Nat Brown, one of the founders of Microsoft’s Xbox project, posted a long and excellent rant on the Xbox’s shortcomings. He believes that there are major issues with the system’s user experience and the company’s relationship with independent developers. He believes that these issues are why the Xbox is, “going to lose on in the living room battle with Android & iOS.” I highly recommend giving it a read. Here’s an excerpt:

So, because these two critical issues — user expereince and indie content — are not nearly in

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Sony Computer Entertainment American posted a sweet video on the motion-capture sessions for God of War: Ascension. The clip features developers, actors, directors, and writers from the game. It’s a great behind-the-scenes look at what goes into the cutscenes of a big-budget videogame. You’ll get to see the actors play out a scene and see how the game’s animators use the performance. The only puzzling thing about the video is that actress Jennifer Hale found the mo-cap suit — you know, the black jumpsuit with all those little balls … more

Bungie has announced that new details on its upcoming game, Destiny, will be unveiled on February 17, 2013. The game is a space shooter purported to have a deep and fleshed out universe (you know, for sequel purposes). The news was announced on Destiny’s social media pages. Here are the links to the game’s official pages so that you can follow it using the social media service that tickles your fancy:

• Destiny on Facebook
• Destiny on Google+
• Destiny on Twitter

As for the game itself, isn’t it crazy that … more

Sega’s Aliens: Colonial Marines is this week’s big videogame release. People love space shooters. People love Aliens. Ergo, this game has a lot of people amped. In other Sega news, Sonic and pals drive through multiple console systems in Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed. The cover of the game has Sonic in a race car. I’m pretty sure he can run faster than a car, so I don’t know why he’s in it, but the kids seem to love it.

So, any of you picking up new games … more

While digital downloads are definitely the future for the majority of videogames, it looks like the upcoming generation will start off with physical media dominating while publishers try to push gamers towards downloads. I know that many of you still prefer physical discs for various reasons, but I wondering — specifically in the context of the upcoming consoles — what would get you to switch to digital…more

I’m mildly annoyed at The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences, but that won’t stop me from writing about the 2013 DICE awards! The big winners this year were Journey and The Walking Dead. I was thrilled that both of those games did well, though it wasn’t surprising considering that these awards are peer based and both of these games are popular within the business. I was also happy to see XCOM: Enemy Unknown snag an award. Naturally, I’d love to hear your take on this year’s winners. Here’s … more

This North Korean propaganda video is completely awesome. First off, it’s set to an instrumental version of “We Are the World.” Secondly, it uses imagery from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. It sends the lovely message of Korean reunification through the destruction of the United State by nuclear weapons. I’m not sure that’s what USA For Africa had in mind for “We Are the World,” but the song is open to interpretation…more

Edge has a bunch of rumors on the next Microsoft Xbox. The juiciest of which is that it won’t play used games. Console manufacturers and videogame publishers have been happily working towards this, while retailers and consumers have been fearing and loathing these developments. Here’s a quote from the article:

Microsoft’s next console will require an Internet connection in order to function, ruling out a second-hand game market for the platform.

The article also covers the rumored innards of the next Xbox, which include, “an AMD eight-core x64 1.6GHz CPU, … more

The next generation of console wars is nearly here! Nintendo’s Wii U is already available. Sony is expected to announce the next PlayStation later this month. And Microsoft is expected to announce the next Xbox by E3 2013. In the past, hardware and exclusive games shaped the outcome of console wars. More recently, online serves like PlayStation Network and Xbox Live helped determined the outcome. With many people believing that the upcoming batch of hardware will be the end of traditional consoles as we know them, what do you think will…more

Last week, Polygon posted a fantastic article full of juicy quotes from Valve co-founder Gabe Newell. Here are a few choice lines:

I think Apple rolls the console guys really easily.

The biggest challenge is that Apple moves on the living room before the PC industry sort of gets its act together.

The quotes got a ton of play on the Internetz, but I didn’t spend too much time thinking or talking about them…because Newell’s stance didn’t seem debatable to me. I think he’s right and his (greatly respected) opinions are obvious. However, RPadholic N8R suggested…more