I accidentally started playing Civilization 5 again…I’ll miss you, productivity, punctuality, and people.

News Blips:

Kotick claims that console manufacturers are preparing price cuts for their hardware. Speaking to The Financial Times, Activision CEO Bobby Kotick said, “We have more confidence in consumer spending; we feel like some of that has stabilized, and there are price cuts on the [console] hardware in the works.” As the head of a company that sells software, Kotick would greatly benefit if more people were buying the systems. He is also in a position to gain that information from platform holders who need his games. I implicitly trust his word, because he is just so damned handsome. And I’m not saying that because of those totally bogus rumors that he’s been having press members who provide unfavorable coverage...taken care of.

Minecraft developer Markus “Notch” Persson is asking if fans would like to attend a convention for the game in Las Vegas. MinecraftCon -- which presupposes that the fans of the game would be able to pull themselves away from their block worlds long enough to travel to Sin City -- would take place on the game’s official release date of November 11. Notch isn’t sure whether there’s enough demand to warrant a $90 admission and booking a hotel’s conference room. If that kind of thing sounds dope to you, then you should head to the blog and make your voice heard.

Demon’s Souls' spiritual successor, Dark Souls, will tempt players to smash their controllers this October. After Demon’s Souls had gamers punching their walls, Dark Souls can’t be a stroll through Green Hill Zone. Things start off poorly, with the protagonist coming down with a bad case of the curse of the undead, and it isn’t going to get any easier when giant enemies with bigger weapons are trying to slice him up. Now, excuse me, I’m going to call my investor to see if I can buy a few stakes in new controller production.

Sega will revive the Crush series on the 3DS. The PSP game where players were given power over the second and third dimensions to solve platforming puzzles is getting a sequel on Nintendo’s new handheld. This time, the switch between perspectives will be even more extreme, thanks to the console’s 3D screen. Hopefully, the publisher will be able to sell a few more copies this time around.

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