too close to their personal blast zone will probably not get much out of Saints Row's unrelenting dedication to preposterous anarchy. It is a game specifically designed for annihilation junkies, those who can embrace the idea of an infantile playground of seemingly infinite obliterative pleasures.
In summary terms, only three months ago Nintendo and Sony were projecting a combined fiscal year profit of $997M dollars. Three months later, they're forecasting a combined fiscal year loss of $1.381B.Yikes. Harris goes on to break down these numbers, explaining that both companies have very different problems and reasons for this loss. Sony was betting on sales of LCD TVs to fuel the overall company's growth and offset losses in other divisions. Unfortunately, LCD TV sales didn't hit the crazy-ass target Sony set (60% growth from last year) and worse yet, they're projecting LCD TV sales to shrink next year. There's barely any growth in the PS3 division, so Sony can't count on that long-term money sink to offset losses elsewhere. It makes me wonder about Sony's strategy for the next generation. We already know about Nintendo's Wii-U and we're starting to hear rumors about Microsoft's new console, but I can't say I've heard much about what Sony will roll out to replace the "future-proof" PS3. I'm not sure, however, that Sony can afford to roll out a very expensive and flashy console this time around, especially if Microsoft is going to make the new Xbox cheaper than the 360.
Net sales for the first six months of the fiscal year were down over FORTY PERCENT from last year. Catastrophe. Surprisingly, though, it wasn't caused by the Wii, which is still forecast to sell 12 million units this year in advance of the release of Wii U.Harris goes on to say that handhelds have always been a cash cow for Nintendo, and he's absolutely right. The Wii's sales will continue to decline, and I am not at all sold on the Wii-U, which seems to me as much of a gimmick as the Wii was (perhaps I'll post about that another day). The 3DS rollout has been a mess, and it's not going to get any better. As Harris says in his post, traditional handhelds are in serious trouble from cellphones (Android and iOS) and tablets. There are already tons of great games for these platforms, their install bases are much greater than what a traditional handheld could offer, and the pricing structure of cellphone and tablet games is much more attractive to the consumer ($5 or $10 for a great iOS game, versus $40 for a traditional handheld? Harris calls this "apocalyptic" for traditional handhelds, and he's right.)
What pushed Nintendo off the cliff were handhelds. They've lowered the annual forecast for DS sales from 9 million to 6 million, and guess what those 3 million people aren't buying? The 3DS, apparently, because even though Nintendo stubbornly stuck to its forecast of 16 million units for the fiscal year, they've sold only 3.07 million in the first six months.
Operation couldn't break that cigarette addiction |