Well, I really liked Super Time Force, Max: Curse of the Brotherhood and Halo: Spartan Assault, anyway. I generally agree with you otherwise, though.

Nope. Microsoft and Sony have gone out of their way to attract all suitors, and its made for the kind of varied library that most companies would need to stay alive in the industry. There's nothing wrong with this. Nintendo has a solid core of enormously successful franchise that are, by and large, family friendly with few exceptions (Metroid has always been comparatively grittier and some of the Zelda titles get a bit dark). They have some famous third-party titles on their systems, including some titles that are as timeless as their own properties, but they've always been selective about which ones they've allowed on their systems. They've elected to focus on more family oriented games. I had somebody come into work the other night and say that they were using Wii games as part of a therapy regimen. So, I personally believe that there's nothing wrong with what Nintendo's doing, either.

Also, about the gamepad: I've gotta say, I'm a fan. I played Batman: Arkham City for the first time on the Wii U and had a lot of fun with additional motion controls on the pad. Personally I'm hoping that Ubisoft will make good use of it for Watchdogs since there's so many possibilities given the nature of the game. It's a very versatile peripheral with a lot of untapped potential.

Mostly it's just communicating on where opposing players are hiding, if they're using a special weapons/abilities, etc. Every great once in a while it'll just be general shooting of the shit kind of stuff, though.

One thing? Hrm.

Maul and Qui Gon were great characters.

Can' say I'm surprised. I don't think there's a being alive who could tell you the story of the first game, but goddamn if it isn't one of the most entertaining gaming experiences out there. Sadly I don't have the funds to get my copy of 2 yet, but I will ASAP.

@Gamerno6666 said:

Yep. I know they have yet to make anything 3 but let's be honest: they have yet to make a game that's less than beloved.

Gotta agree with the other fans of the Mr. Freeze encounter in Arkham City. The fight was great, but the story line leading up to it was such a great homage to the Batman: The Animated Series episode "Heart of Ice" that it pretty much stole the entire game.

Other favorites:

The final boss in Alice: Madness Returns, the final boss in Chrono Trigger, Olga Flow in Phantasy Star Online.

Depends on the game. If I like it then I don't want to stop playing, and that means I'll usually go through and find the most difficult secrets and compete the grindiest achievements just to have more time with it. Generally speaking I'll beat every game I play if it has a story mode. Very rarely have I ever played anything that was so bad I couldn't finish it.

Jesus, man. It'll be 10 for me next year. Honestly, I started this account back in 2005 because of my ADD and my desire to impose the rabbid Nintendo fanboyism I suffered from at the time on the masses. The ADD part came from being able to create lists of games I owned, wanted, etc. Keeping things organized has always been key in being functional in my life and the idea of having a one-stop hub to organize my game collection delighted my ADD-riddled 19 year old mind. Not long after I discovered the blog, the forums and the review creator and absolutely went nuts with them for a while, creating ragey, angsty posts on my opinions of the Xbox and PS2 (both of which I felt were the devil at the time) and lauded crappy games as hallmark titles of the generation. Since then I've matured, if only a little, and have improved not only in my writing, but in my understanding of the medium, and a lot of that is thanks to this site. GS generally tends to be more neutral in their articles and fairly balanced in their reviews (or were, at least; there have been a lot of questionable ones in the last year and a half).

I was concerned at first, but after watching Jess's video on it today I can proudly say I'm 100% on board with it. Co-op was a staple of BioWare's early games, and most of the those early titles were set in the vast reaches of Dungeons & Dragons' seemingly endless lore. Dragon Age is one big homage to D&D since they weren't able to actually use the D&D license any more and bringing back co-op to this franchise is a perfect fit. It's not quite the same as Baldur's Gate or Neverwinter Nights, but I'm still pumped to see it.