Behind the Scenes of the Paragon Studios Shutdown

Posted on April 10, 2013 by Chris Morris

The untold story of the failed attempt to keep City of Heroes going.

Long before THQ collapsed and Disney’s shutdown of Warren Spector’s Junction Point Studios, game developers were shocked by NCsoft’s apparent sudden shutdown of City of Heroes developer Paragon Studios.

To outsiders, the Aug. 31 closure seemingly came out of nowhere, affecting 80 employees — many of whom were just as surprised as the rest of the gaming world. But had history zigged instead of zagged, Paragon could still be around today. In fact, say Paragon veterans, up until the last minute, it looked like the company was facing a much different fate.

Xbox always-online: Maybe it’s not so terrible

Posted on April 9, 2013 by Chris Morris

Chris Morris explains that having a big company like Microsoft step up could make always-online more palatable for next-gen

Will the next Xbox continue the reign of success Microsoft has seen this generation or will it stumble Sony-style, losing momentum at a critical junction for console systems? The answer could lie in a single feature.

Kotaku recently reignited the rumor about the next Xbox requiring a constant connection to the Internet – and Microsoft Studios’ creative director did nothing to put out that growing brushfire with his Twitter fiasco last week.

Will the next generation Xbox require an ‘always-on’ connection? There’s nothing to base that on right now except for rumors and the echo chamber of the Internet. But, for the sake of argument alone, let’s say that is an upcoming feature. Is it as bad as it seems?

Electronic Arts named the worst company in America – again

Posted on April 9, 2013 by Chris Morris

For the second year in a row, readers of the consumer-watchdog website The Consumerist have named Electronic Arts “the worst company in America,” vilifying the video game publisher more than Bank of America, Comcast and Ticketmaster (which took second, third and fourth places, respectively).

The results of the poll are hardly surprising — even EA predicted it would repeat the dubious honor — but they were certainly conclusive.

Read more at Yahoo! Games

Report: Microsoft to unveil the next Xbox in May

Posted on April 8, 2013 by Chris Morris

The wait to learn what Microsoft has in store for the next generation now has a countdown.

The Verge reports that the company will hold an event on May 21 to reveal the new console, with a more complete look to follow a few weeks later at E3 2013.

Read more at Yahoo! Games

Microsoft exec stirs up controversy with ‘always on’ Xbox Twitter tirade

Posted on April 5, 2013 by Chris Morris

Was it a hint at one of the new Xbox’s features? Was it a friendly argument that spun out of control? Either way, a tweet from a Microsoft bigwig has turned into a public relations debacle.

Microsoft Studios’ creative director Adam Orth took to Twitter Thursday to comment on the growing gamer disgust with “always on” DRM, essentially technology that requires a game or device to be connected to the internet to work properly. That tech made the launches of high-profile PC games Diablo III and SimCity disastrous, and rumors are swirling that it will be included in the next Xbox system as a means to thwart used game sales.

Read more at Yahoo! Games

Black Ops II ‘Uprising’ to feature Hollywood’s top mob men

Posted on April 4, 2013 by Chris Morris

Activision has never been afraid to go big with its expansions for Call of Duty, but the next bit of downloadable content makes an offer you might not want to refuse.

Uprising, the next downloadable expansion for the billion-selling shooter, will feature four new diverse multiplayer maps and a new Zombie mode that features four of Hollywood’s go-to actors for mafia-themed films.

Read more at Yahoo! Games

Is Virtual Reality the Next Big Thing in Gaming?

Posted on April 4, 2013 by Chris Morris

Virtual Reality seems like a remnant from the 1990s—a nifty sounding technology that failed to live up to its potential, hamstrung by bulky headsets and overly high expectations.

But the team at the start-up Oculus thinks there’s still a lot of potential in the idea—and it has managed to bring several of the video game industry’s top developers onboard.

Disney shuts down LucasArts

Posted on April 3, 2013 by Chris Morris

Gamers who felt a great disturbance in the Force Wednesday — as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced — weren’t imagining things.

Disney has shuttered LucasArts, the long-running game development wing of Lucasfilm, effectively ending all internal development at the company and laying off the majority of the staff.

Read more at Yahoo! Games

Happy 40th birthday, cell phones!

Posted on April 3, 2013 by Chris Morris

When historians start to suss out the people who had the biggest global impact of the 20^th century, Marty Cooper may well be among the frontrunners.

Forty years ago today, Cooper made the first call ever on a portable cellular phone, a device he and his team at Motorola had just completed. (That call, ironically, was to the head of the research department at rival Bell Labs, which was racing Motorola to invent the technology.)

Read more at Yahoo! Games

Expecto Matrimonium! The Harry Potter wedding proposal

Posted on April 2, 2013 by Chris Morris

Ron and Hermione? Pfft. Two Harry Potter fans are on their way to the altar, thanks to a proposal Dumbledore himself would have approved of.

When Rachel Allison met Jaquie Richards in college, the two quickly became friends – and then something more. Richards was the original Potterhead, but quickly brought Allison on board – so when Allison decided to propose, it wasn’t that hard to determine a theme.

Read more at Yahoo! Games