Gaming News: Don Mattrick leaving Microsoft for Zynga

Wednesday's gaming news is that Don Mattrick, head of Microsoft's Interactive Entertainment division including X-Box, is leaving Microsoft to become the new CEO of Zynga. For those of you who don't know who Zynga is, Zynga is the company behind Farmville, Mafia War, and the like, so if you keep getting those annoying request for manure or what not, then now you know who to blame. Zynga's was originally doing quite well when they first started and Farmville reached its peak, but within the last year Zynga has seen their stock fall quite a  bit.

Now I don't know all of what was behind Mattrick's decision to leave Micros0ft, in fact I know next to nothing and am not interested enough to try and find out, but his timing couldn't have been worse. As it is now, it looks like he is getting out before he can be fired over the backlash the Xbox One garnered, possibly as a straw man for Microsoft.

Now, is it a good thing for him that he has become Zynga's new CEO?
Zynga has seen falling stock and people leaving their games in large numbers, forcing them to lay off workers and to close down the less popular Facebook games. Well, so far, the stocks appear to show some confidence in Mattrick's ability to bring the company back into the spotlight, since the announcement, Zynga's stock has risen a bit and looks to be the beginning for a steady climb, unless it doesn't.
We will just have to wait and see how things at Zynga are handled.


I know one thing though, I won't be clamering for the newest Farmville spin-off to be announced, and the game requests I get are going to be forgotten in my notification bar.

Thanks for reading!

Game review: Turning Point: Fall of Liberty

I don't know if I ever fully explained the goal behind the Monday blog posts, so I am going to do that now. On Mondays I am going to review games for the current generation of consoles, but I am going to review older ones that people should be able to pick up for cheaper than normal. This is so people like myself can know what games are good, but won't break the bank. Any way, on to the review.

Today's review: Turning Point: Fall of Liberty

Turning Point is a first person shooter based in the fictitious universe where the Germans win World War II and have invaded America. You take the role of a construction worker turned freedom fighter as you fight to save America from the Nazi invasion.

The game is played in general FPS style, two weapons, can pick weapons off of enemy's corpses, grenades, the usual. The game is not remarkable on the innovation front. But what the game lacks in innovation, it partially makes up for with action and solid gameplay. The game has a single player campaign and online multiplayer, I can not say either way on the multiplayer because I haven't played the multiplayer. The single player campaign is good, not great, but good. The campaign mainly suffers because of how short it is. I honestly think it could have been a much better game if they had spent more time on it, made it longer, add more weapons, and just generally polish it up a bit.

All in all, the game is ok. It isn't the best, but it isn't horrible either. The game is any where fr $5 to $8 on Amazon.com, for that amount it would be a good weekend time killer or what not. As I said, the game is ok so if you are having a hard time deciding what to play, just pop this in and give it a go. it won't blow your socks off, but it can at least help kill some time while you figure out what other game you want to play after you are done.

Thanks for reading!

Throwback Fridays: CTR

For this week's Throwback Friday, we are going to take a look at CTR: Crash Team Racing for the PS1.

Crash Team Racing was in North America on September 30, 1999. It was developed by Naughty Dog and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the Playstation. The game sold 1.71 million units in Europe, 2.64 million in North America, and just under 500,000 units in japan. Because of its success it was re-released as a greatest hits, and a platinum hits as well.

The game has a very Mario Kart like feel to it, each driver has their own car, power-up boxes scattered across the twisting track, items that give boost, fire rockets and so on. The game is very solid and has almost perfect controls that allow the gamer to focus on winning the race.

The graphics are, as it is with all older games, outdated; however its cartoony art style keep the game looking crisp, fresh, and enjoyable.

The game has a single player campaign and a multiplayer mode. The single player mode is a campaign where the player must win races  to win trophies and eventually beat the alien Nitros Oxide,

The multiplayer is as one would expect from a kart racing game. Players race around a twisting track as they try to avoid obstacles, find shortcuts, and outsmart their fellow racers and win the prize.Each track is filled with item boxes, and wampa fruit boxes. Item boxes are filled with various items that can be used to win the race. Wampa fruit boxes are filled with (did you guess it?) wampa fruit, the more wampa fruit you have, the faster your cart goes. You can get turbo by running over green turbo pads, acquiring a power-up, or powersliding. There is also a battle mode where player battle each other with the game's power-ups.

All in all this is a really good game. In fact it is my family's favorite game to play with each other. The game is available for download from the PSN store for $5.99 and I highly suggest giving this game a try. If you still have this game, maybe it's time to dig out the PS1 and get a nice dose of nostalgia.

Thanks for reading. Have a nice day!

Finals week

Hey, Just wanted to say that it is finals week and therefor I probably wont be able to post until Friday or next Monday. I apologize for the delays but my summer class is almost over.

Schedule change/ Wednesday News

First of all, I would like to say sorry for not posting on Monday. But, cable is back online so we are good to go. Second, I am changing Wednesdays to gaming News, at least for now.

Ok, time for todays post.

The big news in gaming today, is that Microsoft has revised its DRM policy for Xbox One.
The most important effect this will have is that you WILL NOT have to connect your Xbox to the internet to play offline games. The only time the system will need to connect will be during first time set up. This goes for games downloaded off of Xbox Live as well.
The ability to sell, trade, and share games like you would for the 360 is now back as well. So Gamestop, you have been spared.
And finally, some good news to those who like to play games that normally aren't available in their country, regions have been removed, meaning the systems can be played in all areas of the world, government allowing, and games from across the world can be played as well. I foresee some hardcore RPG fans importing some JRPGs in the future.

Now, there were some features that were dropped as well. I won't go into details but most of them revolved around the cloud and your games library. Most specifically the ability to play your games library wherever you want without needing the disc.

All in all, it is good to see Microsoft actually listening to its fans. Sony, you might actually have some competition if Microsoft can keep it together.

Here is the link to the announcement from Microsoft's head of Interactive Entertainment.

That's all for today folks, be sure to check back for Throwback Friday!

Internet Outage

Just alerting any readers that a storm came through my area today and my Internet connection is down. That means Mondays post is canceled;however, I will try to make next Mondays post extra big to make up for it. Thanks for reading and bear with us.

P.S. if you were wondering how I am posting this, lets just say posting by iPhone on rural 3G is not pleasant.

New Schedule/ Throwback Friday!

First of all, I would like to thank anyone who has read this blog so far.

Now, to the good stuff. I am happy to announce that I have finally come up with an actual schedule and have set myself digital reminders so I won't forget. (I am actually quite reliable once I have iPhone alarms set.)

Here is the schedule:

Monday: I will attempt to post reviews of current games, as in games for current consoles. I generally wont be able to make reviews on brand new games due to lack of funds. But I will do my best to review games as I acquire them. At times I will also give my opinion on current trends and news in the gaming industry.

Wednesday: Will be interesting facts about games and the game industry. I will attempt to set up a way you can send in any interesting facts and I will be sure to credit you as well. These facts will not be limited to Easter eggs and such, they can also be glitches and interesting quirks a game has.

Friday: Will probably be my favorite. Fridays are going to be Throwback Friday, meaning reviews and facts on classic and older games. I'll try to show some of the more under rated ones if possible. I am hoping to e able to provide short clips and such of game-play in the near future along with these.

I am going to try and post these around 10:00 PM Central time. Post could be subject to delays due to homework and such, just a warning.

Ok, on to the actual post.

Throwback Friday: Spyro: Year of the Dragon

Spryo: Year of the Dragon was released in the North America on October 25th 2000 for the Sony Playstation, also called the PSOne, PSX, and of course the Playstation One. Spyro: Year of the Dragon is a 3D platformer adventure game. The plot of the game is that a mysterious stranger has stolen all the dragon eggs and it is up to Spyro and his friends to get them back. Most levels consist of collect gems and completing tasks for characters to earn the eggs back, eggs are also hidden throughout levels and the overworlds as well. Spyro uses his various abilities to complete each task and overcome obstacles.

Personally, this is one of my favorite games. Period. The game is lighthearted and just generally fun to play. The egg collecting gives the game good replay-ability, as does gem collecting. Overall the game has aged well and should be fun for all ages.

Luckily, for those who would like to either, replay this game, or try it out, Sony has put the game up for download to PS3 and PSP, and in extension PSVita I would hope, for $6.99 USD. I highly recommend this game to anyone looking to spend a quiet weekend on the couch with a classic.

Thanks for reading, see you again Monday!