MGS – NoobTubeTV

In Blackout It Pays To Play Like Solid Snake

The more I play Blackout and find myself getting to the final 15 in solos (often ending up in the top five) the more I see some similarities between my play-style and the general feel of how I played the initial Metal Gear Solid Trilogy.

It gets old dealing with some of the streamers complaining about ‘campers’ in Blackout. Sure, sometimes it can be a pain to deal with it, but it’s not like multiplayer deathmatch where you respawn – it is one life and sometimes you get screwed from your landing point all the way through until the end of the match.

I once won a match where I fell into the game late, landed next to the brick building between Train Station, Hydro Dam, and Asylum. I couldn’t move from my spot and ended up having to seek shelter in a dumpster – no joke. By the time the last three circles started to collapse I had to take a gamble and sneak up the huge mountain outside of Train Station (which also included swimming across the river. The only thing that was missing from this was a cardboard box. I crawled up the mountain and let the opponents take eachother out until I killed the final opponent for my only kill of the match – and the win.

The point of this? I remember seeing a stream of Dr. Disrespect where he raged hard after getting owned in this wonderful way. He went on a rant about how it was probably the person’s only kill of the match, blah blah blah. He was acting as childish as he could at that point. Talking about what ‘real gamers’ do, etc. It left me rolling my eyes and cheering for the person that set him off. Why did I enjoy this so much? Because it reminds me so much of knocking on walls to spook guards and whatnot in MGS.

Blackout is a great mode with its fair share of super frustrating moments for all of us. Level Three Armor on an opponent at the end of a match happens to be my biggest pet peeve at the moment. Seriously, it’s ridiculous that that armor is nearly untouchable with a full clip from most weapons. Yet, I keep coming back for more and most of the time you can find me crouched and moving from cover to cover and picking off people as they clumsily sprint through the world to their demise.

To all those gamers out there in Blackout that get angry when I take them out I only have one thing to say.

Kept you waiting, huh?

Operation Intrude – N313

With Metal Gear Solid V – The Phantom Pain leaving a bad taste in the mouth of almost every hardcore fan (myself among them) I am still waiting for Chapter 3 and I firmly believe it was going to be something magnificent.

This isn’t because I think Chapter 3 is coming… hell, it isn’t because I believe mission 51 will be finished and/or released. It isn’t even because I think Konami would all but totally redeem themselves. No… it’s because the last part of The Phantom Pain made me think we were going to the only part of Metal Gear that wasn’t ‘Solid’. I thought we were going to hear David Hayter’s ‘Solid Snake’ arrive in the jungle in search of Metal Gear and Gray Fox. When I first played through TPP and finished learning ‘The Truth’ I saw the tape for Operation Intrude and my heart skipped a beat.

This was the greatest game ever made and I was going to get to finish where I began as a kid. Then the credits rolled and there was no chapter three… there was nothing. A broken mirror with more questions than answers.

Metal Gear as a saga may have ended just before the lines of the circle met. This leaves so many questions among the fans that really aren’t as important as the story and filling the holes that The Phantom Pain left. I understand from the obvious message of literal Phantom Pain being felt by Venom Snake and his missing limb, and even our pain of feeling like the story remains unfinished. Yeah… we all get the message.

What left me in this still somewhat annoyed state was the feeling that I missed out on the last part of a story. It reminds me of James Caan in ‘Elf’ when he approves the story about the puppy and the pigeon although it is missing the last few pages. I saw chapter three coming… I saw Solid Snake creeping through the mist into Outer Heaven. I saw that first sleeping soldier next to a jeep… I saw it all ripped from me. I felt betrayed and yes even a bit angry.

‘What the f**k? That’s it? It’s over?’

I want so badly to join the believers out there that think there is more hidden for us in TPP. However, I also know better than to waste my time with trying to uncover something that isn’t covered to begin with.

The Phantom Pain is an unfinished epilogue and prologue in the same work. At this point we have to let it go and move on to whatever we decide to do next.

Metal Gear Solid 5 And The Nuclear Quest(ion)

After beating the known storylines in Metal Gear Solid 5 there are still so many small things to do and accomplish as far as side-ops and further development go. The biggest sticking point for many MGS players is the building/disarming of nuclear weapons in the FOB Resource section of their game.

I have yet to develop a nuke on my own to this point, but that didn’t keep me from reaching 150,000+ Heroism (unlocking the Hero Trophy and therefore making it possible to infiltrate other FOBs that already developed or stole a nuke for their own base). After breaking into the rival FOB last night and stealing their nuke while completing my infiltration I realized a couple things about my status when in possession of a nuke in MGS 5 – I am a huge target when I have a nuke. Now that this game has been out for nearly two months and gamers have been pouring over the details after completing the storyline there are really only two things left to accomplish.

Develop A Nuke/Disarm A Nuke
Develop the remaining items for Venom Snake (I refuse to call our character Big Boss) and the Buddys

This is where the entire basis of the FOB started to make me think that it really becomes meaningless after you have developed every item (including a nuke).

By the time most MGS gamers have earned enough heroism to break into an FOB and steal a nuke they won’t have any reason to break into a non-nuclear FOB. This means that having a nuke isn’t so much a deterrent as it is an invitation to have your FOB jacked with constantly (as long as you possess a nuke that is). The only reason I have been bothering to break into rival FOBs is to steal their minor metal and fuel resources… why? To develop a nuke, get the trophy and dismantle it.

Why dismantle it? Because if someone has played the game enough and is able to break into FOBs – your nuke is as good as gone and your resources have been wasted as a false deterrent. Also, there is no actual use for the nuke other than making it impossible for non-hero rated gamers to raid your FOB. Again, if you have all your weapons developed and have already developed/disarmed a nuke – who cares if someone breaks in and steals the resources you are basically done with?

It would be different if you could use your nuke against someone that has been trolling your FOB (I’m looking at you Crimson157). If we were able to unleash our nuke and totally destroy another user’s FOB this game would become total anarchy and probably lose even more gamers to the coming nuclear aftermath of Fallout 4.

So, to answer the nuclear question as far as MGS 5 goes – Develop and dismantle a nuke to get the trophy. Then focus on developing the rest of your FOB, weapons and such. After that, you can basically focus on trolling the CPU in single player and wasting more time with Metal Gear Online.

Speaking for myself – I plan on getting every trophy for this game and setting it aside for Fallout 4. It really is too bad that Kojima and Co. jacked with our minds and the end of a great franchise so much as to make it downright trivial to develop nukes.

Kept You Waiting, Huh? – Metal Gear Solid 5 (MGSV) And What Could Have Been

It has been awhile since NoobTubeTV has given the world a piece of its somewhat unique views in the gaming world. I know you have missed my sardonic presence – and I have missed your views and comments.

The newest and (final?) iteration of the Metal Gear universe has been out for nearly a month and it has proven to be everything I had hoped for from the gameplay perspective shown in the MGS5 Prequel Ground Zeroes. We will start with the positives and the gaming gods know there are tons of them. This game handles as well as any third-person title I have ever played and the presentation that comes with it somehow makes it feel like I am taking an active role in a movie throughout.

Here's to you Solid Snake. The real protagonist of Metal Gear. — Here’s to you Solid Snake. The real protagonist of Metal Gear.

There are a few instances when you might get frustrated with the handling – climbing over seemingly non-existent rocks/hills/rises around the open worlds of Afghanistan and Africa. It makes you roll your eyes when Snake/Boss/You/Whoever can’t run over and through a small area but can climb cracks in walls with the ease of Spiderman. Similarly, you might encounter a few times where aiming your weapons at a target doesn’t account for some sort of rigid tent pole or the like (again, an eye roll… nothing to break a controller over).

While playing through the first twenty missions or so I started to find myself hoping to meet all sorts of characters as the story unfolded. Some of the characters and reveals you come across are enough to make you use your inner-Keanu Reeves and say ‘Whoa’. Then you keep playing through the game and it is like you are experiencing the first part of Kojima’s master symphony. Then just as the crescendo begins to build in volume and you start marking this game down mentally as the greatest gaming story/epic of our time – it starts to fade from a master symphony and into Rick Astley’s Never Gonna Give You Up.

We have been Rick Rolled in the worst of ways by a gaming master director and his estranged publisher (Konami).

I felt like Dr. Grant and the Jurassic Park crew when they go on their sitting tour of the laboratories and they resort to breaking the bar over the seats and going to the lab anyway. I felt like that… except the bar was not going to move and Kojima and Co. were riding away in a black SUV and counting my money.

I am trying my best not to spoil anything for you if you haven’t played the game all the way through (whatever that means…).

Okay. I won’t spoil any plot points for you, but you should know that this game is built in such a way from a story perspective that you will pick and choose missions as you go through and there will be cassettes unlocked as you beat each mission, etc. These aren’t some sort of optional cassettes though. For those of you that complained about the MGS4 pointless video sequences – this is how Kojima tried to make you happy… and I hate you for it.

I put far more time into MGS5 than I probably should have over the last month or so and I must say I wish I had about half of it back. When I play a game that starts with Chapter 1 I don’t expect Chapter 2 to be the last chapter of the game. Yes, I am serious – Chapter 2… is the final chapter of this game. Even Shakespeare and basically every other play/movie has three acts. Not only does this game leave a sour taste in my mouth, it locks me in a room with a lackluster online multiplayer and no toothbrush.

The end of this game is such that you will be left disappointed and pissed off like Mass Effect 3 left many die hard fans. Unless you are a Kojima apologist (like the Mass Effect groupies) that think everything about this is perfect and is a fine way to end a great story.

The only problem with the apologist point of view is that you have effectively done nothing meaningful to the story of Metal Gear by the time you have finished the main ~~farce~~ story. I wanted this game to keep on being what it seemed like it would be as I saw a couple key characters in much younger forms. It was almost like playing through a prequel of the Harry Potter stories as Lord Voldemort and just as you are getting your army of deatheaters together and prepping to Avada Kedavra everyone – the story is scrapped and the credits run.

At least I can still finish The Witcher 3 and look forward to Fallout 4. Metal Gear Solid 5 went from being the best game ever to being maybe a Top 5 game of 2015.

If you are a die hard Metal Gear fan like my brother and I you should still buy this game and play it. Otherwise, just stick to playing MGS4 over and over again on your PS3 and enjoy what should have been the final chapter of MGS.

Kojima-san, I would have rather kept on waiting.

WTF Is Gamergate? And Why You Should Care.

Having a difficult time understanding the ‘Gamergate’ situation? So was I.

Apparently, I have been living under a rock (mostly being outside/not on the internet) – for which I will not apologize.

Now – ON! TO GAMERGATE!

From what I have gathered, it all started when a female indie game developer and her boyfriend split up. He then decided to write a blog that supposedly named names of the men she cheated on him with. These supposed trysts included game reviewers and perhaps even her boss. This was meant to point fingers at the fact that she (allegedly) did this in order to gain better reviews for her text-based (emo) game, Depression Quest (no, I’m not kidding). Sorry, but any game that ends with a link to the Suicide Prevention Hotline is a strange emo version of entertainment and begs for attention at best. Sadly, depression and suicide are quite common in a world so jacked up as this one (see above/below).

Ok. At this point I can understand the supposed conflict of interests. A person is using sexual advances in order to… advance. Well, so does porn and we all know the internet was made for that (see joke here). What is the real issue? It is the fact that this apparent spark has ignited a powder keg of misogynistic outrage that is overflowing around the internet.

What started as some blip on the indie-game radar (that many of us never would have known about otherwise) has now started to increase into some sort of blob of misplaced chauvinistic rage. These apparent ‘men/little boys’ have now resorted to threatening numerous women that are speaking out about the issues of women in gaming. It has gotten rather ugly with threats and harassment following many of them – including Felicia Day. Again, I must live under a rock (that doesn’t include watching TV more than 7 hours a week (Sunday football)… I had no idea who Felicia Day was until I saw a story about her getting harassed by internet scumbags. She is on a show called Supernatural (of which I have heard of thanks to Netflix.)

This isn’t some issue that is going to go away at this point – nor should it. It is supposedly about the ‘ethics’ of gaming journalism which in and of itself is hilarious (consider your current position on the internet, reading my views – it is all biased and willing to sell out in most cases). In case you haven’t noticed, we are now living in a society that demands the TMZ ‘style’ of breaking news that we hope will pique our interest until the next Gangnam Style video surfaces. (Oh, humanity… we’re screwed).

This is showing the ugly face of misogynistic gamers and game developers out there. I will admit that when I was 13 I certainly tried to find a code for Tomb Raider… don’t play coy – you know what ‘code’ I’m talking about – and if you are 27-35 you probably did too! The gaming industry has been dominated for decades by men and typically when those men decide to plaster hugely busty (and always almost naked) women into their games as selling points it isn’t hard to see the issue.

They are digital pimps and their artistic creations are their digital prostitutes. This isn’t something new to the world of entertainment. Whether it is movies or music it is always about selling sex for the most part. It just so happens that right now in a multi-billion dollar industry they are selling it in droves. It would be one thing if scantly clad characters (not just women) were included for obvious ‘situational’ reasons. However, the fact that women are being portrayed nearly naked or with severely exaggerated features in situations that really don’t demand that is a bit insulting to females and gamers as a whole. One example is a screenshot from the new Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (which I am admittedly excited for – because of the story, not the example below).

phantompainss — This doesn’t really speak to ‘battlefield’ functionality very much.

I think this speaks volumes about what feminists everywhere are trying to say. Keep in mind that being a feminist doesn’t mean feminazi-women – it refers to men and women that want to see the world view of women shift from where it has been. Women are active and valuable members of society and we should all do our part to make sure that we are the voices of reason in the midst of a vocal minority that is screaming out of fear of having their digital cleavage taken away.

What is the best part about Gamergate? The fact that these noisy little hate-mongering misogynistic pukes are showing how small they really are.

What is the best thing to do in this situation? Educate yourself, voice your views of reason to developers (believe it or not they do listen) and let the cry-babies cry themselves to sleep… in their basement, streaming internet porn – alone.

Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes – The Best ‘Cheap’ Game Since The Orange Box

Before we begin, yes – Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes can be played through in a matter of minutes (I completed my first play-through in 63 minutes).

Metal-Gear-Solid-Ground-Zeroes-Snake — Snake is back.

That said, Ground Zeroes (GZ) is far more than just a ‘one mission preview’ of the coming Metal Gear Solid: The Phantom Pain. It is a showcase of sorts for a franchise that has grown over the last few decades. Not only is it graphically superior (even on PS3) to its predecessors, but it has also taken major steps in gameplay and control.

Metal Gear Solid has been a rather clunky handling game since its inception on PS1. The side menus for sorting all of the items are gone. Replaced by a relatively simple D-Pad navigation system for equipped weapons and items. Other actions can be taken with the new ‘iDroid’ which is basically a quasi-3D PDA that Snake carries around for navigation, cassette and music functionality. It is a less ‘high tech’ and attached (don’t forget you are supposed to be in the year 1975) Mk2 from MGS 4.

The real improvements to this game are noticed in the actual gameplay. While MGS3: Subsistence and MGS4 both used the rotatable camera, they still had the clunky gunplay that most MGS fans (and haters) might recall. For those that don’t know this reference – you basically had to play Twister with your fingers on the controller if you wanted to take out enemies quickly and precisely. While it became more fluid as you played the game it usually fell short of expectations that games like Splinter Cell pushed for in handling (especially aiming and shooting firearms).

Ground Zeroes doesn’t have that problem anymore. You now have the ability to handle weapons in a way that is closer to Splinter Cell than ever before. For some of the MGS ‘purists’ I am sure they will try to raise hell over this new move, but really it is an improvement to the gameplay. While it may seem to some to be a ‘dumbing down’ of the controls, it is far from that as the challenge is still there – just in a more organic fashion.

The aspect of the game I was most worried about going into this new MGS title was the new voice of Snake. With the news that David Hayter was no longer the voice of our reluctant hero I became skeptical that anyone could take over the role with the same quality. Then it was announced that Kiefer Sutherland would be the voice of Snake (aka – Big Boss). Simply said – he does not disappoint. At first when Snake says his typical “Kept you waiting, huh?” your reaction will probably feel like when you accidentally called the wrong number and a voice you don’t know says ‘Hello’. Fear not. By the time you get to the final part of the game you will see and hear why Sutherland is a welcome addition and change in Snake.

MGS: The Phantom Pain is now my most anticipated next-gen title.

Not only does this game make improvements, but it is also full of other side-missions and other minutia that will keep you busy until The Phantom Pain comes out. Also, the availability of this title on PS3/360 makes it a joy for those of us that have yet to buy into the next-Gen consoles as we bide our time for the better developed games and the inevitable hardware malfunctions/bugs to seep out and get fixed like last gen consoles (RROD/YLOD).

If you are a fan of the MGS franchise or trying to decide whether to jump into the series – this is worth a purchase. Not only will you enjoy the additions, but chances are that it won’t leave your system until The Phantom Pain comes out.

Q1 of 2013 Is Going To Make It Feel Like Christmas Again

One of the best parts about the holiday season is the release of new games. From Halo to Call of Duty and through the gauntlet of other adventure games like Assassin’s Creed and Hitman we are usually spoiled with a treasure trove of games to sink our free time into. Typically, you will see a dramatic slowdown in the summertime because most people are on vacation or outside getting in shape for the beach (PS – You should be starting that now).

The second best time of the year for gamers is March. March is the typical month where you will find that games have been pushed to in order to avoid competing with big-money/big-name titles like the Call of Duties of the world. This year we have quite a few games coming out that should prove to excite almost every genre of gamer from late January through March.

The first game we have to look forward to is Company of Heroes 2. CoH2 is continuing the franchise that puts real-time strategy into World War 2. Real-time strategy is a simple concept that can (and does) get rather involved as you get further into the
game. The general way of looking at this is from the base understanding that you are a commander telling troops where to go and what to do rather than just pointing and shooting. Company of Heroes is a great game for anyone that is a fan of WW2 history or simply a fan of RTS games. This game is for the PC, so be sure that you take a look into the system requirements before jumping into this title. If you need a game that will give you the ability to play online against others or simply go against the CPU and try to work on your decision-making and strategic abilities you will get that and more with Company of Heroes 2.

The best part about strategic games is that they aren’t always some sort of battlefield commander genre. One of the best franchises ever has a new direction coming this February in Metal Gear Solid Rising: Revengeance. Revengeance is taking the Metal Gear franchise in a new direction with an old face for fans of the series. Raiden made his presence known in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty. The downfall to this was that many fans (especially American fans) of the series were let down that Solid Snake was only present for the first part of the game before making a cameo in Raiden’s portion of MGS2.

Why was Raiden disliked by American gamers? He was designed as a long-haired blonde twenty-something (already sounds a bit feminine, right?). Not to mention the fact that he didn’t have much of a personality. Even Solid Snake (the ultimate non-emotional ‘Mr. Mission’) had something more to him than Raiden’s almost whiny persona.

That all changed in Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns 0f the Patriots where Raiden came back as a cyborg ninja that resembled Grey Fox from the first MGS game. Raiden suddenly became a character that people wanted to utilize and get to know. He developed some sword play in MGS 2 but MGS 4 took it to new heights and now that he is the featured protagonist in MGS Rising: Revengeance – you know more people will want to check this game out.

Now that we are getting closer to March at this point – why not focus on the most anticipated title of 2013 – Grand Theft Auto 5.

GTAV is going to blow the minds of gamers everywhere when it releases (or rather – if it still releases) in March should break almost every sales record. This is going to continue the trend for free-roaming violence with a decent storyline for people itching to get out and enjoy the chaos brought on by warmer weather. If this game is delayed yet again, you should expect it to release in May. This would simply continue the same trend that other Rockstar games have created over the last few years – namely Red Dead Redemption and L.A. Noire.

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?

E3 Updates – Is It Going To Be A Noob Friendly Year In Gaming?

Throughout the next few days we will be bringing you the latest information from E3. There are many details expected by the gaming community and some rumors that might be validated or debunked.

Some of the rumors we hope to validate are –

Metal_Gear_Rising_Cover — Will they announce another name change?… This is turning into a gaming version of the Artist Formerly Known as Prince

Metal Gear Solid: Revengeance/Rising – A game that had many people talking about the joy of running around with a cyborg version of Raiden has the opportunity to get people excited again… until they finally cancel the project and make the gaming world cry. Metal Gear games are notorious for being tough to learn but usually worth the time it takes to master them. The problem is that it is now veering away from the storyline of Solid Snake and towards the character ‘Raiden’… he is highly preferred in Japan, but most American fans hated him in MGS2: Sons of Liberty.

250px-Warfighter — When Medal of Honor came out a few years ago it was met with excitement and then disappointment after people found it was a half-cocked game with little value outside of camping small maps. Warfighter hopes to surprise a skeptical public.

Medal of Honor: Warfighter – Is most likely going to focus on the multiplayer aspect but they are doing this with the last development crew they used (Danger Close) rather than Battlefield’s DICE team. Chances are good that this game will either gain a little bit of fanfare or completely flop at E3. Don’t expect this game to be the big news, but the outcome of EA having another failed attempt at taking down Call of Duty might be the straw that breaks the camel’s back for EA having anything worth bragging about for this generation of consoles. Sales talk in the gaming industry and EA hasn’t been able to talk for a long time.

Half-Life 3 – In terms of games that have had an amazing quality and storyline, Half-Life is a series that continues to amaze everyone that jumps into the foray. Chances are good that this will once again be the best FPS out there but it will probably lose out in some circles because of the Call of Duty crowd.

Which games are you looking forward to seeing come out of E3? Chances are good that some games (Warfighter) will flop hard while some other games (Half-Life 3) will make people want to go out and pre-order immediately. Then you will have the previews for games like Metal Gear Solid: Revengeance that will make you want to hide in a cardboard box and wait for a game that will never be released while having people walk past you thinking “?”.

Action/Adventuring Wins This Holiday Season

While we have been primarily devoted to the First Person Shooter (FPS) genre over the first few months of this site, there is some good news on the horizon for people that prefer something more personal to their gaming.

Skyrim and Metal Gear Solid HD Collection have been out for just over a month and they are becoming very popular. While Skyrim isn’t much of a surprise on the front of ‘popularity’ there is a new face joining the XBox 360 landscape – Metal Gear Solid HD Collection.

The Metal Gear Series has been primarily on the Sony PlayStation over the past 15 years. While the XBox had MGS2: Substance there really hasn’t been much love given to those of us that were early adopters of the XBox 360. While it is obviously cool that MGS has finally graced us with it’s beautiful High Definition face you should probably make haste (hurry up) and buy it if you see it.

It has a retail price of $50 and is currently on sale at Best Buy and Target for $35-40. I believe these sales will end by December 30, 2011 – so get to it if you want/need this. It has been put on back-order for Best Buy Online and you may have to ask someone at Target where they are hiding it (much like I had to).

In the coming days we will be churning out a lot more videos for MW3, Battlefield 3 as well as the games featured in today’s entry and blog updates too. If you have any driving questions, shoot us a comment or message on here, facebook, twitter or via smoke signals from your over-heating holiday gaming console.

Happy Hunting!