Something occurred to me while playing Final Fantasy XI. I just don’t like it. I’ve tried beating it a few times but every time I start I get bored quickly. During the last round of L’Cie loathing I realized that it’s the cutscenes that throw me off. Now this got me thinking, why don’t I like them this time around? I mean I put up with so many of them for most of my life. What’s the deal? Well I think I’ve boiled it down to three distinct reasons.

1.  As a writer one of the first things you learn is the term IN MEDIA RES which is Latin for into the middle of affairs. You are taught that in order to keep your readers enthralled you must start somewhere in the middle. But the trick from there is to keep moving forward.  The whole “an object in motion tends to stay in motion” comes to mind. Once you are moving forward through the storyline, taking us out of the action and throwing us into flashbacks is just plain jarring. I’m willing to forgive this once or twice but if your game is based off of these “gems” of info, you’ve lost me.

2.  Characters are now able to speak. Some of you younglings may not remember a time when one was required to read the dialog throughout an entire game.  Cutsecenes used to offer an insight into what a character sounded like when it was hard to discern from the text. For example: It’s hard to read sarcasm.  (especially without the sarcmark) But now, as we chug along I just want to shout, “Yeah, I get it already!”

3.  Before you send a barrage of angry comments you need to know that I used to love cutscenes, (Like when Sector 7 was blown to smithereens?  You know what I’m talking about) so what happened?  Well in game graphics are finally up to par with the video of old. You can seamlessly play through major events with so many high quality games these days. When it’s not an option it becomes really obvious.

So what this all comes down to is this, I’m a fan of RPG’s for the fantastical worlds. It’s the same reason I read so many books. I love to be completely immersed. In any game I play or book I read, when I’m pulled out mentally I get frustrated. I know there are many games that can pull it off, (Hello love scenes in Dragon Age) but in the end I’d rather play then watch.

So what say you? Do you love them or hate them? Sound off below.

With devices like e-readers or even the iPad, books are being lifted to a whole other level. The most noted recent example would be WINNIE THE POOH that comes free with iBooks. The illustrations are bright and fun. You can find fun ways to interact with hidden images and even simple things like turning pages is taken to another level.

But what if I can’t afford an iPad? What if Kindle and Nook are extremely overpriced chunks of junk? Well, you may already have e-reading capabilities!

Recently Harper Collins teamed up with Nintendo to bring us 100 Classic Books from authors such as Shakespeare, Jane Austen, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Flip your DS on its side like you would with games such as Brain Age and turn pages with your stylus. For approx. $20 you can create your own mini library with the added bonus of author bio’s and story synopses.

Flips Interactive Books has an interactive book titled, THE MAGIC FARAWAY TREE, available for download in the DS marketplace for 500 pts. While this one is marketed towards children, I think they are on to something. The company also has cartridges available for bigger titles such as PERCY JACKSON and ARTEMIS FOWL available in the UK.

You will always have naysayers who will be pro-book ‘til the end. I for one love love love my book collection. But in instances like these when the hardware is already in the household, why not pick up a new book or two (or one-hundred) and experience a story in a new way.

We know you’re out there

Don’t try to hide it

That love for games

Is hard for anyone to quit

Maybe you play Halo or Mario Kart

One thing’s for sure to wrote to Ebert

Explaining why games are in fact art

You long for the day

That your toddler will grow

And sit right beside you

With the motion controls

You’re a master at puzzles

And epic kill streaks

As a matter of fact

You’re proud to be called “geek.”

The thing to remember

When push comes to shove

Games will always pale in comparison

To the family that you love

Happy Mother’s Day!

“You can buy mods at a lot of different places,” says Sawyer, “like one of the most prominent groups you’ll find in the wasteland are the Gun Runners. And there are a lot of different groups that sell mods. They make them for explosives, energy weapons, all sorts of different stuff. You simply have to buy them.”

The days of improvements doing nothing but improving firepower are long gone.  With the new feature, when the weapon is upgraded so is its appearance.

“Every mod that you can add to your gun, with very few exceptions, will always show a new model or new texture,” says Sawyer.

The V.A.T.S. system is also getting an upgrade to appeal to a wider crowd.

“We didn’t really want to take anything away from V.A.T.S.,” says Sawyer. “We just wanted to make sure the real time stuff was improved. So we did things to improve the responsiveness, we improved in-sight aiming so there’s more connection to what your gun is shooting at. It’s not about taking away from V.A.T.S., people use V.A.T.S. all the time, it’s a really good tool in the game and there’s a lot of RPG stuff that ties into it. We wanted to make sure that people wanted to play the game in real time and that it’s as responsive as they expect it to be.”

While many Fallout fanboys may be weary of the changes to come, it sounds like we have nothing to fear.  All that was holy in the originals will be kept sacred—just improved.

Fallout: New Vegas 2010 is expected to be released for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC this fall.

Michael Pachter, Wedbush analyst, has predicted that Netflix subscribers will jump by 3 million this year alone thanks to console owners.

According to Pachter, he believes that Xbox 360 users added around 800,000 new subscribers to Netflix last year and he expected Playstation and Wii users to repeat those numbers.  When those numbers were higher then everyone predicted there was a need to reevaluate.

“Subscriber growth exceeded our expectations in Q1,” he said. “And the company increased full year subscriber guidance by 1 million, implying that contribution from the consoles may be running closer to 3 million this year.”

Netflix has let it be known that subscribers that actively streamed content grew to 55% an increase from 48% in 2009.

Pachter expressed his doubts that the Wii will be as successful in terms of Netflix users due to lack of HD output and number of users who are actually connected to the internet.

“Further, the Wii audience has demonstrated little commitment to buying videogames (attach rates are at historical console lows), leading us to suspect that many Wiis are relegated to the playroom or (heaven forbid) the closet,”

“It is possible that initial expectations for new customers from the Wii installed base may be overly optimistic, and we will closely monitor Netflix’s subscriber growth over the next few quarters to see if the decline in growth is as significant as we have forecast.”

Netflix posted Q1 financials  on Wednesday showing profits of $187 million.

(Via gi)

It’s Sunday today and that means Sunday newspaper ads!  Target has a deal worth mentioning– for a limited time you can pick up your choice of 2000 Wii points, 1600 Ms points, or a $20 PSN card for only $17.  That’s a saving of $3 in case you were wondering.  So go!  Go load up on points and buy all the DLC your heart desires.

Overall, this is great news for gamers who have been historically “squeezed” by having to purchase more points than they actually need for a desired purchase.  While the extra points equaled a nominal cash value that wasn’t going to make or break a bank account, it just didn’t seem fair.

In reality though, it was a pretty awesome marketing tactic.  Let me explain, if you’re anything like me, seeing even the smallest number of points leftover in my account never sat well, seemed wasteful.  It caused a desire within my very soul to “liberate” those spare points by spending them and 9 times out of 10, the only way I could do that was to purchase additional points.  Once I purchased those additional points to eventually purchase my next Xbox Live item I found myself in familiar situation, more leftover points—a vicious circle for those of us who are “liberators,” a great marketing ploy to create repeat transactions for the folks at Microsoft.

GameStation says this proves that over 80% of people buying online do not take the time to read the terms and conditions.

Luckily for the current soulless, those in charge over at GameStation will be emailing customers to inform them that they have nullified any claim on their soul.

(via Newslite)

With the announcement of some big title games on the iPad comes the news of some much needed Apple accessories. Apple has filed a patent for a series of products that will benefit mainly gamers, including a case that can hold your portable device complete with d-pad/joystick and buttons. Another development worth mentioning is the ability to link to external devices, such as your TV via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi and then transfer both video & audio to the device to be used as an in-game advantage.

Circuits, methods, and apparatus that provide user interfaces for playing games on portable electronic devices. One example provides a game accessory having input controls for playing video, audio, and other types of games. The game accessory can have input controls, such as buttons, joysticks, and D-pads. Another example provides a game accessory having a thumb pad or keyboard. Other possible features include microphones, cameras and camera lenses, speakers, a second screen, rumble, and motion detection. The game accessory may have a recess sized to fit the portable electronic device. Inserts or removable adapters can be used to fit portable electronic devices having different sizes. The portable electronic device can be held in the accessory using sliding covers, clips, or other engaging members. In other examples, the accessory can communicate with another accessory for head-to-head game play. The accessory may include circuitry for power, identification, and authorization.

The patent filed in 2008 was released to the public yesterday and while other sites showed off their not-so-real peripherals, this bit of technology will actually be heading our way.

Legend of the Guardians, not to be confused with Guardian Legend (nes), is set to be released in September 2010 before the movie release of the same title.  The game is based on the popular book series Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole by author Kathryn Lasky.  Further details can be found in the press release below.

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment announces that Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole – The Videogame will be available on the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system, Wii™ and Nintendo DS™ in September 2010 in conjunction with the release of Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole. The highly anticipated 3D fantasy family adventure film is from Warner Bros. Pictures in association with Village Roadshow Pictures, and will be released on October 15.

The game invites kids and fans of the film and the popular Guardians of Ga’Hoole book series to join an unlikely band of heroes as they take on the role of a Guardian, a winged warrior and protector of the owl world, in an epic story of good versus evil. Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole – The Videogame allows players to customize and control their owl on a thrilling journey across mythic terrains.

“Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole – The Videogame gives players a fun, new gameplay experience capturing the excitement of owl fight and flight with intuitive and smooth controls,” said Samantha Ryan, Senior Vice President, Production and Development, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. “Players will be able to do much more than fly, as they race, attack and grow their abilities for a more immersive experience throughout the expansive environments beautifully depicted in the game.”

Based on the film directed by Zack Snyder and the bestselling book series by author Kathryn Lasky, Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole – The Videogame is being developed for Wii™, PlayStation®3 and Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft by Krome Studios and for Nintendo DS™ by Tantalus Media.