Opinion Piece: Xbox One and done?

Disclaimer: This article is the writer's opinion alone hence the title.

This past Tuesday the Xbox One was revealed by Microsoft. As it was only a reveal press event we didn't get a lot of information on specifics about games. Well, to be honest they barely gave even a small amount of information on games. What we did get to know are the features it has. It can watch tv, it can switch between gaming and tv watching instantly. It does those things through voice commands. It also has a blu ray player and a redesigned controller.

As for what I feel about it, as of right now I feel I can't justify a purchase. I know that there's going to be more information on the games at E3 but the limitations, both confirmed and possible are just too much for me to ignore. The possibility of paying full price for a game that you bought used, the kinect being able to watch and study your body language and the console requiring an internet connection to be used. Granted the internet connection doesn't always have to be on but the fact that it needs one to be used isn't good. In the United States broadband internet hasn't reached every part of the country and in parts that there is broadband not every one is able to use it as much as different ISPs have different caps. 

About the television capabilities that seems to be such a strong focus, the Xbox One doesn't even have that capability right out of the box. It requires a separate device that needs to be purchased, and at launch that feature will only be available in the United States. Which, if the exclusive games for the Xbox One aren't that compelling and the tv features aren't even available why would people around the world consider buying the Xbox One? I'll wait until we see more information about the games at E3 to say the Xbox does or doesn't have many games worth purchasing the system over. But the ones we do know about probably will see plenty of purchases from the fans. Halo and Gears Of War will sell Xboxes I don't think the Xbox will be a failure even if it isn't a huge hit it won't be a complete failure. 

On the subject of E3 I've been hearing a lot of "wait for E3 this event was just to show the console, get the boring stuff put of the way" Well, Sony revealed the PS4 and were able to show things but still have plenty of for E3. It makes me think of two things, Microsoft probably doesn't have too much for E3 or by trying to "get the boring stuff out of the way" they are trying to focus on appeasing different markets but they're doing it in a way where most people watching were the serious gamer. 

Speaking of markets I honestly feel that this market of people who want to consume content on the internet and watch tv and are willing to buy a gaming console instead of a blu ray player or set top box or just stick with their computer or tablet doesn't exist. Or at least it's not a big market. 

Finally the two things that we don't know too much in detail about but are huge detractors if the worse is true. First, the pay wall for used games. I've been hearing the fee for buying a used game and trying to play it on your own system could be as high as the original price. Which could have some blowback from GameStop for hurting it's business in used game sales. GameStop will stock Xbox Ones but I have to wonder just how much they'll advertise it. Secondly, the kinect could be a turn off for consumers. Having a voice activated console that lets you play games is ok. But the potential of it is a bit creepy. There's been articles that show it can read body language to know what to advertise to you, and it can know how many people are in a room and there's possibilities of it stopping a movie if it detects too many people in a room and asking for a fee. Of course though the reason I brought these up last is right now there's too many rumors about the used games and the kinect "spying" on you. It can be scary but right now these things are just rumors and I won't flip out over that stuff until I know the facts from Microsoft. However the other things like it having three gigabytes of it's 8 gigabytes of RAM are dedicated to the multimedia features it has an older type of RAM than the PS4. it has a custom processor, 500 gigabytes of storage, won't be backwards compatible, and won't support most headsets are facts that we do know for sure that make me not want to purchase it. Things can change by E3 we can learn that it has good games and that things won't be as scary as it might seem. Though the things I mentioned that we do know for sure still don't have me raring to buy one.

Alright I rambled on enough. That's my thoughts about what we know about the Xbox One right now. Let me know what you think talk to me on twitter @ikariradio and be part of the larger discussion by listening to the Ikaricast on iTunes and emailing the show in the show theikaricast@gmail.com

Laid Back Comics: Arrow S1:02 Honor Thy Father

Hey there Broken Infinite, sorry for the delay on the video, here it is. Also don't forget to follow me on Twitter @BAClend

Time Warp Review: Super Mario Bros.

With the latest technology, video games have come a long way since their early days. Statistics state that the average household has at least two video game systems. Sounds great doesn’t it? But did you know that what has become common place entertainment almost was on the verge of ruin? In 1983, console game sales hit an all-time low, threatening to put an end to the industry. The slump ended in 1985 with the release of Super Mario Bros. for the Nintendo Entertainment System, a sequel to the 1983 game Mario Bros. For those of us old enough to remember, in the previous game Mario was stuck in a sewer full of enemies. Super Mario Bros. took Mario and his brother Luigi out of the seemingly endless stages of Mario Bros. and placed them in the Mushroom Kingdom in order to rescue Princess Toadstool from the antagonist Bowser.

The game was created by Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka, both of whom belonged to Nintendo's former Creative Department at the time. Originally, the game was based around a shooting mechanic with very different controls, but a desire to focus on jumping and the mapping of the mechanic to the A button resulted in its being dropped. Mario’s ability to change size was based on the level design being centered on a smaller version of Mario. It was later decided to give him this ability as a power-up via picking up a red mushroom. Collecting green mushrooms granted Mario extra lives. This concept of using mushrooms came from folklore in which people wander into the forest and eat magical mushrooms, thus the world was given the name “Mushroom Kingdom”. Development was aimed at keeping things simple, in order to have a new game available for the end-of-year shopping season. Originally an idea for a shoot-'em-up stage in which Mario would jump onto a cloud and fire at enemies was to be included; however, this was dropped to maintain the game's focus on jumping action, but the sky-based bonus stages still remained.

When it was released in the holiday season of 1985 in North America, the Nintendo Entertainment System, or NES, was available as a both a single system and a bundle package that came with Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka’s creation. It was an instant hit in Japan and North America despite lackluster sales outside these two countries. Soon Mario’s mustached face was more recognizable than Mickey Mouse by children at that time. Since then, Super Mario Bros. has sold 40.24 million copies. This number excludes Game Boy Advance and Virtual Consoles sales. The game further popularized the side scrolling genre of video games and led to many sequels in the series that built upon the same basic premise. Super Mario Bros. has spawned many successors: Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels (named Super Mario Bros. 2 in Japan), Super Mario Bros. 2 (released in Japan as Super Mario USA), Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario World (which had the working title of Super Mario Bros. 4) for the Super NES, Super Mario 64 (for Nintendo 64), Super Mario Sunshine (for GameCube), New Super Mario Bros. for the Nintendo DS, and Super Mario Galaxy, New Super Mario Bros. Wii and Super Mario Galaxy 2 for the Wii. The brothers were recently rebooted with new powers along with age old favorites for New Super Mario Bros. and a sequel, both of which were released for the Nintendo 3DS.

In the late 1980’s and through the mid 1990’s, the brothers Mario have made a staple in pop culture. They had their own TV show, “The Super Mario Bros. Super Show”, which debuted in 1989. The brothers were portrayed by “Captain” Lou Albano and Danny Wells. A live-action movie was released in 1993 but bombed at the box-office despite the game’s huge popularity from the releases of Super Mario Bros. 3 in 1990 and Super Mario World in 1991. The faces of Mario and Luigi were seen everywhere from T-shirts to lunch boxes and even a breakfast cereal.

For over two decades, Super Mario Bros. was the best-selling video game of all time (before being outsold by Nintendo's own Wii Sports in 2009). It was largely responsible for the initial success of the Nintendo Entertainment System. As one of Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka's most influential early successes, it has inspired many clones, sequels, and spin-offs. The game's theme music by Koji Kondo is recognized worldwide, even by those who have not played the game, and has been considered a representation for video game music in general. A lot of today’s platform games can thank Super Mario Bros. for their inspiration, even games that feature platform elements such as Tomb Raider, God of War, and, most notably, Prince of Persia. Super Mario Bros. is still popular even 25 years after its release. It ranked first in Electronic Gaming Monthly's "greatest 200 games of their time" list and was named in IGN's top 100 games of all-time list twice (in 2005 and 2007). Game Informer ranked it second on their greatest games list behind the Legend of Zelda in 2009, saying that it "Remains a monument to brilliant design and fun game play".

So the next time you pick up a new game or play a current one, just remember, holding that controller in your hand was made possible by two Italian plumbers from Brooklyn.

Until then, see you on the next level, Brian Misher

Ellis's Gun Machine Bought By Fox For Development

  Warren Ellis has become a legendary writer to many within the comic book industry. Like many other writers, he has also done novels and other literary works. His recent novel, Gun Machine, has been taking fans by storm. So much so that now Fox has decided to pick it up and develop it into a television series.

   Gun Machine is a thriller about a New York City detective who stumbles onto scores of guns that are connected to hundreds of unsolved murders there were originally seeming unrelated. Gun Machine's television adaption will be produced by 2oth Century Fox TV Studios and Chernin Entertainment. Trauma creator Dario Scardapane will be writing the television adaption while also being an executive producer alongside Ellis, Peter Chernin and Katherine Pope. Ellis reacted to the news on Deadline.com:

“Chernin and Fox pursued Gun Machine with great passion and intelligence, and I couldn’t be happier to be making this show with them,” Ellis said.


 Gun Machine, the novel, is in stores now.