First off let me reference what I am referring to in this post, EGM's Latest Podcast. In it the guy from Too Human is bringing up many many issues in the current games industry.

I have to agree with him on almost everything he said. The industry has to change. People like IGN, EGM, etc need to no longer be shown half finished games and expected to figure out what the final product is going to be like from there. I don't think that a total blackout is what the consumers want. I have no problem is a company says "Hey we're working on a action game called Too Human, but no one is going to be able to play it until its done." That's fine, but waiting until its done before you begin a 6-12month marketing campaign for the game I don't agree with.

I think the publisher should go to the developer and ask "Is this a finished product(AKA under x number of small bugs)?" If it is then they are told they have 3 months to try and get as many of them fixed as they can, but if they aren't, they aren't and it's shipped. All the while those 3 months the marketing campaign takes off, media reviews right after based on that code(shouldn't be game play affecting bugs), print ads, etc. They continue for 3 months after launch to try and ensure continued purchases.

Big thing being that we don't see anything until that X point is reached. Then we start to get screen shots/video/demo/etc. Then we aren't seeing CG demos of what could be, a bad buggy version of what is going to be, and false promises that were made.

Will any of this ever happen, yes. I think to a large degree you won't be seeing anything from publishers until they feel their product is finalized enough for people to start passing judgment on it. While this is going to seem like a blow to the consumer, it will actually help us in the long run. We don't need a DOA4 that is so buggy it erases our save games, just cause the publisher wants it out the door after hyping it up as a lunch game.

Yes there is still going to need to be previews, we can't get away from that. In this day and age, us consumers have been burned too many times by games like Force Commander to not be frugal with our purchases. I think it needs to get back to the old Shareware days where you had a large enough chunk of game play to pass judgment on how a game will play and if you should spend your hard earned money on it.

The things I don't agree on is that a bad review at E3 is going to make me want to play the game less. That is something I've watched over the years, reviews, previews, etc mean nothing in the end. The only way that an E3 review would throw me off is if the game was due out within a month of the E3 showing. Now with E3 going the way of the Dodo, I hope a lot of this crap goes away with it. As a gamer I don't like to get false promises.

I've added a news section to my Blog which I hope to be expanding real soon which will display more headlines. Until then enjoy the 1UP.com headlines!

BTW I'm designing with FireFox, so I may run into some issues with IE until I get to work and have a chance to test it out.

Games for Windows Live Launches May 8
But will you pay $50 a year to play with 360 gamers?
By Patrick Klepek, 03/14/2007
We already examined much of the difficulty Microsoft faces in adapting their wildly successful Xbox Live service onto the Games for Windows platform, so let's skip right to the point: Microsoft announced today Games for Windows Live will launch on May 8th, alongside Halo 2 (playable only on Vista -- don't ask us why).

Shadowrun, allowing for Xbox 360 and PC owners to play against each other given the PC user has forked over $50 for a year-long subscription to the service, ships in June. UNO will also launch on the service later this year, and will also support cross-platform play. No word on whether Microsoft will start making simultaneous Arcade releases.

Go figure, it launches on my birthday of all days. Well I've already got my 360 Subscription so I won't have to worry about paying the $50. I'm very excited as I like the way the Xbox Live service works for most games. There are some that really suck when it comes to how they implemented the online element but in general its been done very well. I won't how PC gamers are going to adopt to it?

Then again there has been multiple game matching services up and running on the PC for some time now. I think every game I install has a different one, XFire, GameSpy, etc. I think a unified one would be GREAT.

Blu-ray Outsells HD-DVD For Second Month Running
Sells 2:1 against HD-DVD in February.
by Gerry Block

March 13, 2007 - Trade magazine Video Business reported today that Blu-ray outsold HD-DVD in February for the second month running. According to the magazine's figures, roughly 250,000 Blu-ray movie titles were sold in February compared to only 125,000 HD-DVDs. In January movie sales for each format were roughly the same.

Debate over what factors are contributing to Blu-ray's recent dominance has generally focused on the impact of the PlayStation 3. Somewhat less than 2-million PS3s have been sold since launch, which effectively means a roughly similar number of HD-DVD and Blu-ray players are presently in circulation.

Some within the movie industry questioned whether PS3 gamers would choose to use their consoles extensively for movie playback in addition to gaming. Current sales figures would suggest that a fair number are, which hardly surprises us since hardcore gamers tend to also be big fans of new technology and movies.

With a second month of leading sales in the bag the Blu-ray camp is gaining confidence. There won't be an end to the format war any time soon, but if a few more months of Blu-ray outselling HD-DVD 2:1 stack up the industry will of course take notice.

While I've seen various results on this, nothing is really telling me that the market is swarming at all to these new Hi-Def formats. I know personally I am not sold on either of them. My current DVDs look GREAT and cost at most half the price of the same title in Hi-Def. For the visual difference it makes on my 32" Widescreen TV, I won't be forking over any hard earned money for either of these anytime soon.

EA Los Angeles (EALA) is pleased to announce that the highly anticipated Command & Conquer 3 Tiberium Wars™ for the PC has officially gone gold and will be on stores shelves Nationwide March 28.

Fast and fluid gameplay, a breakthrough single player campaign, the ability to transform online battles into a spectator sport, next-generation graphics, and an epic story with full-motion video sequences featuring top Hollywood talent, mark the return of the genre-defining Command & Conquer™ series.

Command & Conquer 3 Tiberium Wars is rated "T" (Teen) by the ESRB and has a US MSRP of $49.99. A special, numbered collector's edition will be available simultaneously and has a US MSRP of $59.99. Command & Conquer 3 Tiberium Wars: Kane Edition is a definitive collectible for any Command & Conquer or Real-time Strategy fan and will feature an enormous amount of exclusive content including a bonus DVD with a behind the scenes documentary, deleted scenes, a blooper reel, a series of gameplay strategy videos, and more. The Kane Edition will also feature exclusive in-game content and wallpapers.

Source

So I can't wait to get my copy here in the next few weeks. I'm really looking forward to this game after playing the demo until I picked up Def Jam Icon. I can't to see what this new race plays like. Not to mention the return of Kane has me intrigued.

Not to mention that the first month I own the game I will stand a chance at beating my best friend in Command & Conquer. A feat that is almost unheard of in our gaming past.

Picked this bad boy up on an impulse on my way home from work this evening. I was just driving past the mall and suddenly turned in to pick it up. Been a big fan ever since I played the first one, then again I am a Method Man fan so I couldn't miss it.

What I'm really impressed by is the fact that this fighter you can play without power bars. You can tell how much shit you've kicked out of the other brawler just by looking at them. Clothing gets torn up, faces start bleeding, and shit gets destroyed. The actual fighting is very simplistic from what I've gathered so far. I liked that in FFNY you could pick your moves and such for you fighter. This one is sorely lacking that feature. You get like 6 fighting styles to choose from, but it still doesn't feel like a fighting game or a wrestling game like the previous ones did.

It does however, mix in a new style of interaction with your fighting and the music. Nothing says BAM! like smacking a sucker into the gas pump as the beat of the music explodes it and sends them flying. Icon also delivers what A LOT of fighters are missing or have done horribly in the past, Story. You are working to create a record label and you are fighting punks who are bootlegging your artists shit, stalkers, the media, even other labels. It gives a reason behind each fight.

Overall I'm really enjoying it but my final judgment will be reserved until after I have given the Online modes a through play through.

IGN's Preview Playthrough

This game looks like I will be getting a Wii just to be able to play this. Paper Mario RPG on the GameCube was excellent, so I've got very high hopes for this one.