EA's own Console?

Sounds far-fetched? Maybe. But consider this: EA had been the largest third-party games publisher for quite a while. All that ended when Vivendi Games and Activision announced a merger valued at a mind-boggling $18.9 billion to surpass the publishing giant. Ever since then EA has been 'bullish' in the takeover market.

The year began with EA finalizing a $860 million deal to takeover VG Holding Corp., the owners of acclaimed development studios BioWare and Pandemic. Soon after that, EA announced a takeover bid worth $2 billion for Take-Two studios. And guess what they own: the GTA franchise. And BioShock. And the 2K Sports label. With such acclaim and following behind their titles, Take-Two have so far resisted the bids, calling EA's offer 'undervalued'.

With John Riccitiello taking over as CEO, EA's takeover intentions turned 'hostile'. Deadlines have come and passed with Take-Two maintaining a firm stance. But as of May 16, EA has already gobbled up 6,210,261 (8%) of Take-Two's outstanding shares. Another bid deadline, June 16, has already been set and EA has made its intentions clear. Even Ubisoft (behind the Prince of Persia series and Assassin's Creed) continues to resist a bid. But EA has already pocketed around 15% of its shares.

They've taken all this trouble when they have their own mega-successful EA Sports & EA Games (that includes EA Mythic) labels and a studio roster that boasts developing powerhouses like Maxis and Westwood. My simple question is this: Why?

To become the number one publishing house could be an honest and obvious answer. But $2 billion just to have #1 stamped across your chest seems a bit too much -- even for EA!! As I pondered over my own query, one possible scenario came to my mind. It seemed ridiculous, no doubt, but, in some insane way, logical -- from EA's point of view atleast.

An EA exclusive console. Think about it! With amazingly popular and best-selling franchises like Need for Speed, FIFA, Madden, NFL, NBA and even Cricket already under its belt, EA could drive the other consoles out of the market by declaring exclusivity as these titles drive millions in sales. Add to that all the future Sims & Spore titles and you already have a virtual monopoly! And I haven't even begun to add to the fray the future sequels of GTA, Command and Conquer, BioShock, Mass Effect and god knows what all else they've got up there billion-dollar-sleeves.

Besides, exclusivity would reduce production costs. Yeah, sure, making a future-gen console to compete with what Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo can come up with is gonna take still more billions in investment. But once they launch an exclusive, standard system, the returns will ensure that they only need to do what they do best: publish more and more games! Yearly upgrades, sequels, new intellectual properties........ all for ONE console. No multi-platform ports (apart from PC, that is :)) to worry about.

Food for thought? It remains to be seen. But, for now, even that is enough to ruin the appetites of current-gen honchos! Do post in with your own views on EA's buying spree.

News Source: GameSpot.

Mass Effect coming to PCs

The BioWare stamp on any RPG has become a mark of identifying excellence, innovation and unmatched superiority in the genre. After delivering acclaimed titles such as Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, BioWare released Mass Effect -- for the Xbox 360!

The latest addition to BioWare's stable is set in the 22nd century. Humans have discovered alien artifacts which allow for faster-than-light speed travels across the galaxy. Players play as Commander Shepard, a (customizable) human on a mission to track down a rogue agent named Saren. While in pursuing the bad-dude throughout the galaxy, Shepard encounters various races, conspiracies, alien monsters, and interstellar mercenaries before uncovering a conspiracy that could doom all life in the Milky Way! Sounds like a lot of quests -- and hence a lot of fun!!

Amazing though it may be, BioWare left the PC fans, myself included, in a state of utter disappointment and with a feeling of abandonment by giving it an exclusive release! But come May 28th and PC fans across most of the world (aided no-doubt by unscrupulous pirates) will gleefully start an adventure through the space soap-opera universe that is Mass Effect!

Whats even more exciting is the prospect that the game (developed in association with Demiurge Studios), instead of being a mere port, would be, in the words of BioWare, an 'evolution'! Debatable in some terms but likely nonetheless. The debatable aspect is the recent acquisition of BioWare by Electronic Arts. Probably a bad news for the gaming world in general, but given EA's recent track record of not meddling too much with high-stakes games, it could well work out.

In fact, the new PC version of the game is all set to revamp the X360 version's 'clunky' inventory system and decryption minigames. In addition to that, it will also allow for hot key assignment for a more action-oriented style of play and will have graphics enhanced for higher resolution PC displays. Nice to see the guys at BioWare making such amends after royally snubbing us PC fans last year!!

More on Mass Effect:

• Official Community Site
• Wikipedia
• GameSpot

Command and Conquer 3 - Tiberium Wars

Kane is back!! And he's better than ever!! Yup, the newest installment of one of the greatest RTS franchises of all times goes back to its roots. The game revamps the style and graphics while keeping the gameplay mechanic of the C'n'C Series duly intact. With EA Games taking over the franchise, the fans had been almost disillusioned, fearing for the future of the series....... but EA has definitely exceeded their expectations. The game has already appeased the fan-base and recruited many-many more by giving the nostalgia a fresh and exquisite packing.

But, although the game has already released to rave reviews, its not yet available with retailers here in India. So this entry will mainly focus on the Tiberium Wars DEMO. But don't get disappointed, because at 1.18 GB, the demo offers a LOT!!

First of all, for the uninitiated, Command and Conquer 3 - Tiberium Wars is a Real Time Strategy game and is the newest installment of the 'Tiberium Universe' of the Command and Conquer franchise. The Tiberium (Tiberian) series of games focus on the battles between the GDI (Global Defense Initiative) and the Brotherhood of Nod over a highly dangerous but valuable alien resource called, well, Tiberium!! The GDI, who are what we'd call the 'good guys', view Tiberium as a valuable resource but a threat to mankind cause of its catastrophic effects on the ecology. The Nod, on the other hand, view it as a means to bring about the next stage of human evolution. Sounds far fetched?? Well, it is, and thats exactly whats so good about this series!! The new installment brings back the Nod leader Kane after his apparent 'death' and takes the Tiberium Wars to a new level by introducing a new faction: the Alien race of the Scrin, who've mastered the use of tiberium.

Now, we get back to the DEMO. Well, it basically features a tutorial mission and 2 other scenarios from the GDI side of the Single Player Campaign. The scenarios offer a good look into the GDI's tech-order. The accompanying cut-scenes are a bit over the top but at the same time are very well done and truly exciting. In addition all this, the demo features a 2 player Skirmish map in which you can play as the GDI while the AI handles the Nod. But while there a work-around that lets you play as the Nod in the game, the Scrin race is entirely unplayable. The best thing about playing as both the factions is that, even in the demo, the entire tech tree is available for use. There's not a single unit/building missing from the queue. The demo even has access to the super-weapons of the factions: the Ion Cannon for GDI and the Nuclear Missile for the Nod. And while the game plays out mostly like the previous titles in the series, it LOOKS waaayyy better!! The visuals are absolutely stunning and the units and buildings are rendered perfectly. So all in all, the demo is a brilliant showcase of what all you can expect from the game. Here's an in-game video of the DEMO showing the GDI's Ion Cannon in action:

Feeling excited?? Want to try it out for yourself?? The following is a list of links from where you can download this awesome demo:

• Get EA Link which lets you download EA's PC games, patches, demos, trailers and wallpapers. Its kind of like Valve's Steam client. Downloading from EA link is considerably faster and obviously reliable.
• Download off GameSpot Servers (Free Membership Required). GS servers are reliable but a bit slower.
• Download it from Tech2.com India.

And here's the trick to play as Nod in the demo's Skirmish mode:

• From the Main Menu goto Skirmish -> New Skirmish
• Click on the race selection tab, but do not select anything!!
  



• Move your mouse cursor over the Nod selection.
• At the same time press N and then click on the Nod selection.
  



• You can now play as the Nod!!


• It may take a couple of tries but it does work!!
• NOTE: The Nod's interface voice-over is not included with the demo, but the tech order is complete. You can also make the enemy GDI (G + Mouse Click). This can also be used to select the Scrin but you can't play as them because the demo doesn't support them

Hope you liked this blog entry!! If you have any comments or suggestions do post them here!! Cheers and Happy Gaming!!

Getting Started

Finally...... its done!! I've been wanting to set up this blog for a long time but I never got around to it. Now that its done, let me start off by introducing myself.

My name is Lov Loothra (aka mYTH_2k4) and I'm a college student pursuing my B.Tech in Computer Science and Engineering. Needless to say, I'm simply CRAZY about games. RTS's, Shooters or RPG's......... I like 'em ALL, but I'm just a wee bit inclined towards the RTS genre. I've been into gaming since I was around 7 years old. It all started with a visit to the local arcade and a nice game of Street Fighter and I was hooked....... for life!!

Over the years I've played several games and have mastered quite a few and now I feel that I should share some of my experiences, tips/strategies, feedbacks and expectation from future titles. This blog will mainly focus on PC games as that is the most widespread gaming platform here in India, but I will make posts on Consoles as well. I'll also make occasional technical posts which will help you get more performance out of your PC.

I sincerely hope that my blog can help the readers in some way or the other. Please don't hesitate to contact me personally.

GAME ON!! ;)