I get why this came with the first edition bundle, but it seems like something that should've been packaged with all the Vitas for free. If they really wanted to make that bundle attractive to more folks, they would've thrown Uncharted in there.
I feel absolutely no sympathy for publishers who aren't turning a big enough profit and using the online pass to dissuade used game purchases. Used sales are a part of their industry - like it or not. The rules of capitalism dictate that you need to change your business plan if you aren't able to turn a profit. The online pass is certainly a means of doing this, but it's not going to be a lasting solution.
If they want to turn a profit, they need to start changing budgets. Just like Jesse wrote in his editorial, the AAA model is not a lasting one. We need properly priced games, we need smaller budgets and smaller scoped games, we need more business savvy publishers who want to shift and change along with the market.
I refuse to buy games with online passes. They hurt consumer rights and they harm the historical integrity of games. How will future generations play the Catwoman missions in Batman when the game is no longer in print? The answer is, they won't. Thanks online passes!
After hearing that, now I want Vortex! Time to go see if someone has it for sale...
Nice review, Vic - my excitement for the system is steadily increasing. Wednesday can't come soon enough!
Side Note - Love the tiny little Vita boxes, hate the MIA manuals.
Please let me play exclusively as Desmond in awesome modern cityscapes, Ubisoft.
This game looks great. If the Vita weren't launching, I'd be all over this.
This marks my 200th review for PixlBit. Phew, can't believe I've written that many here already!
One word: multiplayer. Beach is quite possibly one of the all time best multiplayer modes. Whenever I get friends together we still play it, that's how much lasting power it has.
The single player mode is classic as well, but at this point, I'd rather play that mode on the Xbox version.
Hey Mike, thanks for the feedback! Glad you like the new features and the logo. All of the header bar changes came as a big surprise to me too. I asked Vic to throw together a quick ticker design and he came back with the absolutely bad ass header that's now present. Dude is amazing.
To that point, I'll see if he can take a look at the profile page and put something together that's a bit better organized and possibly a bit flashier. We've actually had the same general page design for those since the very beginning of the site, so something new and fresh would absolutely be welcome.
In regards to your other two suggestions - I'll get to work on a private messaging system right away. I agree that it would be a nice feature to have and it's a great way to reach out to other members of the site with relative ease. Eventually we'll be building out more and more of these community-type features, so it's just a matter of time.
Your notification idea is a very nice one as well. I'm going to start putting some thought into a proper design and once I have something I'll put that into effect as well. I might even tie it into the private messaging system that I'll be putting together at your request.
I suppose once we have this PM system in place, you can shoot me any ideas you have at any time!
