The Xbox One was revealed this week to much relief in this office. I don’t think we could have taken much more rumour-mongering or false name suggestions. (It’s called One, by the way, because Continue reading >
The ‘facts’ behind forthcoming launches of new technology are so varied and contentious that they must surely be taken with a pinch of salt. And yes, I do mean the new Xbox. Depending on Continue reading >
Free to play gaming is something we talk a lot about at Bastion, but there is a reason for that. In our line of work we’ve been lucky ennough to monitor the changes within Continue reading >
The recent story of a five year old racking up a £1,700 iTunes bill on the game Zombies vs Ninja has brought the model of in-app purchases into the media spotlight. Rory Cellan-Jones’ blog Continue reading >
I’ve been lucky enough to work in the videogames industry for five years, basically the latter half of my career in PR so far. In a game of two halves, the second half has Continue reading >
Please don’t take this personally, it’s aimed at me too. Following the tragedy of the Connecticut shootings and other numerous recent violent gun-related incidents in the US, even Democrats are getting aggressive. Their California Continue reading >
I love Kickstarter. It’s a brilliant crowdfunding platform, offering entrepreneurs, creatives and established talent an added dimension with which to realise their dreams and get those projects off the ground. While they had their Continue reading >
2012 may be remembered as a wonderful year for anyone even remotely interested in sport, but for the games industry the consensus is probably that it was in awkward transition. Retail game sales fell Continue reading >
2012? Pffft. Roland Emmerich and the Mayan calendar got it wrong (the former, very, very wrong). Anyone seeking signs of armageddon might eschew John Cusack’s ludicrous antics or hippies in the Alps and consider Continue reading >
MCV’s preview of the ERA (Entertainment Retailers Association) report highlights a £1bn spend on digital content — over half of which (£552m) was spent on video games, representing a 7.7% rise on previously released figures. Continue reading >
It’s been a long year. We could dwell on the successful events and campaigns of 2012 … or we could make predictions about the developments we expect to see next year. Or we could just Continue reading >
Free-to-play or freemium games are the future of the video games industry. Certainly in the online space and I’d be prepared to put my neck on the line to cover all gaming. While it may Continue reading >
First there were 21, then a shortlist of 12, and now just four. Four teams remain in this year’s incarnation of Epic Games’ Make Something Unreal Live contest. At a presentation day slightly reminiscent Continue reading >
On Tuesday night a few of us from Bastion went along to 195, Piccadilly for Games Question Time; hosted by @BAFTAGames. It was a great night. Debate was polite but suitably robust — with no one Continue reading >
Last week I queried Time magazine’s criteria for choosing its Top 100 games, which led to several online discussions all with the same conclusion: better graphics do not equal a better game. It’s all Continue reading >
The end of this week sees the release of the Wii U and, hopefully, another disruptive arrival for Nintendo. I’m hearing a lot of negativity about the console at the moment but this isn’t Continue reading >
Time Magazine has published its list of Top 100 All-Time Videogames. Articles of this type, whether it’s music, films, books, whatever, seem to be intended mainly to generate a blizzard of comments bemoaning the Continue reading >
I own a Wii. I rarely use it. There were times when Super Mario Galaxy 2 and Wii Sports Resort were popular at home but have long-since succumbed to the double threat of Sky Continue reading >
Bastion was tasked with achieving widespread specialist and mainstream coverage by publisher NCSOFT. We had already worked on the early stages of Guild Wars 2, helping it become one of the most anticipated games Continue reading >
Following the recent appointment of Mike Hayes as Executive Chairman, Serious Games International (SGIL) is building on its strategy of harnessing heavyweight games industry experience alongside senior academics with the appointment of senior personnel Continue reading >
From an initial entry of 21 teams from educational establishments across Europe, 12 have been shortlisted to progress to the next round in this year’s Make Something Unreal Live competition, organised by Epic Games. Continue reading >
Over the last year or so we’ve been talking to more and more free to play publishers. Free to play can be hard to work out for some and it’s not yet clear how Continue reading >
In So Long and Thanks For All The Fish, the fourth part in Douglas Adams’ inaccurately-named trilogy, there exists a character named Rob McKenna – an unaware Rain God perpetually followed by clouds that Continue reading >
I love Grand Theft Auto. Since the top-down original I have been smitten with its overblown, ridiculously cool universe. Yes, it’s a bit violent. It’s crossed some ‘boundaries’. People who simply don’t get videogames, Continue reading >
The nineties classic XCOM: Enemy Unknown has recently been given a complete overhaul and released in a week that found it competing against the likes of Dishonored, Pokémon and Fable: The Journey. Yet, weeks Continue reading >
I love Zombies. Who doesn’t? They’re emotionless, hard on the eyes and lumber about in an awkward fashion. They have so few redeeming features that you really don’t mind hitting them with large blunt Continue reading >
The Guardian has asked its writers to describe an iconic item from their childhood which ‘brings it all back’. Judging by the results, The Guardian might want to start looking for some younger contributors. Continue reading >
If ever there was any doubt that free to play will be crowned king in the games industry, that doubt must surely be in pieces this week as the first free-to-play Xbox 360 game Continue reading >
The character of Kevin Butler was something of a masterstroke; expertly skewering the po-faced seriousness that can perpetuate an industry that’s meant to be all about the fun. Campaigns like “It Only Does Everything“ and “Long Continue reading >
Video games are a wonderful thing. They open a door to a different world. A world where you don’t have to be yourself; a world where you can turn imagination into reality. In FIFA Continue reading >
