Last week Activision-Blizzard shocked the entire gaming world by ending the Guitar Hero franchise. The company blamed sluggish sales and excessive music licence costs but I think there are larger issues. Activision-Blizzard is arguably the world’s biggest gaming company but they have had some products that have not lived up to the marketing hype surrounding them. Secondly with regards to the Guitar Hero franchise, the biggest problem is that the developers overdid the amount of products. There were far too many peripherals needed to enjoy the game. In the space of 6 years, Guitar Hero has gone from...

Can you remember how full of pixels PC games were in 90s? There was almost no serious graphic development done and the games had very simple graphics. My love affair with motorsport based games started with Test Drive. I remember having to take the floppy disks out and replacing it with another one in order to continue playing the game. It was hours full of fun and frustration. Old school gaming was totally different from console gaming of today. Fast forward 20 years and video games have evolved into life like reproductions of our lives. The amount of detail which are now found in video games are...

This time of the year can be a bit stressful. The stress occurs when you cannot find that killer present for a loved one and /or co-worker. Time is running out and you feel like a spy being pursued by James Bond. You are aware that you don’t want to disappoint anyone and not have any gifts. So gifts ideas for the festive season might just save the day. The Apple iPad The iPad is arguably the gadget of the year. Be able to peruse email anywhere, experience your music from iTunes and consume all kinds of media on your iPad. The most powerful characteristic of the iPad is the apps that will provide you...

Los Angeles hosted the biggest video game conference last week. E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo) is the most important week for console game players as manufacturers preview the next 12 months in terms of new products and development of new technologies. If I can summarize the event in a sentence then it would be “the dawn of 3D and motion orientated accessories”. Microsoft unveiled Project Natal which was renamed to Kinect. Kinect is Microsoft’s direct competition to the Nintendo Wii nun chuck. The player does not use a control pad but rather replicate movement with his body. The...

If you love sports then you would understand how bad some sports video games have been over the years.  There is always something missing; either the game play is too easy, the action unrealistic or a crucial element of the particular sport is missing. Blame the developers, the sports bodies that have licensed their teams’ intellectual property to an “outsider” who has little understanding of the dynamics involved or keep on hoping that it will get better. I subscribe to the second line of thought and generally try to watch game video clips before spending money to purchase the...