Perhaps the most committed gamer's nowadays are the ones that play games NOT based off graphical boundaries or which ones royally beat out the competition over technicalities. These types of gamer's - which make up a large portion of a forum like System Wars - are not being true to themselves as gamer's, because we live in a time where graphics and technological innovation is what defines the quality of an experience more than the quality of the gaming experience itself. It's a sad revelation to believe, that we live in an industry with open competition, and its tainted our very own expectations of what makes a good game as long as it does something we know someone else can get jealous over not having on their preferred platform.

Basically you're just a PC fanboy blaming other fanboys for being fanboys with your own fanboyism.

I think this is the fairest assessment of the two games, and it defines the motives behind the designs of both games.

I don't care if Uncharted has multiplayer now, and I also don't care if it might be pretty good - because Uncharted has started off as a single-player experience and it always has kept it as the centerpiece of appeal for why people should buy the games at all.

Halo on the other hand, has always had its appeal off its robust multiplayer that not only was solid but set the standard for online multiplayer.

Uncharted for the single player and Halo for the multiplayer.

A lot of my reasoning comes with the level of satisfaction and how similar the feel is for both games. Yeah yeah, we can analyze different boss battles through out all of video games and find things to compare, but the boss battles in both games have always been excellent at holding extravagance. Boss battles were the things to look forward to in both games as the reward of getting through all the dungeon crawling bits. There are other games that have awesome boss battles but so few that meet the level of satisfaction as I have met with these games.

There were definitely intertwining shortcuts in the Metroid games. I think we can really only look at the original Dark Souls as the best of all the games as far as the intertwining world-design goes, for it was ingeniously constructed, but Metroid Prime has had plenty of it too.

Another major similarity is both games do an excellent job with defining player isolation, and maybe that also has a lot to do with why they have a similar feel.

A big difference between the two games is one is an RPG and the other isn't. Dark Souls you play an anonymous soul that can be however you want it to be, whereas in Metroid you will always play as Samus, and she has a set personality that can't be changed, but it makes up for the lack of RPG elements because Samus gets a ton of upgrades through her adventure.

Super Mario 3D World is one polished beast. I'll say it takes the best qualities of all Mario games and marriages them together into one slick package that's a blast with co-op in the mix. It works just as good as a singular experience as much as it works as a party game easy enough for anyone to pick-up on the fly and play.

You can take other 3D Mario's like Sunshine and Galaxy, and observe they take their own identities with their unique settings, but 3D World feels like the most pure of Mario games. It does not deviate into new niche territories but rather this is purely what the Mushroom Kingdom feels like, and that right there makes the most sublime of Mario experiences.

Have you played either game? They are very similar.

Similarities:
Large, inter-linked worlds that entice exploration.
Find upgrades / items that unlock previously closed off areas that intertwine with the rest of the design of the world / i.e. shortcuts
Epic boss battles
Bleak narrative styles that tell its story through world-building

Sure, you can look at both games and say they look nothing alike. One is science-fiction and the other is dark fantasy. One of them plays in a first-person and the other plays in third-person. One fights with swords and the other fights with guns. But that's not the point that the OP is trying to make, but the DESIGN PHILOSOPHY between the two games having some of the most striking similarities.

It's funny people make these weird attempts to dissect some form of fanboyism out of a post like this, when you're not even bashing either game but rather stating how much you love both of them.

I think you just know what's up as far as good games go.

I really can't dispute your apples-to-oranges assessment, for Metroid and Dark Souls happen to be my two all-time favorite game franchises, and for much of the same reasons having to do with them having very similar design philosophies. These are just the kinds of games I like to play. I'm glad they both exist.

I believe Microsoft will inevitably retire from video games completely.

Ever since the very first Xbox, Microsoft considered it a failure from their own vision. Then Xbox 360 came around and it deviated even further away from the original Xbox vision.

The Xbox ONE is the ONE they wanted to make. I think they will just stick with this one until it loses all its steam, and maybe just maybe Microsoft will go back to their other assets like computers and software and games to them will be a strictly PC fare and no consoles.

I think the Xbox One might just be their last.

I'm sure the game is good for its fans, and amazing for those that take the time to know its controls, but I highly doubt a game I could beat in 6 to 8 hours would be something I'll run away from telling everyone it's one of the best. I also think Star Fox 64 is overrated as ****, so if it's more like that game I'm probably going to be bored of it real quick.