It’s just not in my heart to forgive them for what they did to one of my most beloved franchises SimCity. When SimCity 2013 came out and destroyed everything that was the SimCity franchise, that was bad enough. But Maxis didn’t stop at just ruining SimCity by dumbing everything down, removing features left and right and reducing the city size to that of a hamlet in the woods. They were actually telling the core gamers of SimCity that they didn’t know what it was that they were enjoying. They had the audacity to tell us that it was multiplayer that we WANTED, that we didn’t want more transportation options or larger city sizes. Their arrogance and inability to understand what sim gamers wanted to play led me to proclaim that I’d never buy a game from them again. And guess what? Now I don’t have to anymore!

Woohoo! Cities Skylines is around the corner, and is looking exactly like the game that we have been waiting for so long. It is almost poetic justice that a week before the launch of that game, EA decides to pull a coup de grace on Maxis. Let me read to you the official statement from EA, that is of course full of idiotic PR lingo:

Today we are consolidating Maxis IP development to our studios in Redwood Shores, Salt Lake City, Helsinki and Melbourne locations as we close our Emeryville location.Maxis continues to support and develop new experiences for current Sims and SimCity players, while expanding our franchises to new platforms and developing new cross-platform IP. These changes do not impact our plans for The Sims. Players will continue to see rich new experiences in The Sims 4,with our first expansion pack coming soon along with a full slate of additional updates and content in the pipeline. All employees impacted by the changes today will be given opportunities to explore other positions within the Maxis studios and throughout EA. For those that are leaving the company, we are working to ensure the best possible transition with separation packages and career assistance. – EA Press Release

In other words, many will get fired, some will be allowed to integrate into other EA teams, but Maxis Emeryville as the maker of the SimCity franchise will cease to exist. I think it is safe to say that therefore, the SimCity franchise is dead as a fish. I’m very sorry that this happened so what Will Wright created, but this wasn’t Will’s baby anymore anyway. Even though he voiced his support for SimCity 2013 in the past, I refuse to believe that that was more than 99 money talking out of his mouth.Rest in peace, SimCity. I thank you for the hundreds of hours of entertainment you provided. But to the designers at Maxis who are now out of a job: please consider a career at Starbucks. Your talents in dumbing down long-running series is no longer required with a malicious grin on my face I thank you very much for watching, adieu messieurdames, and see you soon!

“We are so grateful for the enormous support from PlayStation fans worldwide, and we are truly humbled that gamers around the globe have continued to select PS4 as the best place to play,” – SCE CEO Andrew House

Sony better get it’s defense up because big boys like Valve and Nvidia are extending into the console space and will surely give them a run for their money. I’m glad Sony sold a lot of units and they do deserve it given they are the best in the console business. But like I said it’s a time glass running out of sand due to bigger business coming in on all fronts that do it better than Sony could hope to accomplish. 

Valve has released a fifty dollar box that you can hook up to any television in your house! The Steam Link box will access your steam library and allow you to play these games without using your PC and allows you to stream at 1080p and 60hz. The setup is easy all you have to do is link it to your TV and your wireless or wired router sign in and game! Now for those of us who already have gaming rigs hooked up right into the TV via HDMI (Which is super easy by the way) this really isn’t our thing. However if it’s a console peasant this might be a great gift for them. Strangely I think this goes against their Steam Machines or Boxes marketing but maybe that’s just me. You do have to use Steam’s Official controller because it uses the controller to communicate with the servers to stop input lag. I’ve yet to use the Steam controller but I doubt that it can run games where it requires a mouse and keyboard for a comfortable gaming experience much like RTS games. Valve specifically says

There are no restrictions or limitations: every game that your PC runs can be played over Steam Link. – Official Steam Page

I am curious if there is going to be a subscription fee but to be honest that’s not Steam’s style. Steam Link is said to release late November this year for Christmas Shopping monies I’m sure. What do you think about the new Steam Link? Will you be buying this for yourself or anyone else? Leave your thoughts in the Google+ comment section below. – Craig Of GTN

When Steve Gayner of Fullbright studios was interview at GDC (Game Developers Conference) he spoke on how Gone Home is no longer being developed for PlayStation 4 or Xbox One. Steve didn’t say much beyond that there’s financial issues over a Majeco Studios and Midnight City who is publishing the title. However what Steve Gayner did give us was this tad bit of general information.

“Gone Home for consoles is not actively in development any longer and the deal with Majesco has sadly come to an end,” – Steve Gayner

Right now Steve Gayner is working on Tacoma to Steve that is the main focus at this point. There’s no word that the development of Gone Home will continue for the consoles. At this point I’d say it’s not even worth the money you’d have to put into it. You can get Gone Home here on PC right now and at a cheaper price and a superior version of the game as well. – Craig Of GTN