Weekly Retrospective: 07/02/10

Let me introduce you to the Weekly Retrospective: a look at some of the news stories that surfaced during the week, what’s been going on with the site, plus a few other goodies.

It’s Sunday (as you’ve no doubt guessed), and it’s the end of the first week since StartGame officially launched on Wednesday. Most things have thankfully gone smoothly, even though there were a couple of hectic moments which had us all getting together and discussing certain aspects of the site that would ensure we’d be able to grow whilst staying true to our original aims. Everything is now set, though, so we should be able to move ahead without hitting any walls.

I can’t say I’ve been struck by any particular news pieces this week apart from the reveal of Sonic 4 and the leaking of the SEGA Zone. I’m a massive fan of SEGA, especially their games from the early 90s (which I grew up with), so it’s nice to see them finally acknowledging the fans. The Sonic games of late have been lacklustre and an extension of what the franchise is now (with all the cartoons and extra characters), rather than building upon what made it great to all those who played Sonic the Hedgehog on the Mega Drive back in ’91, so it’s nice to see it returning to its roots.

The Zone is SEGA’s attempt at muscling in on Wii territory, and looks a pretty nifty console. Whilst it’s just another re-hashed Mega Drive, the sheer amount of content you will be getting for your money is amazing. The number of games you get is worth the entry price alone, let alone the sleek console itself and the fact that some of the games will be motion controlled. The company seems to really be on the up once again, which can only be a good thing for gamers, especially with rumours floating around of a proper home console in the works.

Naturally, the Heavy Rain demo also deserves a mention; originally slated to be appearing in the store this week it was then strangely omitted from the official list. The demo was actually there, however, but hiding. Intended as a reward for those who successfully completed the “Four Days Challenge” and submitted their answers on the Precinct 52 site, the method of getting the demo (along with the correct answers) were soon spread all over the net. Thousands of people frantically tried to get a code, and, in the ensuing chaos, both the Heavy Rain and Precinct 52 sites took an absolute battering and were down for a period of time.

Anyway, that’s enough news talk for now, so back to StartGame. We’re always looking for feedback on how to improve the site, so don’t hesitate to contact us. Whether it’s a rad new feature you’d like to see, or something that needs fixing, just use the contact form to drop us a line. Currently we’re looking for interesting ways to use our chat box, so if you have any suggestions then we’d love to hear them. In other news, we now have our own YouTube channel, where we’ll be posting our videos.

So, that’s it for this week’s Weekly Retrospective (bit of a tongue twister, isn’t it?). A big thanks to the team once again, who have been hard at work creating content for the site – we’ve got some great stuff lined up for next week, so stay tuned.