I have loved video games all my life. So much that it has pushed me towards my college major in 3D Animation. I’ve always wanted to work on and make video games, but as of late, I just don’t know if it will be the world I want to be a part of anymore. The video game industry is getting pretty crazy right now what with all its newfangled motion controls and lack of controllers at all. It makes me wonder what the hell is going to happen with the future of games in general. One would think that predicting the future of games even now would be clear and concise, but for me, it isn’t. I just don’t know what the crap to think anymore about where video games are going and if they’ll even be an improvement.

Boy oh boy I sure do love my Xbox Live, don’t you? But ya know what? I just really wish I could watch ESPN and stream over 3,500 live and on-demand sporting events plus highlights on it. Oh, and also watch Hulu and make video chat conversations with my family and friends on the big screen using Kinect. What’s that you say, Microsoft? I can have all that and “other new Gold features?!” Well sign me right up, then!

And guess what, folks. You too will get to enjoy these totally useful Xbox Live features as long as you’re willing to pay $59.99 for your yearly subscription to Xbox Live instead of the usual $49.99. Yeah, that’s right. Starting November 1, Microsoft is planning on bumping up the Xbox Live Gold Subscription price for everyone. It’s not an option like with the Playstation Network. Along with the 12-month price hike, 1-month subscriptions will go from $7.99 to $9.99 and 3-month subscriptions will go from $19.99 to $24.99.

Even though I’m already set with another year and a half of free Xbox Live, I still can’t put into words how this money grab makes me feel. Actually, yes I can, but who want’s to read me ranting about crap? Anyway, if you want to buy yourself some extra subscriptions cheaply now before the big change, hit up Amazon and get yourselves prepped.

This is glorious news! Because of the upcoming Kinect, Microsoft is planning on upgrading the 360’s codec and audio infastructure, making for [hopefully] clearer chat sessions when playing online. According to Live Studios’ Jerry Johnson,

“The codec we used when we first launched was a low bit rate codec and we stuck with that.”

Apparently because of the older 64k connections people had, the codec was tailored for that rather than the nice broadband most people enjoy today.

“It’s time for us to move on. Especially if we want to think about broadening – a crackly headset on the top of your head – not what people think of when they talk about popular entertainment.”

Oh, okay… so the reason for such crappy online chat was due to laziness on their part… gee, Microsoft you’re so generous.

Bungie doesn’t like jackasses.  Halo 3 was the first game to have an “asshole” button; the ability to mute individual players who shit-talk a little too much online.  Again taking a pioneering role in the fight against undisciplined 12-year old boys, Halo: Reach community manager Brian Jarrard says that the developer plans to punish players who habitually quit matches early.  ”Rage-quitters” are a pain; they ruin matches by screwing up balancing in any team-based game.  While leaving a game early may not be a big deal to some, for players who care about their stats, quitting is a cardinal sin and rage-quitters are the worst of the worst because they might quit from many games in a row if they’re having a bad day.

Jerrard, speaking to Xbox360Achievements.org, said; “I think one of the new things people will be excited about too, is how we’re going to be able to penalize people who are habitually quitting out of games, which isn’t exactly cheating, but it creates a really negative experience for everybody else in the game…  We want to be able to remove them from the population so they can’t make everyone else keep having a bad time.”

The question is, what exactly does he mean by “penalize”?  Will Bungie be banning people, possibly for having a life outside of video games?  Probably not.  Realistically, Bungie’s wrath will come in the form of a mandatory cool-down period, which would punish rage-quitters without hurting people who simply have to leave.

Bungie released a new Halo: Reach trailer today.  As they continue to hype the campaign experience, Bungie wants us to take one thing away it:  this game is big.  Vast sweeping landscapes scores of Warthogs riding across them make Reach feel so much bigger than any Halo campaign has ever been.  Of course, this is an ad for a video game, so in case you don’t catch the subtleties, Bungie punctuates the ad with their point: “The most anticipated game of 2010.”

Game of the year or not, Halo: Reach invades stores on September 14th.

Microsoft finally confirmed the price of their highly-anticipated motion controller Kinect today.  As rumors have suggested, the peripheral will retail for $150.  In addition, Microsoft will also be offering a 360 Slim & Kinect package for $300.  Either way, the hardware comes paired with a copy of “Kinect Adventures.”  To incite more pre-orders, those who do pay up front will get three special levels for the game (yeah, not sure how much that will work).

Remember Xbox Live Primetime? It was supposed to be a big part of NXE and a major casual selling point for the 360. Well, like that old EV1 it was hyped, then it was delayed, then it barely eeked out onto the market, then it stalled and was quietly put to sleep.

The demise was made official today when it was announced that 1 vs 100, the only Primetime game that ever saw daylight, will not be returning for another season.

Frankly, in this reporter’s opinion, this project deserved better, Xbox owners deserved better, and dammit, Chris Cashman deserved better.

Earlier this year, Halo developer Bungie made it very clear that Halo: Reach would be “the last Halo game for a long time.”  Sure enough, Bungie signed a deal with Activision for the exclusive rights to a new major franchise that would span over the next ten years.  Now, the loss of Bungie as a de-facto Microsoft studio (Bungie hasn’t made a non-Halo game since Halo: Combat Evolved) is going to be bad enough for Microsoft, but for them to lose Halo – the franchise that, more than any other game or series, ensured the success of the Microsoft and the Xbox – well, that would be devastating…

Obviously they aren’t going to let it happen.

Peter Molyneux is freaking out.  In an interview with GI.biz, Molyneux declared that if Fable 3 does not sell at least 5 million copies, making over 150 million dollars, he will consider the game a failure and foresees the Fable franchise “withering” out of existence.  ”We <Lionhead Studios> are driving to sell more than five million units and to make a profit in excess of $150 million,” Molyneux said. “We have to do that because if a franchise doesn’t reach that level it will inevitably wither.”  As a series, Fable has always been forced to deal with managing and satisfying very high expectations.  This time though, putting a dollar sign on it, it seems as if there is another, more direct pressure to succeed, whether its pressure from publisher Microsoft or simply to maintain Molyneux’s reknown ego.