Category Archives: News

Youtube Series’ Updates

Posted by Immersedgaming on

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I’d like this to just be short and sweet. I want to tell you all about all the upcoming updates to our youtube series’ that I’m trying to implement as fast as possible. I’ve managed to fix about 99% of all the setbacks and issues I’ve previously told you about, but there are still a few hiccups in the developmental process that need to be ironed out. Hopefully I’ll figure those out soon so nothing will be hampered anymore. However, now on to the good news!

Mini Games w/ Robert

The OMGPOP series is in full swing. I’ve recently purchased a brand new screen recording program that will fix ALL of the problems I’ve had with producing this series. So, after episode 4 that will come out next Sunday, all further OMGPOP videos will be perfect. This is probably my favorite series in terms of ease of production.

Let’s Play!

This series I’ve just recently had issues with. The first one I uploaded (which is a stand-alone video) went up well, but did not upload in 1080p. I had another series set and ready to be edited and uploaded, however something was wrong with the file and I had to delete it. As of writing this, I do not have anything recorded or ready to be edited for this Wednesday, so this series is on hold until I can find the time to record. I don’t foresee future problems.

Games With My Dad

I finally managed to get this series done and uploaded last week. I’m trying my hardest to have the next episode up for tomorrow. The problems with this production are many. I won’t get into full boring detail, but I had issues with the exporting of the video, so sadly, for the remainder of the Mafia II episodes, there will be a 2 second game audio lag. There isn’t really any way for me to fix this. Once the Mafia II episodes are complete, this series should be fine. However, despite this, I’m still happy I finally got this online. This is probably my favorite series content-wise.

Splitscreen

This series is marred with issues. The first issue is that its near impossible to get people to come over and record some footage. Whether they’re working, I’m working or at school, or they’re just being lazy, we just can’t record footage. I do have footage from one session that is ready to edit, but I just haven’t had time to sit there and do so. I’m trying my best, I swear.

Other Non-Titled Series

Sometimes there will just be random videos I upload that have no series name, or anything of that sort. I uploaded pretty much 99% of the Sony PS4 press conference live stream, and although the aspect ratio isn’t the best (although the quality is fantastic) and although other game news media were HANDED copies of the footage, I’m still proud of the amount of time and work I put into making this videos. I literally uploaded them all less than 30 minutes after the conference ended. They will remain up for that fact alone (unless I’m forced to remove them). Can’t win every battle, I suppose.

So that’s pretty much it folks. That’s all the updates I got for you. I’m working my hardest to try and have all these videos edited and uploaded on time. It will get better, I assure you. I’m working on buying another microphone for series’ that involve more than myself in one room. The production value will be getting better in this respect as well. If you want to know when the videos are released, check out our weekly release schedule. Thanks for reading!

Thoughts: Sony stops production of PlayStation 2

Posted by TheeImmortalPhoenix on
(Selling 150 million units, the PS2′s dominance is unchallenged and writ in the pages of history forever. Sony, in this way, has been immortalized.)

The best-selling console of all time and the console that really defined my mid-gamer generation, is about to meet the great bin of heaven. Sony is officially, after 13 years, calling it quits with their PS2 console and is stopping production. People have rumored that the PS4 is coming out next fall and if so this may be a way to free up resources so that Sony can ramp up production and be prepared for the imminent launch next fall.

This may not be huge for retro gamers but for the children of the late 80′s, like myself, we grew up on the NES, SNES, Sega, and Playstation. This is our bread and butter. To finally see it put to rest is a bittersweet moment showing that our consoles have grown up just as we have.

The PS2 also did something the PS3 wasn’t able to, which is completely dominate the gaming market and create such a powerful successor that people rarely talk about the PS1 nowadays. It was such a strong step up graphically and had so many titles that to not buy one was selling yourself short as a gamer.

Sony even released a popular slim model which is currently available on Amazon for $135 dollars. That’s an amazing price point to enjoy 11,000 plus titles of some of the greatest gaming moments in history. I’ll definitely treasure my PS2 slim a bit more knowing that they’ve finally stopped production and maybe go back and play some of my favorite games from those days.

 Final Thoughts

As a final point, the loss of the PS2 shows us the important of backwards compatibility. When we pay for a game, we want to be able to play it for the next 20-30 years, and maybe longer. Consoles will not last that long, at least not with the hardware we have now, and so the only way to keep their legacy alive is to do what Nintendo is so good at; amazing backwards compatibility.

Sure there are Roms and Emulators that can bring back those memories, but what about those of us that kept the discs of our favorite games and maybe, just maybe, want to see them with GREAT graphics and Amazing new hardware on our new televisions, in the living room, on our PS3 or PS4? What about us?

This news, besides giving us nostalgia, should be a united call from all gamers to console developers that we want our games to stay with us for at least 2 decades. Humans live on average for 8 decades, and they get nostalgic for games around 6 decades. If you could shave down those 6 decades where we are older and nostalgic, to 4 decades, maybe we could move on easier or appease ourselves with roms and emulators.

At the end of the day, we love our games. That’s what makes us gamers; a love, and a passion for Gaming. Nothing more. Nothing less.

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[Editor's Note: The views and opinions supported in this article do not represent or express the views of Immersed Gaming, it's members, or its affiliates. The views in this article are that of the author alone.]

EXCLUSIVE: Q & A With Mitchell Shaw from Randomnade

Posted by Immersedgaming on

I was given the unique opportunity of interviewing Mitchell Shaw, one of the guys behind Randomnade, a new social gaming strategy sharing website, which will be launching October 24th! Make sure you check it out, it truly is a remarkable concept. You can read the full Q & A below:

How would you summarize Randomnade and “Next Level Gaming?”

“Randomnade will take strategy building to the next level by socializing the experience and developing tools that allow gamers to create, share, and organize strategies to be used within competitive arenas.”

What are your goals for this website?

“Become super rich, purchase a Delorean, create a Flux Capacitor and go Back to the Future! On a less serious note…we hope to completely change the way teams prepare for matches. 

All sports teams and armies have set plays/strategies for how to defeat their opposition, so why should online gaming be any different? We want gamers to work together to find the ultimate strategies and counter strategies for each map and game-type, which will drastically change gameplay for the better and take us to #NextLevelGaming.”

How did you come up with the idea of “social strategy sharing?”

“We originally built and designed this concept to make it easier for our own team to develop and implement strategies before matches. Our team needed an easier way for all of us to create, comment and improve on our gameplay away from our consoles or PC’s.  The system worked great and with our improved strategies and team focus we were able to win matches against far superior players. Thus, Randomnade was born and we decided to open it up to all gamers!”

“We want teams and gamers to continue to evolve and improve their gameplay, socializing our concept allow gamers to help gamers. Need to know call outs? Rush points/Flank points? Secret grenade spots? Come to Randomnade and search through our user generated content as they will be sure to have it all.”

How do you hope gamers will use this concept?

“To improve their team play. You don’t have to be the most skilled gamers to win matches, but work as a team and you’ll always have a fighting chance. “

“Not on a team? We hope gamers will help by offering their knowledge and expertise to other gamers. “


Do you have any plans for growth in the future? Where do you see this in 3 years?

“Well I do plan on eating more, however I think I have hit my peak height for my age. “

“We hope to garner enough of a following to attend events, host events, and continue to help the masses improve their gameplay. “

How do you think sharing strategies will help gamers?

“It will force gamers and teams alike to continuously improve. When you have hundreds of gamers offering their tips and insights on others strategies it will improve those strategies, thus forcing the other team to create and even better counter strategy.”

“If you have a team who is new to the competitive play having an outlet like Randomnade will help them get a huge leg up on what everyone else is doing. If you’re not using Randomnade or creating your own strategies another way, you will be missing out on a key component of competitive play. “

On your website you say, “follow your favorite gamers” and “ Finally, a social way to strategize.” Do you see Randomnade as the video game equivalent of Facebook or Twitter, or does it have a deeper use than just socializing?

“Social is just the way things are now and should always be. When you allow others to comment and offer tips to your strategies you welcome the opportunity of learning new things. You do have the option to keep your strategies as private for clan matches. However, if you have an idea of a strategy you think could work, but want a second, third, or even fourth opinion, then opening it up to the public is your best option for improvement.”

Do you have any famous or semi-famous gamers signed up and ready to go on launch day?

“Besides myself we have a few :) Fear Moho (Team Fear), Arctic Zyn (Team Amazyn, Machinima Partner and an excellent contributor to the competitive community), Uleet (Carbon, and a Justin.tv celeb), CrReaM (Carbon and a Justin.tv celeb)”

With social gaming media such as Call of Duty Elite and Battlefield’s Battlelog coming out, do you see them as competitors or as a different social interaction medium for gamers?

“We welcome things like this! Anything that developers can offer to help gamers improve and reflect on their gameplay is a bonus. Take all of those stats and knowledge and apply it to your next strategy creation! “

Do you hope that this will be the new way for MLG teams to strategize?  

“We hope it will be the new way for all teams to strategize for serious and casual gamers.”

Do you have any plans for cross-device integration, such as a phone app, to strategize on the go? 

“Yes we have some very ambitious plans for the future.”

Do you think Randomnade has appeal to a more casual-gaming crowd, or is it strictly for hardcore competitive playing?

 ”Randomnade is for all gamers. The nice thing about our system is it can be used for competitive teams or single gamers. Find a way to beat a level with just one bird on Angry Birds? Build the strategy and share it with our community.”

We’ve all come across those gung-ho gamers that love to run up into the enemy’s face and take them all head on in games like Battlefield (where the developer tries to stress cooperative play). Do you think strategizing will become more popular with casual gamers, or will there always be a “Rambo” gamer?

“No matter what we do there will always be the “Rambo” gamer! In public matches you will always have gamers running around without care. If you ask any pro team however, they will all tell you that running around like that in a competition is the quickest way to a death/loss. “

Are there any secret details about Randomnade that you haven’t revealed yet that you could share with us?

“We’re actually just robots from the future…hence why we a need a Delorean/Flux Capacitor to get back. “

Do you think I could have a Randomnade shirt :)  

“I wish we could, to be honest. They are all tied up in contests and tournies right now and we don’t have the funds to keep getting more. One day though…one day. “
Although I’m disappointed I couldn’t get a shirt (joking), I’m very happy to have been able to interview Mr. Shaw. Thank you for the opportunity!

You can check out Randomnade on their website, twitter, or facebook. #NextLevelGaming

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