It has taken around 18 months to level up so it should be a bit easier in the near future.

The 100,000 GS has been my target when i got my 360 late 2008 and i wanted to get it before the next Xbox came out.

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I hope everyone's Summer is going smoothly. My one week off, before Summer Quarter (8 weeks of classes) begins, is going nicely. I intend to hammer out more blogs in the coming weeks.

GOG has just made Torchlight (DRM-free) a free grab for two (2) days only. If you don't already own it DRM-free, and want it, grab it now. If you have a GOG account, run to it ASAP. If you don't have a GOG account, don't worry, it's free.

I was muddling through websites I frequent this morning and paid GOG a casual visit. On their homepage, scroll down...BAM! Along with it are several other dirt cheap deals, including the Wide A. Wake Bundle: Both Alan Wake games, DRM-free, for only $4.48! It's part of GOG's "No DRM Summer Sale".

Take Care & Enjoy FREE and DRM-free while it's there!

-nate1222/hare1222 on Steam/hare122275 on Youtube

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Enjoy.

Read and Post Comments | Get the full article at GameSpot

Read and Post Comments | Get the full article at GameSpot

Endure and Survive.

- Such is life in The Last of Us. You survive from moment to moment, encounter to encounter. I am playing on Hard at @katzenbalger 's suggestion and I think it's a good idea. Trying to figure out how to get through a flooded basement filled with infected and carrying only 7 shotgun shells and a brick is surely a challenge, especially when you need to start a loud-ass gas generator to get out of the area! But make no mistake: at least the infected don't shoot at you.

- What's left of humanity is, by far, more dangerous than the various degrees of the infected. The latter are predictable: Runners run, Stalkers wait, Clickers, well, click but are also relatively easy to sneak by. Hunters, on the other hand, patrol, investigate and, if you're spotted, flank your position. I was in one situation where I thought the floor below me was clear so when a Hunter seized me from behind while I engaged a bottleneck of enemies I nearly pooped my pants. Needless to say this action led to my hasty demise. And demise is certainly at hand in nearly every situation you encounter. Just remember: Feeling like Batman will get your silly ass killed in The Last of Us.

- The Last of Us already holds a distinction for me. There have been several games that have been tear-jerkers at the end but this game gets you right at the beginning. Despite a review to the contrary, I identified with Joel quickly and it's easy to see how he descended to what he became. I can see a parallel between this game and Red Dead Redemption; Ellie is clearly Joel's ticket to redemption. As for the girl herself she is spunky, clever, and instantly likeable. Thus far the supporting cast of characters have all been pretty likable (or despicable as the situation calls for) and I am especially pleased with Joel's Texas drawl; it gives him an air of realism in a genre dominated by a handful of recurring lead voice actors... least that's what I thought! I didn't recognize Troy Baker as the same voice of Red Faction's Alec Mason or Persona 4's Kanji Tatsumi. (That last one just makes me like him more!) The accent is subtle but real; probably because Baker is from Texas. At any rate Joel comes off as a geniune character, a man who has had some bad sh*t happen to him and whose dreams of the future end with tomorrow morning.

- A LOT of praise has been heaped on Ashley Johnson's portrayal of 14 year old Ellie, and for good reason. Despite the fact that she has never voiced a 'serious' video game character before the 29 year old actress nailed Ellie; breathing life into the character such as to make her strong yet vulnerable, likeable yet fiery... she's a realistic blend of an all-to-mature teenage girl trying to be both brave and, at the same time, just be a girl who is full of wonder and curiosity at the world she never knew; almost like an orphan yearning to know about the parents who died before she had a chance to know them. I found it particularly touching how Joel tries to shield her from the corruption around her yet, before long, must accede to the fact that she has to learn how to protect herself... and him as well.

- A lot has also been said about the brutal level of violence in this game. Is it visceral? Yes. It's it vulgar? Not really. Is it necessary? Absolutely. We live in a post-Mortal Kombat age; accustomed to violence-as-comedy. Is this level of violence funny? Not at all, but it actually shies away from what I was expecting. (Although there was a scene with a morbidly facinating arterial spray.) It is definately the most violent sounding game I think I've played. Sound design is excellent and every brick you smash into an enemy's face just sounds like hurt, but I guess I was expecting a horror-of-war type of experience with guts blown out with every shotgun blast. You'll be spared that, but otherwise The Last of Us pulls no punches. Most of all no regenerating health here. Every drop of alcohol, every scrap of bandage is all very precious... like Gollum precious, because you need it for creating health kits. You need it MORE for health kits than for infected-destroying molotovs, despite how effective those really are.

- Admittedly the AI of your companions can get a little ridiculous. They are effectively invisible to the enemy, which can be immersion-breaking. They can also act as roadblocks if you decide you're not quite done with the area and turn around to investigate more, but they do try to get out of your way. I haven't noticed any clipping, such as others have mentioned, but I will offer a warning: while you can save at any time I recommend you do it after you clear an area. On several occasions I have been bum-rushed immediately after loading a game if I stopped in mid-combat. True to Naughty Dog's word Ellie will never be a concern in an encounter, but that's also a little disappointing. It kind of takes you out of your role as her protector because you literally never have to worry about her or any of your other companions. The encounter I mentioned at the beginning of this piece; my companions we never in any danger. I could have taken my time and used stealth to kill all three hunters but, for me, that is immersion breaking. I prefer, instead, to still act as though they are in my care. It means waiting for all of my companions to get up a ladder before me while waiting nervously in a zombie-filled room when I could just scoot to safety myself and not give them a second thought. It means me taking huge risks when a Hunter gets too close to Ellie instead of slipping quietly away and conserving ammo. Such moments are less immersion-destroying than if I just worry about Joel. I respect what ND was trying to do but, honestly, I would prefer a little more concern for the 14 year old girl I'm supposed to be protecting.

- Overall believe the hype. The Last of Us is not only a powerful and moving experience, it is clearly Game of the Generation material. While Bioshock Infinite may take local GOTY awards due to its multi-platform nature, The Last of Us deserves to win the crown. Naughty Dog has created a beautiful swan song for the 7th generation and you'd be remiss to let it pass you by. Beg, borrow, steal, or just work your ass off to get a PS3... this is one of those ICO-like games that people will be talking about for many years to come.

The Last of Us - 9.5

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Read and Post Comments | Get the full article at GameSpot

Assassin's Creed 3

http://www.gamespot.com/assassins-creed-iii/user-reviews/811091/platform/xbox360/

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

http://www.gamespot.com/call-of-duty-modern-warfare-2/user-reviews/811234/platform/ps3/

Transformers: Fall of Cybertron

http://www.gamespot.com/transformers-fall-of-cybertron/user-reviews/811396/platform/xbox360/

Battlefield: Bad Company 2

http://www.gamespot.com/battlefield-bad-company-2/user-reviews/811537/platform/xbox360/

Walking Dead: Season 1

http://www.gamespot.com/the-walking-dead-a-telltale-games-series/user-reviews/812233/platform/ps3/

Medal of Honor

http://www.gamespot.com/medal-of-honor/user-reviews/812268/platform/xbox360/

Journey

http://www.gamespot.com/journey/user-reviews/812291/platform/ps3/

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I'm talking about classic games of course, defining games that are worth coming back to and playing again and again. While perhaps they are not worth coming back to in the eyes of the technological whiz master, there are a large number of people out there that will grow a little taller as they tell you they love their retro games and continue to come back to them to this day.

So why the melodramatic title?

I believe these treasures are dying because of the critical failure among new consoles in their lack of backward compatibility. After reading around on the internet, checking various blogs and discussions, it seems clear that no effort has been made to cater to gamers that like to keep games (in order to come back to them again at a later date) because of nostalgia or some other reason.

The end result of this (and it might be a long time in the future, but it will happen,) is that eventually consoles will die, and eventually the games with them, as nothing will be around to support them.

Console games will be the ones to suffer. While PS3 had limited backwards compatibility, PS4 and even Xbox One will have none, as far as I've ascertained.

Either of two things can happen here. Either collectors will be forced to keep one of each of their favourite consoles, which could be a ridiculous task for some professional and/or hardcore gamers, or they'll be forced to sell up older titles as the old machines die/get damaged/no longer get supported by company repairers.

And it's a real tragedy if you think about how many games are out there that can't be played on a PC. Exclusive titles, games that play better with a controller than a keyboard and mouse... How many people still have a CRT TV for PS2 and previous consoles, knowing the quality of the picture on those games is virtually unplayable on the new big screen TVs?

If it's important enough, make yourself heard. Write in, email, be persistent! Let your favourite company know how much it means to you! Don't let the following conversation happen 100 years from now:

"I need something ... fantastic. Epic. That's the word I'm looking for. I want to be a legendary hero."

Jim just grinned. "I know just the thing." He scanned the shelves for a moment, then nipped a box off the rack and handed it to his mate Bilo.

"Final Fantasy, eh?" Bilo squinted. "Is it extra large or something?"

Jim chuckled. "Nah, man. XL is roman numerals. What is it... thirty I think."

Bilo just stared. "You can't be serious." His buddy slapped him on the back, still chuckling, watching Bilo's expression.

"I read up about it. Apparently it's been going for years, like a series or something, though each is unrelated. They're all stand-alone, mostly."

"But... where is the rest of them?!" He quickly read the blurb on the back cover, drinking in the high quality screenshots.

Jim waved a hand distractedly. "I think they've got twenty-eight and nine back there in the second-hand section, twenty-six wasn't all that great. Dunno about twenty-five." He rubbed his chin. "I wouldn't worry about the others, too out-dated. Older consoles." He drifted away, Bilo watching him chat up the hot temp behind the counter.

He sighed. "Yea, guess I won't be seeing those games... ever."

A little extreme, but it could happen. Backwards compatibility is important, and with the new consoles being more powerful than ever, surely it wouldn't be too far a stretch to include the ability. The other alternative will never happen - the re-release of all older games into updated graphics and resolutions.

New technology is here, and it's only going to keep getting better. The addition of backwards compatibility should be a requirement of new consoles - otherwise new release games should be a lot cheaper, because they're only valuable as long as the console is.

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I took some AP classes, one of which helped me understand writing better (while the other one I wrote a scathing essay about and was my highest scoring essay ). This year held the best season of tennis, both for my team and me personally. Despite the year being the most stressful in terms of work, this was the first year I enjoyed parts of student life.

Outside of school stuff I listened to lots of music, read some books, watched a television show, and even played some games! Here are the specifics on them:

Music

My best friend in school is a huge music fan, so this year Ive listened to more unfamiliar music than any year before by his recommendations (and some of fellow GS users) and on my own. In the beginning of the year I started listening to Radiohead, and for about 3 months I listened to OK Computer every day. Ive listened to all of their stuff except for the wholes of Pablo Honey and The King of Limbs, but its easy for me to say that theyre my favorite band. There were days were I would spend ALL DAY watching Radiohead concerts and old interviews. Im so obsessed. Some other bands and artists Ive gotten into or started to get into are Porcupine Tree, David Bowie, Jeff Buckley, The Smiths, Smashing Pumpkins, The Strokes, Sonic Youth, Fiona Apple, Joy Division, and more.

Books

Im just gonna list em:

The Great Gatsby- an excellent, short classic

Heart of Darkness- short, but a very difficult, abstract read; had a fantastic end

Catching Fire- the second book in the Hunger Games series had more consistent writing than the first and was still easy, exciting reading

Mockingjay- a lot of people dont like Mockingjay, and while some plot threads were wrapped up poorly, I found it to be the most tense and interesting of the trilogy

Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy- hilarious and one of my favorite books; really need the rest of the series

Arrested Development

Fellow GameSpot friends have been raving about this show for ages, and I finally started watching it this year. Its exceptionally funny and brilliant, and Ive woken up my parents plenty of times watching it late at night laughing hysterically. I finished the first 3 seasons before the revival of the show that released this May. I finished Season 4 just a few days ago and loved it. I understand some of the criticisms of the season; focusing mostly on one character per episode makes you desperately miss other characters for stretches of episodes. However, the ridiculously intricate timeline and path-crossing that the members of the family have throughout the season make it thoroughly worthwhile, especially in the later episodes. The new season is much more funny for fans of the old seasons, so if youre interested in giving the show a watch (which you should!), begin at the superb first season. Watching Arrested Development gave me Anustart at life and using obscure referential humor, and it would do the same to do, Im sure.

Games

Again Ill list em:

Dishonored- fantastic gameplay! Bad story! Overall awesome.

Sound Shapes- great platformer with sharp controls and a catchy music mechanic and very easy user creation tools (I made a short level that was actually pretty good! Those who have it should search for Night Harp). I would play Sound Shapes over LittleBigPlanet any day.

Spec Ops: The Line- a very important game that everyone should play. Its not perfectly executed and some understandably wont be affected as others, but Spec Ops affected me more deeply than perhaps any game. Its a haunting experience that made me want to stop playing violent games for a while. A much more effective experience than the book it was influenced by (Heart of Darkness).

Paper Mario: Sticker Star- a good return of Paper Mario, but not a great one. Boring for the first half and ultimately too easy. One of the most charming games visually and aurally but its story falls very short of its hilarious predecessors.

Depression Quest- another important game but more an interactive novel. As someone who lives with depression on and off, this is a very accurate depiction, even if the characters situation is far different in the details.

Super Mario 3D Land- As addicting as it is fun, this game had me in its clutches during Easter break. Not as grand or inventive as the Galaxies, but still awesome.

Ratchet and Clank- (on HD Collection) This game has not aged well but was still good fun. Wish it just had strafing, better aiming, and more interesting weapons.

Ratchet and Clank: Going Commando- This game had all of the above that I wanted! A great Ratchet game.

Ratchet and Clank: Up Your Arsenal- the best game on the HD Collection by far and second best Ratchet game only to A Crack in Time (also known as Clock Blockers)

Metal Gear Solid 2- Also on the HD Collection. It took a while to get used to the gameplay but I ended up liking the stealth a lot. Then some crazy things happened in the story and my mind blew up. Excellent game.

Metal Gear Solid 3- I just finished this a few hours ago. Like the other MGS games Ive played, it has very interesting gameplay and a superb story. Also some of the best concepts for Boss battles.

Summer Plans

I did get a job this summer and I have more AP summer work, so I wont have as much time for games as I might like to. But I do plan on playing Peace Walker, Dark Souls, finishing Skyrim, Bioshock, Bioshock 2, and Max Payne 3 this summer. Hopefully Ill get to blog about those more in-depth and maybe even write some editorials. I also need to learn how to drive and do some college searching, which tend to fill me with fear and angst.

Im sad to tell you my family just had to put down our dog two days ago. Shes been with us for 10 years, and it was a terrible way to start an otherwise promising summer. Though Im writing this without a sleepy dog next to me on the floor, Im excited for the next few months of rest and work. Hopefully youll hear more from me on this blog too (perhaps Ill write something about E3 on Monday or Tuesday), and I hope you have a good summer too (or winter for those below the Equator).

-Dapski

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Read and Post Comments | Get the full article at GameSpot

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Gg9vQne6K9c

It's clear why many gamers put a lot of emphasis on graphics, primarily due to the fact that that's the first thing that you'll notice about any game. Obviously if something looks better, it gives the impression that it's better made or of higher quality. We know that there's no direct correlation between the quality of graphics and the quality of the game, but as gamers, as much as some of us say we don't care about graphics, we all do to a certain degree. The major issue is when gamers start allowing that desire for great graphics to either prevent them from supporting great games that might not have the best visuals, or allowing subpar graphics ruin an experience of an otherwise amazing game. I had a conversation with someone a while back who loves to bash on Nintendo, and he said that "Nintendo should make an open world RPG" but when I asked him if he played Xenoblade Chronicles (which many of us would agree is easily one of the best RPGs and arguably the best JRPG of this generation), he said he passed it up in favor of Kingdom of Amalur: The Reckoning (which is still a great game that you can get fairly cheap now, as opposed to Xenoblade becoming a rare game) and his reasoning was "It's a better looking game on a better looking system." While this is only one person, I have no doubts that millions of other gamers share this same thought process.

I don't know about you guys, but aside from resolution, the visual quality is not that big a difference

This generation has seen an increase in the amount of visually stunning games that are subpar in everything else, and due to Nintendo releasing the Wii as well as Sony making huge advancements with their handhelds compared to Nintendo's, we've also seen a great deal of games that are amazing, but have been overlooked simply because their graphics can't compare to your average AAA title. Many gamers love to whine and bicker about why many major developers are putting such a huge emphasis on graphics over everything else, yet they don't realize that these developers are doing it because they know gamers will buy it just because it has great graphics. Developers are not going to spend a great deal of resources into something that won't sell. I mean no offense to anyone reading this but the online gaming community is largely made up of shallow people who place graphics and power above everything else and developers see this and take advantage of it, despite the consequences it can have on the game as well as the developer.

As a gamer, you'll always have a certain expectation when it comes to graphics, but to everyone reading, I challenge you to do your best to not allow graphics to ruin a game you purchased or hold you back from what you are positive is an amazing game. I know I'm rather unique as a gamer and that my viewpoints, expectations, and preferences are not widely shared by the gaming community. Apart from loving videogames, I'm also an artist which allows me to appreciate the beauty and effort put into anything, regardless of how the final product looks. Also my older brother is a graphics junkie, I don't know how many times he said he wouldn't play a game if the graphics aren't good and even when I was a kid, that reasoning sounded stupid to me as I was playing games that had rather horrible graphics, but were still flat out fun to play. I'm hardly what you call a retro gamer, yet I have no issues jumping between generations of games and not being bothered by the differences in the graphics (although other things such as controls and voice acting do affect me more). Right now I have Ni No Kuni in the closest not being played, why? Because I'm too busy playing the original Grandia and loving every moment of it.

My point is is that the moment you stop allowing yourself to be overly affected by the graphical quality of games, you'll enjoy more games in general, and not only that, you'll still enjoy these same games for years to come, even if they don't age well. If we want developers to stop putting such a huge emphasis on graphics above gameplay, story, music, and replay value, then we need to send them the message that graphics will not sell us a game. Yes there are developers who actually can craft a game that excels in every department including graphics, but that's becoming more the exception rather than the rule and I'm pretty sure we don't want that to happen.

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[ Watch Video ]

Tibidts from watching the video:

• Nintendo's prediction of doom since 1990 because of Sega's Genesis was release early before the SNES came
• Games were priced $50-70 dollars due to cartridges
• Nintendo targeted the original Gameboy to adults (That strategy sounds familiar)
• They called the NES, just Nintendo
• releasing a new console is always a risk of each generations.
• Gaming has always been marketed towards males from the age 18 and up
• Gaming wasn't design only for males, but also a broad demographic (Just like the Wii!)

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Well, actually, there isn't much to say about the game. The games puzzles and story are as rich on quality as they have always been, the story being slightly better than that from the last game. The new visuals of the game are quite good. They still contain that cartoony feel while at the same time being totally 3D now. However, the game's cinematics still contain the same old 2D cartoon style. And while I like the looks of those cutscenes as well, I always was forced to turn off the 3D during them because the 3D was awful, often even a little broken during those cutscenes. Furthermore, the new controls took a bit of time to get used to, but in the end they worked perfectly well. The game's music is also pretty good. Most of the tunes sound very familiar, some of them generic, some of them not as good, but a big part of the tracks are pretty catchy and nice to listen to. However, there are a few tracks that stand out from all other, especially the "Norwell" music piece that sounds absolutely beautiful.

However, I've got mixed reactions about the ending. While much better than the one from Last Specter, with a more believable solution, it seemed still a little weird. Sure, I do know now that Layton games are far from realistic, but in some parts I still hoped for a better final ending. But the one thing that really bothered me was that that Descole guy was pulling off all the strings again. Do not misunderstand me, I think Descole makes for a good antagonist. But when a game keeps it's solution and the bad guy behind all this chaos so secret until the end, you should expect a cooler solution than the solution that the same, old villain from previous Professor Layton titles is the bad guy again. And let's be honest, Randall being the masked Gentleman was pretty obvious. I must say I had a grin in my face when Layton suddenly pointed his finger at Angela, accusing her to have cause all this trouble, but as soon as I heard a man's laugh and then seeing Angela turn into Descole, my grin vanished in seconds.

And I do wonder how Descole was able to imitate Angela's voice so perfectly, and how she was able to imitate that butler guy's voice so good. But nevertheless, Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask was a great experience and quite better than Layton's last outing, the Last Specter.

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When I watched Sony's E3 2009 conference, I had no intention of buying a PS3 in the near-future, I was perfectly fine with my Wii. However, when I watched this game on the screen I knew that I would have to buy a PS3 before the year ended. Uncharted 2 is probably the most cinematic game to date, with buildings crumbling, car chases in the snow where you jump from one car to another, and a level where you move up a moving train taking out enemies and ending with a battle with a helicopter. Some may say the rising levels of cinematics in videogames is a bad thing, but Uncharted 2 is one of the most entertaining games I've ever played.

Read and Post Comments | Get the full article at GameSpot

Read and Post Comments | Get the full article at GameSpot

Yet I would tell you this: you may not necessarily have a favorable hindsight about the game if you are on the verge of being enticed to play this latest game from Klei Entertainment.

That said, I would mention my very brief two-cents on Don't Starve; this is not a review, of course - that's for me to write much, much later, and with far more text than this blog post would carry.

IT IS NOT EXACTLY MINECRAFT OR TERRARIA

There is some hulla-baloo in the indie community about the comparisons made between Don't Starve and Mojang's flagship product or Re-Logic's baby. However, I would tell you this: no one is absolutely right on whether or not Don't Starve is comparable to either game.

The hardcore purists of Don't Starve would tell you that Minecraft or Terraria is child's play compared to Don't Starve, but that's only because they play their sessions on either the default settings or if they are even more sadomasochistic than one would expect, the even harder settings.

If the player is to set the settings to very favorable conditions that do not apply overbearing pressure on the player to spend his/her efforts on merely surviving, e.g. no hound attacks and such other wussy choices, he/she can well play the game like Minecraft - and get bored quickly.

Don't Starve is strictly a 2-D game that uses sprites and it doesn't even have a grid-like system for building things as seen in either Terraria or Minecraft; in other words, it doesn't have the gameplay elements that is needed for artistic expressions such as those that could be achieved with either Terraria or Minecraft.

On the other hand, a player with a lot of time to burn can attempt to create art out of the map system, but I don't think that anything more could be done.

You can attempt to create some weird silhouette art from uncovering the fog-of-war, but don't expect praises for having so much time in your hands.

PLAYING DON'T STARVE DOESN'T MAKE YOU A MORE AWESOME PERSON

There are those persons that take pride in playing very difficult games and persevering in them. They may even consider that "success" in such games is a badge of honor or something equivalent that makes them stand out from other gamers.

Well, in the eyes of wiser people, their experience with these games make them stand out alright - as stupendously stubborn and perhaps even perversely determined people.

If you so much as touch that second button ("Customize World"), you may be called all kinds of things by the purist fans of this game.

The default settings of Don't Starve's world-generating feature generally makes the game tougher and tougher as the player character survives for more and more days, purportedly to match the increasing experience and familiarity of the player.

Also, it would appear that major content updates for the game introduce much tougher biomes or new mobs that are more troublesome than the last ones.

Sure, they come with new rewards - but they often require players to jump through a few hoops. For example, the new Cave biome comes with renewable sources of rocks and flint stones, which were non-renewable before, but they have to be obtained through obviously dangerous rockfalls.

[ Watch Video ]

Also, Klei Entertainment nerfs reliable winning strategies regularly, the most notable nerf being the drawback that was introduced to make Meat Effigies riskier to use.

Not as good an insurance policy anymore, eh, Willow?

Also, Klei Entertainment nerfs reliable winning strategies regularly, the most notable nerf being the drawback that was introduced to make Meat Effigies riskier to use.

It would take a special kind of person indeed to keep looking forward to and liking the kinds of things that Don't Starve would throw at oneself.

"LEARNING IS REWARDING!"

That would be something that the hardcore, unapologetic fans of this game would say to you when they try to encourage you to play this game.

I would tell you this though: if you don't take the wussy (but probably wise) way to learn about the content in this game by checking the Don't Starve wiki whenever you see something weird and bizarre on-screen, chances are, your dude/dudette DIES from your lack of knowledge and/or stubborn refusal to read spoilers.

When TV Tropes uses Don't Starve as illustration for one of its entries, you know that this game is HARD.

In addition to the excuses that Klei Entertainment has used to paraphrase its refusal to include built-in game-saving as rogue-like gameplay, Klei Entertainment also has an excuse for not including a tutorial or official manual with the game package that can be summarized as follows:

"Learning is rewarding" - of course.

TAKE-AWAY: If you want a very, very convincing survival game, Don't Starve is indeed one. However, if you want Don't Starve to be a rewarding game, you have to be a glutton for punishment.

P.S. I am aware that even though this blog post is not exactly favourable towards Don't Starve and Klei Entertainment, I may well have promoted Klei's game anyway. I am conscious of this, and I will say that I happen to support Klei's efforts to create a very convincing survival game - even if I don't personally like it.

P.P.S. I am still affected by the LiveFyre comment glitch.

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All links provided lead to my own reviews of the games, also, this list is by no means scientific.  So don't freak out if you think a game on here has too high of a budget.  You'll survive, I promise.

El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron
El Shaddai is one of the most surreal and beautiful games ever created.  It's really easy to see why the visuals are so wonderful when you consider the game's director was the art director for none other than Okami!  Even that game's battle system carries over for El Shaddai, and while it isn't the greatest combat, it still manages to keep you entertained long enough to see all the zany sights, characters and liberties taken with an ancient biblical story.  It's really damn cool!

Tales of Vesperia
The Tales series has never been anywhere near the level of Square-Enix's blockbusters.  Usually going for far simpler animated graphics than their monolothic competition.  But Namco-Bandai have found a way to carve a niche for themselves as one of the more well-known RPG series out there, and Vesperia is one of the best examples in the long-running franchise.

Lost Odyssey
Both Lost Odyssey and Tales of Vesperia might draw some curious looks from folks as Mystwalker's game is likely one of the more big-budget releases on this list.  But creating a throwback to the JRPG glory days on a console with a fanbase not particularly interested in that is like expecting Serious Sam to outsell Call of Duty.  The game screams vintage 90's with the good and the bad, but that's what makes it such a great nostalgia trip.

Eternal Sonata
Easily the most low-budget of the three JRPGs mentioned in a row here, Eternal Sonata was tri-Crescendo's first game and released early into the 360's life.  Animation was stilted, voice acting was wooden and yet the game has a battle system that's absolutely my favorite in the JRPG genre, a setting with beautiful graphics that make it even more inviting and one of the coolest final bosses in history.

Klonoa
A remake of a PS1 platformer that sold at almost half the cost of a new Wii game.  What more do you need to know about Klonoa and its sales expectations?  But I'll be darned if it isn't one of the greatest platformers ever created.

Mirror's Edge
In between all of the Battlefield games and their Bad Company spin-offs, DICE went and created one of the single greatest platformers of all time.  A game that was designed for replays where you would become faster and more efficient in how you understood the game's mechanics.  Most people just whined about the shooting mechanics.  Protip: you aren't supposed to shoot anyone.

No More Heroes
Suda 51's most mainstream title of the time (until he got involved in crap like NMH2: Desperate Struggle, Lollipop Chainsaw and Shadows of the Damned), No More Heroes is a total low-budget, C-quality experience that screams of an old 70's action thriller that has a beat up film reel intentionally peppering your vision with scratches and cuts while making a statement on how we view life and videogames and the thrill of seeking out excitement in the mundane.  And it remains one of the single most badass experiences of this gen.  It's premise, characters and narrative take you for a ride that no videogame came close to replicating until Hotline Miami hit last year, and even that game went in a different, zany direction of its own.

Madworld
Another Wii brawler, MadWorld was Platinum's first release and you can tell it was just a small, low budget beat em up that they did for fun and little else.  It was meant to pave the way for the eventual heavyhitters Bayonetta and Vanquish, but MadWorld, despite being a budget experience features one of the coolest narratives of this generation and a surprising amount of irreverent style that just makes it a cool game to play when you want to feel as cool as you think you are.

Ys: Origin and Ys: The Oath in Felghana
The Ys series is absolutely stellar.  One of the greatest, more hardcore action RPG experiences on the market.  They are total budget games, Ys Origin releasing for $20, and Oath in Felghana for $15 (and the move to PlayStation Portable and Vita) should say enough about the niche audience the series gathers.  But it's one of the greatest series I have ever played and can't wait until September when Memories of Celceta releases and I purchase a Vita for that game alone.

Spec Ops: The Line
You've got Call of Duty and Battlefield.  Then you have their copycats.  Then you have Spec Ops: The Line, which channels Heart of Darkness on the outside, but on the inside provides one of the most scathing criticisms of the military shooter genre and one of the most important experiences videogaming has ever produced.

The Witcher: Enhanced Edition
We look at CD Projekt Red now and they are the golden child of RPG game development.  They hate DRM, they managed to create one of the most beautiful, deep and involving RPGs in The Witcher 2 and have massive games in development in Cyberpunk 2077 and The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt (and a few smaller, unannounced games they've made mention of).  But before they managed to take the PC gaming world by storm they were a little, unassuming development team using BioWare's Aurora engine, and under their watchful eyes in Canada, produced a dated looking RPG that provided tactical depth, an involving story and one of the most compelling game worlds ever made.  AND THEN they got big.  Like, WAY BIG.

The Walking Dead
Did anyone expect The Walking Dead to be anything at all like it turned out to be?  We're talking Telltale Games here, we're talking Sam and Max, Wallace and Gromit, goofy stuff you know.  Even their licensed games that came before were considered duds (Jurassic Park, anyone?).  And here we have one of the greatest pieces of interactive fiction ever made.  And you know you love it.  You know you love these guys beating out the big guns for Game of the Year honors at many places.  It's a testament to well-written stories, fully developed characters and the emotional impact videogames can have on you.

Metro 2033
This game looks fantastic.  It also has like a quarter of the budget of the competition (Apparently it's even bigger and better looking sequel has a small budget too).  It's a very guided experience, similar to Call of Duty's campaigns but with the ability to play stealthily as well.  Metro 2033 isn't one of the elite level shooters of this generation, but it manages to impress from a technical standpoint moreso than the majority of games on the market, and it manages to tell an interesting story on top of it all.

Torchlight and Torchlight II
What do you do after creating the Diablo series in one of the world's largest development teams?  Stick it to the man, strike out indie and dedicate your time to creating an MMO.  What do you do when Blizzard creates the world's most important and biggest MMO?  Stick it to the man by going back to your Diablo roots and making it better than Blizzard's version.  I've put hours and hours into the Torchlight games.  Well over 50 with both games combined and I didn't even beat the second one.  It's got a much smaller budget than Diablo, sold at a third of the price and yet Runic games mention that they make just as much profit either way.  God damn, Runic.  God damn.

Punch-Out!!
Nintendo's Punch-Out!! sequel of sorts is one of the most entertaining games on the platform when played with motion controls and a true test of skills when played with a regular controller.  But those motion controls make it a genuine blast to stand in front of a group of people and swing like a mad man at the air.  It's clear that Nintendo never expected the game to be in the same league as their Mario, Metroid, Zelda, Xenoblade games, but for such a smaller-scale game, Punch-Out!! provides one of the coolest experiences on the Wii!

Binary Domain
From the developers of Yakuza, Binary Domain doesn't strive to be anything more than your typical cover-based shooter in a post Gears of War world.  But with insane boss battles, a healthy dose of dudebro writing and a beautiful, neo-Tokyo setting, Binary Domain ends up as one of the most fun and entertaining third person shooters of this gen!

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Sums up the current situation with Xbox now hitting the next gen scene with PS4 and WiiU. 

All in all whats up everyone. I have not been on here again... but I wanted to list a few games I have finished and or currently playing at the moment

Mario Bros U

Fallout 3

Sleeping Dogs

Super Meat Boy 

Ni No Kuni

Just a few to name so far

Anyways, does anyone have an anime recomendation? I think Baka Test (I think that's the title don't remmeber is one to consider. Need some recomendation.

Also, here is my facebook. I am on this alot

I am only gonna keep this link up for a while. Talk to me through there ifnot, here will be fine. I need to catch up or I am trying to catch up with some of you awesome peeps. 

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1. Focus On The Games - We know that Microsoft almost certainly will be pushing the multimedia capabilities of the next Xbox, but if I had my way I would want a system that focuses on games first and everything else second. It is nice to have an all in one box in my room, but if I had to choose between the ease that comes from a single box and the quality that can come from a system designed first and foremost for games, I would always choose the latter. We know the multimedia features are coming. We don't care. Show us the games today and talk about the other stuff at an event focused on people other than gamers.

2. Announce Free Xbox Live - Probably never going to happen, but I would love if Xbox Live took the PSN approach and offered online play for free. Sony's PS Plus service has put Microsoft to shame this generation and with Sony's promise to vastly improve its network on the PS4, Microsoft might lose the current advantage it has as far as speed and ease of use is concerned. I think it's also important for Microsoft to realize that one of the big reasons people stuck with Xbox Live this generation was because they started there and all their friends were there. In the end it didn't matter how much better a game was on a Sony system. For any game that people wanted to play with friends, they played on the system those friends had. In the US, chances are that system was an Xbox. And the reason for that was that Xbox came out first, and in its first couple of years, the PS3 was a pretty awful system with even worse marketing. This time, though, the releases of the systems will likely come within a month of each other, and Sony looks to have fixed many of the key problems with the PS3. Microsoft doesn't have the advantage of a much better start this time. They need to push their features if they want to win back the highly coveted Call of Duty crowd.

3. Don't Announce an Always Online Xbox - Please, please, please, don't make people always be online to play games. Not only is it encroaching on the rights of consumers, but many people throughout the world do not have access to constant internet service and it would be a shame for those people to not be able to use the next Xbox. I expect if Microsoft pushes always online then consumers are going to fight back. We've yet to have a case like this reach the Supreme Court here in the US, but I would definitely expect them to have to issue a verdict on this issue. When buying a game, in theory consumers own that game, or at the very least a license to use that game. By saying that people cannot play their games when their Internet goes down it could be argued that Microsoft is trying to restrict people from using their property. That is a major battle and one I hope Microsoft would not win. In addition, it means that when Xbox Live one day goes down, all those games will be worthless. It's a major issue and one I hope Microsoft will avoid altogether by simply letting people play offline.

4. Put the PS4 Hardware to Shame - Again, not going to happen, but I would love for Microsoft to at least match the hardware in the PS4. All signs, though, point to the next Xbox being a much inferior system from a pure processing standpoint to the PS4. Notably, the next Xbox will supposedly not use GDDR5 RAM but standard DDR3 RAM. While quite a few people don't really understand the signifigance of faster RAM, many would argue that the speed of the RAM is just as important, if not more so, than the overall amount. The vastly inferior RAM that Microsoft will probably use is going to ensure that games will simply always look better on the PS4. Add in the fact that the PS4 is rumored to have a much faster GPU and Microsoft is going to have a really hard time proving their system is worth getting for gamers, especially because both systems are most likely going to use near identical parts. In such a situation it is quite easy to say that one system is more powerful than the other, unlike currently, where the use of different architecture means that direct comparisons are sometimes difficult.

5. Don't Be All About Kinect - Kinect is going to be a focal point of the next Xbox. For things that aren't games it is a great way to control the system. Give it a Siri level of intelligence and it could be a great thing. Watching TV and see an ad for a product you want? Wouldn't it be nice to ask Xbox where to find the product and read reviews and so forth. Ordering food on Xbox is possible even now, but seamless (get it?) integration with an online food ordering service would make dinner and a movie an easy thing to achieve without ever leaving your couch. But as a gaming controller, Kinect is never going to replace a normal dual analogue setup for certain types of games. Yea, the increase in fidelity offered by the Kinect 2 might make things easier, and there are definitely games that can be made with the Kinect in mind, but make it a 10 minute segment of an hour long presentation. I don't want to hear that every game on the next Xbox has to use Kinect in some way. That isn't how it should work. Developers need to make Kinect games with Kinect in mind. Shoe horning additional functionality into an existing game just is never going to work as well as it is supposed to.

But imagine a VR system like Occulus Rift combined with something like Kinect and you could see how a true virtual reality experience might be possible. Even using Illumiroom with other Kinect features could lead to some cool results. How awesome would it be to control an interface like Robert Downy Jr. does in Iron Man? Move an object in real time with your hands, and have that object move beyond the confines of the TV, or use the Occulus to literally make the world evolve in front of you. Imagine combining an Illumiroom type Kinect system with the Occulus Rift. You could literally make a fully working simulated version of the room you are in and what you are doing and view it all in what would seem to be a fully realistic environment. It would be actual virtual reality, and it is possible with Kinect and Occulus Rift. But unless Microsoft is ready to unveil that type of tech later today, then show off a couple Kinect games and then move on. And in all honesty, I don't believe that the next Xbox will have the horsepower to actually do that, speaking to create a 1080p image on an Occulus Rift you actually need a 4k screen and recent tests have shown that not even 3 Geforce Titans in SLI can manage 4k on the most demanding games like Crysis 3.

6. Don't Worry About Backwards Compatibility - I know this is going to rile some feathers and it rightly should, but I'll try to explain why I don't think the next Xbox should be backwards compatible. First off, the thing that makes this hard is that the next Xbox will most likley use an x86 based CPU, unlike the PowerPC IBM CPU used in the 360. This means that the only option for backwards compatibility is putting the actual physical 360 hardware inside of the next Xbox (as Sony did with the original PS3's) or use emulation (as Microsoft did this generation). The first option is simply going to be too expensive and I'd personally rather not spend an extra $75 at least on the system to have a 360 included in it. The second option is going to require some of MS's best engineers to work on emulating a bunch of stuff. That's fine, but I would much rather have those dudes working on software for the new Xbox instead. Look at how much of a graphics boost Sony got when its top techs came up with MLAA. Suddenly, AA, one of the most processor costly effects in gaming, especially on modern deferred rendering engines, was suddenly cheap to use. Games could add in a ton of new effects and increase texture and model detail just because of that simple algorithm. Microsoft, meanwhile, had to wait until Nvidia came up with the similar yet inferior FXAA before they could use cheap AA in their system. Point is, I don't want Microsoft to have its top engineers working on making old stuff work on the next Xbox, I want them to make brand new software that will make new Xbox games look and run much better. Honestly, if I really want to play a 360 game I will play it on a 360. I think the other option is to have some sort of attachable device that you could plug into the next Xbox that would essentially be a mini 360. Doing that though would require a connection with much faster bandwidth than a USB drive. You'd need something like Apple's Thunderbolt tech to make something like that possible, which will again increase the cost of the system, and is honestly pretty useless. I have a 360 now. Why would I sell it and buy an add-on instead of just keeping the 360? Not all that hard.

7. Finally, and maybe most importantly, have some really cool games to show off. Sony really knocked it out of the park with their demonstrations. While Killzone maybe wasn't quite ready for the primetime, the stuff from third parties looked great, and having Bungie on stage was a big coupe. The challenge will be showing off enough big guns at this event to get people talking, while still saving enough surprises to outdo Sony at E3. Of note, Naughty Dog has yet to show off a game, Meida Molecule hasn't shown their PS3 game, Guerilla is working on a new IP they might show, and the Resistance team at Insomniac most likely has a PS3 exclusive under their belt. Add in a probable new Final Fantasy reveal and Microsoft will have some major work to do if they want to show up Sony next month.

But with the next Forza being revealed today most likely, Call of Duty officially on the docket, and a new Kinect game from Rare and Harmonix almost sure to make an appearance, that leaves Microsoft with few reliable names to call on. There's little chance that a new Halo is ready to show speaking Halo 4 launched only six months ago, which leaves Lionhead as the only remaining major internal studio at Microsoft. They haven't released a game in a couple of years, so it is probable they have something to reveal. But the list of games so far doesn't have any huge reveal in it. Forza is nice, but with both GT6 and Race Club coming from Sony, it will take quite a bit for Microsoft to win the racing title. That leaves a couple close second party studios to pick up the slack. I would love to see Alan Wake 2, and have the game be what the first game was promised to be back when it was announced in 2005. And Epic has shown off several great tech demos over the past couple of years, but I would expect and hope that they have a great new IP ready for display, although that might be something to save for E3. I guess the big thing is that Sony has a ton of first and second party studios and a significant number are in a good place to announce a new game, including some of their most acclaimed teams. Meanwhile, Microsoft has only a handful of studios and both Gears of War and Halo saw releases in the last six months. They are in a tough spot and I hope they manage to pull some great tricks out of their hat. A couple other wildcards are Ryse from Crytek which is rumored to have moved to the next Xbox, and possibly a new Crackdown. Really, though, sequels are nice, but Microsoft needs some major new IP if it wants to compete with the more powerful PS4 and its current relationship with both consumers and developers makes that seem highly unlikely.

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