Blogs to come in the future...

As you guys know, I have been giving you my game views for a long time now. But I think it is time to move on from game reporting, to game making. That does not mean I stop blogging. I am going to start a new blog, a developer diary of sorts to help out new developers in their issues about making games for mobile platforms. And my perspective is that of a complete rookie. The link for my new blog will be posted soon. Till then, don't stop visiting!

Will Xbox One ever catch up?

This is the question every game industry analyst is asking. With the PS4's enormous success, it seems to have taken over Xbox's home ground, USA! Recent reports show that PS4 may be outselling XB1 even in USA. So now it is quite clear that if this continues, developers are going to give the Japanese console priority, what with XB1 being a pain to develop for due to it's eSRAM. Will Titanfall's promise of 1080p help Microsoft in covering up the huge gap it has in terms of hardware sales? Only time will tell. But my gut instinct tells me that solely Titanfall is not going to change anything. According to me, Xbox One needs a price cut if it hopes to ever catch up with the PS4. But I think it extreme to already predict the doom of the console, and frankly, the industry is overreacting. So all the Xbox fans(myself included for Kinect), do not lose hope since even the PS3 came out of such a hole after launching a whole year after the 360. Live long, and keep gaming!

The Flappy Bird Analysis

How does a game like Flappy Bird reach the coveted top spot in bot the App Store and the Play Store? That is the question I wish to answer today. There are a couple of points that may have increased the popularity of Flappy Bird. They are as follows:

1. It is rumored that Nguyen, the creator of Flappy Bird, used bots to increase the initial popularity of Flappy Bird. He used bots to play and review the game which increased its ranking.

2. The App Store considers a range of parameters in ranking an app. They are: Number of downloads, rate of reviews, rating and time spent by users on that app. Flappy Bird was an extremely addictive game, which had a very strategically placed "Rate" button. This caused a greater amount of people to review it in a very short time span. This was because the "Rate" button was positioned very close to the "Play Again" button, which caused many to hit it accidentally.

3.  The game was addictive enough that people played it for long time periods.

These are the facts.  This is why Flappy Bird was such a runaway hit without any marketing whatsoever. At the peak of it's success, the creator was getting around $50,000 per day through advertising revenue. But the creator, overwhelmed by it's success, has taken the app down, saying "it's too much for me". I think a lesson can be learned from this. Apps can succeed based on very clever marketing. So all the potential developers, get out there and start developing. The Flappy Bird Saga has indeed been spectacularly surprising. Let's hope indie games keep getting as much attention in the future. 

Something seems wrong...

Up until last week, everything in next-gen world seemed as merry as can be. But in the last few days, a host of delays for next gen games have been made. First of all, Watch Dogs, the highly anticipated Chicago open-world game has been delayed to 2014 by Ubisoft.

             This was perhaps the most surprising news I have received in quite some time. Watch Dogs, a game that was supposed to be in stores in a week or two, also a launch title for next gen consoles, was delayed. The Crew,  an open world racing game that spans across USA, was also delayed by Ubisoft. These two games being delayed may not seem puzzling to most, as they are from the same publisher, but the following news has confirmed my doubts.

               Drive Club, one of the most anticipated PS4 launch titles was delayed to 2014 by Sony! Now, this brings me to the point I want to make. I think,(and this is pure speculation on my part) that something in the next gen systems has been so drastically changed, that perhaps many other launch titles are probably gonna get delayed.

              Again, this is pure speculation, but I feel quite confident about it. What do you guys think? Tell me in the comments. 

XBOX One vs PS4

XBOX One VS. PS4

As a new generation of console wars has just started , I analyze which console currently stands on top on the basis of:

1. Price 
2. Hardware
3. Exclusive Games

XBOX One

   1. Price

      The Xbox One is priced at $499, which is a whopping 100 bucks more than the PS4. It will have the new Kinect bundled with it. Which, if taken into account, makes it a fair price. But for people not interested in motion gaming, I would suggest buying a PS4, and just using the extra 100 bucks to buy a few more games.

  2.Hardware

     The Xbox One has a blu-ray disk drive, AMD Jaguar Processor, 8 GB DDR3 RAM, and a 500 GB hard disk in the basic SKU.

3.Exclusive Games 

This is the important part where Microsoft really struck out. It had many exclusives shown off during its E3, including:

1. Forza Motorsport 5: The most successful racing sim for XBOX.

 2. Titanfall: A great mech shooter by the co-creator of Call Of Duty!

3. Dead Rising 3: The 3rd installment to the critically acclaimed Dead Rising franchise.

4. Ryse: Son of Rome: A not-so-well demoed game which may have potential.

This concludes the Xbox section of the comparison.

PS4

1.Price

Sony dealt Microsoft a major blow by pricing the PS4 $100 less than the XBOX One. But what is not mentioned is that Microsoft bundles Kinect with the XBOX One whereas the PS4 does not have the PS Eye bundled in this basic skew. This probably means you won't see too many motion games for the PS4 in the coming years.

2. Hardware

Sony beats Microsoft in this aspect as the PS4 is a tad more powerful than the XBOX One. It also has an AMD Jaguar Processor. But it beats Microsoft with 8 GB of GDDR5 RAM which is much faster than DDR3 to put it in short.

3. Exclusive Games

Sony strikes in this round too with many exclusives up its sleeve

1. Killzone Shadow fall: Sony's very own shooter with the eye-candy. 

2.Knack: A new game by the guy who gave us Crash Bandicoot, Mark Cerny:

3. Infamous: Second Son: A new game from the infamous series:

4. Drive Club: Sony's answer to Forza 5( Since GT 6 will only be coming for the PS3).

Conclusion:

After a three round punch out, let's see the results:

Round 1(Price):

Winner: PS4

Round 2(Hardware):

I would give PS4 a slight edge,but nothing too good.

Round 3(Exclusive Games):

Depends on your choice of games. Sony claims to have a total of 30 exclusives, while the XBOX claims to have a total of 15 exclusives.

Verdict

Finally, it depends on your choice of exclusives, your budget, and your interest in motion gaming. So if you like motion gaming, buy XBOX One. If you want a low price tag, buy  a PS4. All the other things depend on your choice of exclusives since third-party games will run pretty much the same on both consoles. I hope this article was helpful to you. Please like, follow and voice out in the comments! 

XBOX One and PS4 pre-orders sold out on most major retailers!

Home consoles are anything but a thing of the past. This is quite evident as most major retailers are sold out on both consoles' pre-orders. This is good news for everyone who is a fan of console gaming. So if you do want a console for the holiday season. Go pre-order!

XBOX One 180 on DRM policies

Microsoft announced @ E3 that the Xbox One would require you to check in online every 24 hours. That or your system wouldn't let you play games. With this, they also announced that you could share games from your e-Library with your friends and family, which, if you ask me, was really exciting. But the general public hated the 24 hour online check-in(understandable) and therefore Microsoft "reviewed the policies" and basically reversed them as of July 19th. This is an astonishing action on the part of MS as it is known  to be a stubborn company. This makes me even more uncertain about the future of the Xbox One. What do you think? Did Microsoft do the right thing? Make your voice heard in the comments(with feedback).