online gaming
Free Realms PS3 Release Date Announced – Free Console MMO Gaming!
March 13, 2011
It’s been almost two years since Free to Play MMO Free Realms was released on the PC, and it’s finally coming to the PS3 on the 29th March this year according to the Playstation Blog.
Free Realms is aimed more at the younger audience with visuals very similar to World of Warcraft with it’s bright, vibrant colours. Players will be able to jump right in by playing mini quests, themed events, features for social networking and the ability to upload videos to YouTube. You can get involved in combat if you want to, but that’s up to the user and you can also make your way through the many quests available in the game.
Continue reading »HTC Investing $40 Million In OnLive – Cloud-Based Gaming Platform To Go Mobile?
February 10, 2011
We have covered much of the rise of the OnLive cloud gaming platform over the last year or so, and in truth it probably hasn’t taken the world by storm as much as the people behind it would have wanted.
However, it’s hardly unsurprising, it wasn’t likely that the gaming populace of the world would ditch their high-powered consoles over night and take up the offering of an unproven competitor which relies on a high-performance internet connection for all aspects of gameplay.
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SteelSeries World of Warcraft: Cataclysm MMO Gaming Mouse – For Online Gamers Everywhere!
January 13, 2011
A full two years ago we brought you the first incarnation of the SteelSeries’ World of Warcraft Mouse which we really enjoyed here on Zath and since then the company have been taking in feedback and doing a bit of R&D to come up with the World of Warcraft: Cataclysm MMO Gaming Mouse which aims to not only match, but exceed the benchmark left by the first one.
It doesn’t really take a genius to see that they have done a pretty good job: whilst the aesthetics clearly resemble the previous mouse (especially in the amour-like top) they have been improved to offer a slightly more rounded appearance, and the gold colour certainly makes it look that bit more exciting and lively and certainly looks the part as it ties in with the recent World of Warcraft: Cataclysm expansion pack.
Continue reading »OnLive Micro-Console Goes On Sale In US For $99, The Cloud-Based Streaming Future Of Gaming Hardware?
November 18, 2010
We have covered the development of the OnLive gaming service since we first heard about the OnLive streaming gaming concept to it actually being a reality earlier this year with the OnLive release.
It’s been a long and arduous journey and even now, with the online service having been functional for a couple of months, divides opinion among gamers. The guys at OnLive claim that there have already been over 2 million sessions played on PC or Mac and the number of games has been steadily increasing having started at just 23 and boasting 40 at this point in time. Of course, that means a lot of work to be done, but now the console is shipping in the US, it may be about time more games came to the platform.
Continue reading »Jane McGonigal, Games Researcher Speaking At ‘The School Of Life’ On 24th October
October 6, 2010
The outstanding creator of Halo 2 promo game ilovebees and games researcher Jane McGonigal is coming to London in October to talk at The School of Life about productivity. Here at Zath we’re always interested in making things better so we’ll be checking it out. In the meantime, we thought we’d have a look at her TED talk from earlier this year.
McGonigal has some really interesting ideas on how to harness gameplay for the greater good. Did you know that by February 2010 the human race had spent 5.93 million years playing World of Warcraft? Or that by the age of 21 the average person growing up in a country with a strong gaming culture has amassed 10,000 hours of online gaming experience? That’s the equivalent to 8 years of formal schooling. McGonigal proposes that we use the gaming staples of positive feedback and something she calls “blissful productivity” to harness that time and put it to good use.
Continue reading »Win A World Of Warcraft Keyboard (Competition)
August 27, 2010
A few months back we ran a World Of Warcraft competition in anticipation of the latest expansion WoW: Cataclysm being released. After seeing how popular that competition was and given we’re still waiting for more new WoW content from Blizzard, we thought we’d give away another World of Warcraft related prize.
For this competition, we thought we’d give away another World of Warcraft Keyboard to further aid one lucky WoW player’s online gaming experience.
Continue reading »Google Invest $100m in Zynga – Online Social Games For Google Me?
July 13, 2010
We learned not too long ago that Google is attempting to make headway into the social networking scene again after its original effort, Google Buzz, failed pretty much completely. Now, when you look at the leading social network, Facebook, one of the key features, which aids in drawing in millions of users is the integration of online games, most of which are free.
So nobody can blame Google for their latest foray into dominating the web as they have invested over $100m in Zynga, one of the biggest independent social gaming companies in the world.
“Google Games” will launch later this year, according to fairly reliable sources, so the incorporation of Zynga into that will give Google a great foundation of web-based games for them to build upon and perhaps integrate into teh rumoured Google Me, their future social network.
Continue reading »OnLive Cloud Gaming Service Works On Apple iPad (Tech Demo)
June 28, 2010
News has been coming out of the OnLive cloud-based streaming games service thick and fast of late, and if you have been following the services progress then you will know of course that I refer to the announcements regarding the release schedule of the dedicated OnLive micro-console hardware.
But upon the company’s initial unveiling of its plans they discussed the possibility of other, mobile platforms for OnLive gaming, such as the iPhone. However, a new player has stepped into the mix since then; a player much more capable of handling the demands of on-the-go gamers. The Apple iPad.
So it begs the question, how exactly do you go about serious gaming on the iPad? Well, the Onlive fansite, aptly named OnliveFans.com, have featured a video showing a tech demo of the service on the iPad that was recently shown at E3 2010. Of course, as you would expect due to the nature of OnLive, the graphics perform admirably as they would on the most powerful of gaming rigs, as long as you have the necessary network connections.
Continue reading »OnLive Micro-Console Hardware Release Date By End Of 2010
June 19, 2010
There was at least some interesting hardware news (other than motion controllers and 3D gaming gimmicks?) coming out of E3 2010 last week. I am talking of course, about the much-publicised alternative online streaming game service from OnLive. The Beta testing for the on-demand gaming service is now very much underway, and founder Steve Perlman is estimating that the first OnLive micro-console units will be arriving before the end of 2010. Though, probably only arriving in the States for now, we can still monitor its progress and eagerly await its crossing of the Atlantic.
So what is the micro-console? Well, as you may have guessed it is OnLive’s own version of the games console. Though inside you won’t find half of the components found in the likes of the Xbox 360 Slim or PS3 Slim console, mainly because it simply doesn’t need them. And for that reason, the box is actually smaller than the controller itself, which whilst we’re on the topic, looks remarkably similar to a wireless Xbox 360 controller in terms of layout.
Continue reading »Virgin Gaming For Cash Prizes Announced By Sir Richard Branson (E3 2010)
June 18, 2010
Social networking and gaming are two of the most popular modern pastimes undertaken by people of all ages it would seem. Many a company, many a developer have attempted to interlink the two concepts with all sorts of massively multiplayer online (MMO) experiences as well as more popular services built into consoles such as PlayStation Network and Xbox Live. But as ever, Sir Richard Branson felt it necessary to dip his toes into the gaming arena with the announcement of… wait for it… Virgin Gaming!
Branson turned up in a traditionally exuberant manner at this E3 2010, rolling into the event in an armoured truck, $1million in hand. He had this to say upon the actual announcement. “Gamers want something new, something interactive and something fun. Virgin Gaming is just that – access to play the best games in super competitive tournaments with anyone in the world and win the biggest prizes and the most rewards,” said Branson, promising a $1-million prize fund for gamers in the first year of the service.
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Monster Hunter Tri Review (Wii)
June 1, 2010
Monster Hunter Tri is the third instalment to the Monster Hunter series after last year’s Monster Hunter Freedom Unite PSP game. The game was developed by Capcom and it seems as though they are keeping the trend going that 2010 is the Wii ‘Hardcore Gaming’ year. This game, Monster Hunter 3 was released in Japan back in August 2009 and was later released in America and Europe without an online subscription fee.
Capcom originally planned Monster Hunter Tri to be a Playstation 3 title, but unfortunately like many PS3 titles, lost its exclusivity to another console, and of all of them, to the Nintendo Wii. Capcom have added Wii Speak to the European and American Version and have completely got rid of the Wii friend code system, making this one of the most accessible online games for the Wii.
Continue reading »Fantasy University Preview (Facebook Game)
May 20, 2010
Facebook is fast becoming another place for people to play new games online for free…for the most part. So when I read about Fantasy University, I thought I’d take a look and see what it was all about.
Fantasy University, created by Simutronics, is classed as a social adventure game that adds its own twist on the old skool MMOG genre, with plenty of humour and some great pop culture references that people who grew up through the 80′s will find a nice touch.
Continue reading »Steam For Mac Released – Download Portal Game For Free!
May 15, 2010
One of the biggest advantages of owning a PC over a Mac is the vast array of games available for Windows. There are different ways of distribution of such games, and one that is becoming increasingly popular is the digital download. Valve are one of the companies which really lead the way in the digital distribution of games with Steam, their online game platform. In the past it’s only been available on Windows but now, much to the delight of Apple fans, Steam is now available on Mac too.
To mark the release of the new OS X release, Valve is offering Steam users a free copy of Portal, a single-player first person action game with a twist. The game consists primarily of a series of puzzles in which the user is required to teleport themselves in addition to a variety of objects in an almost entirely active environment. OK, Portal may not have topped any charts, but it’s hardly a likely freebie. It’s widely acclaimed as one of the most original games ever released and is held in high regard by gamers and critics alike for it’s gameplay and unique storyline.
Continue reading »OnLive Cloud-Based Gaming Gets Partnership & Investment Deal From BT
May 13, 2010
We’ve covered the development and general progression of the OnLive cloud gaming system with a fair amount of interest and curiosity in the past here on Zath; and it seems now that it’s finally made its big break. BT has announced a deal with the Silicon Valley based company allowing them to bundle the gaming service with their Broadband. With BT already attracting in excess of 10 million broadband customers in the UK, we could soon be seeing a lot more of OnLive over here.
If you have read any of my articles regarding OnLive in the past, then you will be aware of my scepticism of the service and whether it really will be adopted as a mainstream gaming service. Clearly, BT are out to prove me wrong on this one, but perhaps the biggest barrier they will have to break is the awareness the general public has of the service. Personally, it will take a phenomenal amount of marketing to sell the service, particularly considering the massive leaps being made in the tradition video gaming market these days with PlayStation Move and Project Natal on the horizon.
Continue reading »Tweet Trumps – Twitter Top Trumps Card Game With Your Friends
May 11, 2010
Do you remember playing the Top Trumps card games back when you were a kid? Where you would compare the statistics of various cars, trucks, comic book characters, star wars vehicles….and so many, many other things have been made into a set of Top Trumps – well now you can add your Twitter friends to that list too!
Tweet Trumps is a cool little web game app that has been created by Dom Hodgson and Tom Scott in the space of 24hrs at the recent WarbleCamp; an event that brings the Twitter developer community together and this just shows the kinds of thing that can come out of it.
Continue reading »Deals4Downloads Weekend Deal Mega Roundup
May 7, 2010
A couple of weeks ago, we mentioned a brand new games price comparison website in the form of Deals4Downloads.com that found the best digitally distributed games on the net, so you don’t have to. Well from now on, every Friday there will be a roundup of all the best deals from the week laid out for you to peruse and perhaps pick up a gaming bargain.
From looking at what’s available on the first roundup, there are some absolute friggin steals available. Games like Mirror’s Edge for only £3.95 over on Direct2Drive is a bargain and definitely worth playing, not to mention both Mass Effect titles available for $34.95 (which is about £24).
Continue reading »Deals 4 Downloads – Digital Game Distribution Price Comparison Site
April 28, 2010
A new site has just been launched that will tell you where you can find the best offers for digitally distributed games.
Deals4Downloads.com is a German based company running out of Munich, and they’ve been kind enough to do all the searching for us and give the best price available for our gaming needs. The website is completely free and is only in its BETA stage, but already has over 300 titles for you to look over and will compare the prices from all the major places including Steam, Direct2Drive, GamersGate, Amazon and will rank them according to their popularity.
Continue reading »OnLive Release Date & Price Announced
March 11, 2010
Remember the online gaming service we covered a few months ago called OnLive that moves your gaming to the cloud? Well it just got real. In case you missed it, OnLive aims to deliver over the air gaming to users in a similar way to general cloud computing.
Data and games are stored on OnLive servers and the images are beamed to gamers around the world who compete in an online environment. The Beta went up quite a while ago and it seems the waiting is almost at an end for US gamers, as the official OnLive launch date has been announced as 17th June 2010.
For $15 a month users will be able to access the OnLive community, however games themselves will cost that little bit extra which is a given considering developers are still going to want their money’s worth out of their games. However this does raise some concerns with potential gamers.
Continue reading »Steam Coming To Mac OS X (Digital Games Distribution)
March 9, 2010
I know, I know, Christmas happened way back in December, but presents are better late than never! In case any of you Apple fanboys out there missed the news, Steam announced yesterday morning that they’re bringing their service to the Mac along with a great library of games which will be available to purchase like PC users running Steam.
In case you’ve not used used it before, Steam is probably the best digital games distribution platform out there, which most of the big and small games publishers are now using to cut out the need for physical media distribution for games. Not only are publishers using it to release new games, but also to find a market for their older games, for example Lucasarts re-released some of their older classic titles. It’s fair to say that we’re big fans of it here at Zath.
Continue reading »Playstation Network (PSN) Log-In Error Fixed (PS3)
March 2, 2010
IT’S ALIVE!!
Sony have managed to fix the problem that had plagued so many of the older style “fat” PS3s and stopped them from logging into Playstation Network. In the end it doesn’t seem like it was a massive problem, just inconvenient as some PS3 users were only offline for around 24 hours.
Apparently what had happened is the internal clock was recognised 2010 as a leap year which is why is what resetting the date to 31/12/1999.
After finding out it had been fixed I was eager to find out if everything would come back such as my trophies and the like. So this morning I powered up my PS3 and reset my time and date via the internet in the Date and Time Settings, which it obviously wouldn’t do yesterday, and then checked to see if my Ratchet and Clank trophies were there…………..they weren’t!!!
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