Star Citizen Part 1

If you like Space Sims, thought Eve Online was good but something was lacking, or enjoyed the following games: Wing Commander, Free Lancer, and Privateer.......... Then Star Citizen is for you!

This is a game that has it's roots in a time when game developers were like rock stars in the industry.  People knew that a Chris Roberts, Ron Gilbert, John Carmack, or Cliff Bleszinski game would be amazing just by the people who made it.  For these people it wasn't about the brand of EA, ID, Epic Games, or Blizzard this was a matter of their personal brand.  It's kind of funny now to look at how much the industry has changed.....in place of these faces we now have corporations; in place of innovation there's repetitive sequels....
 
This may seem like a pretty bleak outlook on the gaming industry but recently things are getting better!  Indie studios are on the rise and with crowd sourcing really taking off they're able to get real money to bring AAA quality and Indie innovation to the table.

On the side of the gamer, we're now more than ever before able to actually influence what games we want to see created in a very direct way.  We're also getting more insight into the game development process and I have to say this, at least for me, is the best part.

The reason why we're starting here is because it's part of the story.  When Chris Roberts was initially starting to shop his idea for a massive persistent PC only environment he didn't receive the kind of support he thought he would.  He was being faced with game manufacturers saying that the Space Simulation and PC industry was dead and the game wasn't going to go anywhere; Mobile games are the future and that he should really just look at that platform instead.  Needless to say he wasn't deterred.  Where the industry wouldn't back his idea the fans at KickStarter did, currently the game has raised more than 75 Million and it's only going up. 

This game is being released in modules (really it's in the Alpha state right now) but from what I have seen so far these Alphas are looking better and more stable than some release games from the traditional AAA developers.

The final game is going to be more than just a space simulator, with the FPS / Planetside module on the way and the Persistent Universe, at least for me.....this looks like it's going to be the game that I was dying to play when checking out Eve Online! (bear in mind Eve is still a pretty great game...just at a slower pace.....but still worth checking out)

Needless to say we're pretty excited about this game.  Later on I will be posting a short preview of the Hangar and Arena Commander Modules so you guys can see exactly how amazing this project is looking.

--Rob

New Rock Band coming to PS4 & Xbox One

So it's official developer Harmonix is working on a new Rock Band game coming to the Playstation 4, and the Xbox One by the end of 2015.

I am asking you the reader this question do you think now is the time to bring back Rock Band?

I think that if we are to see the return of the genre the time is now. Rock Band came out in 2007 and was a huge success, but within the span of only 5 years we got a total of 11 games, 18 if you are counting the track packs. That's a lot of games in five years! People hate on Call of Duty for releasing a game every year, but Rock Band was worse. Needless to say the market fell out.

Rock Band Blitz was the last game in the series  it came out in 2012 for the PS3 and the Xbox 360. We are now 3 years later. I think that now the series has had some time to rest it's  ready to make its return. As long as Harmonix is smart and doesn't go over board with sequels the series may be here for the long haul. What I'm hoping get's done is they release Rock Band 4, and just keep content coming from dlc packs, instead of releasing a new game ever year. The current crop of consoles are currently lacking in fun party games. Having a game like Rock Band coming back is a great thing for these new consoles. I have had so many of my friends in the past who were not interested so much in gaming look at Rock Band and having a blast with the game. 

So far details for the new game are sparse. What we do know is it is coming to PlayStation 4 ,and Xbox One, by the end of this year. Chances are very high for a holiday release. The game will let you use your previous dlc from the other Rock Band games, as well as your old accessories.

It's time to dust off those plastic guitars and warm up those vocal cords Rock Band is back!