Games Exclusive to Xbox One | Part 1 - Physical Games

To say Microsoft has changed gears during the Xbox One's lifespan is a bit of an understatement. At first, their priorities were in shifting consoles and now, it's about shifting subscriptions. Microsoft will happily launch their first party games on PC and Xbox (and in rare occasions, Switch and PlayStation) as long as you play their titles.

Now the Xbox One doesn't have many exclusives to speak about, and notable first-party franchises always get a PC release. So that means, inevitably, some games have been left behind on the Xbox One. So we're going to look back at some Xbox One Exclusive games that you cannot play elsewhere.

Ken Kutaragi on PS4 | The PlayStation's creator input on PS4

The PS4 was the first console not headed by the creator himself, Ken Kutaragi, and ultimately had more western influence then other PlayStation console that came before. We're gonna look back and see if the grandfather of PlayStation had any influence on Sony's most successful console.

Playing Differently | Dead Rising 4 - no combo, no exo and no skill playthrough

Rules:

• No Exo suit (if obtained one, get out straight away)
• No use of combo weapons (if obtained one through story, get out/drop it straight away)
• No Exo combo weapons
• No upgrading of any skills

Exceptions:

• Exo suit was used on the last boss as it was too difficult without it
• Going to be some anomalies in there due to how the game forces you at some point to use combo item/vehicles.

Capcom Vancouver have continuously advertised during release that Dead Rising 4 is "going back to it's roots" with the return of the main protagonist Frank West and the Willamette Mall. Though despite what the developers claim, this is most certainly not a call back to the original Dead Rising. Everything from Frank, to the combat mechanics as well as the location have had major overhauls to the point where Dead Rising 4 resembles very little of the original game. Despite the reception of changes, it's become unanimous that this game is easy, in fact - very easy. The addition of the ludicrously overpowered combo weapons became apparent with the third game, where combo weapons can be created on the fly with many having little to no balancing whatsoever. 

So I decided what better way to play the game than to play with no upgrades and avoiding combo weapons entirely. After all, the developers emphasised it's homages to the original series so I thought I'd play in a way that pays homage too. I want to play the game the developers didn't really intend and hopefully provide some much needed difficulty. I like a good challenge! 

PS3 Demo Disc Collection | Games that are no longer obtainable.

The Official PlayStation magazine (OPM) was the only PS3 based magazine that handed out game demos through a Blu-Ray disc. Many other magazines couldn't afford to use Blu-Ray such as PSW (PlayStation World) and PSM3. Instead, they decided to use double sided DVD's where they tried to make up for with their inclusion of videos, themes, pictures, save files and more. 

What makes these demo discs even more interesting is the fact that only the UK and some selected European countries (from my knowledge) were the only OPM to have access to these demo discs. Finding any information on what is contained on these discs is impossible due to the limited appeal, regional exclusivity and just a lack of coverage in general.

So it's time to scour through my complete collection of these discs and find out what's on them. Here's the list of games that you will never be able to get access to ever again and which never saw a PC release.

PS3 and Xbox 360 Games at 1080P | The definitive list

Using two main reliable sources and some research myself, this has become a definitive list of Xbox 360 and PS3 games that run in both upscaled and native 1080p. One of the websites contained a list of PS3 titles that upscaled to 1080p, while the other website documented the list of native rendering resolutions. 

However the latter has been inactive for a few years and with the help of Eurogamer's Face Off series and other sources such as developer comments and websites, I have compiled and categorised all this information to create a more focused and up-to-date list.

Game Over for Xbox One | The time when Microsoft nearly sold Xbox

The 7th generation of consoles was nearing to a close. Microsoft were coming out strong, despite the huge RROD (red ring of death) fiasco that plagued early consoles. The 80 million sales figure was in reach and the Kinect was a huge success. 

The Xbox One destroyed all that in just one conference. We all know the story; always-online DRM, mandatory Kinect, no game sharing - it was not looking good for Microsoft. When the console finally launched, Xbox 360 faithfuls jumped ship to the PS4; making it one of the fastest selling consoles in history. Microsoft on the other hand, still had unsold 'Day One' edition consoles well into early 2014.

Microsoft had a huge problem, the PS4 was outselling the Xbox nearly 3:1. Amazingly, Microsoft had to make one of the biggest decisions in their company's history - whether to keep Xbox going. 

N64's Later Years | How the N64 sold during the new millennium

I am fascinated by the N64 in its later years. By the turn of the millenium, the N64 was beginning to age much more than its rivals on the market. Carts and single stick controllers was something of the past, yet Nintendo had to hold on for another 2 years in a fierce market dominated by disc based consoles and new emerging technologies.

So how did the N64 fare during this time?