by Erik Kain Sony’s rather boring new-gen video game console, the PlayStation 4, has sold through over 10 million units to consumers. This makes it the leader in the new-gen console race, which may come as a surprise to readers. After all, the competition has much more exciting and innovative video game consoles than the PS4. Even Sony is surprised by how fast their boring new console is selling. Microsoft’s Xbox One (originally) launched with the exciting and innovative Kinect sensor, all for just $499. (Now Microsoft offers a much less interesting Xbox One without the Kinect for $399, the same price as Sony’s rather boring PS4.) The Kinect allows users to navigate the Xbox One UI with voice commands […]

by Ben Kuchera Games displayed at 1080p, while running at a smooth 60 frames-per-second, has become part of the marketing for many new games. It’s a magical bullet point on a list of features that proves that your game is next-generation, and there are groups of players online who sneer at anything that can’t quite hit that goal. Diablo 3 on the Xbox One, for instance, couldn’t quite get there. The original response was to drop the resolution down to 900p and keep the frame rate. A smooth game, many would argue, is worth sacrificing a few lines of resolution. The problem is that this solution created a PR problem for Microsoft, a company that is scared of consumers seeing […]

by Dave Smith Amid all the exciting announcements coming out of last week’s Gamescom trade show in Cologne, Germany, Sony announced a handful of new features coming in its 2.0 firmware for PlayStation 4. And while firmware is rarely anything to get excited about, this particular update is different — because it will effectively help Sony put distance between itself and Microsoft’s Xbox One. Sony’s PlayStation 4 has outsold the console competition for seven straight months now, with PS4 sales roughly double that of Xbox One sales worldwide, according to Metro. But with this new update, the PS4 is about to become a much more powerful and user-friendly gaming platform. The big reason? “Share Play,” which was promised when Sony […]

by Daniel Sims   Editor’s Note from Jason Wilson: Since rumors suggested Sony might bring PS1 and PS2 emulation to the PS4, some suggested even running old discs might be possible. It might sound impossible to many, but it really isn’t. Eurogamer’s January report about the possibility of Sony using software emulation to get original PlayStation and PlayStation 2 games playable on the PlayStation 4, instead of streaming through the PlayStation Now service, has had some people giddy all year. Some of these folk have been talking online about how Sony could make old PS1 and PS2 discs work on the PS4 — and while it might be easy to write this off as fanboys, it’s could happen. And depending on how the […]

by L.W. Barker The SEGA of my childhood was a great company and the single competitor to the “Big N” aka Nintendo. This is my personal history of SEGA in the years before Sony and when Nintendo ruled the World! 1986 I worked for the summer at Woolworth’s department store in Brooklyn, New York City (NYC) with one goal in mind—to acquire enough cash to buy the SEGA Master System. I worked that store for a few weeks, stocking merchandise and cutting up boxes on the sales floor and down in the basement level. It was hard work for a teenager, but I did it and quit after a few paychecks—walking out of Macy’s that year with my SEGA Master […]

by L.W. Barker Gameplay—what a concept. When did we lose our focus on it and let resolution take its place? We may never know, however, this concept of resolution is a waste of our hard earned time. I’m a so called “old school gamer”, and back in the day, games were played for their fun factor. In the 80s and 90s, Nintendo and Sega’s gaming machines dominated our living rooms as well as the Arcades, and it was the gameplay that made them great! Fast forward 20+ years—games are sadly bought and played not for their fun factor and overall gameplay, but for how they look. As long as a game has nice, 1080p graphics, and is running at a smooth 60fps, its […]