1UP writes: "Sports Anomaly podcast (episode 77) features The Sports Game Guy (Todd Zuniga) alongside Greg Ford, David Ellis, and Andrew Fitch as they dive into an endless pile of breaking news. Topics include living rosters in/a hands-on preview of NBA 2K9, FIFA 09's amazing 10-on-10 commercial, Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 snaring the Champions League license, our take on Take 2 staying indie, MLB Stickball's announcement, and Madden NFL 09's release in Japan."
Luke looks at the most influential features of Madden on the PS3 and Xbox 360.
GamingLives mourns the decline of socialising in online games and explores why.
" If an individual wants to include a social side to their gaming, they must now do so in dedicated communities, gaming clans and guilds, or by restricting themselves to their own friendship groups. No longer can it be found in our everyday experiences of the games we play online."
The reason why no one chats in-game anymore is because of three types of people:
1) The assholes that take the game too seriously and insult anyone that's better or worse than them,
2) The trolls that do nothing but teamkill or play loud, obnoxious music through the mic, and
3) The prepubescent snot-nosed children that are a mix of everything above.
If gamers actually had respect for one another and did their best to keep a clean competitive online environment, then maybe more people would be willing to plug their mics in. The odds of that ever happening, though? Slim. Very slim. It's a fact that being an anonymous entity online gives people a scapegoat to be immature; it gives them a mask to hide behind, and it's common for gamers to abuse that anonymity. Half of the stuff gamers say to each other while playing a game, they would never say face-to-face. Try going up to a random person at a gas station or shopping mall and call them a "d***-sucking f***** n*****" or talk about their mother. Odds are they'd deck you in an instant. But online? There's nothing they can do. It's essentially a Get Out Of Jail Free card.
It's a sad reality, but that's just the way it is -- and as much as we want it to change, it probably never will.
If you're an Xbox Live subscriber, then you're no doubt familiar with the GamerScore that's associated with your GamerTag. It's a way to notify players that you're quite good at a game, as you unlock points for completing certain tasks within it. But let's be honest, some games are beasts when it comes to earning points, and you'd rather let your score do the talking over your actual skills.
I remember when the Simpsons game released, the Start Achievement was funny. Now, looking back, it seems lazy. Hah.
I clicked on this article for the sole purpose of making sure The Simpson's "press start" achievement was included. If it weren't, the article would have no merit whatsoever.
