thirdworldgamer

Just saw this on Facebook... http://www.gamesreviews.com/news/06/ps4-online-blocked-for-countries-without-a-store/ If true, this is pretty disappointing. The press isn't making that much noise about this news and frankly I only heard about this today. Why would Sony want to do this?

http://news.xbox.com/2013/06/update In summary: - "Always online" requirement removed - Region locking DISABLED (all games will work on all consoles regardless of regions) - Game sharing/trading will work again Gamers made a lot of noise and it made a difference! That's unprecedented and has never happened before, and I never thought it would especially with Microsoft. Posted this on NEOGAF and will repost it here again, in appreciation of Microsoft's gesture: ============= http://neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=64887501&postcount=728 I know Microsoft reads on GAF so I might as well put this here. Thank you Microsoft for listening to all the feedback. As a gamer in the Philippines and part of an Xbox community here, we were all 100% upset with all those policies, particularly the country locking "feature". I just woke up today and all of this sounds like a miracle. I am very pleased with this news and look forward to playing on the Xbox...

Writing this on the bus, on the way back to the hotel. Expect bad writing and stream of consciousness-style, disorganized text. hey i'm not a journalist! So i dont have to care haha. I planned on spending this day entirely in lines. You see, E3 has several types of demos: - The playable demo. Basically it's a kiosk where you can just walk up and play. - Guided demo. This is where the developer plays the game for you while you are seated with a bunch of other people. Since they can only fit a few people in the room where they do this, very long lines are quite common. - Stage demo. This is where the developer takes the stage of a very big booth and just talks about their game. - Press Conference demo. This is where all those wonderful GIFs on the internet were made from. I have seen one to three, live. The fourth one, well, only on the internet. The press conferences are only for press. And for this attendance to E3 I was doing it as part of a business trip. Long story w...

Hilarious. Apparently Microsoft's ultra draconian DRM just hit one of their best developers. This is the goofiest mistake I've ever heard of. CD Projekt, Welcome to THIRDWORLDGAMER. Apparently you're one of US! Haha! http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/124997-Xbox-One-Surprises-Witcher-Dev-Skips-Poland-At-Launch

After the previous news, I decided to message Microsoft myself.  First, to see if I will get the same reply.  Second, to let them know that they actually have customers in the Philippines!  Here's what I got... So what does this mean?  XBOX Support DOES NOT KNOW if the XBOX One will run on a country that isn't supported by XBOX Live or is in their launch list.  The question is a valid question considering there are a lot of Filipinos who bring back consoles bought in the US. So does it change anything?  Not really.  It's still a wait and see but things heavily stacked against the XBOne

I woke up today with a splitting headache. Took some paracetamol. I think yesterdays fanfare burned me out a bit. I can't stop talking about how far distances are here in LA. You look up a place on Google Maps, it looks so near....then when you're actually in the place where you want to go, holy crap---you have to walk what feels like a football field just to get to a restaurant. And that's the other thing that bothered me about E3. You know how in Manila it seems like every McDonalds is within reach, and you'll always have access to inexpensive food? Not the case with E3. All the food in the convention center is expensive, and all the food outside of the area is the same deal. If you have to plan to go to E3, be ready to spend some money. That's the thing. You're spending for the equivalent of walking all that way for a cheap deal and tiring yourself out. Do you really want to get tired when you have to walk the entirety of the LA Convention Center for a wh...

Following the news of XBOX One 2014 release in Asia, some people have more or less confirmed that XBOX One WILL NOT WORK in unsupported regions. Even if before you live in an unsupported country like the Philippines but buy original games and make an XBOX Live account for the US and SG --- THIS WILL NO LONGER WORK! I REPEAT!!! Methods for playing the XBOX 360 will not work on the XBOX One.  Considering that XBONE has to be online at least once every 24 hours, the console is good as dead in gray markets. NICE KNOWING YOU MICROSOFT.  I had fun with the XBOX 360 but time and time again, you remind us why you don't want our business.  Perhaps unsupported countries are not rich enough or refined enough for your tastes but the fact exist that there is a market out there that you are completely throwing under the bus. Yes, our money is better spent elsewhere.  PS4 & WiiU  See you on the holiday 2013. Image sources:  http://pixelenemy.com/e3-...

Just helping Google spread the word on this problem (hopefully search engines / spiders catch this) This article I posted earlier possibly implies that the Xbox One won't work if it is located in an unsupported country.  The new device will only be available in select Asian markets – Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and India – pegged as high-growth markets for the region’s booming gaming industry.  This year, the Xbox became the top-selling console in Asia, according to Mr. Bowman, with revenues growing 20% year-on-year. You know, they should probably go back to Geography class. Those four countries don't all represent Asia. Why don't they just label them as 'Outside United States' countries? Why say 'Asia' when they don't even include all the countries here as well?

Great job Microsoft. You've just effectively said you only care about the US market. Well, if that's the case, I'll take my business elsewhere. I'm very very disappointed. http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2013/06/11/microsoft-plots-2014-launch-for-xbox-one-in-asia/?mg=blogs-wsj&url=http%253A%252F%252Fblogs.wsj.com%252Fdigits%252F2013%252F06%252F11%252Fmicrosoft-plots-2014-launch-for-xbox-one-in-asia

Here the President of MS Interactive Entertainment says that if you don't have an internet connection, just stick with the XBOX 360.  Um...you're supposed to be launching the XBOX One and drumming up support for that.  Yes we know that the Internet changes everything.  Yes we know that internet adoption rates will continue to rise.  But my goodness...couldn't you have said it any better? And that's not enough...

[Note: my internet here in the hotel is really slow since it's just free. That said, I won't be able to upload too many videos/pictures yet. Will update this very soon with those pics/vids] I'm on the free shuttle bus leaving from E3 2013 right now. E3 is every bit as unbelievable as they say it is in myth and legend. This E3 is possibly the craziest, with two big console launches happening at the same time. Here's some of my quick impressions. BATTLEFIELD 4 - They have this really cool mode called 'Conquest'. Well, in the demo they let me try, it involved two teams. One was China and the other one was the USA. China had occupied one building and the USA had to take over the building - Graphics wise there's a lot more carnage going on while you're playing. This is the most apparent upgrade from the previous versions. - Gameplay wise well, you know what to expect and it's exactly the same as most FPS games. This will probably gear towards the...

The thunderous applause that greeted Sony when they announced that they will support used games marked just how disastrously wrong Microsoft’s consumer research and public relations have been. Yes, Sony STUNNED the crowed.  This is this console generations MEGATON and GAME CHANGER. Perhaps it may be safe to say that Microsoft has lost the next generation console war even before its system actually gets out of the door.  I’m not saying that no one will buy the XBOne ( A crude but it’s a rather catchier name compared to XBOX One ) anymore.  What ‘will’ happen is that Microsoft will no longer be the market leader nor will it reach the same installed base as the Sony PlayStation 4. For potential consumers (who may be interested despite the DRM debacle) are this means: Wait for a massive price drop ( which is bound to happen the moment sales projections in the first quarter of sales do not meet the expectations of Microsoft ) Only buy the games that are worth ...

Cleaning out my digital cameras. I think I'm going to need all the space I can get. Got my luggage all set and ready....still thinking if I should bring this laptop or just get a new one there.... Staring at Google Maps the other day, figuring out how I'm going to commute (!) in Los Angeles. It terrifies me a little. Taking a cab will set me back 20$ a day or more, so the bus seems like the best option to get around. Unlike here in Manila, where there's a mall every few kilometers or so, it seems places in the United States are so gigantic. I'm not sure how much walking can get me anywhere! I also haven't figured out how I'll get online....there's free wifi i suppose. The hotel wifi is so expensive...

In about a week I get to fly all the way to Los Angeles to witness the most epic battle of the video game corporations, the Electronic Entertainment Expo. I've made a lot of preparations so far. Going to another country is a lot of 'work' but I am glad that I'm just going there as practically a tourist. It's a bit exciting. I don't recall an E3 where two big console makers actually will release something in a few months at nearly the same time. Yes, MS and Sony did do that somewhat back in '05 - '06 but the atmosphere with this E3 is really different. They're both under pressure to start the next-gen NOW. And as we've seen with the last generation, whoever releases first has a huge advantage. Sony delayed their PS3 release and that hurt them somewhat. They used exotic hardware specifications and that did not win them any favors with game developers. On the Microsoft side, they released too early and that gave their console a LOT of hardware pro...