Just a heads up people: Yes I am still alive.

The Game Drone is undergoing some changes, this will likely take a fair while longer. Don’t worry, the blog will definitely return - and I intend to do so sooner rather than later. I doubt the current entries will remain intact however, but expect most of them to be rewritten and republished once the new Game Drone goes live.

See you soon!

(PS: if you’re playing Age of Conan in the European Early Access: Aeroth, lvl 21 Guardian, RP-PvP Aquilonia - hit me up and we can play together :))

Share This

If you liked this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

After the amazing year that was 2007, you would expect to see some sort of a lull in PC game releases. Interestingly this doesn’t look to be the case as 2008 is lining up with a massive list of interesting PC games. Right now the wealth of quality games that were released in 2007 should be plenty to sustain you, but game developers worldwide are creating your next PC gaming fix as we speak! So you better make sure you play through your favorite titles of the past year soon, or you might not be ready for the next great game!

What follows below is a list of many PC games scheduled to hit stores worldwide in the coming year. Some games might not be included due to an unclear release date (Duke Nukem Forever, although Forever seems like it might be an indication of the development time) or no official announcement of the name of a particular project (GarageGames new Tribes-like shooter set for late 2008). Furthermore all release dates are for the European market wherever possible, which means they may not coincide with the release dates for other territories.

Read the rest…

Share This

If you liked this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

About one and a half month ago, gaming websites worldwide were shook with news of supposed poor early sales for both Crysis and Unreal Tournament 3. As you may recall, I had my doubts about the accuracy of the many exaggerated reports on this information. Later sales figures for the month of December already indicated a significant boost in sales figures for both games, but now it seems my suspicions have been officially and undeniably confirmed. Indeed it looks like the December hype of PC gaming death and poor sales figures was more than just a bit premature.

Perhaps the most interesting part is that the majority of major gaming sites have actually not picked up on this news, which refutes the stories they released in December. Are they ashamed, or are they actually out there playing their freshly bought copies of Crysis and Unreal Tournament 3? It looks like it might just be a bit of both, as Electronic Arts‘ recently announced that Crysis, a PC exclusive title, hit over one million sales worldwide. A very impressive feat in the most shooter-packed Christmas season ever, particularly for a highly demanding and PC-exclusive title like Crysis.

What’s also interesting is the implications of these statistics for the global picture of PC gaming and the validity of NPD Group statistics. If Crysis sold less than 80000 copies in it’s first three weeks according to the NPD Group, then this total sales number leaves us with a couple of interesting possibilities:

1. The NPD Group is an organization that no longer has the capability to properly indicate PC game sales in any way, shape or form. This is actually very likely to be accurate, as the NPD Group itself indicates they do not track online sales, digital download or specialist shop sales into their statistics. Let’s face it: how many PC gamers do you know who still buy their games offline? I can’t even think of one!
2. The United States is no longer the primary source of income - and sales - for PC game developers, even in mainstream genres like shooters. In light of the November statistics this also seems likely, as several European countries featured Crysis firmly in their top 10 game sales listings. And as Americans themselves should know quite well: PC games aren’t exactly easy to come by in the great US of A. Often being relegated to an obscure little corner in some megastore.
3. Digital downloads may well be underestimated as a medium for game sales. Crysis was offered by means of Electronic Arts‘ own digital download mechanics, and while we may not have actual statistics on how many games were sold by this method, one thing is certain: the NPD Group certainly didn’t track these copies!

Of course the most noticeable effect this announcement might have is that gaming sites might be a bit more conservative in their news reports next time. Ok, so that seems unlikely, but at least now everyone knows that NPD Group statistics are far from everything and certainly no indication of how well a PC game sells. Now if only there were some way to find out how many copies other great PC games like The Witcher or World in Conflict have sold…

Share This

If you liked this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

In all my time of gaming the only gaming platform other than a PC I ever owned was a GameBoy Pocket, nearly a decade ago. That finally changed last friday as I received a package, containing my new Nintendo DS Lite. That’s right, I’ve just gained todays most popular handheld gaming device - and so far it actually seems to be pretty cool. I’ve played some Brain Training and Tetris DS against my sister with download play, but lost rather convincingly at both (hey, she’s had it for over a year!). Other than that I’ve spent just about all of my, rather limited, NDS time on Bleach: The Blade of Fates which is a cool beat ‘em up game based on the popular anime that you’ve probably heard of/seen already anyway.

After seeing screenshots and videos on various gaming sites I was a bit worried for the visual quality, but after giving a couple of NDS games a go I have to say I’m pleasantly surprised. While the little handheld device certainly has it’s limitations, most of the developers seem to go for a very good stylish approach paired with smooth animations and drawn or even anime-like cutscenes, for a visual experience that’s actually not bad, not bad at all. What really caught me by surprise however was the sound. It’s surprisingly loud and there’s loads of it! It’s nothing like my old GameBoy Pocket with midi-sounds, but rather the games seem to feature full-on soundtracks and tons of voicework, especially so for Bleach.

As you might expect this means that The Game Drone will start featuring some Nintendo DS Lite action as well. PC gaming will remain my focus, as it’s still what I do and enjoy most, but you might see the occasional entry on something Nintendo sneak in between the rest. Oh yes, that picture of a DS you can see in this entry is indeed what my DS looks like. I’ve got the silver edition, which might not be as cool as cobalt-blue or Suzie’s crimson look, but has a sort of elegant style of it’s own. Although I really only got it because it was the only one available at the time…

Now where did I leave that DS?

Share This

If you liked this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

January certainly wasn’t the most amazing month for PC gamers in recent times, but at least it had more to offer than December did. While the list of impressive games is hardly any longer, their quality certainly is! Some of these games are real gems, others perhaps not as great as they may have looked initially, but all of them should be perfect food for the gamer who has already finished playing the great games of 2007 and is looking for something new. There’s bound to be something to your liking here and even low budget gamers get some loving, as 2 out of the following 4 games are budget priced!

Many new games are released every month, but which of these games are the ones worth buying? That’s what I’ll help you find out, in this monthly recurring series of Most Impressive PC Games. So when a new month begins, be certain to head on over to The Game Drone for a quick rundown of the latest and greatest titles, including links to game demos - where available - so you can give them a try for yourself!

Read the rest…

Share This

If you liked this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!