.....but it will not be an instant success from the get-go.

First things first, it's an awesome idea. Being able to stream your gaming and controlling it in real-time without any hassle is mind-blowing. It might even become the next generation of gaming. No more physical media. No more PC upgrading. All technical stuff will be done by the company itself. Only thing you need is a minimum internet speed of 1.5 Mbps and, for a monthly fee, you will be able to play your games (supposedly) lag-less. But I have a few concerns about this new product.

Pricing. Until now, they didn't mention anything about the pricing schemes. But there is certainly a monthly fee involved for this service. I've never been a fan of paying for a service that you can only use while you're online. It's different for the 360 because it's not mandatory and you can still enjoy your gaming locally. So how will the pricing be in related to content? Is it like getting cable TV, with a base subscription fee and additional fees for the games? Things might get even more annoying when you're forced to pay the monthly fee to be able to access and play the games you "bought". They will have you by the *insert men's manhood here*.

Internet stability. What about people who have a limited amount of Gb they can download/upload per month? It's not the same everywhere, but some providers only let you download a limited amount of data per month (cold hard truth). What about all the routine service checks that they must perform in the future? Also, what about if you're playing a very important part of the game or fighting against a boss and your internet refreshes/reboots/disconnects. Yes, it happens. But, these minor hicccups will hinder your gaming experience a lot if it happens often. Internet stability is a must if you want to enjoy this product.

Still, it looks like a fine system. A brilliant idea. Great for business. Another great step for the gaming industry as a whole. This service is (supposedly) piracy proof. Being able to completely throw PC upgrading out the window for a modem and a controller and in turn get better visuals, is every gamers dream.

It's normal to be skeptical when a new product arrives. Remember when they announced the Nintendo Wii? Yes, I was thinking the same thing (more or less).

But don't worry peeps, I'm no fortune teller. I'm just another gamer trying to figure out the possible effects this product will have on gaming in general. I'm still not done analyzing all the factors, but this system does look promising. Like a fellow writer mentioned: This product will not be a success from the get-go. But beyond all my ranting, I'm still secretly (well, not so secretly anymore) excited about this new product and what it will have to offer. I mean, being able to click on (aka Buy/Rent) a game and start playing it in less than a minute is nothing to sneeze at. Let's hope for the best.

---

Anyone feel the same way? What's your take on this new product?

OnLive -- the new tech unveiled at GDC that will let you stream games from a server to your cozy house without any bulky console hardware or child-threatening, razor sharp discs -- sounds insanely awesome up front. If what they claim is true -- that there will be minimal lag impacting your gameplay experience -- the technology really could give consoles a run for their money.

Actually, could it? As I read about this thing, with with every point of interest that make me giddy -- the potential to be piracy-proof (or at least as proof as you can get these days); complete abstraction and lowered costs of hardware; parity with in-store release dates (at least for the library on offer) -- there's at least one issue that makes me cast some doubt on OnLive's feasibility at this point in time. I'm not saying that it has no chance -- I just have some reservations, and would like to know more about a few things before we can actually say that consoles as we know them might be in danger.

OnLive sports a minimum requirement of a 1.5 Mbps internet connection for lag-free standard definition gameplay. Now, the only data I could pull up in my hurried Google search was this report that the average broadband speed in the United States sits at 2.3 Mbps as of August of 2008. Then there's this number from 2007 that more than one fifth of the population of both Canada and the United States. So, things aren't too shabby on that end. What I'd like to know, though -- besides what the up-to-date numbers are, of course -- is the breakout of connection speeds among those who play games (casual, hardcore, or otherwise). Do enough gaming folk have (or want and can afford) the necessary 1.5 Mbps connection? How much of that higher end (which brings the average up to 2.3) is for those who run small home businesses and/or have no desire to game? How many of those lacking the necessary connection speeds are those who demand an intense single-player experience? What will the growth of broadband penetration be like by the time the next generation of consoles comes around? Oh -- let's not forget about those Comcast data caps. How will those affect an OnLive subscriber, if at all?

I'm not going to call it on broadband penetration alone. I was one of the doubtful mob members who thought that Microsoft's reliance on broadband (i.e. no POTS modem), and the inability to get Xbox Live running for the first year of the original Xbox's existence, would prove to be that console's undoing. Look where Xbox Live is now. But that's why I also want to know where our culture -- as consumers and gaming aficionados -- stands, and where it will go. I want to know the division in the marketplace between those who still like holding a product in their hands versus those who hate clutter and welcome the 1's and 0's streaming over a network. Gamestop doesn't seem to be doing too shabbily. But then again, Steam doesn't exist on consoles, and the only high-profile, previously retail-only release that's also fully downloadable for consoles -- that I know of -- is Burnout Paradise (whoops, and Warhawk -- thanks confucioussayyo). (I'm sure there are a few others I'm missing.) That GTA IV: The Lost And The Damned DLC is actually available in retail stores as a boxed download code card further makes me wonder just how many people are (and will be) ready to be done with the retail experience for good.

This bit about culture also has to do with how much control we as consumers like to have over our product. A small somewhat-comparable example is the fact that I worry constantly that my Wii will break. Should this happen, I'll lose all access to my downloaded Virtual Console and Wii shop content because of the way they handle online accounts (or lack thereof). I have to go through Nintendo to re-download, whereas Xbox Live lets me re-download games I've wiped off my drive. Now, this isn't to say that OnLive will use the same methodology as Nintendo -- rather, I bring the Wii example up to show how little-to-no user control will hurt. If your internet connection goes kaput, or OnLive's network goes down for maintenance, you can't play anything. At least Steam has Offline Play mode, but even then, you actually have the game code stored on your hard drive. OnLive promises that you won't ever have to be bogged down with that... even if you want to. Y'know, sometimes having a clumsy hard drive is a good thing. So the question here is, how much control is afforded to the user?

All that noted, I'm still excited to see OnLive's working technology in the flesh. I think that the ability to push that amount of processor-intensive data with speeds enough to allow for real-time play can have great implications for eliminating lag in online multiplayer gaming, among other things. Imagine, in the next decade, having a portable gaming device that runs off of evolved OnLive technology -- wirelessly -- without waiting for full downloads or being restricted by hardware. Imagine OnLive becoming gaming platform limited only by the inputs of your currently-available hardware, allowing you to access your subscription from any appropriate device as long as you can log in (remember Microsoft's fabled Live Anywhere? Where'd that go... hmm!).

For now, it's all pie in the sky, and until we can get the answers to some important questions, OnLive's success is anything but guaranteed, or even possible. Maybe "success" to the OnLive team isn't mainstream exposure, but rather enough of a niche market to sustain its supposed low maintenance costs. I just hope it doesn't end up too far ahead of its time. There's too much cool factor in there for OnLive to fail before it's ever given the chance to spread its wings.

UPDATE: User comments have lead to more questions that people want answered.

dan543 and Firehawk998 -- How much will we have to pay?

NightmareCV -- Will it be able to host exclusives?

kenic and Kidvideo90 -- Are there any plans to launch outside North America? Japan has just over 60 Mbps, for instance.

I am fed up of seeing threads popping up on the Xbox 360 board about games with 'easy' achievements or games to easily 'boost' your gamerscore. I decided to take it upon myself and create a simple guide to help out those new and clueless users who are interested in boosting their gamerscore.

Now before I get started, I would like you all to please read the following:

1. Your gamerscore is just a number and means nothing other than bragging rights. You own nothing on the internet so remember this; you can have an extremely high gamerscore, then some jackass hacks and steals your Xbox live account. Xbox live support only gives you false hope, doesn't do anything and you loose everything (true story, it happened to me)

2. I do plan to write up more of these in the future, featuring 10 game at a time.

3. Recommendations are fine, however lists will be based on my experiences and mine alone. I will not include a game unless I have a certain amount of experience with it, so obviously if I have not played and completed the game, it will not be on the list. Simple.

4. This entry may contain some minor spoilers

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Avatar: The Last Airbender -- The Burning Earth

This game is the mother of easy achievements. It contains only 5 achievements and all of them are based on combo attacks. If done correctly, you can get full 1000GS in about 3 mins from the title screen (this includes loading time and cut-scenes). As soon as the game starts, simply run to the extreme left and blast the enemies with 'B' button. Try to blast them when they are lined up behind each other for additional hits and don't let them get too close to you. When you kill the first wave, a cut scene will play and another wave will attack. Repeat the above attacking pattern and you'll get to 50 hits in no time (which is the final combo hit achievement)
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NBA 2K6

This game contains 5 achievements. They are easy to get and you can get all achievements in a single game once you know what you are doing. You can get full 1000GS in no more than an hour. It may take inexperienced gamers a little longer, but don't expect to spend a long time to get all these achievements. I'm not going to explain how to get these, figure it out on your own or do your personal research. I will give you a hint, play around with the options and the game sliders to increase your team's potential.

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Lost: Via Domus

This game has an easy 1000GS, however to get them all you may need the assistance of guide. Most of the achievements are based or storyline or involves you taking certain pictures. The pictures are specific and can easily be missed. Even if you play this game through the first time and use a guide to assist you with the achievements second time round, expect to spend around 10 hours with this game.

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TMNT

This game contains a quick and easy 1000GS. The game itself is extremely easy. Just by completing the storyline, you'll get a whopping 920GS. Just meet the requirements for the remaining 2 achievements and 1000GS is easily yours. This game should take you no more than 5 hours.

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Fight Night Round 3

This game contains an easy 1000GS and you can be able to get it in about 5 hours if you tweek the options a bit. Basically all the achievements are earned by winning the sponsored events. Once you've created your player, purchase the illegal moves, Low blow and Elbow to the face. Go to the options lower the difficulty and turn illegal moves off. When fighting, spam your opponent with illegal blows and he should go down easily without much of a fight, even if their stats greatly surpass yours.

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BioShock

Bioshock contains some easy echievements and is one of the best games you'll be playing for achievements. By default it contains a total of 1100GS. Firstly you need to refer to an achievement list to get an idea of what needs to be done and do it. A certain ending will unlock 100GS and harvesting/saving every little sister will net you 40GS. Other achievements can be unlocked simply by fully researching all the enemies in the game, hacking things, upgrading weapons and plasmid/tonic tracks, creating ammo etc. You do have the ability to save almost anywhere in the game so replaying it on the hardest difficulty for that achievements may not be as difficult as other games. In all, if you get the best ending in the game, and follow the achievements from your Xbox360 or a list, you should get around 800GS in your first playthrough which should take you about 10 hours (maybe more depending on how much you explore).

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Peter Jackson's King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie

Just play the game from start to finish. At the end of certain chapters, you'll unlock achievements. All the achievements are based on the storyline and cannot be missed. Easy 1000GS for around 5 hours.

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CSI: Crime Scene Investigation: Hard Evidence

This game is an easy 1000GS. It has 5 achievements, worth 200GS a piece. The game itself has 5 episodes and the end of each episode, you'll unlock a 200GS achievement. In all it shouldn't take you more than 5 hours to complete this game and rack up all the achievements. The first episode will take you about an hour to complete, maybe more, as you get familiarize yourself with the gameplay elements. Once you do so, the other episodes will become extremely easy and completing them will be a breeze. However, it isn't recommended you skip the cut-scenes, because some of them will contain vital information and you may find yourself stuck in the game.

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Jumper: Griffin's Story

Jumper contains some easy achievements, however getting full 1000 will take some work and a lot of patience because this game is horrible. The game contains 20 achievements worth 50GS a piece. You can probably get at least 600GS easily during the course of game which will take you around 2 hours to complete. The other achievements will be fustrating and difficult to get such as the achievement for not dying during the game, which is almost impossible, because the second to last and last boss are brutally difficult. Still 2 hours with a crappy game for around 600GS isn't bad.

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Enchanted Arms

For all those of you obsessed with getting 1000GS for games you've played, this game is for you. This game contains a very easy 1000GS, however thy are a bit time consuming to get. This is an RPG, so on average, you'll spend about 40 hours with this one. All achievements are storyline based and unlock when bosses are defeated. Easy 1000GS, but it takes some time. Please take note: Before you enter the final area in the game, make multiple save files. You are given a choice before you battle Touya at the Ice Palace, the choice you make will affect the ending and only the best ending will give you a 150GS achievement

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Thank you for reading. I hope this helps some of you people. More to come in the future.

Edit 1: I updated Enchanted Arms. Thanks to Pfilosophy for jogging my memory. I forgot an achievement can be missed if a wrong choice is made.

The face of things is beginning to shift. Like it or not, gaming is slowly pushing towards a future with a greater emphasis upon downloads and bandwidth than plastic cases and instruction booklets. Though the forced extinction of the disc is still a long way off, this generation is experiencing the birthing pains of the downloadable age.

Across the board, you can see developers and publishers testing the waters, seeing what consumers will snap up and what will be left to die in digital obscurity. Price points are being toyed with (Will they pay $15.00 for Braid? ), and it seems that every game that has hit the shelves in the last few months has been trailed by an extra chapter or level just a few weeks after launch (which we'll get into later) .

As gamers, this makes for an exciting time. The notion that our games could be given new life on a fairly regular basis should certainly appeal to the adventurer in each of us. And not only that, but as the size of downloads grow, so will the catalogue of beloved titles of gaming's yesteryear. Will Total Annihilation surface? Heroes III ? Only time will tell.

As thrilling as this time might be, it also presents us with an opportunity. Over the next few years, as the number of downloadable options grows exponentially, a lot of people are going to be paying attention to our reactions. What we choose to buy, and what we choose to ignore, will have a tremendous effect on what developers are willing to produce for us in the years to come.

ONE: DLC DONE RIGHT

If you haven't had the pleasure of playing it yet, you should really check out "The Lost and Damned." Yes, the twenty-dollar price tag may seem a little steep, but it is worth every penny. There are a few moments when the missions seem a tad formulaic, and the dialogue suffers a bit from Broken Love cliches, but there is also a great deal of fun to be had.

Not only is it (for DLC) an incredibly lengthy series of missions, it seems as though Rockstar tried to cram as many cut-scenes, activities, and action sequences as it could into the episode. And, for some odd reason, it is highly entertaining to play as a completely new character in the same backdrop as the old. All in all, TLAD is a solid example of content done right.

For your money, you get several hours of quality entertainment. The content wasn't simply phoned in. Rockstar took its time, got creative, and remembered that though a bottom line must be sought, gamers don't have to be taken advantage of in the process. And it has completely changed my concept of what DLC can be.

Now, compare this to the recent content offered by Bethesda for Fallout 3, and you encounter a problem. For ten bucks, you get an incredibly short, highly linear chapter. Sure, you get some neat do-dads at the endgame, but the whole thing felt like a Call of Duty B-side, right down to the "blow up the three artillery units" style objectives. I get it: it was aimed at the FPS crowd and not the RPG crowd, but the core gameplay is not designed that way. The controls tell me so.

And I am convinced that the voice actors used in Operation Anchorage were rounded up outside of a Sci-Fi Channel casting call.

Before you take a shishkebab to me, know that Fallout 3 is easily one of my favorite games. I just don't appreciate the seeming lack of effort put into the DLC. Ten bucks for a three hour tour is a bit steep, especially when that tour is accompanied by irritating dialogue, incredibly bland objectives, and a progression of events that borders on monkey-poo stupid. I'm sorry I bought it. Which is the exact opposite of what I should feel had it been handled with care.

Fortunately, gaming sites have begun to review DLC. Though I try to think for myself, I will be paying more attention to these reviews in the future. I would suggest that you do the same. Reviews, though not a substitute for individual thought, are our second line of defense. The first being word-of-mouth.

TWO: ARM YOURSELF

There has never been a community of gamers quite like the one we see today. If we are so inclined, we can play with people who live thousands of miles of way, in nearly any time zone, whenever we want. Now, traditionally the online community has been used to make gaming a much richer experience, but if employed properly, it can also help us avoid buying products that are not worth the money.

Talk to the people you share common gaming interests with. Ask them how they felt about the content for this game or the port of that. And, if you don't really play online all that much, cruise around the forums and see what other gamers are saying. Read a dozen reviews on the content you're interested in.

Though sometimes its fun to simply take a chance and buy something on a whim, your happiness will go much farther if you educate yourself first, and spend your money second.

THREE: AVOID THE "OH, AND BY THE WAY"

This is becoming a major issue. Perhaps I'm alone in this, but I have a real problem when I buy a game and two weeks later a new chapter or three new maps come out on the market. Perhaps I'm asking for too much, but when I buy a game, I would really like it to be finished. I understand that developers/publishers are in it to make money, but pulling crap like that simply makes me feel taken advantage of.

I really think that as gamers, we should simply say "No" to this kind of tactic. If we don't, we're likely to see a stream of intentionally unfinished products headed our way.

FOUR: VOTE YOUR HEART

At the risk of vetoing the three guidelines above, it's important that we think for ourselves. If you have no trouble buying an extra level for the game you just bought thirty minutes ago, then knock yourself out. Or if you absolutely love "Let's Paint My Giant House" on the Wii, and everybody tells you that the "Paint Drying Sim Pack" is just as dull as it sounds, buy it anyway.

You are the best judge of what makes you happy. Just keep in mind that the decisions you make today will have an effect on what you play tomorrow. If we demand more and better, more and better is what we will get. If we are content with downloadable dookie-stinks, then we can expect to hold our noses around our consoles.

I used to be pretty big into fighting games. As was the case with most people my age, it all started with Street Fighter II. Unlike my friends who hung out in the arcades, I was pretty broke so I cut my teeth on the franchise with a borrowed copy of the Super Nintendo version. I was never an expert with Ryu, Chun-Li, and the rest of the crew, but they did get me interested in the genre. Once Mortal Kombat hit the SNES (I didn't yet own a Genesis and didn't care much about the whole blood/sweat issue) I was all about hand-to-hand video game brawling. Mortal Kombat II came out a year later and it was a significant factor in my less-than-stellar grades that semester. There was even a girl in my dorm that asked me to tape fatalities so that she could use them in a presentation about video games and violence. Hopefully I didn't set the cause too far back with that deed. Sorry.

Oh, hello there. Have you perchance noticed that you're on fire...and exploding?

After MKII, I moved on to the SNES (and later the Nintendo 64) version of Killer Instinct. My go-to-guy in KI was Jago. Together, he and I were darn near unstoppable. I could pull off monster, king, killer, ultra, and ultimate combos with ease. You'd better hope you landed a lucky punch against me or else I'd bust out a humiliation and have you dancing like a fool in seconds. My roommates were no match for my powers and eventually quit playing with me. My buddy Sean, whose only character was Sabrewulf, couldn't even perform certain basic moves because...well, because he sucked. I desperately needed Sean to play so I could whoop him without mercy. To lure him back into the fray I agreed to train him. I would design combos for him on our dry/erase board, making sure not to include any moves that his uncoordinated little fingers couldn't handle. I looked like an even crazier version of Bob Knight drawing these moves in multicolored ink and then yelling at him when he screwed up. Is it any wonder dates were scarce my junior year?

I'll admit that drawing up combos instead of doing homework was pretty pitiful, but I did it because when it comes to fighting games, nothing compares to pummeling a friend. The CPU doesn't care that you turned it into a baby, knocked it off of a building, made it dance, or set it on fire. It doesn't throw the controller and storm off whining about your "cheese" tactics after you rack up another perfect victory. No, you have to upset a real person to get the most out of a fighting game. And that's why I don't really play fighting games anymore. Most of my friends are married, have kids, and live 2,500 miles away. There's nobody left to pummel.

At least I thought there there was nobody left to pummel. I was back at my dad's house last week, and while I was there I played some Xbox 360. Both my brother and my old friend Sean (my Killer Instinct pupil who now lives in Washington DC) had Soulcalibur IV so we decided to give it ago. I couldn't believe how much fun it was playing over Xbox Live! After many years of waiting, I think I think it's safe to say that fighting games are just as much fun to play online as racing games and first-person shooters. I'm not talking "kind of playable" like DOA 4, but really and truly functional online to the point where it's not much different than fighting someone in person. I'm sure some of the hardcore fighting crowd might disagree and say that even the minimal amount of lag found in recent games can affect their play, but for the average player there's almost no noticeable difference between playing online and offline.

Yep, I just checked with my sword: Your soul still burns.

What does this mean for me? It means that one of the first things I did when I got back to San Francisco was to pick up a used copy of Soulcalibur IV. I now own my first fighting game since SoulCalibur on the Dreamcast. I got off to a rusty 3-2 start against Sean last night, but my skills are rapidly improving. I can't wait to start laying the smack down on my little brother and Sean until they can't take it anymore. It'll be just like old times. Now if only I can my friends to use a webcam so I can watch them storm off after a ring out...

As most of you all know, I miss Rareware. The company that was once a Nintendo company, now a Microsoft company. They were known for great games such as:

and even more...

Ever since Microsoft bought them and Free Radical (who is now Crytek UK) was formed, things have been changing, and not in the good sense. Some of their most acclaimed series, such as Perfect Dark and Banjo, have been going downhill. Critic scores for their games have gotten lower (example a 3 out of 5 from X-Play on Perfect Dark Zero), and some people no longer being Rare fans.

Reading Gamespot's latest news on Rare restructuring, some fans (myself included) aren't even too sure about Rare's future survival, even with them having four untitled games they've announced.

For me on Rare, all I can say (again) is I miss them, even with Free Radical/Crytek UK as the old Rare making games for multiplatforms (Nintendo consoles included). If they do go down, I'll probably miss them more than anyone could possibly imagine

A few months ago I launched an editorial that I intend to make a regular feature, called Looking Back. The purpose of Looking Back was to take a look at some older retail games for the current generation that got good reviews (7 or higher). Sometimes these games pass us by because they were released during a glut of other good games. Perhaps you've only just picked up the relevant system. Or perhaps it was a lesser known title that simply slipped under your radar. In any case, the purpose of Looking Back is to determine whether these games are still worth a look, whether they haven't dated well, or whether something else has come along and beaten it at its own game. These games should either be budget priced by now, or you can probably pick up a cheap second hand copy. Due to the feedback last time, I've also included PS2 games, and also added PC games.

However this time around I'm a little light on content as I've only played one game on the list, and not enough to give a qualified review of it. I have had a few people collaborate for this feature, and they are credited for their entries. However, if you wish to write a short review of whether any of the other games on the list are worth playing or not, I will edit it into the main entry (read more details below).

World Soccer Winning Eleven 9/Pro Evo Soccer 5 (PS2)
Gamespot Score 9.1
Is it still worth playing? Yes. Sports games are not usually something you'd be playing two years down the track. The sporting world is constantly changing, and half the fun of a sports game is playing as your favourite team with its current players, and with the constant evolution in PES's engine you'd think that the answer would be no. But you'd be wrong! PES5 is many people's favourite PES for two reasons: it's fast and it's frantic. You can have the ball zipping around like Barcelona in a way you simply can't in any other PES, admittedly because the latter PES's have been more realistic. You see PES6 slowed the game down drastically for a more realistic feel and as such the crisp passing was lost. And if you are absolutely must have your teams up to date, chances are you'll be able to find an option file with everything up to date on the net due to the game still garnering a reasonable following. You may also be able to organise a few games online if you're lucky! But PES truly shines in multiplayer. There's little more satisfying than scoring with a cool finish after a fast and crisp pacing game against your best mate, and while this feeling certainly isn't lost in latter PESs, the speed is. This has another advantage; it can actually give novices a better chance against those who are experienced, as it is more arcadey than 6 or 2008 (but not 09). With the crispness of the passing it's hard to make too many mistakes in possession, so while you might still have trouble breaking down your opponent (the speed also means you'll need some skill to pull of an attacking move), you should be able to keep the ball reasonably comfortably. That's not to say the defending is easy! On the contrary you have to time tackles precisely and mark space and do all the good stuff, but with the speed of the ball even against a novice it'll still take some time and thought to win the ball back, unless of course they're English and play down the centre! If you want a fast and crisp football game that is as deep and as satisfying as the latter PESs then you can't really go wrong with this. - Foolz3h

Black (PS2)
Gamespot Score 7.4
Is it still worth playing? Yes. First person shooters tend to age horribly, although some are still loved, like counter strike. But as graphics get uglier as time goes by, the core gameplay mechanics tend to remain the same, and be honest, wouldn't you rather play a game that looks great and plays the same as a game that looks slightly dated? Thankfully Black is a game that even 3 years after release, is still worth playing. The core shooting in black is good, there are slight latency issues with the controller at times, but overall it's a fairly solid shooter. The guns all feel great to fight with, and there are explosions galore, something which is one of Black's strengths, and boy do they know it. For enemies that seem so intent on preserving their life, they sure do stack a lot of red barrels next to each other. The graphics even now are actually fairly impressive, no choppiness mid game, and the explosions are absolutely stunning, seriously, this is a game all shooter fans should check out if they own the ps2. It may be fairly mediocre in terms of AI, and although it doesn't stand out from the brown lake that is now the FPS genre, it has a few cool features that keep it afloat, although there is no multiplayer which is sorely missing from this game. - doc18

Dungeons & Dragons Online : Stormreach (PC)
Gamespot Score 7.5
Is it still worth playing? Yes. MMOs age like good wine - or they die before their time. The online adaption of the best known roleplaying game was well received by critics, but it never gained the popularity to be a hit. The mass thought DDO was too different and complicated from other MMOs with THAC0's and other anomalies and the D&D fanbase thought the game drifted too far from the standard D&D 3.5 Ruleset. The complete lack of an open world and solo content didn't help either. Fortunately Turbine still managed to gather a small but loyal fanbase and several major content updates have already been released, adding new areas and streamlining the game to give it more mass appeal. DDO has never been a game for lone wolves and even with added solo content, it still isn't - but as a group game it's a ton of fun. Next to that there's also the problem with the imbalanced economy; dungeon loot is too good and the game can become too easy in the higher levels. Even with the issues, Stormreach is worth checking out, if you are searching for a unique WoW-alternative that you can play with a handful of friends. - RK-Mara

Star Wars: Empire At War
Gamespot Score 8.7
Is it still worth playing? Yes... and no. In many ways, the first sucessful "Star Wars" RTS holds up remarkably well. The graphics and sound effects are faithful to the movies, and the space battles are spectacular. The controls and user interface are beginner-friendly. Where it fails to keep up with the genre is the ground battles. The maps are far too small, and the unit caps are too restrictive to faithfully replicate the epic scope of battles like Hoth ("Empire Strikes Back") or Endor ("Return of the Jedi").

Another issue is the lack of playable factions: by modern RTS standards, 2 playable factions is too restricting. While includng just the Rebellion and the Empire is faithful to the movies, it limits the strategic possibilities available in more "up-to-date" games such as "Universe at War" (by the same developer). This was rectified by the "Forces of Corruption" expansion (which introduced SW's criminal element as a playable faction). If your interest is in waging war in the "Star Wars" universe, there aren't any other RTSs that compare to "SW:EaW." If you're looking for a more immersive RTS experience, there are several better games on the market. - Orkhammer

Eligible Games not commented on (games released on Xbox 360, PS2 or PC in January/February 2006 that scored 7 or more)
Xbox 360 (just one game this time around)
Fight Night Round 3 - 8.3

Playstation 2
Wild Arms 4 - 7.8
Mega Man X Collection - 7.2
Ape Escape 3 - 8.2
MVP 06 NCAA Basketball - 8.0
Devil May Cry 3 : Special Edition - 8.2
Tales of Legendia - 8.0
Mark Ecko's Getting Up : Contents Under Pressure - 8.7
Drakengard 2 - 7.0
Grandia 3 - 7.6
Rugby 06 - 7.6
Fight Night Round 3 - 8.2
TOCA Race Driver - 8.5
FIFA Street 2 - 7.5
MLB 06 : The Show - 9.0

PC
Diner Dash - 9.1
MX vs. ATV Unleashed - 7.7
GT Legends - 8.5
Command & Conquer : The First Decade - 7.6
Mark Ecko's Getting Up : Contents Under Pressure - 8.4
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six : Lockdown - 8.0
Everquest 2 : Kingdom of Sky - 7.6
TOCA Race Driver 3 - 8.5
Galactic Civilizations 2 : Dread Lords - 9.0
SWAT 4 : The Stetchkov Syndicate - 8.2
The Sims 2 : Open for Business - 8.0

Note to potential contributors
The idea of this feature is to identify whether some decent games from yesteryear are still worth playing today. If you hated the game to start with, then you shouldn't be writing a review for this feature. If you liked the game and can be objective about whether the game is still worth playing, whether it has been superseded by something better or is simply forgettable, feel free to write a paragraph or two about the game in the comments following the format above. Please ensure your language and grammar are well formed. Over the next few days I will edit in any entries with full credits. Thanks for your collaboration. Next time I'm sure there are some games that I will be able to talk about!

Sometimes I look at the gaming industry and wonder whether it has become too commercial. Whether it's milking a popular game for all its worth or endlessly spilling out "new" downloads, which in the long run cost an arm and a leg. It goes to say that many games have become a sort of fade and some people even tend to go with that fade. Hyped up games see no end, at least until the reviews start to be published and disappointed faces emerge.

Then they are those certain people, the ones who seen to hate everything you love. A game may score anything of 9 and above yet they'll still be those who hate it. You just can't please everyone. Video game developing isn't perfect, it's not rocket science. A good amount of the time is tends to be experimental; trial and error. If it works out brilliant if it doesn't ah-well at least they know what not to do next time. I guarantee they'll still be those few who will love it regardless. Not everyone cares about what the greatest game in the world is or what is the most hyped game of the year was. Yes many of us fall into it that trap and I'm no exception, but then again we're only human. A tendency to go with flow. So what if someone bashes you because you like a certain game, at the end of the day you're here and they're probably on the other side of the world.

Sometimes it's just nice to acknowledge that a video game is just a game. It's meant to be there for you to have fun. Isn't that what a game is meant to be, fun. It doesn't have to be the best; of course it wouldn't help it if it was abysmal either. Still as long as you enjoy it regardless of what anyone says all that should really matter is your own opinion. Just because a game is 9+ doesn't mean you have to like it, and just because it scores a 5- doesn't mean you have to hate it either.

Saying that, it's very hard to come across a review that is 100% bias free. Preferences differ from reviewer to reviewer, so what one may think vital to there review another might not care about or may have a different perspective on it. You just have to look at different reviews for one game and see how the content changes depending upon the reviewer. If we all thought the same then they'd all have identical scores. It would be a boring world, didn't someone once say diversity was the spice of life. At the end of the day reviews are meant to be there to help us choice a game, not to tell us what to buy... well except in a few cases where they do. In the end it's up to yourself to buy it or not. It's your money (except where in the case of it's your parent's). So should it matter what anyone else says.

Well hello there. I was originally going to sum the past year like I did last time with one of lists of 10. But I noticed like every year, most of the big gaming sites are handing out there awards so I thought I might as well experiment a little and try it myself.
I will be using the same type of awards as the Gamespot crew if that's ok? Though I will using far from all of them, as I simply have not played enough games to fill each category. So if you guys would wanna help me out with the awards I missed that would be great, or you simply just want to disagree you're free to that as well.

Well then off we go!


Best Story

Lost Odyssey
Grand Theft Auto IV
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
Dead Space
Valkyria Chronicles

And the winner is...


Best Graphics, Technical

GRID
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
Crysis Warhead
Dead Space
Gears of War 2

And the winner is...


Best Graphics, Artistic

Fable II
Little Big Planet
Valkyria Chronicles
Mirror's Edge
Prince of Persia

And the winner is...


Best Atmosphere

Grand Theft Auto IV
Dead Space
Fable II
Fallout 3
Left 4 Dead

And the winner is...


Best Original Music

Lost Odyssey
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
Fable II
Mirror's Edge
Prince of Persia

And the winner is...


Best Sound Design

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
Battlefield: Bad Company
Dead Space
Fallout 3
Left 4 Dead

And the winner is...


Best Voice Acting

No More Heroes
Grand Theft Auto IV
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
Dead Space
Fable II

And the winner is...


Best Cooperative Multiplayer

NHL 09
Little Big Planet
Resistance 2
Gears of War 2
Left 4 Dead

And the winner is...


Best Competitive Multiplayer

Burnout Paradise
Sins of a Solar Empire
Grand Theft Auto IV
Resistance 2
Gears of War 2

And the winner is...


Most Improved Sequel

Saints Row 2
Fable II
Fallout 3
Resistance 2
Gears of War 2

And the winner is...


Best Original IP

No More Heroes
Lost Odyssey
Dead Space
Valkyria Chronicles
Left 4 Dead

And the winner is...


I will post part 2 by the end of the week were I discuss a few disappointments of mine and also hand out the bigger awards.
And I aplogize before hand of possible grammar issues, I'm posting this right before I'm going to sleep lol.
//ZimpanX