The Growth of Twitch

When Twitch.tv branched off from the less focused Justin.tv back in 2011, it was predominantly used for eSports and general broadcasts. Now, in the year 2014, every John, Dick and Harry has a stream up showing off their gameplay for their favourite titles. For streamers, the challenge is to make their channel stand out from the hefty crowd, and with Twitch playing host to around 1 million unique broadcasters a month during 2014, getting noticed...

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EA Access Announced

On 29th July EA announced a new service for Xbox One that will give subscribers access to multiple triple A games for $4.99 (or £3.99 in the UK) a month. Titled EA Access, this service is being rolled out today in a beta format for a limited number of players (including me). The beta will initial give subscribers unlimited access to FIFA 14, Madden NFL 25, Peggle 2 and Battlefield 4 with more titles to come in the next few months. Additionally,...

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Content Announced for the Destiny Final Release

The Destiny beta for the PS4, Xbox One, PS3, and Xbox 360 is now finished, but the Bungie Community Manager David “DeeJ” Dague has been answering some questions about what will be included when the 9th September global release comes around.  On a recent 2old2play livestream, Deej confirmed that each planet will have one location to explore when the game launches - much like the section of Russia we saw during the last couple of weeks. “We’re...

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Game with Gold - August 2014

Microsoft’s free game offerings for Xbox LIVE Gold members as part of the Games with Gold promotion has regularly been criticised when compared to Sony’s PS Plus options. Thankfully, for Xbox owners, it seems like August may be the month which changes that. Starting 1st August we'll see two new games for 360 gamers and an additional two for Xbox One owners. The free offerings for the Xbox One will continue the trend of the next-gen consoles solely...

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Destiny Beta Overview

The Destiny Beta is now opened to everyone and the Rajakaru team have been playing through the content over the past few days (none of us own PlayStation consoles so we’re a bit behind). The application gives, in most cases, gamers the first chance to see a generous slice of Bungie’s long awaited sci-fi FPS since they left Halo to 343 Industries. I’ve now played about 10 hours exploring the Cosmodrome and have taken part in everything the...

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Crysis has a Crisis

Crysis, the first-person shooter series made by Crytek, should be fortunate it doesn’t have a third-person perspective. And we should be forever grateful for that too. Why? Because this is what happens when you mess with the perspective of video games. It’s a little terrifying and certainly lets us know that we should stop playing around with finished titles. As it’s an FPS, there isn’t any head on show, so you’d never see this mind bending...

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The Overview - Microsofts E3 Press Conference

For those of you that didn’t read through our Live Blog during the Microsoft E3 Presser we have completed a full overview below. After last years’ knockout blow from Sony, Microsoft really needed to get something on the table that would put the ball – or at least some of it – back in their court. This year they went to great lengths to provide clarification over the console itself as well as the shape of the landscape for the next 12 months.  Microsoft’s presentation pitched the Xbox One very cleanly as a next-generation games machine,...

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Microsoft's E3 Media Briefing - The Rajakaru Xbox Live Feed

So it’s that time of the year again, E3 is here!  Sadly the event kicks off while most of you are busy at work, doing homework or getting on with your lives. As such us lovely people here a Rajakaru Games have decided that we will bring you all the goings on in one friendly live feed. It’ll certainly be something to behold and once the event is finished we’ll fill this bad boy up with trailers and gameplay videos (if we get any). So without further...

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Xbox One: The Rajakaru Game List

Earlier this year, Sony published a list of the 100+ games available on the PlayStation in 2014. While Microsoft has not released a similar list of its own for the Xbox One, we've searched out and listed below everything that we can for Microsoft’s Xbox One too. Of course, this list is subject to change as games are delayed or announced (E3 is tonight) Available: The Amazing Spider-Man 2 - April 29 Child of Light - April 30 Kinect Sports...

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Game with Gold - June (Xbox One offerings begin)

Dark Souls is the game currently being offered as part of Xbox’s Games With Gold promotion, which is now celebrating its one-year anniversary by adding an extra free Xbox 360 game to its usual allotment of two. The two other free games for June will be Charlie Murder, a beat-em-up released last August, and Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition, the most recent version of the fighting game. Both will become available on 16th June (as Dark Souls...

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Watch Dogs Review: Hack-a-lacking

I’m going to break this review down into a single questions – it’s the one on everybody’s lips – “Is Watch Dogs as good as the hype suggests?”   Frankly its neither the tragic failure some expected nor the introduction to a 'proper' next-gen others craved, Watch Dogs is instead best thought of as an open-world sandbox: Chicago Edition. As with other titles from the publisher – Far Cry and Assassin's Creed being the obvious examples –...

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The Kinect U-Turn

So, the mandatory Kinect is no more, Microsoft have once again made a U-Turn on its original next-gen plan. Kinect has gone from being an integral component to an optional peripheral. Like most other Xbox One gamers I haven’t even used the Kinect for much more than showing off (and the odd dashboard navigation when my controllers have run out of battery. That being said – it is a good piece of hardware and holds far more potential than the...

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Halo: The Master Chief Collections - Is It Real?

Fresh off the heels of the Halo 5: Guardians announcement earlier this week, we have some more news about the sci-fi shooter franchise. [Please take this with a pinch of salt] It has been widely suggested that Microsoft will release Halo: The Master Chief collection for Xbox One later this year and now a new report from Engadget claims this is truly the case. The Master Chief collection will include Halo: Combat Evolved, Halo 2, Halo 3 and...

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Halo 5: Guardians Officially Announced

Microsoft has officially announced Halo 5: Guardians for Xbox One and said that it will, as expected, debut next year. Halo 5: Guardians is described as a “massive and exciting project” by 343 Industries, who went on to say “the next instalment in the legendary sage of the Master Chief”. The most exciting news is that it will be the first Halo game to run at a native  60 FPS and utilise dedicated servers. Microsoft also released...

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Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire 3DS Remakes Announced

Nintendo has today announced Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, remakes of their 2003 GBA adventures, will be coming to the 3DS in November. The decision to remake Ruby and Sapphire isn't surprising seeing as their predecessors Pokemon Red and Blue, as well as Pokemon Gold and Silver, have already received the revamp treatment. Set in the region of Hoenn, they will introduce a new location for the 3DS system as well as - I'm obviously speculating...

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Rajakaru Review - The Xbox One "Six Months On"

The Xbox 360 that exists in 2014 bears very little resemblance to the console that Microsoft launched in 2005. It’s so different, in fact, that it helps to think of the company’s new Xbox One as an evolution, not of the original Xbox 360 but of the one that exists today. Over the eight-year lifetime, the Xbox 360 underwent radical transformations. In 2008, the "New Xbox Experience" delivered an entirely new interface, customizable player Avatars,...

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