Episode 3: Online Only Emblems of Fire!

Notable News:

This is going to be a short but sweet episode folks. Honestly not much to talk about this week as far as news goes. Well all except what this week's weekly feature is about.

Weekly Feature:

Online Only Stops Here! :

This past week we saw the release of Simcity. Regardless of my own thoughts on the game no one could play the game for a long time after its release thanks to the Online Only model they chose to use on the game. May I remind you eventually that $60 game's servers will be turned off and that game will become useless(EA often cuts servers for older games)! This will happen for almost any game that requires you to sign into a server to play the game. This is especially unacceptable for a single player game. Now there is not a single player in the new Simcity. However if this becomes standard this is the fate all your games will eventually take! This is unacceptable and I say we stop this now!

Why pay $60 for a game that will die in a few years? At the very least give access to single player so you have something to go back and experience. I enjoy going back to older games and replaying them. So if the gaming industry goes this way not only will you and I never be able to go back and re-experience a great single player but what about someone going game hunting for older games and looking to experience these games in the future? They will never know what that particular generation (the one that uses Only Online) was like thanks to servers for what? To fight piracy? If so that is crazy and hurting the customers in a way that I think is going way way too far! I will be boycotting this ridiculous model and I hope you will too because this is not a way to treat customers who are paying good money for your games!

What have I Been Playing?

Fire Emblem Awakening:

So I started playing Fire Emblem Awakening for the 3DS and its AWESOME! My favorite Fire Emblem was the Gamecube one however this one may be my favorite. Fire Emblem is a strategy rpg in which if your character dies they are dead forever! This makes every battle intense and so thrilling. The story so far has been pretty good for a war story. I don't want to get into too much detail about the story because I would not want to give anything away but there are plenty of twists and turns throughout. The game has skits between characters and most of them are hilarious! This one gives you the ability to grind using reeking boxes. There are also bonus teams and challenge maps that Nintendo is rolling out in staggered releases. If you are a fan of strategy rpgs or you want to try a strategy rpg I think this is one of the best recent releases to give strategy rpgs a try!

Notable Game Release of the Week:

Starcraft 2 Heart of the Swarm:

The expansion pack to Starcraft 2 has finally arrived! This time the focus is on the Zerg! Sounds like this one is just as good as the first Starcraft 2. I personally loved how they did the story and the in between story stuff in the first one and this continues that. I personally wish they would have done that for Diablo 3 but hey what can you do. Play it and scream ZERG RUSH!!!!

Question of the Week

If Online Only becomes the norm in games will you continue to buy and play video games? Why or why not?

Signing Off

You can follow me on Twitter @Chaoskiller2000

Thanks Guys and Girls! See you next week stay classy!

Episode 2: Anarchists, Space Nuts and Microtransactions

Notable News:

Not much in the way of news this week, but I do have a few things of note. Its no secret that Nintendo has been having some problems getting the Wii U to sell. Ubisoft came out and said they like it but the Wii U needs to sell more units. This can be said for a lot of consoles when they first start out except most of the time its due to low stock. In this case its due to no one buying it. Which leads to no games but there needs to be games to motivate people to buy one. So Nintendo is now stuck in a vicious cycle. Cryteck came out this week and said that they had Crysis 3 running but for the lack of a better word Nintendo and EA are not getting along. This is huge cause no matter how hated EA is by the gaming community they are still a big game producer and if Nintendo wants to sell consoles its going to need EA to release their games for the system. A lot of people are citing Nintendo's issues with Origin being the Origin of the problem (see what I did there) but no one truly knows.

Besides Nintendo having a rough time with their next gen system Cryteck came out and said Single Player is dead and Online Single Player is the future, basically meaning a connected experience (which is not actually single player in most cases). They are probably talking about drop in and out co-op, connected experiances like Dark Souls or the new Sim City and full world playgrounds with drop in and out players but with the option to solo quests. I for one like my Single Player games and would like them to stay that way.

Another quick news note form this week is about EA saying that they are going to have Microtransactions in all their games from now on. Whether it's a .99 cent game or a $60 game. This naturally set the internet ablaze and also is why my Weekly Feature is all about Microtransactions enjoy.

Weekly Feature:

EA and Microtransactions, Does Anything Change For Gamers?

EA has come out and said they are now going to have Microtransactions for all their games. Before we get too upset let's take a second to think about EA and how they did DLC this generation for many of their games. In most of the Need For Speed games that were released this generation there were many microtransactions in the form of quick unlocks and Dead Space 3 features microtransactions on its resources. So EA and microtransactions have been around just not in every game and they are really minimal. They do not change the game or make you spend money to truly get everything so with EA making a change to adding that to every game does this really change anything? Is there a reason to worry?

My answer no, EA has got a bad rap for many reasons but not many people talk about the microtransactions that are already in their games. Is it possible that EA could increase its microtransactions and make them much more obtrusive. However EA knows its customers and does not want to alienate them too much. I think we will just see more resource or quick unlock microtransactions in EA games. Does anything truly change for us Gamers?

If EA goes crazy and starts making microtransactions into everything cutting gameplay and features yes and if that truly happens I say boycott them because that should not be accepted. However it is far more probable that EA is going to just keep its current microtransaction model just in more games. So while it is easy to get upset over microtransactions lets make sure there is something to get upset about first and worry more about current problems like DLC endings and always online DRM which in my opinion is a much bigger problem nowadays.

What have I Been Playing?

Dead Space 3

So I have been playing and beat Dead Space 3 and I have some....things to say about this game. Dead Space 3 stars Isaac Clarke once again and this is a conclusion to the trilogy series. They have decided to take Dead Space out of the horror series (to be fair 2 was not all horror but at least felt a bit horror like) this one is an action game through and through. First quarter of the game is in space and is the absolute best part of the game and really reminds me of the first and second game. Then you end up on a planet and that is the rest of the game.

The problem I have had with this game is it's in the Dead Space series but it does not feel like a Dead Space game. It has next to no horror and FAR FAR too much combat. The combat is good with the dismemberment fans of the series have grown to love and cool looking enemies. However when you have to fight in EVERY room and fight what seems like 20 plus enemies every step it loses a lot. The enemies have one attack pattern: run straight at you. Your character cannot run fast enough away from most enemies to get out of hordes of enemies so you have to sit there and point blank shoot enemies. It makes it really annoying not hard just annoying and not fun and of course uninteresting. The boss battles are terrible you barely even focus on the boss themselves they are more an afterthought as you once again shoot more enemies that are running straight at you. The story and atmosphere are still totally interesting in the game and it does sum up the Dead Space series which is nice and I would hope that this is at least the last game for Isaac Clarke. As a side note the game is very pretty and one of the better looking games that I have played lately.

Anarchy Reigns

Anarchy Reigns is a Japanese beat em up that reminds me of a cross between Madworld and God Hand and honestly this could be the sequel to both mashed together. You start the story by choosing Black Side or White Side I chose Black Side where you play as Madworld's Jack. The story is not terrible but more of an excuse for the action. It's really fun and it's a Platinum Games...game. There are generally 3 main missions per stage and 3 side missions per stage. I am not yet done with it but I do see the Platinum charm in this budget game. If you are into punching stuff and using special moves like chainsaws or getting into punching battles similar to how DBZ does it this could be your kind of game. Simple but extremely fun! It has a multiplayer but I have not yet played it.

Notable Game Release of the Week:

Tomb Raider

The reboot of Tomb Raider comes out this week and it's getting rave reviews! I have yet to be able to play this game but it looks real good. It's a survival action game with a focus on Lara Croft's origin. It has some very similar gameplay elements to Uncharted, with a survival element to it with hunting and Lara's own psychological condition. Visually the game looks amazing and if you get the PC version you get some of the most realistic looking hair in gaming to date. Can Lara survive the island she crash landed on? Find out in what I feel is truly the highlight game this week.

Question of the Week

Is Cryteck right is Single Player games done? Is connected Single Player Experiences the future? How do you feel about this?

Signing Off

You can follow me on Twitter @Chaoskiller2000

Thanks Guys and Girls! See you next week stay classy!

Episode 1: Thieves, Cyborgs and PS4’s !

Introduction to Blog:

Hello everyone and welcome to my blog! My name is Dustin but you can always call me by my internet handle ChaosKiller2000. I have been playing games now for about 22 years so I have been around awhile. I play all types of games and all systems including PC. I am planning to update this every week either Tuesday or Wednesday! This blog will have notable news, a feature article, what have I been playing, one new awesome game release covered and questions every week! I also plan to have reviews, demo previews, a section on shows to watch and much more every so often so please keep coming back each week and enjoy!

Notable News:

On to news this week’s big news was the reveal of the Playstation 4. There was a lot of hype coming up to this event and from my perspective I thought the event delivered for the most part. It has been a long time since a new console system has been announced and on Wednesday night it felt like everyone was hungry to find out what the next generation would bring to the table myself included. Sony and many gaming sites live streamed the event Wednesday night that ultimately revealed the Playstation 4. Sony spent a lot of time talking about how its making a system that will be much easier for developers to make games for unlike the PS3. They also showed the specs of the system which were impressive to say the least. Then came the games. Knack, Killzone Shadow Fall, Drive Club, Infamous Second Son (I am personally most excited for this one), Deep Down and Watch Dogs were all shown off. While it's good to keep in mind these are all launch titles/launch window games they looked impressive. Especially Deep Down it looked so great do yourself a favor and check out that trailer if you have not yet! They did not show off the box and did not have a price but Sony has come out and said the box is not finished yet and they are open to several price points, probably waiting to see what Microsoft will do first. Regardless Sony showed off a lot more than I was expecting and I was impressed I really like a lot of the features they are adding the PS4 like the Live Streaming and the ability to have friends watch you play! Overall it's going to be a really exciting year leading up to Holiday 2013!

Weekly Feature:

What should Microsoft have at the Next Xbox Reveal to win over Gamers?

So we know what Sony has in its bag now with the PS4. So what will Microsoft bring to its reveal party? I am betting it will be very similar to Microsoft's previous E3 showings the last few years. But how can they win over gamers who are excited for the PS4? Here is one way they could take Gamers everywhere by storm.

They will speak for a bit about how successful the 360 was. Then they will introduce the next Xbox SHOWING the box! They will also make the announcement right there that there WILL be backwards compatibility sticking it to Sony real early. Then they will talk about the power and specs of the next Xbox. My guess is the next Xbox will be slightly less powerful than the PS4 but not by enough to matter. They will then talk about social features on the next Xbox and exclusive gold live features that go past your games and into things like Netflix and other enhancements (like bringing back watching movies on live together with your friends). The games they will NEED to show is a huge question mark. They can't have a Halo at launch 4 just came out in 2012, they won't have a Gears of War since Judgment is coming out late March. So what will they have? I think 343 will have a Halo 2 Remake for launch in the vain of Halo Anniversary. That Kinect only Gears of War strategy game we heard a rumor about? That will be a game for the next gen to show off the new Kinect (but it won't be Kinect only). Then while they are at it they will talk about the ways they have improved Kinect and announce that a free Kinect 2.0 will be included with the new Xbox until Summer 2014. They will have Forza 5 there and as a surprise Crackdown 3 will be shown off. They then have a list similar to Sony's of 3rd party developers currently working on the next Xbox. They will then have a few 3rd party developers there to show off their games. I would probably guess something from Ubisoft, Activision (next gen Call of Duty?) and EA. To end the show I am going to say a tease for the next Fable game. It will then end, no price point will be announced yet.

Yes this is very much based in a dream world but this would also knock Gamers on the floor and get them excited about Microsoft's new system. Xbox does not have a lot of IPs so I would also like to see some exclusive new IPs shown. But showing off new games for established IPs would be impressive including having some neat new social features and a new working Kinect and huge 3rd party support. This will all lead to getting people excited for the next Xbox. Regardless the next year is going to be full of Sony and Microsoft one upping each other and this is only the beginning strap in for the ride and enjoy I know I will!

What have I been Playing?

Sly 3 HD:

So I have been playing through the HD Sly collection and I have finally finished Sly 3. I really liked Sly 3 but I still think the 2nd Sly is the best by far. This one focuses too much on other characters besides Sly. Most missions take 2 characters instead of the traditional 1. The best character to play is of course Sly the other two main characters of the series Bentley and Murray are pretty fun. It's the other characters that were added to this game that are unoriginal and kind of boring to play as. One you take over enemies minds, another controls a RC Copter or RC Car and the last shoots fireworks. The game was all about gathering a team to get into the Cooper Vault. The gameplay was pretty typical for a Sly game which is a mix of stealth, climbing, fighting, mini games and coin collecting. I did find Chapter 5 to be one of the best game levels of any Sly it was pretty awesome! Chapter 4 however was terrible and almost so it felt really disconnected from most of the game due to janky design. However if you like the PS2 era platformers I would highly recommend playing through the Sly games. I still like the Jak Series and the Ratchet series better but Sly is a very close 3rd compared to the big 3 platformers of the PS2 era. Sometime in the near future I plan on checking out Sly 4 it should be interesting and I am quite excited to see how it turned out.

Metal Gear Rising Revengence:

I have started playing Metal Gear Rising and man that game is AWESOME! I can't say enough good things about this game! Story is about Raiden who's a cyborg trying to take care of Terrorists who are kidnapping children and harvesting their organs for their cyborgs. These guys are EVIL!!!!! The story is pretty cool but the gameplay is the best part about the game! I love Platinum Games and I have to say this is probably my favorite game by those guys. You have complete control of your sword all the time! You can chop things up into as many tiny pieces as you want. You also have a sub weapon like a rocket launcher or grenade. However I have been playing the game purely using the sword and it is so much fun. If you like action games especially over the top action you will LOVE this game! In the first level I chopped up a Metal Gear like unit in probably one of the most exciting boss battles I have played in a long time! All the boss battles are fantastic and the game almost gives off an old Capcom vibe. I cannot recommend this game enough and in fact I won't reveal more because this game is an experience and one you need to experience yourself.

Notable Game Release of the Week

Etrian Odyssey 4 Legends of the Titan:

Atlus Games is releasing Etrian Odyssey 4 for the 3DS this week. Etrain Odyssey 4 is a hardcore first person dungeon crawler RPG. You make your own squad from several classes, accept quests in town and go out into the worlds many dungeon maps. You form your map as you walk so unlike other RPGs you don't get a map and then have the whole thing automatically filled in. The battle system is a traditional turn based battle system in the first person perspective. They have a demo on the E-Shop store if you want to check it out. I really recommend this game for people who love RPGs. This entry seems to be just as hard as the previous 3 except this time they have added a causal mode to make the game a bit easier for those just getting into games like this. They just don't make games like this anymore (though there has been a small resurgence lately) and that's why it's this week's notable release.

Question of the Week

What excites you the most for the Next Generation Consoles?

Signing Off

You can follow me on Twitter @Chaoskiller2000

Thanks Guys and Girls! See you next week stay classy!

10. Next Gen Graphics Engines

It has already been said that the next gen systems will not be at E3 (excluding Wii U) but I would really love to see some Graphics Engines for the next gen systems shown off. Obviously at least a few have to be built by now, so it would be great to see it shown off to at least get us excited for the coming years. Not to mention it might give Microsoft and Sony a bit of buzz over Wii U the only next gen system there.

9. 2012 Game Previews

I have been a huge fan of the games that have come out this year so far, however the later half looks far more boring and generic than the first half of this year. I hope I am wrong and thus I am hoping to get plenty of previews of 2012 games to get me excited about the second half of this year. After all there is quite a few exciting entries to end out this year we just don't know enough info on many of them yet.

8. New IP's

While game sequels are fine, I am quite sick of them at this point and could use some fresh gaming ideas. That is why I hope hope hope to see some new IP's announced at this years E3! New IP's can give the gaming industry a refreshing look at something new and we all know it could use that! Who knows it might even reinvent a genre wouldn't that be great?

7. 3DS Games

The 3DS is starting to pick up some steam and I hope that it continues to do so at E3. I would love to see Fire Emblem announced at E3 along with the release date for Paper Mario. As always it would be really great to see some more games announced for 3DS so it can continue to gain ground and differ itself from the DS. Personally I would like to see more exclusive 3rd party games.

6. Vita Games

The Vita needs help everywhere and its make or break at E3 so let's hope Sony has some big plans for it. I think the Vita is a great system it just needs games. I hope to see a lot of Sony content franchises and original content along with a lot more exclusive 3rd party support. Personally I would like the Vita to become an RPG system like PSP but than again more variety the better.

5. RPGs

Its no secret RPGs are my favorite game type. This year has been full of them so far and I am so glad for all those games. I would love to see the next batch of RPGs announced both Western and Japanese (Like Tales of Xillia). I would also like to see the next CD Project game there (Makers of The Witcher). Really I think we may be seeing a re-popularization of the RPG genre along with some major changes either at this E3 or next.

4. Sony Press Conference

The Press Conferences are either the most exciting time at E3 or the most boring, I always hope for the later. I think Sony will have a lot of suprises in store for PS3 and Vita, along with a big announcement for PS Plus (including Plus being connected to Vita deals). I suspect we will see infamous 3 among other IPs. I also hope to see Kevin Butler in Playstation All Stars and E3 would be the perfect place to announce that.

3. Microsoft Press Conference

I am really looking forward to and dreading Microsoft's Press Conference. It is either going to have way too much Kinect, Apps and Windows 8 stuff or its going to have an awesome amount of game announcements and demos. We have seen both happen in the past. I am really hoping to see Microsoft start taking their game studio seriously and start releasing some new IPs. They don't appear to have much coming out this year but I hope that changes at E3 or at least give us an idea of them working towards releasing more exclusive games.

2. Wii U and Games AKA Nintendo's Press Conference

I want to see what Wii U is going to be. I still personally think it was a terrible idea to keep the name how it is now but hey what are you going to do. I want to see exclusives and hopefully a new IP which seems to be so rare now for Nintendo. Not only that but I want to see 3rd party exclusives not just enhanced versions of games for other systems that is not good enough. They need to get some 3rd party exclusives to be truly effective. I want to see a release date and price but they already said we would not get that so yeah. Convince me to buy this thing Nintendo!

1. New Game Announcements

Not much at E3 is more exciting than a new game announcement and I hope to see plenty of them! We have already seen a few right before E3 like Star Wars 1313 and Lord of Shadows 2. It looks likely that there could be much more announced in the next few days with quite a few big game studios still having a big question mark on what they are working on. The more game announcements the better its just more fun that way.

Game of the Year Awards 2011

Special Awards

Most Surprisingly Good Game: Ghost Recon Shadow Wars

Runner Up: Deus Ex Human Revolution

I got to say when I heard there was going to be a launch Ghost Recon game for the 3DS I thought it was going to be horrible! But Thankfully it turned out to be pretty fantastic! Not only is it a really good strategy game with RPG elements, but it offers an interesting story in a Ghost Recon setting. It really was a real delight to have a game like this during the launch hell of the 3DS.

Best Story: Deus Ex Human Revolution

Runner Up: Zelda Skyward Sword

I don't want to reveal any spoilers but nevertheless, with the great on the edge human vs cybernetic storyline you can really get into this game. All the twists an turns in this story made me on the edge of my seat the entire time! All the morality questions really add to this mature adult story and make you ask yourself what do you truly believe? With that it made this games story the best of the year!

Best Graphics Artistic: Rayman Origins

Runner Up: Zelda Skyward Sword

It Does not take much to understand why Rayman Origins would win best graphics artistic. Just looking at the screenshots would be enough. there is so much color in this game and on top of that massive detail and scale of the amazing 2-D graphics. This is one game I would not mind having posters of in-game screenshots!

Best Graphics Technical: The Witcher 2

Runner up: Battlefield 3

As Far as the best technical graphics goes it is a close race between The WItcher 2 and Battlefield 3 however The Witcher 2 looks slightly better and vastly more pretty world to explore plus the game is a power house. In my opinion The Witcher 2 looks way better than Battlefield 3 but those two games no contest are the best graphics engine in 2011.

Best New Character of the Year: Wheatley Portal 2

Runner UP: Johnson Shadows of the Damned

The Best Character this year has to be Wheatley he's got charm and comedy on his side. He is also one of the more interesting characters in recent memory. He makes Portal 2 worth playing even if you don't like puzzle games.

Best Villain: All the Main Villains in Batman Arkham City

Runner UP: Queen Myrrah Gears of War 3

If you have not ever seen a Batman Villain maybe you won't understand why they all win this category. However each villain pretty much represents a different psychological disease. This is explodes in Akrham City making some of the most memorable moments this year!

Best Downloadable Game: Bastion

Runner Up: Dungeon Defenders

Bastion looks visually amazing, the music experience was amazing and the gameplay was so good that playing it twice right after each other did not offer any fatigue. For a $15 game this is an amazing outing it is way better than most $60 games and THAT is saying something!

Best Downloadable Content/ Expansion: Fallout New Vegas DLC

Runner Up: L.A. Noire Case Files

Fallout does it again with more missions and areas for you to visit to extend the life of your game. Not all of the DLC's were fantastic but if you are going to play just one play Old World Blues it is like a really fantastic old sci-fi film! The only one I would not recommend is the first one Dead Money as it is a pain. Other than that Fallout DLC's continue to delight!

Best Atmosphere: Skyrim

Runner Up: Deus Ex Human Revolution

Atmosphere is one of the most important elements to me whether it be a Movie, TV show or Video Game. It is what makes you feel a part of that particular world and no game did it better than Skyrim this year. You learn all about this complex world that you are thrust into for your many many quests. As you keep going to world itself keeps getting more and more realized. They did a great job and it is probably their best world Bethesda has put together yet!

Best Original Soundtrack: Zelda Skyward Sword

Runner Up: Rayman Origns

Music really enhances a game and can help you get more into the story and the world itself. Zelda did a great job as it always does of not only making great music but making you want to hear that music again. I will never forget the sound of getting an item, now if only I could have that happen in real life!

Best Use of Licensed Songs: Big Moments in Saints Row The Third

Runner Up: Kinect Sports 2

Licensed Songs in games often you would hear them while racing or on the radio but in Saints Row The Third there are some big moments that happen during which a song is being played and they perfectly picked the right song for the moments! But that is not the only thing Saints Row The Third does it also has the main characters FULLY sing a few songs in-game! This is the most amazing thing I have seen happen to Licensed Songs in a game before!

Best Sound Design: Skyrim

Runner Up: Battlefield 3

The crunching of the Snow and the banging of your sword or shield, casting of a spell, hearing weird noises in the distance. All of these things add to the great sound design of Skyrim. It sounds like you are in a living breathing world and that is exactly what I want to hear out of my RPG!

Best Voice Acting: Uncharted 3

Runner Up: Saints Row The Third

Uncharted continues to have the best voice acting in the business. It may have some to do with the script but the interactions sound so real it was almost like it was not scripted. They sound so natural and real that it really makes the game! Uncharted voice acting should be a standard for the industry not an exception!

Best Use of a Creative License: Batman Arkham City

Runner Up: Star Wars The Old Republic

Until the Arkham series was released we never had a good Batman game or even superhero game really. Rockstedy did an amazing job with taking this license and making a great game out of it! It has so many nods for fans and it does not make it so limited that you have to be a fan to enjoy.

Funniest Game: Saints Row The Third

Runner Up: Portal 2

Saints Row The Third is the funniest game of 2011 because it is so insane. From gun fights while jumping out of a plane to being in a Tron inspired virtual world. This game is hilarious. The cast really makes it work, a pimp who speaks in auto tune the whole time! A nerdy ex agent, the main character that you play as who seems to think he can do anything and the crazy world surrounding them. One last thing dildo weapon nuff said!

Best Multiplayer: Gears of War 3

Runner Up: Dungeon Defenders

I would have never expected to have as much fun as I did with Gears of War 3 multiplayer, but I did! You got co-op, arcade mode, horde mode, beast mode and regular multiplayer which is constantly having new content come into it. Its one multiplayer game I could actually get into and I loved every second of it and there is something for everyone!

Most Improved Sequel: Sonic Generations

Runner Up: Resistance 3

Sonic Games have sucked lately (Excluding Colors)! Luckily Sonic Generations was here to fix the past! Not only does it capture the old sonic feel but it does not go away from it like other Sonic games have. You play as Sonic only and you do what Sonic games do best, run really fast and beat some bosses. It is great to see that Sonic is back now hopefully he will stay that way!

Best Original IP: Bastion

Runner Up: Dead Island

In a year full of sequels it was hard to pick out new IP's but it was not hard to pick out the winner. Bastion had everything done at such high quality and really probably one of the best game experiences I have had in a long long time. It was easy to pick this action RPG as the winner this year!

Best Boss Fights: Dark Souls

Runner Up: Zelda Skyward Sword

Dark Souls is known for it's tough fights. However when you finally beat a boss who has killed you 100 times or so you get a rush unlike any other game! It is a real accomplishment to beat a boss in that game and they run at such a flow as they are not cheap you just have to figure out how to beat them!

Best Writing and Dialogue: Skyrim

Runner UP: Dragon Age 2

RPGs have a lot of dialogue to get through, but when it is actually interesting that is always a plus! Skyrim's quests and stories make the game that much more better by the good writing that was places in those stories and even the novels you can read in the game are fantastic and written extremely well.

Biggest News: Nintendo 3DS Price Cut

Runner Up: Wii U

If you were to tell me the 3DS would get a price cut a few months after launch I would have thought you were crazy! But it happened and it worked very well for Nintendo. On top of that a big thumbs up to Nintendo for not screwing over early investors and offering them 20 free games and making those good games too!

Best New Idea: Controlling 10 Kirbys in Kirby Mass Attack

Runner Up: Xbox 360 The Cable Box

Not a lot of new ideas in gaming anymore. However Kirby always seems to be Nintendos experiment series and it often pays off. In Kirby Mass Attack you can control and command up to 10! This leads to one of the best DS game experiences of recent memory.

Best Use of Motion Control in a Game: Zelda Skyward Sword

Runner Up: Child of Edan

I think I speak for a lot of hardcore gamers out there when I say, I hate motion control. But that does not mean it is going away and while I have had very few good motion control experiences the good ones I tend to remember. Zelda Skyward Sword really does a great job in having you control a sword. 1 to 1 motion control works real well. Its something that I really enjoyed this year even if there was a huge learning curve.

Most Underrated Game: Dungeon Siege 3

Runner Up: Infamous 2

Almost every year there is a game I really like that the rest of the world does not connect with. This year that is Dungeon Siege 3. It was nice to get a top down dungeon crawler. I found the story to be decent and the gameplay to be quick and fun. Why it did not connect with others is a mystery to me.

Most Overrated Game: L.A. Noire

Runner Up: Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3

There is a game normally every year that everyone likes but I don't like. This year that would be L.A. Noire. I found the gameplay to be extremely repetitive and more like a chore. I like adventure games but this one a lot of the cases felt similar especially in the middle of the game. Which made it hard to suffer through sometimes. Plus there was not as much variety in interrogations.

Biggest Disappointment: Battlefield 3

Runner Up: X-men Destiny

What you put Battlefield 3 as your biggest disappointment?! Yep why you ask because if I were to compare it to the other Battlefields you got, less destruction (which is why I play Battlefield games) what feels like less vehicles and quicker firefights. It was too rushed to compete against call of duty and it suffered because of it.

Best Ending: Portal 2

Runner Up: Saints Row The Third

I will not spoil Portal 2's ending just finish it already!

Best Weapons: Resistance 3

Runner up: Saints Row The Third

Insomniac always has some of the best weapons in the industry. Resistance 3 continues that, so many imaginative versions of similar military guns. Sure maybe only a few are really worth using but the creative ones are the most fun to experiment with!

System of the Year: PS3

Sony had a crazy amount of exclusives this year: Little Big Planet 2, Killzone 3, Socom 4, Resistance 3, Infamous 2, Uncharted 3 just to name a few!

Most Improved System this Year: PC

PC seems to be making a comeback with great ports of console games. Along with Steam getting better and better every year!

Genre Awards

Best Action/Adventure/Sandbox Game: Saints Row The Third

Runner Up: Batman Arkham City

Saints Row The Third is not only amazing because of it's missions but because of the world they built up around it. There are very few games that do everything as well as Saints Row The Third does! My recommendation is to check it out as soon as possible!

Best Racing Game: Forza 4

Runner Up: Need for Speed The Run

Turn 10 does it again with another great racing game. It may not be a huge leap forward between 3 and 4 but what is there is still one of the best racing experiences you can have. Between hundreds of cars to being able to customize it to your hearts content it has everything a car lover could ever ask for.

Best Horror Game: Dead Space 2

Dead Space 2 may be the only horror game worth mentioning this year but it is also an amazing game! Better than the first one they did a great job with everything and making this series even more crazy than it was before. Play it with the lights out and have a creepy good time there are still enemies that put me on the edge of my seat.

Best Fighting Game: Mortal Kombat

Runner Up: Ultimate Marvel VS Capcom 3

It is so nice to see Mortal Kombat come back to its former glory. Plays just like the good 2D Mortal Kombat games and that's what everyone wanted anyways. Not only is it a great fighting game with a great fighting system but it has a story that works for it and it works well!

Best Platformer: Super Mario 3D Land

Runner Up: Rayman Origins

Super Mario 3D Land feels like it is bringing Mario into a new light. It is so good and really one of those things you just gotta play to know why. The level design is perfect for a platformer and it is the first and so far only game that has made a great argument for 3D in games!

Best Puzzle Game: Portal 2

Runner Up: ilomilo

Portal 2 does a great job of staring off easy and getting hard really fast. It introduces a lot of new elements that was not in the first one making it a very different experience. But also makes the puzzles possible enough to figure out on your own without help.

Best RPG: Skyrim

Runner Up: The Witcher 2

This is a tough category for me every year but this year it was even more difficult as it seems more RPGs were released. Skyrim still blows me away when I put it into my 360. New quests all the time! New places to visit and the deeper you go the more it looks like there is no ending! Not only that but the RPG elements and how you level up things you are using as you use them are great additions. It is a MUST play game!

Best First Persion Shooter: Resistance 3

Runner Up: Bulletstorm

Resistance 3 not only was a good first person shooter but was a nice break in the normal military shooter that comes out a lot anymore. It had a good story along with great weapons and a really good enemy to keep you going as you fight. It is not too easy and it is not too hard and the locations are varied and almost always fun!

Best Third Person Shooter: Gears of War 3

Runner Up: Uncharted 3

So this is the end of the characters you know of in Gears of War and what a bang they go out with. More character development than any of the other 2 games combined. Not to mention a more realized world along with a REAL ending!

Best HD/Remake: Halo Anniversary

Runner Up: The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time 3D

Nothing like a remake to make you realize how a game can stand the test of time. Halo really reminded me of how FPS games should play out this year. You really had freedom and everything about it felt great this was a game truly before its time. The HD remake of the graphics were incredible too very well done!

Console Exclusive Awards

Best Xbox 360 Game: Gears of War 3

Runner Up: Forza 4

Gears of War 3 has so much in it that I still don't think I could get tired of it for a long long time. The best campaign, lots of multiplayer modes and more content being added all the time!

Best PlayStation 3 Game: Infamous 2

Runner Up: Resistance 3

I had the most fun with Infamous 2 this year on the PS3 side. Being an original super hero and getting to use my powers for good or evil was great. Not to mention the giant enemy fights tearing through the city blasting lighting bombs at them as things were exploding still sticks in my mind today!

Best PC Game: The Witcher 2

Runner Up: Star Wars The Old Republic

The Witcher 2 is an RPG you should play whether or not you have tried the first. Since they have updated it, the battles are great the story is interesting and the world is beautiful.

Best Wii Game: Zelda Skyward Sword

Runner Up: Kirby's Return to Dream Land

This is the origin story for Zelda and while it does take a long time to get anywhere in the game once you get to your location you need to go the real game really shines through. Not only that but the new motion control actually made me think about how I was going to have to attack each enemy and really made each encounter different than the last.

Best Nintendo 3DS Game: Super Mario 3D Land

Runner UP: Mario Kart 7

Super Mario 3D Land really helps show what the 3DS can do! It made 3D in games for me make sense! Well at least for this game anyways. Not only that but it is fun and it is made perfect for the platform it is on! Best Mario in years no joke!

Best PSP Game: Trails in the Sky

Runner Up: Persona 2

Not known by many Trails in the Sky is an old school JRPG for the psp. It can actually be pretty funny too. The gameplay is great and the story is great too. It is exactly what I and many other JRPG fans wanted and it is a new JRPG and how many of those come over to the States anymore?

Best Nintendo DS Game: Kirby Mass Attack

Runner Up: Radiant Historia

I was shocked when I got this game that I liked it as much as I did. Kirby Mass Attack had me say goodbye to my big consoles for a while as I made my way though this amazing experience. Controlling 10 Kirby's is not only fun but easy to do. It creates the perfect DS experience and the best way to say goodbye to the DS.

Game of the Year

Skyrim

What more can I say about Skyrim? Plenty really but its something that just has to be experienced! All the endless quests, the world, the exploring, the music, the graphics and sound everything! It is all done extremely well and to this RPG lover it is one of the best game EVER made not just of 2011. I personally look forward to even more adventures in Skyrim.

FPS games have always been fairly popular but now a days thanks to online gaming and franchises like Call of Duty the FPS is more popular than ever, so the games should be better than ever right? Well the answer would be yes and no.

FPS single player experiences have become much more cinematic this generation. They feel almost like big blockbuster movies with all the explosions especially the Call of Duty series (4 and on). Now it seems that more and more games are following suit. However when FPS made that change they have also in turn become much more liner than they had once been.

To be cinematic they cannot allow you to stray off from the path or it will ruin the "flow" so what they do is basically make you go around a battlefield where your objective is to follow a squad mate for what feels like 90% of the time. You cannot even open a door yourself anymore that squad mate has to open it for you. This takes a lot of the fun and discovery out of the experience. I really enjoy the more cinematic style but it's at too great a cost. It's not just call of Duty (that is just the more popular game) Battlefield 3 has done it, the new Medal of Honor did it and many more. Sure shooting things is still fun but we are missing some of the exploring/ freedom we used to get in these games.

For example Medal of Honor Airborne let's you choose what your objective on the battlefield to take on first, Call of Duty 3 also did this. Even the Bad Company games had freedom of how to tackle your objective. You may have had a set order to do it in but not all the objectives were shoot these guys and go to a door and wait for it to be opened for you. You could choose your own way to get there and pick if you want to fight them with vehicles or blow up the building they are in or just go in and have a firefight. All of the older games you could open doors yourself that never seems to be the case anymore! Plus these games had larger battle arenas to fight in.

I was just reminded of this freedom when playing through Halo Anniversary. Just the variation in battle and how everything was handled it was refreshing. I acknowledge that Halo is quite a bit different than a military FPS but still they are the same game type. Plus you are not attached to a turret for what seems to be a large chunk of the game. Those turret sequences are yet another way to restrict and limit what you do in these games. Sure it is fun for maybe a quick level bu not for the large chunks that seem to grow with every sequel, Call of Duty seems to be the worst offender of this but there are others.

Many people including myself enjoy when games give freedom for you to mess up or discover things on your own. I remember how amazing Medal of Honor Frontline was. It gave you a lot of freedom to move around the battlefield, not at all what it is today which is narrow corridors and turret sequences. Plus it had large battle arenas. The levels were long and the game itself was long. I feel like the FPS had devolving instead of evolving like it should.

In my games I want freedom of battle and I think the best way to do that in a cinematic game is give me a more open battlefield let me run around, give me the choice to grab a vehicle (kinda like in Halo) give choice during battle. Just by adding a bigger size to the arena your fighting in and adding the choice of vehicles lets the battle be different and exciting every time. As opposed to following someone down a small short path and firing at enemy on the other side of the narrow urban environment you are in. In my opinion these changes still allows you to have a cinematic game with freedom added in.

In conclusion while cinematic FPS games can be fun they seem to offer a less compelling experience gameplay wise and there are better ways to enhance that just by giving you freedom in battle and the freedom to either choose your own objective or the way your going to get to your goal and complete that objective. The point to all of this is to get you to think is running down narrow linear pathways and having to follow someone around really fun> What about the severe limits placed on each battle when in a more liner map where most of the time it is tight corridors? Is this an evolution in design or a devolution? I think I have made my opinion clear more freedom=more fun. Oh and please please make your campaigns longer 4-6 hours is awful for an already quick experience.

Nintendo

Nintendo Predictions

PlayStation

PlayStation Predictions

So it is that time again, almost time for E3! I have always loved reading and watching coverage of E3 and hope to  someday go myself. It is that magical week in which we get tons of game announcements and possibly announcements of hardware. I have decided to make an E3 wish list and to split it in to 3 parts. First up will be Microsoft and what exactly I want to see from them this year.

The Hardware

The Games

Halo 4

Kinect

Conclusion

As many people know PSN is down and it has been since Wednesday night. Sony has said very little to it's customers as to the status of PSN. As of the time of me writing this in the time that it has been down all we know is there was a external attack and so Sony had to shut off its servers. We also know that Sony is now building up their servers to be stronger. That is all, we don't know if personal information has been taken or even an ETA on when PSN will be back up for people to enjoy.  First off let me start by saying this blog is not about if Sony has to legally give something for the PSN downtime. For what its worth Sony does not owe anyone anything for the downtime it is a free service. However at the very least I think they owe PS + members extra time to download the items they have yet to download before they get taken down. However I want to talk about if Sony as a company SHOULD give something to their customers for the inconvenience of the downtime.

Certainly for many people the timing of this event was terrible. Not only was it over Easter weekend (when many people were probably home) but it happened same week as games like Socom 4, Mortal Kombat and Portal 2 came out. That sucks for anyone who wanted to play those games online especially over the weekend. So would another company give something to its customers if something like this happened where you were unable to use the service for several days? You bet! Any company that actually cares about their customers would do something for them for the inconvenience yes it was not Sony's fault this happened but its still up to them to make things right in the eyes of their customers. If they want to continue to have a good trusted name in the video game industry they should offer something for what happened. It is just good business and that's what it really comes down to. I don't know what they should give away but a free theme would not be enough. I think their customers should have a choice between a PSN game, DLC or movie rental to show the community of gamers that Sony cares about them and they care what happened. Not to mention if people's personal information was stolen they are going to have a bigger problem on their hands and will probably have to pay for identity theft protection for those accounts, once again if they want to keep people's trust and show the community they care they will do this.

This is just what I think Sony should do. If they don't do something I think it will leave a bad taste in a lot of people's mouths and possibly lost trust. Sony has to do some rebuilding here they are not invincible and even if it was not their fault they need to show that they can make up for lost time. It is also notable that when Xbox Live went down Microsoft offered a free game to it's customers. Now Xbox Live is different from PSN in that you have to pay for it but still people are going to make the comparisons anyways. Also during that whole thing Microsoft was much much much better at letting everyone know what was going on. Unlike Sony who might want to get a new PR department because they have done a really piss poor job at showing any kind of support to their community/customers while this whole thing is going on.

JRPGs and WRPGs have always been different but I am not sure if the difference has been as noticeable as it has this generation. This topic is not just about this generation though it is about all RPG video games in general. There are certintly fans of both however some RPG fans hate the other which is strange if you compare RPGs to other game types. FPS fans normally don't hat 3rd person shooter games so why do WRPG fans hate JRPGs or the other way around? I will try to explain the difference between both and why I think they are both great in their own right. Along with at the end having pros and cons of both and which I think is better.

JRPG: The Difference

WRPG: The Difference

JRPGs: Pros and Cons

• More Colorful
• More Epic Feel to the main story
• Character Development
• Many different types (turn based, strategy, action)

• Stereotypical Characters
• Some games can be very niche
•  Sometimes makes player go through long grind fest to get to next part of the story

WRPGs: Pros and Cons

• More Open World
• Leveling the way you want to
• Epic Side Quests
• Less to no Grinding (if you dont like that kind of thing)

• Less to no Character Development
• Less of an overall Epic feel to the main story
  
• Tend to have many more glitches in them than JRPGs

Which is truly better?