dante’s inferno: through the fire and flames

Today I’m taking you on a journey to hell and back with a review of Dante’s Inferno for the Xbox 360. We’ll dodge the freakish unbaptized monstrosities in Limbo, grab a hooker for the road in Lust, eat a lard burger and take a swim in a gold pool in Gluttony & Greed, and burn some Bibles through Heresy while slicing off the heads of patriots in Violence and Treason. This review (and game as a whole) is not for the faint of heart.

“Abandon every hope, ye who enter here”

EA and the New Era of DLC

Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello is shaking things up.  Big time.  In an interview with BusinessWeek, Riccitiello talked extensively about EA’s abysmal income, their new focus on DLC, free games with for-pay accessories, nontraditional platforms like mobile devices and social media sites, and their war with the used-game market.

The gist is this: Brick-and-mortar gamestores are dying.  As a result, they’ve shifted their focus from the sale of new games to the resale of used games.  Where EA can sell a game once, GameStop can sell, buy back, and resell a game over and over without kicking any earnings back to the publisher.  Understandably, Riccitello believes that EA can’t survive indefinitely in this kind of a market.  The solution?  Digital distribution.

iPhone gaming at its best

iPhones have represented many things to me in the past. A status symbol for the elitist mac crowd (differentiated from the regular, cool mac-using community), a voodoo device that sucks the life out of executives and serves as a lifeline to their work, and more importantly a graveyard where a niche group of games called “touch-screen” games went to live and quickly die.  Surprisingly, gaming on the iPhone isn’t as terrible as I was prepared to admit. When I received one for Christmas last year, I had no idea it would or could support fulfilling and exciting games that I’d want to play! Though some gaming trash inevitably exists for download, indie developers have done a great job in utilizing the platforms touch technology in unique and fun ways. Over the past few months, I’ve discovered some gaming jewels that I keep coming back to and their prices:

BioWhat? the little canadian company that could

With the number of user comments praising BioWare, I thought it would be prudent to write up a segment spotlighting the esteemed developer’s historic games and exploits. The company’s history is littered with successful, quality games that have lead to a large number of passionate followers. By the time BioWare was acquired by Electronic Arts Inc. in 2008, the company had over 3.8 million registered users at www.bioware.com and it’s safe to say their fanbase continues to grow. With recent releases such as Dragon Age: Origins and Mass Effect 2 thrilling game reviewers and the general gaming populace, I think the three doctors who began it all can look back with pride at what they’ve created.

The Joys of the Xbox Live Arcade

Maybe it’s my short attention span, my need for simple, straightforward play, or my extreme frugality, but I love the Xbox Live Arcade. Sadly, in the face of big releases like Halo 3: ODST and Modern Warfare 2, it’s all too easy to forget about the XBLA. After all, Arcade games don’t receive nearly the hype or industry media time that they should. What’s more, Microsoft is notoriously bad about announcing release dates and has a bad of habit of surprising us Wednesday mornings. In honor of the underappreciated XBLA, let’s take a few minutes to consider all the great games that came out in 2009 and what we have to look forward to later in 2010.

What You Should Know About Xbox Live Privacy

Today, Joystiq.com hosted a hilarious, if somewhat disconcerting, news clip revealing the threat posed by predators using Xbox Live to communicate with kids. Griffin McElroy over at Joystiq took the time to poke a little fun at this example of truly remarkable journalism, but the Fragmatica staff would like to take a moment to talk about the real consequences of new stories like this.

To view the video, check out the Joystiq post above or check out Kotaku’s excellent post on the subject. Hit the jump for more info.

The Realities of Motion Sensing

Let’s talk about motion control. I know, I know. You’ve already talked about it. You’ve watched the Project Natal videos, you’ve heard what Sony is promising, and you may even own a Wii. It’s probably safe to assume you’re sick of the motion control blitz. But let’s take a step back. Let’s forget the cynicism, ignore the ridiculous PR, and stop thinking about that awkward E3 Natal demo. In fact when I count to three, we’re going to forget everything we know about motion control. Ready? One, two, three…

Game Platforms as Media for Poetry

Video games and art are not always perceived as synonymous. Many in our society would claim games are nothing more than playthings for recreational activity (there is a whole debate between how to study games, ludologically as sets of rules, narrativistically as stories or something else, but that post is for another day… next Tuesday). As Broken Luck pointed out in his post Video Game Development: Hope for Change in the New Decade, we are seeing intellectual properties pumping out of the development cracks that raise the standard of our gaming experience. They give us new challenges that make us think in a new way (Braid) and provide us with stunning environments (Bioshock) that set the audio and visual feel of an interactive gaming experience. Whether the art is in the gameplay or setting, though, we still aren’t talking about a game created for the purpose of artistic expression.

There are independent developers exploring and utilizing game platforms to create art in its purest form, you just have to look a little harder for them.

Discussing Virtual Societies and Community

As video games have developed and changed over the past decades, so have our reasons for playing them. My childhood memories include racing through levels of Sonic the Hedgehog trying to beat the game without losing all my lives. With some modern games, the pot of “goal” at the end of the gameplay rainbow isn’t as clear-cut. Sometimes, there isn’t a tangible goal at all! Even though the stereotype of a shuttered-in hermit gamer playing Everquest in his mom’s basement carries on, new massively multiplayer online games are emerging every year that focus on gameplay in a community environment.

The Sequel Sickness

Now that you have had time, dear reader, to get acquainted with the other bloggers here at Fragmatica, I’d like to personally welcome you! Please, make yourself comfortable, but before you get too settled, humor me for just a second while we conduct a simple experiment. Roll that trusty computer chair over to your undoubtedly expansive game collection and have a quick look. Even better, if you’re forward-thinking and favor digital distribution, you won’t even have to move; just double click that seductive Steam icon (be careful though, or you might end up finding a sale or five that’s  just too good to pass up) and you’re all set.  Now tell me, what exactly do you have there?