A salty Brit's take on E3

by Brendan Rose

With E3 wrapping up, I thought I'd talk about some of the new games I think looked cool, as well as the games I think seem crap or that I'm indifferent towards as well as the new motion controls for the PS3 and Xbox.

Okay first up, Mass Effect 2, now I think this looks really cool. You can bring your old character over to the new game, and if you die you don't get to bring them over into the third game. It's supposed to be darker than the first Mass Effect, which is cool because it was kind of lame. I just sat around waiting the entire game for the lesbian sex scene with the blue alien girl, but it was a lot of fun, and I really liked the psychic powers. They've revamped the graphics and the combat, and you can now wound and cripple the enemy. It looks cool

Alright next we've got Bioshock 2, it seems really neat from the footage I've seen. Everybody knows this time around you get to play as a big daddy, with the proper drill. Slower this time, more lumbering, more powerful, and they've got the big sisters there to set up some good dynamics. It looks ok.

Heavy Rain, seems really cool. It's got the branching plot lines. If you die as one character you just switch to one of the others and the plot adjusts, and it just looks like it's got a lot of potential. I'm not a fan of those stupid quick-time events where you have to press a certain button fast enough to keep the scene going. I hate that. But it seems interesting enough for that not to matter.

Dead Rising 2 is going to be awesome. God of War III seems pretty good from the footage I saw. Everyone's pretty hyped about that game. I never played the God of War games, but I'll definitely try it out. Then there's Final Fantasy XIII and now XIV which will be online. Not much to say about that. I like the look of the new game, and VS sounds awesome.

Flashpoint 2 seems to be rolling along well and looks cool, if they ever release it. Left 4 Dead 2, looks exactly like the first game, which isn't exactly bad, I'll buy it, and some new maps would be fun. Then there's Halo ODST, I'd like to play another Halo. Looks ok.

Assassin's creed 2 seems neat with some new features, better assassinations. It looks like it could be fun. Brutal Legend seems kind of funny. Jack Black... Probably a stupid game, but I'll buy it just to have a look. New AVP, could be fun, if they get it right. Batman Archam Asylum is something I will take a look at later along with Crackdown 2.

Now moving onto the intermediate games there's MAG which seems interesting with 250 or so players. Dark Void just keeps floating around. Some Knights of the old republic game, others liked the earlier one. And then Lost Planet 2 which has fancy graphics and lots of neat action and open areas and big scary monsters to fight but I just look at it and I feel nothing. I feel dead inside.

Then the games that just look like festering shit. First, Uncharted 2. My god, can someone please kill the hype surrounding this miserable looking tomb raider thing. It looks so boring and stupid it makes me want to barf on a child. Modern Warfare 2, I have no interest in...none. I understand people love the first Modern Warfare, but I've never understood it. So, go ahead and let the flaming begin.

The Beatles Rockband will probably sell a lot of copies, but not to me. No way in Hell. And then there's some fucking Metal Gear thing going on... Some stupid shit... Looks like Metal Gear on Xbox. I really don't care

Then finally, these new motion controls, which I hope will strangle the last gulps of life out of the Wii like a boa constrictor on a stray duckling. First the PS3 has a motion controller set for 2010 release that looks at least as good as the Wii motion plus. And then the Xbox has this.... Magic thing....Project Natal. They just showed a weird trailer. If it lives up to the trailer it could be cool. No controller required. It scans your body with two cameras and tracks your movements in 3D, and it responds to voice commands. Could be cool if it works I guess. So the Wii has no power and no games at all, and whatever the Wii control once offered, is now available on a better system with real graphics, If they get it right.

So anyway that's what I thought of E3. Kind of cool. Like a nerd mecca.

E3 2009 - PS3 fighting Xbox at home

by Tiberius Jonez

It's that time of the year again, when, fueled by energy drinks, gamers gorge themselves on reams of hype and participate in reckless speculation about everything and anything related to video games..it's E3 time.

The Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) is arguably the Superbowl of the gaming industry. If you're a developer introducing a new IP or a sequel to a beloved franchise, then E3 is where you want to make that presentation...and the stakes are high. Succeed, and you're guaranteed six months to a year or more of passionate free publicity from game magazines and bloggers from all over the internet. Blow it, and you're guaranteed at least that much negative press and badmouthing, a marketing blow too damaging for many to overcome.

Leading up to E3, I will be looking for interesting tidbits of news and information pertinent to E3 and all that it represents.

So, I was thinking to myself after reading some previews of Sony's upcoming games, that they were games I would expect to see on the 360. Then I stumbled upon an excellent article on how Sony is taking the development game to Microsoft on the PC giant's home turf.

If Sony would come to grips with their need to emulate Xbox Live, they could potentially swing market momentum in their favor. The timing is good for such a move as Microsoft is presently waging war in Europe, possibly leaving themselves vulnerable to a flanking maneuver by Sony.

InFamous and MAG both show a lot of early promise, but it remains to be seen which they will end up being compared to more, Killzone 2 or Stormrise. Read the full story here.

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!

Anti-gaming Attorney Jack Thompson facing ten-year disbarment

By Tiberius Jonez

This week’s proof that our society may not be on the brink of destruction after all is the news that the Florida Bar Association has requested embattled anti-gaming attorney Jack Thompson be disbarred for ten years based on the 27 misconduct charges he was found guilty of last month.

According to gamepolitics, Thompson reportedly stormed out of the hearing after Judge Dava Tunis refused to let him read a lengthy objection aloud. Tunis, acting as referee on behalf of the Florida Supreme Court, did permit Thompson to submit a copy of his objection for the record, but by leaving the courtroom, Thompson missed the opportunity to argue any mitigating factors to the Bar's recommendation for harsh punishment. A request for disbarment is not an official punishment – that decision is left squarely in the hands of Judge Tunis.

In other Thompson-related news, a federal lawsuit filed by Thompson against the Florida Supreme Court has been dismissed with prejudice, meaning that he cannot file it again. Thompson still has two other lawsuits pending related to his ongoing Bar trial.

If you’ve followed the saga of Jack Thompson at all, you know the guy is clearly off his rocker – using his license to practice law (if that’s what you can call it) to slander an entire industry. He is most famous for his zealous attacks on Grand Theft Auto developer Take Two/Rockstar.

Thankfully, it is beginning to appear cooler heads are going to prevail and Mr. Thompson will soon be harassing noone (at least not in the legal sense) for at least a decade.

>golf clapping all around<

Time Warner plans metered internet rates for broadband users

by Tiberius Jonez

In a move sure to outrage the gaming community and many broadband users in general, Time Warner Cable Inc on Thursday will begin testing a service that charges consumers of high-speed Internet service based on their usage.

According to the story from Reuters, the test will take place in Beaumont, Texas, where broadband subscribers will be charged $1 per gigabyte above monthly allowances. The new policy is intended to address the top 5 percent of users, who have spent a "disproportionate" amount of time on Time Warner Cable's network, a company spokesman said.

Such usage is "taxing the infrastructure," according to a spokesman for Time Warner. "In order to make investments in the infrastructure, we have to find the revenue to pay for it."

Consumers in the test region will be offered several levels of service. A $29.95 per month plan for slower speeds of 768 kilobits per second and a 5 gigabyte limit would let users send and receive about 349,525 e-mails, play 170 hours of online games, or download 1,383 digital songs per month.

At the high end, a $54.90 monthly fee for a 15-megabit-per-second service and a 40 gigabyte monthly limit would allow subscribers to watch 124 hours of standard-definition videos or download 11,070 songs.

Metered rates could definitely have an impact on gamers who play several hours a week of multiplayer games on Xbox Live or PlayStation Network. Imagine the poor World of Worldcraft crowd - ZOMG!

I am not happy about this at all. I don’t know what it would mean for my family’s monthly cable bill – but I can tell you this much; if it means an increase for my service we will be looking long and hard at switching to satellite internet and T.V. service. Our cable bill is already over $200 a month and any more is just not acceptable.

Time Warner is also missing the point that the top 5% of users are the ones that get the most new users to come on board to broadband because they are the ones that are the best source of viral marketing for broadband companies. By alienating them like this, Time Warner could suffer a serious backlash that they have not anticipated.

For Time Warner to justify the metered rates as the only way to cover infrastructure costs rings hollow to me. In 2005, on top of his $12.2 million in pay and stocks, the company provided CEO Richard Parsons $100,000 for financial services, $321,127 for travel expenses and $52,800 to rent a Los Angeles apartment. Apparently, they are not exactly living paycheck to paycheck like most of us.

If Time Warner goes to metered rates and you’re a TW customer, would you cut your internet usage to pay less, pay more to stay the same, or pay substantially more to have greater capacity? Or would you try to switch away from them entirely? Comment and let us know.

Is the end near for single player games?

By Tiberius Jonez

Zelda, Final Fantasy, Metal Gear Solid, Grand Theft Auto and Splinter Cell are all triple-A gaming franchises and all were originally single player only experiences. However, with the exception of Zelda, all these franchises latest iterations feature some form of online multiplayer component. With the big three consoles all featuring online connectivity in varying degrees, it is clear that the future, and in many instances the present, of videogames is online. At some point in the very near future – possibly by the end of this year – completely offline single player games will be extremely rare or even nonexistent.

With development budgets exceeding the $100Mil mark (GTA IV), it’s becoming increasingly difficult for publishers to green-light projects that don’t feature any kind of online revenue streams like downloadable content or multiplayer advertising. Considering only 10-15% of gamers ever finish an entire single player game, the current system of game production and sales is a kind of economic insanity on the part of both developers and consumers. Gamers pay $60 for content they never fully experience and developers spend millions passionately creating content that goes largely unseen.

Gamers wonder why their games have been drastically shortened in the past five years. Five years ago, if a game wasn’t 30-40 hours in length it was considered to be a short game and difficult to justify at $50. Now games are $60 yet most developers are shooting for a much shorter 10-15 hour experience, and why not? Why would a developer want to create a 20-30 hour experience if 85-90% of their consumer base will only ever see the first two-thirds of it? It makes more sense for them to save both money and time by creating a shorter experience that more players might actually complete.

Alone in the Dark, the latest game from publisher Atari is taking a new approach to getting more gamers to see the end of their game by breaking it into chapters and allowing players to have access to every chapter from the get-go. If you get stuck or frustrated somewhere, simply skip to the next chapter and keep going. And don’t worry about missing any important story bits because every chapter is preceded by a “Previously on Alone in the Dark” recap.

This sort of approach or something similar is likely to become more popular with other developers in the future. The next step is chapter by chapter delivery. Instead of buying the entire game for $60, you may pay $5-$10 for a chapter and buy as much or as little of the “entire” experience as you like.

In a recent interview with videogaming247, Atari head Phil Harrison said Eden games, the developer on Alone in the Dark, originally intended to deliver the game episodically when they began work on it four years ago but due to technical and commercial reasons, decided not to go that route with the final product. Still, when you consider the present direction of the industry as a whole, Eden’s thinking was quite prescient four years ago.

As more and more games include features like multiplayer and co-op gameplay the shift away from purely single player games will gain momentum. While there will always be a market for single player games that segment of the industry will become a much more focused one, with fewer developers delivering fewer such experiences. At the same time, with broadband internet becoming more widespread and inexpensive, more players will have the means and desire to play online.

Is the end near for single player games? Probably not the end as a whole but possibly the end of them as we used to know and love them is.

Penny Arcade authors publicly comment on Gerstmann firing from Gamespot

Penny Arcade was one of the first sites on the internet (along with us and Primotech) to react to the Jeff Gerstmann incident -- making it the subject of today's PA strip. Later in the day, the authors made their first public comment on the situation. An excerpt from their statement follows with the complete version available after the break.

From Penny Arcade:

I will tell you the Gerstmann Story as we heard it. Management claimed to have spoken to Jeff about his "tone" before, and no doubt it was this tone that created tensions between their editorial content, the direction of the site, and the carefully crafted relationships that allowed Gamespot to act as an engine of revenue creation. After Gerstmann's savage flogging of Kane & Lynch, a game whose marketing investment on Gamespot alone reached into the hundreds of thousands, Eidos (we are told) pulled hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of future advertising from the site.

Management has another story, of course: management always has another story. But it's the firm belief internally that Jeff was sacrificed. And it had to be Jeff, at least, we believe, precisely because of his stature and longevity. It made for a dramatic public execution that left the editorial staff in disarray. Would that it were only about the 6.0 - at least then you'd know how to score something if you wanted to keep your Goddamned job. No, this was worse: the more nebulous "tone" would be the guide. I assume it was designed to terrify them.

At this point, I can only assume that Jeff Gerstmann is somewhere, sitting at his computer in bemused wonderment at the public outcry over this entire situation. Honestly, he's probably happy as a clam since this whole thing is very likely increasing his value for whatever company hires him next.

Read the complete statement after the break.

Complete statement From Penny Arcade:

It's been a couple weeks discussing reviews and reviewers around here, but somewhere along the way I neglected to mention that their job is essentially impossible. The 7-9 scale they toil under is largely the result of an uneasy peace between the business and editorial wings of the venue. No matter what score they give it, high or low, they're reviled equally by the online chorus. Apparently, even when they do it right they're doing it wrong.

Jeff Gerstmann is no stranger to controversy. In general terms, Gamespot can be relied upon to give high-profile games scores which are slightly lower than their counterparts elsewhere. It's almost as though there is an algorithm in place there to correct the heady rush associated with cracking open an anticipated new title. Gerstmann's review of Twilight Princess cemented his reputation as a criminal renegade with no law but his own, even though he gave the game an 8.9 - a nine, essentially - out of ten.

I will tell you the Gerstmann Story as we heard it. Management claimed to have spoken to Jeff about his "tone" before, and no doubt it was this tone that created tensions between their editorial content, the direction of the site, and the carefully crafted relationships that allowed Gamespot to act as an engine of revenue creation. After Gerstmann's savage flogging of Kane & Lynch, a game whose marketing investment on Gamespot alone reached into the hundreds of thousands, Eidos (we are told) pulled hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of future advertising from the site.

Management has another story, of course: management always has another story. But it's the firm belief internally that Jeff was sacrificed. And it had to be Jeff, at least, we believe, precisely because of his stature and longevity. It made for a dramatic public execution that left the editorial staff in disarray. Would that it were only about the 6.0 - at least then you'd know how to score something if you wanted to keep your Goddamned job. No, this was worse: the more nebulous "tone" would be the guide. I assume it was designed to terrify them.

For Gabriel, this tale proves out his darkest suspicions. People believe things like this anyway, but they don't know it, and the shift from intuitive to objective knowledge is startling. I think it rarely gets to this point. The apparatus is very tight: there are layers of editorial control that can massage the score, even when the text tells a different tale. A more junior reviewer might have seen their Kane & Lynch review streamlined by this process, divested of its worrisome angles and overall troubling shape. It was Jeff Gerstmann's role high in the site's infrastructure that allowed his raw editorial content to pierce the core of the business.

(CW)TB out.

Gerstmann controversy update - forums on fire

Posted by Tiberius Jonez
email tiberiusjonez@gmail.com

The 'Gerstmann incident' isn't going away for Gamespot or Eidos any time soon. Both company's forums have been flooded by angry posters voicing their displeasure with a situation they appear to perceive as two money-hungry companies scapegoating an ethical journalist. Whether or not that is actually the case, no one knows since those directly involved in the mess are not commenting publicly beyond short, pat press releases.

The latest development in the ongoing saga is that Gamespot has removed the video review of Kane and Lynch that was the alleged cause of Gerstmann's firing in the first place. The text version of the review has been amended with a note stating that "this review has been updated to include differences between the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions and a clarification on the game's multiplayer mode."

For those of you that never saw the original video review, you can watch it after the break.




It's difficult to believe that Gamespot didn't know this would blow up in their face, which makes me wonder if there isn't more to the story than is being told. The obvious answer is, of course there is more to the story, but until either side talks, this isn't going away!

$5 million lawsuit filed against Microsoft over Halo 3, Xbox 360 problems

Halo 3 is designed from the ground up to be compatible with the Xbox 360, right? A federal lawsuit filed last week against Microsoft and the game's developer, Bungie, claims it is not. The suit alleges that Halo 3 "routinely, consistently, and systematically 'froze,' 'crashed,' or 'locked up.'" The suit then claims that these issues "disrupted game play". Yes, freezing, crashing and locking up would disrupt game play. The plaintiff, Randy Nunez, is seeking class-action status along with $5 million in damages plus costs and attorneys' fees. In a country where you can win a huge amount of money for spilling coffee on yourself, I suppose frivolous lawsuits like this are inevitable.

While the famous McDonald's coffee lawsuit is often unjustly cited as an example of what is wrong with our civil justice system, the facts in that case actually warranted the jury's decision. In this lawsuit against Microsoft and Bungie, the plaintiff is claiming that interruption of his game play warrants a $5 million check. Even if you could prove that Microsoft and Bungie intentionally released Halo 3 with knowledge of hardware/software compatibility issues -- which is a tough sell considering Microsoft's widely publicized $1 BILLION investment in correcting the Xbox 360's hardware issues, including extending the console's warranty length to three years -- how can you claim that interrupted gaming is worth $5 million?

I love my games, and yes, it is frustrating when serious performance issues ruin a gaming experience, but no GAMING experience is worthy of $5 million in compensation. Hellooo, McFly!! Perhaps Mr. Nunez should consider using his time to acquire gainful employment rather than wasting our court system's precious time with this bunk.

They Deserved Better - Part One: Beyond Good and Evil

This is part one of a four part series called "They Deserved Better" where Adam Montgomery examines the fate of some of the greatest games ever made that never achieved the level of commercial success they deserved. These games hold a special place in our hearts. They are the cult classics of the gaming industry and deserve our recognition and, if possible, a place in your game library.

In part one, Adam Looks at Beyond Good and Evil from Michael Ancel, the brilliant creator of the first two Rayman games.

Jade battled to free the minds of Hilllys’ inhabitant, but she was only free to do this after Micheal Ancel had a similar battle with videogame audiences. Beyond Good and Evil is the product of Ancel’s struggle; it is his attempt to open minds.

Originally intended as part of a trilogy, BGAE failed to sell. It was so much of a commercial failure that the work that had gone into the game-world’s engine was cast aside (although the JADE engine did go on to feature in the more successful Prince of Persia) and the franchise died without delivering it’s sequels.

It’s a shame too, because Jade’s home world of Hillys felt real. It felt like every step you took in the world left a footprint. Crowds would gather in support of the rebellion. Every exposure you made was broadcast and heard by the people. The JADE engine made possible long-distance visuals, preventing feelings about the environment being an endless series of “levels” – it was a hive of activity. It was a prize worth liberating.

Cinematic sequences carried a sense of drama and emotion. Jade’s personality wasn’t explicitly told to the player; it was signed in unspoken language: with the nuance of her character revealed in the movements and framing of the camera.

Ancel had a tale to tell, and he told it impeccably.

And then there’s Jade. She wasn’t from the mold of other female protagonists, and she wasn’t bound by their shared restraints. She was mentally strong, strikingly independent, and was the backbone of a revolution – a willing messiah for Hillys. Most importantly, and most distinguishingly, Jade was untouched by marketing staff seeking the dollars of teenage boys. She was the opposite: she was a feminist heroine.

Jade’s spiritual, she’s resilient, and she’s a woman of substance – tied to her purpose without thoughts of failure. Most endearingly, Jade is a mother figure, but not just a mother figure. Her role as caretaker is but a reflection of one aspect of her personality and, when paired with her thirst for truth, makes up her drive. Yes, Jade began by taking care of a few, but she ended up taking care of an entire nation.

Metroid Prime’s Samus Aran is an icon; the moment she removed her helmet to display her femininity is seminal. However, and this will anger some, when you’re playing the game she’s not a woman. She’s not even a man. She’s a sexless, soulless it.

And when Samus won the Gamefaqs character battle it was a bit sad. The first woman to win the contest wasn’t really a woman at all, she was a canvas; a white sheet for the player to project themselves onto; she was a safe nothingness.

Compared to Samus, Jade in Beyond Good and Evil is Women’s Rights 2003: liberation in a new medium.

It’s just a shame she had such a sad and premature ending.

Adam Montgomery

Assassin's Creed Collector's Set Unveiled

The Assassin's Creed Collector's Set has been revealed, and it includes a beautiful 12 inch tall figure of the game's lead character, Altair. My wife would never go for having this thing placed anywhere in our home. Unless I could possibly convince her that Altair is a veiled allusion to the founding of her favorite company...Apple Computers. Rent "Pirates of Silicon Valley" if you're lost.

I must admit, the thing does look supercool, but I am kind of getting sick of developers throwing in useless extras to pry another twenty, thirty or seventy dollars from our pockets. Just give me a great game that lasts longer than 10 hours and I'm cool.

Why The $&#@ Do You Read This Blog?

I have been away for the better part of the past 6 weeks. I won't get into a lot of details, but I've had some health concerns (I am going to be fine) and I live in Minneapolis, where people's minds have been on the tragic bridge collapse of last week. Best wishes to anyone affected by this shocking incident.

First, a recap of what has happened in the world of gaming since I last posted a meaningful story.

GTA4 was delayed, the PS3 price was dropped (sorta), and now the Xbox 360 price has been dropped (see the picture above). It looks like MGS4 will be coming to the XBox360 5 to 6 months after the PS3 release. See here. And COD4 and Fallout 3 look like games to own. The former very soon, and the latter sometime next year. Recap done.

Now that I am back, I (more accurately, my wife) made an interesting discovery. It seems I've had more visits to this blog during the 6 weeks I've been M.I.A. than in the 6 weeks previous to that time.

3...

2...

1...

OK, now that you're done laughing, I have to ask the question? Why? Why are you here? Why did you come here? Do you plan to come back? Did your search for Viagra somehow send you here? Do you like the blog? Is it informative, opinionated or interesting to you? Does it suck? I really must know!

You see, I have no desire to rule the world or even to be famous but what I would like to do is carve out my own little niche in this internet thing and be able to at least support my love of games and continue to be able to share my opinions with you fine people. In order to do that, I have to get some kind of handle on what draws visitors here, what makes them stay, and what makes them use the limited advertising we employ.

What do you think of our ads? Should we have more? Should we have less? We can't have none unless you're going to start sending us cash, so let me know what kind of ads you do like or dislike if you wish. Would you be inclined to buy from merchants we advertised, and if so, why?

One thing I do try to do is only advertise companies I actually use or that I have used in the past with good results. So, while you might see ads for companies like GameFly, TigerDirect and Netflix (love 'em), you won't normally see ads for Gamestop or Blockbuster (loathe 'em).

One last thing, do you enjoy Blogger? Should I use a different hosting service? If so, why? I like Blogger, and it's free. It's not perfect, but what is?

I'm not going to go much more into this now. I want to hear from you, the readers.

Welcome to the GameJonez Blog

Hello and welcome to the GameJonez Blog, my new virtual home while GameJonez.com is being redesigned. GameJonez is dedicated to bringing you video game news from around the net. I am passionate about gaming and the people who make games.

This blog will be a continuation of my wider goal of connecting with the most valuable resource on the net, you our fellow gamers. I want you to turn the spotlight on yourselves. I want to hear what you have to say about games, gaming news, and those who create the works of art that we so dearly love.

Check back daily for conversation, debate, rumors and breaking news from the world of gaming.

Thanks!!

Tiberius Jonez
Email