Wow! So it’s been a long time since I posted on this game blog of mine, so I think I’ll need to recap on an entire year of what I’ve been doing, what I’ve been playing, and all the news of course. I’m guessing that this will be one really long post, but one long post is better than none, I suppose.
So, here we are! It’s 2009! What have I been doing? Well, unfortunately, the game that me, Brian and Jason had been put on hold indefinitely until we all somehow decide to start working on it again. I know that I had been in charge of leading the group, but it had been hard trying to focus on the project when we all really needing some kind of income to live our lives like normal people. Besides, I also had a baby girl on the way, so not only had I needed to refocus on my own needs, but for another one as well. So, what did I do? I got a new job! So, as of August of 2008, I’ve been working at Dream Arcades in Folsom as the shop manager and arcade technician. It’s not really in line with my degree in digital arts, but at the very least it is video game related and the hours are accommodating. I hope to someday set some time aside to do more programming and 3D modeling, but right now I’m pretty busy balancing work with family time, not to mention my own leisure time. I still have the dream of having my own programming and designs published someday, and I don’t think that dream will ever go away. It’s just going to take some major changes in my current situation that I don’t see happening in the near future. Hopefully, someday…
Now, what have I been playing? At this very moment? Nothing. The last system that I had been playing was the Xbox 360, but it turned out that my Xbox 360 had gotten the red ring of death again. Fortunately, the repair tech at Xbox says that the red ring on my system is still covered for repair, so I will send in my machine again tomorrow and hopefully it returns in a timely fashion.
Prior to that unfortunate incident though, I had been playing quite a few of Xbox 360 games, including Gears of War 2, Fallout 3, Left 4 Dead, and Call of Duty: World at War during the last month. I would have to say that I enjoyed each of those games very much and would recommend them to anyone who is thinking about playing them.
For gaming news in the past… year? Well, from what I can remember, Jeff, Ryan, Brad and Vinny from Gamespot got together and started a new website and podcast call Giant Bomb. It’s just as great, probably even greater than they were when they were over at Gamespot, so I’m glad that they’re keeping their tradition of delivering entertaining news in the world of video games. If you haven’t heard them yet and you like learning about video game news, they’re the best out there in my opinion. Also, in related game news, the majority of the 1up staff had been layed off, including the entire staff of EGM magazine. Needless to say, the magazine will no longer be in existence and their whole staff will need to find another way to survive what we have been calling an economic recession. The Phantasy Star series had introduced a new game for the Nintendo DS called “Phantasy Star Zero”, which seems to be a completely new game set apart from the Phantasy Star Universe and Phantasy Star Online games. As far as Phantasy Star goes, this will be the next installment that I am most looking forward to play. The Xbox 360 gets a new dashboard update that includes Netflix and Avatars. Playstation 3’s Home application turned out to be a flop. And the Nintendo Wii continues to outsell both of the other consoles despite having as many good games. Final Fantasy XIII had also been announced for the Xbox 360. That should be about it as far as news, at least for now.
Now for my top ten games of the year! I really didn’t play that many games this year, believe it or not. In a way, it’s a good thing because I was able to save lots of money, but I think that I may pick up a Gamefly account this year just so that I revisit some back catalog games this year. I may also retire my PSP and Wii this year. We’ll see. So, here is my list for 2008!
Sony Consoles
PSP: Nothing
PS3: LittleBigPlanet, LocoRoco Cocoreccho!
Microsoft Consoles
Xbox 360: Undertow, Burnout Paradise, Lost Odyssey, Rainbow Six Vegas 2, Fable 2, GTA IV, Gears of War 2, Fallout3, Left 4 Dead, CoD: World at War
Xbox Live Arcade: Undertow, WOTB: Commando 3, Castle Crashers, Fable 2 Pub Games, Bomberman LIVE
PC: Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning
Nintendo Consoles:
Wii: Mario Kart Wii
Nintendo DS: The World Ends With You, Bomberman, Geometry Wars Galaxies, Final Fantasy IV, Mario Party DS
So, that’s basically it! Just 24 games! Not too bad, considering that I was shooting for 36. That’s about 2 games a month, so that’s not too bad, I think. I think that I’ll probably try to shoot for around the same number this year too. Anyway, here is my top 10 for 2008 now.
CoD: World at War – Xbox 360
Gears of War 2 – Xbox 360
Left 4 Dead – Xbox 360
Castle Crashers – Xbox Live Arcade
Bomberman – Nintendo DS
Fable 2 – Xbox 360
Fallout 3 – Xbox 360
Final Fantasy IV – Nintendo DS
Lost Odyssey – Xbox 360
GTAIV – Xbox 360
Yeah! So I really enjoyed those games on my list. Looking at that list really makes me wish my Xbox was working right now. I guess I can play Final Fantasy IV in the meantime. Maybe I should have played Wii Fit and Super Smash Bros. for the Wii, but I wasn’t really interested in either of those games too much. I think I may even retire my Wii system soon. We’ll find out later this year.
As for the top sellers of last year, I predicted 4 of 10 that were right. What I didn’t expect were Gears of War 2 and CoD: World at War because I didn’t know they would be released in 2008, as well as the Xbox 360 bundles for Kung Fu Panda and Lego Indiana Jones. I also expected the PS3 to do well with Haze, Resistance 2 and LittleBigPlanet, but it didn’t apparently. Also, games like Resident Evil 5, The Agency, and Killzone 2 didn’t even make it before the end of the year. I’m pretty sure they’ll do well next year though, with Street Fighter IV, of course. I’m sure looking forward to those games in 2009.
Also, there is no round up on the game consoles this year. The value of the system really depends on what you’ll be using it for. So, instead of an overview for each system, I’ll just say this… if you’re a girl or a kid, go with the Wii. If you would like to play games online with your friends or if you have Netflix account, go with the Xbox 360. If you don’t mind playing games by yourself and would like to buy Blu-Ray movies to watch on your HDTV, go with the PS3. It’s as simple as that! There’s no stopping getting more than one system too. So don’t forget that. I think this should be enough to post for now. Till next time.
My Top Ten for 2008 and Other Stuff from the Past Year
For the last few posts, I've listed a bunch of lists and top tens. But what I didn't list were the games that I'm looking foward to for this year. So, along with my normal monthly post this time, I'm going to add one more top ten list to start off the year. These are the games that may not be the best selling games of the year, but are the ones that I am most likely going to pick up in 2008.
My Top Ten wanted games for 2008!
Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword DS
Final Fantasy IV - DS
Resistance 2 - PS3
Killzone 2 - PS3
LittleBigPlanet - PS3
Super Street Fighter II Turbo Remix HD - XBLA
Castlecrashers - XBLA
Haze - PS3
Too Human - Xbox 360
The Agency - PS3
So, according to the list, it looks like it's going to be a year of PS3 games for me. I'll probably pick up those ones on my most expected sales list too, but I think these are the ones I'm most looking forward to. It's about time that I got some PS3 games though.
On to the stuff from the past year... So, I'm still listening to GameSpot's the HotSpot and the 1up's Yours podcasts. If you like listening to game news journalists, those are probably the best ones I can suggest. For websites, I'm now frequently visiting Gamasutra, Joystiq, Digg.com/gaming, Metacritic, and Vgchartz. For video news, I usually watch the 1UP show and Gametrailers. A new site that had just appeared is Co-Optimus.com, which featues games that have cooperative gameplay, my favorite type of games.
On to what I've been playing... Since last month, I've picked up a couple games. Lately, I've been playing some Call of Duty 4, Mass Effect, Burnout Paradise, Undertow, and Pokemon Diamond. Of all of them, I think I like Call of Duty 4 the most, but I'm really an FPS type person anyway.
As for the news, CES 2008 has come and passed, Resistance 2 is announced in the making with lots of online features, Ales Navarro leaves GameSpot as well, and that's all I can think of. Not much news on the new game sales charts, so we'll save that for next month.
So, thats it. GDC is coming up next month, so I gotta get crackin on that game we're doing in XNA. We've got lots of work to do... Anyway, here's a video.
Yearly Updates, Top Ten for 2008, and Value of the Console
So, a year has passed and now each of the next gen consoles have made their mark on the gaming community. I have three topics planned on this post this year as compared to last years, which include; the yearly update, the top ten for 2008, and the value of the console. Last year, I mentioned the pros and cons of each system, but after a year, some things have changed, while others have still remained the same. Rather than being vague, I'll just get into the scoop and review the updated features of each system.
The Playstation 3 –
With more affordable 1080p HD displays on the horizon, the Playstation 3 has lost exclusivity for being the only console that supports 1080p through HDMI. The PS3 controller will be updated in the future to support rumble functionality, which will presumeably be supported in future PS3 games as well. The PS3's online network is planning on integrating an online virtual network called "Home" in the near future that will simulate a living online environment for the console's online community. Since last year, Sony had dropped the price of the PS3 by $100 dollars and introduced two new PS3 models; a $400 40 GB model with limited backward compatibility and a Spiderman 3 Blu-Ray movie, and a $500 GB model with full backward compatibility and a Motorstorm game.
The Xbox 360 –
The Xbox 360 console had been updated, not only to support 1080p, but includes output support through HDMI on its new consoles. Xbox Live had also been expanded to include more downloadable HD content, such as movies and T.V. shows through the Xbox Live Marketplace. The Xbox 360 is now available in three models featuring 1080p output through HDMI; a $280 Xbox 360 Arcade model with an included memory unit, 5 Xbox Live Arcade games and a wireless controller, a $350 Xbox 360 Pro model with a 20 GB hard drive, Forza Motorsport 2, Marvel: Ultimate Alliance and a wireless controller, and a $450 Xbox 360 Elite model that features a black case with a 120 GB hard drive, Forza Motorsport 2, Marvel Ultimate Alliance and a black wireless controller.
The Wii –
The Nintendo Wii is currently leading the next gen console market with most consoles sold, outselling the PS3 by a ratio of 3 to 1 in Japan, making the Nintendo Wii the next gen console for the Japanese market. As more games continue to expand the Wii's library of games, high rated games are starting to appear for the console. Wii consoles are become more available as well as are the peripherals for the system. .
This year, I decided to make some preditions on what will be some of the biggest sellers for 2008.
MY Top Ten Expected Games (for sales) in 2008!
Mario Kart Wii - Wii
Super Smash Bros Brawl - Wii
Mario Party 9 - Wii
Grand Theft Auto IV - Xbox 360, PS3
Wii Fit - Wii
Madden 09 - Wii, Xbox 360, PS3
Rainbow Six Vegas 2 - Xbox 360, PS3
Resident Evil 5 - Xbox 360, PS3
Soul Calibur 4 - Xbox 360, PS3
Fable 2 - Xbox 360
This is just my prediction based on the sales of previous games, and if anything, I'm guessing these games will be spread out through the top 20 because I haven't included any new IPs, other than Wii Fit. Other titles that I had considered adding to the list were: Lost Odyssey for Xbox 360, but I didn't know how the rest of the world would receive that Japanese RPG after Blue Dragon; Dragon Quest IV for Nintendo DS, but I didn't know if it was going to be released out of Japan, and Splinter Cell: Conviction, but Splinter Cell: Double Agent didn't really sell that well. However, I still added Mario Party 9 even though no one said they're making one (I'm guessing...) and Resident Evil 5, even though there is no release date for it (I'm guessing it will be out by the holiday season). Anyway, that's all about that.
Last but not least, I have added a topic regarding the value of each system, derived from a formula that includes the games sold and the cost of the console. It works like this... Lets say that you're interested in purchasing a new gen game console primarily for playing games. In order to make the value of the purchase of the system worthwhile, you should purchase an equal number of games that value the cost of the console itself. And rather than selecting games based on meta review, the games will be selected by games sold for each console. Game sales instead of review scores will likely be the continuing theme of my posts, since they are more tangible statistics that include one factor that ultimately determines the success of title... money. So, on with the topic.
If you're planning to spend money on a new console, you'd better buy some games to go with it, otherwise its worthless. But how do you decide what console is for you? What kind of console gamer are you? The easiest way to find out is to see what other people who buy the consoles are getting. So, lets see what your money gets you...
The Playstation 3: Price: $400 - $500 dollars; Cost of games: $60 dollars; 6-8 games equal the cost of console
Top 8 selling games for the Playstation 3
Motorstorm
Resistance: Fall of Man
Assassins Creed
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Pro Evolution soccer 2008
FIFA 08
Need for Speed: ProStreet
Uncharted: Drakes Fortune
The Xbox 360: Price: $280 - $450 dollars; Cost of games $60 dollars; 5-7 games equal the cost of console
Top 7 selling games for the Xbox 360
Halo 3
Gears of War
Forza Motorsport 2
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Assassins Creed
Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
Marvel: Ultimate Alliance
The Nintendo Wii: Price $250 dollars; Cost of games $50 dollars; 5 games equal the cost of console
Top 5 selling games for the Nintendo Wii
Wii Sports
Wii Play
Super Mario Galaxy
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Mario Party 8
Hopefully, these lists can tell you what kind of console you'd be interested in buying by the kind of games that are in them. Now, you'd probably want to note that this list is a little bit skewed because some games like Motorstorm, Forza Motorsport 2, Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, and Wii Sports come included with the price of the console. Wii Play also feature a free Wii Remote (valued at $40 dollars), which means the remaining value of the game is only an additional $10 dollars. But whatever. Sales are sales.
I'm running low on videos these days, so heres a Tetris one that I happened to come across. Hope you like it!
It’s that time of year where I look back and see what games I’ve been playing. Just like last year, I’ve played a lot of games. Maybe not as many as before, but I still made a resolution to play half that amount for the upcoming year. I hope that doesn’t make me miss out on too many good games this year though, because like I said last year, it looks like this is going to be a good year for games. On the next post, I will list my most anticipated games for 2008, but for right now, here’s my list for games played in 2007.
Games Played in the Year of 2007
Sony Consoles
PSP: Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror, Ratchet and Clank: Size Matters, MLB 07: The Show, Winning Eleven: Pro Evolution Soccer 2007, SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Fireteam Bravo, SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Fireteam Bravo 2, The Warriors, Test Drive Unlimited, Madden NFL 07, Metal Slug Anthology, ATV Offroad Fury Pro, Killzone: Liberation, Burnout Dominator, Carol Vorderman's Sudoku, Dungeon Maker: Hunting Ground, Call of Duty: Roads to Victory, Puzzle Scape, Major League Baseball 2K7, Cube, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas, Driver '76, Shrek the Third, Transformers: The Game, Full Auto 2: Battlelines, Legend of the Dragon, Winx Club: Join the Club
PS2: MLB 07: The Show, Test Drive Unlimited, Major League Baseball 2K7, Medal of Honor Vanguard, Payout Poker & Casino
PS3: Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas, Fight Night Round 3, MotorStorm, NBA 2K7, Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Double Agent, Madden NFL 07, Formula One Championship Edition, F.E.A.R., NBA 07, Warhawk
Microsoft Consoles
Xbox 360: Forza Motorsport 2, Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2, Crackdown, Lost Planet: Extreme Condition, Test Drive Unlimited, X-Men: The Official Game, Sneak King, Fuzion Frenzy 2, Halo 3, Rock Band, Call of Duty 4, Assassin’s Creed, Mass Effect
Xbox Live Arcade: Contra, Aegis Wing
PC: World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade, City of Villains/City of Heroes
Nintendo Consoles
Wii: Wii Play, Super Mario Galaxy
Nintendo DS: Cooking Mama, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Picross, More Brain Training, Lunar Knights, Hotel Dusk Room 215, Final Fantasy III, Club House Games, Bomberman Land Touch, Yoshi’s Island, Planet Puzzle League, Elite Beat Agents, Pokemon Diamond
So, that’s the list. In comparison to previous years, I’ve played 73 games in 2007, 114 games in 2006, and 36 games in 2005, which means I’ve played over 200 games in the last three years. As I mentioned earlier, I plan on cutting the amount of gaming I do this year in half, so I’m aiming to play no more than 36 games for 2008. It’ll be just like the year 2005, prior to when I use to work for Sony. Three games a month doesn’t sound too bad, right? Anyway, here is my list for the top 10 of 2007!
Top 10 list for Video Games of 2007
Halo 3- Xbox 360
Call of Duty 4 - Xbox 360
Mass Effect – Xbox 360
Super Mario Galaxy - Wii
Rock Band - Xbox 360
Final Fantasy III – Nintendo DS
Assassin’s Creed – Xbox 360
Forza Motorsport 2 – Xbox 360
Crackdown – Xbox 360
Motorstorm – Playstation 3
Not a bad list of games, I think. I also think that this top ten list keeps getting better every year. I’m still missing out on some popular titles such as Mario Party 8 and Guitar Hero III, but hey, I can’t play them all. Like the beginning of every year, I’ll have a couple more posts to put up, including updated thoughts on the current consoles, the top ten anticipated games for the year, and then more of the regular stuff. But for now, you can watch this video.
Actually, they're not that bad... I like the stratocaster style. They just break easily. After I got my Rock Band set, I think my guitar started having down strum problems after the first week. I was able to fix it with some compressed air, but that still shouldn't happen for new equipment. Apparently, alot of people are having the same problem. I ordered a replacement from EA a couple weeks ago, but it hasn't arrived yet. I also heard online that they're giving a free game to those who have had issues with their set. I should probably call them up to check to see what's going on and to make sure I get part of that free game deal.
I've still been playing Halo 3 alot in the past month, but I think I'm about to hang it up on the shelf. I've gotten my Triple Star Colonel rank in multiplayer and have 815 of 1000 gamerscore in the game so far. I think that all I really want to do left in the game is finish it on Legendary, however, it is kind of hard to do that by myself. I'm guessing that most people pass legendary with two players or more. Maybe I'll do it, maybe I won't. Who knows!
What else have I been playing? For Wii, I picked up Super Mario Galaxy, which is alot of fun. Marielle likes it too. I've mentioned Rock Band and Halo 3 already. Other than that? Some DS games! I've been playing Brain Age 2, Elite Beat Agents, Hotel Dusk, Bomberman Touch, and Yoshi's Island 2. Of those games, I really seemed to like Bomberman Touch. It was a nice surprise because of the mini games. In a way, it's kind of like Feel the Magic X/Y, I suppose.
As for the progress in the game, we've solved the problem that I've posted last month and we're moving forward. There is a new version of XNA out that supports networking, so that will be one of my next tasks to get working hopefully by next month. Other than that, there are lots of art assets that the team is working on to complete by next month too. It'll be fun.
As for the news, Jeff Gertsmann from Gamespot gets fired, supposedly for giving Kane and Lynch a negative review score, but that could also be speculation. That was pretty sad because Jeff Gertsmann was a pretty big voice in the gaming community and one of my favorite co-hosts for Gamespot's "The Hotspot" podcast. He'll be missed from the podcast for sure. Gamespot did a big farewell to him on the both the podcast and vidcast "On the Spot". Check it out if you're interested in it. Capcom is making a Street Fighter IV, which will feature 3D modeled characters that look like they're painted, but will feature similar 2D style fighting similar to Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo. EGM did a special feature on the game and it sounds like my kind of fighting game, which is cool because I usually don't like fighting games too much. Xbox 360 gets a fall dashboard update which allows for Divx and lets you steal your friend's friends. That's pretty cool, but I only like having a friends list of people I actually know, so yeah... Other than that, PSP is getting a version of Phantasy Star Universe which will be titled "Phantasy Star Portable" and will not feature online play, but will have ad-hoc support. Sounds like a game that I will most likely pick up eventually.
As for new games, I've mentioned Rock Band, which is for PS3 and Xbox 360 so far, and Super Mario Galaxy for Wii. There is Uncharted: Drake's Fortune for PS3, which actually looks like a really cool game from what i've seen in video reviews. It's currently scoring the highest metacritic score on PS3 in terms of exclusive games, so I may check that one out eventually. Xbox 360 gets Mass Effect and Undertow for XBLA. DS gets Contra 4, which sounds like it could be fun. And finally, PSP gets its own version of Disgaea.
That's about all for this month. I will probably start doing the year in review posts next month with a recap on the games I've been playing and my personal top 10 of the year. Man, that's going to be a whole lot of games to list... Anyway, here's the video of Jeff Gertsmann doing the Kane and Lynch review before Gamespot recieved a complaint from their ad sponsor Eidos and then Jeff Gertsmann was fired, which all supposedly happened to be not in relation to each other, but coincidentally. =P
