Random Grenades

Recently Infinity Ward put out an online commercial to jokingly address the problem in Call of Duty's multiplayer mode known as grenade spamming. This is the act of throwing multiple grenades in random spots in hopes of killing anyone who is unfortunate enough to walk by one. The commercial itself is voiced by Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Cole Hamels and honestly was done very well. Hearing Hamels talk about the problem in a jesting way was humorous and the ending of the in game video was a good gag. The problem occurred when the video ended and a voice said "Brought to you by Fight Against Grenade Spam". The fake company that jokingly paid for the commercial just happens to create the acronym of "FAGS" which was intentionally done by Infinity Ward. They believed the joke was not offensive and ultimately more entertaining than hurtful. Before I go off on a tangent about the ridiculousness of this entire situation I would just like to say that G4TV's Adam Sessler addressed the situation as well on his webshow, Sessler's Soapbox, and pointed out the problems with this commercial exactly as I would have. So instead of writing for a few hours on the reasons this commercial and the entire mentality of people who either agree with it or don't see the problem with it is frustrating at best I'll just post a link to the video. Adam Sessler is a very animated, intelligent, and passionate video game journalist who hits very key points in this video. Give it a look.

http://g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/700461/Sesslers-Soapbox-Adam-Calls-Infinity-Ward-Out.html

A Big Ol' Smorgasbord!

As Dragon Age Origins slowly downloads onto my steam account and I wait impatiently to play it my attention turns to my blog. It has been mainly comprised of video games, in fact it has been all video games. While that is my passion I feel as though it might get a bit boring for some so I'm going to do my best to include whatever else comes to mind, hence this post's title.

One of the first things that has been slowly taking over my Zune and my musical interests is the Blues; Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf to be specific. I recently watched Cadillac Records and was instantly grasped by these two artists, mainly because their music was so emotional and real. It didn't feel like they were making music because it helped them become gods amongst men, it felt like they made these songs to embody their lives and emotions. I am no movie buff so I'll leave the film review of Cadillac Records to someone more inspired to write about it, instead I'll focus on what the music did to me. Muddy Waters' music is perhaps some of the most catchy and inspiring music I have heard since I began listening to broad types of music. Every single one of his songs can be manipulated to prove that someone else used his music to make their song. Innovation does not even begin to describe what Waters did for music as we know it. However, for every one of Muddy's songs I fell in love with there was a Wolf song I couldn't stop listening to.

The methodical approach towards every note, the voice that no one else can copy, the harmonica solos that captivate anyone willing to listen, and of course the lyrics (mainly thanks to Willie Dixon) that tear at your heart and then stitch it back up. Howlin' Wolf is something that I have never experienced while listening to a musician before, a combination of true emotions along with music that anyone can enjoy. Maybe it is just my strange and often random addictions to different musical types but there is something special about Howlin' Wolf. Give his songs a listen and let me know what you think.

I suppose I'll end this post a bit abruptly as the game has finished its downloading but I'll end with...a book! Yes I read too, it's incredible. As of now I've been getting my nerd on with George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire. It is quite possibly the most interesting series of books I have ever had the absolute pleasure of reading. The story focuses on a land filled with strife and conflict that spans many miles and many families. The interesting points come in when Martin kills of main characters that the reader was following. Instead of that instant feel good "everyone lives because they're the good guys" feeling you get a sense of confusion that no author has instilled in me before. Knowing who is good and who is bad is not always as simple as it has been with other books like Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter. There is no clear line drawn between characters and it makes each scandal, battle, murder, and back stab seem that much more powerful. Go read the first book entitled A Game of Thrones, it won't be a waste if you're able to keep up with the changing point of views and long character lists.

So Many Ads!!!

Credibility has become a topic of much debate in the video game writing world. It is difficult to seem unbiased about a game you're reviewing when the game is covering your site with banners and ads. The problem is that video game websites want to include ads that their viewers and readers will click on to generate profit. Any gaming site can put up ads for a clothing store or a new cooking product, but those ads won't generate the revenue that a Halo 3 ODST ad or a Dragon Age ad would create. This becomes a problem for viewers of the site, do you trust the review of a game that is currently being advertised on the site? Or do you look elsewhere for an unbiased review?

One of the most famed stories in video game journalism is that of Kane and Lynch and the review it received from former Gamespot employee Jeff Gerstmann. The game, Kane and Lynch: Dead Men, was being advertised by Gamespot and eventually it was reviewed. Jeff gave the game an average score of 6.5 out of 10 due to the games many bugs and glitches. Gerstmann was fired soon after and the reasons were never truly or clearly stated why. While it is ridiculous to assume that the review would be the only reason for his termination the entire process brings up a great point about credibility and integrity. Gaming sites and magazines walk a fine line between giving honest reviews to their fan base and making sure game companies still want to advertise within their pages. Giving an advertised game a lackluster score could end up leading to gaming companies not wanting to advertise for a magazine or website that won't praise the game that is bringing them revenue through ads.

However, most sites and magazines do manage to pull off the advertising and reviewing debacle very well. Whether it is through disclosures at the beginning or the end of the review, not reviewing an advertised game until the ads are down, or sometimes just reviewing the game regardless of ads. The point is that reviews are written by people who are giving their opinions on a game they have played in an often different way than how most people play games. While most people take their time to see it all and have fun on their own time reviewers run through a game and make sure they see everything a game has to offer in a short amount of time to deliver a timely review. Take reviews with a grain of salt, and if a website or magazine seems like its being a bit too biased with a certain game then go look the game up on a different website, metacritic.com is a good source for nearly every review of a game...just don't take the metacritic score to mean something, we'll talk about that tomorrow. Happy gaming.

Review: Killzone 2 (Single player only)

So my hopes of posting a Xbox Live Arcade article last night was ruined by my addiction to Killzone 2. I jumped into the game, thinking to play for maybe an hour or so, and ended up playing the game for close to five hours to its finish. Afterwards I decided that I would throw up a review of the single player game because I found it to be stunning in its simplicity of story and intricacy of gameplay. This will only be a single player review of Killzone 2 because I have not yet gotten into the multiplayer, but expect a write up of that soon.

After listening to a breathtaking speech by the game's antagonist Scolar Visari, played by Brian Cox, I jumped right into the single player action. With a basic militaristic plot outline you are put into the boots of Sergent Sev and told to go off and kill the enemy on their home planet. If you take the time to see the story for what it really is you get a feeling that more could have been done with it. There were very few times that Visari was portrayed in cinematics and that could have been a highpoint of the story. Visari's speeches about how the ISA, the protagonist's military force, treats his people like mutants who do not deserve to live make you sympathize with Visari and his seemingly

turbulent situation. Although for all the sympathy you may feel for Visari and his Helghast troops there is an underlying sense of manipulation given off by his speeches as well. Overall the simple story elements in Killzone 2 allow you to connect with the often silent Sev and his overly adrenaline pumped squad. Through quick cut scenes you get to better understand each member of the squad, although some of the characters seem paper thin. Killzone 2's characters are mainly developed through their final moments which always end in glorious and memorable ways. By the end of the game you can clearly understand the characters' motivations and quirks, and the bland plot is made up for by the incredible cut scenes.

The first thing anyone will notice about Killzone 2 is its incredible graphics. There were always claims made to trailers of Killzone 2 gameplay being made up because it looked so good. While some of the trailers were not gameplay footage it is apparent that the actual visuals are not far off from what was shown years ago. Everything from the barren and destroyed landscapes of the poisonous planet of Helghan to the interiors filled with Nazi-like flags of the Helghast is beautifully rendered. Gun models look fantastic and character animations, while occasionally awkward, flow nicely from shot to shot. Of course what would a first person shooter be without guns, and Killzone 2's guns are its bread and butter.

With a sizable variety of weapons, both big and small, Killzone 2's arsenal is impressive to say the least. While using the default ISA assault rifle and smg became my main strategy there were occasionally times where I would pick up something new for added flare. Some parts of the game require the use of a sniper rifle, missile launcher, and other one hit wonders. My personal favorites from the Helghast side were the bolt gun and electric gun. The bolt gun shoots a large bolt right into an oncoming Helghast and eventually detonates for maximum damage, while the overpowered electric gun shoots a bolt of electricity that stuns and then kills its target...oh it has infinite ammo too. While these guns make small bits of the game fresh and exciting the main part of the gameplay is exciting enough to not even warrant these outlandish guns. All of Killzone 2's

weapons have a nice weight to them and feel great when you are squeezing the triggers, not to mention that they all sound great when fired. My only gripe with the guns in the game is that, excluding headshots, it takes too many shots to bring down a Helghast. I understand that they are supposed to be mutated humans with great strength but they can't all act like Jesse Ventura in Predator. Besides that complaint I found the gameplay to be top notch especially with the great addition of stop and pop gameplay in a FPS.

By simply pressing the L2 button and finding cover Sev automatically hides being the object in front of you. If you keep L2 pressed down you can peek out from the side of the object or pop up top and let off a few rounds without taking too much damage. The enemies also behave in this manor and manage to provide some difficult challenges with their ability to take cover. While the AI in Killzone 2 could use some work the enemies manage to make up for their lack of brains with sheer numbers. At times it can feel like there is an unending number of Helghast

soldiers but that tends to make situations feel all the more intense. Especially during a particular battle for a courtyard, where the soldiers are literally endless until you manage to kill enough to move up on their position and continue to push them back. These battles feel great and make the game feel more like a war than a linear push through enemy territory. There is also a superbly done boss battle with Radec that makes me wonder why there are not more boss battles in first person shooters.

Overall I was blown away by the single player campaign in Killzone 2. It started off slow enough that anyone would be able to understand the basics and ramped up as the game progressed. The occasional crazed talks of Visari and his soldiers helped to flesh out what would've been a completely barren story; although I would venture to guess that most people would find Killzone 2 to be spectacular without any story elements at all. The guns and gameplay in Killzone 2 are polished and developed to such a high degree that by the time you finish playing the single player game you just want to keep shooting. Luckily there appears to be a robust multiplayer side of the game which I will look into and write about soon. As for now do yourself a favor and, if you own a PS3, buy Killzone 2.

Quick Blurb: OnLive

Imagine a product that cuts out the middle man, that being the console, and allows you to instantly access any game through an online service. These games are up to date, run smoothly over the internet, and allow gamers to buy or rent at their leisure without having to purchase a console or a cd. This product exists and it is called OnLive. I can not currently write as much as I would like to right now about OnLive but I don't think I need to. The majority of the information about this interesting product is all up on their website at www.onlive.com so go check it out.

Hopefully I will be able to put up a much larger post today about 5 Xbox Live Arcade games to check out so look for that in the evening.

Cheap Games ≠ Less Fun

Video games are a very costly form of entertainment. Games usually range in price from $29.99 to $59.99, arcade and PSN games not withstanding. Purchasing just two games for your Xbox 360 or Ps3 can lead to a cost of over $120. With new releases coming each week around the holidays people buying games need ways to figure out which games are worth their time and which games might disappoint. There are a couple of easy ways to get your hands on games before you make the large investment of procuring a game. There are also multiple ways to get the best games that are being offered without ever paying a sizable amount to your local gaming store.

Probably the easiest and most popular way to get games without spending a ton of money is using a rental service. While Blockbuster allows some quick pickups of new releases if you time your trip to the store right, I have often found that Blockbuster's stock is far from diverse. There are often too few games or not enough copies of the games they do have to ever service more than two lucky customers. I find that Blockbuster is best used when you are looking for a game that has been out for a few months and you may have missed or have not had the time to play. But when it comes to renting games in a timely manor I have found no better service than Gamefly.

Gamefly allows its subscribers to rent one game a month for fifteen dollars a month. Subscribers are allowed to hold that game in their possession for as long as they want and send it back to Gamefly when they want a new game. I have found it very simple to time it so the game I send back is received right before a new game is released so that the new game is shipped to me right away. Gamefly also has a large catalog of older games and these games seem to always be in stock, or highly available, at all times. What I have found so useful about Gamefly is that I am able to completely finish a game on my own time and send it back once I finished. I never feel like I need to make time just to play a game because it needs to be returned in five days. If you are willing to drop some extra cash you can upgrade to Gamefly's two game plan, and eventually qualify for their three game plan as well. If you have the small amount of cash to spend each month and want to be able to play games on your own time go for Gamefly.

Xbox Live Arcade and the Playstation Network are also great ways to get your hands on some games before they are even released. The often overlooked demo feature of both systems allows gamers to play a level or two of an upcoming release before the game hits shelves. The demo feature also allows for great opportunities like playing in the Uncharted 2 Beta which was immensely popular among PS3 owners. If you have internet access and one of the two aforementioned consoles do yourself a favor and check out the demo section once in a while. But wait there's more!

One of the most overlooked features of all three current generation consoles is the great ability to buy full fledged games for minimal prices. Whether it is the Xbox Live Arcade, Playstation Network Shop, WiiWare or the Wii's online catalog there are tons of fantastic games you can buy for prices as low as $5. Games like Shadow Complex, Trials HD, World of Goo, and classics like Marvel vs Capcom 2 are all up for your pleasure on their respective consoles. Games like Shadow Complex push the boundaries for what qualifies as a downloadable game. With its slick visuals, masterful gameplay, and great throwback mechanics Shadow Complex is one of the best downloadable games that has come out for the Xbox 360's Live Arcade and it only costs $15. With cheap prices and often unique gameplay there is no reason to not be checking out your console's online catalog for the next great game, especially since many of them allow for a free trial of the game. I will get into what games to look at for which consoles in my upcoming posts but for now boot up your console and take a peek into its more than extensive catalog of online titles that may provide more enjoyment for a fraction of the price of a standard game.

Sifting Through Reviews

(Just so you all know something screwy happened with the text in between the two Joystiq pictures so just highlight it if you want to read it, it's a formatting error I can't seem to fix.)

When it comes to the purchase of a video game the majority of customers want to know a few things before they hand over their money. It doesn't matter how much you have been anticipating the newest Halo game, if reviews say that after the third level your Xbox 360 catches fire are you really going to spend $60 on it? The answer for sane gamer would be no, so how do you know if a game is good? And which outlets are going to be to your benefit? Well there are probably close to, if not more than, a hundred different gaming sites and magazines that you can get your advice from. However, I have found that over the course of time some companies become more reviewing for the sake of garnering readers than telling the readers what they want to know.

There are three main sites that I have used for review purposes and any game related news as well. Sites like IGN, Gamespot, Gamespy, and 1UP are still common gaming sites that have huge fan bases but all of them seem to have fallen to a corporate feel. The reviews have lost some of the flare that they had back when certain staff members were around and the love for the common gamer appears to be dwindling. The three sites I mentioned before feel like they are written by video game players that know what other gamers like to play. Giant Bomb, Joystiq, and Destructoid are sites that allow gamers to read up on upcoming games they are interested in and get a gamer's opinion on the game, not a reviewer's.

Joystiq is probably the most well known of the three sites, although Giant Bomb is quickly gaining popularity. Joystiq follows a blog-like format that is updated on a consistent basis, usually every 30 minutes or so, and is filled with inside news, dirt, and random tidbits. Joystiq is usually one of the first sites I go to if there is a rumor floating around about any new game or system. The reason for that is because Joystiq usually has some sort of developing story up minutes after the news is released. But I am not here to sing the praises of Joystiq's fantastic reporting, instead I am going to talk about Joystiq's reviews. Joystiq is one of the very few media outlets that does not score its reviews of games. Instead Joystiq reviewers deliver a very colloquial and honest review of the game. Reviewers on Joystiq blatantly state what they enjoyed about the game and what they thought was in need of fixing. If a game was hyped up before its release Joystiq reviewers have no problem saying that it wasn't what they hoped it would be right in the opening statement.

I feel as though this gives readers an open look as to the thought process of the reviewer. Right of the bat a reader can understand where the reviewer is coming from and does not need to bog through the politically correct nonsense of "well if you take away the hype the game got, and its development time, and what makes it bad...". Readers can expect a much more comfortable review style than what you may find on IGN or 1UP. To me it has always felt that Joystiq reviews its games like any other outlet would but they interject thoughts that go through the minds of every gamer but are not usually PC to say during a review. Such as saying that they are not sure if Demon's Souls deserves a high score because of its brutal difficulty. Go ahead and check out Joystiq next time you're curious about a game and I am sure you'll walk away with a different insight than most reviews give.

Destructoid is another blog-esque website that always manages to provide insightful reviews that, similar to Joystiq, feel like they have been written by gamers not writers. I am not as dedicated to Destructoid as I am to Giant Bomb and Joystiq but from what I've read their reviews always seem to have very opinionated and justifiable stance on games. When they give a popular game a bad score their review is 100% able to back up the reasons why the reviewer disliked it. A perfect example of that is Brutal Legend, while some outlets dish out 8s and 9s for the game Destructoid gave it a 6 and provided ample reason why it deserved its average score. I also like the way Destructoid places a meaning next to every score as a way to allow people to know what a 6 means as opposed to an 8. Since many readers are lead to believe that a 6 is immediately a bad score it is nice to have a disclaimer saying that a 6 is by no means an awful score for a game to receive. From what I have read on Destructoid I would say they are a company of gamers who truly understand what gamers want to hear in their reviews, no bullshit and straightforward scores regardless of hype and advertising.

While Joystiq and Destructoid are both great sites filled with knowledgeable reviews no other site has astonished me more than Giant Bomb. Founded by Jeff Gerstmann and Ryan Davis, former Gamespot employees, Giant Bomb is quickly becoming one of the most popular, passionate, and dedicated video game websites I have ever had the pleasure of surfing. With the small yet somewhat famous staff of former Gamespot employees, that also includes Brad Shoemaker and Vinny Caravella, Giant Bomb offers some of the most entertaining video content such as their Quick Looks, Endurance Run, and hilarious behind the scenes footage. These videos all help you get to know the writers better and make you feel more comfortable when you read their reviews. The reviews on Giant Bomb are top notch and always seem to be able to sway my opinion on a game if I am on the fence about it.

Giant Bomb and its staff go out of their way to provided reviews only of games that people actually care about. There is no sifting through mediocre games that you have never heard of; instead there are the games you care about coupled by some interesting hidden gems and just plain awful releases. The simple scoring system on Giant Bomb makes it easy to see a score and immediately understand the reviewer's opinion. Giant Bomb operates on a 5 star system ; 1 star means stay away, 2 means only die hard fans will like it, 3 is a rental, 4 is great with flaws, and 5 is a must buy.

Like with the aforementioned sites Giant Bomb feels very colloquial in its writing which makes it easier to understand how you as a gamer would feel about whatever game they are reviewing. Giant Bomb is without a doubt my favorite site to check up on for reviews of new releases, and the entertaining video content just makes it that much better.

Of course there is more to making a decision about a game than simply reading someone else's opinion. After you read a review try to take into account your own opinions and preferences in video games. If you hate playing games that involve swords and shields don't go out buying a hack and slash game just because it got a great review. These reviews are written to help gamers make up their minds on games they do not want to immediately spend money on but want to buy eventually. If you are still unsure of a game's worth go out and rent it.