Monday, 24 September 2012

FEATURE: Digital Download of Video-Games

Whether you're a collector or not, it wouldn't be surprising to see games released only digitally in the not so distant future.


As a gamer, you'll probably know that digital gaming is becoming a huge part of the industry, you can pretty much find any game you want via a download whether it be PSN Store, Xbox Live Marketplace, or Steam. You'll be able to find what you want somewhere without having to physically move, except with your hands of course.

Personally, I do prefer having physical copies of a game as I'm a bit of a collector but there's no denying that a lot of money is being made via digital distribution. So, I think it's time I weigh out the pros and cons of digital gaming downloads to come to some sort of conclusion as to whether digital downloads will take over physical copies of video-games.

Pros
  • Don't take up any physical space at all 
  • The disc will never get scratched or damaged
  • You can't 'lose' a digital copy of a game, it's always available to re-download with no extra charge
  • Very easy way of obtaining games that are hard to get in their physical form
  • It's convenient to simply find a digital download and play there and then
  • There will never be a shortage of stock
Cons
  • Often the pricing isn't completely accurate (Red Faction Armageddon was £50 on PSN Store)
  • Lack of any physical attachments such as the manual or the case (Mainly for collector's, not a huge problem for gamers who just want to play games whether they keep them in their collection or not.)
  • As games get bigger in size, the longer the download will take
  • You cannot return a digitally downloaded game
  • No pre-owned games - it's not possible. A lot of people buy games pre-owned because it can a really cheap way of gaming, this is not possible the digital way.
As you can see, there are a lot of points to both arguments - like I said earlier, I prefer having the physical copy because it's nice to have the game as part of a collection with the artwork and so on but I know a lot of gamers don't care about any of that stuff, they just want the game to play and that's it. Either way, please comment and tell me what you think! Feature1

Sunday, 2 September 2012

FEATURE: The Games I'm Currently Playing - Volume 2!

Definitely a varied selection of games this time around, including the classic Wolfenstein 3D and more.

Hexen: Beyond Heretic
System: PC


I have fond memories of this game when I played it on my uncle's PlayStation back in the 90's but never actually played the original PC version so I thought I'd give it a shot since I loved the PlayStation port back in the day

Straight away, I knew this version would be better (in most cases, original games are usually better than the ports, although many people argue PlayStation DOOM is the best but that's another discussion all together).

I am currently only at the start of the second "hub" (or episode) and I have to say, this game is incredibly fun and also very addictive, it's nice to have some puzzle elements thrown into the first-person shooter mechanic. However, from what I've played so far, this is not as good as it's predecessor; Heretic. 

Wolfenstein 3-D
System: PSN (Originally on DOS/PC)

Fun Fact: Wolfenstein 3-D was made by ID, the guys
 responsible for cult classic DOOM
Now, this won't be the best version of Wolfenstein 3-D but for now I've had to settle for the PlayStation Network port, which to be fair isn't all that bad. The controls can be a bit awkward but I adjusted to them pretty easy within the second level or so, at the moment I'm almost at the end of episode 2 and whilst this is no DOOM, you have to give credit to the guys at ID back in the day for this game, for the time this would have been absolutely amazing - the graphics, the sense of '3D', and so on. Really fantastic game so far!


Joe Danger

System: PSN

With only a couple more stages left, I can safely say I have had a lot of fun playing. Joe Danger is one of those games that got under-looked - it's nothing special but at the core it's incredibly fun and it often reminds me of Excitebike on the Nintendo Entertainment System which is always a good thing, right?

I'm having a really hard time getting some the coin stars though....Still, very enjoyable game.

Bayonetta
System: PS3

Fun Fact: Bayonetta 2 will be released exclusively
 on the Nintendo Wii-U
This game has been on my shelf since last December so I just thought 'I should really finish that game sometime' and I'm definitely glad I picked it up - currently on chapter 6 out of 15.

I find myself wanting more and more due to the insanely fun gameplay, parts of me feel like this is just a Devil May Cry clone but other parts of me think that a lot of Bayonetta is completely original, the story for one is very unique in the sense I've never seen a story like it before.

Over the top fighting and a lot of cheesy one-liners - yup, this game is awesome. Feature1