The position of the gaming industry in today's world and in the future.

   Hey guys! Alex here. So, the past few weeks we've had the release of several major game titles and the announcement of some new ones, but the one that has without a doubt made the biggest impact over the last month, was the release of Pokemon X and Y for the Nintendo 3DS. And that just comes to add itself to the several other major-selling titles (Grand Theft Auto V, The Last Of Us), which made literally hundreds of millions of dollars for their respective companies. And if you add the fact that the next-gen consoles have not even been released yet (which means, their game titles are also due), one cannot help but imagine how far the gaming industry has come over the years and how much further it is going to go in the years to come.
   Let's look at some numbers. Nintendo made an announcement yesterday, regarding the sales for the two first days of release of Pokemon X/Y. It sold 4 million worldwide! That means the company made about $160m just from it's opening two days (considering a copy of the game costs about $40)! As for the record-breaker, GTAV, that has landed the creator company Rockstar a mind-boggling $1 billion within two weeks. It has become the highest selling game of all time. It has already broken the records set by Minecraft and right now the only game that has sold more copies is Call Of Duty: Black Ops (at least on the XBox 360).
   People have always been excited with video games, but never like this. The previously mentioned Call Of Duty: Black Ops is a good example of how times are changing in the video game industry. Even though its predecessor Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare sold around 7 million copies (which at the time was considered extraordinary for a video game), Black Ops destroyed that record selling 5.6 million only within 24 hours!
   If you take into account that in today's world you would have to be hidden in a cave five feet below the planet's surface not to have internet access and, subsequently everyone is able to filter the products they want so that they can be able to purchase them as soon as they release, it won't be long until there is another title that ends up breaking the records that GTAV and Pokemon X/Y have set.
   So, that creates the question: how far will the gaming industry go? Well, right now I would say the gaming industry is in quite a respectable position within its field. In the entertainment industries, as a general, gaming has become not only widely popular, but financially promising as well, as the previously provided numbers state. Gamers are represented in expositions all over the world. Hollywood actors are also featured within popular games (Kiefer Sutherland). More and more people on a daily basis are spending time on a console or an android device playing games.
   Even when compared to the other industries of entertainment, it's obvious that the gaming industry is doing quite well (I repeat, without the release of the next-gen consoles). The music industry, that has been hit by piracy, continues its fall. Since people can just download music for free, artists don't make nearly as much money as they used to. For example, in 1999 the album "Millenium" from the Backstreet Boys sold around 9,4 million copies wirldwide. Last year, the top selling album was Adele's "21", with around 3,2 million. The drawback is obvious. There are still the faithful followers that buy the albums in order to support the artists, but if someone has the ease of just listening to it without having to actually go to the store and buy it or even pay for it, then that's more than likely what he will do.
   The gaming industry doesn't have that problem as of yet (at least not in such high numbers). Surely there might be some emulator here and there that helps you play old and outdated games that bring back the nostalgia of your childhood, or even some games that are on handheld devices if you cannot afford one, but for the big titles, you'll more than often have to cash in. And the strange thing is, people seem to want to do it. 
   So, obviously the gaming industry is on the rise. Sure, it's not as big as Hollywood, but with games like GTAV, The Last Of Us, Pokemon X/Y making money like crazy, it's pretty big news! And there's still a lot more to come like Watch Dogs, Batman: Arkham Origins, The Legend Of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds and Battlefield 4. And this is still the current generation. If you're not a gamer, now is the best time to become one!

A soccer fan's eternal choice... PRO or FIFA?

    Ok, so I was recently checking out some game ratings in web sites. And one I was most curious about was the soccer game match up. Pro Evolution Soccer 14 and FIFA Soccer 14. The eternal rivalry between Konami and EA. Now, both of these games present new and better qualities against their predecessors (PES 13 and FIFA 13 respectively).
   I won't be covering any of these differences in my review, for two reasons. One, because they seem too complicated and two, because I never played either PES '13 or FIFA '13. Instead, this article will be about my comparison between the two newly released titles. I downloaded and played both games today on the PS3. 

  I started with Pro Evolution Soccer 14. I was anxiously waiting for this game to download, considering this is the soccer game series I had been following since High-School (so, pretty much since release). The one thing that always bugged me about this game was the lack of official team licenses. That was an issue in this year's edition as well. You cannot expect to release a successful soccer game when you don't include in it the runner-ups of last season's UEFA Champions League (I am talking about BVB Borussia Dortmund).
   So, that sort of started me off bad, but that had always been an issue with PES and yet, it always managed to get more support than FIFA because of its gameplay. I decided to give the game a go and emphasize on that. The last PES I had played was 2012, and when I started playing '14's demo, it sort of felt even weaker than that! The crowd was like a bunch of inflatable arm-waving tube men, the players were extremely hard to control, the commentary was making it painfully obvious that you're in an artificial environment... 
   It seems everything had been taken down a notch from the last time I played a PES game! In the end, it would take me a good while to learn how to actually play this game, but it did nothing to make me invest that time in it. Disappointing, would be a proper word for this. The only truly enjoyable things about it were the official UEFA Champions League graphics and style that make it seem like you're actually watching a game on TV.

   Then I went on to FIFA, not expecting much. The thing with FIFA, back in the old days was that it was always extremely easy. That's why no one wanted to play it. Anyway, going into this demo, I noticed the menus and the graphics were very sharp and nicely shaped! It immediately drew my attention. The one thing that put me off a bit was the unnecessary complexity of the menus. But, at the end of the day, if you just want to go and play a friendly match, you can just choose that. And when you're ready to explore the rest of the choices this game has to offer you, you can. This game (or this demo, at least) was very user-friendly. Before you went into it, it asked how good you are with soccer games and how you use your controller (those who are used to playing PES use the square button for shooting and the circle button for crossing and vice-versa for FIFA players). The game actually fixes the buttons for you so that they better suit your style before you even start playing. 
   Now, while I was going around the games' sub-menus, I was kinda "forced" into this "Ultimate Team" match, so I decided to have a go at it. Even though the teams weren't of my choosing, I found myself absorbed by the game soon enough! The crowd is lively and actually reacts to whatever is going on in the pitch, the players interact with each other nicely, whether in-game or out (it's nice to see them having little chats during the half-time break) and even the replays work nicely! Commentary is top notch and the stadiums look alive. I tried to play again, this time with Barca vs AC Milan to see how it is. Barcelona's style of play actually comes out during play. The many passes, the ball possession, the pressure to the opponent... It was like being a part of a Barcelona game. 

   The decision was an easy one this year. After a long time, FIFA's back in the lead! And considering you can actually use players and teams from over 30 leagues across the world, I'd say it was about time!   

Avoiding next-gen consoles and why

   Ok, so we've pretty much analyzed all the new badass consoles being released at the end of this year. Everything has been set. The release dates, the prices, some "minor" adjustments have been made so that the consumers are satisfied (I'm looking at you, Microsoft) and the first epic titles have been announced and displayed at expos all over the world. Now let's see why the best idea would be to NOT buy one of these awesome new gaming machines -at least for the foreseeable future.
   I start off with a big argument, probably the biggest, when I say PRICE. The initial cost for the PS4 is 399$ and for the XBox1 a whopping 499$! Right... Now, let's take a quick tour down memory lane and see what the initial price of their predecessors was. To buy a PS3 at release, you would have to cough up about 600$ and an XBox 360 would sell for about 550$! Now, checking at their prices only a year later, the PS3 was worth 300$ and amazingly, so was the XBox 360. And considering what happened with that generation of consoles and the world's current financial situation, it would be best if we learned from our mistakes.
   Next in my list is a very important factor, considering you're a "hardcore" gamer. The variety of titles. Right now there are about 30+ games being developed for each of the next-gen consoles respectively and they will all be available at release. Now, there are people out there who probably don't care for any of those games. So why pay 400$ or 500$ for something you're not going to use when you can just get it later, maybe in a bundle with a game you're actually going to play for the same price? Just saying...
 

   Even if you do buy a PS4/Xbox1 now, chances are not one of your friends will be able to or want to. So you won't be able to enjoy online or multiplayer games for quite a while.
   My closing argument also stands on very solid grounds. And it's the very reason why I wrote this article. Just a few minutes a go, I read this (http://uk.ign.com/articles/2013/10/04/ps3-support-to-continue-for-at-least-next-couple-of-years?utm_campaign=fbposts&utm_source=facebook), and considering this is also the case for both great gaming companies (you'll excuse me for not including Nintendo, but they seem to have their own "one big console, one handheld console" policy, plus they appear to be targeting a different audience), there's really no reason to give up on your PS3 or XBox 360 just yet. There are still many great times to be had on both of them.
   Don't get me wrong! I am also getting ready to welcome the next generation of gaming with wide open arms. But let's just take our time saying goodbye to this one, eh?

A little cleaner, but not that much.

   For my final post today, I would like to share my thoughts on some recent political developments here in Greece. I must confess I have no idea about their impact on the European or Worldwide political scenery, but they are most important and so I felt like they should be commented on.
   A man was recently murdered in cold blood by a member of the "Golden Dawn" right wing extremist political party. Apparently from what the press are revealing it was a set-up, since the victim was at a coffee shop watching the Olympiacos-PSG soccer game when afterwards he walked outside to an ambush of 30 to 40 men awaiting his departure. And it was no accident either. The deceased was a 45 year old rap artist who had created and sung many songs against the extremists. So they had a reason to kill him. 
   The murderer confessed, and that lead to a chain of events. Most of the big heads of the "Golden Dawn" political party have been arrested and are currently on trial. From the leader Nikos Michaloliakos and his immediate associates Ilias Kasidiaris and Ilias Pappas. They were arrested at their homes, where they held guns and other weapons illegally. Those were, of course, confiscated.
   Now here's where things began to get a little too tricky for the simple-minded. The rest of the "Golden Dawn" members that were under investigation began showing up one after another at the Greek Police Headquarters in order to turn themselves in! All the while yelling and screaming at the cameras that "There's no truth in the accusations! Do not believe any of it!" (plus some curses and spitting).
   There's two things happening if someone is so willing to turn himself in so that he be put to jail. One, is that he is sure that he's right so he believes he won't be put there at all. But considering the wide array of crimes these people have (reportedly) committed, that is not the case. The other is that he knows that despite all the things he might have done, he can get away with it. Which is highly likely considering Greece's flawed judicial system.
   What of the Government? Did they just now realize how much of a threat the "Golden Dawn" is? Did it have to come to this, a person openly losing his life in front of a camera in order for them to take action? Did the current and previous governments have something to gain by simply allowing their existence (like, for example using them in order to blindside people of the fact that pensions are getting yet another drop)? Or could members of these governments have been in league with the "Golden Dawn", which could lead one to think that that's the reason why they all turned up so peacefully: simply because they know this is all been cleverly orchestrated by the government themselves?
   There's only one positive thing coming out of all this and that's the fact that people have woken up to the fact that the "Golden Dawn" is more of a criminal organization than a political party. The question is, who was that criminal organization really working for?
Oh well, at least our streets are a little safer... 

GTAV? Really..?

   Now, for this next one I be attracting a whole lot of rage if anyone is actually reading these posts or this blog altogether, but I promise I'll justify my reasoning. So just hear me out before you go biting my head off just because you saw the title.
   Recently, the company Rockstar released the highly-anticipated sequel to Grand Theft Auto IV, Grand Theft Auto V. Now this title was anticipated, but not many people knew how much. Because, contrary to the most popular game this year until that time "The Last Of Us", nobody really knew much about GTAV's capabilities and what the player could do in-game.
   Seriously, the game gives the player incredible freedom and flexibility. From taking a selfie with your cell-phone on the beach, to high-jacking the Air Force One right out of the U.S.'s military airbase, there's simply nothing you cannot do in the city of Los Santos!

   But even considering all of it's amazing capabilities, it's creators wanted to create a game that shoves our world down our throats. They have, from trailer one, shown explicit material including (but not restricted to) cursing, bribing, drug-dealing and using, abuse of women, car theft of course and an extremely high amount of violence just as extra topping.
   And, despite the wide array of selection the game gives you on freedom, it seems people seem to focus on all of the things that they cannot do in the outside world. Things like hiring a prostitute, doing her and then beating her up so that you could get your money back of her unconcious body. Funny, eh? Or going to the nearest highway, holding some poor driver at gun point, only so that you could steal his car and drive it into some fence (having run over about as many people as possible in the process because hey, it's fun!), until eventually you get "busted!" by the cops or just shot to death. Or just shooting someone in the head cause he dared to stand in the way of your selfie. Just take a before and after shot.

   All of these things are in a video game, so they're harmless, right? Well, considering this video game is inspired by the real world and everyday crime, I wouldn't consider them that harmless. And it's funny that the things players tend to do more often in this game are the things that are illegal. And it's also very funny (in a disturbing way) that this, a game where all death, stealing, drug abuse and prostitution have lost all meaning, is now the most high-selling game of all time.
   Do parents let their kids play this? Because this is still considered a video "game" and games are meant to be for children. Plus there's also the fact that no matter how hard you try to tell a child not to do something, he will still want to do it. So are the parents protecting the next generation from this sort of influence, or are they simply the receivers of role models that will lead to more school shootings?

   It's tragic to think that some people came together and thought "Hey, lets make a game about all the bad stuff in the world today!" and that game ended up selling the most everywhere. Says a lot about who we are...  

First online gaming experience.

  Happy October to all. Considering I have not written anything in this blog for quite a while, this is a good excuse to begin spamming it with articles of different variety. I have received quite a few incentives from my surroundings so I might as well make use of them. Here goes...
   The first article I would like to post has to do with my first experience inside a MMORPG (massive multiplayer online role playing game). Despite my initial hesitations, I recently purchased Square-Enix's updated version of Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn. I was hesitant simply because I know what kind of player I am, and that having other people join in would only ruin my experience. I changed my mind because of the beauty of the game (both graphics and music are off the charts), the story behind it (which is always a big plus for me, especially in Final Fantasy games) and the fact that I was able to actually try the game before making any decision of buying it (since I applied for one of the beta testing stages and Square-Enix gracefully accepted my request).
   So, despite my hesitations, I purchased the game. But, the first thing I noticed was that I wasn't really all that anxious for it. Like, even now, there are games that I can't wait to get my hands on, like South Park: The Stick Of Truth or Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII. But this wasn't the case with XIV: ARR. Despite all it's problems at launch (they had to delay it since they weren't expecting such an overwhelming amount of people so people couldn't log in for about two weeks), I noticed I wasn't missing it. That wasn't a good sign. 

   Eventually I signed in, restored my character from the betas (if you must know I'm a paladin/blacksmith that goes by the name of Alexander Holyknight) and I continued where I had left off. I got addicted to it, I must admit. But the repetitiveness of this game was oh, so tiresome! Every time I moved to a new location on my map I immediately knew before hand that I would have to do quests in order to gain exp (experience points). And, the more you raise your level, the more experience points you need in order to raise it again. So basically what that means is just more of those quests. Over and over again it was the same thing. Go here, do missions, go there, do missions... I would not have minded it so much, but the missions weren't really relative to what was going on with the game's story, which was all that kept me going all the way to level 50.
   And then there were the dungeons... Sometimes, during the story's progress, you would have to enter these special areas called "dungeons". The thing is, you weren't allowed to enter by yourself. You had to choose the specific dungeon you wanted to go in to from you Start menu, under the Duty Finder sub-command.  This Duty Finder would then pit you up with 3 or 7 (depending the dungeon) total strangers, and you would all have to finish the dungeon together. This was the worst part of the game for me. Not knowing who I am playing with. And, because I am new at the genre, I didn't really understand my role in the group. So it's easy to imagine what was going on. From slander to people just giving up right in the middle of the game. Trying to play with strangers ends up ruining the experience for everyone.

   Anyway, after clearing the game I felt like a big weight had been lifted off me, instead of how much fun I had or what a great story I saw (actually that's only partially true since there were some tidbits at the story's end that had me thinking that I might return to the game, but nah). I will definitely not be renewing my subscription to this tiresome game. While it was new and fresh, the game seemed like a great experience. But it got old very quickly. And it's storyline was weak. The only thing I'll keep from it was it's extraordinary scenery. So, in conclusion, they may have tried their best to save it (and considering some current numbers, they may have succeeded), but for me, 14 will always be a failed number in Final Fantasy history. On to XV!