NewNews - Should I Stay or Should I Go?

Writing takes up a lot of time, especially when it's something that requires research.  Because of this, I actually produced a lot less work than I wanted to this year outside of writing.  I want to take the time to work a bit on music and art and reflecting on my time with this blog and decide whether I should continue to keep writing in the future or if I should stop and put all my focus on other endeavors.  So for the rest of December, I won't be posting anything new.  If I do decide to continue, I will start posting again in January.  And even if I choose not to continue posting on this blog anymore, I will make one last post to let you all know in January.

Until then, have a fun and safe holiday season!  Game On!

NewNews - Steam Autumn Sale 2013

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

Steam Autumn Sale is here!  And look at the selection for just the first day!  Left 4 Dead 2, Terraria, Rogue Legacy, Sleeping Dogs, The Walking Dead, and Skyrim are all highly notable games while Prison Architect has been working through early access with positive feedback from the community, Anti-Chamber has had many praises for its unique puzzle-solving mechanics, and Outlast for being one of the scariest games to come out recently.  And as usual, there will be a flash sale every 8 hours until the last day December 3rd.  With the sale started and Thanksgiving being tomorrow, I will probably be taking a break the next two days and so should all of you.  Have a safe and enjoyable Holiday and be careful for those going out for Black Friday/Cyber Monday sales.

VGCulture - Lil' Guardian Pyro

Official Site: http://www.sourcefilmmaker.com/saxxyawards/
Source: Youtube Channel Harry101UK

The Saxxy Award is a contest hosted by Valve to give people an opportunity to show their creative side to the world using the Source Film Maker Program to produce a short film.  I don't pay much attention to each year's Saxxy Award, but I came across one of the entries while reading NerfNow.  Lil' Guardian Pyro was winner of Best Overall video from the bunch and I could see why.  It had humor, a sense of drama, action that was also charming at the same time, and that tense moment at the end.  Congratulations to the winners!  Click on the top link to check out the other entries that got nominated!

NewNews - Amazon Black Friday Sale Week

Amazon: Black Friday Sale

Amazon is having flash sales for their games for this year's Black Friday Sale.  Sure you avoid the physical lines in retail stores, but you'll have to fight the internet speed and refresh rate to nab some of the offers as some are in high demand.  DmC: Devil May Cry might have gotten a lot of critical reviews from the community, but that didn't stop it from being in high demand as it sold out this morning in just a manner of minutes of the flash sale starting.  Check the day and time the sales start and start refreshing the page for that specific game and you'll see a "Flash Sale" button on the right of the page.  As long as you claim a copy before they're sold out, you're guaranteed to receive it as long as you buy it within 15 minutes of claiming it.  Keep in mind that Free Shipping is for a purchase of $35 or more instead of the usual $25.  I'm not certain if this is permanent or if it's just for the holidays, but remember this when checking out and looking for free shipping with the product.  Good luck and Happy Sales to you all!

NewNews - Xbox One Launch Games Line-Up

These are the games you can buy/install and start playing on your new Xbox One:

Assassin's Creed 4 Black Flag
Battlefield 4
Call of Duty: Ghosts
Crimson Dragon
Dead Rising 3
FIFA 14
Fighter Within
Forza Motorsport 5
Just Dance 2014
Killer Instinct
Lego Marvel Super Heroes
LocoCycle
Madden NFL 25
NBA 2K14
NBA Live 2014
Need for Speed: Rivals
Powerstar Golf
Ryse: Son of Rome
Skylanders: Swap Force
Xbox Fitness
Zoo Tycoon
Zumba Fitness

Sad to say, but I think the Xbox One has a better launch line-up than the Playstation 4 does.  Despite the flack Microsoft had throughout the year of promoting their system, the Xbox One actually has more exclusive titles that interest me.  Crimson Dragon, Dead Rising 3, Killer Instinct, and Ryse: Son of Rome are among the exclusive titles that interest me.  Still, I don't plan to get an Xbox One and will be getting a PS4 much later.  With the Wii U, PS4 and now the Xbox One out, we can finally step into another generation of gaming.

GameLight - Tree of Savior (Project R1)

Source: Youtube Channel steparu

From what I understand, this fantastic looking game is by the same creator (not company) of Ragnarok Online.  Ragnarok Online (RO) actually still exists today and was just recently added to the Steam platform.  Many other games similar to RO has released in the past decade and even a sequel was made, but none of them had quite the same satisfaction, excitement and wonder that RO did.  The creator of RO wants to bring back those feelings in a new original MMORPG called Tree of Savior Online which features 80 classes.  With those 80 classes, a player can advance 10 times.  I'm not entirely certain yet, but it looks like the game isn't a point-n-click from the gameplay videos and looks similar to how the Ys series plays as a top-down hack-n-slash.  The game is said to have an intricate skill tree and attribute level system which opens up many different possibilities of playing.  Perhaps it's similar to Path of Exile where the character starts with a class but can extend out to many different playstyles.  Needless to say, I am extremely excited to see more of the game and hope that we get a Western/International version available for us to play one day.

Source:
-Steparu - Tree of Savior Online Preview

VGCulture - Filler - SSBM Final Destination

Sorry to leave you all with another filler, but it's a fitting follow up to yesterday's post.  Though a lot of fans of competitive Smash Bros. are excited about Project M, those who like to play casually are reminded how some people take the game a little too seriously and suck all the fun out of the game for them.  This little video, although facetious, does a good job of summing up what happens when you play with those who only want to play Smash Bros. seriously:
Source: Youtube Channel swordsman3003

So those worried that Project M just reinforces the competitive nature of the series, let me reassure you that anyone can still have fun with it.  Smash Bros. is like any other Fighting game where it provides a lot of depth in their game mechanics for further competitive play but will ultimately have distinguished skill levels among those who play it.  If you want to play more casually with items on and with special settings, do so.  There are definitely still people who play this casually, and Sakurai has already stated that he wants to produce a true party game that anyone could enjoy for the series.  I'm very excited to see how the next Smash Bros. turns out.

GameLight - Project M (SSB Brawl Mod)

Official Site: http://projectmgame.com/en/
Source: Youtube Channel Project M

Super Smash Bros. Melee is really popular.  It's actually super popular.  It's so highly regarded by fans of the series that play competitively that Melee tournaments are still held over Brawl.  Fans of the series wanted the fast, balanced and competitive play of Melee in Brawl but didn't get it.  Thus, a group of modders banded together to start Project Melee (Project M) which is a mod of Super Smash Bros. Brawl that bring in elements from Super Smash Bros. Melee into Brawl while having a major overhaul on the game's mechanics, character balances, custom stages, and bringing back older characters such as Mewtwo.

To many Smash Bros. fans, Melee is king of the series and people were really hoping to get more of that in Brawl.  Unfortunately, the game went in the opposite direction in hopes of making it more casual.  The goal of Smash Bros. was to be a fun party game that anyone could enjoy.  Through the strong community and fighting game enthusiast behind Super Smash Bros. Melee, the game became a much more competitive and serious game than what the developers had intended.  With slower gameplay, tripping, and such in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, it was simply not viewed possible for competitive play.  Despite that, people tried and realized that the characters have vast advantages over others when played competitively.  Meta Knight never left the spot of the highest tier in the game since the game first came out and remains to be the top choice for competitive play.

With the team behind Project M, they wanted to break that balance barrier and create whole new possibilities with all the characters in the game so that there would be more variety in competitive play.  One great example is Sonic the Hedgehog.
Source: Youtube Channel Project M

I was very excited to hear Sonic being added to Super Smash Bros. Brawl, but was very disappointed with how he played when I finally got the game.  I didn't mind that he deals very little damage due to this advantage in speed, but a lot of his attacks have charged up time, a long recovery delay, and a dive kick that can't be canceled that leaves him open or sends him straight down to his death.  Another problem is that he doesn't have many options for finishers.  His Back-Air has a long start-up and his forward-smash is very short ranged.  This makes both of them very situational and not very reliable.  What Project M wanted to do with Sonic was shorten charge up times, shorten recovery delays, give him more options for smashes, and possibly fix priority shots because every character in the game seriously has priority over all his attacks.

The mod has been created so that you don't need a hacked/cracked Wii to play it.  You just need a working Wii with Super Smash Bros. Brawl and an SD Card that doesn't exceed 2GB.  Still, I don't feel very confident about modding over my original game and hope that there will be alternatives such as being able to use the disc and mod files on PC instead.  But I understand that the team behind Project M wants to continue to support Nintendo and the those behind Brawl by preventing piracy, so that's commendable.

I've been playing Melee and Brawl again as I've missed the game very much and am very much excited for the new Super Smash Bros. that's in development at the moment.  I'm just hoping to be able to play Project M until the release of the Wii U and 3DS Super Smash Bros. comes out.  If you're done with Brawl and like what you see in Project M, click on the top link, go to Download and learn how to safely install the mod to your Nintendo Wii.  Project M Version 3.0 comes out on December 9th, 2013.

NewNews - Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate Arcade Announced for Japan

Official Site:
http://teamninja-studio.com/teamninja/doa5/ultimate/
Source: Youtube Channel KOEITECMOofficial

Namco Bandai has announced Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate Arcade, a version of the game specifically for arcades in Japan.  With that, they added one new character to the 29 character roster: Marie Rose.  She is absolutely adorable and is a practitioner or systema, a Russian martial art.  From what is shown, she might be a grappler (grabs and reversal throws) of sorts.  I don't like playing grapplers in fighting games, but she's so cute that I might not care!  The problem at the moment is that no confirmation for Marie Rose being brought to the West or even consoles has been made.  Team NINJA did leave a message on their Facebook page saying:

"Fighters! We see that you’ve discovered our newest character, Marie Rose for the upcoming Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate Arcade. Although this game is a JP exclusive title, we haven’t forgotten about our overseas fighters in the World."

So there's a chance Marie Rose will be released on consoles in the West as a DLC.  I really do not like DLCs, but I'll seriously consider it if it's for this one character.  Japan will be getting DoA5U Arcade sometime this Winter with the addition of Marie Rose.

Sources:

-Joystiq - Marie Rose enters the Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate: Arcade arena

-Shoryuken - Team NINJA Hints at Possible Console Release for Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate Arcade’s Marie Rose

-Dead or Alive Wiki - Systema

NewNews - Playstation 4 Launch Games Line-Up

These are the games you can buy/install and start playing on your new Playstation 4:
Source: Youtube Channel PlayStation

-Angry Birds: Star Wars
-Assassin's Creed 4 Black Flag
-Battlefield 4
-Blacklight: Retribution
-Call of Duty: Ghosts
-Contrast
-DC Universe Online
-FIFA 14
-Flower
-Injustice: Gods Among Us Ultimate Edition
-Just Dance 2014
-Killzone: Shadow Fall
-Knack
-Lego Marvel Super Heroes
-Madden NFL 25
-NBA 2K14
-Need for Speed Rivals
-Resogun
-Skylanders: Swap Force
-Sound Shapes
-Super Motherload
-Trine 2: Complete Story
-Warframe

I'm honestly not very impressed by the line-up of games for the PS4 launch.  Don't get me wrong, there's a lot of great games to choose from this list.  The problem is that a lot of them have been out for a while now or can be played on different systems.  The only games released exclusively for the PS4 are Killzone: Shadow Fall and Knack with indie games Resogun and Super Motherload for digital download purchase.  Even though I might not think this is a great line-up, it's a lot stronger with more choices than the PS3 did.  I just visited my local Target and all PS4 systems and the games for it were sold out except for a few copies of Madden NFL 25.  So the launch for the PS4 looks pretty successful so far.  I'm just waiting on games like Final Fantasy 15, Metal Gear Solid V, Destiny, Kingdom Hearts 3, and a new Uncharted to come out.  In any case, welcome to the next generation of gaming!

Source:
-Joystiq - These are the 23 games in the PlayStation 4 launch-day line-up

GameLight - Senran Kagura Burst

Official Site: http://www.hanzonationalacademy.com/
Source: Youtube Channel ContraNetworkHD

I didn't think the game would ever be brought over to the West, but it has been done!  North America got its digital-only version launched today while Europe will get physical and digital versions sometime next year.  Senran Kagura Burst is a straight-up Beat-em-Up featuring incredibly busty schoolgirl ninjas.  I remember first hearing about this game and saw some of the screenshots to the game.  It looked really dumb.  But then they eventually showed a footage of the gameplay and I saw some combo demonstrations and was then interested.  If you can look past the copious amount of fan-service and you like beat-em-ups, this game can be very enjoyable.  The combat mechanics is similar to Dynasty Warriors where weak attacks can chain into strong ones and a powerful signature attack can be unleashed.  Furthermore, combos can be continued in the air for aerial combos similar to the Marvel vs. Capcom series where the player strikes an opponent into the air and continues another string of attacks in the air.  Animations are fluid and the attacks string together really well so that combat doesn't feel clunky.  The characters do follow the usual animé tropes, but they do give a fun personality to the cast.  The game feels a lot like an animé, overall.  It was a bold move for XSEED Games to bring Senran Kagura Burst over, but I'm glad they did.  There aren't that many beat-em-ups and we've gotten a good amount of them this year.  Senran Kagura Burst is a good addition to the beat-em-ups released this year and hopefully encourages publishers or even XSEED themselves to bring over Senran Kagura Shinovi Versus as well.

VGCulture - Filler - Top 10 Worst NES Games - AVGN

Ahhh, sorry!  I'm caught up with a lot of errands today so it's a filler for today!
Source: Youtube Channel Cinemassacre

GameLight - Dungeonland Free-to-Play

Steam Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/218130/
Source: Youtube Channel RatingTheGames

Dungeonland released earlier this year and it wasn't that expensive.  At one point, it was $2.49 for a sale.  Yet it somehow went free-to-play and re-launched today.  From what I understand, content has been ripped out of it and presented as additional content for Free-to-Play owners while those who previously bought the game has everything.  I think publisher and developers are abusing the term "Free-to-Play" and not really understanding the difference from a "Demo" or "Trial Version".  This "Free-to-Play" version is essentially a "demo" for players to see what the game is like as additional maps, weapons and such are available after paying for the "All Access Pass".  A "Free-to-Play" game should be a fully playable game with additional boosters or aesthetic enhancements.  I know that not all Free-to-Play games are like that, but they should.  Still, it doesn't make too much of a difference as the All Access Pass is still the same price as the game before and is at 50% off for $4.99.

OKAY, so enough ranting by me.  Dungeonland is a Multiplayer, cooperative, top-down, hack-n-slash action game where three players fight through dungeons that randomly generate enemy spawn, loot, and traps.  A fourth player can join and be the Dungeon Maestro to control the monster spawns and such to screw over the players.  The biggest complaint I hear about the game is how incredibly difficult it is.  Difficulty as a challenge is fine, but I heard it's so difficult that it's hard to enjoy.  Perhaps having the label "Free-to-Play" might attract more players to try out the game to keep the online community active.  In any case, I guess I'll give the game a try myself.

NewNews - Buy 2 Get 1 Free Deals (2013)

Every year for the past 2 or so years (maybe more, not sure), Target has had a "Buy 2, Get 1 Free" Deal for videogames right around Thanksgiving time.  It's back again and it's a great deal for those buying the new Playstation 4 and Xbox One since all games count for the deal and people can grab 3 games for $120 instead of $180.  Amazon is having a similar sale for Playstation 4 games on their site.  For those not buying games for the new console, there are plenty of choices for PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, Wii U, 3DS, and PS Vita at Target for you to choose from.

Target: Buy 2 Get 1 Free On Select Games across all systems
Amazon: Buy 2 Get 1 Free On PS4 Games


Source:
-Joystiq - Target's buy two games, get one free sale spans all consoles
-Joystiq - Amazon offers buy 2, get 1 sale on PS4 games starting tomorrow

NewNews - Taking a small break

I'm taking a break this week for personal reasons and should return next Monday.

NewNews - Steam Sale Dates For 2013?

Whether this is purely rumor or a convincing prank, it's pretty evident to most steam users that there will be a seasonal sale around Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Well it seems that one of the developers that Valve has notified about the upcoming sales to have them put a discount price on their game, which happens to be a greenlit game, has leaked a picture of the message stating that:

"Valve will hold its Steam Autumn Sale from November 27 through December 3, followed by a Steam Holiday Sale between December 19 and January 2."

As excited as I am to know the dates, this causes some problems for people.  For other publishers and developers, letting the public know the exact dates may lower the profits and sales they could've made before.  That may not sound like a great deal for us because the customer wants to save, but we must keep in mind that developers and publishers are trying to break even and make a profit off their hard work.  As for us customers, this leak can cause several changes.  The dates won't change because that's a huge problem, but prices of discounts may change to compensate for the public knowing the dates of BOTH sales.  So instead of having the same sale price for both sales, we might not get as good of discounts during the Autumn sale if the publishers/developers decide to change them and will drop them lower in the Winter sale.  Or they can decide to not have as big of a discount for both sales because there will be people who plan on getting certain games during the sales no matter what the discount is and the price can still be kept somewhat high for the publishers/developers.

In any case, I'm ready for Steam sales.  There's a lot of games I'm looking forward to getting and playing.  I just hope Valve doesn't do something drastic like cancel the Steam sale.  Although, the backlash from the community due to the lack of a Halloween event for Team Fortress 2 and DotA 2 riled people up, so I'm sure Valve doesn't want to cause any more of that.

Source: Joystiq - Rumor: Upcoming Steam sale dates leaked

NewNews - 3 Year Anniversary

It's been 3 years as of today since I started this blog, it's crazy!  I wasn't sure how persistent I was going to be with writing so much from day to day, but somehow I've been doing this for 3 years!  Through these 3 years, we have seen Keiji Inafune leave Capcom and recently start up his campaign for Mighty No. 9 which raised over $4 Million.  We have seen the rise in popularity of indie games and MOBA.  We experienced the return of Fighting games back into the main stream community of gamers.  Tons of MMOs turn Free-to-Play and Valve launches the Steam Greenlight program and lots of games get brought to steam.  A lot has happened and it's kind of wonderful to be part of it.  I wonder how long I'll be able to keep this up.  In any case, thank you for all the support for those who have visited and a Happy third year anniversary to this blog!

VGCulture - Halloween Events 2013!

If you play an online game, there's a good chance that there's a Halloween event going on right now for it.  More games get involved with the holidays and will provide limited edition items, special game modes, special events and such.  Here are some of the games I found Halloween events for:
Source: Youtube Channel gamespot

MMOs:
-Dragon Nest
-Elsword
-Guild Wars 2
-Mabinogi
-Vindictus

Non-MMOs:
-Don't Starve - The Screecher Horror Mod
-Giana Sisters Twisted Dreams Halloween Level
-Killing Floor - Hillbilly Horror Fright Yard
-Serious Sam 3 BFE
-Terraria

Don't forget that the Steam Halloween Sale ends tomorrow.  Also a free Half-Life 2 Mod was added to Steam platform today called "No More Room in Hell" which features 8-player co-op Horror FPS action.  Have a fun and safe Halloween!

NewNews - Steam Greenlight Games Everywhere 10-30-13

Steam Greenlight: October 16th Batch
Steam Greenlight: October 29th Batch

Steam games are coming out so fast you can't count them all!  I just know that Steam Winter Sales is going to be killer on my wallet this year.  The support behind Steam Greenlight is extraordinary as some games that has just been recently posted already got greenlit.  I guess I shouldn't be surprised that games such as Ikaruga got greenlit so quickly.
Source: Youtube Channel TREASURE Channel

I am surprised that Vanguard Princess got greenlit just as fast though as most people might not have heard of the game.  I've known about the game for quite a while now and have played the Japanese version and thought it was a pretty fun game.  With the English Version making a push to be put on Steam, I immediately upvoted it in hopes of supporting it when it releases.
Source: Youtube Channel Throneful

I'm also happy to see Eryi's Action FINALLY get greenlit after a year of waiting.  I mentioned the game over a year ago in August.
Source: Youtube Channel NyuMedia

Although I mention a bunch of Japanese developed games, there are definitely a lot of non-Japanese indie games worth checking out such as Ravensword: Shadowlands.
Source: Youtube Channel josh presseisen

Steam always has great sales for the games on their platform, so money isn't so much an issue right now.  Finding the time to play all these great games is what's really difficult to manage.

Source:
-Kotaku - 130+ Games In Two Weeks? Time to Slow Down, Steam

NewNews - Halloween Special 2013!

This will be one Halloween some gamers will remember.  You know what came out today?  Battlefield 4.
Source: Youtube Channel Battlefield

You know what else came out today?  Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag.
Source: Youtube Channel AssassinsCreed

It's weird because both games were talked about so much and so often this year it seemed like it was so far away before their actual release, yet here they both are!  There's also one other thing: Steam is having their annual Halloween Sale going on right now!  157 games are selected and discounted for the sale along with the usual mid-week madness and daily deal sales.  What a fun Halloween season we have this year!

GameLight - Blade & Soul (US Trailer)

Official Site: http://us.bladeandsoul.com/en/
Source: Youtube Channel loadstart

I didn't think I'd see any announcement for Blade & Soul for the West this year, but here it is!  It's funny because I was talking to a friend saying that they need to bring Phantasy Star Online 2 and Blade & Soul over already just last night.  And then today, I was presented with this video indicating NCSoft's next step in bringing the stylish Action-MMORPG over to the states.  I heard about Blade & Soul years ago when it was in development.  It has the stylish Hack 'n Slash vibe that the Dynasty Warriors series does with a oriental fantasy environment.  The art style is one of the major factors that has caught the attention of many gamers.  The animations for combat are fluid, flashy, and so clean.  I've been avoiding looking up the game and keeping up with it too much because I knew it would take a while for it to ever reaching state side.  I don't like getting so hyped up and excited for a game and not being able to play it.  Even now, I'm still weary about looking forward to playing it as I might be waiting until sometime next year before I'm actually able to play it.  Still, this is more progress and news than what Sega has shown for Phantasy Star Online 2.  You can sign up for Blade & Soul newsletter to keep up to date on the progress for Beta testing and official launch on their official site on the top link.

GameLight - Contagion

Steam Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/238430/
Source: Youtube Channel MonochromeLLC

I had a lot of fun playing cooperative multiplayer on Cry of Fear with my friends.  It was quite an experience because it was scary, but I faced it with my friends which led to many laughter and freaking out together.  I've been searching for another game that could offer a similar experience for 3-4 players and there doesn't seem to be that many that interest me.  Contagion caught my eye when I saw that it was a "Cooperative Survival Horror FPS".  There's one mode where objectives are randomly generated and plotted out in a map, another where you save civilians, and a PvP mode where it simulates a sort of trust and betrayal kind of mentality in an open environment.  So it may look like a standard zombie shooter, but it seems to have some interesting mechanics in play for it.  Unfortunately, it doesn't look nearly as scary as Cry of Fear and perhaps it's not the developers' goal; however, the game is worth looking into and I hope to see it out of Steam Early Access and become a full fledged game.  You can purchase Contagion on Steam Early Access for $14.99 right now on the top link.

GameLight - Lineage Eternal

NCSoft: Lineage Eternal
Source: Youtube Channel SurrealMMO

Last year, I was looking up for some Top-Down, Point-n-Click, Action-RPGs to play while I was waiting for Diablo 3 to release.  One of the game I had run into was Lineage Eternal.  It was to be a sequel to the Lineage series and it looked really interesting.  It's been well over a year now and I still haven't heard much of it.  I looked it up again to see what other videos might have been posted.  More gameplay videos have been uploaded and shows off some of the graphics and class capabilities.  I hope NCSoft brings this over to North America as it seems to have a large market for it with mass interests in games like Diablo 3 (yes, Diablo 3), Torchlight 2, and Path of Exile.  We can only wait and see if more news about this game will surface.

GameLight - Path of Exile

Official Site: https://www.pathofexile.com/
Steam Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/238960
Source: Youtube Channel gamespot

I'm shocked I never mentioned Path of Exile (other than the 2013 Anticipated games list) even once!  I've been playing in open beta since the beginning of the year and closed beta last year.  It's an ambitious take on the Free-to-play, Top-Down, Point-n-Click, Action-RPG genre that's highly influenced by the first two Diablo games and their darker atmospheric environment.  It's hard to believe that this 7 year game in development is an indie project.  It sure doesn't feel like a free-to-play game either.  Some of the aspects that sets this game apart from the other Action-RPGs are they way classes work, items, and the skill tree (how what my friends like to call 'skill jungle').  It most games, the classes you choose defines what role and skills you'll obtain.  In Path of Exile (PoE), a class is a starting point and helps influence towards what kind of character and skills you want.  Skills are obtained through gems that are socketed into your equipment and can be taken out at any time to be put in other equipment when you find upgrades.  Rather than currency to purchase items, you receive other items for selling unnecessary equipment which can be used to help improve your character.  The skill tree is reminiscent of Final Fantasy X's skill tree in a much more broader and extensive customization.  There are so many possibilities and builds that can be made which leads to a lot of experimentation and replay value for players.  The game has had a strong following and community of players for the past year in open beta, so I can imagine that it'll have even more players from today onwards as it has officially released along with a steam version.  You can check out Path of Exile on their official website or download it through Steam.  If you already have an account, you can link it to your steam account.

For new players, the game might seem a bit overwhelming at first; however, there are tons of videos and guides online that can help you ease into it.  Don't be afraid to experiment or even start over a new character.  Have fun!

GameLight - Warface (Officially Out)

Official Site: http://www.warface.com/
Source: Youtube Channel warfacegame

Almost 3 years ago, I posted about a game called Warface and explained how great it looked, visually.  Just yesterday, the game officially released internationally after extensive beta testing.  The free-to-play cooperative/competitive online multiplayer First-Person Shooter has been in the works for over 3 years and is finally available to play.  The weird part of getting the game was that it all ran and played in your browser.  I guess that's kind of cool?  The problem is that it still installs assets onto your hard drive without really telling you where it goes.  It also warns that the game will "Read everything on your hard drive" much like Electronic Art's digital distribution platform "Origin" does.  It does make me feel uneasy that it has permission to "read everything" off my hard drive, because there really isn't a need for it to.  Ignoring those two aspects about starting up the game, signing up is very easy: Username, Password, email.  Once the game starts up, the player can choose different faces, gender and name for their character.  The player will then be put through a short tutorial explaining the very basics of the game's mechanics.  Once that's done, the player can choose to play a Cooperative game or Versus mode.  Cooperative has you and a few other players running through missions to clear out computer AI hostiles.  You watch each others backs and take out baddies on rooftops while your buddies are taking care of ground level guys.  You can help injured team mates up and even revive them if you're a medic.  There are 4 classes to choose from and each role helps the team carry out the mission: Assault, Medic, Engineer and Sniper.  Players can help each other up higher platforms and carry them up as well.  Cooperative mode is an interesting idea, but if there isn't more scenarios and levels provided in the near future, it can get pretty boring.  Versus mode is probably where most of the replay value will come from with various weapons, levels, modes, and players put into play.  There are death matches and other modes such as bomb mode which is reminiscent of Counter-Strike where one side plants a bomb while the other side prevents it from being planted or blown up.  Level designs having a similar flow and theme to Counter-Strike while the game mechanics feel like a cross between Call of Duty and the newer Battlefield games.  Players can vault over certain obstacles, scale up small walls, and slide to cover.  The aim-down sight, recoil, spray, and sound of the guns feel a bit like Battlefield 3 while the amount of hits you can take, mobility and close encounters feel closer to Call of Duty.  The knife and grenade must be switched to utilize rather than having an immediate throw or stab towards the enemy and so is closer to Counter-Strikes item usage.  Overall, I felt the game has a nice sense of quality to it and I had a bit of fun trying it out.  I'm not very happy about accepting the terms of giving permission to read my hard drive, not with all the problems with hackers and identity thefts nowadays.  Logging in through a browser was one thing that turned me off from playing Nexon games for a while until they introduced it on the Steam platform for convenience, so I'm not very happy about having to log in through a browser over a client.  If you're interested in checking out the game, click on the top link and sign-up, login, and play directly in your browser.  The game isn't compatible with all browsers (such as Opera), so keep in mind that you may need to download Google Chrome to get it to work.

Retroview - Demigod

Official Site: http://www.demigodthegame.com/
Steam Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/202710/
Source: Youtube Channel IGN

Before League of Legends, Heroes of Newerth, DotA 2, and many other Massive Online Battle Arena games (MOBA), Gas Powered Games (Dungeon Siege 1&2, Supreme Commander 2) tried their hand at an original game inspired by the Warcraft 3 Custom game map "Defense of the Ancients" (DotA 1).  During the time Demigod was announced, I had already played DotA for several years and was excited to see that a developer was going to take on the mechanics and concept of the game and make an original one without the limitations of the Warcraft 3 engine.  So why is it that such a good looking game is so unknown/forgotten to the gaming community?  To put it simply, there were a lot of problems with the game and I see them even more clearly now than before since the release of so many other successful MOBAs.  You could say that the lack of experience Gas Powered Games had with such a new genre of gaming could be blamed as LoL, HoN and DotA 2 all have members with close ties, experience and work to the original DotA 1 game.  I might miss out on mentioning certain aspects as I delve back into analyzing the game, but I'll try my best to explain what developers have learned about making a "DotA-like" game since the release of Demigod.

Things Demigod did well:
+ Obviously not having to be limited to the models of Warcraft 3 models, the developers were able to craft and create unique and original characters.  DotA 1's characters had many references to other videogames, animé characters and such.  A lot of LoL character's also reference videogame characters and animé characters pretty closely.  HoN are nearly direct emulations of DotA characters with different names and looks while DotA 2 recreates and refines the characters of DotA 1.  So it really was nice seeing very different characters in Demigod.

+ Skills, items, gold, Health and Mana are neatly organized into a clean bar on the bottom that doesn't take up a large portion of the screen.

+ All the skills and items are lined up into one row of keys instead of being all over the place.  Obviously, all other MOBAs did this because it made sense.

+ Games are highly customizable.  DotA 2 has a fair amount of customization, which is cool.  In Demigod, there are 4 different modes, the ability to change spawn rate, death penalty, experience rate, starting gold, and such.  With such diverse rule changes, lots of different custom games can be played with friends.


Things Demigod got wrong:
- First and foremost, online multiplayer connections had lots of problems when the game first came out.  It was a tough challenge for the developers to resolve them all.  DotA 1 also had problems with connection.  Most MOBAs now allow the ability to re-establish connection or re-join if their game/computer crashes.

- A team-orientated game requires lots of intense coordination and movement, so it's a big problem when characters in the game react 1-2 seconds after your command.  A lot happens in 1-2 seconds during a team-fight.

- Lifebars on both Demigods and minions look the same.  In a sea of enemies and allies, the inability to distinguish the two impedes on the competitive gameplay in an online match.

- You can't see the health of your team mates unless you're near them or hover your mouse over them.  A mod was made just so the player could see the condition of their team's health.


Great ideas that weren't executed very well:
* The background graphics are beautiful.  They're amazing!  But the problem is that they also take up resources, slows down the fps, and makes the game lag.  This leads up to another idea that doesn't work too well.

* Full camera control.  Aesthetically, it's nice to be able to zoom in and all the way out, change the angle and rotate the camera to see the background.  But in terms of cohesive usage in gameplay coordination, problems arise.  For one, it's hard to find that balance to how you want the camera to be facing when in battle and any position you put may not feel right.  This also affects team-play coordination when calling out positions of the map and the orientation of each player's camera will change how they see the battlefield.  Pings can help only so much.

* All items within one shop at base and one secret shop in the battlefield.  One of the hardest things I had to learn playing DotA 1 was where each item was found in one of the 10-14 shop keepers around the map.  Demigod did a pretty good job of categorizing the items by types: Helmets for Mana, gloves for attack, armor for defense, etc.  The problem was that items had vast stat differences which causes an imbalance in gameplay as those that get ahead stays ahead with the items that they get.  For this reason, many MOBAs still have items in pieces before it becomes one strong item rather than having lots of strong items as a stand alone.

* Skill builds.  Demigod provides different passive and actives for the player to acquire which leads the player to having different builds depending on the situation and playstyle.  The problem is that it's one mess of a wall during an intensely paced multiplayer game.  The window covers up the entire screen and obscures the view of the battlefield.  Most MOBAs have stuck with the usual formula of having 3-5 upgradeable skills that shows up on their skill palette.

* Lots of Maps (8 in total).  Having a variety in maps was really nice considering DotA 1 only had that one map.  But the problem was the way the maps were designed.  A lot of them had open pathways which made it easy to see who was coming and going.  Towers are almost right next together, and some Demigod can attack them at very safe distances from their own tower's protection.  It was difficult to make plays with team mates to gank, assist and distract because of how the maps were orientated.

* 10 unique characters with different builds.  Despite the different builds each character can go for, the small roster of 10 characters made it rather boring for a lot of players.  By the time Demigod came out, DotA 1 already had over 70+ characters are so.  MOBAs such as LoL has over 100 characters now.

*Lots of ideas put into a mess.  There are a lot of ideas behind Demigod: deep character skill builds, a neater shop, lots of different maps, various game modes, etc.  But the lack of character variety, item imbalance, undynamic maps, delayed character reactions to player commands, a skill chart that covers the whole screen, and the many other flaws pointed out makes it difficult to enjoy for various reasons (bored with the same characters, imbalanced for competitive play, lack of team involvement because of map orientation, etc.).


I'm pretty sure I missed out a lot of points, but I want to show just how much effort and progress developers have made towards the new MOBA genre to get to the point we have reached in LoL, HoN, and DotA 2 as well as other MOBAs (I've recently played Solstice Arena and am very impressed with it).  Don't get me wrong, Demigod is actually a pretty fun game (at least playing against computer AI in single-player is), but the various problems with the competitive and online multiplayer side of the game kills the longevity of the community and their interest in the game.  I bought Demigod over the Steam weekend sale for nostalgic purpose ever since the first time I tried it back 4 years ago and had a bit of fun with it.  But it also showed me just how far this genre has gone since then and what the industry has learned from it.

VGCulture - Music - Arcadias no Ikusahime

Official JP Site: http://nippon1.jp/consumer/arcadias/index.html   Source: Youtube Channel DesmaX

For the past week, I saw the name Arcadias no Ikusahime come up more than once on Kotaku and mentions how great the music is.  Looking at the game's theme and gameplay, I was thinking it'd be a lot of orchestration with some Baroque period influence.  And in some of the songs, there are a lot orchestration and RPG sounding songs.  I decided to listen to the entire gamerip OST and see what it was all about.  What I experienced was a very unique collection of genres.  I hear influences from Rock, Classical, Baroque, Drum 'n Bass, Jungle, House, Oriental, Pop, Celtic, and even some Dubstep.  Some songs sound like the typical Medieval period JRPG music while others sounds like futuristic Phantasy Star themed music.  In videogames, music can be experimented with, combined, and utilized to create a unique theme or atmosphere for the game's experience.  I like the music and the gameplay reminds me of Odin Sphere.  No word of an international release has been made, but I'm hoping this game gets localized.  The entire gamerip OST is up on top for you to listen to.  There are 51 tracks in total.  Thanks for sharing Kotaku, I might not have seen this game otherwise.

Source:
-Kotaku - Arcadias no Ikusahime is Pretty, Light-Hearted, and Fun to Play

GameLight Review - Pac-Man Championship Edition DX+

Steam Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/236450/
Source: Youtube Channel Robert Cram

Developer: Mine Loader Software
Publisher: Namco Bandai Games
Platforms: [PC], PS3, Xbox 360
Release Date: September 24, 2013
Genre: Arcade

Pros:
+ Easy to pick up and play
+ Bright, colorful, and full of energy
+ Fast-paced and exciting arcade action
+ Comprehensive and competitive leaderboards to challenge players in the world
+ One of the very few games I was willing to pre-order digitally

Cons:
- No controller support other than Xbox 360 controllers
- Game is a buggy port to PC with Audio failure and crashes at stage select
- Sadly, still no multiplayer mode of any kind

Recommended: Absolutely!  If you're a Pac-Man fan, love arcade games, or looking for something fast-paced and isn't time consuming, this game is something you have to try if not buy.

I've been a long time Pac-Man fan growing up watching my father play it on arcade tables and playing it alongside him on our Sega Genesis.  After a while, it seemed like there wasn't anything new to create from Pac-Man and all the adventure games that came out under its name were kooky and silly, but they weren't Pac-Man games.  When Pac-Man Championship Edition had released and reached Playstation 3's PSN for demo, I got to try it out and was impressed by the dynamics of the game while still retaining a lot of the rules of the original.  Still, it was released digitally on console and I'm a bit stubborn when it comes to digitally sold games on console.  So I was pretty happy to hear that it was finally making its way to PC on Steam along with some new content.  With DX+, new maps, skins and music is added to the game.  Despite having some problems with the PC port, the game is still fun, challenging, and addictive.  It's a mixture of traditional Pac-Man with snake where you lure as many ghosts to chase you down as possible before grabbing and power-pellet and gobbling all of them up for massive points.  The bright and shiny aesthetics along with the energetic music creates a rather exciting experience for a Pac-Man game.  It's so fast!  The extra skins are kind of fun/silly if not nostalgic (Dig-Dug/Rally-X) and at least one of the songs is really good (Pac-Steps).  Even if you're not a fan of Pac-Man, it should be a fun experience for newcomers with its beautiful presentation and exciting gameplay.

Aesthetics
Art-Style: Various skins provide different styles of past looks of Pac-Man
+ Colors are bright, dynamic, and vibrant making for a clean look
+ Music has a balance between laid-back and exciting which works well
+ The sound of gobbling dozens of ghosts is rewarding
+ There are a lot of sounds and graphics that have a nostalgic factor to the original
+ Dig-Dug and Rally-X skins changes the whole feel and look of the game
+ Pac-Steps is perhaps the best song out of all that's played in the game

- The Re-entrance song isn't that great.  It's an extended version of the title theme
Aesthetics: 10/10

Buttons
Controller: Keyboard or Xbox 360 Controller
+ Tiny arrows around Pac-Man showing where he's going next is a great mechanic
+ Simple controls: Movement and bomb
+ The flow and movements in the game work hand in hand with the level designs
+ Controls makes it easy for anyone new to pick up and play the game

- No controller support, only Xbox 360 controllers
Buttons: 8/10

Concept & Content
Core Concept: Eat pellets and Ghosts to get the highest score
+ Game feels fresh despite staying true to the concepts of the original
+ Level constantly changes as the round progresses for dynamic gameplay
+ They made eating ghosts feel so good in this game, it's addicting
+ Level designs have a nice flow to them
+ Leaderboard are up-to-date and can tell you your standing in the world
+ Pre-order was worth it with all the DLCs that was included
+ Lots of levels, skins, music, and modes were in it for its price

- It'd be nice to have a 4-man multiplayer like the ones in arcades
- If striving for the highest score isn't your thing, there isn't much more else to give
- The audio often fails at start up and the game crashes on stage selection
- Hackers were already present on the first day of launch, ruining leaderboards
Concept and Content: 8/10

Duration

+ Just going through all the levels once will provide an hour of gameplay
+ There are a lot of challenges/trials to go through for gameplay time
+ Replay value is high if you're into getting the highest scores in games
+ The pacing of each round never lets down, they stay exciting the entire round

- There isn't much for those who want more than just "high score" leaderboards
- It can be repetitive and boring for those who don't like arcade games
Duration: 7/10

Fun
+ The vibrant atmosphere from the game makes me feel good
+ I have to play hard every time, I love the speed and excitement of it
+ Eating ghosts and the sound it makes is so satisfying
+ The easy-going music mixed with a bit of excitement is a nice compliment
+ I liked seeing some of my scores go over so many other players on leaderboard
+ The flow of each round is so fluid and the feeling I get from playing is bliss

- Having to restart the game 3-7 times because audio isn't there is annoying
- Game crashing at stage select isn't too big of a problem, but it still bugs me
- No controller support, getting sick of seeing "Xbox 360 controller only"
Fun: 8/10

Overall
It's a fun game that anyone can easily get into without going through long dialogues, getting lost, facing frustrating enemies, etc.  It's a nice distraction from the other gaming you might be playing and provides entertainment in a pure form.  It might not be a game players will play for long durations, but being able to play a round for 5 minutes for a break and still give a satisfying experience is a nice thing to have.  For the more hardcore players, the highly competitive leaderboards will keep them busy finding new strategies and refining their reflexes with the ability to watch replays of any player's score.  The game was worth pre-ordering with all the extra content that came with it, but eventually it will get a Steam sale and provide a nice price for the entire package.  With its beautiful presentation and fast-paced gameplay, it's a game I'd recommend to anyone who enjoys arcade games and more so if they're a Pac-Man fan.  Overall: 8.2/10

GameLight - Solstice Arena (Steam)

Official Site: http://www.solsticearena.com/
Steam Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/240380/
Source: Youtube Channel SolsticeArena

Five months ago, I mentioned a new MOBA in the making that was releasing on mobile devices such as iPhone and iPad.  It was a bit of a surprise to see it on Steam yesterday and I decided to try it out.  I was a bit hesitant about the decision since it's published and seemingly developed by Zynga who are known for questionable practices in the Videogame industry.  What gave me some hope was that the game was being developed by "A Bit Lucky" studios before they joined Zynga in finishing the product before putting it out in the market.  Solstice Arena boasts itself for being the first Speed-MOBA in the market which delivers fast and exciting PvP matches.  It takes out minions to farm, lanes to gank and focuses on positioning and utilizing the abilities of all the characters in the team.  What's left is a bare-bones PvP action that, surprisingly, was a lot of fun.

Some Pros:
+ Eased into the game: tutorial isn't long and the game has the player play at least one bot match and one co-op match before they're thrust into a real match between players so that they can familiarize themselves with the characters, items, mechanics and map.
+ Matches are short: You don't have to invest a lot of time to get the excitement and action of player vs. player.  Even if you lose, it was a short duration and you can jump right back in for another match.
+ Various characters and skills: The characters are rather distinguished and fun, though missing a bit of personality with the lack of story.  Each match is dynamic and different as each player will have their own playstyle and different composition of characters brings something new to the game.
+ Intense PvP: A lot of abilities are skill shots which requires aiming and timing
+ Super easy account creation: I've played dozens of Online games and it's quite frustrating when creating an account is a hassle.  The account can be created in-game with a display name, email, username, and password.  The game can also be played as a guest before you decide you want to stick with the game and create an account to carry over what you progressed.
+ No chat: Why is this a plus?  Because if you've played enough online games, you might be familiar with people who consistently argue, yell, and rage throughout a match and ruin the experience for everyone else.  There are in-game pings which is more than enough to communicate with the team and a button to say "GG" (Good Game" to everyone at the end of the match.
+ Fast loading: Get into the game quicker.  The game isn't very big and loading is very short.  Shorter load times = more play time.

Some Cons:
- Imbalanced characters: Some matches can work against you and you won't be able to do a thing when characters leap towards you, slow, stun, knock up, and burst you down perhaps across the map.  It can be a bit depressing, but it reminds me of DotA where characters are balanced by fighting broken with broken.  It's not a very balanced game, but it sure makes it fun (so it can be seen as a plus).
- Terrible interface: The game is essentially a straight port of the iPad version.  Buttons will even have the words "Tap here" on it.  It works well for touch screen, but the interface isn't designed very well or elegantly for PC.
- Graphics aren't very good: The game is a straight port of the iOS version which has a lot of blocky lookin' characters.  I actually think the graphics are pretty nice for a game that originated from a mobile device, but there will be players that will be turned off by its presentation.
- No chat: Some people want to yell or maybe playfully jeer at the enemy, and not having any form of communication with the enemy other than saying "GG" at the end of the match might not be what some players want.  I have met those who enjoy bullying other players in online games and play those games to feel superior.  It's rather depressing...
- The meta-game: Players can level up a character that they play often to make their abilities even stronger.  This is an interesting meta-game that's a nice incentive to keep playing a single character and have an advantage over players, but players of all levels are matched up against each other which puts lower solstice level players at an immediate disadvantage.
- Everything is incredibly expensive: If you play League of Legends, 6300 IP already sounds like a lot just to earn enough to buy a new character.  Characters can get up to 30,000 points before you can get them unless you use real money to purchase them which might be the whole point.  This is Zynga we're talking about, the business portion won't be handled by the developers and you can expect some shenanigans coming from Zynga here.
- Cross-Platform Multiplayer: If I understand this correctly, players on Steam/PC will be playing with players on iPads and iPhones.  The controls do look pretty good on iPad, but the fact that the player's hand gets in the way of the display already puts a disadvantage on them.  Players on PC will be able to kite, react and cycle through their skills much faster than those on touch screen in general.  This isn't much a con for PC players, but I find this really unfair to iPad users who have been supporting them for the past 5 months.

To put it simply, the game isn't perfect but is a whole lot of fun.  The action is pretty consistent and the experience isn't ruined by other player's complaints and whining.  I'm actually very impressed that the developers found a way to give the player the means to communicate within the game without having to add text/voice chat.  The game isn't too hard to learn compared to most MOBAs, but has enough customization and depth to keep it interesting.  If anything, it's a fun game to mess around in.  Solstice Arena can be downloaded through Steam up on the link above.

VGCulture - I Am Street Fighter - 25th Anniversary Documentary

Youtube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/streetfighter


I'm surprised I didn't see this before, but the Street Fighter Documentary was released officially to watch on Youtube!  Street Fighter, like to many other gamers, has been an influential part of my gaming life and is what got me into fighting games.  Street Fighter 2 had set the standards and shown the capabilities of what a fighting game could be.  The graphics, music, defined mechanics and controls, characters, and story made Street Fighter such a memorable experience in all aspects.  Just hearing a small tune from a characters theme strikes immediate recognition to the character and level.  The intense competitive nature leaves all sorts of experiences for players who have played the game.  And from Capcom's first Street Fighter till now, a lot has changed yet a lot remains the same.  For the longest time, it seemed like Street Fighter had become more underground and attracted a niche group of gamers despite how many Street Fighter games had released.  Capcom wanted to bring back the community, the excitement and memories that Street Fighter fans had before.  I think Capcom had done a great job of bringing Street Fighter back to forefront of the Fighting game scene with Street Fighter IV.  Although I don't agree with their practices in re-releasing their games in more definitive versions with each of their games (SF4->SSF4->SSF4AE->USF4 or MvC3->UMvC3 or Dragon's Dogma->DD:Dark Arisen), they really do make games that pleases their fans even if they happen to upset them at the same time (Tekken X Street Fighter on-disc DLC).  I haven't watched the Documentary myself yet, but it should be fun to go down memory lane and see the legacy of Street Fighter unfold itself.

GameLight - Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII

Official Site: http://www.lightningreturns.com/
Source: Youtube Channel SQEXMembersNA

Square-Enix is betting on Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII to be really big despite the backlash the fans had with the series.  For me, I was extremely excited about Final Fantasy XIII and bought it the first week it came out.  But during that time, I was still in school and did not have my Playstation 3 with me.  Even after finishing school and being back home with my PS3, I never found the time to play FF13.  FF13-2 came out and I eventually picked it up when it was $15 and then Lightning Returns was announced.  After years of hearing how the series has become too linear, boring, and unimaginative, I am still very excited to finally getting around to FF13, FF13-2, and anticipating the launch of Lightning Returns.  Although the game will be within the realm of FF13, the game play will be vastly different.  With a more action-orientated, party-less RPG, Lightning Returns hopes to provide an exciting single-player experience with an open-world environment and an ever changing combat mechanic.  Just this past month, Square-Enix has shown the world what to expect from this upcoming sequel. Source: Youtube Channel Square Portal

Source: Youtube Channel SQEXMembersNA

The game is looking great.  I'm going to make an effort to get through FF13 and FF13-2 before the end of the year and prepare myself for Lightning Returns when it launches next year on February 11th, 2014 (February 13th for EU).  The game will release on Playstation 3 and Xbox 360.

Source:
-Kotaku - 17 Minutes Of Hardcore Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII Action
-Kotaku - Lightning Returns Video Shows A Different Class Of Final Fantasy

VGCulture - Free Mafia 2 or Civilization 5

Official Site: http://www.greenmangaming.com/golden-joysticks/

I'm not even sure if I want to recommend this after the frustration I just went through.  So Green Man Gaming is having a promotion where they're giving away one of two games for free for voting games for the Golden Joysticks Awards.  So you can vote on categories such as best gaming moment, best platform of the year, best indie game, and others.  At the end of voting, you can sign up for a CVG account, if you don't already have one, and choose a free steam key for either Mafia 2 or Civilization 5.  On that form, you have to enter your login for greenmangaming.  If it doesn't work, you'll probably have to choose another username.  You're essentially making a new account on GMG I think, even if you already have one.  Even then, they'll send you an e-mail to get your code and you'll find out that they don't give it to you just yet because your votes weren't registered yet and it will say "Oops, looks like you haven't voted yet!"  So if you really want that free game, you're going to have to be patient and spend some time on the long load times on the voting site and problems GMG is having getting that free steam key to you.

Aside from all that, the whole point for this promotion is to get people to vote on CVG's site.  Honestly, the choices are really hard and made me realized how many amazing games came out this past year.

If you're going after that free game key, best of luck to you and hope you don't run into as many problems as I did.

NewNews - Humble Weekly Sale Focus Home Interactive

Official Site: https://www.humblebundle.com/weekly
Source: Youtube Channel Humble Bundle

The new weekly bundle began today and it features games from Focus Home Interactive!  There's something almost for everyone: Simulation, strategy, Action, Role-playing, and Adventure.  Unfortunately, a lot of Focus Home Interactive's games under their name don't get very high scores from critics and players and some of them are pretty bad.  But don't let that discourage you for there is a reason why I am posting about this.  Out of the games they are offering:

-Cities XL Platinum
-Blood Bowl: Legendary Edition
-Divinity 2: Developer's Cut
-R.A.W. Realms of Ancient War
-Game of Thrones The Role-Playing Game
-Confrontation
*Wargame: European Escalation
*The Testament of Sherlock Holmes
   -*Pay more than $6 for these

I have played Divinity and R.A.W.  I haven't played the other games, but I would recommend the bundle just for Divinity 2: Developer's Cut.  I never beat the game or even got far into it (boasts over 100+ hours of gameplay), but I enjoyed this game a lot.  I've played a lot of games similar to this genre: Open-World 3rd-Person Action-RPG.  The story is pretty interesting and the gameplay is unique.  I have never heard of the Divinity series before playing Divinity 2 (I played the Dragon Knight Saga and was then given Developer's Cut for free) but was very impressed with what I played.  R.A.W. wasn't as bad as the critics claim, but it wasn't exactly a memorable experience either.  It was mildly entertaining for what it was.  I got the bundle to try out Cities XL, Game of Thrones, and I've been wanting Confrontation for a while now.  Besides Divinity 2, I think Wargame: European Escalation has the highest score from critics out of the bunch.  If you're looking for a game to put a good amount of time into that provides a fun 3rd-Person Action-RPG experience, I would recommend Divinity 2 mainly because most people don't know about the game.

And if you're a fan of the original Divinity, it's not the same.  If you want something similar to the original Divinity, the developers are actually working on a new Divinity game that will be like the original.

GameLight - Teleglitch Guns and Tunes DLC

Official Site: http://diemore.teleglitch.com/buy
Steam Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/234390/
Source: Youtube Channel gamespot

I mentioned "Teleglitch Die More Edition" two months ago and pointed out that one of the problems people had with the game was the lack of music.  I guess it's okay to play your own music while playing a game, but it'd be nice to have original music for a game that's set appropriately to the game's theme.  Well, the developers decided to come out with a DLC which adds the option for weapon randomization from the get go, 8 new weapons and items, and "5 standalone music tracks that will enhance your Teleglitch experience".  That one line threw a lot of people off, including me.  At first glance, it seems like there will be music in the game now.  In reality, 5 MP3 tracks are downloaded to the game's folder for the player to play and loop in the background while they're playing the game.  I guess that's fine since people were doing that with their own music anyways?  With the 5 tracks, the player gets 23 minutes of...sounds...running on 2-3 tracks (think of them as layers).  They're not very interesting, they're mostly looped sounds from freesound.org, and they don't feel very appropriate to the game's atmosphere.  The best thing about the DLC is essentially the weapon randomization at the beginning of the game; however, mechanics like these should have been in the game in the first place.  If you had pre-purchased the game before it came out, you get the DLC automatically.  But if you didn't, it's $1.99.  Whether the DLC was worth the purchase isn't the issue as I'm not certain if the game itself is exactly worth it.  It's mildly entertaining and I got it for a very low discount price, but I think I have to play it a bit longer or at least try to clear through it once before I can give any recommendations or not.  Teleglitch: Die More Edition is 75% off from its usual $12.99 for $3.25 until October 14th and the Guns and Tunes DLC is $1.99 on steam right now.

GameLight - Tactical Intervention

Steam Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/51100/
Source: Youtube Channel Tactical Intervention

Tactical Intervention has been talked about for a few years now as Minh 'Gooseman' Le's newest project for a first-person tactical shooter.  Le was one of the original modders for Counter-Strike and has learned a lot since then about First-Person Shooters.  So it's no surprise that a lot of people are excited to see what this game is all about.  Tactical Intervention is a First-Person Tactical Shooter similar to Counter-Strike where two opposing forces shoot each other down with bomb and hostage modes.  Some different aspects in the game are items that changes tactics around such as being able to send out attack dogs, utilize riot shields, using charges to breach doors and having abilities to use hostages as shields and rappel down buildings.  The game is free-to-play, so I imagine there will be a micro-transaction shop along with the game.  There's already $36.97 worth of DLCs that can be purchased on steam.  Unfortunately, there were high expectations with the excitement of this game and they were not met when players tried it out.  Both critics and users alike on Metacritic have panned the game for being "outdated", "unbalanced" and "muddled in too many mechanics".  The game just got onto the Steam platform last night so Steam users are getting their hands on the game right now.  I guess I'll give it a try and see what the game's all about.

Retroview - Enclave

Steam Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/253980/
Source: Youtube Channel TopWare Interactive

I have never heard of Enclave and don't remember its name when it released over 10 years ago on Xbox.  I saw it pop up on Steam 3 days ago alongside a whole slew of other old games and for some reason Enclave caught my attention.  On steam, it's listed as an RPG and it worried me because I was thinking it might be filled with long dialogues, traversing long empty roads, and incomprehensible skill systems (some RPGs are still like that today).  Looking up some gameplay videos, I realized that it wasn't an RPG at all!  Enclave is a Hack-n-Slash, Action-Adventure with progression on a per stage basis.

I'm gonna go ahead and get the bad aspects out of the way first.  Attacks do not connect to the enemies a lot of the times because of the awkward animations for sword swings.  Sometimes enemies are shorter than the player, but the player can't aim downwards.  Level design is pretty open which allows for some non-linear routing, but it's also confusing and causes the player to often get lost.  If the player is killed, they either start the level over again or respawn at the last check point.  The problem is that it just happens when you lose all your health and it just happens, you don't really see your character die which feels weird and makes you think it's a cutscene happening.  There are 12 characters to choose from, but a lot of them feel clunky and useless.  The sword swings are just so inaccurate and unreliable that I end up using the huntress because the bow and crossbow is significantly more accurate.

With that out of the way, let me point out some of the aspects that made this game fun.  Levels are short and pretty straight-forward except when the levels are confusing.  This makes it really easy to pick up and play and not have to endure long winded dialogues and cutscenes (there are some and they're pretty boring, but I think they can be skipped).  The game boasts itself for being atmospheric, and it kind of is.  The game has that medieval fantasy theme going and it feels nice as part of the experience.  Once I got the hang of how the game worked, combat can be kind of fun in a dumb way.  Combat doesn't have too much depth to it, but it's straight-forward and relaxing.  Overall, I think it's a mildly entertaining game to play and it's not particularly long.  I can see why it didn't have much exposure or popularity when it came out though as the quality of the game isn't entirely high.  But for the price of $2.49, it's worth getting to change up the pace of my gaming.  Enclave will be 50% off for $2.49 for another 4 days.

NewNews - Treasure puts up Ikaruga on Steam

Greenlight: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=183195387
Source: Youtube Channel TREASURE Channel

I might have mentioned this before, as I tell the story often, but one of my biggest regrets in gaming was not picking up Ikaruga when I saw it for $20 new for the Nintendo Gamecube at a wholesale store.  I would have not guessed that a shoot-em-up would become so rare on the Gamecube and so sought out.  I searched for years after that for a used copy and never found one.  A few years back, I was with a friend at a Gamestop and he grabbed a game and looked and me saying "look what I found".  I was excited and ready to buy it right then and there, and then he said he was going to buy it...But of course he invited me over to play with him as it supports 2-player cooperative play.  Still, I never got to go through the whole game and I'm not close by my friend's place no more.  So it was only natural that I was very happy and excited to see Ikaruga show up on Steam Greenlight front page.

If you've never heard of the game and wondering why so many people are getting excited over it, it's one of the most finely crafted and challenging vertical shoot-em-ups that featured a polarity system where players were encouraged to run into bullets of the affinity they are switched to.  It also didn't have that many prints go out for consoles which is why it became so rare.  From what it says on the Steam Greenlight page, the steam version of Ikaruga will be an updated version of the Xbox Live Arcade version which was already updated from previous versions.  Besides its simple but innovative polarity game mechanic and its challenging nature, the game was often praised for its beautiful visuals as well.  The Steam version will have vertical screen mode (Do you have a wide-screen monitor that can be switched sideways?  It's perfect for shoot-em-ups!), 2-player cooperative mode, Xbox 360 controller compatibility (WHY?  I'm okay if it's that AND other controllers, but it's ALWAYS only Xbox 360 controller!), and Double Play mode for the most extreme shoot-em-up players where you play two ships on one controller (yes, at the same time).  Besides possibly only being compatible with a Xbox 360 controller, I'm pretty excited about getting Ikaruga on Steam.

VGCulture - Garen Does The Monkey

Official Site: http://beta.na.leagueoflegends.com/
Source: Youtube Channel League of Legends

Garen was the 2nd champion I bought when I first started playing League of Legends and he was one of my favorite characters.  He was incredibly strong with high damage, high resilience, his spin skill (Judgment) allowed him to be invulnerable to all spells, and it was a time where Fire Cape stacked.  After numerous nerfs and changes to his skills, I didn't play him as much and I saw the same from the community.  It seems Riot realized this and decided to spruce Garen up a bit with new visuals, some refining in his skills, and adding a new dance!

Garen originally did the dance from N*Sync's "Bye Bye Bye" Music Video.  But watching the spotlight, I realized he did "The Monkey".  But where did the inspiration come from?  What is riot referencing when they added it in?  I looked what other people thought it might be and one mentioned Johnny Bravo.  I still remember that dance being in the intro of that cartoon (Dance at 0:22):
Source: Youtube Channel Chankis39

Then I saw one other possibility from an Animé I've never heard of called Overman King Gainer.  Dance at 0:46
Source: Youtube Channel ntyun

I am now addicted to the theme song and can't stop listening to it.  There's also the theory that Riot is referencing "Bird is the Word" from Family Guy.  Dance starts at 0:28.
Source: Youtube Channel FOX

It could be anything!  The dance is a bit goofy for Garen, I kinda liked his N*Sync dance.  Still, his visual upgrade looks pretty cool and I'm planning to check it out myself in-game sometime soon.

NewNews - October 2, 2013

There is a LOT of news today to share and I pretty much saw them all on Joystiq.
Source: Youtube Channel The Hamster Alliance

[Tom Clancy passes away at 66]
First and foremost, unexpected news that Tom Clancy has passed away at 66 just last night in a Baltimore hospital.  Cause of death is not known yet, but it is still sad.  He was only 66!  He has established himself as a best-selling author, is a well known name in the Videogame industry for starting up Red Storm and for working with the industry on creating various military and espionage games such as the Ghost Recon and Splinter Cell series.  Condolences to his family and may he rest in peace.

[Next batch of Steam Greenlit games]
So here are the next 31 games to be greenlit on Steam.  Games like the first-person, Rogue-like, Action game "Eldritch" and open-world Action-Adventure RPG "Vox" are among the games greenlit.  I see a few MMOs in there as well such Age of Wushu and Cabal Online.

[Not on Steam Sale - Kinda like Indie Game Stand]
Similar to Indie Game Stand, Not on Steam Sale has a bunch of indie developed games that are available but not on Steam yet.  Not only are they selling the games for a discount, they are also raising awareness of these games and asking for support on Steam Greenlight.  Near the bottom, you'll see one game for $.99 and one that's free.  If you want to be ahead of Steam Greenlight and play these indie games, you can get it now for these awesome discounts.

[Audiosurf 2 on Steam Early Access]
Audiosurf was a fun game, but I was wondering what the developer could possibly do to make a sequel different besides making it look nicer.  Well if you watch the video up top, you can see that it's pretty crazy.  From what I understand, the game is pretty much playable now.  What the developer wants to work and focus on is user-created content and finer details of the game such as more modes.

[Mighty No. 9 Kickstarter campaign ends with over $4 Million]
Wow, now that's what I call a successful campaign!  It's clear that fans of the Megaman series, or of Keiji Inafune, or of Videogames in general want to see this concept materialize.  I'm very happy to see this level of support for a project such as this one.  I'm just kind of sad that we won't get to play the game until 2015...But it'll be incredible when it finally comes out.

Source Joystiq:
-Steam Greenlights 31 games: Race the Sun, Mousecraft, Eldritch, Vox
-Not on Steam Sale: 35 indie games that aren't on Steam, are on sale
-Tom Clancy passes away at 66
-Audiosurf 2 glides onto Steam Early Access today
-Mighty No. 9 concludes funding with over $4 million

GameLight - Terraria 1.2 Update

Official Site: http://www.terraria.org/index2.html
Steam Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/105600/
Source: Youtube Channel demilogic

After 100+ hours, everything that could be done seemed to have been done.  And then a huge update was talked about all year long and people got excited.  I wasn't going to be excited until it was downloaded onto my computer and I was already playing it.  I would have never guessed how much time I was going to spend playing Terraria or how much fun I was going to have when I first bought it.  Along with all the free updates that the developers keep giving to the players, it's perhaps one of the best purchases I have ever made on Steam.  With the new 1.2 update launching last night at 12AM EST, many players got to re-experience Terraria in a totally new way.  Besides having new weapons, biomes, enemies, items, bosses, etc., there also has been changes in game mechanics and world creation details that improves the game even further.  Backgrounds have been redone to look nicer but have been optimized so that it doesn't lag the game anymore.  There's seriously a LOT of new changes and improvements.  It's no wonder so many people were excited about this.  I barely scratched the surface of what has been changed and added from the 3 hours I played last night.

Terraria is an open-world Action-Adventure game that can be played online with friends if someone creates a server for it.  There is no particular goal, but there is plenty to explore and a lot to do.  It's $9.99 on Steam and a really good deal for what is offered.

VGCulture - Music - PAC-STEPS

Steam Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/236450/
Source: Youtube Channel Laurent Bosch

PAC-MAN Championship Edition DX+ had 8 DLCs announced for it before the game released which was offered for free for those who pre-order the game.  If you had pre-ordered the game, you would have 4 extra courses, 3 skins, and 2 BGMs.  I pre-ordered the game for $2 less on Green Man Gaming thinking that even if the game got a discount with the DLCs, it'd still cost around the same price so I might as well get it now while it still offered the DLCs.  One of the 2 BGMs offered is Pac-Steps.  When I first saw the name, I was thinking it'd be a Dub-Step iteration with sampling of the classic jingle from the original.  The thought was both interesting and frightening at the same time.  Thankfully, the track turned out to be Drum 'n Bass/Jungle (I guess it's referring to variations of DnB like Hardstep/Trancestep).  The song isn't too heavy so it has a bit of a laid back feel to it while still sounding fast and urgent which matches the hectic speed of the game.  It starts off sounding a bit more organic with real sounding instruments as it transitions to faster beats with a more synthesized drum kit.  The courses are great additions to the game and the skins are fun little aesthetic changes, but the addition of this song made it really worth it.

Sadly, I can't say the same for the other BGM DLC "Re-entrance".  It's essentially a remix of the Main Menu theme used in-game which I didn't really like.  The game is a lot of fun and I'm very glad they brought it to PC, but there are some problems with it that I'll probably address when I do a review.  If you already have the game on consoles, it should have upgraded to the new stuff for free while those who have the main game on Steam but not the DLCs can get Pac-Steps for $.99.

NewNews - Mighty No.9 Documentary Episode 0

Kickstarter Page: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mightyno9/mighty-no-9
Source: Youtube Channel 2PlayerProductions

It was already mentioned that 2 Player Productions was going to document the development of Mighty No. 9 and keep the supports, fans, and followers of the game up to date with its progress.  This particular episode was recorded before the game was announced and before the Kickstarter was launched.  Speaking of which, there are 4 days left to back Mighty No.9.  Also, the development team has reached out to the public to choose, out of 9 designs, which concept should be finalized as the Heroine "Call" for the Mighty No. 9 game.

Mighty No. 9 is an Action-Platformer led by Keiji Inafune, who has worked on titles such as the Megaman series, with his pool of talented, veteran game developers.  The game is set to launch in 2015 and was announced earlier this month which has reached out to over 45,000 backers to support this project.

Source:
-Kotaku - One Of These With Be Mighty No. 9's Heroine. You Decide.
(I think most of us know Mr. Fahey meant to say "Will" and not "With").