There might be myriad things that games do poorly, but there are some things that they do exceptionally well, and some that they excel at beyond any other medium. One of those areas is visually, games excel at realising beautiful and imaginative worlds with intricate and precise details. Ori and the Blind Forest is one such game. While it is not a game that strives for photo realism like many others do, Ori and the Blind Forest instead opts for a two dimensional look, one that is realised in an extremely beautiful watercolour world.
The game itself is a metroidvania; that is it comprises elements from both the Catlevania and Metroid series. Predominantly they place you in an enormous world with several areas blocked off to you from the beginning. As you progress you unlock abilities that allow you to access those previously sealed areas. The game is both beautiful and a joy to play, one of the finest of the year so far.
Capcom have announced that Resident Evil HD Remaster has become its fastest-selling digital game of all time.
“It’s been great to see so many positive comments from fans that have enjoyed this new release. The team here at Capcom Japan have worked hard to bring the game to the latest generation of consoles and we are thrilled at this news on its performance.” (Yoshiaki Hirabayashi, Producer – Capcom)
The HD version of the original survival/horror game has also broken the PlayStation Network record for the biggest-selling day-one digital title.
The game which released on the 20th of January, the game has now achieved two impressive feats. Impressive stuff Capcom!
Electronic Arts are gaming veterans creating various successful gaming franchises, but they now want to start making open-world action games, similar to Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto franchise, according to the company’s Vice-President.
“If you look at the biggest segment in our industry, which is action, we don’t have a lot,. EA is not known to make gigantic action games like Assassin’s Creed or Batman or GTA or those types of games that are really big. The strategic direction that we put in motion is to expand our portfolio more into that segment, to see what can we bring to gamers that maybe hasn’t been done before. I’m not suggesting we’re going to go after GTA and sell 50 million units. We would love to! But what I’m saying is those types of absolutely AAA, big productions is what we want to do.” (EA Vice-President – Patrick Soderlund)
It was bound to happen sooner or later, but the news is out and Microsoft are slowly catching up with Sony sales of the PS4, with their Xbox One.
“Coinciding with the release of these highly-rated exclusives and others like Madden NFL 16 and Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain, Xbox One continued to gain momentum in August, with sales in the US up 26% over August 2014,” Xbox marketing executive Mike Nichols said in a statement.
“With more of the greatest games lineup in Xbox history, support for Xbox 360 games, the New Xbox One Experience system update in November alongside Xbox One Backward Compatibility and award-winning Xbox Elite Wireless Controller to follow this holiday, we’re excited to further build on this momentum in the months to come.” (Digital Spy)
With the massive price cuts of the Xbox One, and loads of console exclusives, it’s no surprise. We still do think that in the end, PS4 will come out victorious as there is a massive gap in sales to fill for the Xbox One.
Since the announcement of a new version of Shenmue in the works, the gaming world has been buzzing over what the new game will play like. Will it be just as good as the Dreamcast versions? Or is it nostalgia destined to fail?
According to some independent gaming shops, their sales of pre-owned SEGA Dreamcasts have increased ever since the announcement of Shenmue.
“Sega has really lost out on a load of digital sales by not releasing HD versions, so naturally indies like myself are the only place that would satisfy that itch to get back into these titles. Dreamcast sales have come from nowhere almost. What’s exciting now is that young gamers who perhaps didn’t even know what the Dreamcast was are interested in it.” (David Turvey, Retrobution)