When I read this blog, I was astonished. I couldn’t believe what I just read. I completely disagree with the aforemented blog, and here’s why.

First of all, what do these casual games have anything to do with us ‘real’ gamers? Veraliis suggests that for some reason gaming becomes less fun because his grandmother is playing Peggle. Really, I don’t care at all. If I play a game because of my e-peen, I’ll at least compare myself to others that play the same game, not people that are playing an entirely different game.

Secondly, it’s not like there are suddenly less real games coming out because of these casual games. Almost all developers that make these games are new to the market. There are almost no renowned developers making flash games or easy downloadable games, unless they have already been doing so from the start (PopCap, for example). Most developers that make these kinds of games are new to the market, just looking to make a couple of bucks and using video games as a medium. These are honestly not interested in video gaming, but just see it as a business. They will never make real games, and will continue to pump out bad games until they stop making a profit.

10/10, best game of last year

So Veraliis, could you please tell me how casual games are destroying the PC? It’s the medium that’s probably suffering the least from the fad of casual games. Other systems suffer from renowned developers, like Ubisoft, making bad minigame collections or amazing Imagine games. Have you ever looked at the shelves of the Wii in a game store? At least 50% of it is pure, unfiltered crap. And do you know why? Because the Wii hasn’t got a download service for new games. You can just download your crappy games from the internet on your PC, but for the Wii you have to buy them.

The flood of casual games can be annoying, yeah. But it’s never more than a minor nuisance. The PC definitely isn’t dying because of this.

My first experience with the Prince of Persia franchise began some years ago when I happened to find a copy of the original 1989 game stashed somewhere in the back of my sister’s closet.  It was the first video game I have ever played, and as such has always held a little place in my somewhat fickle heart.  I’m glad to say that the current installment of the series for next-gen consoles has more than lived up to my expectations, creating a magical and breathtaking experience that is easy to pickup and even easier to play.

The first thing I noticed when I popped the game into my PS3 was the art.  Almost a moving picture at times, it really sucks you in and creates a magical feel to the game.  The cell shading gives it the story book feel you would expect from a game based on the 1001 Nights universe, and indefinitely, from the startup menu to the ending cinematic holds you in rapt attention.  Yet is not only the cell shading that achieves this.  The backgrounds themselves, while not always distinctly Persian, give off an aura of foreignness, and exotic nature.  Each stage, being beautiful as well as well thought out, truly presents itself as part of an epic adventure.

(continue reading…)

So it looks like a publisher is finally calling the bluff. PC gamers unanimously hate DRM strategies, and that’s been the popular subject as of late, often inspiring heated discourses on the reason for the listlessness of the PC platform.

Ubisoft, or community manager “UbiRazz” of the official forums, had this to say:

You’re right when you say that when people want to pirate the game they will but DRM is there to make it as difficult as possible for pirates to make copies of our games. A lot of people complain that DRM is what forces people to pirate games but as PoP PC has no DRM we’ll see how truthful people actually are. Not very, I imagine.

At first, I was worried. The first thing I thought when I heard it had no DRM was, “Man, that’ll make it easy to download.” I do enjoy the idea of ease, as I imagine many others do.

However, I can’t help but wonder why he thinks pirates have such a difficult time cracking DRM. Certainly, it’s not easy, but they love to do it. The more you throw on there, the more fun it is for them. It’s an achievement: Game Unlocked – 300 pts. Thinking that DRM is anything but ineffectual and a hindrance to legitimate consumers is just Goddamn retarded.

In addition, it’s already been discussed how good games without DRM went on to sell massively, such as Oblivion did. Ubisoft seriously isn’t doing anything new; they’re simply not in touch with what’s been going on with the industry for the past few years. You want to sell a game? Make it halfway decent, make sure it runs, and market it well. This is all I’m asking for.

In spite of all this, I’d still urge people to buy this game just to rub it in their damn faces: their damnable arrogant faces.