Out of Principle: Why Money Speaks Louder Than Words

Chris Mrkvicka: “Gamers always say they're going to boycott something or other. Nine times out of ten, they don't. So I really don't take the internet, especially forums very seriously. If they were a good reflection Modern Warfare 3 would have tanked horribly.      Gamers have a lot of power and say in the industry when we know how to use our influence. It’s easy for us to preach things like the evils of pumping out yearly Call of Duty titles and decry the lack of core titles for the Wii on forums, blogs, Facebook fan pages and gaming articles. All this criticism, unless it is reviewers’ low scores that...

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The Big 5 Gone Mobile: A Strategic Comparison

          There are five major players in the mobile gaming industry with distinct, competitive hardware. Split between those companies sticking to dedicated handhelds and the smartphone Operating System (OS) vendors, Google, Apple and Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony have each planted a foot firmly in the rink as they compete for market share. These companies take different approaches to mobile gaming and their interplay will ultimately shape what games end up in the palm of our hands. Let us consider each of these companies in turn. Nintendo: Riding the DS Legacy     ...

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Pixar Not "Brave" Enough To Take Risks (film review)

     (SPOILER FREE) Pixar’s first female protagonist is a tease. The first trailer showed us Merida, a red-haired lass riding through a dark forest, brandishing a bow and arrow and standing her ground when a bear four times her size stood in her way. The second trailer showed us more of Brave’s cast, Merida adventuring out in the land and wanting to change her fate but contemplating the cost of it. Instead of a an epic tale of a strong woman spitting in fate’s eye and adventuring on her own audiences are presented a tale about breaking tradition and other heavy handed morals. While Brave is a fairy tale that...

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Series That Deserve Proper Endings

     The first thought that popped into my head when the new Devil May Cry game was announced was “where does this fit in the timeline?” When I found out that it was a reboot, I knew that revisiting the old timeline would most likely never happen. I understand that movie and game series need a fresh start sometimes and I am looking forward to the reboot, but what upsets me is that fans never got a proper ending to the original Devil May Cry series. I am not saying that every series needs a definitive ending; there are series whose games have the same characters but are separate adventures just like the Tomb...

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3DS for 3DS XL? Pass.

     The trend in the entertainment industry has usually been that of diminishing size: from the Gameboy to the iPods. Nintendo has gone against this industry norm twice now, first with the DSi XL and now the 3DS XL. When I first heard about it I was excited; the screens were larger and the battery was improved. I was now going to be able to see my games in greater detail for much longer and for only $20 more than the original model ($200 vs. $180). After wondering how much the “upgrade” would cost me if I traded in my 3DS to Gamestop at purchase, I began to think how impractical the 3DS XL would be for...

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