Many hours of Skyrim were played this weekend and I am already feeling the toll of not sleeping. Penny Arcade sums it up nicely…
● Battlefield 3 has been out less than a month and already EA and Dice have had to drop the banhammer on a bunch of people “exploring all the possibilities of the game” or “only doing it in single player”, or whatever other bullshit excuse cheaters and glitchers want to throw out. The count currently stands at “hundreds” of accounts being wiped and banned and they claim they are still on the hunt.
Dice is still working on the first patch which will fix some of these known glitches as well as nerf that damn tactical light, aka “The Sun”.
● The Black Friday deals are coming. If you’re one of those people who likes to get up at 3:00 AM and wait in line for hours, in the cold, with a bunch of people who would step on your throat to save ten bucks on a blu-ray player, then this is your time. K-Mart is offering some great discounts, like Driver: San Francisco for $20, Battlefield 3 or Metal Gear Solid HD Collection for $35 and others will certainly follow.
Those and other deals at http://blackfriday.gottadeal.com/
I’d rather pay the extra $20 and not have to deal with quite as many cheery holiday shoppers but maybe that’s just me. I’m a different breed of cat.
● Like it or not, social games appear to be here to stay, so if you’re tired of helping out at your aunt’s farm then you might just want to quit Facebook. A recent study by commissioned by PopCap was revealing.
The report examines play habits, attitudes and regional/demographic differences among social gamers, who represent the fastest-growing segment of the video game industry. The social game sector is anticipated to generate $5 billion by 2015 according to market research firm Parks and Associates.
The survey found that 30%, or 35 million people, who now play social games are new to the category since Feb 2010, and that 17% percent of people who play social games regularly are new to gaming altogether, having never previously played a video game, representing 20 million new gaming consumers. And while the average age of social gamers has gone down from 43 to 39, the average first time new social gamer is a 50+ year old woman.
The report also uncovered regional differences in attitudes about cheating in social games, finding U.K. social gamers (11%) cheat at a higher rate than U.S. gamers (7%). Deeper insight into social gamers’ attitudes and habits surrounding cheating will be provided in a separate upcoming report.
Other key findings in the report include:
81 million people, or 68% of social gamers, play social games at least once a day
49 million people, or 41% of social gamers, play social games multiple times a day
33% of social gamers who played games on other platforms prior to playing social games reported spending less time playing games on other platforms
Female social gamers outnumber men 55% to 45%
The percentage of social gamers under 30 years old jumped from 19% to 30%
20% of all social gamers in the US are over 60, compared to only 7% in the U.K.
Social gaming is a newer phenomenon in the U.K., where only 38% of social gamers have played for two years or more, versus 51% in the U.S.
So what have we learned then? It’s that British women are unrepentant cheaters, evidently. The full report is here: http://goo.gl/WPw7C
● Dead Island is getting some DLC love next week:
Deep Silver today announced the release date of the “Bloodbath Arena” DLC pack for the award winning game Dead Island. The DLC will be available on November 22, 2011 for the PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system, the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and Windows PC.
In the “Bloodbath Arena” DLC four different arenas offer new challenges that can be played alone or in coop mode. It’s a desperate fight for survival where waves after waves of unrelenting zombies attack, one more gruesome than the next! In this DLC characters can loot experience points and items and bring them over to the campaign mode. Players can show off their skills in zombie fighting with the newly implemented leaderboards. The brain wave bomb, a new exclusive weapon, tops this DLC package off.
The DLC package is free for all customers who bought the Pre-order Edition. For the others it will have a price of EUR 9,99 or 800 Microsoft points.
Does it seem unfair to you Canadian gamers that the UK gets a bit of a break on pricing on these things?
● Meanwhile, at “GameShop”…NSFW language, by the way
● Remember how much you loved it when your character in Saints Row 2 belted out a solo of “Take On Me”? by Nordic super-band A-Ha? Well the feature was so popular (HOW POPULAR WAS IT?)…it was SO popular, that the devs have reprised it a new tune…behold…
So anyway, it’s back to the grind, aka “Stuff I have to do before getting back to playing Skyrim”. Thanks for reading, and leave your comments and/or requests below.
“Can I interest you in a butt f-ing”
LOL