Features// SPOnG's Videogames Review of 2013: July

Posted 2 Jan 2014 10:34 by
The first noteworthy event of July would be a fairly direct consequence of what had gone on in June.

Following a disappointing reveal and a disastrous E3 the Xbox One’s reputation was in dire straits and the man responsible, Don Mattrick – head of Microsoft’s games division at this point – left his position to become the new CEO of primarily Facebook-based games developer Zynga.

Maybe Mr. Mattrick could feel a little vindicated later in the month when an online petition urging Microsoft to make another U-turn and reinstate their reviled policies.

Thankfully it didn’t really go anywhere. While there are some reasonable arguments to be made in favour of a fully digital age I’d argue that Microsoft’s inept handling of the whole thing suggests they definitely aren’t the right hands to usher such an age in.

Mattrick’s departure would lead to a corporate restructuring of Microsoft’s entertainment division that ultimately left Julie Larson-Green as the new boss of all things Xbox.

Speaking of corporate reshuffles, Activision went through a bit of a shake-up as they bought themselves free from their parent company Vivendi in one of those massive multi-million dollar deal things that ultimately end up having zero effect on the lives of regular gaming Joes like me.

And this news shouldn’t surprise anybody at this point but yes, the Wii U is still not selling. You know the drill now – Nintendo says change is coming soon, nothing much changes, one developer or another comes out to say the console’s too unprofitable to work with and we all carry on with our lives.

In a particular hard blow to the console’s chances supermarket chain Asda decided to stop stocking the console due to its lack of sales. Even harder times than usual for the Wii U then...and all of this despite Pikmin 3 being perhaps the biggest new release of the month.

While it was critically praised the dismal state of the Wii U’s user base meant it couldn’t quite make it to the top of the charts on release, coming in second behind the relentless Minecraft: 360 Edition which had been slowly crawling up the charts for ages like some shambling unstoppable 80s movie monster.

Fittingly we’ll end this month’s recap with one of the sadder gaming stories of the year. Early July saw the unexpected death of gaming journalist and Giant Bomb founder Ryan Davis. RIP Ryan Davis.

Big Name Releases Due this Month
Deus Ex: The Fall - Square Enix
Diablo III: Reaper of Souls - Blizzard
Mario & Luigi: Dream Team Bros. - Nintendo

Read the Rest of Our Video Games Year in Review 2013
SPOnG's Videogames Review of 2013: January
SPOnG's Videogames Review of 2013: February
SPOnG's Videogames Review of 2013: March
SPOnG's Videogames Review of 2013: April
SPOnG's Videogames Review of 2013: May
SPOnG's Videogames Review of 2013: June
SPOnG's Videogames Review of 2013: July
SPOnG's Videogames Review of 2013: August
SPOnG's Videogames Review of 2013: September
SPOnG's Videogames Review of 2013: October
SPOnG's Videogames Review of 2013: November

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