The Midagedgamer Report for 7-12-2013
This week:
What Else? The Steam
sale and some other filler...
I called it!
I said last week that the Steam Summer Sale usually starts
around the time the Killing Floor Summer Sideshow event makes its appearance and
this year was no exception. " Pier of Pain" will continue till July
23rd but it isn't free to play anymore but c'mon you had a week to pick it up
for $3. It's still on sale for $9.99
which isn't a bad deal in itself.
The Summer Sale began on July 11th almost to the day it
started last year. This year's edition
features many of the same opportunities including daily, hourly and flash
sales. Voting makes a return as well
with related discounts generally in the 70% or better range. .
Also returning to this year's event is the occasional
"503" error on launching Steam when rabid gamers get a little
overexcited. If it happens to you just
think of it as delayed gratification.
New this year are the trading cards (badges) which are tied
to (discounted) game purchases, random "drops" based on ownership, crafting
of new "badges" and of course voting.
Borderlands 2 was on sale along with most of the DLC (as of
7-12). Grid 2, Bioshock Infinite and all
your favorites are either on sale or soon will be. Most were discounted 50% or more as of this
writing.
Daily deals generally run for 24 hours starting at 10AM with
incidental offers running for 8 hours or less.
The sale ends 10AM July 22nd.
The Steam Sale is dominating most of the news this week but
a rather amusing tidbit came from CNET. It seems Microsoft is trying to position the
Xbox 1 as a replacement for all that conference room videoconferencing and
multimedia clutter.
It sounds like something a gamer in an IT department would
come up with but the assertion isn't that far off base. The Windows 8 core, Skype, Skydrive, Wi-Fi and connectivity features do lend themselves
to conference and presentation
duties.
It appears the XBox 1 is aiming to be the device to rule
them all from the living room to the board room. Considering the console is more HTPC than
gaming console the crossover to business isn't a big stretch. Its capability and versatility could capture
a whole new segment of the market that could care less about Halo.
Here we go again...and again...
In the department of: Are you Freakin' nuts!
Seems some so-called "fans" of Microsoft's
original DRM policies want them back citing the desire to digitally store games instead of swapping
media and of course entering the always enticing land of Microsoft licensing.
"This was to be
the future of entertainment... A new wave of gaming where you could buy games
digitally, then trade, share or sell those digital licenses. Essentially, it
was Steam for Xbox. But consumers were uninformed, and railed against it, and
it was taken away because Sony took advantage of consumers uncertainty. We want
this back. It can't be all or nothing, there must be a compromise.”
Really guys?
For one thing, it's just a console and you're making it
sound like universal health care. That
beloved Steam Box is still in absentia and nobody knows for sure if it'll be
more Ouya or Xbox. What everybody got
upset about was effectively killing the secondary market and forced connection
to the Internet "Just Because."
Not to mention the often dismissed reality that not everyone
can afford upwards of $60 for a game or has reliable Internet
connectivity.
There's been speculation that this "petition" is
little more than a publicity stunt orchestrated by Sony to further tarnish the
Xbox 1. The only way that's going to
happen is if Microsoft flip-flops again.
Finally,
Steam really does dominate the news this week but the
rumblings from Redmond come in a close second.
Along with the potential for a new market for the Xbox 1 comes a new division head after the departure of Don Mattrick.
Following this week's companywide reorganization Julie
Larson-Green will take over the reins of the Xbox. If the name's familiar it's because she
occupied one of two spots created after the end of Steven Sinofsky's rule over
the former Windows division.
She oversees the new Devices
and Studios Engineering group that includes the Xbox and anything else with
a button and a Microsoft logo.
By the way, if you hate Windows 8 and the Office Ribbon you
can send your hate emails to her. She
was in charge of both of them.
No comments:
Post a Comment