Black Mesa (from the ground up remake of Half Life with enhanced map design, improved AI, and blockbuster presentation) is finally coming, after 7 years of development; it's finally coming!!! Although the release is inevitable on their main website: blackmesasource.com. It can also be released on Steam via Greenlight. There's already a link to it on there website's front page. In light of the recent release of Big Picture mode on Steam, it would naturally be much better recieved on Steam. So please go check it out and vote for it on Greenlight!

I suppose this is more of a rant than the beginnings of a discussion, but please feel free to express your opinion. Let me also start by saying I don't feel smart because I cleared through a game many considered "challenging." Really the whole thing, from top gaming critics to the slim majority of gamers saying that Portal 2 is the best game of the year with some decent challenge, is all one really big joke/paradigm for me. Honestly, not only did I effortlessly defeat one "challenge" after the next, I kind of felt like the game was insulting my intelligence. It's just frustrating, from my perspective, to see Valve really drop the ball on this one, and yet the universe is glowering at Portal 2's feet. Don't get me wrong, everything else in the game was top-notch and at Valve's usual level of expertise. But, somehow, the heart of the game - the puzzles - were an outright bore. An honest, solidly true rating, in my opinion, would've been a 7.5 (at best) for Portal 2.

There's been heavy speculation that the rumored third bit of extra content is indeed just steam support which would suggest that the new HD version is coming on to the PC simultaneously as it is released sometime during the general summer release window.

Why hackers should desist their tirade against Sony and the PS3 console, and how PS3 has seen the light since it's otherwise dastardly beginning.

Feel free to list any reasons you feel the PS3 is getting the shaft, or debate otherwise in support of resistance towards the console and Sony respectively. Otherwise I will list off reasons why the console is getting a bad-rap despite its early history of ridiculous costs, attacks on the used gaming market, and other restrictive practices.

1. Free-to-play online network: While Microsoft has been putting an ever more expensive toll-booth in front of an otherwise simple service, Sony competitively and wisely listed same service for free.
2. Steam support: Now owning certain games on the PS3 will respectively be owned on your PC. Increased accessibility and communication between gamers and networks, creating a better flow of free perks from Valve. Perhaps Team Fortress 2 on the PS3 will finally have the extra perks of its PC counterpart.
3. Providing a platform for an Oddworld revival: While Microsoft has blocked developer JustAddWater's upcoming remakes of Oddworld gems like Stranger's Wrath, Sony has opened the gates no questions asked for Oddworld HD.
4. They've already been punished by all manner of angry-god disasters: The earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disaster have made a toll on Sony and its employees in some shape or form.

Yeah I've played and beaten the first game so I know the usual difficulty in the Ninja Gaiden franchise. Just worried considering Ninja Gaiden II was considered even to be more difficult. Is Acolyte similar to regular difficulty level in the first game or is it a little easier? I like a challenge but just not feeling too masochistic lately. I still flinch thinking about the ghost pirahnnas, oh the ghost pirahnnas.

I was interested in getting Ninja Gaiden II on the bargain bin but was worried that the easier difficulty setting of Acolyte would not be enough. Does it at least make the game non-masochistic? Is the game manageable throughout on Acolyte or is it still bone-crushingly difficult?

Ha, I can't believe how just about no one had Halo in their list. I personally thought the single player for Halo 3 deserved some merit, not the best, but epic nonetheless. Anyways here's my list:

1. Portal (the most devious environmental storytelling known to man alongside the most inquisitive game-play)

2. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Short but certainly Sweet)

3. Halo 3

4. Mass Effect (Epic but a little overrated - Ohh look another rock!)

5. Lost Planet

Just the same, I'm listed with 0 points

meh, I predict an 8.5.