We got a really effective opening segment because we saw a serious John Cena who wasn't in the mood to take any crap run up the ramp and deliver a solid beat down to Rusev who has dominated nearly everyone he has opposed since debuting full-time on RAW last year. If you use the rule of “opposing momentum” then it seems like Rusev is going over on Sunday which would be the correct move if this program is to run through WrestleMania 31. As I stated in my WWE RAW Review from last Monday I am a big fan of the Rusev character and think he can be a main event level heel in the company.

Seeing Cena take a beating last week and then come back to get revenge tonight made sense and he didn’t have to joke and laugh or call Lana a “street walker” or some other derogatory term to make his point; instead, he let his fists to the talking and created an awesome segment that kicked off the show with a lot of energy and invested the crowd who were super loud while counting the ten punches.

I have never been a fan of jokey Dean Ambrose and it seems like it amuses someone in power so it will never go away. He had an opportunity in the fall to really become something special after some incredible main event caliber matches with Seth Rollins and Bray Wyatt but was used more to get those guys over than anything. I love that he’s making the Intercontinental Championship the focus of this feud with Bad News Barrett and if the company gets behind him then he could be the guy who restores the prestige to the title.

Dean Ambrose vs Luke Harper

These two have a great chemistry together and while both have a similar brawling style they actually were able to go out and have a really good match in every regard. Luke Harper may deliver the best super kick on the entire main roster; it looks vicious and he hits it with such force that you think he’s going to take someone’s head off. Ambrose picking up wins over former IC Champs makes a ton of sense and tonight he did so in a really impressive match with Harper.

I’m a really positive guy but I can find no positives, or get excited in the least, for anything that the Big Show or Kane does these days. I hope that the WWE will do something different or move them a bit farther down the card after Fast Lane or Mania.

Bray Wyatt is getting much less cryptic in his promos that many are speculating are directed straight at the Undertaker. Spinning the coffin nail in his hand was a nice tough tonight.

The New Day vs Gold and Stardust

I grew up in the south and Dusty Rhodes is wrestling royalty here. I am entertained and in awe every single time he is on my television screen. Every guy in this match can have a great match in a team or otherwise but I think they all need a change to matter more. The rift between Gold and Stardust is really interesting because I have always been a big fan of Cody Rhodes and had hope since he became the “Stardust” character last year that it was just a temporary thing.

The New Day picked up the win but the story was Cody nailing Goldust with the Cross Rhodes instead of helping his brother up. I hope this leads to the long rumored WrestleMania match between the two brothers because I think they could put on a great one if given enough time. Cody is still extremely young and works best as a heel.

Roman Reigns is looking more and more comfortable on the mic; I know this was a backstage promo but he looked and sounded great. The edge that Reigns has exhibited since the Royal Rumble is the best thing that could have possibly happened to him.

Roman Reigns vs Kane

Daniel Bryan on commentary for this match was a nice touch and he did an awesome job as usual because that guy has transformed his mic skills over the last few years from being a weakness to one of his strong suits. The mind games he played with Reigns by getting a Yes! Chant started in the middle of the match was great.

I thought that Kane and Reigns were having a really solid match but I am immensely perplexed as to why the company thinks they have to protect Kane and Show so much or at least in the strangest situations. Why in the world did Reigns win by count-out tonight? He should have speared Kane through the ropes, out of the arena, and onto the Fast Lane PPV to look strong. It was an alright match with an ending that makes zero sense to me.

I really hope these Wyatt promos are directed at Taker and the WWE isn’t pulling some kind of a bait and switch because if he’s talking about Zack Ryder or someone then the WWE Universe may explode.

Paige vs Summer Rae

Why are the Diva’s on the main roster so disrespected? It doesn’t make any sense to come from an incredible four-way for the NXT Women’s Title last week where everyone looked great to this. Paige is talented but even as positive as I am I couldn’t stand this segment. I think the Bella’s are bad for the division and the writers and creative do a terrible job to make any of the young women in the WWE, outside of NXT, look like legitimate stars. Please, keep Charlotte, Sasha, Bayley, Becky, etc. in NXT because I would rather see them in quality matches than stupid programs with the Bella Twins and the rest of the Total Divas crew. Pathetic.

I am extremely excited for Sheamus to return. He is awesome. That’s all.

Dolph Ziggler vs Seth Rollins

I am totally in favor of a Dolph Ziggler/Seth Rollins program. Seth Rollins is always really good on the mic and Dolph came out with a ton of confidence this week and really had the crowd behind him. It got “real” really fast when Seth called Dolph a joke but then we got some of the best work on the mic that Ziggler has ever done in response.

I don’t have much of a description of the match because I completely stopped taking notes so I could just sit back and watch it because it was amazing for as long as it lasted. After Seth was DQ’d the Random Former Fired Dudes Brigade ran out to save Dolph from a beat down. I hope we get a longer match from Seth and Dolph at Fast Lane because both of those guys are great.

Ryback is cool.

As cool as I always thought it would be for Sting to face the Undertaker because of the similarities in their career paths and characters I believe that in the WWE right now there is no better person for Sting to face than HHH. He has done an incredible job setting up this program and you can hear that when he steps into the ring and the “We Want Sting” chants begin.

I am always anticipating a surprise appearance by Ric Flair and it makes perfect sense for him to be the guy who can educate Hunter on how great Sting is. This segment could not have been any better. You have limited appearances for Sting but having someone who paralleled his career the way that the Nature Boy did be able to come out and have such an amazing in-ring section to sell the showdown and the heat that Hunter got when he shoved Naitch down was crazy. This was, by far, the best promo segment of the entire night. I loved it.

I have to give some props to how great Booker T was after the HHH and Flair situation. He sold that he didn’t like the way that Hunter lost his cool and pushed Ric down.

I was always really entertained by the Prime Time Players and it is really cool to see them back together again.

Bad News Barrett vs Damien Mizdow

Giving the Miz a mic at ringside during Mizdow’s matches is one of my favorite new things in the WWE. “Bell Means Stop!!!!!” I heaped an insane amount of praise on Miz last week and he killed it again this week. Respect Miz!

Tying Barrett to the ring post was a weird but interesting way for Ambrose to force him to sign the contract even though I’m pretty sure that signature wouldn’t hold up it doesn’t really matter… it’s wrestling so who gives an F. Ambrose will see you at Fast Lane Barrett.

Mixed Tag Match – Jimmy Uso and Naomi vs Tyson Kidd and Natalya

I love Kidd and Cesaro and I hope that this program leads to them winning the Tag Titles and having a long run. They work so well together and I’m really tired of the Uso’s.

Daniel Bryan vs Big Show

Reigns comes out for commentary which makes total sense after Bryan did the same during his match earlier in the night so I expected some distracting hijinks from the one remaining Hound of Justice and his ever-soaked hair. Bryan always works well with Show and big guys in general and it was a great idea to have Reigns sign autographs and just do generally annoying things instead of talking. The match was good but the fight between Bryan and Reigns was well done.

The crowd seems to be reacting differently to Bryan than before with what seems to be a much more split fan base than when this thing started a couple of weeks ago and I’ll attribute that to the confidence that Reigns has shown recently and the overconfidence that DB has exhibited. We got a really cool, hard-hitting brawl to close out RAW which served to make me even more excited for Fast Lane than I already was because these two guys appear to be going to the PPV to tear each other apart for the chance to headline Mania against Brock.

Fast Lane is Sunday night and thanks to the awesome performances all-around tonight I think we are in for a great stop on the Road to WrestleMania 31. Reigns and Bryan should be an awesome match.

Match of the Night: Dean Ambrose vs Luke Harper

[Insert Cool Intro Title Here]

I sit here right now with an oil lamp, a stiff drink (actually it’s just an Arizona Arnold Palmer, who may or may not be sponsoring this blog now – they’re not), and my thoughts. The snow has been falling for a day now and at last check we had a foot outside and I’m trapped; so what better way to spend what are, more than likely, my final hours before I’m overtaken by a wintry demon than writing this weekly blog. I’m expecting Dennis Quaid to show up at the door at any second to save me… a man can hope.

It is also fitting that my topic for this week is the Souls series. You are alone; trapped in a place where the only people who can help you will most likely just dance around like idiots while a giant boss strikes you down with his own arm. I’m not sure how long I have before the snow consumes me so I may as well hurry and get to the games.

1. Dark Souls II: Crown of the Sunken King

THOUGHTS: There was always a criticism of Dark Souls 2 that it was too easy when compared to the previous entries in the series. My play time of the base game was 164 hours which involved me beating the game twice and running through a few other bosses on the third before putting it down for a bit. I loved the game but just as I did with the original Dark Souls I really had no intention of going back and playing any of the DLC but then I started doing this blog series and used the theme of “Things I Love in Gaming” for February and I had to talk about the Souls series. I didn’t want to just talk about what I have already played of DS2 because I was going to be doing that with Demon’s and Dark Souls so I went ahead and picked up the first piece of DLC, Crown of the Sunken King.

It took around 6 hours for my initial run through and I can say that while some of the enemies were tough I didn’t feel like it was any more difficult that I found some sections in the main game. One of the few things that I had read about Crown of the Sunken King before playing it was that it was supposed to be harder than Dark Souls 2 to appease the players who found it easier but I never got that feeling. I love the opening area with a cavernous area that looks like it could have been pulled out of an Uncharted game or an Indiana Jones movie. The toughest enemies to deal with were ones that were already in Dark Souls 2, those damn poison statues, and the bosses were a bit disappointing with the exception of the final boss which I thought was pretty cool.

VERDICT: The reason that I don’t play much DLC, especially in a game that I enjoyed, is because I don’t want to be disappointed. Dark Souls 2: Crown of the Sunken King is fair and seems like an extension of the main game but doesn’t do anything to stand out.

2. Dark Souls

THOUGHTS: The only thing I can think about when when the original Dark Souls comes to mind is how much I love it. I picked it up after not enjoying Demon’s Souls when it initially released which I will talk about in a minute but I was standing in a GameStop needing something to play because I had exhausted all of my currently owned games and there was a force that pulled me in the direction of Dark Souls; actually, that’s a lie, it was the Quick Look with Rorie, Brad, and Vinny that convinced me to give the series another chance. I’m a huge RPG fan and thought that it looked like a lot of fun so I plopped down 60 bucks and took it home.

I didn’t have the same issues with Dark Souls that I did with the previous entry for some reason. It came to me. I realized the way that I need to play it to have some fun and almost immediately I was hooked. I spent almost 200 hours without playing any of the DLC doing every possible thing that I could do and loved every single second of it. I had 3 characters with my highest level being a 365… I absorbed every bit of content that Giant Bomb put out about it and was happy to see them giving so much time to a game that so many people didn’t understand. This is one of my favorite games of all-time.

VERDICT: Play this game. It’s incredible.

3. Demon’s Souls

THOUGHTS: Extremely frustrating. That’s how I can describe my first few hours with Demon’s Souls. I had no idea what I was doing and was too stubborn to check online to find a guide to help me out. I had been playing video games for nearly 20 years so I didn’t need someone else to tell me how to play a game; I could figure it out on my own. Then I didn’t. I turned the game off and didn’t play it for nearly three years after I finished Dark Souls. I decided to go back and give it another shot after I had traveled so far down the rabbit hole and came out on the other side with the knowledge needed to play the Series effectively.

The second time around was a whole different experience. I played for 60 hours and completed 1.5 playthroughs before putting it away and feeling a sense of pride that I hadn’t given up completely and found out that sometimes you just need a little guidance even if it from your future self (everything is like the Terminator) to overcome what can seem to be an insurmountable challenge.

VERDICT: It is a bit more archaic now than the games that followed it but you will still feel a great amount of accomplishment when you see the credits roll.

THE WEEK AHEAD

As we move into the final week of February and I prepare to end my theme I saved my biggest gaming love for last. RPG’s. Whether it Zelda, Final Fantasy, or Fallout… I have always loved them. There are a couple of games that I will mention here that I will give a more in-depth analysis of when I release my Top 10 Favorite Games list in a few weeks but there are a couple that I plan to spend a little time with in the coming week.

• Majora’s Mask 3D
• Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
• Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions

OPINION TIME

Two weeks in a row I had a negative topic to discuss for this section and I wanted to find something to talk about this time that was a bit more positive and I found it when I turned on some YouTube videos that were heaping praise onto Darkest Dungeon. I haven’t had a chance to purchase it yet but I plan to and I wanted to get a few opinions, including the GB Unfinished, that would hopefully tell me if the game was good or not and I could only really find a ton of people who had nothing but great things to say about it. Seeing this much positivity coming from the gaming community is a awesome and it is really cool to see a game make people feel good. I know the subject matter of Darkest Dungeon is, well, dark but still I would much rather see people come together and share an opinion about something so positive than all the hate and vitriol that we have come to expect.

COMMENT REQUEST OF THE WEEK

Have you played any game in the Souls series and given up? If so, why?

STEAM KEY GIVEAWAY!!!!

I appreciate every single person who has viewed and/or commented on this series since I started it and to show that, I have a bunch of duplicate Steam keys that I have no use for; therefore, the reader chosen by me who gives the best response to the comment request of the week will receive a Steam key for Papers, Please.

Thank you all so much for the support; it makes me want to keep it up. So, have an incredible week everyone and have a Happy Monday Duders!!!!

Here we go again. I wrote a blog last week where I talk about how positive I am about the WWE product and I got some really great responses to it so I decided to do it again. I'm not going to have a ton of set-up this week because there were a bunch of things that I really enjoyed so I want to stop rambling and get to the action.

Everyone in the opening segment came off really well; we know to expect a nice long promo segment at the top of every RAW that will, more often than not, lead into a match and this was no exception. I’m really impressed with how comfortable and confident Roman Reigns has looked over the past couple of weeks and especially tonight. He delivered his lines well, laughed at Daniel Bryan’s joke about being of equal attractiveness, and didn’t struggle with his retort to comments made by Stephanie McMahon. I’m enjoying seeing his growing process play out the way it is now because it seems like Vince realizes that he should have been doing this all along and I think it is showing that Roman is trying his hardest to improve on his weaknesses.

Daniel Bryan is really good at being a professional wrestler. In the ring he has few, if any, weaknesses and his progression on the mic over the last 5 years has been astonishing. He played his role in the opener perfectly in being jokey and pandering to the crowd a bit but when it came time to let Reigns know that he wasn’t going to Fast Lane to joke but to win because he’s the best wrestler in the world he really shined. The fans reaction was a bit surprising after that line though because I honestly was expecting some thunderous YES! chants and instead we get a smattering of boos. I think that probably changed after what happened in the Main Event but before we get there we have The Authority make a match with Bryan teaming with Reigns to take on Big Show and "Dockers" Kane. (The most evil of all of the Kane’s)

There wasn’t a ton happening in the match. It was a bit slow and was really only there to lead to the real main event of the night after Show was DQ’d for pulling Bryan out and throwing him into the timekeepers tiny house. Hunter, Steph, and the rest of the gang back up the ramp smiling while they announce that later in the show Roman and Bryan would team up yet again to take on the entire group, even J&J Security.

Seth Rollins took on Ryback in the next match which came out of nowhere and it too had a bit of a screwy finish. Nothing of note happened here other than Seth standing tall and Ryback looking somewhat protected because he had Rollins on his shoulders when J&J Security jump on The Big Guy and caused another DQ.

Rusev came out to talk about how Cena is old and broken down man and that he will destroy him at Fast Lane because he is neither of those things which brings Cena out to agree that he is old and broken down but will still beat the younger, stronger Bulgarian Brute. This causes the two to brawl where Rusev gets the upper hand on Cena and leaves him lying face down on the ramp. Something really cool happened a bit later though; Michael Cole gives us a rundown of the myriad of injuries that Cena suffered as a result of the Rusev attack. They are giving Cena an out if he loses at Fast Lane and which will lead to us seeing Cena realize he has to be better than ever in preparing for the rematch at Mania and that would make for a good story. Plus, we could get some sweet Rocky IV training montages leading up to it. (Fingers Crossed)

Dolph Ziggler went one on one with Bray Wyatt in a return match from last week and just as they did a week ago they had another fantastic match. It wasn’t as good as their previous encounter which I named my Match of the Night but it was still very good. It seems they’re using DZ to make Wyatt look strong in preparation for his rumored WrestleMania match against the Undertaker. We also got another cryptic promo from Wyatt that had a better structure than the one last week and gave off a stronger hint that it was directed straight at the Phenom.

Paul Heyman is incredible on the mic and Brock Lesnar does a great job standing next to him looking like the scariest man alive.

Gold and Stardust appear to be heading for a break-up. I don’t really know what else to say about this.

Triple H came out next to demand an answer from Sting as to whether or not he will be at Fast Lane to confront the COO. I thought this was a really cool segment that while it may have been a bit corny to have the fake Sting’s everywhere it was still awesome to see the fear that HHH sold when the graphic changed on the tron to read I ACCEPT. I’m really looking forward to how this plays out at the show and to me Fast Lane is turning into a super interesting PPV.

Tyson Kidd and Cesaro faced The Uso’s next and were actually given enough time to have a great match. I’m hoping the title match is added to the PPV based on the win that Kidd and Cesaro picked up here because on a smaller show like Fast Lane I feel like they could get even twice as long as this match on RAW and could potentially steal the show. They work well together and the distraction tactic used by Cesaro when he threw an Uso into the ring so he could help Tyson get the pinfall was neat.

When Mizdow blows up on the Miz the crowd will explode because, some may disagree with this; Miz is easily a Top 5 heel in the WWE. The guy is so good at getting heat and making people hate him that I am constantly entertained when he is on the screen. During the match between Mizdow and Sin Cara he sat in a director’s chair at ringside and forced Mizdow to get him a water, then open said water, then instructed Mizdow to not use the Miz’s moves, while telling the fans “when my hand goes up your mouth goes shut” which drew a ton of boos, and finally the fans started chanting “You’re from Cleveland” to which the Miz responded with “Better than Columbus” the host city for RAW tonight. He’s quick witted and has helped get Mizdow over even more in the last couple of weeks. I love their dynamic and this story.

We got a cool video package for the return of Sheamus tonight. He’s a really talented performer on the mic and especially in the ring and will be a real asset when he makes his return soon. Full disclosure, I am a Sheamus fan... especially when he's a heel.

Curtis Axel is topical with his Kanye West jokes and him standing in the ring pointing at the WrestleMania sign saying he was never eliminated and wants his shot makes me laugh but I also laugh when Dean Ambrose comes down and demolishes him. After that match which Ambrose won we get a good Ambrose promo talking about how he really wants the IC Title and then Bad News Barrett pops up on the tron to add a bit more to this program. I am so happy we are getting an actual feud for a secondary title because only good things will come from making the Intercontinental Championship mean something again. It helped to make guys like Shawn Michaels, Randy Savage, Bret Hart, The Rock, Triple H, and the list goes on.

Last but certainly not least we get the main event - Bryan and Reigns vs The Authority. This classic wrestling story was told throughout the night with two partners being unable to co-exist due to an upcoming showdown between them and a group of dastardly heels trying to take advantage of the situation in this 5 on 2 match. Well that plan was working until it all broke down and just as Show and Kane were getting ready to put Bryan through the announcers table out comes Ryback, Ziggler, and Rowan to make the save and even up the odds. This didn’t lead to a DQ so just as Bryan is prepared to hit the running knee on Joey Mercury we see Reigns jump to the apron, tag himself in, and spear Mercury for the win. This angered DB who gets in Roman’s face and eats a Spear for it. This was a great way to cap off the night because it built a ton of tension between the two and served to set-up a bit of intrigue leading into a face-off on Smackdown that was advertised throughout this show.

Overall another good RAW. There were some very noteworthy moments on the show that play into what the plans are for Fast Lane and WrestleMania. NXT Take Over Rival is this Wednesday which I plan to watch and may even do a small blog for… I’m really looking forward to the big Zayn vs Owens NXT Championship Match.

See you next time…

Match of the Night: Daniel Bryan and Roman Reigns vs The Authority

Ooh, ooh that smell

Can't you smell that smell?

Ooh, ooh that smell

The smell of death surrounds you.

[Insert Cool Intro Title]

I had to allow prominent southern rockers and personal favorite of Dan Ryckert’s, “Lynyrd Skynyrd” to welcome all of you to HORROR week on Happy Monday Duders. I am glad some of you decided to join me on my trek through what I love in gaming this month and the horror genre is one of those things. Last week I talked about how I traced my love of scary games back to the original Metroid where the atmosphere pulled you into the game in a way that I hadn't been up to that point. After that I moved on to games that are more closely associated with the genre like Resident Evil, Silent Hill, and others that popped up (good or bad) during the PS1 era.

I haven’t played many horror games over the last few years so most of my experience dates back to between 1996 and 2005 so while I will talk about a few of my personal favorites that I played a bit of last week there's also a couple of newer games that I picked up recently. When I saw that the “horror' genre was a thing in gaming the PS1 era was upon us and as a huge fan of scary movies with my favorite being the Halloween series, along with George Romero’s earlier work, some of the Alien films, and spotty entries in the Friday the 13^th franchise I was excited to see how it translated into video games. As you can tell from my film choices I am not particularly adventurous as it relates to what I like but I know that I’m not super into the extreme gore sub-class so I mostly stick to, and re-watch, what I discovered and really appreciated as a teenager.

I’ll give a swift rundown of my favorite horror games then jump into the breakdown of what I played last week. First I could not make a horror blog without mentioning how awesome Resident Evil used to be and let all of you know that my absolute favorite game of the series and the genre is Resident Evil 2. I feel that it perfected what the first game did and added even more atmosphere with the police station and the constant threat of the Tyrant on your tail as you progress. I love it and while I have enjoyed some of the RE games that have released since, to me, none of them have been able to match the enjoyment that I personally had while playing through 2.

Next in line is Silent Hill 2; it seems that many people will refer to this one when stating their preferred Silent Hill game and I am no different. Universally adored by critics and fans Silent Hill 2 had excellent characters, an amazing soundtrack/sound design, and it was startlingly creepy in the best ways. I know I mentioned the overall soundtrack but I have to give a little more time to just how amazing the theme of Silent Hill is, it is chilling and so fitting for the series, and could very well be one of the greatest in gaming history. Also, before I move on I want to give a little attention to how much I enjoyed playing Silent Hill: Shattered Memories on the Wii, it did some of the most innovative stuff with a Wii Remote that was ever done on the system so I highly recommend playing it if you can find a copy on the cheap somewhere. It is a cool pseudo adventure game that will keep you guessing throughout.

1. Dying Light

THOUGHTS: I had some lukewarm feelings about this before I actually played it but I wanted to at least give it a chance because despite the myriad of technical issues that Dead Island had I still had a fun time playing around 20 hours of it. After playing nearly that many of Dying Light over the last 7 days I can say that it is a much better game in nearly every way over Dead Island in my opinion. The movement and parkour element are easy to adjust to and while combat doesn’t feel great I feel like the use of traps that can take out a large number of zombies in quick succession add depth and another viable option to defeating a crowd of enemies. I think the transition and changes in design from daytime to nighttime are better in thought than in actual execution because I had a better time running around during the day and exploring instead of being forced to run and hide more at night; so I found myself finding a safe house and just resting up until morning a lot just so I could get back to the stuff that I wanted to do more of.

VERDICT: There are still issues present in Dying Light but it is a much tighter experience than Dead Island was; so if you liked that and are looking for an improved version then I will say definitely try Dying Light.

2. Alien Isolation

THOUGHTS: I wish I could say more about this game but I didn’t get a chance to put enough time into it this week after spending most of it playing Dying Light. As I mention in the intro to this blog I am a fan of the Alien movie franchise with the first being, by far, my favorite so it is nice to be able to explore a game that has that exact same aesthetic. I played roughly 3 hours and had a better time just walking around and checking out the green lighting and CRT’s than anything else that I did. I have had a couple of encounters with the Alien and the synthetic Working Joe’s and after hearing that the game can take 18-22 hours to complete the story I don’t think I will ever finish it.

VERDICT: I will definitely play more of this but I’m not sure that I will be able to finish it even as an enormous fan of the film series. I love being able to explore the ship and I feel a little burnt out on the gameplay after just 4 hours so I can’t imagine how I will feel after multiplying that by 5. The Creative Assembly created a game artistically worthy of the Alien franchise and while I cannot definitively say that it overstays its welcome until I play more but as of right now that seems likely based on the estimations I have seen regarding the time commitment to complete it.

3. Resident Evil 2

THOUGHTS: I stated in the opening that this is my favorite game in the horror genre so I decided to play a bit of it on Thursday to see if it holds up because it had been 5 years or more since I've done that and we're nearing 20 years since the first time I finished it in 1997. I'm getting old. The controls are a relic and a product of the era that the game was first released in so if you can stomach playing with “tank controls” and seeing some muddy textures then I feel like you could play through and really enjoy RE2 today.

VERDICT: What are you doing with your life if you haven’t at least played a little of this yet? Also, don’t tell me if you were born after this came out because you will only make me feel older than I already do. As successful as the remaster of RE1 has seemingly been I hope Capcom realizes that it could make a ton of money by putting some effort into doing a remake of 2.

4. The Evil Within

THOUGHTS: Yep. I borrowed my cousin’s copy of this for the PS4 to play a bit of it since the Mikami connection is there and seeing as how he is one of the most recognizable figures in the horror genre and the guy who created Resident Evil. The similarities in design are immediately evident when you start playing Evil Within but I am in the same situation with this that I was with Alien Isolation in that I haven’t played a ton of it yet but with close to the same amount of time in both I will say that I enjoyed and am more likely to return to Alien than this. The gore is cranked up to 10 (which is a turn off for me even in horror movies) and the combat, specifically; the gun-play just feels bad.

VERDICT: I didn't have a lot of fun with it. I hoped when I saw this game announced that it would be a return to form for Mikami in going back to his roots in survival horror but it just feels disjointed. I would like to want to play more of it but there wasn't enough in the story or gameplay that makes me want to play anymore to find out if it gets any better.

THE WEEK AHEAD

SOULS!!!!

Yep. Week 3 of things I fell in love with in gaming will be all about one series; Souls. I have played an insane amount of hours of all three currently released games and plan to return to Dark Souls 2 to play through the DLC that has been released so far after having played around 150 hours of the base game last year. You will learn how I went from absolutely hating Demon’s Souls (going as far as quitting it after 5 hours and not returning to it for years) to coming to the realization of how to play Dark Souls the right way and then returning to Demon’s Souls with a new appreciation of how it was designed.

I am extremely excited to talk about this topic because this is easily my favorite series from the last generation of gaming so this list is pretty easy to put together but here is what I plan to play in the week ahead.

· Dark Souls 2 DLC

· Dark Souls

· Demon’s Souls

OPINION TIME

Godus and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Kickstarter:

I had a different topic to talk about which I will probably shelve for a future installment of the blog but I noticed something when I was checking out Twitter earlier this morning; everyone is super upset with Godus.

Godus was a return to the God Game genre for industry veteran and notorious over-promiser Peter Molyneux. A Kickstarter was launched in 2012 and the game met its goal of $732,510.00 just 2 days before it was to have ended. However, it was revealed by developer 22 Cans that despite meeting that funding amount the team are having trouble living up to what was initially professed. This, as you would expect, has not went over too well with people who either backed the game or gaming journalists with everyone from Jim Sterling to Giant Bomb’s own Alex Navarro weighing in on either the game or Molyneux himself.

I’m not sure how many people were hotly anticipating the release of Godus but at least the idea of Peter Molyneux returning to do a game similar to Populous, which was a game that I played a bit of a number of years ago and enjoyed, was at least a little bit cool. I hadn't been keeping up with the development of the game and had nearly forgotten about it altogether until the news that there was trouble dropped today. I feel bad for the developer honestly, 22 Cans according to reports have been working on this game for the last couple of years without Molyneux who moved on in mid to late 2013 to work on another project. In late January it was revealed by a designer on Godus that it will not be able to deliver on some of the features that were promised in the Kickstarter campaign.

While the game is unquestionably in distress this very well could be the final straw in gamer’s eyes for Molyneux. He persistently over-promises and rarely delivers on the lofty expectations that he helps to set for his own projects. Any goodwill that he built up through the 80’s and 90’s has been overshadowed and we all now take everything he says with a grain of salt. I was a fan of the Fable games and thought Black and White was a neat idea but maybe it is time for the man himself to come to the realization that less is more as it relates to letting the public know what he’s trying to create before he has even created it.

COMMENT REQUEST OF THE WEEK

What is the scariest moment you have ever experienced in a game?

The views and comments on the blog from last week were awesome to see and I want to continue to make this thing grow, into what, I have no idea yet and unlike Peter Molyneux I will not make lofty promises that I can’t keep. BURN!

Thanks so much for reading and have a very Happy Monday Duders!!!!

I had a lot of free time today so I thought I would give a new RAW Review Blog a test run... if the Duders like it then let me know. A little bit of warning though, I am an extremely positive person when it comes to wrestling. I love the entertainment value and having been watching since I was 4 years old (over 25 years now) I have always felt that way. I tend to be more optimistic about the product than most on the internet.

I want to start this blog off by saying that I loved this episode of RAW tonight. The opening segment rubbed me a little bit the wrong way but it was made up by great storytelling throughout the remainder of the show. I had zero issue with Roman Reigns winning the Royal Rumble, he got a positive reaction tonight, and they Rumble has been used in the past to make a guy. You have an up and comer win it and then go on to Mania and win the title, see Batista in ’05 as the most recent example and he turned out just fine; I mean after that win he proceeded to have a 5 year run on top. I feel like Reigns should have went on, and still may, to WM31 and take down Lesnar to become the next “guy” in the WWE but I’m more concerned right now with what went on tonight.

Everyone in the opening segment did a good job, I’m still amazed at how awesome Seth Rollins is on the mic now, and it set up the rest of the show perfectly. It did make Reigns look a bit dumb to just hand over his guaranteed spot at Mania for opportunity to face a top-tier contender for it but I just write that off as wrestling. The segment with Hunter and Steph afterwards didn’t do Reigns any favors, they basically said he was an idiot for doing it; I hope they’re not losing faith in him because of some vocal smarks. The more casual WWE fans still buy his shirts and scream their heads off when Roman’s music hits.

Dean Ambrose coming out and beating down Curtis Axel while declaring that he wanted the Intercontinental Title was a nice touch, it added some legitimacy to the IC belt and has me really looking forward to a program between himself and Barrett. The same part of me that loves the fact that the driving force behind a program between Wade and Dean is the same part that wishes the US Title was on the line when Rusev and Cena lock up. Even if the title is below Cena it would at least make it look better if there was a chance that the biggest WWE star of the last 10 years had a chance to win it at the PPV.

The road to the split between Miz and Mizdow is underway and I love it. Mizdow has been one of the most entertaining characters in the entire company for the last 6 months and the moment when he snaps and drops the Miz will be a huge pop. I hope it happens at Mania because that crowd will go insane and make it a major moment. The tease between Stardust and Goldust has me a little less excited. I love both guys and maybe the team has run its course just a little bit but I loved the tag matches they have had over the last year and a half. I hope if the split between the bros does happen that Stardust goes back to being Cody because he’s a really talented dude who makes the best of every situation he is put in.

I thought the Harper vs Ryback match was really good. They hit each other hard and The Big Guy picked up a nice win on TV. I wish they would do a little bit more with Harper, he has such an interesting look and can really go in the ring, he deserves a little bit higher spot on the card in my opinion.

Bray Wyatt v Dolph Ziggler was incredible. It was my Match of the Night. I honestly could watch these two guys for the next 3 months if that was the program, and I really hope they have something cool planned for Dolph because he’s amazing, but we all know that isn’t he plan thanks to that Wyatt interview segment later in the show after he picked up the win over Ziggler. He had some cryptic things to say and many speculate, myself included, that they were directed straight at the Undertaker which I am more than thrilled for. It could be the show stealer at Mania because you know that Bray will bring everything he has into the biggest match of his career to this point and if he’s going to be there we all know that Taker will be on his A+ game.

Cesaro and Tyson Kidd are great. I love them as a tag-team or as singles… that is all, they are fantastic!!!!

I loved the backstage segment with Roman Reigns and Daniel Bryan. Reigns has added some really subtle tweaks to his persona lately that makes him seem more like a badass which is what people really liked about him when he was in The Shield. Bryan was great as always, he knows who he is and he is great at it. In a way it seemed as though there was a bit of a heel tease with Reigns during this and even in the opening promo with everyone in the ring. He's still getting a pretty good response so I'm not sure that a heel turn is a good move, if that even is the plan, he may get white hot between now and Fast Lane or Mania. I don't know... Vince knows more than me, he's made a billion dollars doing this stuff.

Seth Rollins vs Daniel Bryan was a really good match. It seemed like they held back just a tad which is understandable because the match was there to setup Bryan vs Reigns at Fast Lane but Rollins once again showed why he deserves the top spot that he has been placed in. That guy was the WWE MVP in 2014… everything he did was gold. It made sense to have Reigns cost Seth the match after that monster spear on the Big Show since Rollins cost him his match earlier on in the night. Side note, I really hope there is no more Show and Reigns matches, I enjoy them but they do no favors for Reigns, we need to see Roman throw around some smaller guys over these next couple of weeks to show what he could do to Bryan at the PPV. There's no denying that Bryan is the most over babyface in the company so will they be forced to turn Roman because it may be a sink or swim moment for him.

I was a little disappointed that we didn’t see Randy Orton pop up and hit an RKO on Rollins after what seemed to be the tease during the backstage segment with The Authority but I expect he will make his appearance soon enough since it is rumored that he’ll be in there with Rollins at WrestleMania.

Overall this was a great RAW with some really good matches and cool set-up for Fast Lane and WrestleMania. Daniel Bryan vs Roman Reigns for the chance to be the man who faces Lesnar at WM31 will be a great match and will it’ll be extremely interesting to hear how the crowd reacts to both guys.

Match of the Night: Bray Wyatt vs Dolph Ziggler

I’m kicking off this month by playing a lot of Nintendo games. The reason… every week of this month I will have a theme relating to the things that I fell in love with in gaming. The NES was the first system that I ever owned and it hooked me on playing video games. My dad surprised me in 1988 by bringing home a NES with Super Mario Bros. and Duck Hunt and I cannot begin to guess how many hours I played of Mario

I was still very young at the time but the only console I had was the NES until 1993 when I got both a Sega Genesis and a Super Nintendo but in that five year span before I moved on to the 16 bit era I would get 3-4 games throughout the year; one for my birthday and a couple at Christmas. I played some of the greatest games of all-time and experiences that have stuck with me and shaped who I am as a gamer to this day. Metroid, The Legend of Zelda, Contra, and every Mario game that I could get my hands on. I loved the NES and to this day I still cannot resist a Nintendo system.

I have started my daughter on Nintendo games and many of the same that I played when I was around her age. She has my old SNES in her room right now with Super Mario Kart in the cartridge slot. That love of Nintendo is what led me to choose to play a number of games on my Wii U over the past week.

MY WEEK IN GAMING

1. Bayonetta 2

THOUGHTS: An absolute blast. Bayonetta 2 is a beautiful disaster of a video game that takes you right to the edge of being out of control but allows you to feel like you know exactly what you’re doing at all times. The combat feels great and the effects on the more powerful attacks are absolutely stunning. It brings me back to the fluidity I felt the very first time I played a Devil May Cry and even more-so with God of War.

VERDICT: I am about 8 hours in and nearing the end but I can already definitively say that I love it. There are so many reasons to own a Wii U and Bayonetta 2 has jumped near the top of that list. It is an incredible thrill ride that you have to see to believe.

2. Punch-Out

THOUGHTS: It hits every one of the best nostalgia notes. The returning fighters are iconic and instantly recognizable, even their special attacks and weaknesses are exactly the same while the new fighters feel a little too cartoony (I realize how dumb that sounds in a game with a human hippo) but even though they may not be as well designed as the original characters they still fit just fine in the mix.

I always loved this video review by Ryan...

VERDICT: You could have picked this up for half-price last week at $9.99 but even at full-price it is totally worth it.

3. Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze

THOUGHTS: I want to start by saying that this game is damn hard. That’s from someone who has played to completion and really enjoyed the other entries in the series, from the Wii entry back to the originals on the SNES. There is a level of tightness with all of the characters that makes this series so much fun to play. You always feel like you can do exactly what you’re thinking with your jumps. The mine cart levels are vicious and the length of the boss battles still seems a bit too long but variation in level design is incredible in certain spots.

VERDICT: It can be extremely frustrating at times but if you can get by that then you’re in for one of the tightest platformers of the last few years.

4. Mario Kart 8

THOUGHTS: One of the most recognizable and easiest to pick up and play party games of all time because most people, of all ages, have seen or played a Mario Kart game at some point and immediately know how to play. If you’re looking for a casual, couch multiplayer games to play by yourself or with friends there aren’t many better than this or any other game in the series. The blue shell is still the devil.

VERDICT: If you own a Wii U then you absolutely must own this game. It is the best Mario Kart game that I have ever played.

THE WEEK AHEAD

The second week of February will be all about a genre that I really grew to love with horror games. I didn’t really play a game that I considered scary until Resident Evil on the PS1 but I will say that one of, if not, the most atmospheric game I played before that was Metroid. I’ll get more into that next week but until then here are some of the things that I plan to play.

• Dying Light
• Resident Evil HD Remaster
• Alien: Isolation
• Silent Hill HD Collection

OPINION TIME

NINTENDO CREATORS PROGRAM:

I would be remiss to shower love on Nintendo for some of their recent and past successes without mentioning the controversy that has surrounded them for the last week. The Nintendo Creators Program was revealed a few days ago and was immediately met with a strong backlash from many YouTubers who say it is unfair and after reading the terms associated with I have to agree. You are sharing revenue with Nintendo when if you made a video that didn’t feature one of their games you would be taking for yourself. Google get their share then Nintendo will take a percentage of your ad revenue. This is a mistake by Nintendo, but for me it is less about taking money from the creators and more about not seeing the bigger picture.

This is a way to market your games for free. The people making the videos that feature Nintendo games are usually some of the more generously kind content creators that you will find on YouTube because they legitimately love the company. You can find a video that bashes Nintendo but those that heap praise on them are much more prevalent. In taking a few bucks from a couple of creators here and there Nintendo has sacrificed a ton of free marketing for their games. That’s a huge mistake and one that I hope they realize before it’s too late. When you start to turn your backs on your most loyal fans then you are in major trouble… I have faith that the big “N” will come around but until then they have started a fire with some of the largest YouTubers on the internet and their enormous fan bases, and that, is not good.

Here's my comment request for the week:

What was the first console that some of you Duders ever owned or what you system made you fall in love with gaming?

As always, thanks so much for reading and have an incredible week!!!!

I want to start of the blog by saying that this was an extremely light week for playing games for me. I had a lot of adult responsibilities, like watching the Royal Rumble, and I plan to have a blog in a couple of days with my thoughts on that event. I know how many people feel about it and I have to express my opinion in some way. I’m also debating on whether to start doing a blog each month where I talk about the WWE PPV and give my opinions on it. (Let me know if anyone at all would be interested in reading that even if no one will it may be therapeutic for me)

A Real Man's Man is my pick to win the Royal Rumble every single year...

I know that a million other people do that but I've been watching wrestling for a very long time and I think I am the most qualified person in the world to offer a wrestling opinion having no previous experience in writing about wrestling, talking about wrestling, and/or actually wrestling. FUN!

I hope you guys had a chance to play more stuff than I did because I really only played like 2 games this week and barely had time for either one. I have something planned for February though that I think is super cool, I’ll get into that more in the conclusion though, I really think those of you who actually read this will enjoy it. Here we go:

THE LAST WEEK IN GAMING

1. Far Cry 4

THOUGHTS: I actually started playing FC4 back when it was released and have around 15 hours into it as of right now. I went back to it earlier this week because I never completed the story but really want to so I thought what better time to jump back in than while I am waiting on Bayonetta 2 and Dying Light to arrive; both of which were sent by Gamefly. I was only able to, maybe, play another hour of Far Cry this week and it saw me complete absolutely ZERO story missions which were my sole purpose for going back in the first place. I killed a couple of tigers, did one tower, and ran over a merchant while riding an elephant.

We all love @vinny!

VERDICT: I love Far Cry 4. I’ve played the entire time on PC with my GTX 780 and haven't had a single issue. The freedom you have in that game still boggles my mind and the world seems so alive. It’s so cool to drive up a few minutes after a random guy has been mauled by a tiger or to see something ablaze following a firefight that happened while I wasn't even around. The series has become one of my favorites and I can’t wait to see where they take it next. If you haven’t played 3 or 4 then I suggest you remedy that immediately.

2. Defiance

THOUGHTS: Why? I really have no answer. In a week where I had so little time to play games why in the world would I go back, yes I said “go back”, to Defiance. In my defense, I played this game on 360 when it released a couple of years ago and actually enjoyed it. It wasn’t good, believe me, but it was a serviceable shooter that had ties to a terrible SyFy television show that I actually like. I saw it was on Steam for free and decided to give it a shot. It is now free to play though so just understand that going in.

I downloaded it and played through the tutorial then turned it off and uninstalled it. I was hoping in some way that I would get some bonus for having played the console version but that didn’t happen.

VERDICT: Defiance isn’t a good game but the show is bad and dumb in a good way, so, don’t play the game but try out the show.

THE WEEK AHEAD

This section actually has a purpose this week… YAY! Since the next blog in this series will be on the second of February I am announcing that next month will be, FEBULOVEARY!!!!

I honestly could not come up with a better name than that, and I tried, I sat for at least 3 minutes on Saturday and tried to think of something better but that stupid name kept making me laugh so I went with it.

FEBULOVEARY (I know that name is really stupid) will be all about things that I fell in love with in gaming and I’m going to start by this week playing games on consoles by the first company that I fell in love with, Nintendo. I’ll have the story of when I got my first NES system next week and why I can’t stop buying Nintendo consoles.

Here are the games I plan to play this week: (Most of these, if not all, will be played on my Wii U)

• Bayonetta 2
• Punch Out
• Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze
• Mario Kart 8
• Super Metroid
• Super Castlevania IV

I know that's a lot of games for me but I really want to dive in and play a ton of stuff to kick off the big FEBULOVEARY event and what better way to do that than with a bunch of cool Nintendo stuff. I hope you awesome people enjoy it because I plan to do more of these themes maybe every month from here on out. I’m thinking it will help me to prioritize what I play a little bit better and lend some cohesiveness to this blog series.

OPINION TIME

Since I felt that the blog last week was a little on the negative side with the Evolve drama I wanted to do something a little more positive this week. Over the last couple of days I have been thinking about the differences in how I looked at games when I was younger compared to how I look at them now. I always want to lean more to the positive side of gaming since it’s something that I do for fun. I don’t want to look back at games that I loved before and say that they suck now just because it seems like it is uncool to like that particular game or because it doesn't look or control as well as current releases.

I fell in love with certain games not because they are products of the era or time that I played them in but because they were well crafted experiences that spoke to me. I play retro games occasionally and instead of looking at them with a critical perspective I just try to sit back, relax, and enjoy them.

As another reason to check out the blog next month I am going to be going back and ranking my favorite games of all-time and each week I will reveal them until I get to the last week of the month where I will make known my favorite game. This isn't a list of games that I think are the best technically or the games that everyone should feel the same about that I do, no, these are simply my Top 10 favorite games ever.

So what I would love for everyone to do, along with leaving me your feedback on the entirety of the blog, is to let me know in the comments what some of your favorite games are.

As always have a Happy Monday Duders and thanks for reading.

It's another Monday. I played a couple of games that didn't come out this year and one that hasn't even released yet; but we'll get to that soon enough, trust me. I spent a huge amount of time this week watching stuff on GB because I was trying to catch up on some videos that I haven't had a chance to watch and that's a lot of fun. The guys have been doing a great job and I would like to especially thank Jason Oestreicher for changing the way that I view life thanks to this secret cable winding technique.

In the meantime let us discuss the games that I was able to play over the last seven days.

THE LAST WEEK IN GAMING

1. Evolve (Closed Beta on Steam)

THOUGHTS: Not too long ago I was really looking forward to playing Evolve because it looked like it would be a nice change of pace from what we’ve grown accustomed to in the multiplayer shooter space. The trailers shown over the past year made it seem cool, just maybe a little light on story and characters, but it focused on the idea of playing as an undstoppable behemoth.

Wait, no there are 3 monsters unless you pre-order. No, there may actually be 4 monsters in the game and you (could possibly or impossibly) get a fifth or a sixth by pre-ordering the PC Monster Race Edition (ugh) and you have a sweet chance to get exclusive early exclusive access if you get it for the XBOX ONE and can also have some more guns or tangerines or something… (screams out window) enough of this.

This game had promise. People wanted to play Evolve. However, over the course of the year the DLC implementation and the way that Turtle Rock Studios has said that the game was “built from the ground up” for DLC has made me go from someone who would probably buy Evolve to someone who will never pay money to play it.

Evolve! Evolving the way you pay for DLC!!!!

I’m sorry…

VERDICT: After playing the Beta on Steam this weekend I thought the game was “okay” it is really clunky at times to control and the monster seems overpowered, which is probably the point, but it just seems like a neat idea that isn't executed very well. If you can get by the fact that 2K is trying to nickel and dime you into an early grave with a Season Pass and DLC then you may like it. If you can try the Beta then I recommend you do that before you make a purchasing decision.

I don't like sounding so down about any game. I pride myself on being a positive person but the way this game has been flooded by pre-order bonuses is so egregious that I could not ignore it and it made me a bit angry that a game with a cool idea has been muddied with such shady business practices.

2. Bulletstorm

THOUGHTS: I understand that this game came out a few years back but I never got a chance to play it. I enjoyed the Gears of War games and seeing how much the environments in Bulletstorm looked like those in Gears I thought that it would be cool to play an extremely over the top game with that aesthetic. I was, mostly, right.

Bulletstorm is a pretty cool game that gets a bit repetitive but is cool enough with the leash and kick mechanic that you should stay interested long enough to complete the main story. It took me about 6 hours on Steam which was great for me because I was playing it to cross it off of the backlog list. The upgrades are pretty useless and the weapons, while a bit over the top, could have been even more-so. We will never get a sequel to Bulletstorm which is a little bit sad because I could see them taking that concept to some insane places if given the opportunity.

VERDICT: Try it. You can get it cheap and the campaign is short enough that you won’t have to invest a ton of time into completing a fun game.

3. Saints Row IV

THOUGHTS: I have barely scratched the surface of this. I loved Saints Row: The Third and I know that IV goes… places. The brand of crazy that this series brings is something I really like. Having played around 4 hours of this one so far I can already run up buildings, fly, and use telekinesis to pick up cars and throw at giant rock aliens. Really.

I plan to finish it over the next few days so I’ll be able to talk more next week.

VERDICT: I tried to have sex with Keith David. He has too much respect for me to do that… I appreciate you Keith David.

THE WEEK AHEAD

I played one game that I listed here last week. This section seems to be useless but I love it anyway because when I do next week’s blog I can look back at it and say, “I really should have played [insert game time] instead of Warframe.”

I didn’t play anymore Warframe last week. I opened it once. Left it open while I made a sandwich and when I came back with said sandwich I turned off Warframe and watched Z-Nation. (Shout out to @sparky_buzzsaw for allowing me to say that without feeling ashamed) Our eyes were opened to the magnificence of televisions best show in this wonderful blog Sparky's Update - Let's talk about Z Nation... check it out!!!!

Here’s what I probably will not play over the next 7 days…

• More Saints Row IV
• Puzzle Agent (I’m going to keep listing this until I actually play it)
• Binary Domain
• Divinity: Original Sin (this will not happen)

OPINION TIME

(See Evolve)

They announced DLC and Season Pass information before a trailer last year. That shouldn’t happen but hey it did because MONEY!!!!

Let me know in the comments what the best and worst pieces of DLC in gaming history are in your opinions.

Have a Happy Monday Duders. Thanks for reading and as always let me know what you think about this blog series.

Well, I wasn't able to get to any of the games that I mentioned I would like to play last week but I did finish Wolfenstein, play some more Nuclear Throne, and a bit of Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes. I spent a lot of time with my wife and daughter over the weekend… if you want to know how tough balancing work, family, and gaming is just listen to @vinny anytime he tries to explain it, it’s tough.

Anyway, I don’t want this blog series to just be about married/dad life, I want it to be more about games and how they are an escape when I’m feeling overwhelmed by everything else. I, as many of you, play games to relax. They’re fantastic for that. So let's get to it.

LAST WEEK IN GAMING:

1. Wolfenstein: The New Order

THOUGHTS: Wow, this game is great. I talked about it at length during the blog last week but after playing about 7 more hours and finishing the story I have to say that had I completed this game before my personal cutoff for GOTY 2014 it would have more than likely ended up at number 1. I was amazed how Machine Games was able to humanize and make people sympathize and feel for a character who in the previous games in the series was just an avatar used to murder as many Nazi’s as possible without caring one bit for him. B.J. Blazkowics received a motivation for his assault on the Nazi regime, aside from the fact that they are the Nazis and are horrific people.

The pacing of the story was fantastic. It started a bit slowly and built to an extremely emotional climax. I’m not going to spoil anything if you haven’t played it because I feel like it is a game that you should experience for yourself. There were some characters that I really connected with and found myself rooting for them to fight and survive.

VERDICT: Highly recommended. The best shooter that I have played during the new generation of consoles it has a great story, excellent game-play, and enough variation in level and mission design to keep you interested the entire time.

2. Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes

THOUGHTS: I played this to completion on the PS4 when it first released earlier in 2014 but decided to pick it up on PC during the Steam Holiday Sale to see the visual differences and I have to say I was impressed. The game looks great on PS4 but once I booted it up with my GTX780 it bordered on being the best looking game I have ever seen. Mostly all I did was just mess around a bit to check out the lighting and the rain, my God that rain; I killed a few guys and hopped on a turret. Fun times.

I was already super excited to play the Phantom Pain, this only heightened that anticipation about being able to mess around in an open world with Snake on PC.

VERDICT: It’s a demo. When it released on console it was an expensive, and pretty shady, proposition to make fans play 30 bucks for a 2 hours (if you do everything) experience. On sale on Steam for 13 dollars it becomes a little easier to stomach but still you have to know what you’re getting before you jump in or you will be super upset. I recommend playing it on PC just to see how phenomenal it looks and to get yourself more excited for MGS5.

3. Nuclear Throne

THOUGHTS AND VERDICT: I can’t stop. Play it.

4. Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning

THOUGHTS: I love this game. I played around 100 hours of it when it released in 2012 on XBOX 360 but never played any of the DLC and played as a Rogue. I decided last week to replay it on Steam with the DLC using a different character class, albeit, the warrior is a bit similar the abilities are different enough to make it feel like something new. This isn't going to be something I do over a week or two period, I’ll probably pick it up here and there over the course of the next few months until I get through everything that I want to see this time around, I mostly want finish the DLC packs that I haven’t played yet.

VERDICT: It’s a few years old but still plays great. The combat was one of my favorite things about the game. The open world always felt a little bit lifeless to me but it’s tolerable to see the story, which I thought was pretty good, and just to kill dudes in some fairly cool ways. I have seen the ultimate edition of the game on sale for as low as 5 dollars and for that price it is a totally worthwhile purchase. I named it my number 2 favorite game of the year on my 2012 Top Ten list. Play it… it’s fun.

5. Warframe

THOUGHTS: Why did I do this? I played a little of it on PS4 when that thing launched in 2013 and thought it was okay and then Jeff did the new Quick Look for it and showed off all of the things that had been added to it and I thought, “that looks fun, I need to play some Warframe”. So I played some Warframe. The game does such a horrible job of explaining things to you that I mostly spent 3-4 hours just running around trying to figure out what the hell I needed to do. It looks great on PC and actually plays pretty well but I don’t think I’ll play anymore Warframe. I just don’t have the time to invest.

VERDICT: Don’t play Warframe. Wait, play Warframe if you have a bunch of people to explain it to you just to check it out. I don’t like Warframe that much. I may play some more Warframe tonight. Dammit.

THE WEEK AHEAD

I mentioned four games during last Monday’s blog that I wanted to play during last week and I ended up playing one of them so take this list with a grain of salt. It’s more of a reminder/outline to myself that I need to play some of the games that I own so hopefully I follow it a little bit better this week. We’ll see though…

• Sunset Overdrive
• Star Trek Online – Remember when I said I don’t have time to invest in Warframe. Say hello to next weeks Warframe!!!!
• Warframe – Dammit
• Puzzle Agent
• Bulletstorm – Never played it but always wanted to so let us remedy that.

OPINION TIME

Last week I spoke about my distaste for pre-orders and how I plan to wait a few weeks on every game I purchase in 2015. I’ll try to stick to that but for this week my topic is…

VR Gaming: This topic seems to have been discussed to death by people much more qualified to offer an opinion than me but I want to add in my two cents. I am not excited for VR to invade gaming. It seems to me to be another fad that will be copied to death and actually end up costing gamers a bunch more money, if they can convince enough people to buy in, only to fizzle out just like most of the other gimmicks that we have had to endure. Motion controls lasted for a few years. The Kinect seemed like a cool idea but the execution was so poor that nothing great ever really came from it.

Sitting on a couch and playing a game with a controller is what I’m used to so I don’t want to wear something on my head while it happens, I never want to high five a monkey using a connect again, and please for the love of everything holy I never want to play a motion controlled anything ever again. Wii Sports was fun for a few times but I grew so tired of all the tricks used in Wii games that I can’t stand the thought of doing it anymore.

How about instead of making new devices for gaming let’s try to focus in 2015 on releasing games that aren't broken on day 1. I’m not trying to come off as hateful on this topic, if you’re looking forward to the Oculus Rift or the VR device that Sony is making let me know in the comments.

Thanks for reading and thanks in advance for commenting. I hope those of you that read this actually enjoy it. If so, let me know in the comments. I'm hoping to keep evolving this so if you have suggestions or anything throw them at me.

Have a Happy Monday Duders. I hope the rest of your week is awesome.

Well, it's another Monday and another weekend has come and gone in the states. Games were played, family was visited, and I was not ready for the new week to start. To appease my total distaste for Monday I have decided to start a weekly blog on this the most dreaded of all seven days. It should help quench my thirst for blood in the morning by instead replacing that blood-lust with thoughts of what I will discuss when I finally get around to writing this.

I'm hoping to have the opportunity every week but we know how ideas are, oftentimes, much better in thought than in actual execution. Things come up. There's nothing I, or anyone else, can do about that. If this blog grows then I may find the motivation to make it happen every single Monday. That's the plan anyway... and I love it when a plan comes together.

Now to the actual content of the blog.

Weekend Gaming

What did I actually play over the previous weekend? Well, that's simple enough to answer because there wasn't a ton. My daughter had a little league basketball game so Sunday was not an option so I had to use the little bit of time that I had on Saturday morning and night to get all the gaming in that I could which included about 4 hours with two different games.

1. Wolfenstein: The New Order

THOUGHTS: When this game released I didn't have the PC to run it. I needed an upgrade and an upgrade badly. Over the Summer I did just that and now after spending a lot of money can run it on Ultra. I bought it during the holiday sale for 20 bucks and according to Steam I've played 2.6 hours of it (all this weekend) and I have to say that if it continues the way it is going now, I will regret not playing it sooner so it could have ended up on my Top Ten List for 2014. The way that MachineGames has been able to humanize B.J. Blazkowicz is extremely impressive. In the older Wolfenstein games he was only an avatar for the player to use while they mowed down scores and scores of evil Nazis. While there is nothing wrong with that it is cool to see him have a little bit more of a personal interest in killing said evil, world dominating monsters.

I'm thoroughly enjoying the shooting which has a retro feel to it but is modern enough in execution that it feels great in modern gaming. The fact that I can run down a hallway duel-wielding automatic shotguns while blowing away ever enemy in sight is awesome. The game makes you feel like a badass in the best ways possible, even the stealth has a polished feel to it, alerting enemies is forgiving enough that so far it hasn't been frustrating at all.

Hey, it's really pretty too.

VERDICT: I plan to finish it. I have loved the limited amount of time that I've played so far and I feel like all of the elements that I listed above will continue to pull me back in. I've heard it isn't terrible long so next week I may be giving you my final thoughts on it.

2. Nuclear Throne

THOUGHTS: Another game that I have had my eye on for quite some time but never really felt I had the time to play it until now. Also a holiday sale pick-up on Steam Nuclear Throne seemed like something that I could pop into every now and then and play for a bit just to have fun an after the time I played of it on Saturday I can say that I more than likely will do just that. The shooting feels really tight and after the GB crew named it as the Best Early Access Experience of 2014 I decided to give it a go. The developers seem to be updating it frequently whether with in-game content or blog posts regarding the development process. The music is great. The shooting feels good and the characters that I have played as so far all feel differet, which is a good thing.

VERDICT: That Quick Look is well over a year old and I can say that the game seems to have changed a ton since but I decided to add it here because I actually think that QL is great. So watch it and love it... it has Vinny, that's all you need to know. Anyway, the game is great. I will play it more and I'm sure I'll discuss it more and more as this blog series hopefully continues.

THE WEEK AHEAD

I spent way too much money during the Steam sale so I have a lot of games to get to and a whole year to do it. I also picked up Sunset Overdrive and will be spending some time with it when I finish up Wolfenstein. So here's a few games that I hope to play before next Monday.

-More Wolfenstein: The New Order

-Sunset Overdrive, if I finish Wolfenstein.

-The Wolf Among Us Episode 2

-Game of Thrones Episode 1... I love Adventure games.

OPINION TIME

This section will involve me just giving a quick opinion on what is going on in gaming. Good things, bad things, whatever pops into my head.

Pre-Orders: One of my gaming resolutions for 2015 was to not pre-order one single game. I, along with many of you, were burnt by lackluster or even bad (Assassin's Creed: Unity I'm looking at you) experiences in 2014. I am going to wait days, weeks, even months in some instances to pick up new games this year to give developers time to actually finish games.

The good thing about this new initiative for myself is that it should give me more time to catch-up on the insane number of backlog games that I have accumulated so this series will probably be littered with games that weren't released this year. There are still a number of games that I am excited to play that will come out in 2015 like Bloodborne, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, and more but while I'm waiting on them to release I will be working my through games that I always wanted to get to but didn't have a chance for... reasons.

So, thanks for reading if you made it this far... let me know your opinions on the blog and especially leave your 2015 Gaming Resolutions in the comments. I'm curious to see what some of you hope to accomplish this year.

Have a Happy Monday Duders. I hope the rest of your week is awesome!!!!