Zygos Games

News - Steam Sale 10-75% off!

Of every kind of gaming: console, handheld, arcade and PC, PC gaming is by far the most damn complicated.  All of that installing and updating of drivers and buying new parts blah blah blah….I just want to have fun, just like you.  

That’s why Steam is such a great service.  It cuts out some of the hassle that you get with PC gaming, allowing you to download brand new and old games alike to your HDD with minimal fuss.  So, when I casually opened up the application this morning to have a look around and correct a few of my personal details on there, I was amazed to see that there was  a winter sale with games at crazy ridiculous prices.  I mean, Jones’ big ass truck and rental facilities will have a hard time matching these prices for value.  That’s how good they are!  No joke.  Hurry up buying though, everything ends on the 2nd of January.

I myself  picked up copies of STALKER: Clear Sky and Left 4 Dead.  So far I’ve played way more of L4D than I have STALKER, (Oh, did I mention that I got both games for under £30.00!) probably because It’s a fucking awesome title. It’s a shame neither Sean or me couldn’t get round to it earlier, it would have been great fun to review.  OK, that’s me done for today, I’m going to play a couple of hours of Left 4 Dead, if you’ve not already, get on Steam and pick it up, it’s great (and only £20.00).  If you want it in the sale, remember it ends on the 2nd of January.  Better be quick.

-Tom Rhodes-

News - Welcome back to our upgraded/ broken site! Oh, we have surprises to come…

Hi there, we’ve had a nice long extended Christmas here at Zygos Games but we’ve kept busy.  As you can see we’ve actually changed the layout of the site and once we’ve fixed all of the problems it’s going to be soooo much better than our old blog.  We hope you’ll be able to get access to the information you want to read quickly.  So, if you want to see our last review, you don’t have to scroll down a frickin list of unrelated stuff to find it; you’ll just click the’Reviews’ tab at the top of the page and you can see it straight away.

You’ll also be aware that we’ve now got a fader, which is the box in the top left which displays four or five of our most recent posts one after the other, which is neat.  That’s also the thing that we’re having the most technical problem with, but, as I say, once it’s sorted it’s going to look smashing.

However, this is all by-the-by.  I didn’t want to just point out what we’ve got on the site now in this little post, I want to tell you about what we’re going to start doing soon.  First of all, we stopped doing podcasts over the Christmas period, so they’ll start up again every Monday afternoon.  They were something our regulars enjoy, I think…well, I hope so, and therefore we’re going to do our best to keep them regular.  I think Sean and me have really improved on that front, it’s quite hard to get the balance of who speaks when right, especially in audio.  

Alongside that, I think I’m going to bring back my Video Blogs which i used to do on Youtube.  Of course, I’ll post them on Youtube as well, but they’ll go up on here first, you’re more important.  Along those lines, It would be good to start doing more with video.  We’ll probably mess around with analyzing trailers and stuff that doesn’t require us to buy expensive HD cameras (we’ll be getting those in about 6 months…), so most of the stuff we do won’t have us in them.  Oh, except for the video blogs, but I’ll be using a trusty web cam for those!

So there you have our plan for the next month or so.  Oh, if you have Steam, add me: ‘Tom R 711′ and we can play some Left 4 Dead.   Mmmm, that game’s fun.  Right, going to try to see what I can do about this website of ours…

-Tom Rhodes-

P.S.  If you want us to do anything, or if you have any suggestions as to features we could do or whatever, leave a comment and we’ll get right on it.

Feature - Are timed exclusives killing video games?

It hasn’t really been up until this third generation that timed exclusives have took hold. This began with small DLC and has now developed into major DLC such as GTA and it has even slipped into software (think Bioshock, Destroy All Humans, Rock Band etc). I won’t shy away I think exclusives are great it’s what sets apart the consoles and it will identify what kind of game you are but when it comes to timed exclusives I’m not so sure and this is partly the reason I decided to discuss the issue.

Now with timed exclusives they have there good and there bad and it all depends on the console you own. At the moment it seems to be PS3 owners who are loosing out but with all companies in it to make money timed exclusives are worth it for publishers and developers. Essentially there getting a bonus and don’t care about the owners of the console which looses out. At the moment this isn’t such a big deal but in the coming months it is almost certain that timed exclusives will be big. With the recession kicking in the timed exclusives market gives developers a guarnteed sum of money which may be profit and just a cost cover but nether the less with sales falling it’s a way to claw the loss back at the cost of the consumer. Don’t get me wrong if say the next Call Of Duty was going to be a timed exclusive on PS3 I would be very happy but if this was to happen and the 360 got it first I’d be an unhappy man.

Patience is a virtue.

Everyone wants something first, why would I want to wait 2, 3, 4 months? Pirated movies are a great example of this and thats another reason films should be released to DVD much faster. Anyway back to the point there is always a loser with timed exclusives and this is one of the reasons I detest them, everyone should be able to enjoy the game, in particular if the game in question is a big release. I would never have missed ‘Alone In The Dark’ for example. Furthermore you would given a year extra to port a game (ala Bioshock) that the developer would at the very least improve the game or add some new features but not even this happens. So why would someone pay $60/£40 for a game they’ve already play months after the hype has gone and months after anyone plays it. As exclusives seem to be dying they are been replaced by this hybrid. Exclusives are now pretty much only made by the console manufacturers (Halo, Resistance etc) because developers are more interested in profit and thats the underlying motive and factor.

Now for the other side timed exclusives as we’ve already said earn developers extra cash which in theory stops them going out of business and helps them to continue making games. It marks a difference between which console you want to own and it may even give a sense of schardenfreude (taking pleasure from others misfortune - “haha you own a PS3 soI get Destroy All Humans first”). Timed exclusives should, however, give the developer time to improve the game but as proven in the past this has not happened and the question is why? Is it laziness? Is it budget? Is it time? So many possible answers and this is probably unique to each game but surely a developer would want to improve and make their game better?

It’s a sad fact that are timed exclusives in theory are a waste of time but in practice this isn’t the case. Developers are no longer still not catering for everyone. Interestingly, Square Enix have moved onto the Xbox and are now ignoring Playstation owners and this is the case with other developers such as Capcom. It’s like the developers are trying to cater for everyone but all they have actually done is cater for another market. 2009 is an important year in gaming, particularly as it will make or break the Playstation 3 which in turn makes or breaks the Xbox 360. The PS3 have a few AAA exclusives which there has been a lack of in the past and with a price cut on the cards it seems competition is going to get hotter. I for one am a firm believer that Sony are now focused more on the success of the Playstation 4 than the PS3 which has no doubt about it so far flopped. However, the PSP seemed to have a lack of Sony’s support and now four years on they are pushing the console again. This generation of Playstations have been slow starters and Microsoft (hats off to them) have used this to their advantage they have marketed fantasically and with the large amount of timed exclusives (and Halo) they deserve there success it’s just at the expense of PS3 owners. 2009 will answer all our questions and will ultimatley crown the champion of ‘hardcore’ consoles (Wii has almost certainly already won the casual market).

What are your thoughts? Hit our new forums or leave a comment (no registration required!)

-Sean Linley-