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The Think Tank: Should the government regulate video game content?
While government regulation is welcomed in some corners of our lives, it's not always welcomed everywhere. After recent gun violence has been making headlines more than ever, U.S. President Barack Obama set out to "find the cause" through new funding for 23 executive orders that pertain to the origins of gun violence. Vice President Joe Biden then met with experts in the video game industry to discuss the possibility that video games themselves are the cause. And probably that rock 'n' roll music, too. Darn kids! Certainly we here at Massively have our own opinion on this matter, as video game violence legislation would affect us all. Read on past the cut to see what we have to say about government regulation for our favorite hobby.
The Think Tank: What elements make up your perfect business model?
The topic of the MMO business model is a hot one lately as studios are in the Wild West of experimentation, discovery, and limit-testing. New games are going free-to-play every week it seems, and we, as consumers, are accepting more and more as these business models become standard. But that's certainly not always the case. Among the Massively staff, pricing opinions run the gamut, and we're not afraid to tell you what we think. That's why this week's Think Tank column is all about how we would assemble our own perfect business models from the pieces of others. Who does it right? Who does it wrong? Read along for more on our thoughts for the perfect business model.
The Think Tank: Massively's 2013 MMO predictions
We're spending this edition of The Think Tank to explore our predictions for next year's MMO-scape. Which games will launch? Which games will be postponed or cancelled? Will we see any innovations in the MMO space? Remember, these are our own individual opinions and may not align with yours, so be ready for that. Also be sure to take a look back at the previous year's predictions and see how close or far from reality we were!
The Think Tank: What's your solution to save closing MMOs?
In the spectrum of entertainment, MMOs are still relatively young. When the original MMOs were created in the late '90s, I don't imagine the innovators thought much about what would happen if millions of people got hooked on these games, built solid relationships, put thousands of hours into their characters... and then it all went away. The consequence of that unique situation is a lot more painful than most early developers could have imagined, yet it's happening more frequently. With the closure of popular MMOs like Star Wars Galaxies, City of Heroes and more, some players are a bit irritated at the genre as a whole. Not too many other time-investment hobbies can completely go away as quickly as an MMO. So what does the Massively staff think is the solution? Do we turn to F2P publishers to throw some cash shop Band-Aids on the game and nudge it back into the wild? Do we bypass legal avenues and look at emulators? Is there even such thing as a solution?
The Think Tank: Is Kickstarter a fad or the new standard?
The funny thing about opinions is that everyone has one. While we celebrate that fact on an individual basis with our wildly popular column The Soapbox, often times the rest of the Massively team wants to weigh in on a particularly hot topic as well. Think Tank is a new column that will act as a roundtable of opinions from the Massively staff on today's hottest MMO topics. We're all MMO gamers, and we all love to talk about the genre, so this is our place to do it. And as always, you're welcome to share your own opinion and let us know what you think about the topic each week in the comments. For this inaugural installment, we're going to tackle the question of crowdfunding. Is Kickstarter just a fad, or will it redefine game publishing as we've known it?
Editorial: Engadget on Apple's iPhone 5 event
For all of Apple's infamous secrecy, the company couldn't mask the arrival of the next iPhone. As expected, the big number five was the centerpiece of today's festivities in San Francisco, and Tim Cook and gang certainly had plenty of nice things to say about the latest harbinger of iOS. The question, of course, is whether the souped-up handset is enough to maintain Cupertino's position in the seemingly ever more cutthroat smartphone wars. Check out some of our editorial impressions of the announcement after the break.
Editorial: Engadget on the Apple vs. Samsung ruling
It's done. It's all over. There's nothing left now but the tears, the big checks -- and the appeals. After weeks of laborious deliberations and no shortage of courtroom antics the jury has issued its verdict and, while it isn't a complete victory for Apple, it's most certainly a loss for Samsung. Naturally, we have some thoughts on the subject. Join us after the break as we express our feelings.
Editorial: Engadget on Jelly Bean, Nexus Q, Nexus 7 and Project Glass
Phew! On the heels of big events from Apple and Microsoft, Sergey and co. got their time to shine at the Google I/O event this week in San Francisco. The show kicked off with a a keynote that featured insight into Android Jelly Bean, the unveiling of the Nexus 7 tablet and Nexus Q media streaming device, plus some seriously amazing demos of Project Glass, among others. Was the two-hour-and-change press conference enough to push Google out in front of the competition? Check out our thoughts after the break.
Editorial: Engadget on Windows Phone 8
Another day, another major announcement from Microsoft -- and yes, another round of opinions from your humble team at Engadget. Today it's Windows Phone 8, the (finally) formally announced successor to the company's mobile platform. Rather tragically, there's no upgrade path from any current Windows Phone device (the 7.8 stopgap notwithstanding). Your hot new cerulean blue Lumia 900? It'll be obsolete this fall. Join us after the break to get our thoughts on that and all the other bits of information gleaned today -- right after you read our initial thoughts from the original Windows Phone 7 Series, to see just how far we've come.
Editorial: Engadget on Microsoft's new Surface tablet line
Microsoft has unveiled its new Surface, a reborn brand that now lives as two products. It was a showy event with a strong conclusion: at the unification of software and hardware lies great things. Microsoft has found that greatness with the Xbox 360. Can it do so again with a new series of tablets? Here's what we think.
