The dark side of the game year

Obviously 2008 didn’t just deliver gems and power plays. There is always something that has infuriated the gaming community. Like games that just weren’t worth their price. If only they had listened to the dudes and ants in the game magazines! The position 3 of the most unwanted games is occupied by: Warrior Orochi 2. Old-fashioned graphics, blue screens, and “stop’n go” performance, just to mention a few issues.

During the Xbox years, games like Kingdom under fire they were greatly appreciated and everyone was looking forward to the new Xbox 360 releases. But unfortunately, Kingdom under Fire: Circle of Doom proven unworthy of its predecessor. The lack of story, KI, unwanted features, and grueling levels helped the game reach # 2 in the “Flops of the Year” category.

But there is something worse. The number one worst games of the year position is a holdover from a game that used to have a lot of fans a few years ago: Alone in the dark. The fifth part of the series had a big problem: control. Many gamepads must have lost their lives and even the very good graphics couldn’t help it. The game was felt unfinished and frustrated to many players who had high expectations at launch. Too bad, really.

But let’s leave the software problem for now. There are a few things on the hardware front that, for example, Microsoft should try to improve. When it comes to “Tomato of the Year”, we must mention the console and the online service “Xbox Live”. The first two positions are obvious, but number three is in the hands of three issues that many players did not find funny in 2008. On the one hand, there was the Big Fall Update called Next Xbox Experience (NXE). A revamped board surface, nice little avatars, and lots of little tricks were added to the life of the game. Some loved it, others seemed to hate it. There is always a lot of controversy over the prices of so-called “Download Contents”. A lot of people don’t like the way Microsoft keeps charging for little add-ons that are paid for with Microsoft-Points. After you’ve paid full price for the game to get started, yes. Are they worth it or is money down the drain? You hardly ever know in advance, which is why a lot of people don’t like the idea, period. The warranty issue, even after three years of Xbox 360, still causes stress at times.

Speaking of Xbox 360, you automatically think of the infamous “Red Ring of Death”, which stands for End of the game and sending your console to Hardware Support to get it fixed. This is why the gaming community awarded the Xbox360 its “Silver Tamato”.

One thing hit a community called Coop-live.de Very difficult: A user, totally innocent, has been accused of Modding, the unfair manipulation of his console. For this guy in particular, his community’s multiplayer games with Xbox Live are a thing of the past right now, he’s been banned. Don’t get us wrong, this is the way to treat players guilty of “crime”, but in this case, and in some others that we learned about, it was not. This guy might even prove his innocence, but Microsoft It still did not want to investigate the problem, its system is functional and therefore wrong accusations are impossible, they said. We all hope Microsoft will take another unbiased look at the system so that cases like this will be a thing of the past very soon.