Welcome to my blog, this is where I rant about games and post occasional editorials. If you want to see me more of what I write, follow me on Twitter, www.Twitter.com/MrMatey72

• 3Sep 11

  Modern Warfare 3 vs. Battlefield 3: A Pointless Battle

  I posted this originally as an one of my Examiner articles, but I wanted to share this with my Gamespot friends. This is a thing I've been wanting to write this for a while. Remember, despite what you may think I wrote this as someone who likes, not loves both Call of Duty and Battlefield. Here's a link to my original article if you want to check it out. But you're welcome to read and comment on it on my blog.

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  Modern Warfare 3 versus Battlefield 3, if you go to any forum on the internet that has anything to do with video games you'll likely see this topic floating around. Last year it was Modern Warfare 2 versus Battlefield: Bad Company 2, and then at the end of the year Black Ops versus Bad Company 2. EA has taken notice, and the marketing for Battlefield 3 is that it's designed to "Take Call of Duty down".

  This seems like the laziest way they could market the game. It not only feels lazy, but also makes it sound like they don't have enough confidence in the quality of the game itself. A baseball team doesn't need to talk trash about the other team to win; they just need to play better than the other team. EA shouldn't have to call out Modern Warfare 3 for people to pay attention to Battlefield 3. EA should just let DICE make a great game, then show the game and let it speak for itself.

  The whole idea that Battlefield 3 is going to lead to the death of Call of Duty is a bit ridiculous. Call of Duty continues to break sales records every year it's released. Last year Black Ops sold around 5.6 million copies in a single day, while Bad Company 2 sold 2.3 million copies in its first month. While Bad Company 2 was no doubt a success, it still doesn't have the kind of name recognition that Call of Duty has.

  To "Take down Call of Duty" something would have to come out that becomes more popular than Call of Duty. No existing game franchise will be able to do that in its current state. That's not saying Call of Duty is the best franchise ever, but it's easily the one of the most accessible multiplayer games that's actually fun in today's market, if not the most accessible multiplayer game franchise to date.

  For something to take the spotlight from Call of Duty, they would have to innovate. Call of Duty 4's success was no doubt a surprise. Call of Duty 4 was not only a fantastic game, but it was extremely innovative. There was nothing quite like Call of Duty 4's multiplayer at the time, and it quickly captured the attention of not only gamers, but people who didn't even play games.

  What we've seen of Battlefield 3's multiplayer doesn't really seem to be very innovative. From what EA and DICE have shown Battlefield 3 looks like Bad Company 2's multiplayer, except on a much bigger scale. While Bad Company 2's multiplayer was great and easily the best part of the game, it didn't steal a huge number of Modern Warfare 2 players away. While Battlefield 3's multiplayer will probably be great and possibly better than Modern Warfare 3's multiplayer, it won't steal that big of Call of Duty's fan base away.

  In the end a lot of the back lash towards Modern Warfare 3 is probably due to the old way of thinking that if something's popular than it's no longer cool to like. Call of Duty has proved again and again that despite being released year after year, it remains a high quality franchise. Despite what some people may say, whether you enjoy Call of Duty or Battlefield better still boils down to your opinion and your personal taste. There's nothing wrong with you if you like Call of Duty over Battlefield, and vice versa

  Battlefield 3 probably isn't going to "Take Call of Duty down". If you pick up ether game or both and enjoy one over the other that's your right. Saying your game is going to be the fall of another isn't a great way to market your game, and is never an approach EA should have took. There's nothing wrong with marketing, but a great game is something that should speak for itself.

  • Posted Sep 3, 2011 5:53 pm GMT
  • Category: Editorial
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• 16Aug 11

  Guess who just turned 20?

  Well, as you might of guessed today is my 20th birthday! And since it's been so long since my last blog update, I thought today would be a good a day as any to finally do so. And don't worry, I'm not going to bore you with talking about games that I'm replaying this time.

  A friend of mine let me borrow a couple of games that I've been wanting to play, so let's start with those. First up: Bulletstorm! Bulletstorm was a game that I was expecting to really like. And well, I do really like that game, in more ways than I thought I would. The thing about that game that's done extremely well is the pacing of the game. Once that game really gets into gear it doesn't stop until the end. It's not quite Call of Duty set-piece after set-piece, it's more the things they give you to kill your enemies with that really keeps the game fast, and fun.

  Another thing that I didn't really expect to like that I found myself liking by the end of the game is the characters. Now, I'm still trying to grasp what exactly made those characters likable by the end of the game, and I'm still not sure of what exactly it is. Not I said I like the characters, not the story. I just want to be clear on that, the story really isn't all that great at all. Also the use of made-up cuss words constantly can kind of get annoying. And I didn't get to play any of the multiplayer, because I'm borrowing the game and remember that this is a EA game, so it has the online pass.

  The other game I'm borrowing is one that I'm probably also going to get for my birthday because I like it so much. And that game would be Fallout: New Vegas! As a big fan of Fallout 3, of coarse I was expecting to enjoy this game. The thing is, I didn't quite expect to enjoy it as much as I am. I'm probably in the minority here but even though I haven't finished it, I have played well over 30 hours of it and I'm going to go as far as saying I like it better than Fallout 3. I know, you probably think I'm crazy.

  The things that really make this game more enjoyable than Fallout 3 for me are things like the characters. Granted not every character is great, but in Fallout 3 there wasn't really one character I ever found myself really liking that much. In this game there are multiple characters that I love. It's due in great part to better dialog, and way better voice acting. There's also just so much more to do in Fallout: New Vegas. I've done well over 20 quest, and there's still a ton I haven't even gotten too yet. And while I haven't finished main story just yet, the point where I'm at I see kind of how I'm going to pick an ending, and it's seems way more creative than the way you did it in Fallout 3. It's worth noting that I've hardly experienced any bugs or glithes with game, since I played it after the last patch. I'm guessing that's probably one of he main reasons I like more than other people.

  In other news, not much is going on. I got a new laptop not that long ago, which I'm really enjoying. And besides that I'm really just trying to make the best out of what's left of the Summer. And no, I haven't gotten any birthday presents just yet, I'm typing this blog before people come over. So maybe I'll write about that some other time.

  That's all for now, thanks for reading everyone!

  • Posted Aug 16, 2011 1:23 pm GMT
  • Category: Games
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• 15Jun 11

  The Best of E3 2011

  I know I'm a bit late, but I really wanted to do this. Dispite not having to many shocking announcements for E3 this year, there were plenty of highlights. I could easily argue the biggest surprise announcement of this year was Minecraft coming to 360. I still wanted to take the time to talk about what I liked most about this year at E3. While there were a number of disappointments this year, I'm only going to mention the one that got to me the most. So here are my highlights, and biggest disappointment of E3 2011!

  Dark Souls
  
  Dark Souls looks like everything I want out of a spiritual follow up to Demon's Souls. The game looks like it keeps the same fantastic combat system, while improving thw world by making it a open world. I put well over 100 hours into Demon's Souls, it looks like could easily put 100 plus more into Dark Souls.

  Batman Arkham City
  
  Batman Arkham Asylum was a surprise hit back in 2009, so it's no surprise Batman Arkham City even better. A open world game, with combat like Arkham Asylum, and Catwoman as a playable character, I can hardly wait to actually play the game for myself.
  
  Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
  
  It's amazing how far ahead Skyrim looks ahead of Oblivion. With Oblivion being my favorite open world game out there, I was already highly anticipating this game, but once I saw the game I'm having trouble waiting for the game. The combat looks better, the game looks way more atmospheric, and the battles against dragons look intense and fun. I could not be more excited for this game.
  
  Honorable Mentions:
  Sound Shapes
  Twisted Metal
  Journey
  The Darkness II
  Gears of War 3
  Silent Hill Downpour
  Far Cry 3
  SSX
  Uncharted 3
  
  Best Conference: Nintendo
  Nintendo may of not of had the game, after game demo like Sony, but what Nintendo showed was way more exciting. The 3DS is finally looking to have a worthy lineup of game, the exciting and most unexpected one being Luigi's Mansion 2. But the most exciting thing about Nintendo's conference was the reveal of the Wii U. Discounting that I hate the name of the thing, I could want to get my hands on this thing more. I'm really excited for this thing, yet really optimistic about it. It's great that Nintendo finally is getting more 3rd party support, but the potential of the new touch screeen controller is what excites me the most. If a developer took full advantage of this thing, it could be amazing. Which is way Nintendo's press conference was by far my favorite.
  
  Biggest Disappointment: Voice Command Kinect Support for Mass Effect 3
  I gave Mass Effect 2 a 9.5, and named it my fourth favorite game of last year. So I think it goes without saying that I'm really looking forward to Mass Effect 3. But the idea of Bioware's big annoucement at E3 this year was Kinect voice commands, really got to me. For one, it sounds really gimmicky. There really is no point, in theory you could do these same voice commands with a headset. So it just seems like they just used this as an excuse to say Mass Effect 3 has Kinect support. Two, having the player read out a line, and then having Shepard say something completely different seems like a really good way to take the play out of the experience. And three, this like something a good developer like Bioware should be beyond. The thing I enjoy most about the Mass Effect games are the conversations, and the characters. Mass Effect 3 should not need this to stand out.

  And there it is! Sorry to spend the most time on my biggest disappointment, but I couldn't find a way to express my opinion in less words. Now that E3 is over, I can get back to playing games. Thanks for reading everyone!

  • Posted Jun 15, 2011 1:35 pm GMT
  • Category: Editorial
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