The Cartridge Thief Blog

  Over the course of the last twelve months many, including myself, have gladly declared that the live service model of games is dead. Marvel's Avengers  getting shut down was the siren's call that signalled the beginning of the end as even the massive Marvel brand couldn't survive the current market. In recent weeks though, this trend has only continued with Sony announcing the canning of various live service products that were in development. It's safe to say by now that live services are dying and that this purge will leave only a few survivors standing. (Images property of Santa Monica Studio and Sony Interactive Entertainment) However, in between leading toasts and setting off celebratory fireworks, I have been given pause for thought. Even as the lid of the coffin closes upon live services, certain games still give me an unsettled feeling. It's as if a genie has been loosed from its lamp that won't be going back in any time soon. This, reader, is what I wi...

Even at the best of times, the process of pitching, producing and releasing a video game is a messy one at best. Between delays, marketing, deals with publishers and hardware limitations, there are various problems that can prevent our favourite games from being released. (Images property of Nintendo, Bethesda Softworks, THQ and Microsoft Game Studios) However, for some games, things get even more complicated. In addition to all of the usual problems, some games have to jump through truly extraordinary hoops before they are even allowed to exist. Here are just a few of my favourite examples of games that had to do some seriously weird things in order to be released.   The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess The Legend of Zelda  is a series with some serious pedigree to it. If it was a dog, it would be one of the fluffiest, fastest and most inbred dogs the world has ever seen. Despite this clean-cut image though, things haven't always gone to plan on the road from a game's conce...