Category: Reading

Let The Rumors Start Rolling In! – XBox 720 Info Leaked?

Well, it is that time of year again.  Just after E3 when some people are holding out hope for the announcement of a new console – only to be disappointed to see that no such announcement will take place until at least next year.  As soon as that happens, you will start seeing the most devoted (insane) gamers start scouring the internet for any sort of leaks of new information about the next consoles to be released.

The latest ‘leak’ was posted on EGM (via Scribd) and it was then pulled down and removed through the advising of one of Microsoft’s corporate law advisers.

Some of the rumors have the new console being released at the $300 mark.  If that is the case, it could be one of the most shocking aspects of this ‘discovery’.  Although, one shouldn’t forget that Microsoft and Sony have started to make a habit out of releasing multiple consoles in different versions since 2005.  Some have been stripped down shells of what they should have been (4GB 360 Slim and 20GB PS3 – I’m looking at you!).  So, please keep in mind that $300 could be the low end model (if this is even legitimate in the first place).

If this is fake, it is fake… If it is real it could be the best thing Microsoft could do to make Sony re-think another console release at $600.

We won’t be devoting a lot of time to this rumor due to the nature of it being just that… a rumor.  However, it is intriguing to consider the possibilities of a system that could have some of the specifications listed in the brief article.

What are you looking for at this point in a console?  Does this rumor excite you about the future or were you expecting something different altogether?

Becoming A Better Gamer – Your Introduction To A Summer of Gaming

A lot of people have extra time to play video games in the summer.  Whether you or your kids are on summer vacation or if it is just a rainy day, you should look at each opportunity to game as a chance to get better at your past-time.

There are a few things you can do to increase your skills without making it too much of a chore –

  1. Track The Amount of Time You Spend On Each Game – One thing people tend to forget is they play the games they enjoy and once you can determine your 3 to 5 most played games it will be much easier to prioritize your skill building through this practice.
  2. Use Different Techniques and Strategies – You have to make sure that you don’t depend on any one technique, strategy or tactic when playing any game (especially online multiplayer).  In Modern Warfare 3 you should make it your mission to master at least four to six different primary weapons.  If at some point you run out of ammunition and you pick up a new weapon like the MK14 it would be a good idea to learn how to handle it.
  3. Exercise – Get outside and move your body, sweat and listen to your favorite music.  One of the things people don’t realize is that the more you sit in front of your TV the lazier your body and mind become.  It is vital for everyone to get themselves into decent shape anyway, but if you work out you will notice a marked improvement in your gaming, decision making and reflexes.

What are some of the things you like to do to build your skills in gaming?  Hit us up in the comments below!

Diablo 3 Patch 1.03 In Development – Blizzard Releases Info On Tweaks

You can find Patch 1.03 Information here

Diablo 3 has been highly successful to say the least.  However, the bugs that were present in the initial release along with the fact that the delay of real money auctions for in-game content it is promising to see so much attention being given to this game.  It is one of the many reasons why PC gamers prefer their medium of gaming over consoles such as XBox and Playstation.  User content and modifications are welcome in many games like Skyrim; and to have games like Diablo 3 with so much dedication from the developer to keep it tuned well and listen to the gamers for changes is the beauty of PC Gaming.

Patch 1.03 Is In The Works!

If you have a computer that can handle Diablo 3 and you enjoy hack and slash treasure hunting games – you need to own this game.

 

Madden 13 – No Editing Players Could Destroy Much of the Hype

While it hasn’t been officially ruled out for Madden 13, it has been stated that much of editing players outside of the XP System we mentioned a few days ago isn’t going to be an option when Madden 13 is released.  So, it remains to be seen if it is a certainty that it will be removed this year… however, in regards to what this means for the gaming community it is three-fold.

  1. EA Sports has once again ‘removed’ something that was in past iterations of Madden NFL.  Which baffles almost everyone that pays the slightest amount of attention to the game.  The reason this is so baffling is because EA Tiburon is constantly reinventing Madden.  When will they decide that this game is powered by their dedicated community and the edits they make to everything from ratings to playbooks (also not editable this year).
  2. Relying on Donny Moore for roster updates and his subjective ratings changes that vary depending on who had a good game from week to week.  The Ratings Czar is going to be on the spot this year if they don’t allow roster and ratings edits.  Not to mention the fact that this once again keeps offline gamers out of the loop entirely.
  3. A promising amount of hype is being overshadowed by what is looking more and more like regression on the part of EA and their dedication to allowing the end-user any sort of autonomy with their game.

Madden is still looking like a game to put on your ‘must have’ list in late August, but this latest news is troubling on many levels and it doesn’t bode well for this game from the perspective of roster-editing.

Is Battlefield 3 The Swan Song for EA’s First Person Shooters?

If you ask someone to name a current first person shooter chances are good you will get one of three or four responses.

  1. Call of Duty
  2. Halo
  3. Battlefield
  4. Borderlands, etc.

A question that has been coming to mind ever sense the poorly planned and even more poorly executed Battlefield Premium was unleashed to the world…

Is EA Dying a Slow Death In FPS Titles?

Who is really playing this game or any EA First Person Shooter (FPS) regularly at this point?

There is always the contingent of Battlefield elitists out there that believe (sometimes correctly) that Battlefield is superior to Call of Duty or Halo.  However, numbers don’t lie… and that could be what ends up bringing down Battlefield and perhaps EA’s FPS credibility.  If you look at the ratings last released by Larry Hryb (Major Nelson) that show the most activity on XBox Live for specific games it should make you skeptical about the longevity of Battlefield and certainly the next Medal of Honor game.

It isn’t really a question of if Battlefield is a good game (it is a great game) but a question of where it is going to go from here for a game that hasn’t really found a place outside of their niche group of dedicated community members like one of our subscribers The Masked Guard.  Will we get to a point where EA can overtake the juggernaut that is Call of Duty?  If they hope to make any strides in their FPS marketability they should make an effort to develop a game that isn’t devoted strictly to some sort of engine that hinges on blowing up buildings or terrain – especially in multiplayer.

The downfall of multiplayer in Battlefield goes beyond the growing amount of gamers that are playing it more like some sort of Call of Duty game with larger maps.  The reason Battlefield struggles to gain any real ground in the FPS race is because it lacks any real depth outside of leaderboards that mean virtually nothing.  Call of Duty and Halo have become more focused on individual gamers with the ability to modify and customize weapons, armor, insignias, etc.  Battlefield has fallen into some sort of in-between where they push for clans and teams but doesn’t really allow much outside of that.

Also, there is a big problem with their broken system of spawn points and spawn camping.  Bad Company 2 was terrible for this and BF3 has made few strides in making it any better.  If you are new to this game it could be very disconcerting to jump into a game where you get killed within your first ten steps every time you spawn.

What are you playing right now?  If it is Battlefield 3, please let us know how you feel about what is happening to the game from your perspective.  Are you looking forward to any FPS Titles?… are any of them from EA?

Madden 13 – Going RPG With a Sports Title

Most of the time when people are talking about XP they are referring to either their Call of Duty Prestige or in most other cases they are talking about leveling up their characters in a Role Playing Game.  This can be seen in many games from World of Warcraft, Diablo, Final Fantasy, Skyrim, Borderlands, etc.  However, for the first time ever you will be able to do this in Madden NFL 13.

This might not seem like a big deal to people that play online pick-up games, but when it comes to Franchise Mode (now called “Connected Careers“) this is something that has been sorely needed for a long time.  Why would this be such a drastic ‘need’?  The answer has multiple levels and we will cover them.

XP works in such a way that your players will earn points for you to spend (like currency) on improving the player as you see fit.

While this is something that some people might have a beef with because it allows the gamer to do something like make JaMarcus Russell into an amazing player if they build enough XP.

The answer to anyone that has a problem with this is simple and it is the first big reason to applaud this new system of progression.

  1. It will take time to build someone into a superstar – Even players like RG3 are going to take some time to develop into the attributed monster you want them to become (that certainly goes for anyone looking to build JaMarcus Russell or Brady Quinn into anything near a 90 OVR player.
  2. You control your team, it is (almost all up to you) – There isn’t really an excuse for your best players to not progress at this point.  The power is in your hands to get your wanna-be diva WR the ball more often if you want him to level up.  Want your QB to have more XP, don’t throw the ball into coverage all the time.
  3. Longevity is finally here -For years, practice mode has been a wasted effort to even put in the game.  This year you can practice with your players and get them even more XP by doing this.  It makes sense, but we advise against asking Allen Iverson about how much you can gain through practice.

It is time to start getting excited for football season in gaming.  For the first time in years, we really have something to talk about that isn’t how bad Madden is… but how good it could be.

E3 Recap – Games To Keep An Eye On and Games To Give The Stink Eye

It was a great week for game fans of all ages last week, but that doesn’t mean that some announcements didn’t disappoint us.

There are some games that have great demos out there right now and there are also some games that shouldn’t have demos (because they are that terrible).

Keep and Eye On:

Spec Ops: The Line (Respawn Entertainment/2K) – This game plays smoothly and feels like a modern military version of Gears of War (executions and all).  In playing the demo there is something left to be desired from gameplay that seems slightly uninspired.  There isn’t a lot of holding your breath in worry that an army of baddies is coming to put you down.  However, the multiplayer gameplay looks like it could prove to be enjoyable, if not at least something different from Call of Duty’s first person syndication every year.

 

 

Madden 13 (EA Sports) – Finally, Madden has come out of the E3 gates with something to talk about other than their yearly subjective roster update.  Real-time physics, connected careers and a new XP system of progressing your players in career modes is a breath of fresh air that every football gaming fan will appreciate.  There are some tuning issues they are still working on for much of connected careers (which is to be expected); but hopefully they can use the next month or so before the game goes ‘gold’ to fix these things.  Don’t expect perfection off the bat, but you should expect some new joy in how Madden actually plays this year.

 

 

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance (Konami) – Finally, something playable was present at E3 and did it ever live up to the hopes and dreams of Metal Gear fans!  Raiden was a character that upset many of the Metal Gear ‘purists’ (elitists…myself included) but when Kojima decided to make Raiden into an awesome Cyborg Ninja from Hell in Metal Gear Solid 4?… I was convinced that Raiden was cool enough to be a desireable character.  At this point, MGSRR is looking more and more like Ninja Gaiden put into the shoes of Metal Gear and it looks amazing.

 

 

Hitman: Absolution (Square Enix) – One of the favorites to make people gush over the wonders of Agent 47’s ability to silently make enemies hunker down in fear.  This is proving to be a game that you should be very excited about.  The gameplay is solid and the story of Agent 47 is usually an intriguing one.  Let’s face it, Hitman is a game that really has its set of fanatics and then the rest of the gamers that want to get their fill of digital violence.  The beauty of Absolution is that it seems to have a better feel and look than Blood Money.  There is a fine line for the Hitman series to walk right now but it is avoiding our list of stink eye games… for now.

Give the Stink Eye To:

NCAA Football 13 (EA Sports) – Talk about giving a game a fresh coat of paint and sending it out for the user to beta test.  NCAA Football 12 was decent, but with major flaws on release day that weren’t patched for over a month and a half (player tendencies after re-naming rosters, etc.).  NCAA Football 13 changed throwing trajectories but didn’t implement real-time physics like Madden 13.  They have the same button schemes this year, but after that similarity NCAA falls to the field with a thud.  The menu interface hasn’t changed and the game doesn’t seem to look different at all.  The demo is out there for you to give it a try – but it could be a 1GB file you regret downloading in the first place.

 

 

Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 (Treyarch/Activision) – This series has been played out.  The fact that they are going to the year 2025 isn’t as impressive as some people want to make it out to be.  Not to mention the fact that they are ‘bringing back’ zombie mode.  What is going to be different from Black Ops or even Modern Warfare 3?  Nothing really.

You already know what to expect if you are a COD fan and that can be a good thing if you love COD games.  Black Ops 2 is like the third Transformers movie at this point –

All of the explosions, the hot girl that replaces another hot girl (albeit, with an accent) and our typical schlubs ‘heroes’ to save the world from bad foreigners (Insert xenophobia here) and you have yourself a “Brand New” Call of Duty Game.

Halo 4 (343/Microsoft) – Did you know that another Halo game was coming out?  Of course you did.   What better way to milk this cash cow of a franchise than to continue the saga of Master Chief from a ‘whole new perspective’?

Much like Call of Duty and even Gears of War, Halo 4 is a game that has many people excited because they worship the Halo universe and think Master Chief is the greatest thing since sliced bread.  Say what you want about the books and everything else… if you love Halo you will buy this game.  After that what is there?  One of the ‘features’ listed for this game on Amazon is telling –

“The Master Chief returns to battle an ancient evil bent on vengeance and annihilation. Humanity and the universe will never be the same again.”

If you pay attention to the last sentence of their description, it is one of the most hilarious marketing ploys ever.  Consider what has happened over the course of Halo, Halo 2 and then Halo 3.  Then consider what happened with Halo 3: ODST and then the prequel Halo: Reach.  It is something of a guess, but after 5 games that gave us a great trilogy a prequel and even the perspective of a different soldier (ODST) there isn’t much more to care about is there?

It is always a funny argument to hear when a Halo fanboy and a Call of Duty fanboy come into a game store or game department… or God forbid – forums.  Both sides love to present their game as being superior in some way shape or form.  However, in the end they are both arguing over something that they both share in… being duped into buying the same game every year or two.

Gears of War: Judgement (Epic/Microsoft) – Say what you want about the story of Gears of War, it was original and the voice acting was impressive all the way through.  However, the latest announcement is bringing up the same old argument we just made about Halo and Call of Duty.  The most insulting thing you can do to a gamer is try and squeeze out more money for a prequel.  George Lucas was able to fool some people into thinking the new Star Wars prequel trilogy would be worth the excitement.  However, in the end… people still prefer to go back and watch the movies that are now nearing 40 years in age.

This announcement of a new Gears of War game is exciting for people that enjoy the Gears story and gameplay.  Unfortunately, outside of that group of people there are many other gamers that would prefer to see something original come out and blow our minds.  Maybe this is the last Epic game that will grace the 360 before they move on and develop a new series for the XBox 720.  We can only hope that this game is a final conclusion… or pre-clusion?

Is Black Ops 2 The End of COD As We Know It?

There always comes a point when you simply can’t make something better than you have before.  You can reinvent the wheel from stone to wood to rubber and maybe along the way you will make slight changes to the design.  However, when it comes to games…especially First Person Shooters… there are only so many iterations of a game you can make before it becomes either stale or simply a mockery of its former self.

Wash. Rinse. Repeat.
We have seen this game before… EIGHT TIMES.

Black Ops 2 seems destined to be the bitter end for Call of Duty games at this point.  With massive sales still coming for COD games, there seems to be something about Modern Warfare 3 and Black Ops 2 that is missing.  That something is a feeling of freshness that can only be brought by a hiatus.  If you consider the fact that Modern Warfare 3 essentially finished a trilogy, you would think that means it is going to be time for a change.  Furthermore, if you consider the fact that Black Ops 2 is set in the future with drones and x-ray rifles, there isn’t much more ‘Modern’ Warfare can cover that hasn’t been covered or won’t be covered by BO2.

Does this still excite you?

We mentioned in the title that it might spell the end of COD as we know it.  That doesn’t mean that it will be discontinued (face it, that isn’t Activision’s M.O.) but it could mean something big is on the horizon for the series after BO2 is released.

If we cover what has been done in COD we can see that World War 2, Vietnam, Modern and now ‘near-Future’ will be covered by the end of 2012.  With all of those ‘interesting’ wars covered, it might  do them some good to get away from the same old ‘jump on a turret and shoot down waves of enemies’ formula that has been in every shoot’em up FPS game from Activision.

What needs to happen is development of a game series over multiple years.  The real problem facing Call of Duty games is the fact that Activision wants a new one every year to drive profits.  The problem is that this will end up leading to the same brutal end that Guitar Hero met only a couple years ago.

You can only reinvent the wheel so many times before people stop looking at it as ‘just a wheel’.  Call of Duty needs a break in the worst way, and after Black Ops 2 comes out in November it would be a perfect time for them to announce that the next Call of Duty game will be coming out on launch day with the next generation of consoles rather than yet another version of the same game in 12 months.

E3 is supposed to ‘Unveil Innovation’, but right now it looks like it is simply ‘unveiling’ the same stuff we have seen over the last few years.  First Person Shooters are becoming as common and overplayed as re-runs of Two and a Half Men and Call of Duty is turning into the Ashton Kutcher version.  If they are about #winning, Activision will push their next major FPS onto the next generation of consoles, where they can impress people with some actual innovation.

Madden 13 – Infinity Engine and Real Time Physics Should Mean Real Injuries

If Roger Goodell had it his way the NFL would be relegated to flag football or two-hand touch (but the latter might involve too much contact).  The issue at hand for Madden is the fact that they are marketing their newest and most important gameplay fix in years – real time physics.

What is real time physics?  It strictly means that as a player’s leg makes contact with another player in motion it will bounce off in realistic fashion rather than clipping through the other player or simply rubbing off in some strange way.

Now your players will flip, fall and bend as they should… but will they break like they should?

What might take away from this new way of players moving is when they smash their knees on someone’s helmet or fall on their head… or god forbid, get laid out by Patrick Willis and they somehow don’t get injured.  The NFL is making it more and more difficult for EA Tiburon to implement realism so long as they have the NFL’s license to make Madden with real players and NFL likeness’.

If EA wants to be a simulation, they need to include real-time injuries with this new physics engine… otherwise, they are just giving people a watered down version of football that is better left to Saturday morning kids shows.

Who knows if Joseph Addai got hurt on this play, but it could happen. In Madden it would currently play no part in his chances of injury.

 

Spec Ops: The Line – Some More Details of the Game From The Infinity Ward Founders

Spec Ops: The Line is a game that is coming in under the radar.  As far as being noob friendly, this could be one of the games that new gamers will want to jump into.  Any time a developer pushes a new series, noobs should look at it as an opportunity to become skillful and improve with everyone else that is learning the game with you.  While some people will have certain skills like reaction times and gaming reflexes, you will be able to learn the nuances and idiosyncrasies of Spec-Ops if you jump in off the bat.

Keep in mind, this game is a THIRD-Person Shooter in the demo and looks like it is trying to draw more attention from Ghost Recon than COD or Battlefield.  If you consider the fact that this is also being published by 2K Games, it has a chance of gaining a foothold with some of the dedicated 2K Gamers.

The only trouble is, will the game be able to take the attention that Call of Duty will have in November and still be widely played online?

It will be an interesting situation as we take a quick look at what Spec-Ops has to offer –

  • Just re-Announced Co-Op Mode at E3
  • A very Gears of War feel for cover and handling
  • Your typical deathmatches, etc.