Mom's Minute

Batman:  Arkham City, Release Date;  October 18, 2011

Source of News:  Inquisitr, Daniel McCall, October 15, 2011

Article:  Rocksteady Shows off Batman: Arkham City on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon

To start off with a footnote -- I actually saw a preview of the video game when I was TV surfing.  I had  planned to give you my thoughts on this game as an original article.  However, I have  a source I can use so I can bring you even more news about Batman:  Arkham City!

Did you know that Batman:  Arkham City is one of the most anticipated games expected out this year?  The good news is you will not have to wait much longer!  Batman:  Arkham City will be released on October 18, 2011! 

Here is cover art for Batman: Arkham City.

This game will be released on October 18, 2011 for the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3.  The PC version of the game is due out some time in November, 2011.  No specific date for the release of the PC version was given.

Ms.H's take:  I was excited that I would be able to see first-hand (via TV )  a preview of Batman: Arkham City.  I recall that Batman flew in his movies by using maybe a mountain hook, or some other device.  In the new game, it looks as if Batman will be flying on his own!  The Rocksteady developer spokesperson, Sefton Hill, co-founder of the company, stated there will be lots of characters in this game including The Penquin, Mr. Freeze, Cat Woman, and more, as well as the infamous Joker.

In fact, when Jimmy Fallon played the video game,  Batman's  victory over the Joker drew lots of applause from the audience.

I was  not particularly impressed with the dark graphics, but maybe the dark backgrounds were used as effects for the game.

I  enjoyed watching Batman fly over the city with his wide-spread black bat cape!  The view of the city was impressive as well.  In my opinion,  the graphics were used effectively  to show how high Batman was flying, especially when he flew above the city!.

To me, the fighting parts seemed to be ordinary video game fighting graphics --  nothing special.  Remember, these are my opinions of the game and I saw a small segment of the game. Your opinions may differ.  If you are  an avid video game player, you may  find other actions or scenarios of the game, including the graphics  that appeal to you!.

My minute is up!  Thank you for visiiting my website!  I appreciate  you following me on Twitter!  My Twitter name is "MsHequalswin!"

Bye now,

Ms. H

"Ms. H Equals Wini!"

Dead Island

Source of News:  CNBC, Chris Morris, October 13, 2011

Article:  Hollywood Plays Video Games for Inspiration

You may have seen video games that were converted to movies.  You may have also seen movies based on TV shows.  But did you know that Hollywood is leaning more towards using video games as inspiration for  movies?

The latest "acquisition" is the Dead Island video game.   According to the author, Hollywood was impressed with the trailer for the video game and decided Dead Island is a good candidate for a movie.

 Previously Hollywood had used television shows as a source for movie ideas.  Think Charlie's Angels, The Brady Bunch, Get Smart, and lots of others.

Could it be that  video games are going to have their spot in the limelight in the movie industry? 

Here is the cover art for Dead Island.

Dead Island

Other video game transformations planned for movies include Mortal Kombat, Mass Effect, BioShock,  World of Warcraft and Uncharted.  Also talks may be in the works for Call of Duty, even though  no deals have been annouced officially.

The advantages of turning video games into movies, is there will be a large segment of video game players already familiar with the characters and storyline.  This is also a disadvantage, because video game players pretty much know the story line, so it would not be in the interest of Hollywood to change it. 

 In fact, Hollywood had to bow to the request (demands?) of video game players  when it was initially planned for the Uncharted movie to change it's "Indiana Jones" storyline to a family of art thieves.  This change was a no go for the video gamers, so the movie's theme was changed back to the original plot!  Go video game players!

Ms. H's Take.  I am all for the continued entry of video games into the movie industry.  I've seen and enjoyed video games movies, including Mortal Kombat and others. There is some concern that some video games do not cross over well to movies; however, this can be expected.  May the collaboration between movies and video games continue!

As a footnote, I briefly looked at the trailer for Dead Island on YouTube--which has over 7 million hits.  I will admit that the trailer was imaginative, but as I've said in many of my Mom's Minute video game reviews, I was not too crazy about all the bloody scenes.

 Apparently, a lot of other people either liked it or were curious enough to look at it.  As they say.. to each his own!

My minute is up!  Thanks for visiting my website! I look forward to sharing more video game news with you.

Remember to follow me on Twitter under my Twitter name, "MsHequalswin!"

Bye now,

Ms. H

"Ms. H Equals Win"

Forza Motorsport 4:  One of the cars detailed, realistic, interior views!

Fortza Motorsport 4 was released on October 14, 2011. After playing this just released  video game on the Xbox 360, I must say that it aptly deserves its title as game of the year at E3!  When I first saw the graphics of the cars, the terrain, and all the other detailed, realistic views in this game, I could hardlly believe I was playing a video game!

Here is a picture of of one of the cars in the game  -- of which there were many to choose from! Can you believe these vivid, realistic graphics could be in a video game? I was thoroughly impressed! 

I also liked how the commentator described, in detail and gave a history of the car you chose to drive.  I found out that all the cars in this game did not have narrative,  introductory remarks about them.  But for the cars with descriptions,  the narrator did an excellent job in describing them.

Did you know you can play this game using the Xbox 360 Kinect?  Well you can! However, when I played this game using the Xbox 360 Kinect, I did not quite like the experience.  I did not feel as if I was actually controlling the car.   The car was moving down the race track, but all I was doing was using my hands for the turns.  Consequently, I did not get a feeling that I was actually driving the car.

My family member informed me that the speed is controlled automatically by the game, so all I had to do was to move my hands to steer the car. Even though I enjoyed looking at the scenery while racing the car in this video game, I will have to give my Kinect driving experience a thumbs down.

Once I switched from the Kinect to the Xbox 360 controller, it was a completely different story!  Now, at last,  I felt like I was racing!

I could control the speed of the car by pressing the lever and I controlled the turns by moving the top left lever on the controller.  I was so intent on making the car go faster, I tended to press my finger too much against the lever, which became temporarily a little painful, but subsided when I moved my finger from the lever.  My family member advised me that I did not have to push the lever with such force to make the cars go faster.  Another video game lesson learned!  

Regarding the racing numbers on the screen -- I liked the way the game compared my speed from my previous lap, and showed by minutes/seconds in green if I was going faster than before, and red, if I was driving slower.  

 My favorite part of the race track was the straight-a-way, where I could increase my speed substantially!

Here is the cover art of the Forza Motorsport 4 game. 

I also liked the engine sounds of the cars.  The exception was a Le Mans race car, which to me had a high-pitched engine sound instead of the deep sound from the other race cars I drove when played this video game. However, my family member informed me that this sound emulated  the actual sound made by race cars.  The good news is I made my best racing time using the Le Mans race car -- so far!

When my family member played (and won) the game, I found out that there is an option to drag race against other video game players online!  If you were not satisfied with the cars available, you could purchase a new car, of course at a price.  I was not crazy about this option until I was told that you could also change up  cars without having to pay for another car.

I had no trouble with the controls on this game, except for the times I drove the car into the side walls of the race track!  I was able to quickly maneuver the car and get it back on the race track. Overall, I believe I  controlled the cars a lot better than I expected.

On my Mom's Minute podcast show, I would tell you how much I would pay for this game.  So, here goes!

For this game, I would not pay the full price, even though I was totally impressed with the graphics. I did not like that all the cars were not given a description by the narrator.  Additionally, i did not like the fact that if you were racing against someone online, the other person could buy a better car than yours, and win.  So if you really wanted to win, you may be tempted to keep buying better cars, which could become expensive after a while.   

So for this game, I would knock off a few dollars from the full price and pay $52.99.  Probably not the full suggested retail  price, but I think this would be a fair price.

Other than my above few dislikes, I have nothing but good things to say about Forza Motorsport 4! 

As I mentioned in my previous news  to you about this game, I was anxious to see the graphics, for myself,  and to determine if the actual game would live up to its promise.

Take it from me, it did live up to its claims and more!

If you like racing games, you have got to get this game!  It is a must-have game that I highly recommend!

My minute is up!  Thanks for visiting my website!  Please come back soon!

Please follow me on Twitter under my Twitter name, "MsHequalswin!"

Bye now,

Ms. H

"Ms. H equals Win!"

Sony Network Hacked

Source of News:  New York Times, Hiroko Tabushi, October 12, 2011

Article:  Sony Freezes Gaming Accounts After Hacking Attacks

Sony has reported its network has been hacked, affecting approximately 93,000 users, whose accounts were locked. A previous security breach on its network happened a few months back. Continual security breaches may be beginning to affect consumers' confidence in the security of Sony's web-based services.

Sony suspects the hackers obtained users' login information from other sources, and used that information to infiltrate Sony's Network.  In my opinion, Sony seems to be downplaying the seriousness of this security breach by stating that it was not a direct hit on Sony. Sony also states that access was gained to only a few accounts and no credit card or other sensitive information were stolen.

Sony's security was previously attacked back in April, 2011, when approximately 100 million accounts were hacked.  Credit card and other information were stolen and Sony was forced to shut down the network.  It took Sony about 2 months to restore the network back to full operations.

Here is a graphic about the hacking.

Ms.H's take:  With all the money that Sony has at its disposal, security should be at its top echolon of priorities.  After being hacked a few months back, there is no excuse that Sony's network was weak enough to suffer yet another attack.  Sony should not downplay this attack.  It is apparent that its network (as I'm sure many others) is the target of hackers, so it is up to Sony to work diligently to prevent future security breaches. 

Also Sony should consider that when consumers lose confidence in the security of a company's products and services, they may opt out from using the products and services period.  If consumers take this route, Sony would suffer even more losses, than it is currently experiencing.  

Ms. H's message to Sony -- Please get your priorities straight!  Move Network security to the top of your list not only to protect consumers' credit and sensitive information --  but to protect your bottom line as well!

Two positive notes here:  Sony did not attempt to hide or cover up the security breach, and it appears they took immediate action to notify the affected account holders.  Also, this taught us a lesson to change our passwords frequently.

This article mentioned the same passwords were used by consumers/users among different accounts, which enabled the hackers to break into the system.  So another lesson is for us to not only change our passwords often, but to also refrain from using the same password across and among different systems.

My minute is up!  Thanks for visiting my website.  I appreciate that you stopped by!

Please follow me on Twitter under my Twitter name "MsHequalswin!"

Bye now,

Ms. H  

"Ms. H Equals Win!"

Madden: NFL 12:  Best sellling video game in September 2011!

 Source of News:  Los Angeles Times, Alex Pham, October 14, 2011

Article:  Sales of Video Games Rise 4%

 Video game companies may be getting ready for a big sales year, especially around Christmas, when game sales usually double. According to the author of this article, video game sales rose 4% in September after four consecutive months of decline.  The source of this data is a market  research firm, NPD Group.

The fact that there are many impressive new video games expected to be out shortly, only adds to the vide game companies' optimistic outlook for sales.  Some of the new games expected to be out soon include Battlefield 3, Uncharted 3, Drake's Deception, Star Wars, and Call of Duty:  Modern Warfare.

Pictured above is Madden NFL 12 which was the best selling video game in September, 2011.

Taken into consideration was the lower sales during the first part of the summer where lots of video game companies lowered their prices to spur consumer buying of video games.

 This 4% increase includes console games only, and excludes online, social and mobile games where sales gains are also being reported.

Want some figures? Industry is reporting sales of  $630.2 million for last month, up from $612.2 million for this same period last year!

An analyst with Wedbush Securities, Michael Pachter  states these numbers will just go up each month from here!

Due to the decrease in prices of the consoles, there was less of an increase in game hardware sales than in video games.

Here is a picture of the Nintendo 3DS which experienced a drop in sales price from a high of $250.00 to a low of $170.00. 

Ms. H's take:  This is good news for the video game industry and well as the video players!  An optimistic outlook is something to be happy for considering the current state of the economy.  It was mentioned that there may be an overall small percentage decliine at year's end due to earlier price reductions and other factors ... But let's just wait and see!

My minute is up!  Thanks for visiting my webside and please return soon!

Please follow me on Twitter under my Twitter name, "MsHequalswin!"

Bye now,

Ms. H

"Ms. H equals Win!"