So we went to Games Workshop today for the world’s biggest apocalypse game. It was really fun and I managed to get some screen-shots of it.
http://kotaku.com/5730082/arizona-shooter-pegged-as-big-video-gamer-by-classmates
Read the links to the AZcentral and Wall Street Journal.
While neither AZ or WSJ, seem to use this fact to promote an anti-video game mood, you can bet others will. I mean forget the fact that the guy was a radical philosipher, read Mein Kamph, bore aggression towards the government, and was angry because of the military turned him down. Nope it was all video games.
I suppose gamers have endured a lot of this already. Whenever new concepts or ideas are introduced, there’s always going to be people who demonize it, merely because they are afraid or can’t adapt to change. Its merely paranoia that they aren’t living in the world they once lived in. Rock had to go through wit hit as well as radio, TV, movies and now video games.
I suppose the turning point will be the supreme court decision this year. I’ll be waiting with anticipation, just like the rest of you.
The Guy’s youtube account,. See video games anywhere? Nope.
This review was somewhat of a challenge for two reasons. Firstly, that I’m not invested into the Back to the Future series. I’ve seen the first movie and I enjoyed it, but that’s the extent of my involvement. The other is that I’m not invested into adventure games. I played them a couple times as a kid, but not enough to become a frequent player. So I really went into this game not knowing what to expect, but open minded to the possibilities this game would present.
The game takes place after the third movie, and things aren’t going to well. Doc is missing and the bank is about to foreclose on his home, when Marty gets a message for the time traveling delorean. Doc has run into trouble in the past and it’s up to Marty to rescue him. The story holds no surprises and keeps faithful to the series in its lightheartedness. What I liked most about this game was the characters. Aside from Marty, Doc, and a couple other movie characters, we also have some new faces which are nice to see. The voice acting is also quite nice with kudos to AJ LoCascio who does a fine job as Marty.
The gameplay is also quite good if uninventive. Its standard point and click adventure gameplay. Find object use on other object, solve puzzle advance plot. I won’t deny that the puzzles were fun and they were challenging enough. The problem I have with this game is that it’s just standard. It doesn’t really seem too different than other adventure games and I’m not sure whether it’s just meant to prey on nostalgia. It’s still a fun story experience overall and I’d definitely recommend it for fans of the series, or hell even anyone who liked the first movie.
Also if this is going to be episodic, than charge less than $25 for just one out of 5 or 6 episodes. I wouldn’t even charge $15 for it. My advice is that if you really can’t wait and you’re a huge fan, get it now. For everyone else, wait till the price goes down.
Holiday 2011 seems kind of a short development cycle to me.Still I can’t deny that I’m excited.
This could just be the only good thing to ever come out of the Spike VGAs.
http://kotaku.com/5711288/who-steals-video-game-consoles-from-children-with-cancer
On the plus side, I like how the Halo Waypoint team and EA are stepping up to give these kids new consoles after the robbery. Way to go guys on making those kids’ holiday season happier.
Seriously though, who steals video games from sick children?
Note! This is just an article I did as a journalism assignment. If you pay attention at all to gaming news, then this is probably going to sound like a reiteration of previously said statements, facts and opinions. You can decide for yourself.
Since the 90’s, when First Person shooters were created, violence in video games has been the subject of many debates. People have argued whether or not the content in games (like guns, swearing, sex, etc.) is harmful to children, if games are protected by the first amendment, if gaming culture is inherently violent, if it’s diverse and welcoming etc. In October the US Supreme Court heard arguments for an upcoming case in spring that could ban the sale of violent video games to minors. The Justices seemed to favor Video Games during the argument because outlets are already forbidden to sell games to minors. The Californian opposition wants to restrict the sale of games even more, which would make selling them incredibly difficult. This would be unfair to everyone in the $2 billion a year industry, studios, publishers, retailers and gamers themselves.
The obvious reason for this is because adults, mostly parents, are afraid that video games could negatively affect young children. For instance, several school shooting were blamed on violent video games that led kids to do this. From the perspective of a radical anti-violent video game activist about one incidence like this where a kid was speculated to have shot classmates because he had been playing Valve’s popular online shooter Counterstrike. Following an investigation, information was released that the perpetrator had actually been playing Sonic the Hedgehog, preceding the event where you jump on robots to free cute little animals from an egg shaped scientist.
The fact is that it’s already hard for minors to get their hands on video games; with a recent study showing only 20% of minors having been able to get their hands on video games. Nearly 50% more minors were able to get their hands on R rated movies and explicit music. There hasn’t been a single incidence where I’ve purchased an M-rated game at GameStop in Bellevue without one of my parents there. And a poll shows that only 2/5 of MIHS students were able to acquire M-rated games ithout parent permission.
Then what do we blame this small amount, if any, violent behavior on? Well to put it simply, parents who buy games for their kids without doing any research first should be accountable. Parents need to look at these games and if their children are ready for these kinds of games. The blame can simply not be put anywhere else.
I’m sorry but didn’t the Blood Angels just get an update? I thought that we would get to see the rumored Inquisition Codex, but nope, I guess it’s reasonable to update an army that got updated during the Summer.
OK I’m overreacting a little bit, I was just hoping to see some plastic Grey Knights that’s all. I don’t even play Imperium so this isn’t an issue for me. Besides the Blood Angels aren’t getting a whole redo. It’s just some new plastic kits that’s all.
Since the updates usually go in the order of Imperium, non-Imperium, Imperium, non-Imperium, I’m guessing that Necrons are going to be updated sometime in late April or early May.
Source: http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/content/article.jsp?aId=12500088a
http://kotaku.com/5693783/portal-2-delayed-to-april
Well it’s Valve time so I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.
The reason that this isn’t a full review of Black Ops is because I have no intention of playing it past the campaign. I’ve completely given up on CoD’s multiplayer since the mess know as Modern Warfare 2. From what I’ve seen, Black Ops multiplayer seems to be following suite (although there’s no nuke, so it’s not as bad).
I managed to beat Black Op’s campaign in about 4 3/4 hours which itself is a problem. MW2′s campaign was at least 2-3 hours longer and it was more memorable. I mean OK the plot was a bit of a mess but when you were playing it was amazing. Black Ops on the other hand feels very underwhelming. There’s a difference between a game that shows you driving through the wreckage of an exploding airplane and one that actually lets you do it.
One thing I’ve been reading in other reviews is praise for the campaigns story and characters. This I actually somewhat agree with. The plot and narrative are very well constructed, as you follow your memories fighting in the cold war in order to decipher a message that could spell doom for the world if not uncovered. There’s actually tension and one of the plot twists at the end is absolutely brilliant. The characters are alright I suppose but there’s no denying that recycling a character from a WWII game is just lazy.
The gameplay is basically the same as the other Cod games and adds nothing new to the series. The set pieces in the game aren’t nearly as exciting as MW2. As a result the game gets really tedious to play through during the last hour or so, with nothing new or memorable to spice things up. As a final thought, Treyarch really needs to become more innovative if they are going to be the new stars of CoD (seeing how Infinity Ward is understaffed at the moment). Black Ops was a step up from call of Duty World at War and if Treyarch really tries then they can make a truely worthy entry in the series.
Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood comes out tomorrow. I’ll probably be getting that sometime this week. That will be my next review.
On November 15th 2001, Microsoft released the XBOX console to North America. One of the launch titles for the console was “Halo: Combat Evolved”, a Sci-Fi First Person Shooter developed originally for the Macintosh but became an XBOX title after Microsoft acquired Bungie Studios, the maker of the game. Halo became a huge success, critically and commercially, selling more than 5 million copies worldwide since November 2005, and spawning 3 sequels including an expansion for Halo 3, and a spin-off Real Time Strategy game “Halo Wars”. Halo has become one of the most iconic series of the new millennium, and in gaming history. With such huge success, Bungie was able to once again become an independent studio, although Microsoft still claims ownership to the Halo IP.
Now we have “Halo: Reach” the final game in series to be developed by Bungie Studios. This game takes us back to where the series all began, on the planet Reach before Halo “Combat Evolved” took place. This is Bungie’s swan song to the Halo series, their final contribution to one of the most recognizable icons in gaming history. This final game will leave a lasting impression on fans everywhere that have followed this series since its first game. Is this just a cheap cash in, or a memorable, exciting game that matches the expectations of the title “Halo”?
Bungie has given us a memorable, challenging campaign, new multiplayer modes and gameplay, and a more refined editing tool that makes for some really creative maps and games. This is the essential Halo experience.
Gameplay is one of the most changed features of the game. Instead of Halo 3’s regenerating health system, you now have Health and regenerating shields similar to Halo 1 or ODST. Thankfully there are health packs at regular intervals so it doesn’t become too much of an issue. You’ve also lost the ability to dual wield weapons and some weapons have been dropped altogether, but thankfully there are plenty new weapons that are tons more fun to use.
Probably the biggest change is the use of armor abilities. Instead of picking up equipment for one use, you can pick up certain power ups for your armor, such as jetpacks, shields and invisibility. There’s no limit to how many times you can use the abilities but they do require a cool down, so use them carefully. The armor abilities really mix things up and make the combat varied and exciting.
The single player campaign has you playing as Noble Six, a super soldier who has been assigned to Noble Team, a group of fellow Spartan super soldiers. Together you have to stand against the alien juggernaut known as the Covenant as you defend the planet Reach from a full scale invasion. One thing interesting about your character is that you can modify how you look in the campaign. The armor you purchase with credits from multiplayer and single player games, determines how you look in the campaign. There’s a ton to modify, from your gender to making your helmet shoot lightning.
Multiplayer, one of the strong points of the Halo series is equally as fun. The gameplay is slightly modified in that you can’t pick up armor abilities on the map, but instead choose classes before you respawn. Some of the gametypes have you progressively unlock better classes as the match goes on. There are tons of different game modes to choose from, meaning that things stay varied. Certain modes have you play as Covenant Elites, which are stronger, bigger and faster than Spartans. Thankfully it’s balanced so that the Elites don’t win every time. There’s also firefight, which was previously featured in Halo: ODST, in which you and other players fight of wave after wave of AI enemies for the highest score possible. Firefight has been greatly improved and is now customizable to the player, resulting in hours of replay ability.
If this wasn’t enough, there’s also forge which allows you to edit he objects on a map. In Halo 3 people came up with all sorts of different map variants and creations with this, and Bungie has refined forge so much that I think that the creative potential is endless. Forge has been refined to be more precise, bigger and better. In addition, Bungie has made Forgeworld, a map so big and diverse that the opportunities for creation are endless.
Microsoft may still publish more Halo Games, but to Bungie the Halo series has come full circle. Bungie has given us a memorable campaign, exciting multiplayer, and more customization than ever before. It’s a fitting end to one of gaming’s most recognized icons and will be played for years to come.
Yes I know I'm going to hell for this...