I had zero interest in playing The Old Republic.

When the game was announced, I found it to be an odd way to go, but the things that my friends and I were coming up with as possibilities of what the game could offer got us incredibly excited. However, there's a lot of times when "the internet happens" and you just don't want it to. It feels almost like it has this painstakingly accurate way of shitting on your hopes and making you break down with a facepalm followed by a "why". That's what led me to not caring about The Old Republic - the negativity of those on the internet.

As a gamer and a person, I end up having these moments pop up right when certain games launch. For those who remember, I spewed nothing but venom and hatred for Fallout 3 before its release because of what seemed like blasphemy to what the previous games had been. However, upon release, my curiosity got the best of me and led me to be lined up at a local Wal-Mart to pick up a copy. Even then, I was told that all they had were the Lunchbox Editions. I threw down $80 for a game that I had just been talking non-stop shit about for the better part of a year. It was an instance where I was so relieved to find that the game was great.

Meanwhile, there are those times when those purchases just don't live up to anything, not even the slightest shred of hope...like Divinity II.

My friend asked if we were going to install The Old Republic on the computers at work, and I told him how Origin was a shit setup but we'd definitely look into it. He told me it didn't use Origin.

REALLY? Alright, you have me a little more intrigued.

After installing it...which was INCREDIBLY FUCKING EASY, I decided "eh, let's check it out for a little bit".

30 minutes later, I needed to buy the game. The Star Wars geekdom in me was tickled just right. Even though I only reached level 3 in the game, it showed me what I needed to see to commit: The Old Republic is a game where the money and production value that went into making it has proven to be a massive labor of love.

There are so many things that impress the hell out of me with The Old Republic. One of the worst parts of most MMOs is that the solo questing is always nothing more than a boring ass grind where you barely read any of the lore or story being given to you. With The Old Republic, BioWare puts that front and center. There have been many times that I've questioned whether this should've been a single player game out of the gate, as the focus on the story is great. All the voice acting is good, and the level of immersion I've already experienced with this world is deeper than anything I've seen before in an MMO.

There are also the smart choices in the little things, from how they handle crafting to the target marker icons used in marking different mobs. There are a fuckload of world bosses, plenty of instances, lots of heroic quests (some of which can be both lengthy and challenging), a real feeling of a WORLD that feels ALIVE and BREATHING.

Is it the most open world? No. Things do sometimes feel rather sectioned off and instanced, almost linear in design. However, I see it as being no different than something like the world of Dark Souls or even the world of Dragon Age: Origins. Both had good worlds while also still having a bit of a mapped-out, more linear approach. It's how you handle the context and the general aesthetic of that world, what tone it sets. The Old Republic handles all of that well.

The quests are smartly designed, as most of the times, quests have a bonus objective (almost not unlike Dungeons & Dragons Online) of "kill this many guys". The quests themselves, however, are generally the "get so many of these things" or "hey, go do this to that many things" types of setups. However, each of those things seems pretty well-reasoned when you are talking to the NPC that offers that quest. In previous MMOs, that stuff was just a grind. In here, that grind is masked behind a REASON to do that shit. I know why I poisoned the water supply at the Rebel Camps on Balmorra. I couldn't tell you why the fuck I ever had to poison anything in World of Warcraft.

That's where The Old Republic succeeds and many other MMOs...in my eyes now...fail - BioWare has found a way to engage the player into the world and the story that is unfolding, not just shove it aside as a grind to get paid.

All of this is nothing more than to say "thank you, BioWare...and I'm sorry for doubting you". Whether you care for MMOs or not, The Old Republic feels like a love letter to Star Wars fans while also feeling like the improvements that were needed in the world of MMOs. Many of those improvements are not necessarily new, but they are compiled together.

I got into the Super Monday Night Combat beta. That's all I can say about that, unfortunately, since anyone in the closed beta is under an NDA. I'm pretty sure that I can say that it has me excited to play more Super Monday Night Combat, though... That's okay to say, right?

However, I CAN talk about how Gamestop had this whole "Buy 2 Get 1 Free" on all their used games, and coincidentally, they had Vanquish and El Shaddai for $17 a piece (the free game was Mass Effect 2...my brother's X-mas present). I almost picked up Nier as my third choice to continue with the whole "weird Japanese" aesthetic, but I decided to have a heart and shit.

Both of those games are exactly what I was hoping for: excited and fun to play. El Shaddai is something that I kind of regret not having on my Best Of 2011 list, but I've also only been through a couple of hours (I'm in Act 2 right now).

If it's one thing that they both make me appreciate, it's the fact that they take this complete left-turn approach to their respective genres. Sure, the DMC-combat-style of game has always been a little weird and crazy, but I like having no HUD and the mystery that the game surrounds you in. There are few games I know of that start and very quickly rewind you back to the start screen. It sets a very specific mood and aura around the game that makes me curious to delve further into it.

Vanquish, on the other hand, gives me all of that pulse-pounding action that I expect from a PlatinumGames joint. ROCKET KNEES! If anything, this is Gears of War done right: fast, snappy, and absolutely bonkers from the get-go. Again, I'm super excited to put more time into it, and if my playtime with Bayonetta (something close to 70 hours) is any indication, I'm sure Vanquish will get a ton of spin time in the 360.

Beyond that, I plugged in Divinity II: The Dragon Knight Saga last night. Guys, I don't think I want to play any more Divinity II: The Dragon Knight Saga. That game...still isn't very well made. When something says it has been remastered and reworked, I'm expecting it to...ya know...not still be the same goddamn thing. Oh well. I'll probably end up playing it because I can't let the game sit on my profile without getting some achievements unlocked. It's just going to be a painful ride. That's all.

Speaking of achievements, I am SOOOOOOOOO FUCKING CLOSE to S-ranking Saints Rows The Third. SOOOOOOO close. Afterwards, the game will get to sit around as I wait for the DLC to actually start pouring out. Are you guys stoked for some Saints 3 DLC?

Either way, that's all for now. Until next time, piece.

My 25 Best Games of 2011

What makes a game worthy of "Game of the Year"? Is it how much time you can sink into the game? Does the game have to make you think beyond what the game itself is? Does it need to be frustratingly difficult but seriously rewarding when you overcome it? Does it just need to be functional and something you like? Is it quirk or spectacle or pretentiousness?

There's no right or wrong answer. There's only the opinion of the one making the judgment. That judgment will not be agreed upon by everyone, but it doesn't need to be. If anything, making this list opens your eyes to realize that this was a phenomenal year to be a gamer. There were so many quality games (especially in the last half of the year) that it will be difficult for anyone to honestly make a 100% perfect list of the best games to come out this year.

As with all my yearly lists, this cannot be a comprehensive list. I don't own a PS3, so I don't have PS3 games on here. If I did, I'm sure Uncharted 2 or LittleBigPlanet2 or something else might show up. They don't. I'm sorry. These are the 25 games that I personally played this year which made me stand up and applaud.

	1. Bastion I cannot do it. I cannot find the words that need to fill this space in order to explain and justify to anyone why Bastion is my Game of the Year. I have typed at least twenty different paragraphs over the last few weeks trying to explain it, and every time I do, I find that there is way too much to say. While every other game I played this year that appears on this list was fun and engrossing and a prime example of what good game development should be, Bastion was the one game that actually latched into me beyond just being a fantastic and well-made game. Beneath all the cool little gimmicks of a narrator explaining every move you make like he's unfolding a story at a campfire and how the world literally forms at the base of your feet with every step, there's a great fiction and incredible levels of allegory and philosophy that kept me thinking about the game and what it is saying long after the end credits. With every arrow you fire and every swing of your hammer (if those are the weapons you choose, mind you), the narrator Rucks is laying down the tragedy of this world and its denizens. By the time you reach the choice you need to make at the end, you have been run through an emotional tour-de-force, and the decision you must make is heavy-handed either way. Yet again, here's another paragraph trying to explain my fascination with this game. I don't care if people think it's not the right choice. I don't care if they disagree. This is my list, and this is my Game of the Year.
	2. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Skyrim is no pushover, not by any stretch of imagination in either you or me. This will likely be the Game of the Year choice for millions. That's great, because the game is well-deserving of it. Why didn't I put it in that slot? Despite the 50+ hours I've already put into the game, the level of depth that has been added on top of the already-familiar Elder Scrolls formula, the amazing depth of fiction... Despite all of that, Skyrim was just another open-world RPG to me. It's a fan-fucking-tastic open-world RPG, and it happens to be the only entry in the Elder Scrolls franchise that I actually like (flame-shield ON). It's a technical marvel, a stroke of genius on the part of Bethesda. However, after a couple weeks, it was just "the next Elder Scrolls" game, and there was at least one game I could think of that went above and beyond that call.
	3. Dark Souls Dark Souls is inaccessible, exploitable, has frame rate issues in areas with heavy amounts of water, and promotes griefing in its online gameplay. Did you ever think you would hear those words before someone says "...and it's easily one of the best games this year because of almost all of it"? Sure, there's an incredibly deep level of character customization available to you and at least a hundred different things you won't get done in your first playthrough because you didn't know about it. However, that's kind of the brilliance of Dark Souls: it allows for players to go into a New Game Plus and still feel like it's a fresh and new game, even by the time you've gone through it four times already.
	4. League of Legends "This game came out in 2009". You're right. It did. However, Dominion DID launch in 2011, and that makes me feel justified in adding it to my list. Out of all the games I spent time with this year, League of Legends took the vast majority of it...and more money that I'd like to admit maybe. The new Dominion mode for LoL took the game from being a "DOTA clone" into the MOBA classifier that Riot helped invent, and it is fast-paced fun all-around. It's not just about pushing lanes anymore, and innovations in the genre like this are exactly why Riot is at the top of the MOBA world. Add in all the crazy and exciting champs that were released as well as the introduction of Season Two (with all its game-changing enhancements), and League of Legends continues to prove why free-to-play games are worthwhile endeavors.
	5. Dead Space 2 I am unapologetic in my love for all things blood and gore. Dead Space 2 fulfilled that need multiple times over in just one playthrough, so it's probably telling that I did three playthroughs before I finally set it down to play other games coming out this year. The continued adventures of Isaac are an obsession of mine, and Dead Space 2 definitely ups the ante in both story and presentation. It was merely the start to a great year from EA.
	6. Portal 2 Where Portal offered up a complex puzzle game rooted in physics with a minimalist story and one of the most interesting new characters in gaming in the past two decades, Portal 2 expands into an actual story with reason and purpose. It's still that physics-based puzzle game we all know and love, but there's more heart to it this time around. You don't just feel bad for Glados, the determined robot that wanted you dead in the first game. You want to see her succeed in her mission. The writing is even more biting and witty than the first, but the multitude of characters we meet make this world feel alive and meaningful rather than just "something that exists".
	7. Saints Row: The Third Absolute, utter, insane ridiculousness does not necessarily guarantee that a game like Saints Row The Third will see the top ten of a "Best of 2011" list. Even a well-designed game with good gameplay mechanics and a ton of shit to do does not necessarily do it for me. The moment where it clicked that this game was goddamn genius was while listening to one of the radio stations. No, it's not the moment when you and Pierce sing Sublime's "What I Got" in its entirety while driving to a location. It's the moment that I heard a commercial on a radio station for a modern day text adventure game where one person states "...but how does the game look in HD" and the reply was "the Helvetica font is sharp...as...fuck" that I realized this game was on a completely different level. The writing, the characters, the environment, the game design - everything about this game is as sharp looking as its boxart.
	8. Shadows of the Damned Ludicrous, loud, dirty, vulgar, juvenile, hilarious, disgusting, icky... This is Shadows of the Damned. Suda51 doesn't shy away from the words "over-the-top" here. The mixture of Japanese weirdness guaranteed that I'd fall in love with the game, and despite how short the story is or how wonky it feels to aim your gun at times, I still can't think of any game that presented me with more fun and laughs combined over the course of the year.
	9. Alice: Madness Returns Before playing Alice: Madness Returns, I had to ask myself repeatedly "can I give this game a fair judgment?". Back when I was reviewing games, I ended up becoming something of a pen pal with American McGee about multiple topics, one of which was the hope for a sequel to his original PC-only game Alice. He talked about the changing climate of games and whether he'd be able to make the game he wanted. By the time we lost contact, he was in the middle of finding out that the movie for Alice was going to be lingering in development and his OZ project was getting the axe. Now, having played the sequel, I feel like American got to make exactly the game he wanted to without compromising very much at all. The game oozes with style and dread, but it's the way that Alice: Madness Returns really digs into the ideas of the human psyche and how far we will go to push memories out of our mind that really drives Madness Returns into my top ten list. Ya done good, American. Ya done real good.
	10. L.A. Noire People got upset over the controversy of Team Bondi, which may have hurt the reputation of this game in some ways. However, the game that Team Bondi developed and Rockstar published was an interesting mixture of adventure game, puzzle game, and action game that the mainstream could attach itself to. The most impressive piece of L.A. Noire, however, lies in its facial animation. The actors of the game were capable of giving what felt like REAL performances in a game, then translate those so seamlessly into an interactive experience. Unfortunately, the game pretty much only holds up for one playthrough, and the DLC was a little hit-and-miss. Still, it was an undeniable powerhouse in 2011.
	11. Battlefield 3 There are shooters, and then there is Battlefield. It's a first-person shooter that continually deserves to be in a class of its own. The single player campaign was weak, but you come to the franchise for the multiplayer. That seems like a discredit to the game being one of the best of the year, but when a company creates such an undeniably addictive mix of chaos and consistently good shooting in a game, there's literally no way you can keep it off a list like this.
	12. Iron Brigade 2011 might as well have been called "the year where tower defense was reinvented a million times over". The best of those reinventions, however, was easily Iron Brigade (formerly Trenched). Double Fine's risky little love child trio this year (Stacking, this game, and Sesame Street: Once Upon A Monster) proved to be quite fruitful, but Iron Brigade's unique mixture of loot-driven vanity and hyper-fun multiplayer action definitely makes it one of the year's best releases.
	13. The Dishwasher: Vampire Smile If you were to tell me that I'd dump close to 40 hours into this game over the course of the year and STILL not see all the content it offers, I'd call you a goddamn liar. Like Dark Souls, this game can become bone-crushingly difficult at the blink of an eye, and it will definitely test your "twitch" skill pretty well. The Dishwasher: Vampire Smile is another great instance of how downloadable titles are slowly becoming the new standard of game development in my eyes.
	14. Gears of War 3 As someone who has never been a huge fan of the franchise, Gears 3 was much like Skyrim for me: it did all the things I wanted the franchise to do in order to grab me and take me for a ride. The controls don't feel nearly as clunky as its previous two installments. The overhaul to Horde mode, the addition of Beast mode, enough online infrastructure to keep people playing for years to come, a reworked community setup... All in all, Gears 3 seemed like the best way to send off the trilogy with a huge bang.
	15. From Dust This was easily the most unique game that I played in 2011, and despite being incapable of actually describing what the hell this game is to anyone else, people were always interested in watching me play it. PEOPLE WANTED TO WATCH ME TRANSFER SAND FROM ONE SPOT TO A DIFFERENT SPOT! When a game can capture people like that, you know that it is something special and on a completely different level than the rest of the industry. That's how beautiful and original the game genuinely is, and it's sad that the game had to deal with publisher Ubisoft screwing with the PC audience by making false claims about their DRM setup.
	16. Galaga Legions DX When Pac-Man DX came out, there was a crazy simplicity but undeniable level of strategy involved in playing the game. I consistently tried to get within the top 100 highest scores on one of the leaderboards for about two months after the game came out. Galaga Legions DX took that same philosophy and applied it to what was a decent-but-flawed formula from Galaga Legions. Adding in a ton of different visual elements and ramping up the insanity that occurred on-screen, Galaga Legions DX was just what you want it to be: as simple or as difficult as you want to make it, depending on whether you care to chase leaderboard scores or not.
	17. Batman: Arkham City Arkham City had some fever-pitch hype surrounding it, thanks mainly to the surprise that was Arkham Asylum. While this installment improved in a lot of areas, those improvements could also be a bit cumbersome in big doses. Arkham City's large world is littered with collectibles...maybe TOO MANY, but they are there for the taking. The main story is good...maybe not GREAT like its predecessor, but the trade-off is a handful of just-as-good side missions. It feels like the quality of Asylum is there, but it's spread out a bit too much and feels overwhelming before you know it. That doesn't mean it is bad by any stretch of the imagination, as the combat system has been streamlined even further and the treatment of the source inspiration is still handled very well.
	18. Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet I love me some Metroid-vania games, and Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet was a game that oozed both style and gameplay pedigree. Many times, I had to ask myself if I actually liked the game or just the visual style. However, when I consider how much time I put into the Lantern Run (which I still haven't gotten that goddamn achievement on), I know that it was definitely the gameplay. It wasn't just the great co-op multiplayer, though. The single player campaign had a very minimal approach to the story and focused heavily on the actual gameplay. The controls felt incredibly tactile, and the only downside was that the single player itself was a bit on the short side. Still, for $15, it was well worth every penny.
	19. Gatling Gears Gatling Gears was a decent surprise in the "bullet-hell" arena this year. While it didn't match the intensity of something like Jamestown necessarily, it had a great visual aesthetic and just happened to be a cheap downloadable title. When you kick the difficulty up, the game can almost become crippling, but getting past a level at that point felt absolutely euphoric. The controls were also very sharp, even if the camera could float a bit on the dodgy side every now and then.
	20. Deus Ex: Human Revolution Thankfully, we can say the phrase "Human Revolution was not like Invisible War". In all honesty, I think that's all that genuinely needs to be said here. What, you need more? Well, the game does a lot to offer a free-form style of gameplay to the player - you can be a stealthy assassin, run in and use cover to blast away enemies, or just avoid combat altogether. That's not where the game shines, though. The best parts lie in how deep the fiction goes, as there are literally hundreds of sources within the world to learn more about what is going on, the backgrounds of characters and situations, and overall, these things make Deus Ex: Human Revolution feel like more than just the cheap cash-in that people were expecting before its release.
	21. Bulletstorm On the opposite end of Shadows of the Damned and Suda51's Grasshopper Manufacture, you have Bulletstorm and People Can Fly. This game was lewd, crude, over-the-top in the most over-the-top way imaginable, and an absolute blast to play through. Despite being a bit heavy on the "bro-tastic" approach to character and story, it was absolutely unapologetic in everything it did. Mixed into that crass and bold design, you'll find a game that is immense amounts of fun to play.
	22. Dungeon Siege III Dungeon Siege III received a lot of flak from critics and fans who felt the game was watered down from what its predecessors were. Personally, I felt that Dungeon Siege III was enjoyable. The story was well-written, the different characters had their own unique playstyles that felt really good, and the world you explored was well-designed for a pseudo-dungeon-crawler. The linear world was a bit of a drawback, but it was far from a fault. The only true issue I had with the game was the weird setup for multiplayer co-op. Other than that, it was a perfectly fine game that I sunk many hours into.
	23. Mortal Kombat The resurgence of 2D-planed fighting games helped revitalize Mortal Kombat from what felt like a very slow and plodding 3D fighter death. After a ton of lackluster titles, seeing Scorpion and Sub-Zero return to their former glory was a breath of fresh air. You didn't have to be a pro to enjoy Mortal Kombat, so both beginner button-mashers and guys who know terms like "OTG" or "combo links" or "cancel" could get a solid amount of enjoyment from the title. Add in the fact that it brings the joyous celebration of blood and gore back to the forefront, and you can't help but have this game in your collection. So why is it so low on the list? Well, to be honest, I only played it for two weeks before I got a tad bit tired of playing it. Then again, it's tough to continue playing something when you keep getting your ass kicked in it.
	24. Assassin's Creed: Revelations If you are looking for more Assassin's Creed, then Revelations has got you covered. Aside from how much the graphics continue to improve on this old of an engine (seriously, the clothing designs are AMAZING), the game adds on to all of the existing stuff we've come to know in the last two entries. The beginning is still a slow burn like Brotherhood, the online multiplayer has been drastically improved, and the close-out of Ezio's story will leave you with more questions than answers. All of this seems like the proper way to say "requiesce in pace" to Ezio's journeys in the Assassin's Creed franchise.
	25. Rock of Ages Last but not least, there's Rock of Ages, the quirky little game from the creators of Zeno Clash. Why is this on the list? WHY SHOULDN'T IT BE?! Despite the fact that it's a pretty good game (single player or against someone else), there's a great sense of absurdist humor mixed with some great referential material that will pull a chuckle out of any long-time gamer. Moreover, Rock of Ages helps to further prove the mantra that games weren't always about shooting stuff and jumping on platforms: sometimes, they were just weird and fun.

Now that the Skyrims and AssRevs have seen release, we're entering that period of the year where we do either one of two things: play a fuckload of Skyrim (as you should) or play a bunch of games that we never got around to earlier this year.

For me, it's the latter...and I'm justifying it by saying "I'm waiting for the Skyrim patch". What? Don't judge me, fucker!

For Black Friday, I went to Gamestop and took advantage of their B2G1 free sale. In turn, this put three games I really wanted to try into my possession finally:

1. Shadows of the Damned
2. Alice: Madness Returns
3. Deus Ex: Human Revolution

Later that day, I went by Hasting's and picked up a fourth used game on sale - Divinity II: The Dragon Knight Saga.

Here's some initial impressions.

Shadows of the Damned

For anyone who knows my love of Bayonetta and other insanely over-the-top games with that massive "Japanese weirdness", you should already know how much I'm in love with Shadows of the Damned. Yeah, the shooting feels a bit loose, but so does your mom. ZING! Any game where the main character is a guy named Garcia Fucking Hotspur trying to get his girlfriend Paula (who he found in a dumpster and took home) from a phallic-headed six-eyed demon named Fleming (who plans to torture and possibly rape Paula repeatedly in Hell) with the help of his former demon buddy Johnson (who turns into his different weapons including the Boner, Teether, Hot Boner, and Big Boner) and a half-human/half-demon named Christopher (with a giraffe neck, Southern accent and hospitality, and a hunger for white gems)... Goddamn, I need to play more Shadows of the Damned. Also, I want a replica of every single poster that they have in that game. They are all magnificent nods and references to different movies/games (the Portal one is fucking hilarious).

Alice: Madness Returns

As someone who was a big fan of the first game, this was something I always wanted to see happen. As someone who talked to American on a pretty regular and personal basis about his frustrations with the gaming and movie industry (namely about the defunct Oz project he was working on as well as the production hell of the Alice movie), this was something I never expected to happen. The little bit that I played last night (I just found the Mad Hatter) has been fucking excellent. Really looking forward to playing more of that, and I'm definitely buying the original from XBLA at some point this week.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution

Is it okay to say that I'm not digging it so far? Sure, I haven't made a ton of progress in the game yet (still on the first mission). However, there's...well...there's all this talk of "choice in gameplay", but I feel like my "choice" is "sneak around like a bitch and stay behind cover because you're going to get fucked up otherwise". I mean, this isn't "Deus Ex: Espionage Revolution", and I know that the original (which I loved) had some stealthiness about the game. I just don't remember it being so clear-cut in that part of the gameplay department. Oh well. I'm going to stick it out and play some more.

Divinity II: The Dragon Knight Saga

I haven't plugged this in yet, but my friend Pip said "buy it, it's what you wanted Divinity II to be". He and I see eye-to-eye on many things, and for $20, I figured it was worth some of my time. Ego Draconis was fucking wretched, so anything that improves upon that works for me at this point. I'm sure I'll have something to say about that eventually.

Beyond that, we've got a copy of Assassin's Creed: Revelations at the store that I still haven't touched yet. I might get around to that at some point, as I need to start rounding out my Top 25 for the year (which pretty much seems about complete so far). I figure that'll be on there somewhere.

WHAT ABOUT YOU GUYS? What games are you catching up on before the end of the year? What did you pick up for Black Friday? What are you picking up for Cyber Monday?

Until next time, piece.

(P.S. - Super 8 was pretty alright, but I could've done without so much sappy drama bullshit).

***WARNING - THERE MAY BE SPOILERS DOWN YONDER***

No matter where you go on the internet, you are going to find plenty of people that will take something great (in this case, Skyrim) and try to nitpick it to death in order to bring it down a notch or two. Why wouldn't you? After five years of waiting and promises of lessons learned alongside new technology, you come to expect the game to be something akin to perfection. It's a silly expectation to have.

However, there's something that whittles at you as minutes turn to hours while roaming and exploring the world of Skyrim. For every sweeping vista presented to us, we are presented with a bug; for every dragon encounter, there's a glitch somewhere else. It's the curse of the open world game, maybe even mathematic formula - ambition and innovation comes with a price. It's a price we happily pay...isn't it? Maybe not, if you look at the myriad of players out there who are complaining about every little thing here and there that comes up. It's perfectly acceptable to bring these things up, as low-res textures rear their ugly head and giants pummel us...into the sky?

There are greater concerns, though. For instance, how much further does Skyrim honestly push the genre forward? Its play-forever quest system seems pretty well built, and while one can feel like they are incapable of telling the difference within the first ten hours or so of playtime, you eventually see where the system is at play. When you make your way into a town like Solitude and the first thing that happens is a guard telling you to pay a tax to enter (only to persuade him otherwise through speech), it makes the world feel a bit more alive...even if you can see the seams of where it is all stitched together.

Yes, Skyrim pushes things further when it comes to general creating a world of minutia and detail. What about choice? Do we have choices in the game? It would make you think so. To kill or not to kill; to steal or not to steal; we have choices all around us. What about when we want to join The Circle? Can we choose to find a way into The Circle without taking in the blood of the Lycan? Through all the errands you run and speechcraft you improve... With all the dragons and spriggans and bandits you've slain, is there a way to persuade Skjor to let you into The Circle...to trust you...without having to subside and become a creature of the night?

No.

You have no choice. If you wish to continue the questline, please drink from this fountain of blood and move onward. That's when you realize "nope, it's still just a game".

It is something that is understandable when trying to join the Thieves' Guild: if you can't pickpocket someone or steal from someone worth a shit, why should you join that guild? However, a precedent is set with The Companions early on that there are members that aren't werewolves. Sure, they also aren't part of The Circle itself, but progressing through the story, you find your leader talking about how great an addition you've been and how he hopes to groom you to become the next leader. You try to find another way to be in The Circle. Even the old man sitting at the Skyforge says that he will not become a werewolf, but he offers no alternate questline. If there is a questline that doesn't involve ripping your clothes off and becoming a beast, it's not easily presented as an option to you. That's fine, but it also means the player doesn't feel like there is a choice.

Going into the game, my character had a certain set of principles and morals that I personally wanted to follow: always dual wield, never use magic that isn't resto or alter, never become a creature like a vampire or a werewolf due to your own free will, and always act the role of a berserker. It had worked perfectly fine...until now. There is a roadblock, and I unfortunately passed it.

I don't feel like this is "my" character anymore. I now feel like I'm a byproduct of a linear pathway.

Has Skyrim pushed the genre forward? The definitive answer amongst the crowd is "yes, it has". However, there are times where it feels like the game is still so far away.

I hope everyone is enjoying the game as much as I genuinely am, but I hope you get to stand true to your character more than I have.

Within the course of a week, I purchased Dark Souls and Skyrim. This is the part where you look at the computer screen and say "oh shit, what the fuck have you done to yourself, jakob187?" I know, I know. It's kinda fucked. Not proper fucked, but fucked enough.

I had just gotten my Greatshield of Artorias and Quelaag's +5 on Dark Souls (and on my way to picking up my Ornstein's Armor...first playthrough btw) when Skyrim was released. The moment the game hit my hands, there was this internal conflict that was too great to handle: which game would get my time? Both are incredibly well-made RPGs, both are relatively unconventional by many genre standards, and yet...it feels like the Judgment of Solomon. It's impossible (or at least feels that way) to dump the right amount of time necessary for either one of them to be everything that they should be.

This is an odd place to be as someone who has (flame-shield on) venomously hated the Elder Scrolls franchise. I never cared for the leveling system, the way they handled stat dumping, the level scaling, and so many of the other things that the games featured. However, something about Skyrim feels so goddamn right. The way they handle leveling is still the same, but it feels much more natural and well-paced as I progress through the game. The perks system is what makes all that feel perfect. I never felt like I was actually creating my own character before in the other Elder Scrolls games - I was playing by genre conventions still. In Skyrim, it genuinely feels like this character you've created is your own. Everything about him (or her), from the spells you use to the weapons you smash with... It just feels...right.

Dark Souls is phenomenal, though. It's the kind of game that makes you realize just how weak and yet how strong you are. When you are getting your ass handed to you, man...you are getting it HANDED to you! However, when you triumph over that battle, you stand back and shout "I AM A GOLDEN FUCKING GOD, YOU PIECE OF SHIT" and then do a celebratory dance...and that's just against some piddly muthafucker in the first area. Sure, the game can be exploited, but it's part of it all. That capability of saying "hey, I found this way to do something I probably shouldn't, but I just fucking owned that asshole, so it's worth it" is just another layer of that power. The depth of character creation is also fantastic, as you feel COMPLETELY custom.

It's a tough place to be as a gamer right now with all the games coming out (I still haven't touched Arkham City or Battlefield 3 again since I bought Dark Souls). However, for any RPG fan, it's an especially difficult time. How do you put the proper amount of time into two games that are fully deserving of it?

And that's BEFORE February come around and we have Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning brought into our lives.

Anyone else that has this problem arising? Is anyone else torn between these two games...or any games right now...and if so, what's the solution? Do you just forsake one until you've become sick and tired of the other?

I started playing guitar when I was 13 years old. There was always a passion for music burning inside me, but once I picked up a guitar, I realized that I had more than a passion for the music that others created. Because of that 1991 Ibanez Silver Cadet, I had a passion inside myself to create music.

That guitar was something I purchased from a guy named Mark Swanner, a classmate that was in the local band Zero Signal. The members of the band were all people I would become good friends with: Mark, John Taylor, Bobby Fajardo, and the lead singer Dan Rowan. At the time, however, I didn't see them as friends. I didn't know them that well. They were an inspiration. The music they created was something that melted the styles of nu metal with the classic metal feel we all knew for something incredibly unique. Dan's lyrics weren't the same as everyone else's teen angsty bullshit. They were words that touched and inspired so many of us. The first time that John showed up to one of our parties, I was speechless. Here was the bass player for the band that I listened to all the time. It was like meeting a rock star...and then I learned that they were just regular doods like the rest of us.

My band played the senior talent show. We were nervous as Hell because we knew that Dan's old band, Torque, was playing as well. When my band took the stage, we were floundering...hard. Dan, John, and his crew are what saved it. Afterwards, despite floundering, Dan was the first guy to say "I like that song, guys...keep it up, and fuck all those people out there...what do they know?"

When Dan died ten years ago, it wasn't just something that took everyone back a notch, making us say "what?". I was sitting out in the laundry room with my friends playing darts and hanging out. Casey showed up at the house, tears in her eyes like she had been crying forever. She told us Dan was dead. We couldn't believe it. The local radio station, which did a local band showcase every night from 10:00pm to 11:00pm played an hour of Locus (the name they picked after they decided to stop copping off Fear Factory's song name).

There are a few signs that someone influenced and inspired so many people. Dan's funeral was attended by over 600 people. You read that right: 600 people...for someone who wasn't "famous", someone who wasn't more than a regular guy that wanted to strap on a guitar and rock the fuck out, hang out with his friends, and dedicate some time to his notchback Mustang. Numerous people - more than I can count on six hands at least - have dedicated a portion of their body to having either some of his artwork (or their own memorials) inked on their body. I am included in that group of people, and it's a reminder to me everyday. Life is far too short. Don't take a moment for granted. Be good to others and show respect unless someone proves they don't deserve it. Don't let authority tell you something is impossible. Push yourself to do things that you wouldn't try otherwise. These are all things that Dan showed and taught me.In short, Dan was more than just some guy in the neighborhood, a student, or the lead singer of an influential local band. He was an idol for me, a friend to many, and someone that we still miss everyday.

Today is not a day of mourning, but a day of rememberance. I couldn't find my copy of Spill, the only CD that I ever had which Locus put out.

When I finally finished driving to work, I sat in my car and cried for a solid two minutes easily before I composed myself to continue the rest of the day.

This is how I remember Dan.

We miss you, Dan. I miss you.

We wish you could be here.

HEY GUYS! It's November, which means the most glorious holiday for gamers in the nation is about to come around: BLACK FRIDAY! This holiday season looks like it's going to be jam packed with some phat ass deals to stack under the tree as presents this year. Here's the official lookout thread for everything to do with Black Friday!!! I will be going through ONLY VIDEO GAME RELATED ITEMS, and I will keep this blog updated as much as possible with every video game deal I can find as the ads become available. I'll also update with times that the stores open when I know that information as well.

AAFES (opening @ 4:00AM)

GAMES

• Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - $49.95
• Assassin's Creed Revelations - $39.95
• Batman: Arkham City - $39.95
• Battlefield 3 - $39.95
• Forza Motorsports 4 - $39.95
• Gears of War 3 - $39.95
• Madden 12 - $39.95
• NCAA Football 12 - $39.95
• Call of Duty: Black Ops - $29.95
• Dance Central 2 - $29.95
• Just Dance 3 - $29.95
• Kinect Sports Season Two - $29.95
• Need For Speed: The Run (PC) - $29.95
• Rage - $29.95
• Starcraft 2: Wings of Liberty - $29.95
• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 - $19.95
• World of Warcraft: Lich King - $19.95
• World of Warcraft: Cataclysm - $19.95
• World of Warcraft Battle Chest - $9.99

B1G1 DEAL

• Buy any Sims 3 (PC/Mac) game and get one of equal of lesser value (expansions and such) free

Best Buy (opening @ 12:00AM)

GAMES

• Skylanders Mega Pack (basic game pack + 3 character pack + Pirate Seas adventure) - $79.99
• Assassin's Creed Revelations - $34.99
• FIFA 12 - $34.99
• Forza Motorsports 4 - $34.99
• NBA 2K12 - $34.99
• Batman: Arkham City - $29.99
• Battlefield 3 - $29.99
• Call of Duty: Black Ops - $29.99
• Deus Ex: Human Revolution - $29.99
• Madden 12 - $29.99
• Need for Speed: The Run - $29.99
• Rage - $29.99
• Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception - $29.99
• X-Men Destiny - $29.99
• Kinect Sports Season Two - $24.99
• Dirt 3 - $14.99
• Final Fantasy XIII - $14.99
• Homefront - $14.99
• Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions - $14.99

Turtle Beach Headphones - $39.99

Gamestop (opening @ 12:00AM)

Ah, fuck it...I'm just linking this one, as it's a lot to try to type out.

Hastings (opening @ 8:00AM)

250GB Xbox 360 Holiday Bundle (includes Halo Reach and Fable III) + 1 Used Games - $299.99 ***EARLY BIRD ITEM***

160GB Playstation 3 Holiday Bundle (includes Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One and LittleBigPlanet 2) + 2 Used Games - $199.99 ***EARLY BIRD ITEM***

All Used Videogames - 33% off

GAMES

• Skylanders - $49.99
• Battlefield 3 - $39.99
• FIFA Soccer 12 - $39.99
• Forza Motorsports 4 - $39.99
• Madden 12 - $39.99
• Need For Speed: The Run - $39.99
• Sims 3 Pets - $39.99
• Call of Duty: Black Ops - $29.99
• Kinect Sports Season Two - $29.99
• Dance Central - $29.99
• Spider-Man: Edge of Time - $29.99
• Starcraft 2: Wings of Liberty - $29.99
• NASCAR Unleashed - $24.99
• L.A. Noire - $19.99
• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 - $19.99
• World of Warcraft: Lich King - $19.99
• World of Warcraft: Cataclysm - $19.99
• Duke Nukem Forever - $14.99
• World of Warcraft Battle Chest - $9.99

B1G1 DEAL

• Battlefield: Bad Company 2
• Left 4 Dead
• Dante's Inferno
• Medal of Honor
• Army of Two: The 40th Day
• Mass Effect 2
• Dead Space
• The Orange Box

K-Mart (opening @ 5:00AM)

4GB Xbox 360 Console - $149.99

GAMES

• Skylanders Starter Pack - $49.99
• FIFA 12 - $39.99
• Madden 12 - $39.99
• Need for Speed: The Run - $39.99
• NCAA 12 - $39.99
• Forza 4 - $39.99
• Gears of War 3 - $39.99
• Battlefield 3 - $34.99
• Metal Gear Solid HD Collection - $34.99
• Call of Duty: Black Ops - $29.99
• Dance Central 2 - $29.99
• God of War: Origins - $29.99
• Killzone 3 - $29.99
• Kinect Sports Season Two - $29.99
• RAGE - $29.99
• ICO/Shadow of the Colossus HD Collection - $29.99
• Driver: San Francisco - $19.99
• WWE All-Stars - $19.99
• God of War III - $14.99
• Heavy Rain - $14.99
• Gears of War Triple Pack - $14.99
• Transformers: War for Cybertron - $14.99
• Uncharted 2 - $14.99
• Enslaved - $9.99
• Medal of Honor - $9.99

Target (opening @ 12:00AM)

GAMES

• Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - $59.99 w/ $10.00 gift card
• Rayman Origins - $59.99 w/ $10.00 gift card
• Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D - $39.99 w/$10.00 gift card
• Battlefield 3 - $37.00
• Gears of Wars 3 - $37.00
• Madden 12 - $37.00
• Need for Speed: The Run - $37.00
• Resistance 3 - $37.00
• Forza Motorsports 4 - $27.00
• Disney Universe - $27.00
• Cars 2 - $15.00
• Epic Mickey - $15.00

Wal-Mart (starting @ 12:00AM, some sales starting earlier)

4GB Xbox 360 w/ Kinect and $50 Wal-Mart eGift card - $199.98 (item will begin selling at 10:00pm Thanksgiving night)

4GB Xbox 360 w/ Gears of War 3, 3-month Xbox Live Gold Subscription, and $50 Wal-Mart eGift Card - $199.98 (item will begin selling at 10:00pm Thanksgiving Night)

3-month Xbox Live Gold Subscription cards - $12.00

GAMES

• Skylanders Starter Pack - $49.96
• Call of Duty: Black Ops - $28.00
• Batman: Arkham City - $28.00
• Battlefield 3 - $28.00
• Gears of War 3 - $28.00
• Forza Motorsports 4 - $28.00
• NASCAR The Game - $28.00
• Transformers: Dark of the Moon - $28.00
• FIFA Soccer 12 - $28.00
• Madden 12 - $28.00
• Infamous 2 - $28.00
• Killzone 3 - $28.00
• Just Dance 3 - $28.00
• Kinect Sports Season Two - $15.00
• MX vs ATV Alive - $15.00
• Dance Central 2 - $15.00
• Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare - $15.00
• Heavy Rain - $15.00
• Uncharted 2 - $15.00
• Epic Mickey - $15.00
• Toy Story 3 - $15.00
• God of War 3 - $15.00
• LittleBigPlanet 2 - $15.00
• Pure - $10.00
• Kane & Lynch 2 - $10.00
• Yakuza 4 - $10.00
• Bioshock 2 - $10.00
• Quantum of Solace - $10.00
• UFC Undisputed 2010 - $10.00

Here's what I wanna see...

Lavar, Xaos, Guillermo, Woody, and Yelena are Bravo Squad, the toughest sons-a-bitches this side of the schoolyard. When a terrorist threat hits home, Bravo Squad is called in to do what they do best: knife assholes in the face, shoot rockets up their ass, and bust a cap on some muthafuckers!

Features of the game include:

• Play single player or five player co-op campaign (because four player is for pussies) that shows the crumbling of America's library system at the hands of a nefarious terrorist organization!
• Each squad member has their own unique skill set, and advanced training and new moves can be learned by...you guessed it...reading a muthafucking book!
• 256 player online play on huge ass maps with gigantic mech robots from the future, because why the fuck not, bitches?
• Karaoke Mode lets you sing along with famous Reading Rainbow songs, like "Old School Reading Rainbow Theme Song" and "New Reading Rainbow Theme Song"
• Survival Mode globe trots you across the country to different libraries and pits you against the evil forces of a completely different terrorist organization! Save national treasures including Los Angeles Public Library, The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, Boston Public Library, New York Public Library, and the big daddy of them all - The Library of Congress!
• Separate pre-order bonuses at six different locations unlock additional multiplayer weapons, multiplayer skins, and more!
  THREE SKINS HAVE ALREADY BEEN ANNOUNCED!!!
  GAMESTOP PRE-ORDER BONUS: Geordi La Forge skin (as seen on Star Trek: The Next Generation)
  BEST BUY PRE-ORDER BONUS: Kunta Kinte skin (as seen on Roots: The Gift)
  WAL-MART PRE-ORDER BONUS: Family Guy Lavar (as seen on Family Guy)
• Limited "READ THIS!" Edition features a 1:1 scale bust of Lavar Burton's head!
• Coming to Xbox 360, PS3, and PC 2012

***UPDATE***

All fully paid pre-orders for the game at any location will get you a free copy of the new downloadable update, Contraversial!!! Co-directed by George Lucas, Contraversial updates a classic like you've never seen it before...because you can barely see shit due to all the tasteful "updating". George Lucas made a comment on his involvement with the project:

As a long-time fan of Contra, I looked at the technology that we had available to us at Lucasfilm and ILM and said "if I can replace the guns in the hands of people in E.T., why don't I just replace the guns with black bars in Contra?" It was like a stroke of genius that only I can have. I think gamers will find this new and fascinating way a pure thrill to play through.

Also confirmed was a cameo from Giant Bomb editor Brad Shoemaker. He will play the head of a tree that photobombs some dirt.

I was originally going to post this over here in this thread, but as I wrote this, I realized that it needed its own air to breath in. If a mod feels it needs to be locked, I completely understand. However, I get the feeling from the thread I've referenced that it needs a place for serious debate and discussion...if the community's voice really does mean what we are told it means. I believe that our voice does matter, and in turn, here's a tl;dr blog going into some details.

For many of the websites that are out there, HD content is free. It's not something that comes with a paid subscription. Giant Bomb has been a trend-setter since day one. They were the first to mainstream the idea of Quick Looks for games rather than just some developer previews and hands-on things like we had in the past. They have one of the most successful gaming podcasts in the WORLD. They were (as far as I know of) the first dedicated gaming site to also be a wiki site, and that content is created BY THE COMMUNITY! These guys allowed the community to have a voice in this industry! Fuck, they play games from start to finish for 100 episodes because WHY THE FUCK NOT?

However, they are restricting HD video viewing availability to premium members in a time and day where HD content is the NORMAL STANDARD? That just seems a little...odd. Anybody could go to Gametrailers and watch stuff in HD without a membership. It's a step backwards, and does anyone honestly want Giant Bomb to take a step backwards? I sure as fuck don't. I want these guys to continue being the ones that the rest of this industry looks at and says "fuck, we gotta step our game up".

I understand that a comparison to a big entity like Gametrailers is not exactly fair. Giant Bomb is a much smaller operation. However, it's the first site that came to mind because it's the one I watch HAWP on. Still, should the size be an issue when you are a website dedicated to the idea of quality?

Downloading HD content? Sure, I could understand a membership. Premium-only content? Absolutely, I'm alright with that. However, locking the ability to WATCH in HD behind a pay wall at this point seems outdated and unnecessary. These guys have come up with all kinds of excellent premium content that I think losing exclusivity to watching HD content is worth it in order for people to enjoy the free content in the best possible quality that they can. Mind you, I don't know what kind of demands that would have on the overall infrastructure they have as well as how it would affect those of us who are trying to watch stuff. Bandwidth isn't free, and I can only imagine what the stress must be like when you have thousands upon millions viewing your content. Hell, I work at a place where we have a dedicated fiber line. I know how hard that can buckle from 20 Xbox consoles playing online, 20 computers playing online, and just a couple of people watching YouTube or some other video service.

However, it feels like there is an equal place to meet up on this without sacrificing the one thing that really matters the most about this site: quality.

The way I look at it is like this: if I were a new person coming in and decided to watch a video on the site in HD, then I was told "that's for subscribers only", would I want to continue coming to the site itself? Is that a good experience for me as a customer and a visitor? Most likely, it's not. I can go over to YouTube and watch a game trailer or hands-on demo from a ton of other people. I can go to the aforementioned Gametrailers and watch stuff in HD. So why go to Giant Bomb? This is where I can understand the point in the argument: Giant Bomb produces some good original content that can't be found anywhere else, and like anyone that produces original content, you want a paycheck at the end of the day. However, when we're told "we're going to outsource stuff to YouTube as well in order to get extra revenue stream", well...why am I going to click on your video if it's not HD? Because it's Giant Bomb content? What is Giant Bomb? I visit the website and they get a couple of clicks. I see a thread in the forums where both non-subscribers and subscribers alike are saying "HD videos should be free to anyone to watch". I say "oh, they're YouTube is only in 360p? Bump that, I'm Audi 5000".

So, Whiskey Media staff, if you are reading or listening, I am a paid member. I remember something you all said a while back and have stated multiple times since: you work for us - the free ones that see the ads and the paid ones who don't. We put money in your pockets to buy outlandish amounts of Skylanders shit for our amusement, and we greatly appreciate everything this site does. In turn, I know that I myself would like to implore you as a paid member...as someone you work for...to allow everyone to VIEW the video content you produce in the standard of today: HD. If there is something that we can all do, if there is something that can be rearranged...hell, if I have to pay another $10 on my membership for it to happen, then so be it. It feels like the dialogue needs to be there.

We are a community where many of us subscribed just to keep the Bombcast from being split into two pieces so that EVERYONE can enjoy it. Remember that? Here I am, a user, saying I'd pay an extra $10 a year to allow EVERYONE that visits this site to see your shenanigans, in-depth looks at games, and general commentary on the industry in glorious HD. That's still the cost of ONE video game, and I can easily cut ONE game out of my library each year for a community I care about, even if I don't know the vast majority of them.

There will probably be many members that don't agree with this, but at least this side of the argument...I hope and feel...has been presented in a formidable and decently thought-out fashion for you to consider.

*EDIT* Thank you all very much for the intellectual and thoughtful way we have approached this topic. It's nice to see this community can still get down to the nitty gritty when needed.

I wanted to slightly amend something that was brought to my attention. I was unaware that intern content on the YouTube channel was available all the way up to 720p. That is a link to a 20+ minute video of Fear Gauntlet available in high definition. This is content hosted on TheRealGiantBomb, which in turn has left me scratching my head. Why would intern content available in HD but not the regular stuff for the site? We have to ask ourselves that question. I do not mean this to belittle the intern's work, as I love the stuff they've done. I just never checked the HD button on that before because I thought it was locked to the same standard definition as everything else on the channel.

Also, I'm not writing this...and I hope no one else is either...as a "call-out" to Whiskey Media. I hope the staff and everyone else realizes that. A lot of it is curiosity and the users trying to work it out in their own heads what the deal is. As you can see through the comments (and I suggest that everyone reads every single one of them, there's been some great discussion about it so far), this is a community that is just wanting some answers to questions that they have, as well as offering their two cents on whether having HD viewing exclusivity is something they are getting a membership for. It's kind of like a town hall meeting. The vast majority of comments I've seen suggest that HD viewing exclusivity is not a dealbreaker on their memberships. Stuff like TNT, the mobile site, Random PC Game, Load Our Last Save, and Whiskey Jar Time (or whatever Jeff decides to call it with each new iteration) is the reason we pay for our memberships.