VGCulture - GW2, TL2, and MOBA Tourneys, oh my

Guild Wars 2: https://www.guildwars2.com/en/

Source: http://www.nerfnow.com/comic/829

It's been a week since I've started playing Guild Wars 2 and it has gone far beyond my expectations for the game.  I didn't see myself enjoying PvP and WvW as much as I do now.  The fluidity of the game makes the progression of PvE feel seamless.  I don't pay too much attention to levels as it's not as important.  I'm able to enjoy each aspect of the game with its spontaneity.  I'm not sure how long the replay value will last, but so far it's pretty good.


Torchlight 2: http://www.torchlight2game.com/
Source: Youtube Channel TotalHalibut

Runic games finally stated a release date for Torchlight 2.  On September 20th, players will be able to download it from their choice of distributor.  To be honest, it would've been better if they had came out last year or early this year to avoid the competition from Diablo 3 and Guild Wars 2.  At least then, they'd have players willing to try their game out who aren't already Torchlight fans.  It seems some mechanics have been changed from the first one, and the addition of multiplayer and mod capabilities is a plus.  For me, I'll probably wait a while before getting it as I'm already full on my play list and don't have a reason to get it right away.

League of Legends: https://tournaments.leagueoflegends.com/s2-na-regionals
DotA 2: http://www.own3d.tv/TheInternational

I haven't been keeping up with the tournament matches, but both MOBA games are holding them right now and streaming live.  Some pretty crazy stuff.  That's all for now, have a great weekend everyone!

GameLight - Eryi's Action

Nyu Media News

Source: Youtube Channel NyuMedia

Nyu Media has successfully brought Satazius and the eXceed collection to Steam and so my friend and I and possibly many others eagerly await the release of Cherry Tree High Comedy Club to Steam.  Sadly, it hasn't happened yet and Ether Vapor Remaster seemed to be in line for a steam launch.  Now Ether Vapor Remaster has been delayed while another game Nyu Media has translated and brought over to us has been reveals.

Welcome to Eryi's Action, a game much like the infamous "I Wanna Be The Guy!"  It is an Action platformer where learning through your mistakes is the only way to get through the ordeals.  Traps are hidden throughout the levels, unexpected events happens without notice, and shenanigans will ensue.  At first glance, the game looked really dopey, but those challenges and spontaneous moments has caught my attention and so I fear I may end up buying the game and putting myself through a painful experience of yelling and anger-induced punches to a baby's face.  Eryi's Action is not out yet, but is on Steam's newly launched Greenlight system where players can choose which upcoming indie game to bring forth to the Steam platform.

VGCulture - Starting up a game PC vs Console

Reference link: Kotaku - Guild Wars 2 Reminds Him Why He Prefers Gaming on Consoles

There has always been an argument of whether PC or Consoles were the better gaming device (ignoring the Console wars between each other for this article) as there are clear advantages of PCs and clear advantages of Consoles.  The argument here is which one makes starting up a game easier?

Typically, consoles are the easier game to start up.  For a PC, especially if it's an online game, you have to download/install the client, register for an account, patch the game, optimize the settings which requires restarting the game sometimes, and then the game will allow the player to begin unless there's compatibility errors, missing drivers, or a program conflicting with the client.  The problem is that consoles go through the same processes as PCs now: download a patch, install the game to the hard drive, register for an account, and log-in.  With PCs playing a lot of the same games as consoles, there are pros and cons to each side.  A PC may have more problems optimizing and fixing bugs than consoles, but there are cases where PCs load up a game significantly faster than consoles do.

The matter right now isn't really between PCs and Consoles, but of individual games that require such long processes and problems that cause the system to seemingly make starting up a game a difficult task.  I have problems with PCs and Consoles as both require a lot of downloading, patching, accessing servers (even on single-player only games), and load times.  In terms of reference to the article above, I didn't have too much problem with Guild Wars 2 other than the registration not going through the first few attempts.  I got into the game fairly quickly and patches generally don't take that long.  I wait longer for patches for Skyrim or Battlefield 3 on my PS3.  Or even worse, updates for the Nintendo Wii!  Those take forever!

GameLight - Borderlands 2

Official Site: http://www.borderlands2.com/us/

The frantic, Action-RPG, First-Person Shooter, Looting frenzy, co-op game is about to return with a butt ton more items to acquire.  Borderlands 2 is only half a month away from release with new characters, new weapons, and new areas to explore.  The free-roaming RPG played like a First-Person Shooter caught the attention of all sorts of gamers in the first iteration and is sure to impress in the sequel.  A lot of new games will release in the following months as we near the holiday seasons.  For those looking for high replay value in a single game, Borderlands 2 seems to be the target game for such gamers.  Borderlands 2 will release on September 18th, 2012 for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360.

VGCulture - If only Dynasty Warriors had something like World vs World

Official Site: https://www.guildwars2.com/en/
Source: Youtube Channel ZybakTV
WARNING: Contains profanity

Guild Wars 2 is officially released tonight at midnight, but those who pre-purchased the game got to start on Friday night last week.  I was able to play the entire weekend and try out the many aspects of the game (though I barely scratched the surface in terms of content).  I love how Player vs. Environment (PvE) felt a lot like The Elder Scrolls series where the player was free to roam where they wanted and curiosity takes over to keep the player interested enough to keep exploring.  Player vs Player (PvP) is fast-paced, short, and gratifying with a lot of aspects that remind me of Call of Duty (it might sound odd, but it makes sense in context).  What really blew my mind was World Vs. World (WvW).

In most MMOs, there are guilds vs. guilds and such which require players to be part of an organized group.  In order to stay on top of the list, guilds would have to stay active and take over points within a persistent world that is ever changing whether a player is logged on or not.  In Guild Wars 2, WvW is the new GvG where players join in war without having to be part of a Guild.  This allows a whole wave of players who generally aren't active guild players to join in a part of a larger battle without having to stay dedicated to a group.  It also gives a sense of pride to be fighting for the world the player has chosen.  So in WvW, players are pitted against players from 2 other worlds (servers, essentially).  Player can capture points, keeps, castles, and pivotal resources from the enemy in a huge map.  The experience is unlike anything other when fighting 50-100 players all in one area, raiding a keep, or doing small scale sabotage such as intercepting enemy supplies.  I think I like WvW even more than PvP because of how spontaneous and involving the mode feels.  You never know what is going to happen or what to expect when going out into the field.  It's the ultimate sandbox experience where you run around to kill other players, capture points for your "army" (World), explore around.

To go off on a tangent, I have always wished for a similar experience in Dynasty Warriors where it felt a bit more RPG-ish or involving.  Dynasty Warriors Online (DWO) captured a bit of that feel with allowing players to create their own character and train with various weapons as well as take on missions they want.  DWO allows players to choose a faction of their choice and fight for that leader.  What it lacks is a true persistent, on-going, large-scale battles where the player can freely roam and take on objectives with a whole army.  DWO does have a persistent world where areas are taken by having a battle won there, but players are focused on that one battle and one objective.  Not only Dynasty Warriors, but many other games would have an awesome persistent world battle between groups.  Global Agenda was able to fuse together elements of Action, third-person shooter, and MMORPGs into one game with a similar mode called AvA (Agency vs Agency).  Unfortunately, players of Globabl Agenda were not very dedicated and so the AvA idea fell through after a while (it is completely dead now).  Guild Wars 2 has created one of the most interesting and involving GvG mode I've played in the longest time, and I really hope more developers follow suit to continue to innovate and improve GvG in whatever games they make.

VGCulture - Gaming this Weekend

[Guild Wars 2]
If you've already pre-purchased Guild Wars 2, then you'll be able to start playing tonight at mid-night.  For those not participating in early-access, the game officially releases on Tuesday, August 28th.  Guild Wars 2 is an MMORPG that offers a dynamic Player vs Environment (PvE) experience with the ability to jump into player versus player (PvP) right away with equal footing for everyone as well as large scale battles in world vs world (WvW).  You pay for the game and that's it.  There are no monthly subscriptions to pay, but there will probably be options to pay for extra characters slots and such.  Standard price is $59.99, Digital Deluxe edition is $79.99, and Collector's edition (which is probably sold out) is $149.99.

[Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition]
Source: Youtube Channel NamcoBandaiGamesEU

Dark Souls is not for everyone.  It's a hardcore game with no ability to choose a difficulty setting and is naturally hard to complete.  You have to be willing to fail and learn from mistakes and take the time to get through battles.  Dark Souls is a combat and exploration driven Action-RPG that focuses on challenges and fighting rather than story and character development.  It seems that there's already a huge issue with the game.  The resolution is stuck at 1024 x 720 and cannot be played in full screen.  A modder has created a temporary fix that allows players to fudge the resolution a little more so that the graphics would at least look a little better.  The Publisher will probably release a patch once development finds a way to do so (go hire someone that can do it!).  There's more content on the PC than the console versions, and the extra content will be available to console owners as DLC.  Darks Souls: Prepare to Die Edition is $39.99 and available on Steam as well as retail.

Aside from these two major releases this week and next, Ghost Recon: Future Soldier and the Just Cause series is on sale this weekend over at Steam.  Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2 was finally added on Steam.  Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is officially out at a reasonable price of $14.99 and is available for PC, Playstation 3 and Xbox 360.

Happy gaming everyone, and have a great weekend.

GameLight - Mabinogi Bard and Battle changes

Official Site: http://mabinogi.nexon.net/Default.aspx
Source: Youtube Channel coinoptv

Mabinogi has been around since 2004 in Korea and was launched in North America back in 2008 and still receives updates now.  I had stopped playing Mabinogi after one of the updates took away half of the entire back storage from my character and pretty much limited players to half the original size unless they pay for it.  It's typical for a free game to "add" new content and charge for specific ones, but to take away something that was already available and re-selling it just sickened me.  Still, Mabinogi was and still is a really fun casual MMORPG with light-hearted gameplay.

The latest update that launched last month that seemed to have slipped past me is a new "bard" class focus as well as changes to combat so that it's more fast paced.  The Bard focus allows the player to support their party in battle with buffs and assisting damage.  Combat has always been slower and strategic which made it feel less of a casual game in terms of fighting enemies.  It was really tough getting used to the timing and charges of certain abilities and attacks.  What they did is sped up charges and placed cool downs for abilities.  These changes, especially the new combat system, makes me want to pick up the game once more.  Mabinogi is free-to-play at Nexon.net with micro-transaction items available.

VGCulture - Guild Wars 2 in 2 days

Official Site: https://www.guildwars2.com/en/
Source: Youtube Channel arenanetofficial

The official launch for Guild Wars 2 is actually on August 28th, but those who pre-purchased the game will have a 3 day head-start Friday at mid-night.  Guild Wars 2 is the newest MMORPG to the genre and is ready to change the way we play them like the first series of Guild Wars did.  Guild Wars 2 has been talked about for years now and have been in Beta testing for months.  I did sign up for beta but never got in.  When the game was announced, pre-purchases was available and offered a head-start, exclusive in-game items, and beta access if the player didn't have it already.  I pre-purchased the game and linked my account to my original Guild Wars account and had the chance to play about 3 hours of Guild Wars 2 yesterday during a stress test.  Here are some things to expect:
-Ability to jump!  Adds a new dynamic to exploring
-Spontaneous events happen at any given moment
-Quests are quick and don't require reading long passages
-PvP is available at any level (everyone is max level)
-Do last stands in PvP and take out enemies while down
-No such thing as "kill stealing" and don't have to worry about finding parties
-Tons of customizing in traits and skills
-Interchangeable weapon sets to fulfill combat needs in the middle of battle

PvE is quite different, but hasn't really won me over yet.  PvP definitely blew my mind though, and I can't wait to play some more this weekend.  Guild Wars 2 is available for pre-order and pre-purchase and is sold at $60.  The game's server officially launches on August 28th and those with the 3-day head start will begin on the mid-night of August 24th.

VGCulture - New TWEWY

Official Site: http://www.square-enix.co.jp/subaseka/

There seems to be a teaser of some sort going on at Square-Enix that's related to "The World Ends with You" (TWEWY).  The page name extension "subaseka" is most likely the shortened form of the Japanese name "Subarashiki kono sekai" (It's a Wonderful World).  Speculations point out that this may not be a "sequel" but possibly a port, a spin-off, a manga/animé, or some sort of relation to another game (like the Kingdom Hearts game on 3DS).  It could very well be a 3DS port like Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor had.  I can't say I'm excited since I haven't even completed the original game yet, but I'd like to see the series grow.

Source:
-Joystiq: Square Enix countdown teases The World Ends With You announcement

VGCulture - 100 more levels in Diablo 3's new patch

Official Site: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/blog/6968517/

Blizzard has announced a huge change in Diablo 3's new end-game system.  Introducing, the paragon level system.  An extra 100 levels has been added past the max level of 60 gaining players extra stat points into Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, and Vitality as well as an extra 3% in gold find and Magic find for each level.  This will extend the game's progress well beyond the initial 60 levels and give purpose to playing in inferno other than completing the difficulty, farming for items, and dying a lot.  Also, the border of your character's portrait will change and evolve as their paragon levels increase.  No exact date on when this patch will release has been announced yet.

VGCulture - Pay2Play to Free2Play

Free to play games has become a common trend in the market utilizing advertisements for income, micro-transactions, special services and DLCs.  But not all games start off free and not all games are successful.  Some games go free entirely and open up a micro-transaction store like Valve did with Team Fortress 2 which proved to be a huge success by surpassing their profits from when they sold their game rather than it being free.  Other games go from a monthly subscription-based model to a free-to-play one with difficulties holding their community.  It can be tough determining the success of a game when it goes free to play as there are advantages and disadvantages to them.  For Team Fortress 2, the game was practically free with sales reaching anywhere down to $5-$10.  When they opened up the store, they already had a strong community playing the game along with all the new players with some of them willing to shell out money for the items (some costing over $15).

Heroes of Newerth has recently unlocked all their characters to everyone so it is now entirely free to play without having to pay $30 or paying for individual characters.  I'm not even sure where their income is coming from anymore.  The most obvious advantage of going free to play is opening up to a wider audience who are willing to give a game a try.  With more players, there's a larger community to convince in spending money.  Then there are the disadvantages of having more players on your game.  With the game open to all players, you will get players who purposely harass other players, hackers that break the game's balance, and other unfavorable players that will ruin the community within that game.

Star Wars The Old Republic is also another game that's going free-to-play and probably a better example for this article as it started out as a monthly subscription based MMORPG.  The actually did pretty well reaching over 1 million subscribers.  Still, Electronic Arts has decided to move onto a free-to-play model.  Going Free-to-play means more players and possibly more income if their micro-transactions work out.  The problem with Pay-to-Play subscriptions games going Free-to-Play is that players that were loyal to the game from the beginning eventually get ignored as free-to-play players are the bigger income for the company.  When the game starts running out of things to do, the free-to-play players start abandoning the game.  With Pay-to-Play games, the developers has to focus on aspects that will keep the player interested month after month of playing the game.  With Free-to-Play games, developers make design choices that convinces players to pay for items in the micro-transaction stores, even if they're unnecessary.  Preferably, a Free-to-Play game will want to be both enticing as a game and thrive on micro-transactions at the same time (League of Legends and Team Fortress 2 seems to work well this way).  Subscription based games are difficult to hold up nowadays but have a more stable income for a company and consistent content for players who pay for them (such as World of Warcraft).  Not all games work best as a subscription based MMO (such as All Points Bulletin) but rather make their success entirely on micro-transactions (such as Maple Story).  The worst case scenario is for a game to go free-to-play and have little to no people playing the game.  Not only does the company lose money, shut down and possibly go bankrupt, but players who did pay for the game and enjoyed it will lose everything they worked and paid for which breaks faith in the host or publisher of that game.

S2 Games seems to be holding their own with Heroes of Newerth, but things are uncertain now with Electronic Arts' Star Wars The Old Republic.  From what I hear from a lot of my friends who played the game extensively is that the end-game content just didn't hold their interest enough for them to continue paying and playing.  I've always been for Free-to-Play games and still am, but there's always a dangerous line between the game being fun and making the business work.

GameLight Review - Breath of Death VII

Steam Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/107300/

Source: Youtube Channel zeboydgames

Developer: Zeboyd Games
Publisher: Zeboyd Games
Platforms: PC (Steam), Xbox 360 (XBLA)
Release Date: Jul 13, 2011 (Steam)
Genre: RPG

Pros:
-Reminiscent of classic turn-based RPGs
-Fast-based combat (I wish Pokémon battles were this fast)
-Not too long of a game, even for an RPG

Cons:
-Although a parody, the game wasn't exactly a laughing riot
-Doesn't have much in dynamics, but at least the game's consistent
-Geared towards a very specific demographic

Breath of Death VII is a straight-up, turn-based, RPG that parodies many games, old-school RPGs and itself.  It's definitely for those who are tolerant of classic RPGs and grew up with it as it doesn't really derive itself from being to different or innovative.  The combat is fast to get in and out of so random encounters aren't as painful to get through as they are in classic RPGs.  The branching level-up system changes the way the player wants to build their party and can really determine how successful they are in the harder difficulty levels.  The game isn't very long, and it does have some entertainment value out of it; however, it got boring after a while and wasn't particularly memorable.  It was a fun distraction while it lasted and those who grew up with classic RPGs will able to appreciate it more than those who didn't.

Aesthetics
Some of the design choices are those prior to Dragon Quest/Warrior such as having no background in battles and is seen from a first-person perspective.  A lot of the sprites and moving screens are more influenced by 8-bit games than 16-bit ones.  The characters aren't particularly interesting, but they each have their moments.  The whole game felt like it was made in RPG Maker 2000, and so the maps and level designs aren't very complex.  A lot of the tile sets are reused throughout the game and enemies will have color changes to show that they're a higher level version of the same type.  Everything seems to be used effectively in the game for its purpose of showcasing an old-school game, and the main complaint would have to be that the level designs made it a bit confusing to navigate through in the last part of the game.  It's because it's "not" complex that it was easy to get lost since a lot of places looked the same.  The music were taken from newgrounds with permission by various composers and in some way has made a somewhat cohesive soundtrack for the game.  The game's graphics and audio weren't bad, but they weren't incredible either even though it's a parody game.  I guess I felt like more could've been done with it, yet leaving how it is now is fine too.  Aesthtics: 6/10

Buttons
If you've played ANY RPG before, this game should be fairly easy.  Go from one place to another, buy better gear, farm and grind if the next area is too hard, and optimize your party's abilities/equipment.  Navigating through the game is pretty easy when you're not lost and the ability to run in the map makes trekking through it less painful when they're so big.  Combat was very easy and figuring out the best course of action didn't take too long.  Controls were extremely simple: movement, confirm, cancel.  There really isn't much to talk about the controls as they are what they were in the retro RPGs and that simplicity is what set RPGs apart from cRPGs (computer RPGs that required drafting out maps and memorizing spells) and made it more mainstream.  Buttons: 10/10

Concept & Content
The concept is very simple: its own take on classic RPG.  There isn't much in terms of content aside from higher difficulty levels and a score attack which is pretty much playing the entire game over again.  The one aspect I really liked about the game that more turn-based games should do is how quickly the player gets in and out of battle.  I don't need a 5-10 second transition in and out of battle every time I have to fight an enemy as it wastes a lot of time.  The branching level-up system was interesting, but it probably affects higher difficulty levels more than the lower level ones.  There were a few videogame references from Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, Gauntlet, and Final Fantasy, but they were mere nods to those games rather than a full blown joke.  There were a few moments where it did make me laugh and some of the character dialogues were commendable, but there weren't that many considering the game was only 4 hours worth of gameplay.  The game didn't have too much to offer, but it stayed true to the classic RPG taste.  Concept and Content: 6/10

Duration
The length of the game is debatable.  I was actually happy with the 4 hours I got out of it because any longer than that would have felt dragged out.  RPG fans might not like how short the game is considering it's an RPG.  The overall progress was variable as some parts felt just right for the game flow while other parts very slow.  The replay value is through its harder difficulty levels and score attack.  Aside from that, there isn't much to the game.  It was meant as a short parody.  Duration: 6/10

Fun
I didn't have high expectations from the game and kind of knew what I was getting into.  Despite the game being so short, it did take me a while before I completed it.  It was hard playing through the game for long durations.  It wasn't particularly captivating, but there were moments when I really enjoyed the game.  After completing the game once, I really didn't have the motivation to play through it again.  I liked the fast-paced combat and the silly quips the characters had, but exploration was boring and finding my way out was kind of a bother when a lot of branch points led to a dead end or back to the beginning of the map.  It was fun while it lasted.  Fun: 7/10

Overall
It wasn't that bad of a game, but I didn't get much out of the experience either.  If anything, it was a great distraction from all the First-Person shooters I've been playing.  The retro-style graphics were a nice touch, but the lack of battle backgrounds felt kind of empty.  The game is so familiar that it doesn't really spark much intrigue past the interest in playing something retro.  Those who grew up with old school RPGs or is looking for a simple game to play may enjoy Breath of Death VII, but I feel most other gamers will lost interest after the first town.  Overall: 7/10

GameLight - TF2 Mann vs. Machine

Official Site: http://www.teamfortress.com/mvm/machines/
Source: Youtube Channel gameinformer

Team Fortress 2 is a free-to-play, team-based, first-person shooter where two teams are pitted against each other to capture flags, points, defeat each other, or pushing carts.  But something new is about to be implemented that will change the game up a bit.

This was a bit unexpected when I heard about it yesterday, but it seems that Valve has been in the works on a true cooperative mode for Team Fortress 2 using some tower defense elements and upgrading systems.  Mann vs. Machine will be a new mode in which 5-players are pitted against waves of robots with all sorts of abilities and arsenal.  As far as I understand, the goal is to protect the main core much like a regular tower-defense game.  Players will take the role of one of the 9 classes in the Team Fortress 2 game to fight, support, and defend against the numerous enemies.  In-between waves, players can purchase upgrades kind of like in "Killing Floor" by using the currency picked up by the defeated robots to get abilities like 5 second invincibility, extra ammo, or a critical hit boost.  All classes will also have modified weapons to fight against these robots such as the ability to pierce through multiple enemies with their gunfire or having an even higher boost from buffs.  This free additional patch to the game will launch tonight at 8PM PST August 15th from what I heard, but I'm not 100% sure.  Cheers to Valve for always updating their multiplayer games and keeping them fresh!

GameLight - Cladun X2

Official Site: http://www.nisamerica.com/games/cladun2/
Steam Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/206250/
Source: Youtube Channel NISAmerica

There was a very unexpected game that released on Steam today.  If anyone recalls, I posted a review of Cladun: This is an RPG! last year of May and explained how surprisingly fun it turned out to be.  I had spent 30+ hours on the first game as its versatile character creation system, customizable builds, random dungeon generator, catchy tunes, and addictive hack 'n slash and looting system got me hooked for a really long time.  I was excited to hear that a sequel was being made, but then kinda gave up after hearing that it wasn't going to be sold retail for PSP and was instead sold on the PSN network.  I did not hear any sort of PC port being brought to Steam which really surprised me when I saw it on the front page this morning.  The game consists of dungeon crawling with characters either within the story (if it's anything like the first one) or with ones created by the player.  It seems that customization was brought further with the ability to customize the look of not only your own character, but to your weapons as well.  As shown in the video, there are a lot of classes to choose from, many weapons to wield, and tons of dungeons to explore.  What's great about the system in the Cladun series is that one character can have other characters team up with them to give crazy stat boosts to make them immensely powerful, or tanky, or incredibly fast.  There's a lot of combinations to experiment with and a lot of risk/reward factors that's really rewarding.  Although it's considered a "Hack 'n Slash" Action-RPG, it is not easy at all.  If it's anything like the first one, the game will be extremely challenging and does require a bit of patience in order to get through some areas.  The release on Steam is truly a pleasant surprise.  Cladun X2 is available on Steam for $15.99 until August 21st, 2012 before reverting back to $19.99.

VGCulture - Testing ASUS G75VW

Official Site: http://www.asus.com/Notebooks/

Right before the weekend, I posted about ASUS' new G series laptops specifically made for gaming.  I finally got the chance to try out my new ASUS G75VW and it was glorious!  I was able to play everything on the highest settings possible at a resolution of 1920 x 1080.  I had trouble seeing certain enemies and effects in Diablo 3, so it's beautiful to see everything clearly with full screen.  Games I couldn't play without graphics lag were now flawless such as Alpha Protocol.  Games that glitched out and froze the game ran as smooth as ever with games like Red Faction Guerrilla.  The only game that strained a bit was Nexuiz in which I had to turn off Direct X 11 as it made aiming a little tough.  To be able to play even the most current games at the highest settings made me really happy as I've been playing with lower end computers for the longest time.  This has changed my experience with PC games tremendously.

If anyone is looking for a gaming laptop, I would say this ASUS is a pretty good deal.  Running on a Intel i7 Quad-core processor at 2.3 Ghz, boasting 16 GB of RAM, installed with an nVidia GTX 660m graphics card, with a native resolution of 1920 x 1080, a lit-up keyboard for night-time LAN parties, and 4 USB ports for all the peripherals needed.  The only thing that wasn't that great is the on-board speakers and microphone.  That wasn't too big of an issue for me as I generally use external speakers or headphones anyways.  I was very happy with my purchase.

VGCulture - ASUS Gaming Laptops

Official Site: http://www.asus.com/Notebooks/
I was shocked when I heard my friend got a gaming laptop made by ASUS late last year.  When I hear ASUS, I generally think of the tiny, 10" screen, portable notebooks they create that serves really well in business situations and people on the go.  Well, ASUS now has a "G series" specifically created for gamers.  What I'm currently typing on is actually my newly bought ASUS G75VW.  This machine packs a 2.3 Ghz quad-core Intel i7 Processor, 16 GB of RAM, 750 GB of Hard Drive Space, 17.3" screen, and an nVidia GeForce GTX 660m (to make a comparison, the latest version is a GTX 680m).  Unfortunately, I haven't had the chance to try any games on it just yet since I've been busy; however, my friend got the version right before this one and was able to play on every game he owned at the highest settings.  The laptop is quite heavy and not the greatest to carry around, but it's great for a desktop replacement for those who might want to carry it around once in a while.  It has a multi-functional touchpad that allows scrolling, moving, expanding/shrinking, rotating, and such implemented onto the laptop.  The keyboard is sort of like the new keyboards apple makes for their computers, which I'm not a huge fan of, but I won't be using it since I use an external keyboard.  The laptop has a sleek design, the keyboard is lit up with bright led lights, the keyboard is tilted down for an ergonomic design to help ease long playing durations, and there's a finish to the palm rest areas of the laptop used in a lot of gaming peripherals (I have no idea what it's made of).  The most attractive aspect to these ASUS laptops is that they're affordable compared to most gaming laptops and have a very durable casing to ensure the safety of them when lugging them around.  I'm very excited to try out some games on it tonight, finally.

VGCulture - Final Fantasy XIV A Realm Reborn

Official Site: http://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/
Source: Youtube Channel machinima

Finaly Fantasy XIV Online did not please its players when it first launched September 2010.  The graphics were beautiful and they even got Nobuo Uematsu to do some tracks for the game; however, the gameplay didn't change much from Final Fantasy XI and people weren't happy about buying a new game with monthly subscription to play the same game.  This caused Square-Enix to pull everything back and be re-worked.  From some of their preview screen shots, the game looks pretty cool.  Beyond that, it is up to each individual to decide whether it's worth it to pay for the monthly subscription.  In any case, here's a trailer for the upcoming re-release of FFXIV.

GameLight - BlazBlue: Chrono Phantasma

Wikia Site: http://blazblue.wikia.com/wiki/BlazBlue:_Chrono_Phantasma
Source: Youtube Channel PhoenonX

A new BlazBlue is on its way!  Arc System Works is keeping themselves busy announcing a new BlazBlue while launching Persona 4 Arena just yesterday for the PS3 and Xbox 360.  Chrono Phantasma will be a new chapter to the BlazBlue series rather than an add-on (much like Continuum Shift 2 and Extend were) with redone sprite work, three new characters, and some new mechanics.  BlazBlue is a 2D Fighter with very unique play styles to each individual character, an incredibly in-depth story, and the genius work of Daisuke Ishiwatari on composing the music.  Fighting games has changed quite a bit throughout the decade, and BlazBlue takes traditional mechanics mixed with new ones to create a game that's easy for anyone to pick up but make it so detailed and in-depth that it's viable for the most competitive players.  For one, it's a lot easier to perform combos and specials compared to other fighting games, and those who want a bit more than just the combat aspect will enjoy the story mode.  The music is what got me interested in BlazBlue as well as its style of art, but it's the characters and story that got me hooked to the game.  The story ranges from humor, to drama, to action, to some of the most emotional scenes in a fighting game.  A lot of the writing is better than what you'll experience in RPGs.  BlazBlue: Chrono Phantasma should hit Japanese Arcades this Winter and come out for consoles sometime next year.

GameLight - Recent PC games

I have so many topics on hand right now that I'm going to have to talk about a handful of them in one post.  These following games are for mostly for PC (some available on consoles).

[The Walking Dead] - PC/MAC, PS3, Xbox 360, iPhone/iPad
Official Site: http://www.telltalegames.com/walkingdead/
Steam Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/207610/
Source: Youtube Channel IGNentertainment

The series started as a graphic novel that launched in 2003 and was adapted into a live-action TV series in 2010.  An adventure game was launched this year and is split into 5 parts (2 are out so far) and the player only needs to buy the game once and will automatically receive the other parts when they're out.  It's much like other Adventure games where you point-n-click objects, make decisions, and added quick-time events for a bit of Action.  It is described to be like an interactive-movie with a great story, well written dialogues, and some pretty crazy moments that keep the player on their toes.

[Bullet Run] - PC
Official Site: http://www.bulletrunthegame.com/
Steam Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/211880/
Source: Youtube Channel machinima

You're a contestant on a violent reality show where you kill other people for fame and fortune.  The premise of the game totally reminded me of Super Smash TV back in the old Arcade/SNES days.  Anyways, Bullet Run is a Free-to-Play First-Person Shooter published by Sony Online Entertainment.  On Steam, there are 3 available DLCs, each costing $9.99.  I'm not sure how "free" the game is.  That is, I'm not sure how balanced it is between those who play for free and how much of an advantage those who pay money for the game have.  I'll be trying it out when I get my new computer in.

[Awesomenauts] - PC, PS3, Xbox 360
Official Site: http://www.awesomenauts.com/
Steam Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/204300/
Source: Youtube Channel ronimogames

As far as I can tell, Awesomenauts is a 2D Action-Platformer Tower Defense Game.  Perhaps an easier way to grasp it is to call it a 2D DotA?  I hear nothing but great things about this game and it seems a lot of people enjoy it.  It seems that on PC, players will have the advantage of a reticle to aim more precisely.  Also, if you get the game on Steam before September 5th, you get 3 exclusive Team Fortress 2 items based off the Awesomenauts universe.

[The eXceed Collection] - PC
Official Site: http://exceedseries.com/
Steam Page: http://store.steampowered.com/sub/15960/
Source: Youtube Channel Throneful

The eXceed Series ranges releases from 2005-2009 and was just released this year in English for the Western market.  eXceed is a doujin (indie) Shoot-em-up, Bullet hell (Danmaku) for the PC featuring Vampires.  Those who play the Touhou series may find the gameplay to be very familiar.  This is the first game that Nyu Media Ltd has brought over to Steam while I (and possibly many others) patiently wait for the release of Cherry Tree High: Comedy Club on Steam.

[Dark Blood] - PC
Official Site: http://darkblood.outspark.com/
Source: Youtube Channel loadstart

Dark Blood is a free-to-play Action Beat-em-up Online game with RPG elements.  Those who have played Dungeon Fighter Online from Nexon's site will be familiar with Dark Blood's gameplay.  Dark Blood looks a lot more gritty, violent and mature themed compared to the other online beat-em-ups.  Those who enjoy classic beat-em-ups will probably enjoy this game.  Those unfamiliar with the genre but have played other online games before might also take interest in this game.

[Born to Fire] - PC
Official Site: http://borntofire.aeriagames.com/
Source: Youtube Channel Funtree Main

This team-based First-Person Shooter has been talked about for quite a while now, and it looks like it's about to launch on Aeriagame's site.  In Born to Fire, you have your Shotgun-Man, Rifleman, Sniper, Heavyfire, and Dual-Gunner.  Sign up for beta is currently available.

[DayZ] - PC
Official Site: http://dayzmod.com/
Source: Youtube Channel icemotoboy

Those who are familiar with the ArmA 2 mod DayZ will be happy to hear that a stand-alone version of DayZ is currently in development.  This means that the limitations within the ArmA 2 engine will be lifted, no need to get an entire game just to play the mod (Counter-Strike was like that), and hopefully a more polished game will come out of it.  DayZ is a more realistic take on Zombie survival horror with real-time solar clock (it's bright out when you play in the day time and super dark playing at night time), perma-death, and real human interaction (you can betray each other, so that mentality causes paranoia).  It has already attracted over 1 million players to the addictive mod and hopefully will attract even more with a stand-alone version.


That's it for now.  My next line of action is getting through a lot of reviews.  More is on its the way!

GameLight - The Secret World

Official Site: http://www.thesecretworld.com/
Source: Youtube Channel Funcom

The Secret World is an MMORPG portrayed in a gritty modern-world with fantasy-like themes embedded.  This past weekend was a free weekend that allowed all players to play "The Secret World" for free in celebration of one month of the game since its launch.  I actually had lost interest in the game ever since it showed its gameplay videos over a year ago; however, I am always willing to give games a try as they have surprised me in the past with some turning out to be some of my favorite games (Demon's Souls was one of them).  As to not drag this out, I'll get to the point and say that the game has long-winded cut-scenes and conversations with very little gameplay in the beginning of the game.  To give a gauge of how much:  I was on "The Secret World" for about 2.5 hours and only got to really play for about 15 minutes out of that entire time.  I had a friend describe to me that "they're trying too hard" and I see what he meant.

Essentially, the environment and story is very in-depth and the developers want very much for the player to be immersed into that world.  From the gritty streets of our modern day society to crazy world portals floating in mid-air, the game tries its very best to get the player interested in the world.  So the first few hours will mostly be cut-scenes of the characters explaining who you are, where you are, what you and the group you're in do, why you fight, but also tries not to tell you "how" to approach your goals.  The game boasts itself having freedom of choice and not being locked into a class.  You can switch between "class-types" by changing the weapons you wield, but you still fall into a certain "role".

Despite all the waiting I did hearing the characters jabber, the combat is actually pretty fun.  As an MMORPG, it still follows the point-n-click style combat where the player targets an enemy with a click or "tab" key and spams their attacks on them.  The difference is that the player's character will not auto-attack and must be able to cycle through their skills strategically based on their situation.  This means that the player will have to press keys 1~7 repeatedly in combat.  The player can also move while attack and can also do an action dodge with the "shift" key (this is implemented to upcoming MMORPG Guild Wars 2 as well).  With these little changes, players can no longer stand there and win by auto-attack like many MMORPGs have been designed to work in the past decade, but will have to move around a lot and avoid enemy attacks to survive.  Another fun aspect of combat is being able to take on multiple enemies right from the get go rather than being limited to fighting 1 enemy at a time.  I hated being static and taking forever on one enemy in a lot of the MMORPGs I've played in the past because it stayed that way throughout most of the game until you could participate in PvP, instances, boss fights and raids.  So it was fun running around, being able to effectively kite and dodge, and taking on multiple enemies.  After the 3rd large enemy, I started to realize the controls were a bit of a problem though.

Having to move, mash on the number row keys and pressing shift to dodge was actually not possible to do effectively in quick succession.  They should've made the game entirely "Action-RPG" rather than partial point-n-click/Action as it doesn't work very well with the combat mechanics they set up.  If the mouse were able to aim, the left-click to attack, the number row to switch to a different special attack, and the right-click to use that special attack, the player wouldn't have to keep leaving WASD (movement keys) to reach over for the number keys and having to keep mashing them.  The way it's set up now, the player has to juggle between using the mouse to look around, the WASD to move around, the number keys to attack, with a crazy left-hand dance between the number keys, shift, WASD, and spacebar for jumping up to higher places.  It just doesn't work very well right now and I can see a huge improvement to combat with a more action-orientated control scheme (though some may argue that it'd be too much like Vindictus, Dungeons and Dragons Online, or TERA Online).  Take note that I noticed this problem within the 15 minutes of combat I got to experience as the other 2.25 hours was spent watching cut-scenes and listening to conversations.

The graphics are pretty good, but the character creation did feel a bit limited compared to most MMORPGs nowadays.  The story as a whole is pretty interesting but the conversations and cut-scenes describing them were really boring.  The well engineered sound effects added a visceral impact to combat, but the controls kind of killed the combat in the long-run though.  And so in my opinion, the game as a whole doesn't seem to be worth the monthly-subscription unless you totally dig the game's mechanics and don't mind listening through a lot of yakking before smacking baddies.

NewNews - The Secret World Free Weekend

Official Site: http://www.thesecretworld.com/news/celebrate_the_first_live_month_of_the_secret_world
Source: Youtube Channel dievorezimas

The Secret World caused quite a buzz 3 years ago when it was announced.  When it finally started showing some gameplay footages, the whole MMORPG community suddenly lost interest.  The launched seemed kind of quiet and it seems that it's been a month since launch and the developers want to celebrate by allowing all players to try out the game for free this weekend from Friday, August 3rd at 4pm GMT until Monday, August 6th at 7am GMT.  The Secret World is a monthly subscription-based MMORPG set in a post-modern world with less emphasis on "class" and "role" and more on character progression.  Players will fall into a class of their own based on how they play and what skills they learn.  I'm not sure what to expect, but I'll give it a go since we can this weekend.

Retroview - FarCry (revisited)

This game is the prime reason why no one should ever rate a game from the first few hours of playing.
Source: Youtube Channel expresszor

I am baffled by the high praise this game received unless they all played the first 4 hours and gave it a score.  Reading back on the original post I had for this game, I had a very optimistic view for the game.  Sadly, things didn't go so well after that initial portion of the game.  There was a long duration where I just stayed away from the game because of how much it was pissing me off.  I'll list my opinions to get straight to the point:

Pros:
-Incredibly beautiful graphics, even looking at it now I'm astonished
-Open ended map traversing to get to the goal
-Some pretty intense moments

Cons:
-Some objectives are vague and can get you lost for a very long time
-Various enemies that charge at you and kill you in a single blow
-Having to walk/run long durations with no checkpoint
-Can't create your own saves; if you reach one with a tick of life left, that's all you get for the next area
-Glitches that occur and break the game
-Enemies come in droves and can kill you in a few attacks, but they take quite a bit to die
-Some odd design choices makes it so that there are no cover or cover becomes pointless
-Moving while scoped it will take you out of scope for a lot of the weapons

You can see where I'm going with this.  I'm not going to even mention bad voice acting and lame story ending as it didn't matter by that point.  There were many instances where I'd die near immediately from gunfire while behind cover or from enemies that charge right into my face.  Hiding behind cover didn't really matter either as enemies would throw grenades, have others charge right where I am, shoot rocket launchers and running to another cover meant getting shot by possibly 7-15 other guys.  I got through most of those points by having enemies get stuck in trees, or funnel them through a doorway they can't quite get through or something that prevents them from one-shotting me.  A player shouldn't have to exploit bugs and glitches just to get through a part of the game (or the entirety of it).  I hated it most when I have to walk through an entire mountain or beach and get close to my destination only to get hit by 2 rocket launchers off from another island (you can't really hear it until it gets to you) and having to start over from the last checkpoint.  I got to admit that it was one crazy adventure for one guy stranded on the island, but it was a very painful experience.  I ended up playing through the rest of the game for two reasons: I already paid for it and I treated it as a study game and tried to learn not what to do in a game such as this one.

I still haven't tried FarCry 2 yet, and I'm hoping that it's good.  When I played Crysis 1, I liked the story but didn't like the gameplay as much while the reverse was true for Crysis 2 which I enjoyed a lot but thought the story was lame.  FarCry 1's story was rather predictable and possibly even cliché, but it had a really nice sense of adventure.  It's just that the frustrating combat and game glitches causes the adventure to be rather erratic and in pieces rather than a cohesive one.  So I'm hoping that FarCry 2 far exceeds its predecessors and have really enjoyable gameplay.  FarCry turned out to be a very bad experience, and I rather not play it again anytime soon.

GameLight - Wanderlust: Rebirth

Official Site: http://www.wanderlustgame.com/
Steam Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/211580/
Source: Youtube Channel wanderlustrebirth

Wanderlust: Rebirth is a 4-player co-op based Action-RPG that launched 5.5 years ago.  This indie developed game was created with Game Maker and utilizes the ability to play online with other players cooperatively.  The game's aesthetics is reminiscent of old SNES RPGs and games such as Secret of Mana or The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (in which they mentioned to have drawn inspiration from).  The game actually reminds me of Gauntlet with the 4-players having their own classes and builds fighting from a top-down perspective.  I think out of the descriptions they provided, "44 unique enemies and 15 intense boss battles" was the one that caught my eye.  I've mentioned this a lot, but I like Boss battles.  The game seems to have a lot of depth: loaded with abilities, lots of items, plenty of things to kill, and skill-based action that avoids the need to grind and level.  The game definitely looks more fun with a full 4-man party, so I'm wondering what the single-player experience is like.  I can't tell whether this game is fun or not just from the gameplay videos, but it does strike my interest.  These are the last two days you can pick Wanderlust: Rebirth up for $7.49 before it reverts to its regular price of $9.99.