NewNews - STEAM SUMMER DEALS

Official Site: http://store.steampowered.com/

 It's that time of year again: Steam Summer Sales!  I'm not sure how often this has happened, but there was one last year too, and that was fun.  So I'll go over this briefly about this awesome event that Steam is holding:
-55 Pages worth of games are discounted throughout the site from now till July 10th.
-Each day, 12 select games will have a special deal of a even greater price cut from it's already discounted price.  An example is pictured above and are the deals for June 30th.

-Featured game bundle packs and big name publisher will have their games on sale up until July 10th
-Fulfill certain missions given each day on steam by playing the games chosen to win tickets
-Tickets can be redeemed for prizes at the prize booth (pictured below) and enters an extra submission for each ticket for the grand prize
-A grand prize of 10 games of a player's wish list will be given at the end of the summer sales to 100 players

The prizes are extra content for their respective games.  Some are extra missions, some give characters, others are just extra maps and gear.  As long as you fulfill missions, you will get these prizes for free.

I think that covers it.  I will make an exception to this event and blog everyday (even weekends) to give opinions on the featured games and missions.

[Today's Deals]

-Bit.Trip Runner: $2.50 - I'm getting this for sure.  It's a rhythm music/platformer indie game.
-Operation Flashpoint: Red River: $29.24 - Warning, it's not a Call of Duty sort of game.  Operation Flashpoint games are like the Delta Force series where it's significantly more difficult, the path is non-linear in each stage, and it requires some team commanding.  Don't get it unless you know what you're in for.  It's a tactical First-Person Shooter.
-Lead and Gold: $1.50 - Don't get this unless you just want to fulfill the steam mission.  It's a good game, but it's lacking a community.  It's very difficult to find even one populated server.  I bought it in last year's summer deals.  It's a 3rd-Person Team-based Shooter
-Medal of Honor: $10.19 - I'm not certain if the PC version still has populated servers for multiplayer, but the single player is definitely worth playing through for just $10.  If you can get into matches for Multiplayer, that's even better.  The audio is the best for any First-Person shooter up-to-date, though there are a lot of broken mechanics for the gameplay.
-Recettear: $5 - I highly recommend this game, especially for just $5.  The game is a hybrid of store managing and dungeon crawling Action RPG.  It's really fun
-The Witcher 2: $33.49 - I've heard so many great things about this game.  A lot of the messy inventory system was fixed (though I heard the director's edition for the first one fixed it), the gameplay is much more smoother and carries the story along really well.  I'm still gonna wait for it (especially since I haven't played the first one and haven't read the book yet).
-Borderlands GOTY edition: $7.50 - Don't get it unless you plan to play solo or you have friends to play with.  The online play lobby is absolutely empty.  The game is incredible, and it was a lot of fun; however, it was enough when I got to the end and I also played with a friend.
-The Elder Scroll IV: Oblivion: $6.80 - If you haven't gotten it yet, or have it but haven't played it (like me) and you want to fill in that void waiting for Skyrim, then I suggest you get this.  I'm going to be playing this too (FINALLY).

[Steam Achievements - Daily Missions]
-Bit.Trip Beat: Complete Level 1 with a Perfect - Wait what?  Do you know how hard it is to get a perfect?  Ugh, this will take me a while.  Bit.Trip Beat is a Music Rhythm Arcade game.  Think 1-player Pong.
-Warhammer 40,000 Dawn of War 2 - Retribution: Kill 50 enemies while using a flamer - Sounds easy enough.  Too bad I don't have the game.
-Lead and Gold Gangs of the Wild West: Kill 7 enemies in a row with headshots without dying - Getting one headshot is hard enough, but a friend of mine said he found a way to get it easy.
-AaAaAA!!! - A Reckless Disregard for Gravity: Complete the Summer Sun level from the main menu with full points - Not sure how that's like, but there was an achievement last year for this game that was pretty hard to get.
-Toki Tori: Stand in all sun beams - I don't know what that means, but it sounds easy.  I'm not going to buy the game though...
-Swords and Soldiers HD: Complete Viking Campaign level 3 by killing all units - That sound VERY easy, but I don't want to buy the game...
-Welcome to Camp: Join The Summer Camp Official Group on Steam - Automatic win right there!

So maybe I can get 4 tickets, but I might have trouble accomplishing some of them.  Stay tuned for the next 10 days on updates for games and missions.  Happy gaming! 

GameLight - Resident Evil Mercenaries 3D

Resident Evil Mercenaries 3D for the Nintendo 3DS is looking pretty good.  It seems to be much more action orientated much like the challenge modes for Resident Evil 5 rather than having a full fledged Story mode, which probably might work out better for a handheld.  That doesn't mean the game isn't going to be shallow (or at least I hope not).  The game will have a deep customization system allowing the player to gain new weapons, upgrade them, and switch around loadouts.  So far so good:

Source: Youtube Channel IGNentertainment

There seems to be a problem with the game that has customers and retail shops going crazy.  Apparently, the programmers took out the ability to delete the one and only save file the game has which automatically saves every time you do something.  In a design perspective, it sounds like a super hardcore mode where everything is solidified and can't be changed (be it good or bad).  Most games with a hardcore mode will have the player lose everything they worked for when they lose and have them start over.  For Capcom, that didn't seem to be enough.  If the player lost everything, they had to live with it because there was no way of deleting that save file that one might have screwed up on.  The major problem a lot of players and retail stores had with this implementation (or lack thereof) was that players who wanted to sell their games back couldn't get back much for it because it was difficult for a retail store to sell a used game that they can't even create their own file on.  Because of this, a lot of retail stores has declined the ability to sell back Resident Evil Mercenaries 3D.  I think they eventually worked things out and are now allowing sell backs.  A price for how much players would get back wasn't announced.

I'm not sure if I'll be getting this game, mainly because I don't have a Gameboy 3DS yet and don't plan on getting one anytime soon.  I would definitely like to try it out though as it seems to be a really fun co-op game to play (as RE5 was).

VGCulture - Free 2 Play n00bs

This is something I should have noticed before, but Free 2 Play games has quite the assortment of people.  It's not a surprise since the game is "free" and anyone can play it.  The big problem is just that: "ANYONE" can download and join everyone else to play, even the most undesirable, idiotic, or uncooperative players are on there.

Source: Youtube Channel Iasonas03

 Over the weekend, I played some Global Agenda with some friends and convinced them to try the game out since it was free now.  It was a little difficult for everyone since it was new to them, but at least we were able to coordinate a little since I've had the game since last July.  Two of my friends left our party and it was my friend and I with two random people.  Usually when I play mission mode, the other players generally know what they're doing.  But when the mission began, I had one team mate rush in by himself with a melee weapon trying to hack at everything he sees.  Naturally he dies.  He responded to the death by saying "Sorry guys, this is my first time!"  I gave the simple advice telling him "don't rush in and you'll be fine."  And throughout the mission, he was always charging in and got killed repeatedly.  Our other team mate stood in the wide open and pretty much ignored the rest of us which eventually got him killed a few times.  I notice the inexperience that some people have in F2P games since they're usually MMORPGs and everyone's doing their own thing or it's an FPS and pretty much run and gun.  I suppose I notice it a bit when I play League of Legends, but sometimes I'm the n00b playing.  Sometimes, n00bs are hardly the problem in the community of F2P online games.  There are ragers, quitters, hackers, spammers, glitchers, griefers, and many other players that join a game and ruin the game experience for everyone else.  With Team Fortress 2 going free, I don't think it's too big of a problem.  Most players before it became F2P didn't care too much about the objective either, so it usually turns into an endless killing game for everyone.  So even if the quality of F2P online games are getting better and better, the community doesn't seem to improve.  This is very debatable since even retail games have its own bad communities.  Most are to point out players of the Call of Duty series being 7-12 year old little boys screaming every known profanity in the English language while some dude in his mid-20's is laughing their butt off at every little rage they get out of the kid.  I love F2P games, but I'm starting to understand why some people are so against it.  This is especially true for those who used to play a game that was retail before it became F2P such as Global Agenda.  What I do like about the transition to a lot of these games is that servers are a lot more populated now.

NewNews - Califonia safe for now

If you haven't heard, Califonia State wanted to pass a law that prevents children from buying violent videogames.  Their reason is valid in that they want to protect the youth from harmful material that they may not be ready for yet; however, this has caused many concerns in breaking the first amendment and increasing the rule of government's hand over their people.  Critics of the videogame industry have been the oppressors of the medium for a very long time in the same way cinema, music and television has in the past.  It's understandable that people like James Steyer, CEO of Common Sense Media, want to protect the mental stability of children, but I have to wonder why there hasn't been more attention to the problem than arousing new ones.  Why aren't there more people helping to educate parents about the rating systems?  Why are those who blindly buy violent games for their kids the ones who are most adamant on banning them?  Is it easier to blame the industry than it is to blame themselves?  I'd say no to the last one, because it only takes 10 minutes to check online to see videos, reviews, and the premise of the game they're buying as opposed to taking 10+ years to try to pass a law that is considered unconstitutional.

Anyways, this discussion can go on forever, so it's not something I personally want to delve too far into (there's plenty of forums and chat rooms people can troll around).  I personally think that all the censorship in the world is more harmful to kids because it arouses such curiosity from them.  It's also near impossible to avoid violence, profanity, and adult material since it's publicly tossed around everywhere on TV, the movies, the internet, and especially in public schools.  Instead of telling our kids that "so and so" is bad, we need to teach them why certain things are bad.  We don't praise our kids for beating on other kids (but of course there are people who do...), and if there are, that's one of the big problems right there.

For now, California is safe and violent games aren't banned, but I think it's still required for minors to show ID in order to buy M rated games.

NewNews - Team Fortress 2 is Free-to-Play!

Official Site: http://www.teamfortress.com/freetoplay/

Source: Youtube Channel teamfortress

Along with the new video "Meet the Medic", Valve has announced that Team Fortress 2 (TF2) will now be free-to-play!  This is exciting news as I plan to have a LAN party with some friends this weekend and can now add Team Fortress 2 to the list of games we can play.  Team Fortress 2 is a Multiplayer only, First-Person Shooter Action game.  Most would not add the word "Action" to TF2 as it's more FPS than anything else.  But unlike most FPS games, there are a lot of crazy elements that make it more than just a point and shoot sort of game.  For one, killing another player is not the main objective (as most FPS game modes would have for free-for-all and death match).  Team Fortress 2 is (as its name states) a cooperative-intensive multiplayer game that requires skill and tactics in order to obtain a goal.  There are capture points mode, escorting (payload), King of the hill, and there is sort of a team deathmatch where each team tries to survive an entire round without dying, but it still requires team work if victory is wanted.  So TF2 will now run on a micro-transaction basis, which is has been for a while, and rely a lot of their income on people buying items.  That's not a problem since players in the community have proven to be very supportive of the idea and buy items that are $5-$100+ in price.  It's crazy, I wouldn't buy it, but it's working.  I've been playing TF2 since December of 2009 and it have since then accumulated 134 hours of gameplay.  That isn't too much for most players (they usually have 300-1000+ hours), but it was a lot for me considering I played during my last year of college.  I have taken quite a long break from it and still play it once in a while.  The team working on TF2 is incredibly hard working and diligent as they have patched, adjusted, and added contents in the game since its release to optimize the run speed of the game, balance the classes, and added more maps, modes, and items for free (for the most part, until the item shop appeared).

If you've never played or even heard of Team Fortress 2, I suggest you go over to Steampowered.com and download Steam so that you can start playing it.  It's accessible for all levels of play, and you will get better the more you play.  The concept is simple, but obtaining the goal is hard.  I can't wait to play some more TF2!

Retroview - Tennis (GB)

Does anyone remember the Black & White Gameboy game "Tennis"?  That game was very simplistic, but incredibly difficult considering that it had only two buttons.  Well it seems like it's going to be one of the games available to Nintendo's Gameboy 3DS' Virtual Console.  Some rumors (I mainly saw them on Youtube) speculate that classic games like "Super Mario Bros." and "The Legend of Zelda" will be recreated to have the 3D effect for the 3DS Virtual Console.  Those games are old, and the 3D sounds very gimmicky for it.  But it still has my attention as those are games that many of us grew up with and still enjoy while being able to experience it in a different perspective.  Anyways, back to "Tennis".

Tags: GameTrailers.com, 3DS Virtual Console Launch Trailer, PC Games, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360

Source: http://www.gametrailers.com/video/3ds-virtual-tennis/716747

It was one of the first few games I got for my Gameboy and it holds a lot of memories (a lot of frustrated moments and anger, but memories nonetheless).  First off, the opponent is devious and seems to know how to piss you off.  Mario is the umpire sitting in the seat calling "outs" when they clearly hit the line.  And then there are many times where the ball just goes where you don't want it to go by over hitting it or your character is so god dang slow that he can run after a lob.  Yup, I have bitter memories of playing the game, but it was pretty satisfying the first time I beat it.  I still remember playing it right next to my family when they were watching the Wimbledon tournaments on TV, which is how I (more or less) learned the rules to Tennis.  Tennis eventually became my favorite sport and is the one I play most now (if I ever get the chance to).  I doubt Nintendo will take the time to make every retro game on the virtual console for the 3DS into 3D.  But if they do, maybe I'll get "Tennis" and revisit the game in 3D and prepare for some more punishment.  Also, I still have the original in my possession.  I never play it anymore, too frustrating...

GameLight - Magicka DLCs

Wow, I am really off my game this week.  I nearly missed another day of post and now it's going to show up as the next day's.  Anyways, Magicka had 4 DLC releases two days ago for about $2-$4 each.

Source: Youtube Channel warpedrooster

I really like Magicka, and the extra add-on DLCs are cool, but I feel they have fallen to the evil scheming of big name publishers by releasing little by little with a price tag on each one.  There's enough DLCs for the game now to pay for the game 1.5x more than the original with it still lacking as much content as the game itself.  Instead of making one larger DLCs for a reasonable price, they want to get that little bit extra by selling them individually.  I've been against the idea of DLCs since the beginning and have only bought it for 3 games so far on a whim, but it didn't really entirely satisfy me.  The 4 new DLCs are:
-Final Frontier
-Frozen Lake
-Party Robes
-Watchtower
I'll consider getting them if it has a discount, but maybe I'll get to a point where I stop caring about Magicka because of how increasingly expensive the DLCs will amount to.

GameLight - Shadows of the Damned

Ack, I almost forgot to make a post today.  Shadows of the Damned came out today:

Source: Youtube Channel IGNentertainment

The game looks fun.  It has the over the shoulder shooter gameplay that Resident Evil 4 and 5 did but much more faster paced.  There are a lot of weapons involved too.  Maybe I'll check this game out once it goes down in price.

VGCulture - Free2Play Valve Game

So there's speculation, nay, a confirmed response from Valve that they're going to release a game with the micro-transaction business model.  Last week, Valve launched their news of hosting free-to-play online games on the Steam platform.  I tried them and realized you still have to create an account on each individual publisher's site.  It doesn't change that much other than having the services of Valve's Steam program such as Steam messenger/voice chat, easier downloads, achievements, and such.  It sure made it easier for me to download the games I wanted to play (namely Forsaken World and Spiral Knights).

Source: Youtube Channel HirezStudios

So it's been confirmed that a free-to-play game is going to release, but what kind of game is it?  The speculation now is that it's going to be Defense of the Ancients 2 (DotA 2).  A while ago, Icefrog of one of the original designers for DotA on the Warcraft 3 engine was announced to have been hired by Valve to work on a game with them.  Shortly after, the term "DotA" was copyrighted by Valve.  So the possibility that Valve's DotA 2 is likely to be the free-to-play game.  This has me excited, I was planning on buying it but wasn't sure if I would play it all too often.  Without having to pay for it, I won't have to worry about playing enough of it to make it worth the amount I paid for.  I'm really not sure how the rest of the gaming community will react to this.  Sure, there are a lot of DotA fans and players, but there's a lot of League of Legends and Heroes of Newerth players that didn't start from DotA.  We won't know how this will turn out.  Only time will tell.

GameLight - F.E.A.R. 3

Official Site: http://www.whatisfear.com/#/en/home/

Source: Youtube Channel IGNentertainment

FEAR 3 comes out in 3 days, and so Steam has a weekend deal for pre-orders and for the FEAR collection pack which includes FEAR 1 & 2 with 2 DLCs for $9.99  I've never played any of the FEAR games but was told that it was really good.  I'm not too fond of horror games, but I do have an interest in them.  I like horror games lot more than I do than horror movies.  In the movies, you have a dumb cast of kids who run towards the danger.  Yeah, it's scary, but it usually frustrates me watching the characters do things they shouldn't do.  In horror games, you have control over the situations and are more involved (at least that's I usually feel).  I like the Resident Evil series mainly because I like the story and suspense.  The gore isn't excessive and doesn't make me feel queasy or sick.  Dead Space was sort of violent, but it was also a hilarious game being able to chop off legs and be able to throw them back at the enemy.  FEAR is a FPS horror game, and so it feels pretty awesome to be able to shoot at monstrosities rather than be defenseless.  FEAR 3 seems to allow the player to be the one that others fear as well as being the victim.  So far, the trailers and videos look good.  I'm possibly going to buy the $10 FEAR collection and try out the first two games.  And if you want the most out of the experience, you can follow one of my friend's advice by turning off the lights, play on a wide screen TV with surround sound, and play it by yourself.  I did that a lot for Doom 3 (got kinda boring) and Dead Space (that was fun).  In any case, I'm not a huge fan of FEAR (at least not yet) so I don't think I'll be getting FEAR 3.  Maybe I will in the future when I've decided whether I like the series or not from the first two.

GameLight - Duke Nukem Forever

Ah, I've been so busy the past two days that I didn't even get to do a post yesterday.  I start work right away and then when I get off I'm already going out again.  Oh well, I don't want to make a long post today.  So Duke Nukem Forever came out (for reals!) and it got a lot of mixed ratings.

Source: Youtube Channel Dragornl

The Xbox 360 version has already got down to the red zone on metacritic with a 49/100 average.  I think it's just the long wait of 14 years that built up too much anticipation and expectations that ruined the experience for a lot of gamers.  I was always more interested in the 2D Duke Nukem games so I don't have too much interest or expectations for the game.  Whether it's truly fun or not is unknown to me, but it's worth a try for those who are faithful to the series I guess?  Anyways, I don't think I'll be touching this game since I don't have too much interest in it, but I'm not going to say that it's because it's a bad game.

VGCulture - Free Online Games on the Steam Platform

Great news for those who play a lot of Free-to-Play MMOs: Steam will be supporting Free MMOs from various publishers on their Steam platform.  Why is this good?  Gamers who play a lot of free MMOs know that client downloads can become a hassle with slow rates, corrupted files, and finding the latest versions.  If you're a publisher of free online games, you'll know that it's sometimes difficult to get your games to the players who are actually interested in playing them because of how convoluted the market for Free MMOs, and even more: the internet, is that a lot of potential players overlook it.

Source: Youtube Channel IGNentertainment

Well Valve's Steam platform will help reach out to their 30 million active users and help those interested download it with ease on the program rather than trying to find a download host that has the latest version with no viruses on them.  Right off the bat, five games are available:
-Spiral Knights (Sega)
-Forsaken World (Perfect World)
-Alliance of Valiant Arms (Ijji)
-Champions Online: Free For All (Perfect World - they now own Cryptic Studios)
-Global Agenda: Free Agent (Hi-Rez Studios)
There has been a lot of speculations that Free MMOs don't have the quality of paid subscriptions and that most free online games are not worth the time.  Not entirely true as aspiring developers work hard to provide the best online gaming experience for the player to choose to spend money or not and still make a profit.  All five games are of the highest quality in terms of MMOs (though I haven't tried the first two, but now I will since it's easier to download on Steam) and I recommend trying them out.  Yes, you may have to sacrifice some time to try it out, but at least money isn't an issue.

Those who download and play the games will receive special in-game items.  This hasn't been made clear, but I'm guessing it's for those who play the games on Steam.  Details on what registered users get if they even get anything haven't been reported.  From what I know thus far, players can log into the games using their accounts from their respective publishers, use their steam account to log in, or link their steam accounts with the account with their publishers.  I am mostly glad about being able to have a fast and efficient way to download the games.  More Free MMOs will be available on the Steam platform later on.

Sources:
-Gamasutra - 'Free-To-Play' Model Arrives On Steam
-Joystiq - You're free to play these free-to-play games through Steam
-Kotaku - Steam Goes Free to Play
-Steam - Free To Play Games Have Arrived on Steam 

GameLight - Dungeon Siege 3

I'm not sure if the demo for Dungeon Siege 3 is out for consoles yet, but Steam has the download for PC gamers.  So anyways, Dungeon Siege 3 is very different from its predecessors: Different developer, different publisher, different story, but the same title.  You could change the title of the game and no one would accuse the developers of being a copy of Dungeon Siege.  It's not a bad thing though.  The gameplay did change from being more team-managing strategical RPG to more hack-n-slash action RPG, so it may displease many avid Dungeon Siege fans.  But for those looking for a fun co-op action RPG to play, Dungeon Siege 3 provides the goods to satisfy those needs.

Source: Youtube Channel IGNentertainment

The demo may not have showed enough of the game, but the progression of levels felt extremely linear compared to the first two Dungeon Siege games.  Perhaps it eventually evolves into that level of open world gameplay, but the demo mostly shuffles the player along a narrow path to get from one event to another.  The story is told with conversations and cinematics with the dialogue wheel seen in previous titles from Obsidian such as Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 2 and Alpha Protocol.  The graphics are okay, but I couldn't really say with having to turn the resolution down to run the game smoothly.  The gameplay was interesting that you have full control when attacking (aim direction, click to attack in said direction) rather than just point-n-click (click and watch them attack an enemy).  The controls; however, seems to be designed for console controllers rather than keyboard and mouse.  The camera controls, attacking, and movement are atrocious using keyboard and mouse as it's archaic and difficult to coordinate.  This makes combat rather difficult when it's hard to see where the player is going or if there is space to dodge an attack.  The game itself is fun though.  Combat is fast-paced, skill and equipment managing retains the RPG aspects, and the enemies are pretty challenging.  I'm thinking of getting the game on PS3.  I hear it has a local co-op mode so that a buddy can join in and help control one of the AI allies.  The game feels a lot more like a Gauntlet game than a Diablo-ish game.  No complaints here though, the game is fun.

VGCulture - Reflection on E3 2011

Honestly, this was a long week for me.  I've been sick for the past week, had a lot of work to do, and seem to be lacking in strength despite going to sleep earlier now.  For E3, it was fast like always.  In 3 days, over 700 games were announced, showcased, and demoed at the floor show of the LA Convention Center.  Here are some of my choice highlights of this year's E3 2011:

Dark Souls
I was already excited to hear about a sequel to Demon's Souls, but to watch some of the gameplay and hear about some of the changes between its predecessors and its current state was a total treat:

Source: Youtube Channel IGNentertainment

Dark Souls is sure to deliver a compelling experience as Demon's Souls did with challenging gameplay, monstrous bosses, and epic multiplayer quests and PVP.  This is one game I'm definitely going to buy.

Nintendo Wii U
So it's not a big surprise that Nintendo came out with a new system as speculations have raised such rumors since the end of last year.  Even with confirmed reports of Nintendo having a touch screen on their new controller, the system was a really big buzz and had an impression on me as well as many others.  I guess I'm excited about it since I'm hoping for more developers working on Nintendo systems once again for 3DS as well as the Wii U (also hoping for a decline in Wii game prices so I can buy some more), but I know I'm not going to buy it the day it releases.

Blacklight Retribution
Blacklight: Tango Down was one of the games that had the biggest impression on me when I was at E3 2010 last year.  It wasn't entirely new and innovative in terms of First-Person Shooters, but I liked the futuristic theme, the customizations, and challenging mission modes.  The game didn't take off and had a lot of problems that needed to be fixed, but it wasn't done in time to save it (at least for the PC version) as server went empty very quickly.  A while ago, there was reports that a sequel was in the making and that it was going to be free and published by Perfect World.  It was demoed at E3 this year, but I didn't really see any mentions by any media other than MMOsite.com

Source: Youtube Channel MovieManiacsDE

Blacklight: Tango Down had a lot of problems that needed to be fixed such as incredibly long match making and intermission times, in-game lag, players die faster than those of Call of Duty Modern Warfare which is already pretty fast, map designs that favored spawn campers, and many more.  But despite all that, I enjoyed playing Blacklight: Tango Down.  Multiplayer is empty now (literally), but I still jump into the game once in a while to play Black Ops (mission mode).  And from the video, it looks like Blacklight improved tremendously in Retribution.  I am very excited to see more on the game and am anticipating for its official release.

Professor Layton and the Last Specter, Dragon Quest Monster - Joker 2, Ninja Gaiden 3, DMC (Devil May Cry), The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, Final Fantasy XIII-2, Soul Calibur V, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Sonic Generations, Elder Scroll V: Skyrim
All these follow ups and sequels reminded me that I need to finish up their predecessors if I want to be ready for their releases.  Out of this collection, I would say that Final Fantasy XIII-2 is the one I would want to buy first since I'm so behind everything else.

Dragon's Dogma
This is one of the new titles that isn't a follow up that struck me as impressive.  The aspects I liked most from the trailers were the large bosses, open-world gameplay, and European medieval setting.

Source: Youtube Channel BNGamesReviews

It won't be out till next year, so my excitement was extinguished as there so many other games to look forward to that are coming out soon.

Battlefield 3 & Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
These two are an obvious center of attention to many First-Person Shooter fans.  Both are looking pretty interesting so far, but I would like to see more.  I'm still not very sure how I feel about MW3 because of all the tension between ex-Infinity Ward employees and Activision, but I'm still hoping that the game turns out to be really good.  The story and gameplay drove quite a bit of influence into the industry and it would be a shame to end the trilogy on a bad note.  Battlefield 3 has convinced me with its trailers of the campaign that it's going to be a much deeper experience for single-player than any other Battlefield has done before.  I'm not sure what multiplayer is going to be like, but I hope they don't cut out too much on the PS3 since I plan to get that version due to my laptop's inability to support such a demanding game.  I mean, look at these graphics:

Source: Youtube Channel TheLPVideogames

I may have missed some other great games to mention, but they'll get their glory when it's time for them to release.

VGCulture - E3 2011 Wrapup Day 3

Well, today was the last day of E3's show and I was able to find out some more news.  There's a lot, so I'll try to be really brief:

-GameSpot was kind enough to provide a full list of all 757 games showcased at E3 2011.
-Professor Layton and the Last Specter (DS) Trailer
-Dragon Quest Monster - Joker 2 (DS) Trailer
-Starfox 64 3D (3DS) Trailer - Multiplayer looks interesting, you can see the faces of your opponents
-Animal Crossing (3DS) Trailer
-At the moment, Wii U is confirmed to only support one WiiPad at a time.

-Dark Souls Interview with Producer Brian Hong

Source: Youtube Channel G4TV

-Dark Souls Updates
   -Up to 3 people can invade a world now
   -No Nexus, entirely open world and open ended
   -Healing items are limited to holding 5 flasks now and can be replenished at a bon fire (WHAT? ONLY 5?)
-Nintendo dominated the show once more this year with lines for the Wii U taking 5 hours to check it out
-Wii U will not be using the archaic friend codes and will allow players to make usernames and have friends lists
-Ghost Recon Online will be available on Wii U appearently
-Torchlight 2 has LAN capabilities and online play for up to 6 players. No new trailers...
-Rune Factory: Tides of Destiny (Wii and PS3, weird) coming out this fall
-Dragon Nest Beta testing should begin sometime this month
-Star Wars: The Old Republic Trailer
-Black Prophecy Gameplay Video
-RaiderZ (Going to be Published by Perfect World) Trailer

Source: Youtube Channel OmegaRoach

-Neverwinter Trailer
-PixelJunk SideScroller Gameplay Trailer - Cool, if it comes out on Steam, I'll get it
-Minecraft - Pocket Edition on Xperia Play
-Planck Gameplay Trailer - This is one Indie game I'm looking out for

Next year's E3 will be from June 5th-7th 2012 at the LA Convention Center.

GameLight - Games of E3 2011 Day 2

I actually had a difficult time trying to find games that I haven't heard about or seen trailers to already.  Despite that, I tried to scrounge up what I could and share what I can:

Ninja Gaiden 3 - It's surprising, but it's going to be available on the Nintendo WiiU.  I didn't think such a violent game was going to make it onto the WiiU, but it is.  Not that I really care since I have yet to beat the first one and haven't even tried the 2nd.
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword - I saw this last year at E3 and didn't get to play it!  My friends tried it and thought it was pretty good in terms of mimicking actual sword movements from the wiimote.  I didn't pay too much attention to it this year, especially since I'm not even at E3 this time, but I'll keep an eye out for the release.
Kirby Mass Attack - A DS game that isn't a platformer, but sort of like a strategy game of sorts.  Remember Kirby Canvas Curse?  It's kind of like that, but with lots of Kirbys:

Source: Youtube Channel foreverkirby

Final Fantasy XIII-2 - I WILL play FF13 some time soon as soon as I finish Ninja Gaiden Sigma, Devil May Cry 4, and Eternal Sonata!  Looking at FF13-2, it doesn't look like anything too new.  But it's a Final Fantasy game and I will buy it and play through it despite how much critics and fanboys hate it!
Dragon's Crown - I was hoping to see a new new, a new franchise among all the big name series that's getting their sequels or follow ups.  I ran into a trailer for Dragon's Crown and I can't really determine whether it's going to be a game to look out for or one to pass.  For one thing, the boobs on the Amazon and Sorceress is just rediculous...On the other hand, it kind of looks like a 4-player Golden Axe.  Hmm...

Source: Youtube Channel GAMEBLOGfr

Dragon's Dogma - Okay, a game I've never heard of and am seeing for the first time.  Wow, I am very impressed and already want it.  Action game with open-ended gameplay with European Medieval setting?  Seriously, I blame Demon's Souls for wanting to play all these types of Medieval style games, but god dang this game looks amazing!

Source: Youtube Channel IGNentertainment

Dark Souls - I just mentioned Demon's Souls just now, of course I've got to mention its follow up "Dark Souls".  Showing gameplay of Demon's Souls and Dark Souls doesn't do justice for how fun the game is.  The game is about exploration, patience, and learning from past mistakes.  Most gameplay videos show the player slashing up zombies that just stand there, so it usually looks boring.  The most exciting part for non-fans is probably the dragon, but it doesn't show nearly enough.  Doesn't matter, definite buy for me.

Source: Youtube Channel IGNentertainment

Street Fighter X Tekken - The game looks pretty good thus far, but watching the gameplay videos didn't have nearly the same effect that Marvel vs. Capcom 3 did for me.  I'll probably get the game eventually when it comes out.  I like Street Fighter and Tekken, and to have them mix into one game is pretty interesting (and still weird, mainly for the Tekken characters).
Soul Calibur V - I'm not sure if I even care about this one because I barely touched Soul Calibur IV.  I played Soul Calibur II like crazy back in the Gamecube days, but I had more time and less games back then.  If I ever get around to fully playing enough of Soul Calibur IV that would warrant a fifth one, then I'll get it.
Inversion - Third-Person Shooter with gravity defying elements.  Half of me says "cool!"  The other half is going "meh..."  I've been playing so many shooters these past 6 years that I've become very critical of them.  I can definitely tell the differences between them and appreciate each one, but there are a lot of shooters which seem to be copy (parts)-paste with glitters on top of the most basic of shooters which makes for a rather unremarkable experience.  Let's hope Inversion isn't one of them.
Street Fighter III: Third Strike Online - I guess it's cool that they're bringing SF3:TS back to the players with online support, but I can only imagine hardcore fans buying it.  SF3:TS is tourney intensive and I've seen a lot of non-tourney players play it competitively at the arcade.  So it's not going to really attract a large crowd, but I suppose that's what Capcom wants.
Super Mario 3D - I never know what to think about Mario games anymore.  Everytime I look at one, I don't think too much of it.  But I sincerely have a lot of fun when playing a Mario game.  So watching the trailer for the game didn't do too much for me, but I'm hoping to one day play it on the 3DS.
Asura's Wrath - The gameplay looks interesting.  It kind of reminds me of Kenshiro from Fist of the North Star where he delivers ridiculous amounts of punches to the enemy.  I'm not too crazy about the game so far, but I will keep an eye on it.
Deus Ex: Human Revolution - I am still trying to get through the first Deus Ex right now and find that the new one has a rather...direct approach.  I'm sure there's still going to be a lot of stealth, and I'm very open minded about changes.  A lot of Deus Ex fans seemed to have not liked the sequel, but I heard good things about that one too.  I'm hoping that Deus Ex: Human Revolution will turn out to be a hit, it looks really fun.
Sonic Generations - I actually am not up to date with Sonic games, and a lot of disappointment seemed to have come from the fans in the past decade or so of releases.  Sonic Generations will have both 3D and 2D gameplay, but will that really satisfy the community?
Devil May Cry (DMC) - I still find it weird to see a younger, disgruntled Dante with a disfigured face that doesn't seem like it'd be able to grow up to the Dante we know and love.  So far, the gameplay and trailers haven't really appealed to me, but I think seeing some boss battles might eventually change my mind later on.
Crimson Alliance - It's a Gauntlet-like game for Xbox Live Arcade.  It actually looks pretty decent.  Seeing how Torchlight is limited to only one player, I'm sure Xbox 360 players who are looking for a co-op game to play would like to try this game out.
XCOM - Don't hate me...but I've never played or even heard of Xcom until the FPS reboot was announced...I'm sorry...But yeah, the reboot is actually looking pretty good right now.  As long as it's not a straight up FPS and has some depth in its gameplay, I might be interested in trying it out.
Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - It looks like it's coming out on 11/11/11.  I've never played a Elder Scroll game before, but now is probably a good time to whip out the ES4: Oblivion sitting on my shelf and give it a go!

Source: Youtube Channel Gawdsbud

Kid Icarus Uprising - It's been announced that there will be 3 versus 3 capabilities.  The gameplay looks magnificent and multiplayer looks rather challenging.  A lot of good games for 3DS will be coming out this summer, but I'm still not sure if it's worth getting one right now.
Rhythm Heaven - I'm not sure if I really want this if it doesn't have the option to switch the audio to Japanese.  I played the original two Rhythm Tengoku (or Rhythm Heaven in English) in Japanese and cringed at the English dubs when it was translated.  Give me a Japanese audio option!!!
Dead or Alive Dimension - Dead or Alive is one of the fighting games I don't have in my collection of fighting games, and I'd like to get this one if I get a 3DS as previous titles were released on consoles I didn't own.  So far, the game looks pretty solid.  The only problem is finding friends who would want to play a fighting game (other than Street Fighter) with me, hmm...(I have the same problem with MMOs).

That's it for now, I have no idea what to report tomorrow.  I'm hoping for a surprise.

Sources: Browsed around game sites and just looked for names and videos on Youtube
-GameSpot
-GameTrailers
-IGN

VGCulture - E3 2011 Day 1

ARGH!  I wish I was actually at E3 taking pictures, doing interviews and seeing what's actually there.  You'd be surprised how many games are showcased there but aren't covered by the media.  Too many big name companies outshining all the smaller games.  I guess I'll check out the indie game sites to see what they got there at E3 later.  Anyways, there were a lot of big name companies that announced and showed stuff that got me excited.  Here was one of the biggest ones:

Nintendo Announces Wii U and controller
IT'S A TOUCH SCREEN CONTROLLER!  Wait what?  The rumors were true?

Source: Youtube Channel IGNentertainment

So my first reaction was "wow, it's so chunky.  It can't be comfortable to hold."  Well, it doesn't look as bad when viewing the back of the controller.  I can't really tell unless I've tried it myself.  It didn't get me as hyped up as the Wii did when I first heard its announcement (and the first Wii video didn't even have game footages), but I'm already convinced at buying one (probably not immediately) looking at the possibilities of the system.

Source: Youtube Channel IGNentertainment

It actually reminds me of how the Gamecube had the Gameboy Advance compatibility to play using the screen on the gameboy and the TV (Zelda and Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles).  The Wii U controller has a gyroscope, motion sensing, a mic, speakers, camera, and DS style touch screen.  And it seems like a lot of Wii peripherals will still be used for this new system (smart move).  There are so many possibilities with this new combined concept, I really hope developers work hard on making REAL games and stop making gimmicky casual games.

New Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and 3DS
NEW SUPER SMASH BROS!  Not only that, but also on the 3DS.  It was hinted that there will be some sort of connectivity between the two when they're finally released.  Oh man, that is some pretty heavy news, but we're probably not going to see it until 2013 or 2014 see how Super Smash Bros. Brawl took so long.  Doesn't matter though, because they took the time to make it as balanced and refined as possible and didn't delay in indefinitely.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Gameplay footages
Am I excited about MW3?  Not really.  Do I want to play it?  Yeah.  I feel really weird about Modern Warfare 3 actually being developed and all with a lot of the original crew gone.  The only thing I can think of being able to support them is looking out for their future projects and buying them when they release.  With Modern Warfare 3, I may want to try it before I decide to buy it for the multiplayer.  If it's campaign I want to play only, I'll just borrow it.  Anyways, footage here:

Source: Youtube Channel tonyliu

Battlefield 3 Frostbite 2 Features
The game looks amazing and the graphics are incredible!  With audio, I hope it's as good as Medal of Honor (2010) because that game seriously got me hooked because of the quality of recording and output of the sound.  There's going to be Multiplayer co-op campaign too!

Source: Youtube Channel Battlefield

I wonder what other surprises we'll see the next two days~

Source:
-Engadget - The Wii U controller, revealed! (video)
-Joystiq - Smash Bros announced for Wii U and 3DS

VGCulture - E3 2011 Press Conference (Sony & Microsoft)

E3 starts tomorrow.  Tomorrow, we'll get a glimpse at the future on what's to come, what to expect, and what might fail.  Press Conferences for Sony and Microsoft were held today that piqued my curiousity (more like shocked me into going OMGWTFBBQ!).


Sony's PSP2 is called the Sony PlayStation Vita
Wait, what?  It's going to be called Vita?  Before I start saying how odd and dumb of a name it is, I am reminded that I thought the Gameboy Dual Screen was an odd name (but it caught on with DS).  I also thought the change from Nintendo Revolution to Wii was absurd.  But it became normal and people were okay with it.  I'm not sure, but maybe it'll just catch on just by calling it the PSV.

"Vita means life," said Kazuo Hirai, president and group chief executive officer of Sony Computer Entertainment. "And we're confident that Vita will be the first product that blurs the lines between reality and interactive entertainment." - Cnet Reviews

Source: Youtube Channel screwattack




Microsoft announces...Halo 4
Though I'm not surprised that the series didn't end just like that, I was shocked to see that it followed the numerical order of the main series.  What happened to "ending the fight?"  I feel bad that I didn't play the campaign of Halo 3.  I didn't even get a chance to play ODST and Reach at all, so I have no idea what Halo is like now.  I liked Halo when I had access to play it (friend's house, university's arcade, PC), but now I'm so out of the loop that I've almost forgotten about Halo.  At the moment, who cares about Halo 4.  Let me play the last three Halo releases!

Source: Youtube Channel G4TV


Mass Effect 3 is compatible with Kinect
How...odd.  Playing the game entirely of motion control sounds like a frustrating scenario, but I think there are things about it that can be really cool.  Being able to point to a direction and use voice command to have your team mates attack, suppress fire, defend and such sound much more practical than trying to deal with weird HUD commands and aiming your cursor everywhere.  Also, maybe they'll had head tracking so you can move in and out of cover in real-time.  But what was announced was the ability to command things with your voice while the player still uses a controller to play the game.

Source: Youtube Channel Mac11em

I hope they show a lot of good games this year.  I was excited by a lot of games last year, but I think it's mainly because I was actually there.  It would've been interesting to go again this year, oh well.

Source:
-Joystiq: PlayStation Vita launches globally by end of 2011, starting at $249 
-Joystiq: Halo 4 finishes the fight (again) in 2012 [Update: teaser trailer!]
-Joystiq: Mass Effect 3 gets Kinect support with voice recognition
-Cnet: E3 2011: Sony debuts PlayStation Vita, its next-gen handheld

GameLight - Dark Souls (Release Date Announced)

Official US Site: http://preparetodie.com/en/
Official JP Site (English): http://www.fromsoftware.jp/darksouls/contents/index_en.html
New video!

Source: Youtube Channel realidad20

Release date for Dark Souls (Unofficial Sequel to Demon's Souls) in NA will be October 4th and in EU on October 7th.  From Software seems to have upped their game with boss monsters looking 10x harder than Demon's Souls.  I'm not sure whether I'm excited or scared, but I know I want it!  It still feels weird seeing NamcoBandai publishing it and not Atlus.  And from the sounds of it, I think Xbox 360 players will get a chance to grab this game for their system.  I'm so pumped up from the trailer that I think I'm gonna go play some more Demon's Souls!

But maybe not.  Just a heads up: Call of Duty: Black Ops is free for Steam players for the weekend and for console players, it's double experience points for the weekend.  I haven't played much Call of Duty as of late, this is possibly a good time to do so!

GameLight - Filler - Soul Brother

Head hurts...too tired...go play Soul Brother on Adult Swim:
http://games.adultswim.com/soul-brother-adventure-online-game.html


Source: Youtube Channel ChaoticHarmonyEcho

Video of gameplay is by the guy who made VVVVVV.  Yeah, too tired to write today, please enjoy Soul Brother.

GameLight Review - VVVVVV ($2.49 on Steam today!)

Get it on Steam here: http://store.steampowered.com/app/70300/

Source: Youtube Channel ChaoticHarmonyEcho


Developer: Terry Cavanagh
Distributor: Steam
Platforms: PC
Release Date: January 11, 2010.
Genre: Action-Adventure Platformer

Pros:
-Simple concept with challenging level designs
-Non-linear and freedom to go anywhere in the game
-Incredible soundtrack that's worth listening to even out of the game
-Player can only truly fail by giving up, no Game Overs and starting all over

Cons:
-Must be a patient player to fully enjoy the game
-Minimalistic art style may not appeal to all
-The might feel too short to some players

I'm surprised I didn't do a review for VVVVVV after I finished the game.  It is one of the most interesting and thought provoking Action-Adventure platformers I've played in a while.  The game takes the very simple concept of limiting the player to only reversing gravity while not being able to jump and creating mind-boggling levels and challenges for the players to get through.  The game does get progressively difficult, but it does not hinder the player to certain areas with power ups, leveling up, items, or such.  The world around VVVVVV is non-linear and lets the player explore any part of the game in any order.  Like many other difficult but beautifully crafted games, the satisfaction of overcoming an obstacle is gratifying and worth the effort.  With it only $2.49 on Steam today from its usual $4.99, there should be no reason why you shouldn't buy this game now.

Source: Youtube Channel ChaoticHarmonyEcho

Graphics
I found the minimalistic 8-bit looking graphics to be one of the selling points of VVVVVV.  Too often do I find indie-games with flash, cel-shaded, picture book art styles (not that they're all bad) that make it look like it just came out of its concept stage or so convoluted in color, shadowing, and environment that it's unwelcoming to the eye, difficult to make out parts of the levels, and sometimes affects the gameplay (objects' color blending into each other, can't see the player's character, hit-box inaccuracies, etc.).  VVVVVV has a simplistic 8-bit (maybe even less?) style art direction which is both charming and easy to distinguish objects around the player.  The straight-forward "this is a wall, this is a spike, this is your character" game graphics works well with the fast-paced action and puzzles within the game and helps the player react to situations a faster.  This is also really helpful for the the game developer, Terry Cavanagh, to focus on the level design and gameplay rather than spending hundreds of hours on each room and sprite.  In terms of graphics, I thought it worked really well for the way the game played had little to no flaw in them.  Graphics: 10/10

Audio
Another selling point the game had in my eyes was the music.  I've played many indie games where they boast about being 8-bit graphics and music but did not fully capture the true spirit of retro gaming music.  Game composers had to be creative with their limitations back in the NES days because a game's cartridge could not hold too much information and the sound output was few to select by.  Because of that, composers worked carefully on each tune to make it appropriate and an enjoyable track to listen to over and over again, even if it's 30 seconds long.  Many other 8-bit music artists seem to take the sound a sound chip makes and create a lot of random blips and bleeps to call it retro gaming music without a hook, a solid melody, or any interest other than sounding like an 8-bit Nintendo.  VVVVVV; however, is blessed with the music of Magnus Pålsson who combined a lot of catchy melodies with strong beats for the tunes within the game.  When I was stuck at Vini Vedi Vici (look it up), I found myself humming along with the song the entire time (and I was there for a looooooooooooong time).  The upbeat tunes gets me really pumped and immersed in the game.  The music added more to the game's experience than any other aesthetic could possible hope to achieve.  The sound effects is also 8-bit and adds to the charm of retro style gaming aesthetics.  One of the most iconic sound effects I got out of the game was the "Beeeew" sound when the main character dies each time.  I heard it most on Vini Vedi Vici.  The audio is one of the aspects I enjoyed most throughout the game.  Audio: 10/10

Gameplay
I was worried at first when I realized that the player's only control over the character was to move left, right and to reverse gravity.  I was afraid that the game would just have a bunch of courses with just timing the gravity jump, but I was relieved when I started to get into the main part of the game and crazy puzzles started to reveal themselves to me.  There are sections to the parts of the world of VVVVVV that reminds me of Metroid.  Each section has its own unique kind of challenges for the player to get through.  One place has an infinite space that drops the player in an endless fall.  Another section had a wire that would bounce the player around, sometimes into lethal spikes.  The game follows the old game design of "learn from mistakes" but in shorter progressions (if you died in games like Super Mario Bros. or Ninja Gaiden, you would have to start from the beginning of a stage or sometimes world.  Even worse, the entire game).  There are tons of spawn points around so players wouldn't have to perform a long series of challenges they've already gone through before.  There are a lot of  interesting and a lot of times frustrating twists within the game that creates a new scenario such as leading a partner down a corridor when they can't reverse gravity like the player does.  Overall, the game was a nice, short and enjoyable experience (I fear games that seem to drag on and on sometimes).  The only problem I may have is that it may not be exactly the game I'd want to keep going back to like I do with old NES games.  I'm a bit hesitant to revisit all the struggle and agony of certain challenges again, but I'm still not 100% done with getting everything yet so I'm fine with going through parts of the game I have yet to visit.  Gameplay: 9/10

Overall
I'm glad I bought the game, and it's one I felt that was more worth than some of the retail games I've bought off of steam.  VVVVVV keeps it simple and delivers an exciting experience with little to no slow down.  The game will keep the player engaged and interested with devious level designs and an awesome soundtrack.  If you are more of a casual gamer or think that you might not enjoy the game, then try out the demo on Steam or Kongregate.com before deciding whether to buy it or not.  It's a really good break from all the other modern games that I've been playing and reminds players that a game doesn't have to involve state-of-the-art graphics, professional voice-acting, million of dollars spent, violence, killing, weapons, or power ups to be fun.  As I've said before, there should be no reason to miss out on playing the game for just $4.99 ($2.49 if you can get it today).  Overall: 9.67/10