With Sony’s big event just over a week away, we get into the company’s next system, talking controller features, price point and a new version of Home.
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Sandbox games have always been a huge reason people stick with PC gaming for so long. Exploration is a big draw, as well as a nonlinear experience. Also, experiences that push the limits of what can be considered a “game” have always been able to find a bigger niche on PC, due to lower publishing costs. READ MORE
Sly Cooper games aren’t really made anymore. As an industry, we’ve moved beyond collecting things to encourage exploration, injecting mini-games into platformers and doing everything possible to make the player feel like they’re controlling a cartoon. And it’s a shame. Games like Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time are fun, and everything else stems from that. It’s silly and easy, but the whole journey is fun. READ MORE
A few months back, I wrote about the importance of retracing our steps and going back to the games of the past for inspiration. Titles such as Fez became the hallmark of how to create something (mostly) original while resurfacing things from our past to create a more memorable experience. On a similar note, a year ago I wrote about franchise revivals, discussing the best ways to go about handling the resurrection of classic franchises. Unfortunately, both of these topics have a downside. While playing two of 2012’s big releases, I’ve discovered that some franchises and, by extension, game mechanics deserve to be left in the past. READ MORE
Thus far the offerings of designer Xavier Georges have been somewhat mixed in my eyes. I appreciated the Wild West development of Carson City, but it was a little too much work for the amount of entertainment I got from it. Troyes, on the other hand, came up with some interesting dice-worker mechanics but got bogged down by too many options. His latest Z-Man published title, Ginkgopolis, is much more streamlined and as a result faster-playing, but will it stand up to repeated plays where his others have fallen flat? READ MORE
