ABN GameZone

**ABN GameZone** became the first ever television network dedicated to the video game industry before there ever were networks like CNet, G4/Tech TV, Gamespot, and more. In fact, ABN GameZone was the first ever network to report on the downfall of Atari and the regeneration of the industry in 1986, the SEGA vs. Nintendo wars of the 90's, the PS2 vs. Xbox wars of the early 2000's, PS3 vs. Xbox 360 wars in the mid 2000's to early 2010's and the current console generation of Nintendo Wii U, Xbox One, and PS4. ABN GameZone is also a video game consumer network with programming dedicated to upcoming consoles, the E3 conferences, upcoming releases, game reviews and more.

The network is housed inside the Altitude Game Studios division of ABN Digital Entertainment on the ABN campus in Seattle and some games are produced for consoles and PC from Altitude Game Studios and ABN Digital Entertainment.

These next sections show ABN GameZone's most intriguing stories of the past three decades.

## The Downfall of Atari

From all accounts, the rushed release of the game port of the Universal Pictures movie *E.T.* and the lackluster quality of the 2700 and 5200 game systems and the pixelated raunchiness of *Custer's Revenge* all mixed in to create the downfall of Atari, and nearly the video game industry itself when consumers felt that home computing would be the way of the future. Between 1984 to 1986, there were independent game systems created, but no demand.

## The Resurrection of the Industry and Nintendo's Rise to International Fanfare

Many were wide eyed about the potential for the video game industry to bounce back from its three year slumber. ABN GameZone went to cover the coming of Nintendo to North American consumers with the Nintendo Entertainment System which used 8-bit technology shared by its counterpart, the Family Computer (a.k.a. Famicom). The system was shown in New York in 1985 as a "toy set" to lure consumers into purchasing the NES. It was a skeptical move, but it helped transform the industry as a whole. With the introduction of Nintendo's now-famous mascot, Mario, it spurred the industry into an unknown future and an uncertainty if the consumers would buy in to this newfound life given by Nintendo's launch of the NES in North America.

## SEGA vs. Nintendo: The Console Wars

As Nintendo's NES system neared the end of its established life span, SEGA begins making headway into North America. No one knew in the 80's that SEGA existed, but the company made a profound statement to North American consumers with the Mega Drive/Genesis game system with the campaign of "Genesis Does what Nintendon't" (a mashup of "Genesis Does what Nintendo Does Not") highlighting its advanced 16-bit system which shipped ahead of the Super NES system. While it's clear that Alex Kidd was SEGA's original de facto mascot, North America never became attached to it like Mario, so SEGA needed one to attach consumers to and did so in the form of its now-known rival, Sonic the Hedgehog. For years, it was Mario vs. Sonic even before the *Mario vs. Sonic* Olympic games themed titles. Atari tried to enter the console wars with the Jaguar, but failed to convince consumers of its feasibility. Sony later entered with the Playstation and a new console war was soon to errupt.

## The Age of the "Real" Gamers

As SEGA moved on to software production, Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft enter into a flurry of a three-way. During the early 2000's, not a lot of consumers became attached with the GameCube system as Sony's Playstation 2 and Microsoft's first-generation Xbox launched. It was also the time of which consoles could now have the ability to connect via modem thanks to the innovation first introduced in 1998 with the SEGA Dreamcast system and allow the consumer to connect with others. Soon, the age of "real gamers" would begin. Unfortunately, the GameCube lacked in the broadband connectivity feature disappointing reviewers and critics. As the consoles progressed, the connectivity was broadened and the advent of Wi-fi internet was upon them allowing a more fluent connection and clearer audio quality in the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 systems. Once again, like the GameCube, the Wii by Nintendo failed to impress critics of such features. In its ten and a half years, the Playstation and Xbox systems have managed to be more streamlined with video streaming, and web browsing. The Playstation 4 showed its proven "gamer" prowless while the Xbox One goes beyond just a gaming console. Originally dubbed the "Xbox 720" in development, this is the first console to feature web streaming, TV streaming via a cable connection, and voice recognition of which consumers command the system to turn on or shut down with a built in microphone inside the system.

## Gamergate

Of the most recent stories by ABN GameZone, the infamous Gamergate industry shakeup got critics wide eyed starting with the development of the Phil Fish Twitter tirades, then the Phil Fish/Zoe Quinn story and how each of them were "doxxed", an unlawful act of viewing their information by means of infiltrating into their IP address, Playstation Network or Xbox Live account, and performing a number of lawless deeds like posting such information on social sites like Reddit, or Paste Bin. Of the most wide eyed story to date in ABN GameZone's history is the Anita Sarkeesian "feminist movement" and the mess behind this recent development in light of Sarkeesian pegged by Electronic Arts to be its adviser for the sequel of *Mirror's Edge*.

## Gamergate Part 2 with Lizard Squad DDOS attacks

ABN GameZone filed several reports regarding the internet hacking group known as Lizard Squad. Lizard Squad's group of highly expert hackers were reported to have made numerous distributed denial-of-service (**DDoS**) attacks in an attempt to make a machine or network resource unavailable to its intended users. A DoS attack generally consists of efforts to temporarily or indefinitely interrupt or suspend services of a host connected to the Internet. One such instance happened on the Microsoft Xbox Live service in 2013 and 2014 of which users were not able to access their accounts due to this distributed denial-of-service attack to Microsoft. Sony and their Playstation Network (PSN) consumers were also hit with a DDOS attack at the hands of Lizard Squad hackers. Their role in Gamergate history is galvanized thanks to several sources within the auspices of Microsoft and Sony as well as their consumers of Xbox Live and PSN.

## Konami-gate

While a bit of stretch as said by ABN GameZone's opponents, the network filed reports on "Konami-gate", a series of stories related to the Japanese third-party software developer. The first was the cancellation of *Silent Hills*, which was supposed to be a sequel to the *Silent Hill* game franchise derived from the film of said title. Then there were rumors of another *Metal Gear* game. Konami denies such rumors. Iwo Kojima, the lead developer of the *Metal Gear* series then leaves Konami on the suspicion of unfair practices. What unfair practices that were committed by Konami remains unknown and the company refuses to release information about the mistreatment of Mr. Kojima. Following this story, Konami delists from the New York Stock Exchange. American stock holders having put shares in Konami lost hundreds of thousands of dollars. Konami established a recently tumultuous relationship with its fanbase upon announcing a new mobile gaming approach in Spring 2015, later apologizing, but not to the discontent and chagrin of Konami's global consumers.