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If you did not know, Korean developer Eyedentity Games, creator of Dragon Nest, was bought by China MMO company Shanda Games a few years back. At yesterday’s financial call, Shanda Games’ CEO anounced that the web version of Dragon Nest will launch later this year. Of course, these schedules are always known to change, so take it
Dragon Nest – Web version of action game scheduled for launch this year
May 24th, 2013 
RPG Gaming 
Wildstar paths
May 24th, 2013 RPG Gaming
Syp is pondering what path to pick in Wildstar. Me, I’m most definitively going for settler, which is the path for people who want to build stuff for the benefit of the community. The simple fact that such a path even exists, complete with path-specific quests and benefits, makes me want to play Wildstar. The only regret I have is that those paths appear to be secondary to classes, and the path activities secondary to a same-old-same-old leveling game. I very much like the idea of a virtual world in which not everybody is a monster-killing hero.
Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn – Worldwide launch on 27th August
May 23rd, 2013 RPG Gaming [Game website] It was just announced that Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn will officially launch worldwide on 27th August, with both PC and PlayStation 3 version sharing the same launch date. A new trailer for the game will be revealed at E3 next month. Preorder for the game has started, including the awesome looking Collector’s
WildStar – New developer video finally gets my utmost attention
May 23rd, 2013 RPG Gaming [Game website] I was always skeptical about WildStar, given that it looks awfully similar to World of Warcraft. The game features such as combat and movement didn’t wow me as well, but my perception is changing for the better after the latest developer video. Without a doubt, if I eventually play the game, Explorer is the
Bad generation
May 22nd, 2013 RPG Gaming
There are a handful of console games I really loved. But the majority of the games I played were always on the PC, and thus I was always annoyed by the ongoing “PC gaming is dying” discussion and the idea that at some point in time all gaming would happen on consoles. Well, it turned out differently. These days we have more game platforms than ever, there is some quite good gaming to be had on tablets and smart phones of different operating systems. And the new generation of consoles is looking as sickly as never before.
First through the gate of the eighth generation of consoles was the Wii U, and by all accounts it is not a success. It is selling significantly less well than the previous Wii, and in some markets the old Wii still outsold its successor Wii U *today*. EA came out saying the Wii U was “crap”, said they wouldn’t make Wii U games, then paddles back and said they’d make a few. So overall reception was mixed at best.
Then came the announcement of the PS4, which failed to convince people that this would be a must-buy. And now we got the announcement of the XBox One, which pretty much evokes the same echo. So up to now the next generation of consoles doesn’t look very promising. This might very well turn out to be the least successful “generation” of consoles since a long time.
I believe that there are many reasons for that. One is that consoles have lost an advantage they had on price. It used to be that a PC that cost as much as a console was pretty much useless for gaming. But in the last years system requirements have gone up slower than system performance of the average PC, and today most games run perfectly well on a cheap PC. Another reason is that both PCs and mobile platforms have better multi-purpose controls. If I can, I browse the internet on my PC. If that isn’t available, I’d choose my iPad. My PS3, although it comes with an internet browser, would clearly be my last choice for that activity. If due to limited funds you could only have one internet-connected device in your home, would you want that device to be a console?
And even if you would, why would you want a next generation console instead of one of the current generation? If you use your console to watch Netflix movies or DVDs, or surf the internet, you don’t gain much from an upgrade. Only if you mainly want to play the latest games is a next generation console the way to go. And that is an expensive proposition. Between Steam sales on the PC and $0.99 games on tablets, the $60+ games on consoles look pricey today in comparison. You can nearly get a mini-console like the Ouya for that money.
I’m not saying that console gaming is dying. But I would say that it is further away from domination of the game market than ever. The future will be a lot more diverse, and the time Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft had as top dogs is over.
