Two Years of GameJonez Blog and gaming in 2011

By Tiberius Jonez

A couple of weeks ago, GameJonez Blog passed its second birthday. During our first two years in existence, there’s been quite a bit of change in the world of interactive gaming. GameJonez Blog launched near the beginning of this current cycle of “Next Generation” console hardware, and since then we’ve witnessed the Wii-fueled resurrection of Nintendo, the evolution of Microsoft from underappreciated neophyte to legitimate industry powerhouse, and a seemingly endless series of missteps transforming Sony from overwhelming market leader to last place embarrassment and sometimes laughingstock.

We’ve seen premature declarations of the death of PC gaming, and the transition of computer and televisions displays from 4:3 full-screens to eye-popping 16:9 high definition. Technology advances quickly for those of us living on its “bleeding edge”, but nowhere is this more true than the world of PC gaming. In a mere two years, we’ve gone from the death of the Pentium 4 processor to the birth of dual core and now the latest Intel i7 quad core processors that are revolutionizing processor architecture. A $200 graphics card today is more powerful than an entire top of the line desktop PC built just five years ago.

Our consoles are now really just multimedia PCs running proprietary operating systems camouflaged in stylish cases. The Xbox 360 features three dual core processors and a very powerful ATI graphics processor that has proven to have plenty of headroom for growth, allowing for greater and greater levels of graphics splendor. The PS3 sports its much-hyped phalanx of cell processors, which has recently begun to show its promise in games like Killzone 2 and MLB ’09.

Microsoft legitimized online console gaming with the original Xbox, and since the release of the Xbox 360 they have taken the online experience to new levels. By offering Xbox Live Arcade games via download, movies and television shows via their partnership with Netflix, and games demos from the Live Marketplace, MS has shown that online console gaming can be both profitable and exciting when properly executed.

Sony continues taking painfully small baby steps with the Sony Online Network, constantly bumping into the furniture and stumbling around the room in the process. HOME remains MIA and I believe Sony will remain in catch-up mode in the online space until they swallow their collective pride and accept the need to charge for the service so they can invest the kind of capital needed to provide a truly unified online entertainment experience. It may be cliché at this point, but Sony needs to copy Microsoft’s online playbook, and then augment it with some new plays of their own making.

I’m purposely ignoring Nintendo in the online discussion, because that is pretty much what they’ve chosen to do themselves. Between clunky friend codes and a lack of online software, Nintendo has clearly eschewed the online space in favor of kid-centric single player experiences and offline multiplayer experiences like Wii Sports.

The ways we experience games and entertainment have changed so much in these two short years, it is difficult to predict what the interactive gaming landscape will look like two years from now. But the whole point of a blog is to speculate…so, here we go.

Here are some predictions I’ll make for 2011.

Aided by a second significant price drop, Sony’s PS3 will finally be hitting its stride, surpassing the Xbox 360 in annual hardware and software sales and finally realizing the potential of HOME as a valid alternative to Xbox Live.

Microsoft, un-phased by the PS3s new found success, will have already announced the next iteration of Xbox, simply called the X3. Microsoft’s next console, releasing on Friday, November 11, 2011, will attempt to capitalize on lessons learned with the Xbox 360 by hitting the ground running ahead of the competition with new technology, a 3 year replacement warranty and formidable launch lineups tailored to individual markets. North America’s X3 launch lineup will feature Call of Duty X-Patriot as an X3 exclusive, and Japan will be treated to an all-new entry in the Final Fantasy series, Final Fantasy XTC. Those titles would be enough for anyone, but the nuclear sized bombshell will be the X3’s crown jewel, an exclusive worldwide release of Hideo Kojima’s Magnus Opus, Metal Gear X.

Nintendo will release the Wii-2 three weeks after Microsoft’s new console, and it will feature high-def graphics, wireless DS/Wii-2 integration and will lose the motion sensing bar in favor of a sensor built into the console itself. Though the Wii-2 will remain inferior to the X3 in terms of raw horsepower, it will be bundled with a treasure chest of accessories, including an all-new balance board and light gun…the first from Nintendo since the original NES. Bundled games will be Time Crisis N, and Wii Fit 2. Thankfully, Nintendo will finally put their infamous friend codes out to pasture in favor of a unified online experience. It may not rival Xbox Live, but it will be a huge improvement over any online gaming experience Nintendo has offered previously.

Now, think about what you’ve just read and take a deep breath, and let the commenting begin. Share your predictions, and we’ll revisit this topic when GameJonez Blog turns 4. As always, thanks for supporting GameJonez Blog. Game on!

Spiderman 3 The Game - trailer

It's Spiderman, it's cool, it's webtacular, and it's coming May 4th. Check out the trailer below. This trailer is for the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions. The PS2, Xbox and Wii will get a slightly different game.



My Spidey sense is tingling with anticipation!

Microsoft still in denial of Xbox 360 Elite

Joystiq has posted a story today about Microsoft's continuing silence in regards to the worst kept secret in gaming, the Xbox 360 Elite (formerly referred to as "Zephyr")along with some corroborating evidence of it's existance.

We broke the story of the "Zephyr" (the original 360 was dubbed "Xenon" during development) with photos a week ago and Joystiq posted a story "confirming" its existence about an hour later. I have posted the full GameJonez story below as it originally appeared.

Why is Microsoft bothering to deny its existence? What is the point? Surely there is no strategic importance, unless the ad predicting it's April release is wrong and they are planning some kind of simultaneous release along side a major game, like Forza 2 or Mass Effect, or even Bioshock. Halo 3 would make the most sense financially, but I don't see them sitting on this for another 6 months.

120GB Xbox 360 "Zephyr" - It's Black! We have the Pictures
Posted Mar 20, 2007 12:00pm by Todd Melanson

In an apparent slip-up by the Halo Wars development team, it appears pictures of the long-rumored 120GB Black Xbox 360, dubbed Zephyr, have made it to the Net, largely unnoticed.

The first picture below appears on the Halo Wars community forums. The Devs had a recent get together with some Microsoft big wigs including Shane Kim to show off their progress with Halo Wars. Well, someone snapped some pics of the group playing the game and sure enough, right there under the flat panel TV sits a black Xbox 360 with a very different looking Hardrive than what comes with the current Premium 360.


click to enlarge

The second picture is zoomed in on the area of the 360 itself, and while it's a bit blurry, you can definitely recognize it as a 360, and it is black and the hardrive (white edge) is distinctly larger than the current 20GB version. Where the current 20GB version HDD is only raised in the rear two-thirds of the box and flush with the edge in the front, this hardrive is raised all the way across the end, essentially completing the 360 as a rectangular box.


click to enlarge

Clearly if Microsoft is serious about making downloadable HD movies a reality(and they are), a larger HDD is going to be crucial. While it is impossible from these pics to tell if this Zephyr 360 has an HDMI port in the rear, I would bet the farm that it does.

So, the next question is, how much and when?

UPDATE: Joystiq has posted a story revealing the new Xbox 360 in all it's glory. It will show up on store shelves in late April and retail for $479 (ouch babe!). It will include HDMI output and HDMI cables, 120GB HDD and of course, it's black!

So, how pissed off are the early adopters going to be (pretty pissed we think) and will this signal the absolute end of Sony's decade long run of dominance? 2007 sure is shaping up as an interesting gaming year so far!

Griefers: knowing your enemy

If you play online games, even if you 've never heard the term "griefer", you've likely met one. A griefer is a player who enters a game or chatroom with the sole intent of disrupting or ruining every one else's game.

Spouting constant profanity or racial epithets, saluting Hitler, insulting other players or simply interrupting an otherwise harmonious gaming experience, you know the griefer when you meet him (I say him because I've yet to encounter a female griefer in 10+ years of online gaming).

GamePro's Sid Vicious (the irony is not lost on us) spoke with a psychiatrist about the griefer phenomenon in an effort to learn more about what motivates griefer behavior. No report as to whether or not Sid plans to schedule a later appointment for himself.

The pyschiatrist sites many plausible reasons, including a misguided desire to lead, but we're gonna stick with our reasoning that griefers only do what they do from loneliness caused by a general lack of social skills combined with a vitamin D deficiency from underexposure to sunlight.

120 GB Xbox 360 is official. Hello Zephyr

The long-rumored 120GB Xbox 360 is now official. GameJonez revealed today that pics of the new system had inadvertently been shown on the HaloWars community forums. Later in the day Joystiq posted a story confirming the late April release of the new version 360.

Aside from the 120GB HDD, the new version Xbox 360, dubbed "Zephyr", will come complete with HDMI output and HDMI cables, and of course, it's black!

It will hit store shelves in late April and retail for $479. Apparently the 120GB HDD will be offered seperately for "under $200". Well, we certainly HOPE so!

So, is this the end of the current "Core" 360? Will there now by three seperate SKU's? Will pissed off early adopters rage against the machine? Stay tuned for the fallout and the imminent blowout announcement from Microsoft themselves.