thirdworldgamer

We picked up a [kinect-less] Xbox One a few weeks ago and have been putting it through its paces. Overall, right now I feel pretty good about this console. But I have to admit, the first experience of buying it is not very good. I'll go with the BAD news first. But do note that it isn't all bad news.... - The first time you bring it home, the console can't work without Internet. That's because it needs an absolutely-unoverrideable mandatory update. Basically, if you get this for your birthday and it's 7PM, expect to actually play games on it around a day or so later, depending on your internet speed. - The first patch I got for it was around 800MB. This number might have changed by the time of this writing. - All the launch games now have accumulated patches/updates over 16+ GB in size. Not just Dead Rising 3, which has been reported widely in the media. Even Forza 5. - My internet at home is PLDT 3Mbps; managed to get all the updates pretty quickly....that...

Just sat through the two major press conferences for E3 2014. Without Nintendo yet for comparison, but perhaps I'll write again if anything notable comes up during their 'digital event', which is a few hours from now. (It's going to be today at 12 midnight, Philippine time) Microsoft had a strong showing. While I will admit they didn't have anything mind-blowing, or the type of 'shocking' announcements that these types of press events become memorable for....they did bring a good list of exclusive games. Most notably, the game that grabbed my attention (and seemingly everyone else's) is Sunset Overdrive. Part Dead Rising, Part Infamous, Part Ratchet and Clank....the game is very colorful and a big departure from the usual dreary, bloody games we get year after year. Yes it still has some adult-level violence but at least the presentation isn't the usual 'guy-in-military-fatigues' fare that all companies seem to be churning out for console...

For some reason I never tire of staring at this newly purchased Halo 4 Play Arts Kai statue of Master Chief. It's just perfect . Unlike other Play Arts figures you can barely see those "action figure" joints, so it looks incredible. The armor detail is really well done, too. Got it from Datablitz SM Marikina last week. Just amazing.

Sony can take the risk and release the Playstation 3 here. What about Microsoft? With all the rumors on Natal and the new 'Slim' Xbox 360, it would actually be good timing for them to unveil a new marketing strategy for Asia, and include more countries for Xbox Live. So, is Microsoft going to let the opportunity in Asia slip by their fingers? Sony really does rule this territory; their mindshare with the Playstation brand remains very strong, and perhaps Xbox's failings in Japan even make this more evident. Is Microsoft just focused on the western markets? Will they let possibly millions of dollars in potential profit just go to waste by continuing to ignore the Asian market? You've really got to hand it to Sony; they've got guts to release high-end electronics like the Playstation 3 in places like the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia and Thailand. As income levels in these places rise, Sony is establishing their foothold as *the* console brand of choice for the main...

It’s been around 4 years since the initial launch of the XBOX 360 and at that time, I felt that Microsoft was the underdog in the console race. Everyone was prattling about how ‘awwwwzommmm!!’ the Sony Playstation 3 was and laughing that Nintendo named their console after a male appendage. When the XBOX 360 came out, I believed that Microsoft hit jackpot. They had the right vision, they had the right games and I was fully on board. But the last 4 years of the XBOX 360 was marred by the horrendous 3 red lights of death and Microsoft’s insistent denial that they had absolutely nothing to do with it; like Pilate washing his hands clean. But the truth eventually came out and Microsoft really did rush the console to market in order to beat the PS3. While that strategy may have worked for the last 3 years since they gained a good portion of the North American market share, the stigma of faulty hardware plagues Microsoft to this day. Sure the Jasper doesn’t break as much as the ...

E3 was featured on the Late Night with Jimmy Fallon show , with this segment: http://kotaku.com/5280535/jimmy-fallons-late-night-at-e3 According to Kotaku, the people from Late Night were so impressed with Natal that they've invited Kudo Tsunoda from Microsoft for a segment this coming Wednesday. If it pushes through, it's a huge opportunity for Microsoft to continue building awareness on their upcoming gaming platform. And, here's hoping for a youtube video of it online soon :D Late Night with Jimmy Fallon actually airs on local cable TV here (Jack TV), so maybe I can catch it.

Kotaku recently posted an article about how Project Natal has all the buzz coming out of E3: http://kotaku.com/5280739/so-which-e3-announcements-generated-the-most-buzz Surprising to see it beat out big hitters like Super Mario and Final Fantasy XIII. Also, in Gamespot's latest poll on which press conference did gamers liked best, Microsoft's poll clearly leads the rest, with a dominating 41% of the votes: http://www.gamespot.com/pages/modules/poll_results.php?poll_id=347336&tag=poll;results&popup=1

MS's presscon started out slow but at some point really picked up steam. Granted, starting out with The Beatles: Rock Band is not a bad choice, but I think they spent too much time on it. Then again, EA must be a really important developer for MS, and, it is the BEATLES after all, and they deserve all the respect that they get. On to what I thought were the most mind blowing points of the show: 1. Splinter Cell Conviction - a game I'd want to play for the story. It's too bad they had to kill off Sam's daughter but I suppose that's one way to raise the drama for the game. It's obvious Ubisoft is being influenced by Konami here, they want their character to be as memorable for players as Solid Snake by adding more melodrama. At the same time, the intensity is up a notch because since Sam is no longer tied to Third Echelon, he can use all his military skills without limit to get his revenge. This game is definitely worth a buy. 2. Forza Motorsport 3 - They've d...

Do you want to watch the Microsoft E3 2009 Press Conference, live? If you're in the Philippines, you'd have to wake up at 1:25 AM Philippine Time (Tuesday morning) to catch it. A few gaming websites are hosting a streaming video feed of the conference, so just look for an available feed and watch. In other news, the MS Conference was supposed to be at 1:30AM (10:30AM in Los Angeles), but supposedly something happened sometime this weekend which prompted Microsoft to move the conference to 1:25AM (10:25AM), supposedly a last-minute change and possibly an additional announcement. What could it be?

I was expecting them to fail Microsoft (like they usually do); surprisingly, they demonstrated how MS actually lived up to MOST of their promises (practically all of them, actually). http://kotaku.com/5259178/microsofts-e3-promises-one-year-later They gave them a 'B', perhaps to ensure that they don't get the ire of the other console fanboys; but judging from the actual article, Microsoft clearly deserved a far higher rating for fulfilling their E3 promises.