Xbox One VS. PS4

Sony and Microsoft have been going head to head in this campaign to find out who has the better of the next-gen consoles. This year has been fully of rumors, fanboy flame wars, and press conference for both candidates. So with all that aside, which console is truly better? The all-in-one Xbox One? Or the user friendly PS4? We will decide that right here, right now. No opinions, just facts.

Specifications:

Let's start with one of the key things that determine the stronger of the two consoles, and that is their power. Which ones hardware makes up for a better gaming experience?
Xbox One                                            PS4 

8-core X86 AMD Processor	8-core X86-64 AMD Processor
8GB DDR3 RAM	8GB GDDR5 RAM
500GB Hard Drive	500GB Hard Drive

According to the specs on both official websites, the PS4 is slightly stronger than the Xbox One, but only so slightly that it really won't make a difference in the gaming experience. If you do consider the minuscule difference in hardware, PS4 wins in power.

Games:

Both console have announced an array of games such as COD: Ghosts, Assassin's Creed Black Flag, and Destiny. The question is, who has better exclusives? Well, as we all know Activision has an agreement with Microsoft to release content for Xbox first before releasing it everywhere else, so if you don't mind waiting for the new maps it won't be a hassle. Here is a list of games for both consoles:

Xbox One                                  PS4           

Below	Binding of Isaac: Rebirth
Cobalt	Deep Down
Crimson Dragon	Drive Club
D4	Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture
Dead Rising 3	Guns of Icarus
Fable Legends	Helldivers
Fighter Within	Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number
Forza Motorsports	Infamous: Second Son
Killer Instinct	Killzone: Shadow Fall
Kinect Sports Rivals	Knack
Quantum Break	N++
Peggle 2	The Order: 1886
Project Spark	Rime
Rabbids Invasion	Rouge Legacy
Ryse: Son of Rome	Shadow of the Beast
Sunset Overdrive	Volume
	War Thunder
	Wasteland Kings

Now as you can see, PS4 has slightly more exclusives but to determine which is better is based on the gamer's personal taste in video games. 

Features:

Since their reveals, there has been many changes and innovations to each company's features and policies. There were plenty of rumors that games will no longer be able to be traded or returned without a complicated process. I will tell you now, neither sides have that policy anymore. Microsoft once had plans to do so but was hit hard by enraged fans and decided to remove that policy of no used games. So to clear things up of any confusion, used games are still playable on both consoles. One feature that has been confirmed for both consoles is the ability to record and share gameplay footage. Xbox allows you to record 5 minutes of gameplay and has a built in video editor for Xbox Gold members only. They will also allow players to stream directly to Twitch. PS4 allows you to record without the need to pay for PS Plus. They claim it will record from 7-15 minutes of gameplay and there is a simple trimming software to edit your video. The PS4 will also allow friends to watch each others games and help out by joining the game or taking over if the player allows it. The PS4 will allow users to access all of it's features without an extra fee except you must have PS Plus to play online multiplayer and will get extra rewards such as free games every month.

Controller:

Xbox One has created many key features to enhance the experiences the gamer has while playing. They changed the ergonomic design to allow the battery pack to sit inside the controller without interfering with the player's hand position. The analog sticks are slightly smaller with an improved grip that does not wear out as easily. The buttons are more responsive to the player's touch.  They also added rumble motors in the triggers to make vibrations in certain areas depending on what happens in the game. If a car hits a bump on it's front left tire, the controller will vibrate near the left trigger.

The Playstation 4 controller has a couple new features as well. It has a touch pad in the middle to add to gameplay mechanics. It has a share button that allows you instantly use the last 7-15 minutes of gameplay to share with your friends. The top of the controller has a light sensor that has a different color indicating which player is which.

The Xbox 360 controller tends to be more favorable to gamers than the PS3. The new Xbox One controller seems to be slightly more interactive and comfortable than the PS4, but we can't really tell until the actual product is in our hands.

Conclusion:

Gamers everywhere are highly anticipating the release of both of these console. The future of console gaming depends on what the next generation can provide. The new exciting features of these consoles will bring a new experience to the players. There is a lot of potential for consoles on both sides, we can only wait and see the innovations they bring.

Starbound Preview

By: Blake

Starbound, an upcoming game being developed by Chucklefish, the Indie game developers most notably known for their game… um well they have none, but don’t let that push you away. This game started off as a kickstarter-like project announced in February 2012. The genre of Starbound is a 2D side-scroller adventure RPG sandbox. Essentially there is a storyline within a randomly generated sandbox world.

At first glance, this game looks strikingly (and I mean strikingly) similar to the game Terraria, also a randomly generated 2D sandbox world originally released in 2011. Upon googling the similarities between the games you will find Starbound forums with people typing out a series of incoherent gibberish basically saying “no it’s not a terraria wannabe, it’s gonna be like 500 times better!”. While if you dig deeper you will find that Starbound has many artists and developers that were a part of the Terraria team. Terraria was developed by company “re-logic” while Chucklefish is developing Starbound, which seems to be their first game. This being their first game is very impressive due to the massive following the game already has. The game has not even been released and it has gained over one million dollars in pre-orders and what I assume are donations. Anyway, back to Starbound’s gameplay. 

Exploration seems to be key according to the Starbound official website. The concept of many different planets to explore will keep the game interesting and different, but don’t think that exploration is the only thing to do. Claiming a planet as your home planet, traveling in your space shuttle, and improving your weapons and items are just some of the many gameplay mechanics involved. While the main gameplay mechanics have been announced, chucklefish says there is “a plethora of unannounced features yet to mention”. While that has been all the information I have gathered gameplay-wise, there is a daily blog post on Starbound’s official website informing us all on the state of the game. The official release of the game has been said to be “2013”. No date or even month has been given, while they have given some before, they have all been wrong. They are certainly not rushing the game, which is a good thing. The platforms Starbound will be on include Windows, Mac, and Linux. The Starbound team has said that a console version of the game is dependent on the success of the PC versions, which is basically saying they hope it becomes big enough for a console version. 

You can pre-order Starbound at their website, the minimum price being $15, which includes the steam key, Beta access, as well as the Starbound Soundtrack. While Chucklefish's previous deadlines are as reliable as Mojang’s, the game will be out this year. I am looking forward to pre-ordering this game and seeing how the game grows into the next big Indie game success.

For more information and to pre-order the game go to http://playstarbound.com/

GTA V Preview: What We Know So Far

Grand Theft auto is a highly popular franchise known for its controversy, endless amount of replay ability, freedom to do whatever you want, and hours of fun. With their upcoming and highly anticipated GTA V, they have plenty to achieve to fulfill their fans expectations on this game.

GTA V takes place in the area of San Andreas. The map is said to be 3 times bigger than Red Dead Redemption and 5 times bigger if you include the underwater exploration. You play as 3 main characters each with their own story and special abilities. They are Michael, Trevor, and Franklin.

Characters:

Michael is a rich, middle aged man who is just tired of his everyday life. Formerly a professional bank robber, he is now living in a beautiful expensive home with everything a rich man could want. The problem is, it isn't what he wants. He has two children who are spoiled rotten, constantly argue and make his life miserable. To add on to the stress of having ungrateful children, he catches his wife cheating on him. His decision to join the others in making big bank heists is solely to bring excitement back into his life.
Special Ability: Slows down time when using a weapon.

Trevor is a psychopathic ex-military pilot who lives life recklessly. He sells drugs for money and is addicted to them himself. He is not afraid to hurt anyone and will do what he wants, when he wants to. He is an old partner of Michael's, helping him to rob banks for a living. Not much is known about Trevor, but what we do know is he is someone you don't want to mess with.
Special Ability: Increases damage dealt, Decreases damage taken

Franklin is a gangster who is struggling to get out of the thug life. He is an experienced driver and can get himself out of sticky situations in any vehicle he can grab. He has a dog named Chop who will possibly be used as a weapon in the game. His fellow gang members don't agree with him trying to make himself something other than a gang banger so he takes the opportunity to team up with Michael and Trevor to rob banks to get out of the gang business.
Special Abilities: Slows down time while driving.

Gameplay:

The player can switch between each of the three characters at any time in the game. While playing as one character, the others will continue on doing activities around the map. You may even encounter them face to face and interact with them while exploring the world. One character cannot kill the other though. If you happen to "accidentally" shoot the other main character in the head, they will wake up in a hospital the next time you switch to the. Rockstar's explanation is "they have great health insurance." When you are not robbing banks, you can explore the massive world and see what the game has to offer. It has sports to play,cars and characters to customize, and many other activities. You can even scuba dive to look for hidden treasure in the ocean. With the money you earn in the game you can buy stocks and real estate to increase your income.Throughout the game you will be able to set up everything you need to pull off a successful heist. You can hire people to assist you and do side missions to gain getaway vehicles. You will be able to plan out how you would like to do the robbery. "There are two ways i see of doing this.... we either go in smart, or go in loud."

Online:

Grand Theft Online is all about freedom, and fun. You can get together with a bunch of people and literally do what you want. There are mission made specifically for online that you can do to make money. There are endless amounts of activities you can do. Play sports with others, such as golf, arm wrestling, and racing. You can  rob banks and liqor stores, fight off the police, customize your character, buy and customize an apartment that friends can visit, and buy a garage that you can store your favorite vehicles to show off to the online world.You can even customize the online map for races and death matches to compete with online players

Trailers:

Reveal:

Gameplay:

Characters:

Online:

Left 4 Dead 3 Leaked

A renowned DoTA 2 player, ReaverXai, was invited to a tour of Valve's office. Throughout the tour he took pictures of the offices\ and posted them on the internet. One of these pictures were of a computer screen with a programming log showing updates of what Valve has been working on. In this log were entries about Left 4 Dead 3 and Source Engine 2. Along with this leak, a website has been created with the title Left 4 Dead 3 with a countdown timer (Link is below). This is the first we have seen of Valve working on Left 4 Dead 3, and i'm sure it won't be the last. We must keep our fingers crossed and remember Gaben knows how to give us what we want.

http://l4d3.ru/