Game:

Just Cause 3 (2015)

Duration: 3:41

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After various limited-edition, 20th Anniversary PS4 consoles were sold on eBay for ridiculous prices, Sony finally commented, by saying:

“That’s not what we want to see happen.”

Fergal Gara, Sony’s UK executive, said that they did intentionally, solely announce where consoles could be bought in places that they thought would require ‘fan knowledge’, presumably to prevent this kind of thing from happening. Gara said:

“It's inevitable some proportion of that will happen, and very hard to prevent it completely. We did think things through. But in each and every case, the way you get hold of one of these consoles requires some fan knowledge, so we're trying to tap into the people who love the brand the most, and put them at an advantage, because they're the people who keep us in business, who inspire this whole 20 year legacy.”

The console, which was designed as homage to the PSOne, has sold on eBay for as much as $20,000, despite originally selling for $500. It really does suck that people have taken advantage of this, but, as Gara said, it was kind of to be expected. Because, as years of scientific research has taught us, people are jerks.

A whole bunch of sexy, sexy Just Cause 3 screenshots have been published online, mostly showing off some of the exciting traversal options that the series is known for. The game was only officially announced recently via a Game Informer cover and is set to release some time next year on the Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC, which is a solid 5 years after Just Cause 2 came out.

It’s open-world action-adventure series, with 3 set on a fictional Mediterranean island called Medici that’s supposed to be even bigger than Just Cause 2. That’s pretty much all we know so far, but these screenshots do encourage some exciting speculation. Slideshow time? Slideshow time!
Bungie are banning players that use or have previously used modded consoles to play Destiny, presumably in attempt to prevent cheating, though they never explicitly said this. They did say:

“We routinely review Banhammer actions to ensure that they are applied accurately and fairly," Bungie said. "A review of the bans applied over the last week shows that all of the affected accounts had logged into Destiny on a modified console at some point.”

There are plenty of YouTube videos of what I would consider ban-worthy offenses in Destiny, including people somehow getting rid of cooldown times, getting infinite ammo and increasing movement speeds in the game, which is either some kind of well-kept secret glitch exploitation, or a result of modded consoles.

I’ve never really understood the appeal of cheating, especially not in a capacity that actually requires modified hardware. Why? Isn’t it way more rewarding to just be good at a game, or succeed genuinely? It just seems pointless.

Recent stats show that the Call of Duty franchise is progressively declining in sales. Advanced Warfare was the best-selling game in November this year, but it still sold 27 percent less than the previous year. Analyst Michael Olson said:

“NPD data does not include digital copies or international sales, which, if included, would lessen the decline, but we believe this data suggests potential for Q4 revenue upside is now very low.”

So, on that note, it would be really nice to see how much digital sales are – I assume – increasing, and if this perhaps aligns with the overall decline of Call of Duty. I’m sure it’d make a difference, but 27 percent is still a lot. On the contrary, Activision said that initial UK sales figures for the game indicated there was growth for the franchise, but pre-order sales had declined. It’s all very conflicting.

In the past few years, analysts from Cowen & Company and The NPD Group have suggested that Call of Duty: Ghosts didn’t sell as well as Call of Duty: Black Ops, and Call of Duty: Black Ops didn’t sell as well as Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. I wonder, at what point, do you decide to stop releasing games in previously annual franchises? A part of me does feel like the world would be a better place of Call of Duty and Assassin’s Creed even maybe just released every second year, not every single year.
- Alanah

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