NewNews - Nintendo Wii U ZombiU Bundle out Feb. 17

Wii U Page: http://www.nintendo.com/wiiu/features/
Source: Youtube Channel IGN

Looks like there will be a special bundle on its way for the Nintendo Wii U that includes many things that will prepare players for upcoming releases.  Aside from the Deluxe version of the main console that holds 32 GB worth of memory and the Wii U Pad, the bundle will include a Pro Controller, a copy of ZombiU, a free download of NintendoLand and an exclusive art book for ZombiU for $389.99.

To list them:
-Wii U Console
-Wii U Pad
-Pro Controller
-ZombiU Game
-ZombiU Art Book
-Free NintendoLand download

That's the console, 2 games to play, a pro controller for all other games that might need them, and a special bonus art book.  It's $40 more expensive than just the Deluxe Set by itself, but $70 cheaper than buying the Deluxe set, Pro Controller, and ZombiU game together, saving enough money for another purchase of a game.  The Bundle is set to release on February 17th.  I wonder how long this bundle will stick around?  It's definitely a consideration for me should I decide to buy a Nintendo Wii U.  Thanks for sharing the news Joystiq!

Source:
-Joystiq: Wii U ZombiU bundle coming to North America Feb. 17

GameLight - FarCry 3

Official Site: http://far-cry.ubi.com/fc-portal/en-us/home/index.aspx
Steam Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/220240/
Source: Youtube Channel IGNentertainment

I had finally finished FarCry 1 and hated it half way through the game after loving it so much in the beginning.  I have yet to start FarCry 2, but I am hoping that I enjoy it the whole way through and not just half way through.  FarCry 3 just looks absolutely phenomenal.  Not only are the maps large, but the viability to play in different ways is also expansive.  In addition to lots of new weapons is 3 skill tree paths that the player can level up on that helps boost their abilities to their type of playstyle.  The three skill tree branches out into 3 different playstyles: tactical, stealthy, and bum-rush.  What's more, there's also a 4-player co-op mode so that you can experience the game in a different fashion with friends and other players from around the world.  And from what I hear, there's also a campaign editor where a player can create their own levels and scenarios.  As always the graphics to the game looks incredible and I really hope that my computer can handle it.  FarCry 3 is possibly the most anticipated game of December this year and will be out in 4 days.  FarCry 3 will be available on PS3, Xbox 360, and PC on December 4th, 2012.

GameLight - I Am Alive

Steam Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/214250/
Source: Youtube Channel clayman90

This post-apocalyptic Action-Survival game has been out on consoles for XBLA and PSN and has recently been released on PC available through the steam platform.  I didn't pay much attention to the game before, but I decided to check up on it now that I have a PC that can handle high-end graphics and this game seemed to look really good in terms of aesthetics.  The platforming reminds me a bit of Uncharted, but the combat is unique in that it plays with psychology and split-second decisions.  I hear that the DayZ mod is similar in that the player has scarce resources, ammunition, and a lot of people who don't trust each other.  That seems to be the case in "I Am Alive."  In the example video above, we can see that the player starts off with a pistol with no ammo and no weapons to defend himself with.  At one point, he is engaged by a man with a machete with no weapon himself.  The player can point the gun at enemies and fool them into thinking that they're a threat, and I imagine that pulling on the trigger would reveal the ruse and cause the enemy to kill the player.  So the game is definitely not a first-person/third-person shooter, but a true survival game that requires wits and decisions.  There has been some changes to the PC version such as an easy mode where the player can replay parts of the game where as the original game on consoles probably saved whatever decisions were made, good or bad, which affected the outcome of the story.  The game looks dark, gritty, immersive, and a whole lot of fun.  I Am Alive is available for Xbox 360 and PS3 through their respective digital distributions as well as for the PC available on Steam for $14.99.

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 - ShootMania Storm

Official Site: http://www.shootmania.com/
Source: Youtube Channel maniaplanet

Anyone who has played the versatile racing course creator "TrackMania" will be happy to hear that Nadeo is creating another incredible game for the First-Person Shooter genre.  ShootMania Storm is a competitive, fast-paced, arena-style, first-person shooter with beautiful graphics and a comprehensive arena creator so that players can make their own levels to fight in.  As much as I like tactical-military first-person shooters, the industry needs to make other types of first-person shooters once again.  I had high hopes for "Nexuiz" but it has sadly been met with unfavorable reviews or was neglected altogether.  I'm not a huge fan of Quake and Unreal Tournament, but I have played them in the past and really enjoy the open feeling of the games where movement and falling knows no boundary.  With ShootMania, there are endless possibilities for game types, level design, and interesting machinima as long as there's a community for it.  I'm hoping this game will get big and provide long replay value as a casual game to mess around with as well as a competitive one.  ShootMania Storm is set to launch on PC exclusively through digital distributions by the end of 2012.

On a side note, TrackMania 2: Canyon is out right now for $24.99 and Nadeo seems to be working on a game called "QuestMania" an RPG which has me very excited.

Source:
-Kotaku: Bring on Shootmania, A Shooter Without Guns

GameLight - Ghost Recon Future Soldier

Official Site: http://ghost-recon.ubi.com/gr-portal/en-us/home/index.aspx
Source: Youtube Channel ubisoft

I'm looking out for Dragon's Dogma which releases tomorrow and it surprised me when I found out that Ghost Recon: Future Soldier was releasing tomorrow as well.  Ghost Recon: Future Soldier will take all the high-tech gadgets and tactical equipment from the GRAW series into the Third-Person Shooter genre for a strategic-action adventure experience.  One of the aspects I really enjoyed about GRAW 1 and 2 was how important team-work was and playing cooperative with friends made the game feel very involving.  In Future Soldier, even more equipment as available to use to extend the tactics of a team.  The game will feature 50 weapons with customizable parts for a near endless combination (or so they say).  There are some things I'm worried about the game such as the controls.  It's difficult calibrating the movements and buttons for a third-person shooter and makes it feel alright compared to a first-person shooter.  The other thing is what kind of DRM will be on it?  DRM on PC is understandable yet very troublesome for those who actually buy the game.  Either the game doesn't recognize the code and prevents players from being able to play or the servers are down and the player can't access the game.  There are also limitations such as being allowed to install the game only 3 times (but as long as you don't switch between computers that often, I guess that's fine).  There also have been games in the past where even consoles need constant access to the internet to play a game (this usually upsets those that just want to play the single-player campaign).  This was especially evident when Sony's PSN services was out for about a month and those who bought games such as Capcom's Bionic Commando Rearmed 2 were not able to play the game because of the DRM, even though it was a locally played offline game.  I wish I had a better computer to play games on so I could get this for the PC.  I generally like playing FPS and TPS games on PC as the controls feel better, but I don't mind console controllers if need be.  Ghost Recon: Future Soldier releases tomorrow May 22, 2012 for Playstation 3 & Xbox 360, and June 6th, 2012 on PC.

Retroview - Far Cry

I think I'm quickly becoming a Far Cry Fan.

Source: Youtube Channel hankmanGTA

Far Cry is a First-Person Shooter with sandbox elements released back in 2004 exclusively for PC.  I didn't care much for it back then (mainly because I didn't play much FPS games back then and I also didn't have a computer that could handle anything other than Delta Force 2) and so I never bothered to try the game out.  It was recently on sale for $2.50 on Steam with Far Cry 2: Fortune's Edition for $5.  I missed out on a LOT of great games that many gamers talk about but I never bothered to try (Deus Ex which I finally did, Zelda: Ocarina of Time, F.E.A.R., Hitman, Brothers in Arms, Call of Duty the original, etc.) and so I've been getting them all now that I finished my academics and can afford to buy and play games.

I bought both Far Cry 1 and 2 and decided to start with the original first.  The game surprised me in that the levels were huge and completing an objective didn't have to be completed by going through one path.  I like the option of being able to choose how to approach a fight and having that non-linear pathway to complete an objective.  The graphics are better than I had expected seeing how it's a game from 2004.  The loading takes forever though for some reason, but it's very fast after the initial load.  I'm not entirely far into the game, perhaps 3/10 of the way to being completed, but I'm really enjoying the game so far.  The game provides a fair challenge and different scope in the FPS genre that I am used to, so it feels very fresh even though it's 7 years old.  I feel very immersed with the environment and the whole situation that the character Jack Carver got himself into.  I think it has something to do with being able to explore around that makes it feel like I'm part of the world rather than running from point A to point B.  I can choose to kill people or leave them behind when sneaking around.  I recently played Crysis 1 for the first time and see similarities in gameplay with Far Cry with it being outdoors in the jungle with huts and having the ability to be stealthy or trigger happy.  I'm very happy with my purchase and can't wait to get on to eventually playing Far Cry 2 (and Crysis 2).  You can find Far Cry for $10 on steam or you can wait for another sale and buy it for a fraction of the price like I did.

GameLight - Ghost Recon Online

Official Site: http://ghostrecononline.us.ubi.com/

Source: Youtube Channel machinima

I can't say that I'm an avid fan of Ghost Recon out of all the other Tom Clancy games I play, but really enjoyed the futuristic setting, complexity and team-play for Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter.  Ghost Recon Online will be a free to play online First-Person Shooter by Ubisoft's new Free UPlay division (much like Electronic Arts' free2play games).  From the trailer, the graphics look decent, the environments are going to be more urban, and the gameplay is going to require more than just a quick trigger-finger.  I've already signed up for Beta and you can do by clicking on the link on the top of this post and click "Apply for Beta".  If it's anything like other Ghost Recon Games, the gameplay is going to be much slower and strategic rather than being fast-paced and reflex-based shooting much like other free online FPS games.  From the short few seconds at 1:08 in the trailer, it looks like there's going to be a capture point mode much like Call of Duty's Domination mode or Battlefield: Bad Company 2's Conquest mode.  Free to play games are really stepping up with big name franchises joining the scene.  I'm not sure what to expect out of this game, but willing to try it out.

VGCulture - Steam Daily Deals

So I noticed this last week, but Steam has implemented "Daily Deals" rather than having to wait for Mid-week madness and Weekend Deals.  I thought it was a week-only thing, but Daily Deals is here to stay and give gamers a new discounted game each day.  Ubisoft week is this week too.  Out of the 105 sales on steam at the moment, I recommend Dark Messiah: Might and Magic.

Source: Youtube Channel UbiRulz

The game has a deep gameplay mechanic and challenging enemies to fight.  There are multiple ways of getting through an obstacle and multiple endings.  It's a truly rich Action RPG experience that should not be missed by those looking for a challenge.  Anyways, the daily deals was implemented so that even more traffic will hit the steam stores now.  Be sure to check back each day or you might miss out on that game you were waiting for to go down in price for a year.