Morning DLC: Video Games News And Rumors 8/23/13
By Nick Tylwalk
"EA Labels president Frank Gibeau has said the publisher’s apparent cosying up with Microsoft has been wrongly “perceived as strategic tilt”, something he feels is a “messaging error” on his company’s part.EA Partners game “Titanfall” will be an Xbox console exclusive, while everyXbox One sold at launch in Europe will come bundled with a copy of “FIFA 14” at no extra cost.Additionally, FIFA 14 Ultimate Team Legends will be exclusive to Xbox consoles, while the first “Battlefield 4” DLC will debut on Microsoft’s new console.But despite this impressive roster of Xbox exclusive deals, Gibeau insisted in an interview with CVG that EA is platform agnostic and enjoys a “very good” relationship with Sony."
"This is going to be a very good year for gaming, if GameStop’s CEO Paul Raines is to be believed. The retail exec dropped a healthy dose of optimism on investors during a recent earnings call in which he proclaimed that this year will see the “largest console launch in history,” GI.biz reports.Considering the almost unending stream of bad sales reports that have plagued the gaming industry for years now, Raines’ outlook is refreshing. GameStop itself has been one of the hardest hit due to declining sales, and with early reports of used games being phased out in the next-gen, or at least fundamentally changed in a way that could have put it out of business, GameStop and its investors are likely breathing easy for the first time in a long time."
"Good news for gamers: a new British study finds that some video games can help to train the brain to become more agile and improve strategic thinking.Scientists from Queen Mary University of London and University College London recruited 72 female volunteers and measured their “cognitive flexibility,” described as a person’s ability to adapt and switch between tasks and think about multiple ideas at a given time to solve problems.Two groups of subjects were trained to play different versions of a real-time fast-paced strategy game called “StarCraft” in which players have to construct and organize armies to battle an enemy. A third of the group played life simulation video game “The Sims,” which does not require much memory or many tactical skills.Findings showed that subjects who played “StarCraft” were quicker and more accurate in performing cognitive flexibility tasks than those who played “The Sims.”"