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Love ApxPredatorBird's Channel

    Found a little youtube channel that is local to my area and i love it www.youtube.com/apxpredatorbird

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Indie-hit, Don't Starve has now been announced for it's intentions to move to PS4. It's survival-style gameplay has dominated the PC market and with the continued blessings of its developers, may make it to the Vita as well.

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Our Apologies

To all readers, Our major writer for this blog has recently and tragically passed away. Until now the blog has been empty of new posts but We will continue to write shortly.

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9 images of → Aiden Pearce (Watch Dogs)

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Playstation Vita: A Two Year Legacy- Colin Moriarty- Shared By Playstation Innovation

I’ve been to lots of E3s, but E3 2011 might be my most memorable for one reason: PlayStation Vita. It wasn’t the hardware or the games that blew me away – although both compelled me – but the reaction from gamers and the press alike. Folks well outside of the PlayStation ecosystem seemed staggered by Vita’s power and potential, and the price of PS Vita came in well below many industry experts’ predictions. There was palpable excitement about the device, not just from the hardcore PlayStation community, but from just about everyone else in the industry as well. There was palpable excitement about the device... All of this, combined with what appeared to be a healthy launch slate – easily one of the strongest in the history of the medium – convinced me that PS Vita was going to be a hit. I even put bold predictions of Vita’s soon-to-be success in writing. But I couldn’t have been more wrong. While PlayStation Vita is an amazing piece of hardware with an incredibly underrated library of games, the fact remains that, two years on, Vita’s trajectory is currently one of ultimate commercial failure. Vita’s sales are so soft that Sony rarely talks about how it’s doing, and combines Vita and PSP number in its quarterly reports to mask its poor performance. With that said, educated predictions peg Vita at or around six million units sold worldwide. If this number is correct, that means Vita has sold roughly three million units per year on the market, or 250,000 per month worldwide. It took PlayStation 4 – a more expensive device that requires tethering to a television – mere weeks to sell roughly half of what Vita sold in 730 days. It took PlayStation 4… mere weeks to sell roughly half of what Vita sold in 730 days. Crazier yet, those numbers put Vita behind its predecessor, PlayStation Portable, by almost 75 million units. SEGA’s Game Gear, widely considered a long-supported failure in the much smaller, early-‘90s gaming market, sold 11 million units. SEGA’s Saturn? 9.5 million. Dreamcast? Nearly 11 million. You get the idea: PlayStation Vita’s struggles are real, the situation is increasingly dire, and everything combines to paint a troubling picture for the future of the handheld. The real shame is that there’s little Sony could have done to stem the tide against its handheld, at least when it comes to hardware. Vita’s many times more powerful than Nintendo’s 3DS, and, as Killzone: Mercenary proved, can even run a PlayStation 3 game engine. Vita’s OLED screen (soon to be replaced by the next generation of Vita) is gorgeous. Vita’s dual analog sticks allow it to play real, console-style games without the significant compromise necessary on competing devices like iPad or iPhone. Even its touch functionality is useful and intuitive (although the back touch pad may have ultimately been a mistake, since it can’t be removed from future iterations to make manufacturing cheaper). Vita is most certainly a technical behemoth among gaming handhelds. There is no Mario, Monster Hunter, or Grand Theft Auto. But none of this matters, because Vita lacks something very specific that single-handedly sells hardware: huge games. I’m not one of those people that will claim Vita “doesn’t have games,” because anyone who spends any time with Vita knows that simply isn't true. Vita is awash with quality software, so much so that I have no hope of keeping up with it all. But almost all of that software will only be discovered by those who already own the handheld. Vita doesn’t have a must-have entry-point for those who are currently disinterested, or even for people who are on the fence. There is no Mario, Monster Hunter, or Grand Theft Auto. Not a single Vita game has become a bona fide phenomenon... Yes, Vita does have Uncharted: Golden Abyss, a great launch title that’s still its single best-selling game. And other Vita titles, like Dragon’s Crown and Persona 4: Golden have done impressive numbers, especially when you consider how many people actually own a Vita. But Sony hasn’t identified – either from its extensive roster of internal studios or from an outside source – that one killer app that will justify a Vita for millions and millions of could-be owners. Call of Duty: Black Ops Declassified could have been that game, but it was terrible. Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation also valiantly tried, but failed. It’s not to say that either game sold poorly – in fact, quite the opposite is true – but it is to say that neither took hold. Not a single Vita game has become a bona fide phenomenon, and that will be necessary if Sony wants to sell its handheld. The good news is that PlayStation 4 could prove to be its salvation, at least in a limited way. I spoke for a long time on Podcast Beyond about Sony’s confusing silence concerning Vita’s future having to do with its next console, and I ended up being right. Vita’s Remote Play functionality with PS4 is actually quite impressive (even if it has to be cleaned up), and the fact that Sony is bundling PS4 and Vita together, at least in Europe, is a great way to get Vitas into more people’s hands. This won’t single-handedly solve Vita’s problems, but it could begin to remedy some issues, especially if Remote Play becomes truly viable outside of your home network. Imagine being able to play Infamous: Second Son while thousands of miles from your PS4 with nothing more than a Vita and a wi-fi connection. Hopefully, that dream will become a solid reality instead of an empty wish. Also promising is Vita’s continued success in Japan. Having recently passed the two million-sold mark, Vita has broken out of its post-release sluggishness now that a slew of Japanese-centric titles are being released with some regularity. God Eater 2 in particular is the first major Vita release to outsell its PSP counterpart. Things are swinging in a positive direction there, even if the newly-revealed PS Vita TV’s sales have been stunningly poor, possibly (but hopefully not) affecting its chances of being released in the west. If no one you know owns one, why would you make the leap? At the end of the day, indisputably poor sales aside, Vita may be partially suffering from an optics problem. If no one you know owns one, why would you make the leap? If it has bad word of mouth in some corners of the Internet, why take the chance and buy your own? Some of these issues Sony made for itself – such as requiring still-heinously expensive propriety memory cards – but in reality, it’s hard to wage an already-uphill battle when prevailing forces always seem to be working against you. Then again, there’s good news if you already own a Vita or are thinking about investing in one in the near future. Vita games are still coming west, although they seem to be more catered to the very niche that helped PSP survive for so long: fans of RPGs and other Japanese titles. And then there are the games already on the platform. Some really great games, in fact, of all shapes and sizes, from teams big and small, from studios known and unknown. What’s missing is that one big game, that one title that could guide the masses towards PS Vita. What’s missing is that one big game, that one title that could guide the masses towards PS Vita. Vita already totes an exceptional attach rate for a platform so young – Vita owners are feverishly dedicated to the handheld and they buy lots and lots of games – but the pool of ownership must grow if Vita is to attract third party publishers, developers outside of the incredibly valuable indie realm, and even Sony’s own studios. If these things don’t happen, Vita will be relegated to a deeper and deeper niche until there’s simply no chance of it being commercially viable. Memory cards aside, I truly don’t think pricing is the major problem. I think the uncertainty surrounding Vita’s future is.

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A Saints Row Christmas

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Dragon’s Crown

…just got a free update with a dungeon that has more than 10,000 floors. Really.

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Thanks to the incredible sales launch of the PS4 and the addition of the "Remote Play" function with the PS Vita, the hand held console has had an exponential increase in sales. Sony has reported an increase of at least 68% in vita sales and this boost is likely to encourage support from second-party developers to make new, better Vita games.

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​South Park: The Stick Of Truth has been heavily censored for it's upcoming release in Australia. One particular scene of alien anal probing has "gone too far in excess of adult content" for the Australian public. After blurring out almost 7 minutes of gameplay, it's now appropriate for the adults in Australia.

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Minecraft on PS3

Out now. Go build all the things.

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After a brief legal dispute between the developer and publisher of the well-acclaimed PSN fighter Skull Girls, the game has been announced to return to the PlayStation Store as Skull Girls Encore on April 10th.

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The Second Season of Telltale’s The Walking Dead is now available over PSN. “All That Remains” is the title of the episode and it is exceptionally good.

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A new game type is being added to GTA Online called "Capture Mode". Think of it as traditional Capture The Flag but with the flag being a block of coke or a sack of meth. Gotta love GTA.

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If Bethesda Tradition is to be respected, Fallout 4 will not release in 2014. Every year, Bethesda releases a Christmas Card with the various references of up and coming games. The most memorable of such was Dishonored's Corvo dressed as Santa. If you look at the card above, you will see references to Wolfenstien, The Evil Within, and The Elder Scrolls Online. Sadly no reference to Fallout.

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Why Ubisoft Delays Games: An IGN Editorial By Andrew Goldfarb. Shared By Playstation Innovation

Ubisoft isn’t afraid to delay a game if it thinks it can be better. Following delays for several of Ubisoft’s major titles in both 2012 and 2013, North American president Laurent Detoc explained to IGN the thought process behind pushing games, and how it fits into the company's long-term strategy. “It’s a very intense decision,” Detoc told IGN. “I think one of the fascinating things about this industry is that you can go from genius to idiot in an extremely short time frame. These are some of those moments, where you’re riding sky high on Watch Dogs or Rayman, and then suddenly you have to break it to the outside world, and sometimes even convince the inside people. Not everybody agrees. You have to say, ‘this is in the best interest of the product, to do this,’ because at the end of the day we’re going to be able to do this extra fine tuning.” Detoc explained that the scope of these delays varies greatly, from a few months of polish for Far Cry 3 to a massive, multi-year reworking of a game like Splinter Cell: Conviction. In the case of this year’s highest-profile delay, Watch Dogs, Detoc says while it came as a shock to fans, some people at Ubisoft were equally surprised. “I’ll tell you, at Gamescom, everybody was looking each other in the eye thinking we would be there at launch,” Detoc said regarding Watch Dogs, which was originally scheduled to be ready for the launch of next-gen consoles but has now been pushed to 2014. “There were already some lingering doubts, but we were plowing through it. There were more than a thousand people touching that game. Then eventually, a month later, we said, ‘this is not gonna fly.’ Then it takes a few more weeks to decide how we’re going to package that news for everyone. It’s not just about delaying for the sake of delaying it. No matter how hard we try, we also put out games that are not good quality, unfortunately. It’s not because we go out and say, ‘great, let’s make a piece of junk and put it out there.’ It’s really painful to us. But some games, you just can’t make them that much better because of how they’ve been progressing. Part of the decision to delay Watch Dogs is also that. We know it’s not where we want it to be. Can it get there? What will it take to get there? That’s why it takes a longer process. But in August we really thought we were going to have that game at launch.” Watch Dogs could have ended up being the best-rated game on next gen if it came out at launch. Still, Detoc is optimistic about Watch Dogs, which he feels, despite some stumbles, is an extremely strong product. “I actually believe that Watch Dogs could have ended up being the best-rated game on next gen if it came out at launch. We wanted it to be even higher,” Detoc told us. “The whole package is there already. But without sending them too many flowers, the guys at Rockstar have showed us again that if you make a 96-percent game, people will come. Watch Dogs, I can only hope we get to that level. There’s an attachment to the brand, in the case of GTA, that makes people really want to give it that 100-percent review. We’ll be missing that on Watch Dogs until we go further, potentially. That’s what we’re after.” Detoc knows that South Park: The Stick of Truth, another high-profile delay this year, could have been a huge seller this Christmas, but it was in the best interest for the game – and, ultimately, for consumers – to push it to next year. South Park: The Stick of Truth Delayed “It’s a huge brand. It’s interesting, because the South Park guys are extremely demanding. They’re very professional. They want the best for their brand. We get along with each other fairly well because we’re quite receptive to their requests. If we get to this level of quality, it’s going to be a bigger success,” he explained. “Their season ends at the beginning of December. We were all trying to lock this in. We looked at the game and we said, ‘we need to delay this.’ It was sort of preaching to the choir, because we knew they also wanted what was best for the product. But it was an easy decision, because we wanted to make a better product. It was not a good commercial decision at the time, because you’re going to miss those December sales. 18 months from now? I think we’ll make that up.” South Park was a rare case for Ubisoft, who traditionally deals with its dozens of internal studios, to publish a game created by a third party. It’s also a unique situation since the license was purchased from THQ when the former publisher was dissolved in January. One of the fascinating things about this industry is that you can go from genius to idiot in an extremely short time frame. “It took a while to understand what they wanted. We already had the game. The game was supposed to be done by March and shipping in May or June. We bought it in January. It was a few weeks to pre-alpha. It was in the can. Then we had a couple of meetings with the guys from South Park, and we realized that this was not at all where they wanted to go,” Detoc explained. “Then we said, ‘do we want to have a fight with these guys and ship the game without their support?’ Be the guy who did the bad South Park game? Or do we bite the bullet and say, ‘fine, give it another six months and see if we can get there?’ In the end we had to give it another nine or 10 months. That’s more than we thought. But we really reshuffled the cards dramatically with this one. It was trickier, because it was a third party – both Obsidian and South Park Digital Studios are third parties – in addition to what we’re typically dealing with. So this one was more complicated. In this particular case, if you keep those two guys engaged, Matt and Trey are really funny guys. They want to put their hearts into making the game Following a delay, Detoc told us, the hard part is deciding when to re-reveal a title that’s been pushed. We asked when the public might get its next chance to see Watch Dogs, and Detoc had a simple answer: “When we have something good to show again.” He believes that there’s no simple formula for timing something like that, explaining that building games is “not a perfect science. It’s not just software. It’s art. There’s a lot of judgment and perception that comes into this. It’s extremely complicated, with a lot of moving parts. Especially with a game like Watch Dogs. We’re breaking ground on a number of different gameplay assets. We’re in uncharted territory.” It’s not a perfect science. It’s not just software. It’s art. “We would not be pushing games that much if we didn’t believe that the quality would have a positive impact,” Detoc said about delays in general. Still, not every delay magically fixes a game’s problems, and he admits that Ubisoft has made the mistake in the past of putting extra months into a game that probably should have just met its original target. “We tend to favor what the people who make the games want to do in this company. Not every company behaves that way,” he said. “But yes, sometimes you delay a game and you hope it’s going to get better, and you make the wrong decision, because you still can’t fit a square peg in a round hole. You would have been better off just shipping as opposed to continuing to invest. We tend to be guilty of continuing to invest, probably, more often than others, because that’s sort of the promise of people who work at Ubisoft. We give a lot of creative freedom. That’s why we put out so many new brands, by the act of it. “Could we make more money if we did it another way? Maybe. There’s a long term and short term mentality that comes into play here. Ubisoft is very much focused on the long term. That’s why quality is important. It’s why I talk about brands the way I did earlier. It’s why we built all these studios,” he continued. “We have this motto inside the company: we want games to enrich people’s lives. Starting from there, you give a lot of creative freedom to anybody and everybody who wants to do some game that can go along with that. Then you start Rocksmith. You say, ‘yeah, we’ll get people to learn real-world skills. We’ll enrich their lives.’ When you make a game like Assassin’s Creed, you say, ‘how crazy can we go? We’ll have a guy who travels through time and do an insane amount of research on every period of history.’ There’s a lot of history that goes into these games. We’re not just sending a guy with a sword after another guy with a sword. I don’t like to use the word much, because I think some people disagree, but there’s a real art that goes into making these products. Do we give too much freedom for our own good? Maybe. But I think that so long as we continue to be in business and make enough money, it’s a good thing.” Still, Ubisoft is a business, and while it tries to give as much freedom as possible to the teams making games, finding a way to make a profit is still obviously a major factor, especially since there are investors to please. Detoc believes that need to have a profitable business can still be balanced with the desire for creators to express themselves artistically. “This is a testament to Yves Guillemot. It’s his vision, his company. This is a place where people feel comfortable working,” Detoc said. “They feel they’re respected. It translates into how people make these games as well. They know we respect their opinions. We try to help them so they don’t make products that don’t sell, but we really favor creativity, as opposed to having people say, 'what game do you want me to make?' We’ve talked about the products themselves, but this is something that you find throughout the company in general.”

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Global Expansion! The Power Of Playstation

PS4 is now available in 48 individual countries.