I think Gotham City's color scheme is too monotone. It needs some pizazz — like replacing the Bat-Signal with bat-shaped rave lasers.
News Blips:
A heap of new details on Batman: Arkham City emerge in the latest issue of Official PlayStation Magazine UK. Batman's latest adventure takes place in the titular and expansive Arkham City, a criminal-infested and fenced-off portion of Gotham City five times the size of Arkham Asylum. New gadgets include a Grapple Boost that launches Batman into the sky for prolonged gliding and a secondary grapple that's used for some Spider-Man-style swinging. But the real surprise is the rumor of Catwoman's inclusion as a playable co-op character. OPM's inquiries on the matter were met with a "no comment," but if the rumor is true, I'm going to stay far away from that whip. [VG247]
Kinect creator Kudo Tsunoda believes that first-person shooters are becoming increasingly deserted on PCs. In an interview with Game Informer, Tsunoda compared content exclusively created for Kinect with the diminishing PC shooter market. "Halo did an awesome job of building a first-person shooter exclusively for the console, and now hardly anyone plays first-person shooters on the PC anymore," he said. "It’s all about the console. And I feel it is the same with Kinect stuff. If you are constantly trying to take something that is made for a controller and port it over to Kinect, it’s not going to be a good experience because it is made for a controller." Wait a minute — Halo was responsible for this? Time to tear down my Master Chief shrine!
Activision Blizzard Chief Executive Officer Bobby Kotick sneers at California's "beyond absurd" proposal to ban the sales of violent video games to minors. "The argument that video games present some kind of new ominous threat that requires a wholesale reassessment of one of our nation's most treasured freedoms, and to take that freedom away indiscriminately from an entire group of our population based on nothing but age is beyond absurd," he said. Predictably, Activision Blizzard filed an amicus brief strongly opposed to a Supreme Court ruling in favor of the proposal. Damn it, Kotick, first you say those nice things about online fees, and now this? I don't know who you are anymore! [GamesIndustry]
A new analysis report by research company NPD Group reveals that full-game digital downloads surpassed boxed retail sales during the first six months of 2010. 11.2 million games were purchased and downloaded online versus brick-and-mortar game store sales of 8.2 million. Frontline digital retailers such as Steam and Bigfish were the main contributors to the improved number. However, overall PC game sales declined 21 percent compared to the same time period last year. The reason? An "expansion of social network gaming as well as the continued expansion of free game options,” according to industry analyst Anita Frazier. I guess I should unplug my roommate's computer whenever he goes on a Farmville binge so he won't contribute to the death of my beloved platform.
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