Assassin's Creed IV Black Flag Review

Assassin's Creed Black Flag takes an interesting turn from it's predecessors. The story no longer follows the life and memories of Desmond Miles' ancestors, but now follows a new unnamed character who works for Abstergo Entertainment. This company takes the memories of employees' ancestors and turn them into products such as video games and movies. The protagonist is currently researching the life of Edward Kenway; a pirate who gets caught in the war between the Assassins and Templars.

Players must traverse the immense world to complete missions, find treasure, and explore the vast seas. The visuals are stunning. With the lush tropical islands, the vast powerful sea, and the well-designed cities the game looks amazing. While you run through the streets and across rooftops, it looks and feels smooth and realistic. The sound design however sounds quirky at times and repetitive. While swimming you hear the same two sounds over and over again. At points when you are near a person that is a mission objective, they may repeat a line 3 or 4 times in a row before changing what they say making it really noticeable that it is an AI.

Although most missions allow you to decide whether to sneak past stealthy or run through and kill everything, you do get a completion bonus for doing it without going into combat. There may also be another side objective such as killing enemies around a corner or inside a hidden area. You may restart from a checkpoint at the beginning of the mission to retry as many times as you want until you are satisfied with how you completed it.

Players will find themselves spending most of their time on sea. Their ship will encounter whales, hurricanes, and other ships that will seek to destroy them. The ship battles are fun but get repetitive after a short while. Controlling the ship may be a challenge at first but players will catch on fairly quickly. Upgrades will be available for your ship, armor, and weaponry as you progress through the game.

Overall, Assassin's Creed Black Flag gives a strong feeling of adventure. Exploring the tremendous world and learning your surroundings creates an experience that allows players to have strong control over the outcome of each mission. Although it may have moments where it feels repetitive, there is enough missions to choose from to enjoy the game in general. Even if you are not an Assassin's Creed fan, this game is worth picking up and playing through.

PS4 FAQ Summary

The PlayStation 4 will have a similar account system as the Xbox One's. Gamers will be asked to choose a console to a PS4 to use as their primary console. All the accounts on the same primary console will have access to the features given from subscribing to PlayStation Plus and the games that are downloaded on that console. When moving an account to another console, users can downloaded the games they bought on that account to the new console. The PS4 will not support MP3 files, youtube, and external capture devices. It will allow players to stream on Ustream and Twitch. The controller will have an audio jack to plug in headphones and there will be cross game chat available. The console will have voice command capabilities. For more information go to the PS4 FAQ at this link: http://blog.us.playstation.com/2013/10/30/ps4-the-ultimate-faq-north-america/ 

Batman: Arkham Origins Review

Batman Arkham Origins is the third installment to the Batman Arkham series. The game delivers hours worth of fighting criminals, solving mysteries, and a city to explore. It has an enriching story with greatly interactive gameplay. Although, there are some frustrations in the game such as  indirect waypoints in some areas, bad respawns, or bad checkpoints.

The story is a prequel to the past two games. Batman is just a myth to the city. The game opens on Christmas Eve with news describing a prison break led by a infamous criminal known as Black Mask. Batman, of course, goes out to save the day. Black Mask hired 8 assassins to take out Batman. Each of them have their own special abilities and fighting styles. Killer Croc, Deathstroke, Bane, Copperhead, Deadshot, Shiva, Firefly, and Electrocutioner all compete for a bounty of $50,000,000 to kill off Batman, luring him by causing mayhem throughout the city. Batman decides to find Black Mask to end it all, but on his mission he meets many new challenges, mysteries, and enemies to face.

The gameplay is another button masher with occasional quick time events. Although this seems dull, the fighting is really fluent, the counters are precise, and the fighting just looks and feels realistic. The boss battle against Deathstroke was an example of amazing game animations. Both the player and Deathstroke can attack, block, and counter with different moves each time. It closely similar compared to an action movie. The fight became harder as it goes on bringing new surprises to the battle causing the player to react differently every moment.

As stated before, there are a few imperfections with the game. At some moments, players may find themselves dying and being respawned across the city from the current objective. This can be frustrating after a couple attempts to complete the mission. Also, the level design can make players look around for something as simple as a door that was hidden around a corner they couldn't see and will cause the player to search for hours to find out the exit was just in a spot they passed multiple times. There are also some missions that can will be activated when you enter a certain area that are literally impossible to complete at the location you start at. Fortunately if you fail, the game will respawn the player closer and it will be easier to start again.

The game is very interactive with the player. There are many puzzles that can be solved in many different ways. It can range from hacking a radio signal, to throwing a Batarang at a button. Enigma is one of the main sources of these puzzles and adds much more enjoyable game mechanics. There are also interactive crime scenes that the player must locate and analyze each part of the scene to figure out what had happened. Batman gives off some commentary to explain to the players what events took place to leave the scene the way it is, so there isn't much thinking needed to be done from the player. It is rather an interactive cut scene.

Players can upgrade their equipment or learn new abilities with points they gain from leveling up. There aren't many choices of upgrades at the beginning of the game but they can alter your gameplay slightly. You gain levels from completing mission and defeating enemies in combat. You gain more experience from defeating an enemy stealthily or with a high combo.

Batman Arkham Origins is a fun, interactive game that make players think logically, strategically, and creatively, whether it is to take down targets or complete a puzzle. With very few weak points, this game has a strong design that plays great and looks beautiful. It is a game that all gamers should play and all Batman fans should appreciate.

Dark Souls 2 Beta Failure

Unfortunately due to server issues, the Dark Souls 2 beta did not launch for North and South America at the time specified. The developers worked hard at keeping fans informed on the state of the server but could not fully fix the problem. Although the beta testers could not log into this beta, they have a secured spot to participate in the next beta test. The beta was a "server load test using massive simultaneous logins from all areas," so it was expected to have these problems. There is no set date for the rescheduling, but Namco will release that information sometime this week.

Playing By the Rules

by: Zippynom

“I'm jumping on the bed!” Exclaims my sister, while she makes Link duck up and down on a bed. I can barely constrain myself from telling her that she's supposed to be going up Death Mountain to save the Gorons from all the monsters. She insists, instead of following the plot, on hanging out in Lon Lon Ranch doing pretty much nothing. Between gritting my teeth and trying to hint her where she is supposed to go I realize she isn't playing the game wrong, but playing it the best way a game can be played: Her way. She's participating in a world that functions understandably and having her own kind of fun.

Games often do their best to constrain the player in a set of rules. These are usually physical limitations – Mario can only jump so high and Masterchief can only soak so many bullets. However, most video games will leave a lot of the justification of specific character action to the player. Almost never will a game constrain the player's head narrative. Is Mario finally tired of the princess being in another castle? Does Masterchief have PTSD? Why did your Pokemon choose now to evolve? Once questions like these are asked within the context of a game it can potentially be a lot more interesting. The best games for this type of play are sandbox games, but you can express your play style in unlimited ways across genres.

In Skyrim your interactions with NPCs are extremely limited and many characters are rarely very fleshed out (though this is probably a result of the world being so huge and there being so many). This leaves a lot of room for the player to imagine their own stories. In one of my playthroughs Lydia, one of the games many followers, had grown up in the city Whiterun and joined the Companions, a fighter's guild of sorts. After a certain fantastic skirmish with roaming giants Lydia was handpicked to serve the Jarl. Afterward she could only watch as the land of Skyrim was wracked by civil war while her Jarl wrestled with which side he should join, if any. It was about this time I met her and she became my Housecarl. With this imagined backstory Lydia became a much more interesting character. This impromptu style of filling in the story where there is none applies even better to the player's character, and the game is kind enough to leave your background mostly open-ended whether you play a thief or a mage.

Mass Effect might seem like a game where this playstyle would not apply, but think again. There is no better application of your imagined character's ideas and beliefs than constant testing. The basis of one of my playthroughs was simply unite as many allies as possible against the Reapers as possible, which led to more than a few decisions I might have made differently playing for myself. Another playthrough I was a space cowboy while another I was a lost romantic who never quite understood the weight of my decisions, always filling in the story for my characters when there wasn't one or it wasn't enough.

The best games find ways of giving the player as much freedom as possible while still following its rules. Arguably many videogames are merely skeletons for you to build a personal story or experience out of. Maybe next time you play a videogame play as if your character had an odd religion or was afraid of water(sometimes part of the gameplay if water kills you). Maybe make up a backstory for another character or enemy that doesn't have one, insignificant or not. You can imagine all kinds of ways to play your games then.

Peter Molyneux: Monster or Mastermind?

Peter Molyneux is a game developer known for his innovative ideas and his broken promises. Some people believe he is a marvel of gaming and others believe he is a con artist. Let's take a look at Peter Molyneux more closely and see what he has brought to the gaming world.

Even as a child, Molyneux was a devious entrepreneur. At age twelve he started his first business by hiring his sisters to mow people's lawns. Molyneux paid them only $.01 for every $1 he made off of their work. Peter Molyneux started off as a floppy disc salesman. He started to add video games to the floppy disc to improve sales. What he realized was consumers were buying the product not for the floppy discs, but for the games on them. This is where he found an interest in the gaming industry. He created his first text-based game called The Entrepreneur. Although he believed this game would sell tons, only 2 people actually bought the game. With this shortage of sales, Molyneux ended his career with gaming. Or so he thought.

Molyneux started a baked bean shipping company called Taurus. This is where Molyneux is set up for his first lie coming into the gaming industry. Commodore International, a computer selling company, called Molyneux explaining how they heard about his company and were offering him a chance to see their new product. After they took him on a tour, had lunch with him, and showed some of their hardware, Molyneux realized they have mistaken his company, Taurus, for the company Torus. They asked him when the network will be ready and he went with it and told them it would be ready in a couple of months. With this opportunity, Molyneux created a database system called Acquisition and it was moderately successful.

In 1987, Peter Molyneux founded a game development company called Bullfrog. Struggling to develop a game, Peter came up with the idea for Populous, a game where you play as a god.. He said, "Populous was born out of my incompetence as a programmer." Which couldn't be more true. He didn't know how to make the game automatically flatten land for the villagers, so he decided to make it a gameplay mechanic. Players had to flatten the land themselves. This one of Molyneux s most innovative ideas for gaming.. Electronic Arts offered to publish the game and it was released in 1989 and was a big hit. He then released Powermonger, Populous II, and Magic Carpet. All of which winning many awards and becoming more popular. He decided to leave Bullfrog to start a new company so he can go back to programming.

Lionhead Studios was founded by Peter Molyneux in 1997. Their first game in development was Black and White. A game where you play as a god that has the choice of being good or evil. It was the same ideas as Populous but moral ambiguity was emphasized in the creation of this game. When it hit the shelves, it became another huge success. It even made it into the Guinness's Book of World Records as the smartest artificial intelligence. He moved on to making a series called Fable. This series was considered a disappointment for many of Molyneux s fans. He claimed there would be so many new innovated ideas in the RPG game and many of them were not met to the expectations of the gamers. This started happening with each Fable to come out up to fable: The Journey.

During an E3 conference, Molyneux introduced a tech demo for the Kinect called Milo. The game was suppose to have an AI that interacts with absolutely anything you do or say. This unfortunately wasn't the case for what the Kinect was actually capable of. Fable: Journey was said to have the same amount of interaction as the Milo tech demo. This game was yet another disappointment for the fans of Molyneux.

He left Lionhead Studios to make yet another game developing company. This one is called 22Cans. They released an experimental game called "Curiosity – What's Inside the Cube?" The gameplay was simply clicking the screen to remove cubes until one player reaches the middle. Molyneux promised there would be something in the box that was life changing. People spent countless hours picking away at the block . A person finally reached the middle and was revealed a video to which he chose to share with the world. In the video Molyneux reveals that the person who clicked the last box will become the god above all players in the new game Godus and will receive a portion of the profit made from the game itself. This may have been life changing for the one who was lucky enough to reach the middle, but it was a disappointment to everyone else who put their share of work removing the boxes hoping to get to the middle.

With his new game, Godus, releasing soon, gamers aren't quite sure whether it will be a innovative gaming marvel, or if it will be another big disappointment. Although his recent games did not live up to player expectation, maybe with this game going back to the roots of what made him great will win back the fans' trust.

The Difficulty in Space Invaders, Galaxian, and Galaga

by: Zippynom

            The early days of popular gaming were in the arcade. Here, difficulty was money. The more difficult a video game was, the more coins players would spend to try again. The majority of video game developers would make design decision that made video games more difficult to play and easy to try again. Usually a player would start with a few lives and play to the end of a number of levels. They could get a high score from points won by defeating enemies or collecting bonuses. After a player lost all their lives they would often be asked whether they would like to insert more coins to start again, sometimes retaining their current progress. Players were encouraged to get better at the game itself so they didn't have to spend so many quarters to beat a game or get a higher score.

            Space Invaders was developed by Midway Games and in arcades by 1978. It was one of the earliest games to be released on a large scale and quickly became very popular. The gameplay of Space Invaders was relatively simple. The player would control a ship that could move side-to-side near the bottom of the screen. The player had to shoot upwards at the invading aliens whom would slowly shimmy down to the bottom of the screen. If they reached the bottom, the game was over. The challenge was in the player lining up the shot so it would hit an alien. Only one bullet could be on the screen at a time, so the player could shoot aliens closer to the ground more quickly, however a miss would cost time that could otherwise be spent shooting more aliens. As more invaders were shot down the others became faster. There were 55 aliens per level, and each level was the same except for the aliens being a little faster. Aliens gave between 30-50 points per kill. Occasionally a difficult to hit bonus ship would fly across the very top of the screen. If the player could hit it it would give 50-300 points. 1,500 points gave an extra life. Four bunkers stood between the player and the aliens that would block both the player and alien's bullets. These bunkers gave the player some cover and would take damage over the course of a game until they were destroyed. A common strategy was to shoot a small hole through a bunker and hit the aliens through it. Space Invaders was a relatively easy game as long as the player could kill the final few aliens of a wave quickly, before they become too fast. Space Invaders was the simple foundation that the following successors would be built on.

            Galaxian was released by Namco to Japanese arcades in 1979. It improved on its predecessor Space Invaders in many ways. It had color and the enemies moved in more advanced patterns. As in Space Invaders the player would shoot up from the bottom of the screen at enemies that fell from the top of the screen. What was most obviously changed were the losing conditions. Instead of moving slowly down the screen, the enemies would drop bombs and make suicide runs against the player, whom would lose lives when destroyed. This was definitely an improvement of gameplay, as the player now had more direct control over a loss. Though the difficulty in Space Invaders had been limited to the speed of enemies and the rate at which they fired, now Galaxian's enhanced software and hardware allowed for enemies to literally behave more aggressively at higher levels throwing more bombs and moving faster. One hit would kill an enemy, and one enemy bomb or collision would kill the player. Enemies were worth 30-100 points, depending on their height in formation, while command ships were worth a most 800 points. This time it took 7,000 points to get an extra life. Once again only one of the player's bullets could be on the screen at a time, and a miss still cost valuable time. Galaxian, without the defensive bunkers or predictable enemies of Space Invaders, is arguably more difficult than its predecessor. It requires more precise timing and aiming of a shot than Space Invaders due to its speed and the diagonal paths of the enemies.

            Galaga was the successor to Galaxian and it again enhanced the Space Invaders formula in almost every way. Enemies were once again faster and smarter, and there were more of them. At the beginning of each level the enemies would file in from the top of the screen rather than just appearing from nowhere. This gave the player time to pick off a few enemies, but sometimes a few enemies would unexpectedly fly right at the player. Levels were much more dynamic. Enemies would travel in different paths depending on the position of the player, spinning and whirling in space. They would often dive at just the right time to catch the player off guard or attack from the side where the player could not shoot them. After a certain number of levels there would be a bonus level where the game changed the rules a little. Instead of a horde of enemies assembling in formation and making strikes at the player, a bonus level would have the player shooting at enemies while they buzzed around the screen in various patterns. If the player could shoot all of them before they left the screen they were rewarded extra points. The most interesting difficulty mechanic in Galaga, however, involved the sacrifice of one of the player's lives. An enemy command ship had the unique ability to capture the player's ship. The captured ship then became an enemy for the player's next life. If the player could destroy that enemy command ship they could get their old ship back in the form of an attachment to their current one that would fire two bullets at once!

            Galaga can be considered more difficult and complex than both of its previous iterations, and it handled that difficulty very well. The concept of risk is reflected throughout the game. The player, after losing their ship to the commander, was now pressured to be skillful enough to retrieve the lost ship. Enemies are worth more points if you shoot them while they are traveling down to attack you and the player had a chance to shoot some enemies while they got into formation at the beginning of a level if they could dodge the kamikaze ones. Finally, the bonus levels gave the player a chance for more points if they were skillful enough. Galaga is a great example of difficulty handled well.

Pokemon X&Y Preview

Pokemon X & Y are the newest installations to the video game series of Pokemon. They will be coming to the 3DS on October 12th. These games take place in the 6th generation of Pokemon and will include over 40 new pokemon plus the ones from the past generations. This game will be the first handheld pokemon game to have full 3D gameplay.

A new feature added to the game is the ability to customize your character. You will start out being able to choose a boy or girl, skin tone, and the outfit your character will wear. Throughout the game players will be able to buy additional accessory to change their characters style.

Another new feature is Mega Evolutions. A player will recieve a stone that can be given to a few select pokemon. This will allow players to mega evolve certain pokemon once per battle to make them more powerful. This evolution will also cause the pokemon to change their type. Some mega evolutions differ between X & Y.

A new type of pokemon was added to this generation. It is the Fairy type. They are strong against dragon, fighting, and dark. They are weak against fire, steel, and poison.

Throughout Pokemon X and Y, there are mini games where you can interact with your pokemon such as petting them and feeding them causing them to like you even more. The more your pokemon likes you the more effective they will be in battle. You can also train your pokemon's stats through mini games.

With only a week until the game releases, fans are getting really excited for what the next generation of Pokemon can bring to gaming. Which version are you going to buy? Write below in the comments.

Half-Life 3 Confirmed!

Valve filed an Intent to Use trademark for the title Half-Life 3 on September 29th of this year. According to some research done by reddit, Valve must use this trademark within 3 months unless they get a 6 month extension. They can only extend the trademark 5 times until they must use it. If this is the case, gamers will see the release of Half-Life 3 within the next 2.5 years.

GTA Online's Day One Technical Issues

Released today was the highly anticipated GTA Online. As expected, the servers are failing due to technical issues. Some players may experience a message popping up saying "Cloud servers are unavailable.", the game freezing after starting their first race, match making timeout notifications, or other bugs in the game that prevent them from playing. Rockstar is currently working on these issues to ensure the game is available to play for everyone. A rockstar employee stated an apology on their website saying

"We apologize for any inconvenience and thank you for your patience while we work to resolve this."

Hopefully the game will be playable soon so that we can all enjoy the online experience and join it's community.

Steam Universe Details

Over the past week, Valve made 3 announcements based around playing Steam games in the living room. First they announced Steam's new operating system. SteamOS is a Linux based system that is centered around streaming games to the TV using a gamepad. Along will the easy access to video games, the OS will allow users to access movies, TV, and music. Another feature tied in SteamOS is the ability to share your games with your family. A game can only be played by one person at a time but the person playing is able to keep their own saves and earn their own achievements.

The second announcement released by Valve was the Steam Machine. Valve is collaborating with many different companies to create a variety of Steam Machines to stream games, music, and videos from the computer to the television through Steam. Each Steam Machine will have different specifications to fit the consumer's preferences.

The final thing Valve announced was their new Steam Controller. The controller is meant to support any game that is currently and will be available on Steam, including the games without controller support. It has 2 track pads that are designed for high performance feedback. It was created to be easily modded to enhance the users experience. This controller is a big change from the usual console gamepads, Although players may not be comfortable using it at first, this may be the future of gaming controllers.


With all these new announcements from valve, i am personally excited to see what they can do. I'm hoping for Valve to someday release a handheld PC that allows you to access Steam games on the go. Write in the comments what you think of the Steam Universe and what you feel Valve should do next. (Other than Half-Life 3.)

Grand Theft Auto V - First impression.

By PRVMALONE

Let's start off with the word "wow." Rockstar promised a great game and they certainly didn't disappoint. The graphics have been updated, but I don't give a crap about graphics. The gameplay thus far has been flawless, after I turned off the aim assist of course. Driving in GTA V is much more fluid and manageable than in Rockstar's previous GTA titles, and with the addition of a driving super ability for one of the characters it's much more fun than driving Roman's cab around Liberty City for thirty missions.

The game starts you off in the middle of a mission, which is an interesting take. The missions following the first are some what like GTA IV, but Rockstar include inside jokes at every turn about this. It isn't long before the missions become completely different than any of the GTA games.

Remember the crappy stranger missions in GTA IV? If you don't they sucked. Well they're back in GTA V but with a twist-- the twist is that they don't suck. You'll find yourself in a park with a man trying to give you weed, outside celebrities houses trying to get a compromising picture, or using a tow truck to help out a cracked out neighbor. At points the game is as outrageous as the Saints Row series, but it pulls you back in before you become the leader of the free world.

The story content is great as well. You'll hear of the Liberty City adventures, and you may even meet some familiar faces along the way. It's hard not to spoil anything because there is just so much to talk about. But I'm certain our head writer, Jammage, will discuss the game further in due time. For now, just know that this game has so much to offer, and I'm only three hours in.

GTA V has been granted the PRVMALONE seal of approval

Xbox One VS. PS4

Sony and Microsoft have been going head to head in this campaign to find out who has the better of the next-gen consoles. This year has been fully of rumors, fanboy flame wars, and press conference for both candidates. So with all that aside, which console is truly better? The all-in-one Xbox One? Or the user friendly PS4? We will decide that right here, right now. No opinions, just facts.

Specifications:

Let's start with one of the key things that determine the stronger of the two consoles, and that is their power. Which ones hardware makes up for a better gaming experience?
Xbox One                                            PS4 

8-core X86 AMD Processor	8-core X86-64 AMD Processor
8GB DDR3 RAM	8GB GDDR5 RAM
500GB Hard Drive	500GB Hard Drive

According to the specs on both official websites, the PS4 is slightly stronger than the Xbox One, but only so slightly that it really won't make a difference in the gaming experience. If you do consider the minuscule difference in hardware, PS4 wins in power.

Games:

Both console have announced an array of games such as COD: Ghosts, Assassin's Creed Black Flag, and Destiny. The question is, who has better exclusives? Well, as we all know Activision has an agreement with Microsoft to release content for Xbox first before releasing it everywhere else, so if you don't mind waiting for the new maps it won't be a hassle. Here is a list of games for both consoles:

Xbox One                                  PS4           

Below	Binding of Isaac: Rebirth
Cobalt	Deep Down
Crimson Dragon	Drive Club
D4	Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture
Dead Rising 3	Guns of Icarus
Fable Legends	Helldivers
Fighter Within	Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number
Forza Motorsports	Infamous: Second Son
Killer Instinct	Killzone: Shadow Fall
Kinect Sports Rivals	Knack
Quantum Break	N++
Peggle 2	The Order: 1886
Project Spark	Rime
Rabbids Invasion	Rouge Legacy
Ryse: Son of Rome	Shadow of the Beast
Sunset Overdrive	Volume
	War Thunder
	Wasteland Kings

Now as you can see, PS4 has slightly more exclusives but to determine which is better is based on the gamer's personal taste in video games. 

Features:

Since their reveals, there has been many changes and innovations to each company's features and policies. There were plenty of rumors that games will no longer be able to be traded or returned without a complicated process. I will tell you now, neither sides have that policy anymore. Microsoft once had plans to do so but was hit hard by enraged fans and decided to remove that policy of no used games. So to clear things up of any confusion, used games are still playable on both consoles. One feature that has been confirmed for both consoles is the ability to record and share gameplay footage. Xbox allows you to record 5 minutes of gameplay and has a built in video editor for Xbox Gold members only. They will also allow players to stream directly to Twitch. PS4 allows you to record without the need to pay for PS Plus. They claim it will record from 7-15 minutes of gameplay and there is a simple trimming software to edit your video. The PS4 will also allow friends to watch each others games and help out by joining the game or taking over if the player allows it. The PS4 will allow users to access all of it's features without an extra fee except you must have PS Plus to play online multiplayer and will get extra rewards such as free games every month.

Controller:

Xbox One has created many key features to enhance the experiences the gamer has while playing. They changed the ergonomic design to allow the battery pack to sit inside the controller without interfering with the player's hand position. The analog sticks are slightly smaller with an improved grip that does not wear out as easily. The buttons are more responsive to the player's touch.  They also added rumble motors in the triggers to make vibrations in certain areas depending on what happens in the game. If a car hits a bump on it's front left tire, the controller will vibrate near the left trigger.

The Playstation 4 controller has a couple new features as well. It has a touch pad in the middle to add to gameplay mechanics. It has a share button that allows you instantly use the last 7-15 minutes of gameplay to share with your friends. The top of the controller has a light sensor that has a different color indicating which player is which.

The Xbox 360 controller tends to be more favorable to gamers than the PS3. The new Xbox One controller seems to be slightly more interactive and comfortable than the PS4, but we can't really tell until the actual product is in our hands.

Conclusion:

Gamers everywhere are highly anticipating the release of both of these console. The future of console gaming depends on what the next generation can provide. The new exciting features of these consoles will bring a new experience to the players. There is a lot of potential for consoles on both sides, we can only wait and see the innovations they bring.

Starbound Preview

By: Blake

Starbound, an upcoming game being developed by Chucklefish, the Indie game developers most notably known for their game… um well they have none, but don’t let that push you away. This game started off as a kickstarter-like project announced in February 2012. The genre of Starbound is a 2D side-scroller adventure RPG sandbox. Essentially there is a storyline within a randomly generated sandbox world.

At first glance, this game looks strikingly (and I mean strikingly) similar to the game Terraria, also a randomly generated 2D sandbox world originally released in 2011. Upon googling the similarities between the games you will find Starbound forums with people typing out a series of incoherent gibberish basically saying “no it’s not a terraria wannabe, it’s gonna be like 500 times better!”. While if you dig deeper you will find that Starbound has many artists and developers that were a part of the Terraria team. Terraria was developed by company “re-logic” while Chucklefish is developing Starbound, which seems to be their first game. This being their first game is very impressive due to the massive following the game already has. The game has not even been released and it has gained over one million dollars in pre-orders and what I assume are donations. Anyway, back to Starbound’s gameplay. 

Exploration seems to be key according to the Starbound official website. The concept of many different planets to explore will keep the game interesting and different, but don’t think that exploration is the only thing to do. Claiming a planet as your home planet, traveling in your space shuttle, and improving your weapons and items are just some of the many gameplay mechanics involved. While the main gameplay mechanics have been announced, chucklefish says there is “a plethora of unannounced features yet to mention”. While that has been all the information I have gathered gameplay-wise, there is a daily blog post on Starbound’s official website informing us all on the state of the game. The official release of the game has been said to be “2013”. No date or even month has been given, while they have given some before, they have all been wrong. They are certainly not rushing the game, which is a good thing. The platforms Starbound will be on include Windows, Mac, and Linux. The Starbound team has said that a console version of the game is dependent on the success of the PC versions, which is basically saying they hope it becomes big enough for a console version. 

You can pre-order Starbound at their website, the minimum price being $15, which includes the steam key, Beta access, as well as the Starbound Soundtrack. While Chucklefish's previous deadlines are as reliable as Mojang’s, the game will be out this year. I am looking forward to pre-ordering this game and seeing how the game grows into the next big Indie game success.

For more information and to pre-order the game go to http://playstarbound.com/

GTA V Preview: What We Know So Far

Grand Theft auto is a highly popular franchise known for its controversy, endless amount of replay ability, freedom to do whatever you want, and hours of fun. With their upcoming and highly anticipated GTA V, they have plenty to achieve to fulfill their fans expectations on this game.

GTA V takes place in the area of San Andreas. The map is said to be 3 times bigger than Red Dead Redemption and 5 times bigger if you include the underwater exploration. You play as 3 main characters each with their own story and special abilities. They are Michael, Trevor, and Franklin.

Characters:

Michael is a rich, middle aged man who is just tired of his everyday life. Formerly a professional bank robber, he is now living in a beautiful expensive home with everything a rich man could want. The problem is, it isn't what he wants. He has two children who are spoiled rotten, constantly argue and make his life miserable. To add on to the stress of having ungrateful children, he catches his wife cheating on him. His decision to join the others in making big bank heists is solely to bring excitement back into his life.
Special Ability: Slows down time when using a weapon.

Trevor is a psychopathic ex-military pilot who lives life recklessly. He sells drugs for money and is addicted to them himself. He is not afraid to hurt anyone and will do what he wants, when he wants to. He is an old partner of Michael's, helping him to rob banks for a living. Not much is known about Trevor, but what we do know is he is someone you don't want to mess with.
Special Ability: Increases damage dealt, Decreases damage taken

Franklin is a gangster who is struggling to get out of the thug life. He is an experienced driver and can get himself out of sticky situations in any vehicle he can grab. He has a dog named Chop who will possibly be used as a weapon in the game. His fellow gang members don't agree with him trying to make himself something other than a gang banger so he takes the opportunity to team up with Michael and Trevor to rob banks to get out of the gang business.
Special Abilities: Slows down time while driving.

Gameplay:

The player can switch between each of the three characters at any time in the game. While playing as one character, the others will continue on doing activities around the map. You may even encounter them face to face and interact with them while exploring the world. One character cannot kill the other though. If you happen to "accidentally" shoot the other main character in the head, they will wake up in a hospital the next time you switch to the. Rockstar's explanation is "they have great health insurance." When you are not robbing banks, you can explore the massive world and see what the game has to offer. It has sports to play,cars and characters to customize, and many other activities. You can even scuba dive to look for hidden treasure in the ocean. With the money you earn in the game you can buy stocks and real estate to increase your income.Throughout the game you will be able to set up everything you need to pull off a successful heist. You can hire people to assist you and do side missions to gain getaway vehicles. You will be able to plan out how you would like to do the robbery. "There are two ways i see of doing this.... we either go in smart, or go in loud."

Online:

Grand Theft Online is all about freedom, and fun. You can get together with a bunch of people and literally do what you want. There are mission made specifically for online that you can do to make money. There are endless amounts of activities you can do. Play sports with others, such as golf, arm wrestling, and racing. You can  rob banks and liqor stores, fight off the police, customize your character, buy and customize an apartment that friends can visit, and buy a garage that you can store your favorite vehicles to show off to the online world.You can even customize the online map for races and death matches to compete with online players

Trailers:

Reveal:

Gameplay:

Characters:

Online:

Left 4 Dead 3 Leaked

A renowned DoTA 2 player, ReaverXai, was invited to a tour of Valve's office. Throughout the tour he took pictures of the offices\ and posted them on the internet. One of these pictures were of a computer screen with a programming log showing updates of what Valve has been working on. In this log were entries about Left 4 Dead 3 and Source Engine 2. Along with this leak, a website has been created with the title Left 4 Dead 3 with a countdown timer (Link is below). This is the first we have seen of Valve working on Left 4 Dead 3, and i'm sure it won't be the last. We must keep our fingers crossed and remember Gaben knows how to give us what we want.

http://l4d3.ru/

The Walking Dead Game Review

by Blake

The Walking Dead is a graphic adventure game based on the comic book series The Walking Dead, by Robert Kirkman. The player will take control of Lee, the main character, as he fights to survive the zombie apocalypse. The opening scene of the game shows Lee in the back of a cop car as we learn he has murdered somebody. This is one of the many choices you will make during the game, will others find out about your criminal past? The future outcomes of the story are based upon your decision making during the course of the game. These decisions come in the form of sentence choices that you can make Lee say, in which you are forced to choose one. Some choices you make will carry more weight than others. The big decisions mostly center on the fate of the characters you will meet during the course of the game. If you are looking for a very tactical and intricate third-person shooter zombie survival game, this is not what you will get from this game. Instead you will get a very storyline heavy game, which is not a bad thing. 

The storyline heavy dynamic of the game allows for the player to get very in depth and personal with the characters. You begin to care about other characters as you go on your journey, you may also find yourself disliking some characters. The character development in the story is very well crafted, especially with Clementine. Clementine is a young girl (age nine) that you will meet at the beginning of the game. You are challenged to take care of Clementine, how you do so is up to you. While the gameplay is not as tactical as other games of the genre, the cinematic angles add an interesting change that sets it apart from any zombie game I have played. These camera angles are somewhat annoying though, as I found that sometimes you can miss an entire area of the map due to some confusing angles. The controls are also somewhat messed up whenever the camera angles change; you’ll find that sometimes the WASD controls will get swapped around. Also, the movement of your character, Lee, can kind of seem robotic or like he is a zombie (no pun intended). These are just some minor nuisances as you play, though. 

As the drama unfolds you will find yourself on the edge of your seat, excited to see what will happen next. The characters you meet can either help or harm, it’s up to you to choose who stays with you. Although, as I played the five part game, sometimes I felt that too many characters were being thrown at me to see who stuck, I enjoyed making some tough decisions. Finding items for certain tasks, shooting zombies, and solving some puzzle-like situations are some other gameplay mechanics involved. Overall this is a very great game. If you have about 10 hours to play all five “episodes” I would highly recommend The Walking Dead. I found myself wanting to play it again with different decisions, this way you can experience all the crazy twists and satisfying endings.

Call of Duty Ghosts Preview

Call of Duty Ghosts is Infinity Ward's upcoming installment to the very popular Call of Duty franchise. Revealed on May 21, 2013 at the big Xbox One event, COD Ghosts blew the rest of the event away with their presentation of what their plans were for their new game.  Their main focuses were on a new story, new engine, and a new multiplayer experience.

Into the Deep:

Story:

COD Ghosts starts 10 years after a catastrophic event that cripples the United States' government and economy. Ghosts, what is left of the U.S. military, fight invading forces for the mere act of survival. The developers emphasized on their creation of an emotional connection between the players and the in-game characters. With the help of the Academy Award winning writer, Stephen Gaghan, they will develop characters that are realistic so the players will feel and care for them.The enemies are technologically more powerful but you play as experienced special operation force members meant to handle worst case scenario situations. You are accompanied by a dog named Riley who you can take control of in game to help tactically take down each enemy either by having Riley attack them or using him to get their attention and lure them into a position where you can take them out yourself.

No Man's Land:

Multiplayer:

Although there is very little footage of Ghosts' multiplayer, there are a few things Infinity Ward revealed about the maps and the gameplay. The maps will be more dynamic with random or player activated events that strategically change the map and cause players to play differently. One of the new features is the ability to lean around cover. Mark Rubin, lead designer of Infinity Ward, explained that there will not be a lean button, instead the player will automatically lean around the corner when looking at the edge of a corner. Mantling over blockades will be a smooth motion and will also allow you to continue firing during the transition. Another feature they added is allowing the player to slide into cover after sprinting. All these features together will allow for a smoother and more fast paced gameplay in multiplayer.

Behind the Scenes:

Call of Duty Ghosts will be released on November 5th, 2013 on Xbox 360, PS3, PC, and Wii U. Later it will be launched with the Xbox One and PS4

Firefall Beta First Impression

Firefall is an online first/third person shooter MMORPG. It is a mixture of popular genres to appeal to all audiences. The beginning of the game you are allowed to create your own custom character. The character creation is quick and simple but it doesn't have much variety. The game starts off with a standard tutorial. After learning the basic controls, you will be introduced to the 5 classes that they call Battleframes. The assault class is the damage dealer and uses his weapons and equipment to fight, while biotech is the healer class meant to keep teammates alive while dealing some damage to the enemy. Dreadnaughts are tough tanks that can hold off strong enemies as the team fights them and the Engineer can build structures to fortify the area surrounding the players, resupply ammo and create energy barriers. The 5th class is recon which are assassins that deal damage but have low health so they fight from afar with long ranged weapons. The game does not force you into deciding one role. You are allowed to change classes everytime you are near a Battleframe station.

Although the classes are a generic MMO game, the actual gameplay is play like a modern day RPG/shooter. You can buy or craft weapons, upgrade your gear, and build experience points for your specific classes. People are always interacting with each other even when they aren't in a group. Players will find themselves fighting waves of enemies side by side with other players trying to defend resources. You will get a share of the resources based on how much damage you did to enemies around the objective.

Although this game is in Beta, it is well made other than a few bugs here in there. It will bring innovation to the genres of gaming it contains. This game has great potential and there is much hope for its success. It could be the next big thing.

Evoland Review

By Jerry

Evoland is a game about games in a similar way that Super 8 or Son of Rambow are movies about movies. It is a work of passion and nostalgia, best appreciated by those who grew up playing the old role-playing games Final Fantasy or Zelda. The game was first made for Ludum Dare, an annual event challenging gamemakers of all skill levels to start and finish developing a video game in only 48 hours on their own. When Evoland was finished the fan reaction and love for the game was such that the developer, Nicolas Cannasse, decided to remake it as a longer game.

While playing Evoland you unlock game mechanics, sounds, and graphics, and have the pleasure of seeing the game change from a top-down sidescroller to a three-dimensional adventure game before your eyes. This is done from the beginning by unlocking the movement keys – right, then left, and then up and down – with full free movement down the road! Evoland explores many and parodies some of the most beloved tropes of older RPGs, along with several nods to newer titles. Evoland will have you reminiscing on the best and sometimes the most bizarre parts of your favorite old-school RPGs.

Where Evoland disappoints is in actually delivering the fun and addicting experiences of older RPGs. When the game imitates the puzzles and dungeons of a classic Zelda title it seems far too easy and short. While the game plays as a turn-based RPG the fights are sometimes unbalanced and still often too easy, lacking some more challenging enemies. They are also very simple fights by even traditional RPG standards, most apparently for the lack of a magic bar. There are only a few spells and items, a direct contrast of some of the most memorable RPGs. You meet many characters throughout the game - few of whom which are interesting and only one whom will join your player's team. Also, Evoland's gameplay reference list is not entirely inclusive, instead featuring a mostly Final Fantasy style of game with several Zelda type dungeons and one that is most like Diablo.

Evoland, regardless of its shortfalls, was a blast to experience. In some parts I laughed out loud at the great parodies or references, while in others I was awed by spot on representations of gaming tropes. Unfortunately, the game is propped up on mostly nostalgia, and does not stand well as a game in of itself. This game could be seen as proof-of-concept, with a more complete successor in the future.

Jammage's Next Gen Thoughts

With the next generation of consoles coming at the end of the year, I have to give my thoughts on what the future of gaming holds. One thing that will stay in gaming through the next few years is the average shooter. It gets the highest sales, it is easy to play and understand, and you can play with your friends cooperatively or competitively. Even though AAA shooters are thrown together and made every year, people still buy them. 

On the other hand, there is a big rise in Indie game development. That is one thing I am excited for. Indie games are not restricted to a genre in any way. people make the game, not to make money, but because it is a game they would want to play. These titles are normally unique. Even Robert Bowling, an ex developer at Infinity Ward, quit his job making CoD games to make indie games. This is a man standing up and setting a precedent. Indie games are already on the rise, with title like Minecraft, Fez, Braid, and Journey. People are starting to appreciate gaming as an art.

Graphics are a big thing when it comes to next gen consoles. Unfortunately the consoles will never compare to a high performance PC. But, with the improved power of the new consoles, developers will start making games with better graphics that will also come out for PC with higher quality graphics. Although graphics aren't what make a game fun to play, it is pretty cool to see how far we can go to make a virtual world as realistic as possible.

Those are my thoughts on the future of gaming. Feel free to comment your own opinions such as what you want to see in future games or what you think of what has been shown so far.

Mass Effect 3 Citdal DLC Review by PrvMalone

                In my opinion, Bioware’s Mass Effect series tops the charts for this generation of gaming.   Mass Effect was the only game that ever made me a fan boy, and it is the only universe I know as much about as the Star Wars Universe.  Now that the tale of our mighty hero Commander Shepard has drawn to an end, it seems almost useless to purchase any of the DLC that Bioware has been pumping out.  I’m here to tell you that is not the case.

                Bioware recently released their sendoff DLC titled Citadel, and though it is priced at a whopping fifteen dollars, I would still be willing to cough up the dough just to join the final adventures of my Shepard.  After all the controversy of just about all of Bioware’s actions, I was glad to see that, for the most part, Bioware lived up to what we have come to expect from them.

                Basically, Citadel is a cheesy action movie starring all of your favorite squad mates from Mass Effect 3 and a few from the two previous games in the series. The missions are chock full of jokes and, in one special case, even Star Wars references make their way into the mix.  If you hated all the Romance options in ME3, you may just get a chance to reconnect with your lost love.  If the relationships of your Shepard really did not interest you, there is still the great story and addition combat to enjoy.

                The main quest line of this DLC allows players the opportunity to take a bit of shore leave and rest from the battle against the Reapers.  So, there is no combat in this DLC…Ha, like that’s possible.  The player has to uncover a plot to kill Shepard, and each mission brings a new twist to keep the player emotionally and mentally engaged with the plot. After the main quest line is complete there is still much to do in the new areas in the Citadel that become available. Most notable of the additions is the Armax Arsenal Arena, where you can convene with all your living squad mates, new and old, to compete in simulated battles against virtual opponents.  If you missed the sound of a Krogan blasting his way through Geth synthetic flesh you will be most pleased with this addition.

                Overall, this DLC will not disappoint Mass Effect fans, and this addition was a perfect send-off for our beloved Commander Shepard. The only let down for me is that we never see a romance between Shepard and Shiala, the green Asari who appeared in both ME and ME2.  She was totally into Shepard and you know it!  Anyways, wherever Bioware goes next with the series (First Contact War please) and whatever our new hero may be (space smuggler or assassin please) I am certain Bioware will keep players invested into the story.

Bioshock Infinite Preview

Bioshock Infinite is a single player RPG set to come out on March 26, 2013. The past two games have had an intricate satiric storyline that keeps the players wondering what will happen next. The original Bioshock even had a plot twist that blew gamers minds.  This Bioshock takes place in 1912 in a city in the sky called Columbia. Created by the ideas of a man named Zachary Comstock, Columbia was originally part of the United States but seceded. Unlike its predecessors, the protagonist in this game, Booker DeWitt, is audible. He has a charming voice and personality. He is accompanied by Elizabeth. She was imprisoned on Columbia since the age of 5 and Booker was sent to Columbia to rescue her and bring her to New York. She has abilities to create “tears” through the fabric of time. Sometimes you can use these tears to provide cover, ammunition, or other advantages against enemies. Booker, along with the player, develops a relationship with Elizabeth, causing them to care about her and wanting to save her. The Songbird is a mechanical beast with the job of keeping Elizabeth trapped in the city. The gameplay seems much like the past games.

You progress through the game finding new power ups and leveling them up. Gameplay has shown many power ups you can get such as Murder of Crows, which stuns the enemy and does damage over time. Some environments allow the players to use their powers to their advantage. There are plenty of enemies to face and different ways to approach them. There are the regular human enemies that attack you with whatever weapon they have. There are also the Boys of Silence who act as security alarms. You can either chose to sneak past them, or attack a wave of enemies. The Handymen play a role as the Big Daddy from the original Bioshocks. They are big, fast moving creatures that do a lot of damage to the player. He can throw enemies closer to the player to allow them to attack him easier.

Bioshock Infinite is highly anticipated. The developers are using all their time and resources to perfect this game, even missing E3 of 2012 to spend more time working on the game. Hopefully they will not disappoint us. Only the future will tell.

Antichamber Review

Steve from Sporadic Gaming, here to review Antichamber!

Antichamber is a puzzle game made by Alexander Bruce. In some ways it reminds me of the puzzle aspect of the Portal series. However, Antichamber uses non-Euclidian geometry, which means that the spaces are constantly changing. Some areas loop in on themselves, connect to areas that are far away, and change when you look away.

Another mechanic the game uses is a type of gun that picks up and dispenses blocks. As the game progresses, you get new types of blocks, which have more abilities each time. You use these blocks to fill in puzzles, get around, and hold open doors.

Overall these puzzles were fairly difficult. There were some parts where I just plain didn't know what to do. Also the fact that the blocks gain new abilities means that sometimes there will be parts that you won't be able to pass yet and will have to come back to. This can be frustrating because you won't always know that you aren't able to pass a particular part yet.

The average time of completions is about 4 hours, which is approximately what it took me. It certainly can vary from person to person though.

Personally, there were a few times where I had to look up what to do, but a very smart person might be able to do it on their own. Sometimes the solutions to the puzzles were less than obvious. It was very rewarding to figure out some of the puzzles on my own. If you are looking for a difficult puzzle game that will challenge you mentally, then this is the game for you.

Sony's PS4 Press Conference

Graphics:

The PS4 will have characters with as much as 30,000 polygons. Facial animations will be more detailed, showing the most subtle emotions.

Controller:

First thing they showed was their new controller. As the rumors had been, the controller will have the same look as the Dualshock controller but with a touch screen in the middle and a share button. The back will have an Light that also acts as a motion sensor.

Downloading:

The PlayStation 4 will have a chip that allows you to upload, download, or update a game at the same time as you are doing other things or even when the power is off. It will also allow you to stream a game as it downloads.

It will be able to predict what game you will most likely buy and download next and will already have it saved and ready for you to play as soon as you purchase it. It will also show news stories on games you play or games that are similar to your likes. It will try to understand your personal preferences in gaming to help you enjoy your gaming experience.

Using remote play, you will be able to transfer a game you are currently playing from console to device and vice versa. One of their goals are to make any game made for a Sony gaming system, such as Playstion One and Two, available for all future systems through the cloud.

Online Communication: 

You will be able to use the Share button on the controller to watch the last 15 minutes of gameplay and upload the video while you continue to play the game. You will also be able to watch your friends play a game live and spectate pro players. They can even allow you to take over your friend's the game from your console to help them through difficult parts of the game. You will be able to comment in spectator mode to anyone else who is watching. Friends will also be able to assist you in game by sending control commands and giving you items.

Knack:

Knack was announced. Humans and Goblins are at war with each other. A scientist created an experiement named Knack who can transform with the items around him. From the trailer it shows combat and hints at puzzles you must overcome through the game. 

Killzone Shadow Fall:

Killzone Shadow Fall was announced and it looks beautiful. The graphical presentation is top notch. The combat seems smooth even getting in and out of cover looks so fluid including the free running to get to different places on the map. From this trailer i saw that there was a secret way of defeating the boss if you explore a little.

Drive Club:

Drive Club is a racing game all about detail and challenges. The cars are detailed to the very fiber of the seats inside. The developers really focused on the graphics of the car to make it as realistic as possible. Also, this game allows people to challenge each other in tournaments that can last a few hours or maybe a few days, even months. You can set up a challenge for anyone to do. You can create your own club with your friends to compete against other clubs as well.

Infamous Second Son:

The Witness:

This game is open world but it is on a small scale. The developers focused more on making the world compact and easy to get around instead of a huge open area. The whole world has different puzzles you must solve to complete the game. Jonathan Blow says "the game is about epiphany." Each area has a different theme.

Deep Down:

Watch Dogs:

This game is freaking awesome.

Diablo 3 will be coming out for PS3 and PS4

Destiny: