Remember the GTAV trailer? That was pretty cool. I kept meaning to write up something about that game, and what I hope it is and isn't, but I haven't had a chance to. Until...NOW!

Things I want:

One protagonist. There are a lot of rumors about this game having multiple protagonists. Because that is always a good thing. Remember how everyone loved it in MGS2? Or Halo 2? I fully admit that multiple protagonists can work, and can work really well. Yakuza 4 did it exceptionally. But, each protagonist has to be a really good character for it to work. Yakuza 4 did, but not all games do. But, if there are multiple protagonist, I want them to at least tell us about it upfront. There are two specific games that I can think of where at the end of the game it forces you to play as someone else, and I HATED IT in both. After spending so many hours getting to know and like the main dude in each game, and then for the last couple hours you have to play as some other a-hole. And I don't really want to say what the games are for sake of spoiling them. Oh well. But RockStar, please, one awesome character is better than two or three okay ones. Or if you want other guys, do it like GTA IV and have them be the stars of the DLC. That worked really well, and they were their own, separate things, rather than forcing people to switch characters mid-game.

Have the older dude in the trailer be the dude you play as. Would it surprise you if the dude who narrates the video isn't the dude you play as? Wouldn't surprise me. But half of the reason why I am interested in playing this game is because the idea of playing as a middle aged upper middle class guy with kids. That's way more interesting than playing as some loner thug, like the other games (or at in GTA IV, which is the only one I played). Switch it up a little.

Keep it serious. I hate how so many people complain about how serious GTA IV was. It didn't even seem all that serious to me. Yeah, it got pretty serious toward the end, but there was a lot of goofy stuff with Brucie and Roman early on. But I just don't want GTA V to be all about jet packs and nonsense like that. I want it grounded in reality. If I want something dumb, I'll play Saints Row the Third (and I don't plan on playing that game).

Remember the lessons learned in RDR and LA Noire. Remember playing GTA IV? How if you died, you'd respawn at a hospital, have to drive back to your mission starter location, then drive to the actual mission. Also, any ammo and other things used during the mission are gone. That was real fun. Also, no regenerating health. You know what RDR and LA Noire had? Regenerating health and checkpoints. Those things are pretty cool. PUT THEM IN GTA V. Also, tighten up the aiming. It was pretty good in RDR, but not so great in LA Noire. Also, please, for the love of Tesla, let us aim on PS3 with L1 and shoot with R1. It was patched into RDR, but man, I really don't like using R2 and L2 to aim and shoot. I mean, it's not like it's impossible to have the accelerator and brake be R2 and L2 and have the aiming stuff be L1 and R1. Or give people the choice. I dunno.

GET RID OF THE GODDAMN RUN BUTTON. This has been a sticking point for me for years. I hate run buttons. Let me say that again. RUN BUTTONS ARE THE WORST THING TO EVER HAPPEN TO VIDEO GAMES (not counting the terrible/lack of instruction manuals in recent years). Seriously. The reason why analog sticks were put onto controllers was to let people have control over movement speed in games. Super Mario 64 had great analog control in 1996. GTA IV came out in 2008. And you had to hold a face button to run. And if you wanted to run faster than that, you had to tap the damn button. HOW IS THAT FUN? How does that improve the experience?

I'll tell you. It doesn't. The worst part is that if you play online, that isn't there. The dude just runs! They acknowledge that the run button stuff is bad. And I hate it. Now, RDR let John move in a little trot if you had a weapon drawn, which made the situation better, at least in combat (because he would just put his gun away if he wasn't). And LA Noire had the run button be a shoulder button, so that was less bad (though, the nature of that game lent itself to moving slowly because most of it was walking around crime scenes, so I didn't mind that as much). But if I'm walking around an open city in a GTA game, I don't want to be walking, I want to be running. Sure, have it go to walk if the dude is in an apartment or something. Just do something better than making me hold a face button to move faster. Even make it a tap to switch between run modes or something.

And finally, the most important thing I want in GTA V:

A good instruction manual and a map. I love RockStar. Why? Because while other publishers are doing things like putting in crappy/short manuals that are in black and white (or none at all), RockStar not only puts in a full color (and lengthy) manual, they usually also put in a map. GTA IV had a map, RDR had a map, even the disc versions of the DLC for those games came with maps. LA Noire didn't have a map, which worries me a little, but I'm confident that GTA V will. It better anyway. Otherwise I will be disgruntled.

I think I also covered the stuff I don't want in there too. Well, I don't want the ending to suck, and I think the endings to LA Noire and RDR sucked, but I liked GTA V's ending (well, kinda, that sucked a little too know that I think about it (or at least it did until The Ballad of Gay Tony had some closure (by which I mean those diamonds))). If you played RDR and/or LA Noire, then you probably know what I did not like about their respective endings. Please, RockStar, and whoever is deciding these things, don't give GTA V a terrible ending. If I'm playing a game for story, I want a good ending. Not a crappy one like RDR where MAD SPOILER they kill off John and then make you play as a jabroni, or LA Noire where MAD SPOILER they make you play as some other a-hole and then kill off the likable guy.

Also, if those spoilers aren't properly whited out, please tell me. The whiting out spoilers thing is kinda buggy. And I didn't feel like breaking up my paragraph structure by using the spoiler block.

Anyway, anyone else have thoughts on GTA V? Let me guess, I'm the only one who cares. No one else is going to buy this game. One sale. And it's me. That's totally going to happen.

I had an eventful weekend. Friday and Saturday were great, and Sunday was pretty terrible. Let me start with the good stuff.

Batman Arkham City.

Since I went home for the weekend, I finally had a chance to play this year's Batman game. And, oh my Tesla, this game is incredible. Seriously. I could go into lengthy about everything that makes this game so awesome, but I think this is what best sums up my thoughts: This is the Batman game that I have wanted ever since I was a kid. The blend of an awesome story, superb combat, great graphics/art style, well implemented stealth, and most importantly, the city.

See, Arkham Asylum had all of that stuff (well, I wouldn't call the story in the first game "awesome," but it was still pretty good), but not the city. The simple act of being able to glide around as Batman is something that I've wanted for as long as I can remember. I'll never be able to do that in real life, but this is as close as I'll ever get (until the next Batman game, at least). And this may seem kind of silly, but it feels like a dream come true. It works, and it works so incredibly well that it makes me smile every time I zoom up over a building and just keep on gliding.

Beyond that, this game is pretty much Arkham Asylum, but on a bigger scale, and with most of the Riddler Trophies requiring more thought to acquire than in the first game, and with side quests. And a better story (though I won't go into what I like about the story, because of spoilers, and because I'm only about halfway through the game).

Also, Nolan North is in it, both as various thugs, and as The Penguin. And I think it may be my favorite Nolan North role yet. Why? Because he doesn't sound like Nolan North when he does it (well, not usually, there are a few times when his regular voice slips through), and I think the mark of a true voice acting master is when he can sound like a completely different person. Plus, there was at least one instance where I think Nolan North was voicing both The Penguin, and a thug speaking to The Penguin over the radio, so I'm glad to report that the tradition of Nolan North speaking to Nolan North is still alive.

So, that's about all that I have to say about Batman without getting into the nitty gritty, which I'm sure at this point people already know about the details of how that game is played.

Rage

I also played Rage this weekend (the PS3 version). Overall, I think Rage is a really good game. The combat is fun, the enemy animations are incredible (maybe the best I've ever seen), the driving is fast and fun, and for the most part, it looks really nice.

Except when the textures haven't loaded in yet. But I didn't really think that was as bad as most people made it out to be. Yes, there were some spots where it was really noticeable (especially inside the buildings where John Goodman is in the game), but it's not that bad. Especially when the game loads a separate, smaller area, and you're too busy trying to shoot enemies to notice that the textures don't look as good as they could.

But, it's not perfect though, and it is upsetting that it isn't better. It's definitely enough to change this game from being the best looking game I've ever played to a really good looking game. But in the end, it's still a good looking game (though frankly I would have preferred if the game had a lower framerate and no texture problems, but at this point it's too late to fix that (and I don't know if those two things directly correlate anyway, I was just making a comparison because id boasted about the framerate so much (and it is pretty solid))).

So I enjoyed Rage, but I didn't play a ton of it. Why? Because the power went out. Because it snow over a foot. In October. And no, I don't live in Alaska, or Russia, I live in Massachusetts. My dad, who plows driveways in the winter (and thus knows a lot about when it snows) says that he can only remember one or two times when he ever had to plow around Thanksgiving, let alone around Halloween! And unlike a normal snowstorm, which happens after most of the trees have lost their leaves, most of the trees around here were still full of leaves, meaning that a lot of trees fell over. And not just in my town, it happened all over. AND IT'S CRAZY.

Right now I have power because I'm back at college, where they were able to get the power back on fairly quickly. But according to my dad, power only just came back on about an hour or two ago. It's still crazy though. Especially after a freaking tornado ripped up half of my hometown earlier this year. Again, in Massachusetts. We don't usually get these kinds of things. IT'S CRAZY!

Right now I'm predicting that meteors are going to be hitting the town on Thanksgiving. That's the only way this can go (I'm not counting earthquakes or volcanoes, because those aren't weather (no, a meteor shower technically isn't weather either, but it's close enough)). And we've been hit by hurricanes before (this year, but it wasn't too bad), so that's not abnormal.

Anyway, Batman Arkham City is incredible, Rage is pretty good, and having over a foot of snow in October is terrible.

And I could not be happier! So, who else is super pumped? Or even moderately pumped? Or interested?

Here is where I read the news, if you care. http://www.destructoid.com/yes-sega-announces-yakuza-dead-souls-for-us-in-2012-213044.phtml

Edit: Also, I played the demo for the Japanese version of the game a while back, and I thought it was pretty fun. The gun controls are a little weird, but it was still pretty fun.

So, I was going to write an actual review for Shadows, and post it as a review and everything, but I decided not to because I changed my mind. Here are my thoughts!

Graphics

Shadows of the Damned (SotD, for short) isn't the best looking game, and features the classic, "Hey, you can tell this is an Unreal Engine game because you can see the textures load in," but that doesn't mean it's a bad looking game. Quite the contrary, because the game's fun art style (a mash-up between heavy metal album covers, olde timey European architecture, and whatever else Suda 51 decided was cool) and great lighting more than make up for any technical faults with the game, like occasional framerate hitches when the game is saving, and some clipping issues here and there. But again, the lighting is fantastic, especially when Johnson (the game's sidekick) turns into a torch when not in gun mode. He changes color depending on the equipped weapon, and the effect on main character Garcia "F***ing" Hotspur and the environment is good enough to make John Carmack jealous. For the most part the framerate is steady, and the characters and environment has just enough detail to make everything look believable.

Audio

Normally, I don't really write too much about a game's audio, but I feel like SotD is a special case, with a soundtrack from Akira Yamaoka, and some amazing sound effects. The door opening noise in SotD is possibly my favorite sound effect in a game ever. So good that I spent a good half hour or more looking on the internet for a sound clip or short video of it. Sadly I couldn't, but if you watch some footage of the game (like the great Quick Look) you will hear it when a door is opened, and realize how awesome it is. Also, the other sounds and music in the game is pretty rad.

Story-ish stuff.

Shadows of the Damned's plot is that same tale that has been eternally retold in videogames since the olden days of Donkey Kong. Some villainous figure has kidnapped Garcia's girlfriend Paula (not to be confused with Pauline), and now he has to go rescue her. And in typical Suda 51 fashion, the stuff that follows is pretty crazy and weird, and in all the right ways that Suda 51 fans will love (well, at this point all of use Suda 51 fans have probably played this game). Yes, some of it is immature and dumb, like how Johnson turns into "The Boner," but a lot of it is dumb and awesome. Like how Johnson is a talking/floating skull who can turn into guns and a motorcycle. It's crazy.

Gameplay.

I bet you thought I wasn't even going to discuss gameplay. Well, you were wrong! But, there's not really a ton to say. The game is a third person shooting in the vein of stuff like Resident Evil 4 or Dead Space. The controls work fine, and the game is fun. Not really much else to say really.

Yeah, so going on that quest to find the door sound kinda took all the steam out of what I was writing. Here's the gist: I thought this game was great. I wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone who likes Suda 51 games, Shinji Mikami games, or sound effects stolen from Silent Hill games (but not really because it was Akira Yamaoka who put that awesome door sound in).

If I were to write a review, it would have 4 out of 5 stars, stating that the gameplay is fun, the surrounding stuff is fantastic, but the game is too short and offers too little in the way of bonus content (and no new game plus). It's a great game that didn't sell anywhere near enough copies. Go buy this game if you haven't. That door noise will make it all worth it.

So, as you may or mat not know, recently the Battlefield 3 demo was put up for download on various platforms. And since I was at home for my birthday (more on that later), I decided to download it and play it between playing Shadows of the Damned (more on that in another blog post). Anyway, I feel like I should point out that I played the PS3 version (because my PC can't handle modern games, and I don't pay for Xbox Live), and that my only experience with Battlefield games prior to this was the demo for Bad Company 1. So clearly I am an expert on all things Battlefield (not really).

Presentation

A lot of the attention that BF3 has come as a result of the game's graphics. Now, obviously the multiplayer component of the console version of the game isn't going to look as good as the single player component of the PC version, but the game still looked pretty good. Not mind blowing-ly good, or even as good as various PS3 exclusives that I can think of (the Uncharted 3 beta comes to mind, so far as betas are concerned). Conversely though, the map was huge. I don't know how it compares to the maps of previous BF games, but it seemed pretty big to me anyway. Almost too big for the number of players (but that's likely a result of the lower player count from the PC version). But the down-time between meeting other players was a little refreshing in comparison to smaller, more focused games like Blops. The framerate seemed pretty solid, and it didn't seem laggy. The interface was nice, but I couldn't find anything in the beta that showed the controls, so it took me a while to figure out how to do stuff like drop med-kits. And there's no way to mute other players, which is unfortunate when the only person talking is some 12 year old jabroni who curses every time he dies. For all I know there may be some way to mute everyone on a system-wide level, but having to resort to that isn't a great solution. Unless you can mute people, and the game just did not convey that to me in a clear way (which is also a bad thing).

Gameplay

Have you played a first person shooter before? How about one set in modern day? Well, then you have a good idea about how this game plays. You aim down the sights, and you shoot people. Now there's obviously a lot more depth than that, what with squads, classes, and objectives to complete, but you've played a game like this before. And that's both a good and a bad thing. Even though I had almost zero experience with BF games, and did not know what the controls were for the game, I was still able to figure out the basics within seconds. conversely, there wasn't really a whole lot to separate it from other modern day FPS games. It just kinda felt like a slower paced Call of Duty. I found it relatively fun, but not incredibly fun. Especially since the game is a little buggy. Occasionally (and with no apparent reason) some things like aiming down the sights or sprinting just won't work...Until I do a melee attack. Then those abilities start working again. But, it's a beta. It's not a finished version of the game. On the other hand, this game is coming out within this month. Even if this version is a few weeks old, the fact that bugs like that are in the game this close to release might be something to worry about. The game is far from unplayable, and these bugs will likely be ironed out before release, but it still seems odd to me.

Anyway, I may have sounded critical there, but overall I enjoyed the beta. The first couple of matches I played were really fun, but after that the one match and the one game type got kinda old. Again, it's a beta, so it's limited in scope. It was enough to make me go from having almost zero interest in BF3 to be moderately interested in it.

And also it's my birthday today. How old am I? Well, I feel like putting some sort of elaborate riddle here about it would be funny, but I can't think of anything. So I'll just come out and tell you. I'm 21 today.

And no, I did not go out drinking, and I don't plan on it any time soon. I don't even drink caffeinated beverages, let alone alcoholic. I'll probably drink a beer eventually just so I can say I tried one. Not any time soon though.

My birthday weekend was pretty uneventful. I played and beat Shadows of the Damned. I think I'll write up a full-on review for it soon, but until then, I'll just say that I liked it a lot. And of course I played a bunch of the Battlefield 3 beta, then I watched Ancient Aliens of The History Channel (because I'm one of those people who thinks the pyramids and other ancient things were built with alien assistance, but that's a blog for another day). And then I ate some cake/ice cream/nachos. Oven-baked nachos covered in sprinkle-y cheese and a bowl of melted cheese (I want to say over-melted cheese). Nothing too out of the ordinary, and no special birthday presents (though I think my dad might get me Rage, which is out Tuesday, for my birthday). It was fun though.

Nothing else worth mentioning. I am super pumped for Rage, but I probably won't get a chance to play it for several weeks because of me being at college and everything. My friend and I have decided that after playing through Deadly Premonition and Alpha Protocol together, now that Gears 3 is out, we're going to play through Gears 2 (which he did not play "back in the day"), and then Gears 3. You know, to balance out what types of games we play (two story focused games with mediocre/bad gameplay, and now two games with less focus on story, but great gameplay (and co-op)). That should be fun, assuming we ever get a chance to play it, since we're both in college with classes and everything.

So, expect something about Shadows of the Damned from me within the next few days, and possibly something about the tale of a missing Ronald McDonald bench. But that story has not finished unfurling in real life, so that may wait a while.

Anyway, anyone else out there play the BF3 beta? Or Shadows of the Damned? Or sit on a Ronald McDonald bench?

So, as you may or may not know, Deus Ex: Human Revolution came out today in the US. And since I was mad hyped for this game, I went out and bought it, and have played a couple hours. Here's my thoughts: 
 

Presentation

Gameplay

GOALS! PROGRESS! READ THEM! AAAAAAEEEEEYAAAAA! 
 

100% LA Noire and 5 star every case.

Upload at least one good LittleBigPlanet2 level.

Become skilled at Marvel vs. Capcom 3

Acquire a copy of ZHP: Unlosing Ranger vs. Darkdeath Evilman

S-Rank Deadly Premonition

Finish Alpha Protocol (with my friend).

Beat Deus Ex: Human Revolution with zero kills.

Try once again to beat Dead Rising (and probably not succeed).

Don't buy this year's Call of Duty.

Don't buy anything at GameStop.

Buy at least one Wii game.

Beat Yakuza 3, then buy/beat Yakuza 4.

Buy the new Mortal Kombat game, and memorize some fatalities. 

Resist buying Portal 2 (or any other Valve product) until Valve gives some solid details on the next Half-Life game.

Never Give up on the other long rumored games I've been waiting for.

Get back my S-Rank in ME2.

See every hidden Calendar Man conversation in Batman Arkham City

With the 3DS Ambassador program under way for 3DS owners (hopefully, I don't have one so I don't know for sure), I got to thinking about the idea of an entity like Nintendo going out of its way to appease people for doing something like that. And eventually I got to thinking about Capcom, and Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3. 
 
In case you somehow don't know, Capcom announced a while back that later this year they're putting out the aforementioned UMvC3, which features new characters, levels, gameplay tweaks, etc. And all the the bargain price of $40! What a deal! Unless of course you bought the original game in March at $60, thinking that Capcom had finally learned that people hate it when they do this. But no. They did the same thing they always do.  
 
But why couldn't Capcom do something like the 3DS Ambassador program? Do something to make people who bought the game at full price near its release feel like Capcom cares about us. It could be something as simple as mailing them a copy of the receipt and getting a discount on UMvC3. I know it'd go a long way to make me feel better about Capcom as a company.  
 
But of course they aren't going to do it because they know plenty of people are just going to buy the game regardless of what they charge for it, or what they try to do to appease people. And I will admit that my idea of mailing them receipts would be time consuming and costly on their end. But unless they have data on when each user took the game online for the first time, I am unsure of how they could go about it.  
  
Anyone else think this is a good idea? Or know of a more efficient way this could be accomplished? Or am I just dumb for not realizing this would happen, and wanting to buy the game within the week of its release to show support for it? 

So, if you didn't know, my old Xbox broke a couple months ago. That was actually my second Xbox, my first having Red Ringed a few years ago. However, that one didn't Red Ring (I think something went wrong with the graphics dealy in it, or something), and it was well out of warranty, so I was out of luck. Recently, however, Best Buy had a halfway decent deal, so I bought one, the 250GB without Kinect bundled in. Here are my thoughts. 
 
The first thing I noticed upon opening it was that Microsoft, being run by cheapskates (by which I really mean they are just trying to maximize profits, like any company), has stopped including HD cables with 360s. However, the one from my old 360 still works fine. And if something happens to that, I could just switch the HDMI cable I use for my PS3 between the two. But still, it was not a good first thought when opening a $300 item. 
 
I like the looks of the new 360, being black, shiny, and sleek. But the problem with shininess is that any dust on it at all makes it look bad, and I live in a dusty old house, so it was all dusty looking within minutes of opening it. But that's more a problem with the housekeeping here than it is a design flaw. However, there are some large air holes on "top" (I have it horizontally placed, because it's more stable that way), and I'm a bit worried about dust getting in there. I should remember to dust the thing regularly.  
 
The disc tray button has been replaced with some sort of touch sensor, so it's far more sensitive than my old 360s. When I was dusting it yesterday, the try accidentally opened (yeah, I was wiping it off whilst it was turned on), and it startled me. It also makes a noise, which is something I don't like. Consoles making noises without the use of the TV annoys me, because it makes stealth use of it harder. Unless there's a way to turn it off, which I doubt (I've tried in vain for years to see if I can turn off the PS3's beeping).  
 
The controller that came with it is black. I like that. Also, while it doesn't have one of those "transforming" d-pads I've read about, it does feel better than the ones on my older controllers, though I'm not sure if that's because it's better built, or if it's because of it not being worn out like my other ones. Either way, it's nice, and not terrible.  
 
The 250GB hard drive, while small my computer standards, is AMAZING to someone who had been using a 20GB one for years. I can finally have all my DLC, and have more than one game installed at a time, and I still have over 200 gigs left! It's great! I should go download some more stuff now. 
 
Like Game Room. The first new thing I downloaded (after re-downloading all my Mass Effect (1&2) DLC, Fallout 3 DLC, Borderlands DLC, and XBLA games) was Game Room. And I got five Achievements without even buying any games. And, oddly enough, that was enough to get a C Rank here on GB. I guess Jeff's coverage was effective at dissuading people from buying anything on it.  
 
Anyway, overall, I'm happy just to have a working 360 again. Now all those goals I set for myself that involve 360 games are obtainable again, so I am pleased! Plus, now I can buy Gears 3 and The Witcher 2 (pretty sure that was announced for 360) later this year when they release. Yay! 

Gaming goals of the year Twenty Eleven GO! 

100% LA Noire and 5 star every case.

Upload at least one good LittleBigPlanet2 level.

Become skilled at Marvel vs. Capcom 3

Acquire a copy of ZHP: Unlosing Ranger vs. Darkdeath Evilman

S-Rank Deadly Premonition

Finish Alpha Protocol (with my friend).

Beat Deus Ex: Human Revolution with zero kills.

Try once again to beat Dead Rising (and probably not succeed).

Don't buy this year's Call of Duty.

Don't buy anything at GameStop.

Buy at least one Wii game.

Beat Yakuza 3, then buy/beat Yakuza 4.

Buy the new Mortal Kombat game, and memorize some fatalities. 

Resist buying Portal 2 (or any other Valve product) until Valve gives some solid details on the next Half-Life game.

Never Give up on the other long rumored games I've been waiting for.

Get back my S-Rank in ME2.

See every hidden Calendar Man conversation in Batman Arkham City