Matt Ryan agrees to $103.75M extension with Falcons

Matt Ryan and the Falcons have agreed to a 5 year $103.75M. $59M is guaranteed and Ryan will get $63M in the first 3 years.

Drafted in 2008 Ryan has 18,957 passing yards, 127 TDs and a playoff win. Last year he had a career best 4,700+ yards and 32 TDs. Ryan also led the Falcons to a playoff victory over the Seahawks.

Some were suspecting the Falcons may wait until the end of the next season the resign Ryan but this was a good move and probably saved them millions. 

ATLUS Could be Sold as Part of Bankruptcy Auction

      Index Cooperation has gone bankrupt and is selling off it's subsidiaries in an upcoming auction. Its possible ATLUS will be auctioned. ATLUS is a fairly well known Japanese developer that mainly makes JRPGS such as the Souls games, the Shin Megami Tensei series and the popular Persona series.

Companies that could realistically be interested in buying ATLUS:

1. Nintendo- Lately ATLUS has been releasing a lot of games on Nintendo platforms. ATLUS has released three games on the 3DS this year alone and with one more coming in October. They are also working on a Shin Megami Tensei cross Fire Emblem game with Nintendo for the Wii U. Nintendo would be a good fit but there are other companies that could buy them as well. I think Nintendo will buy ATLUS but we will see.

2. Sony- Sony would also be a great fit for ATLUS. Last year ATLUS released Vita title Persona 4 Golden and Persona 4 Arena for PS3 (although it was also on xbox 360). In the past ATLUS has had many games exclusively on Sony consoles and handhelds.

3. Square Enix- Its possible Square Enix could buy ATLUS but I don't think it would be a good fit. It might seem like a good idea but I don't think they would use them right. They would probably make a bunch of mobile games ( I could see them doing something stupid like Persona Mobile edition or something) or something else stupid. I don't think they would know what to do with ATLUS.

Chances are Nintendo or Sony will probably get ATLUS (assuming its auctioned) but Square Enix could sneak up on everyone. Its extremely unlikely western developers like Microsoft or Activation will buy them.

sources:http://mynintendonews.com/2013/07/22/nintendo-to-acquire-atlus-in-parent-company-bankruptcy-auction/  http://wiiudaily.com/2013/07/atlus-for-sale-rumor/

Who won at E3 this year?

This year Sony and Microsoft focused on their new consoles and games (duh) with their press conferences. Nintendo did not have a big press conference but they were at E3. Who won at E3?

Last place, Microsoft: Microsoft pretty much committed suicide with Xbox one. The exclusives look OK at best but most of them were unoriginal big blockbuster type games and FPS with tons of cutscenes and little gameplay. One of the games: Quantum Break has is pretty much an interactive movie with no gameplay. It is getting some good third party games like Metal Gear Solid 5, Need For Speed Rivals and Star Wars Battlefront. But so is the PS4. The biggest problem is that it isn't consumer friendly AT ALL. Why? Well they decided to block used games which was a big mistake. To make things even worse it requires a connection to the new kinect and requires an internet check every 24 hours. It isn't backwards compatible. You still have to pay to play online. Its $100 more than the PS4 at $500. What were they thinking?! Unoriginal games and terrible policies make this a console to avoid.

Second place, Nintendo: Thanks to Microsoft the Wii U now has a chance. Nintendo announced more exclusives than both Sony and Microsoft this year. Nintendo mostly showed Wii U games. With Super Smash Bros Wii U, Mariokart 8, Super Mario 3D World, Pikmin 3 and other big titles the Wii U might have a chance. Although the Wii U has a ton of indie games it needs more third party retail games. The 3DS is getting some big games too like Super Smash Bros 3DS, Shin Megami Tensei 4 and Pokemon X and Y versions. The 3DS still looks strong.

First place, Sony: Sony's new console, the PS4, is equal in power to the Xbox one but has exclusives that actually have gameplay! Its also very consumer friendly. It's at a good price at $400 and their are a bunch of bundles for it. It can play used games! It doesn't require an internet connection! It isn't backward compatible but Sony is going to offer a service that allows gamers to play ALL PS1, PS2 and PS3 games via cloud gaming. That may be even better than backwards compatibility. It is unkown how much this will cost. Most gamers agree that the PS4 is the go to console this time. Some of the best titles shown were: Infamous Second Son, Knack and DriveClub.

Sony easily won at E3 and will have no problem wining the next generation.


UPDATE: It turns out Microsoft will be dropping many of those annoying policies: http://www.cnn.com/2013/06/19/tech/gaming-gadgets/xbox-drm/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

Grid 2: Mono Edition is the Most Expensive Game Ever

Grid 2: Mono Edition is no ordinary limited edition version of a game. It's the most expensive game ever at about £125,000. There is only one and it comes with a supercar! Which supercar? The 170 MPH street legal BAC Mono. Yes it is street legal. It also includes a racing helmet and suit. Check back soon for my Grid 2 reveiw.  sources:http://www.trustedreviews.com/news/grid-2-mono-edition-pre-order-costs-125-000-comes-with-own-170mph-sportscar, http://us.bac-mono.com/grid2.php

Xbox One Announced

Microsoft has unveiled their new console, the Xbox One. The Xbox One's power is pretty much identical to that of the PS4. It has a 8 core CPU, 8 GB RAM, 500 GB hard drive, Blu-ray drive, 802.11 wireless with Wi-Fi direct and HDMI in/out. It may or may not play used games. It is not backwards compatible. It hasn't been decided weather it will require an online connection or not but it sounds like it will. It will require a connection to the new kinect 2.0. The Xbox One will connect with your cable box so watch T.V strait through the console. It has a feature called Snap that is part of Skype. It lets you watch stuff while talking to your friends. Here is what the new console, kinect 2.0 and the new controller look like:
sources: http://kotaku.com/xbox-one-everything-we-know-509069410
http://www.xbox.com/en-US/xboxone/meet-xbox-one

Dust 514 review

Dust 514 is a free online MMO FPS connected with EVE Online for the PS3 developed by CCPGAMES.

I played the beta several months ago and thought Dust 514 was overly complex and kind of boring. How much has it improved since the beta.?

The graphics are noticeably better than the beta but the frame rate isn't good. I think it's under 30 frames per second. At least that's what is seems like. The maps aren't that detailed and are kind of generic looking. There is a lot of long range shooting in this game and the poor frame rate makes it hard to see long distances. Overall the graphics are alright but generic.

Now for the MMO part of the game. You start off the game by making a character and are sent to your merc quarters. Here you can customize your character and join battles. You will need to make a dropsuit. You can add all kinds of weapons and accessories to dropsuits. Everything in the game is consumable. So after you use something you will have to replace it. You buy stuff from the marketplace. It's much easier to find stuff than in the beta! There two kinds of currency used in the game. Arum [real money] and ISK [not real money]. If you want the best stuff fast your going to have to pay some real cash or you will have to grind for hours. There are somethings that aren't consumable called Blueprints. If you get a dropsiut or weapon that is a Blueprint version than you can use it as long as you want. You will either have to grind a lot of pay real money for these. You also get skill points after each battle. You use skill points to improve stuff like use of drposuits and weapons etc. To get the skills you actually want you have to first get skills that aren't any good.

You can join or make Corporations. These are large groups of players that fight together. You have to invite people or get invited to be in one. If you get a good group of people you will have more fun than just playing random people. 

There are two game modes, Ambush and Skirmish. There are also several variations of the two. Ambush is pretty much just a team deathmatch mode and Skirmish is like a capture the flag mode. They aren't that original and their just plain boring. Aiming is a bit sluggish but you can turn up the sensitivity. The maps are huge but very dull. At times combat can be fun especially when your on a good team. Sometimes your with a bunch of people that have no idea what their doing. Most of the time actually. Its best to be in a Corporation. 

Overall Dust 514 is a dull FPS with OK MMO elements but the actual game part isn't anything you haven't seen before. It's got some good community features, deep customization but when you actually start playing a match, it will bore you to tears.    

3.8/10 

Gran Turismo 6 announced for PS3 this holiday season

Gran Turismo 6 has been announced today for the PS3 and will come out this holiday season. All the cars and tracks from GT5 will carry over to GT6. There will be over 1,200 cars and 30 tracks. There are many new cars and tracks too. It will run on a brand new engine and will have improved social futures. The course maker has been improved. There are also a lot more car customizing features. Sounds good to me. Here is the trailer :http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=7naFe7RWARg

Sources: http://blog.us.playstation.com/2013/05/15/gran-turismo-6-unveiled-out-this-holiday-on-ps3/