Overweight Hammer Bros.

While playing Nintendo's newest Mario outing, New Super Mario Bros 2 for the 3DS, I came across this hilariously adorable chubby Hammer Bro ruthlessly chucking hammers at me. I can safely say this is $40 well spent!

Wasting Time: Weekend of March 11th

This week was quite a big week for new releases for you nerds out there, and I ended up partaking in just about all of them. The two 100 pound elephants in the entertainment room this week were the DVD and Blu-ray releases of the first season of Game of Thrones, while the other being the exciting conclusion to one of the greatest sci-fi adventures to hit gaming, Mass Effect 3. If medieval backstabbing and intergalactic conversation wheels are not your thing, Capcom's newest fighting game crossover Street Fighter X Tekken was released this week as well. My wallet cried out to me when I dished out the cash for all three this week, so here's whats up:

Mass Effect 3 (Xbox 360 version)

Bioware's Mass Effect series is easily one of the best franchises in this generation of gaming, with the second entry being one of my favorite games of all time. It was a no-brainer that the third entry in the series was a must buy for me, seeing as I am a huge fan of elegant sci-fi worlds and adventures. I put about three hours into the game so far and have been impressed with what I've witnessed. Mass Effect 3 basically feels like the last game but with some notable enhancements in the shooting physics, the health system, and the presentation.

Shooting mechanics feel more solid this time around with guns packing more of a punch when fired. Bioware adopted a health system similar to Halo's where an armor bar and health bar represented by four quadrants are displayed on screen; once the armor bar depletes, the quadrants on the health bar start to drop and will not recharge until health packs are picked up. The way Bioware opens and presents the story to the player makes more of an impact this time around, making the player invest in the motivations of Shepard far more than the previous two did. The biggest letdown I've witnessed is the inability of the game to properly transfer your created Shepard's face into ME3 if you started with ME1, thus forcing you to recreate your face that never really looks the same. I'm really looking forward to playing more.

Street Fighter X Tekken (Xbox 360)

Typically I am not a fan of fighting games, with the exception of the Dead or Alive and Soul Calibur series. It isn't that I dislike fighting games, it is just that the value relies solely on competitive play, and the fighting game community is BRUTAL. Playing fighting games online (especially Capcom fighters) can be extremely discouraging for new players due to how dedicated die hard fans are to mastering the game and ensuring victory. Plus, I feel like dishing out the cash for an expensive arcade stick is sort of a requirement for any player to be able to properly compete on the online battlefield. Lag has always been an issue for online play too and SFxT is no stranger to input lag. Still, I've been wanting to pick a fighting game to dedicate myself to and attempt to become good at and this game is the one I picked.

The game itself looks great, animates very well, and introduces a new fighting system that isn't just another cash-in on the same old Street Fighter IV engine. The Tekken characters actually play quite a bit different and require a whole different approach to attacking your opponent. The need for a compatible duo of fighters is much stronger than in Marvel vs. Capcom 3, so experimenting with all of the fighters is a must. I found myself performing much better in this game than SFIV and MvC3 on the single player front, but online I still cannot win a single ranked match. I'm trying not to become discouraged too much and end up selling the game, but I can honestly say I am pretty frustrated that I cannot find anybody online around my own skill level to play and have fun with. We'll see how I feel when I sink more time into the game.

Game of Thrones (Blu-ray)

I am a sucker for medieval battles, swords and bows, kings and queens and giant battlefields. Even though I have not read any of George R. R. Martin's novels, I have been really looking forward to watching Game of Thrones. Seeing as I do not have HBO (nor do I intend to), I had to unfortunately wait for a DVD release until I could experience this groundbreaking series. Now that I have my hands on it and am currently 7 episodes in, I can happily say that the show certainly lives up to the hype. The actors are all fantastic and seeing Sean Bean on the screen again as a medieval solider is exciting. The cinematography is gorgeous and the production values match those of a 100 million dollar Hollywood blockbuster. The Blu-ray presentation is fantastic with great sound, breath-taking HD transfer, and a ton of extras. What I was not expecting was how explicit the show is and how often times it can be uncomfortable to watch. Game of Thrones is littered with explicit sex scenes, nudity, rape, incest, gore and uncomfortable situations. As shocking as the show may sometimes be, it all makes sense in context and time period and presents itself in a way that the viewer can easily swallow. I've been rather addicted to Game of Thrones and I will be sad when the season ends, knowing I will have to wait another year until I get more.

One release this week that I'm interested in but didn't get around to was the Blu-ray release of Tarsem Singh's The Immortals. The film's reviews didn't fare so well, but I've heard the visual style is outstanding (which is to be expected coming from Singh) and that if not taken too seriously it can be a fun film. I'll give it a look later this upcoming week.

Digging into the Playstation Vita: Part 2

The OS:

Anybody with an Android phone will feel right at home on the Vita’s operating system, which closely resembles most smart phone and tablet devices. Many functions typically found on most smart phones (including iPhones) are implemented in some shape or form into the Vita OS as well. For example, if the user wants to re-arrange the app icons on the “desktop” and edit/delete them as well, you can do so by holding your finger down on the touch screen until an editing mode appears and allows you to play around with the apps, which works the same on both iOS and Android devices as well. Sliding your finger up or down will switch pages and allow you to view more apps on the device. Sliding your finger left or right will switch pages to already launched apps and even allow you to view a screen that shows everything currently running on the Vita in one multitasking menu. If you want to edit the background colors or add wallpapers to the background, you can do so by holding your finger down on the screen to bring up the editing menu and tap a background design function. You can even have each page of the Vita’s menu display a different color or different wallpaper as well, but each added page resets the background to the Vita’s default, which means you will need to re-edit the background for each new page, which can be annoying.

Each Vita function displays as a floating bubble on the screen. When a bubble is touched, a launch page pops up giving you the option to launch the app, view downloadable content, visit associated web pages, view PSN store links associated with the app, and view the app’s e-manual. This all-in-one screen makes it very easy for the user to find everything they need associated with the game in question, which I like quite a bit; no longer will you need to scour the PSN store looking for the game or it’s DLC. Games still need to be installed onto the system and OS similar to the PS3, but this time load times are much quicker and everything is done automatically. The OS also includes a handy screen shot feature that allows you to take in-game screen shots by holding the PS home button and the start button together. These photos are added to the Vita’s photo galleries and can be edited and uploaded to social media websites such as Facebook and Twitter.

Vita’s operating system includes many of the functions you will see on most smart phone and tablet devices. Your typical functions like photo viewing, music player, web browser, camera applications, and video are all here on the Vita. The applications made famous by modern gaming consoles are included too, like Trophy support, various chat functions, and content managers for PC integration. The Vita also includes remote play support for cross-compatible PS3 games, a nifty Welcome Park app that teaches new users how to use the Vita’s various features, and of course the PSN store as well. As you can see, the Vita has a pretty full-featured set of tools. I would have liked the Vita’s settings menu to be a little more full featured (some functions seem to be missing or thrown into some other app’s menus) and Playstation Network functions a little easier to find.

Not all of the apps built into the Vita are high-quality though. The web browser likes you load in data as you scroll down the pages, so viewing web pages can be sort of a choppy experience. The camera functions do not really give you a whole lot of tools to play with besides your typical bare-bones features. The PSN store does not seem to utilize some of the cooler functions found on the PS3, like Playstation Plus support, but it does the job well and future updates could correct this. I seem to not be able to display album artwork on the Vita’s music app and the organization of the menus do not make the player’s interface very attractive to use like the ones found on iPods and Zunes. The Facebook and Twitter apps actually go above and beyond and give the user an experience other than your typical smart phone by giving an all-new attractive interface and quicker navigation.

Overall, the Vita’s OS is pretty full-featured and easy to use, but folks who are new to the OS systems found on smart phones and tablets may have a hard time adjusting to some of the more advanced functions. New users may have difficulty setting up the Vita for the first time since a goofy little infinite loop occurs when users attempt to integrate their PSN accounts, but the OS will not allow it until a system update is performed; the user basically has to choose to not use their PSN account, create a new temporary account, download the update, delete the temporary account, and THEN sign into PSN before it works. Not all of the included apps function as well as I would like, but I’m sure Sony will implement many new OS enhancements later down the road. Out of the box, the Vita’s operating system performs quickly and accurately and should not gather too many complaints.

The Games:

The Playstation Vita launched with a total of 25 games, some of them PSN exclusive (Escape Plan, Super Stardust Delta) and I currently own four of them with a fifth game coming in the mail. So far I own Uncharted: Golden Abyss, Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, Ninja Gaiden Sigma Plus, and Rayman Origins (I have Hot Shots Golf coming in the mail). The majority of the launch titles are fairly well reviewed with only a small number of them that didn’t fare so well in critics’ eyes (Dungeon Hunter: Alliance and Shinobido 2 being two of them) so the launch lineup for the Vita is a fairly good one. Lets get into the games I’ve had experience with so far.

Ninja Gaiden Sigma Plus is yet another enhanced version of the original Xbox Ninja Gaiden. The game is technically the same as the PS3’s Sigma, but this time some touch screen controls were added along with a new mission mode. Honestly, I found the new touch controls to be a bit useless, but thankfully they’re all optional. The game looks and plays just as well as it did before, but the troublesome camera still exists. Any gamer who has not experienced this classic action game will certainly not want to pass this one up.

Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 is a title I’ve always wanted to play but just never got around to it. I absolutely loved the Dreamcast version of Marvel vs Capcom 2 so I decided to pick up MvC3 as one of the Vita launch titles so I could finally get some time with it. I’m not much of a fighting game fan, but I try to be; the community is so hard to fit into and modern fighters have a huge learning curve. From my limited time with the game, it seems very faithful to the console counterparts from what I can tell. The game looks gorgeous, animates well, and has a lighting quick framerate. Some of the backgrounds do not animate much, so I’m not sure if the console versions were similar, but Capcom may have slightly scaled back on the backgrounds animating like they did with the 3DS Super Street Fighter IV; although, seeing as I have never played the console version, I cannot confirm this. The game controls well, includes all of the modes found in the console versions, and performs pretty well online. Any fan of fighting games may want to look into it.

Next up is Uncharted: Golden Abyss, the game I was looking forward to the most out of the Vita’s launch lineup. Coming back disappointed from Uncharted 3, I didn’t really know what to expect out of Golden Abyss, especially since it is developed by someone new (Bend Studios). To my surprise, Vita’s Uncharted adventure is a very faithful one. The game looks very similar to the original game, controls as you would expect, and has a campaign that lasted a little longer than the one found in Uncharted 3. The only problem is that some of the touch controls are forced on the player and can be sort of annoying, like the need to finish a melee attack up with a finger stroke on the touch screen. Thankfully, most of the touch controls are optional in Golden Abyss. Collectables are handled differently this time around too, which has Drake taking pictures and solving hidden puzzles as well as finding treasure. I did finish the game (which took me around 9 hours) and found it to be a very enjoyable game compared to the last three, and somewhat more enjoyable than Uncharted 3. Just do not expect massive set pieces out of this one.

Seeing as Rayman Origins is considered one of the best games of last year and I have yet to play it, I picked it up on the Vita. A platformer of this type feels very good on a handheld so I figured quick pick up and play sessions would work well with Rayman Origins, and it does. The gorgeous high resolution artwork has not been lost at all on the Vita’s screen and the framerate is as silky smooth as ever. The tight platforming controls work great on both the analog stick and the d-pad while all of the game’s content (with some Vita exclusive additions) all happens to be here. Even though the game’s price tag is $10 higher than the console versions, the small level structure works well for a handheld, so the Vita version has some appeal for on-the-go gaming.

I’ve spent a little under two weeks with the Playstation Vita so far and I am still rather impressed by it. Only time will tell whether or not the handheld will perform as strong as a Nintendo DS or even better than it’s predecessor. If Sony does intend to keep Vita owners out of a gaming drought and have the handheld widely supported with quality software, the Vita may end up being the ultimate gamer’s handheld.

Digging into the Playstation Vita: Part 1

Sony’s first attempt at the handheld gaming market, the PSP (Playstation Portable) was sort of a mixed bag depending on the region. Released in Q4 of 2004 in Japan and Q1 of 2005 in the North America, the little handheld-that-could struggled to find a market in the United States and Europe due to the overwhelming success of the Nintendo DS and the kick start of the smart phone sensation. In Japan, however, the handheld was a whopping success thanks to titles like Monster Hunter. The PSP had sort of an identity crisis, trying to be both a gaming handheld, a smart phone, and an iPod at the same time. The under-emphasis of gaming sort of killed its momentum in the U.S. thanks to the lack of innovation in it’s titles, the infrequency of new software being released, and the true lack of any killer apps for the handheld. Sony wanted the PSP to be the hardcore gamer’s handheld, but with the poor analog nub found on the system, the ho-hum screen, and the intricate controls found on a lot of titles without the proper controls integrated onto the handheld itself (like a second analog nub), the PSP was certainly the black sheep of gaming.

I seriously believe that Sony has learned from their mistakes by the design of their next generation handheld gaming system, the Playstation Vita. Sony heard the cries from gamers this time by designing the PSP’s successor to have not one true analog stick, but two of them! The lack of innovation cannot be the downfall of the handheld this time, since the Vita contains a 5’’ beautiful OLED touch screen, a rear touch pad that interacts with the software, two digital cameras (front and rear) with augmented reality functionality, and 3G support by AT&T (in an optional model) to appeal to the on-the-go smart phone users out there. Sony’s competition this time is a 10x stronger smart phone market, the Nintendo 3DS (which has yet another head start by one year), and now the tablet market. Only time will tell if the PS Vita will outperform the disappointing PSP, but Sony has stated that software is a key focus on the platform and that long droughts of games will not happen this occur around. I have purchased the WiFi only version of the PS Vita ($249) and have spent a lot of time with it in the past week, so lets take a look at it.

Before I start, I want everyone to know that I was a hater of the PSP. I hated the 1000 model’s ghosting-plagued screen (and even the 3000 model’s screen wasn’t too great), I hated the analog nub, and I can not think of one game I can say was a system seller for it. After playing with the the Vita for a week, I can honestly say this device is a huge apology letter by Sony to the fans (which I’ll get into later). The handheld does indeed have it’s fair share of issues, so it is far from perfect, but I can already tell I will love this thing as long as Sony keeps to their promise and supports it with a wide variety of software. I will break down my review into three separate pieces: the system, the OS, and the games.

The System

The Vita packs quite a punch in the graphical department, coming very close to the graphical quality of the PS3 itself. Uncharted: Golden Abyss basically matches the graphical fidelity of the original Uncharted game for the PS3 and Ninja Gaiden Sigma Plus looks identical to the PS3 counterpart. Some people claim that Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 actually looks better on the Vita compared to the PS3, but I did notice the background aren’t as animated as I was expecting, but since I have not played the console version of the title I cannot confirm that the graphics have been scaled down for the Vita version; it certainly does not look like it has though. The handheld controls very well with both analog sticks feeling smooth and grip to your thumbs quite nicely. The face buttons are a bit small and quite high above the second analog stick, but I have yet to have an issue with them gameplay wise.

The form factor of the handheld feels very nice in my hands and I haven’t encountered any cramping in my hands after long periods of play (unlike the 3DS). There are rubber-like plastic grips on the back of the system where your hands rest with indents that feel pretty good. The rear touch panel lies right in the center of the back of the unit and covers probably 60% of the back. Even though the launch titles I have played do not use the rear panel much, I do feel like using the panel may be challenging if not incorporated well into the game since it’ll make the user have to shift their hand in a way that may position their hands off of the face buttons and left analog stick. The left and right triggers at the top of the handheld feel basically identical to the PSP and I haven’t witnessed any issues with them.

The Vita takes proprietary memory cards, which come in 4, 8, 16, and 32 gigabyte variations; this is probably the biggest complaint I have about the Vita. I would have loved to have some internal memory on the device with a memory card expanding option (like most digital cameras and Android tablets), but forcing consumers to buy memory cards feels like we’re back in 1996 again with the original Playstation. The memory cards are very expensive too, with the prices ranging from $20 (for the 4GB) to $100 (for the 32GB). I can buy a 320GB hard drive for an Xbox 360 for $120, a 1TB hard drive for a PC for $80, or a 32GB SD card for $50 but I have to pay almost half of the handheld’s cost just for a 32GB card (which is basically required for full functionality anyway)? Simply ridiculous on Sony’s part. Even the PSP Go (Sony’s second attempt at breathing life into the PSP) had 16GB of internal memory, but I guess the fact that nobody bought the PSP Go made Sony think twice about not using some physical form of media for the Vita.

The software comes in two forms on the Vita: digital downloads (which also net you a small discount) and physical boxed media cards that can be bought in retail stores. The physical copies look like small, thin memory cards similar in size to the Memory Stick Pro Duo memory cards by Sony. The very thin nature of the game cards concern me due to feeling so fragile, but I haven’t had an issue yet with them. Even though the digital versions of the games cost less and are easier to obtain, the large sizes will fill a small memory card up way too fast and there is no resale value to them, so sticking to the physical copies will be a good idea for most (my self included).

One of the Vita’s shining features is the 5’’ OLED touch screen. The screen is quite gorgeous to look at and the color depth and clarity make the pretty graphics really pop. In a high definition era, the screen does not fail to deliver the goods. The touch sensitivity is as solid as any high dollar smart phone and games utilize it very well. The rear touch pad, even though I’ve had limited experience with it, functions well from what I’ve noticed but my previously mentioned concerns about moving your hands to use it still exists. Both digital cameras work well and snap pictures rather quickly, but do not expect very high quality photos out of either one. I’m not quite sure what the mega-pixels are on the two cameras, but putting the photo quality up against the 3DS makes the Vita look like a small improvement in camera quality and shutter speed, but not by much. Augmented reality games seem to perform better than the 3DS as well, which Sony packed in AR cards like the 3DS. I noticed with the 3DS AR cards that the augmented segments read from the cards can result in jerky performance and can be easy to knock the cards off track and make the images disappear; the Vita did none of that during my short time with the two downloadable AR games.

Overall the handheld is much more impressive than the PSP and the new added controls make more complex games shine easier on a handheld system. The Vita really does feel like the hardcore gamer’s handheld and I’m really looking forward to seeing how this thing shines in the future in terms of software and innovation. For all of its impressive features and tech, the $250 price tag feels very reasonable compared to the 3DS at launch.

*To be Continued...

Jet Grind Radio HD Announcement

Yesterday, Sega teased fans with a little video announcing a new Dreamcast game that’s getting an XBLA/PSN HD remake. Being the giant Dreamcast fan that I am, I watched the video with anticipation; what I found was nothing sort of amazing:



Yes people, we’re getting an HD port of the one and only Jet Grind Radio! For those of you who haven’t had the pleasure of playing this classic Sega game, Jet Grind Radio (Jet Set Radio in Japan) is sort of a splice between a score-attack styled arcade game and an extreme sports title. The game basically consisted of the player, while under a time limit and the threat of the police, roller blading around the city while gridding on objects, collecting paint cans, and tagging over rival gang’s graffiti scattered around town. Mixed with tight controls, a colorful cast of characters, amazing music, and some great gameplay, Jet Grind Radio was easily one of the highlights of the Dreamcast’s library.

While this news really excites me, I can’t help but think of the game’s Xbox sequel, Jet Set Radio Future.

Future was basically the same concept as Jet Grind Radio but this time taking out the time limited score-attack style of gameplay and replacing them with open ended levels and more of a platforming style of gameplay that encouraged exploration more than speed runs. Even though some people think that Future was not a worthy successor to Jet Grind Radio, I beg to differ. Not only did I think Future was a better game, but it featured even BETTER music than the original game. I couldn’t help but feel Future was a better game just due to the fact that it was styled more towards my type of preferred gameplay style (since I’m not much of a fan of time limits). When Future was released, I played that game non-stop and accomplished basically everything that was able to be done in it, which was no easy task.

Here is a little sample of some of the awesome music found in Jet Set Radio Future:



I’m pretty thrilled that Sega is revisiting this franchise. Even though I doubt we will ever see a third title in the series, I am happy knowing they’re giving us the ability to play an upgraded version of the original classic. Hopefully if it sells well, Sega will hook us up with an HD version of Future as well. *keeps fingers crossed* I highly encourage anybody who has not played either game to hunt down a copy of each or jump on this Sega HD rerelease as soon as you can; you will not be disappointed.

Top Ten Video Games of 2011

I didn't feel comfortable making a top ten gaming list for last year until now, seeing as I still had several games to play. Now that I have played and finished most of the games I've wanted to play from 2011, I feel safe in finalizing a list of the best stuff I played last year. I want to start off by saying that I actually had a hard time coming up with ten games that I would consider best of the best from 2011, so honestly I felt like 2011 hasn't been gaming's strongest year. I feel this way mostly due to the amount of disappointments that have popped up within the year. Anyway, lets get this party started, shall we?

10. Rocksmith

I have to give props to any game that attempts to teach the player to play something as complex as the guitar and actually succeed in doing it well. We've had games like Rock Band 3 dabble in realism with the Pro Guitar which COULD help the user develop some real guitar skill, but I doubt it. Power Gig attempted to pack in a real guitar and teach gamers how to play a real guitar and failed horribly. Rocksmith was a pricey package, but the progression in difficulties, mini-games that build up fretting skills, in-game tutorials, and one of the best guitar tuners I've ever used, Rocksmith proved that a video game can really teach somebody something other than better hand/eye coordination. Lets not forget the strong soundtrack and great downloadable content support too!

9. Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure

Some may find it silly that I even played this game let alone add it to this list, but I can't help it! Skylanders was a totally enjoyable game from start to finish. Action RPG fans who aren't afraid to dabble in a children's game should really give it a shot. I've spend a ton of money collecting figures and even more time leveling up all of my characters and obtaining every achievement the game offered. Skylanders was easily the biggest surprise release of 2011 for me and I loved playing through it.

8. Rage

John Carmack (legendary Id Software developer and Doom creator) has caught a lot of flak from gamers lately. Just the amount of trashing he received for the lack of a flashlight strapped to a gun in Doom 3 was insane. While I never understood the hate for Doom 3, I certainly do not understand the hate for Rage either. The game did receive a horrible PC port and the graphics didn't quite deliver as promised, but Rage was a total blast from start to finish. The gun mechanics were tight, the work was fun to explore, and (most) of the enemies were a joy to be pitted against. As far as a straight-up shooter goes, Rage was probably the most fun FPS title from 2011 for me.

7. Mortal Kombat

Ed Boon (Mortal Kombat creator) really blew this one out of the park. I honestly didn't expect much out of Mortal Kombat since I didn't care much for the past four iterations in the series, but boy was I surprised. It takes a special game to make me care about a fighting game, but Mortal Kombat grabbed me and had me addicted for months. The story mode was easily the best single player mode ever for a fighting game, the cast of characters were great, the fatalities were brutally fun, and the fighting mechanics felt like I was back playing Mortal Kombat 2 again. Mortal Kombat is easily the best fighter to come out in years.

6. Super Mario 3D Land

The 3DS really needed a killer app, even though for me personally Ocarina of Time 3D was about as killer of an app as you can get. Super Mario 3D land arrived and gave gamers a reason to purchase a 3DS. I was a bit worried the title would have been rushed and sloppy in order to arrive on shelves quick enough to sell the 3DS during the holidays, but I was wrong. 3D Land's mix of old and new breathed some much needed life into the series. The game was short, but totally satisfying from start to finish and the unlockable challenge world made the game tougher for the hardcore crowd. Super Mario 3D land is a total joy to play and easily worth plopping down the cash on a 3DS.

5. Dead Space 2

Dead Space was a much needed new IP in a sea of sequels when it was released back in 2008. The game stole some ideas from a few games like Resident Evil 4, but mixed with the unique gun mechanics and fantastic atmosphere, it made the survival horror genre feel relevant again. The sequel fixed a few annoyances with the original and amped up the tension and atmosphere, making Dead Space 2 a sequel a game should have. Even though the gameplay didn't change much, Dead Space 2 just simply refined the gameplay and gave us a much better environment and story to experience and made it one of the best games of the year.

4. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

You will find Skyrim on the top of most gamers lists this year, but not mine. Don't get me wrong, I loved Skyrim to death, but after putting so much time into Morrowind and Oblivion, I did get a big case of deja-vu here. Nonetheless, Skyrim is a very well design game with some amazing quests and a very memorable narrative that makes it easily the best game in the series. Skyrim also happens to be the best value of 2011 too, due to the sheer amount of content crammed into it's small 4GB size. No matter what kind of gamer you are, you will find something to love in Skyrim. The game really lasts about as long as you want it to with a fairly short campaign, but nearly endless amount of things to do afterwards. Skyrim is a no-brainer for any gamer.

3. Portal 2

Portal 2 is another huge surprise for me. I initially didn't pay too much attention to it due to the original game's short length and tech-demo-like feeling. Don't get me wrong, I loved the original Portal, but puzzle games typically fail to hold my attention for very long. Portal 2 showed up with an awesome story, hilarious cast of characters, clever puzzles, and one of the greatest endings out of a video game this year. The co-op mode was also very refreshing and a blast to play, making Portal 2 one of the most satisfying gameplay experiences of 2011. The design of this game was simply uncanny.

2. Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

Most people who know me will say "well duuuhh" on this one. I am a HUGE Legend of Zelda fanatic. The series is easily my favorite and two games in the series are in my top ten list of all time (Ocarina of Time being #1 and Link to the Past #5). I always get excited when a new Zelda title releases, but I was also skeptical since Twilight Princess didn't blow me away and the two DS titles were iffy. Skyward Sword totally blew me away in terms of game design, innovations in controls, and presentation. The story is every Zelda fan's wet dream and the cast of characters were fantastic. The only thing that prevented this game from taking the #1 spot for me was the fact that the game did change a few things that I felt would have been better left unchanged (like the more linear approach to an overworld) and the fact that I had to sometimes wrestle with the motion controls. Still, Skyward Sword changes the formula enough to make the game feel fresh while also feeling like a Zelda title while providing a pretty epic adventure to boot. I can already tell this is a game that will stick with me like several of it's predecessors.

1. Deus Ex: Human Revolution

Here is another game that took me by surprise this year. I wasn't expecting much out of Human Revolution since the game had some big shoes to fill and the last attempt at a sequel failed pretty miserably. Human Revolution totally lives up to the Deus Ex name by having an interesting cyber punk narrative, some of the best stealth mechanics to show up in years, some fantastic environments and art direction, and easily the best musical score out of any game this year. In many ways, I find Human Revolution a much better game than the original Deus Ex. Anybody who is a fan of classic sci-fi cinema (Blade Runner anyone?) will fall in love with this game. Yes, the game did have some horrible boss battles, but everything in-between those boss battles were some of the best gaming moments I had in 2011. Congratulations Deus Ex: Human Revolution - you are my favorite game of 2011.

Disappointments:

Some of you may be wondering, why big titles like Uncharted 3, Arkham City, and Gears of War 3 get total snubs on my list? I will quickly tell you why. Arkham City wasn't half as enjoyable as Arkham Asylum due to the environments being not remotely as interesting, some frustrating gameplay mid-through, and the fact that the campaign was so short and 60% of the game's content relied on finding collectibles. Uncharted 3 failed to live up to the excitement provided in Uncharted 2 until towards the end, and Naughty Dog's idea on how to challenge the player relied on throwing endless waves of bullet-sponge enemies and armored foes at the player while rockets zinged past you every second. I personally found Uncharted to be an exercise in frustration halfway through.

Gear of War 3 and Modern Warfare 3 were mostly been-there-done-that. I'm honestly shocked that Call of Duty still breaks these insane sales records while it fails to do anything remotely new every year. Dark Souls, while I respect, gets no love from be due to my hatred for cheap A.I, unnecessary difficulty spikes, and masochistic game design that sucks the fun out of gaming for me. Saint's Row: The Third is a really fun game that does a fantastic job of spoofing the genre and just letting gamers have fun; however, in terms of game design it fails to stand up to most games this generation and feels to simplistic in nature. Do I even need to go into Duke Nukem Forever?

Blockbuster Video and Rental Chains: Finally Kicking the Bucket.

During my childhood, my parents gave me a $10 weekly allowance just as long as I accomplished several daily chores throughout the week. Those chores consisted of taking out the trash, vaccumming the living room and dining room, and feeding the dog and the cat. Every Friday when I received that allowance, nine out of ten times I would beg my mother to take me to the video store to rent a video game. I would use that allowance money to rent a couple of video games or a couple of movies to keep me busy during the weekend. The home gaming console was a baby sitter to me so-to-speak, because my folks would rent me a couple of games and sit me in front of the television and I would be out of their hair the whole weekend. I remember being excited to arrive to the video store and check out the selection of games and look for something new that I haven't played before. Whenever I received a new console, I always remember being excited the most about how I got to browse the new console's selection at the video store and being able to actually go home with one and play it, thus opening up my gaming choices greatly.

All of these fond memories of visiting the video store has me thinking a lot recently about the current situation with video rental stores. Blockbuster Video has been quickly going extinct due to the dominance of Netflix, Redbox, and digital distribution of movies via iTunes and Amazon. Competing with cheaper and more convenient alternatives to movie renting has made Blockbuster Video go the way of the dodo. Hollywood Video and Movie Gallery, two large video rental chains that formed into one company in 2005, lost their battle several years ago and closed down all remaining locations in July of 2010. Honestly, in 2012 and with all of the technology currently at our fingertips, who wants to drive to the video store, pay double to sometimes triple the amount to rent a movie or game, and also have the uncertainty of that particular item you want will even be in stock? I highly suspect nobody, unless your grandmother who doesn't know how to operate a computer wants to rent a copy of Singing in the Rain.



Even though I have very fond memories of going to the video store with my parents, I also cannot forget about all of the hard times I had as well. When I got older and started to appreciate film as an art form instead of a quick entertainment alternative, going to the local Blockbuster Video was more of a hassle than anything. While browsing through the shelves, I would find whole sections of shelving dedicated to some poorly reviewed, idiotic action movie starring Tom Berenger and one copy of whatever highly reviewed coming-of-age indie movie I was looking for, which was always rented out. Since I grew up in a town where there was literally nothing for kids to do, renting a hot new video game was nearly impossible due to people fighting over the two copies Blockbuster had. Most new games I would end up waiting several months to rent due to waiting for people to forget about it and begin fighting over a new game that just released instead. When I got old enough to join the work force, I forgot about even trying to rent a new game and would just buy it so I wouldn't have to deal with the hassle.

Blockbuster Video had some terrible prices as well. I remember during their last couple of years, it cost slightly over $10 to rent a game for 5 nights; when I was a kid I could rent two or three Sega Genesis games for that! As I got older, game renting became more of a 'try before you buy' scenario for games I was uncertain I would like, so paying $10 to rent a game for 5 nights even though I only wanted to test it out for one or two nights tops stopped becoming an option for me. As soon as Family Video opened up in my town and I could chose how many nights I wanted to rent a game for much cheaper prices, and rent a new release movie for over $3 less than Blockbuster (who last I checked charged $5 or more for a new release), why go back? Netflix and Redbox came in, making it even cheaper and easier to rent content, thus making Family Video not an option for me either.

Most of the Blockbuster Video stores have closed down in my area, but one sole location in Kettering, Ohio kept chugging along. I drove past that particular Blockbuster Video the other day and noticed a going out of business sign hanging on the window. The Blockbuster Video that refused to close finally gave in to the Netflix and Redbox dominance I assumed.Blockbuster Video's fall doesn't come to much of a surprise to me, seeing as their prices, cloning of competing services like Netflix, and constant changes in policies to attempt to stay afloat were making their selves sink to the bottom. Although, I really do feel bad for all of the Blockbuster Video employees out there who are currently hitting the unemployment line. I've been laid off several times in my day and each layoff was some of the worst times in my life, so I genuinely feel for those folks losing their jobs.

As we say goodbye to Blockbuster Video, I can't help but think about all of the good times as a child I had spending my weekly allowance in there and running home to play video games all weekend. All of this Blockbuster business makes me wonder if other video store chains like Family Video and the mom & pop stores around the country are hurting to the point of obscurity as well. I guess we'll find out in the coming year.

Nintendo 3DS Circle Pad Pro Impressions

This week, Capcom released Resident Evil: Revelations for the Nintendo 3DS. The game (which seems to mix the old Resident Evil with the new) makes use of some pretty complex controls crammed into the small and simplified 3DS pad. Since Revelations uses the same first person/third person control style, aiming and moving the camera can be kind of a chore. Thankfully, Nintendo released a peripheral along side of Revelations called the Circle Pad Pro. Retailing at $19.99 (and currently a Gamestop exclusive), the add-on basically adds extra trigger buttons to the top of the 3DS and a second analog stick to the right side of the handheld, giving you more advanced control over games that demand higher accuracy. The Circle Pad Pro only functions with games that support it and right now Resident Evil: Revelations happens to be the only game on the market that uses it.

The 3DS fits in a rectangular slot in the center of the peripheral while the IR wireless scanner at the top of the device aligns with another IR reader on the peripheral that picks up the extra control functions and allows the compatible 3DS games to pick up those button presses. The Circle Pad Pro requires one AAA battery (which is included) and promises up to 480 hours of gameplay before it does. To extend battery life, if the player ceases to use the buttons added by the Circle Pad Pro, the device goes into a sleep mode, which can be awakened by pressing the two back trigger buttons together to wake it back up. Pretty nifty stuff.

Since the Circle Pad Pro basically encases the whole 3DS, the device adds quite a bit of heft to the system; however, the curved and ergonomic design of the device makes holding the 3DS much more comfortable (especially in larger hands). The three triggers added to the top of the 3DS are easy to reach, but they also make pressing the actual L & R buttons on the top of the 3DS impossible. Thankfully, the Circle Pad Pro's added triggers typically take over any functionality the original L & R buttons had (at least in Revelations they do). The third trigger button (which is very similar to the Gamecube controller's Z button) works well when the game maps the button to a useful function, like Revelation's knife attack.

The actual added right analog stick is the exact same circle pad that is included on the 3DS itself, so nothing new here. The second circle pad feels pretty good during gameplay, but the placement feels just a bit off which results in a sore thumb after extended play. I did notice that the more you use the Circle Pad Pro, the more your hands adjust to it thus alleviating any sore-ness occured by the odd placement of the circle pad. I have only put a couple of hours into Resident Evil: Revelations so only time will tell how well my hands adjust to the device.

Overall the Circle Pad Pro is a fairly comfortable device for the 3DS which adds much needed control functionality to the 3DS handheld. During this generation of gaming and game design, the basic control schemes found in the 16bit days that still plague handhelds are simply not cutting it any more. Sony has already realized this when they heard the cries from gamers over the PSP and redesigned the Playstation Vita to meet those control needs. Nintendo has started to jump on board now with the Circle Pad Pro, but the device makes me worry over the inevitable, complete hardware overhaul the 3DS will probably receive, thus screwing early adopters again by selling us outdated hardware (aka the Apple syndrome). Still, if you crave for more advanced controls in your handheld games, the Circle Pad Pro is a no-brainer at $19.99.

Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure in Stealing America's Money

In November of 2011, Activision released the newest game in the Spyro the Dragon series; however, this time Spyro actually took a back seat in his latest adventure. Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure is an Diablo-ish action-RPG marketed towards children that has a pretty unique feature to it. The game uses a USB "Portal of Power" that reads RFI (Radio Frequency Identification) technology stored inside of separately-sold figurines (which retailed at $7.99) to use in-game. The actual software came in a $70 starter kit that contained the software for the console of your choice (including PC and 3DS), three starter figurines, stickers, and the USB Portal of Power. Even though the game is marketed towards children, parents began to play the game with their children and the well-designed mechanics caught the attention of gamers and in turn became fans their selves.

The game contains 32 playable characters, each with different skills, upgrades, and stats. The characters are split up into 8 different elemental types that are needed in specific areas of the game. When you purchase a Skylanders figure, the RFI chip inside of the figurine is read by the portal, which tells the game which character to load up on the fly, and all experience, loot, and upgrades are saved to the actual figurine for later use. The figurines are cross compatible with different console versions of the game as well, which make the characters easy to transport over to a friend's house and used on their copy as well. Adventure Packs (retailing at $19.99) were also released containing special figures that opened up new levels of play and special magical spells to help players progress through harder areas of the game. The marketing concept for this game is quite ingenious due to the game making the players want to run out and buy more figures to both collect and progress deeper into the game.

During the Holiday season, Skylanders became a pretty standard item on Christmas lists. The figures were well stocked throughout the whole season and the game sold very well, making Skylanders a risky yet profitable endeavor for Activision. As soon as Christmas came and gone, the Skylanders craze began to kick in. As children received the starter kits on Christmas day, everyone ran out to retailers to purchase more figurines for the game, which in turn wiped retailer's shelves clean of product. Skylanders figures became very hard to find and the eBay hoarders began buying up figurines to auction off for up to $100 a figure. Retail stores began to pick up on the growing demand of figures and started raising prices by two to three dollars a pop. Skylanders quickly became a mass hysteria.

I work retail as a manager of the sales floor and electronics department, so I was well aware of the Skylanders game but thought nothing of it. I honestly thought Skylanders was another money grab attempt by Activision and figured the quality of the game itself would have been poor. Not until the game's popularity exploded after Christmas and noticed the reviews were pretty strong, I decided to look more into the game. During a Toys R Us sale, I decided to pick a copy of the starter kit up for the Xbox 360. I am a huge fan of action-RPGs and after watching some gameplay videos I thought the game looked kind-of fun. When I came home with my starter kit, I hooked everything up to my 360 and fired up the game; I played for probably 30 minutes until I came to the conclusion that I MUST HAVE MORE FIGURES NOW! Activision's marketing whip wrapped tightly around me and I began hunting down these figurines with the rest of the masses.

Working in retail helped track the figures down, so I had quite an advantage finding them over most people. I knew when figures typically shipped in, started to catch on to shipping trends, and successfully snag characters quite easily. Every day at work our Electronics department would get countless calls from customers seeking out these little figurines. Since I was in the Skylanders loop and a collector myself, I was able to really help people find these things. One morning I remember a large group of people busting into the store at 8 A.M. and picking our fully stocked shelves of Skylanders clean within 15 minutes.

I put a lot of time into the actual game itself. Even after I completely finished the story mode and obtained every achievement in the game, I still wanted more figures. I got to a point where I had so many of them that it made more sense just to keep collecting them until I had every single Skylander available. Right now I am at 22 out of 26 currently available figures and I even went out and purchased the 3DS version just for it's exclusive figurines. I had officially become addicted to Skylanders.

February has kicked in and even though the demand and interest in Skylanders has diminished quite a bit, the figures are still typically sold out. Stock does seem to last much longer than before, usually taking a couple of days to sell out instead of 15 minutes from receiving them. Even though I am no longer visiting multiple stores a day looking for the figures, I am keeping an eye out during my weekly errands to see if one of the four I am missing happen to pop up. A sequel to the game is already planned and more figures are being released every couple of months or so. It is hard to say where the Skylanders brand is heading and how long Activision can ride on it's coattails, but I do tip my hat to them for not only coming up with a ingenious idea, but also finding a way to find the cheap skate in me to hop on the bandwagon. Kudos, Activision.

Film Review: Chronicle (2012)

While sitting in my local theater during the Fall movie season, I remember the trailer for the newest film in the "found footage" genre (that Hollywood tends to overuse these days), Chronicle. The film is about three high school kids who miraculously gain super human powers and use them to pull pranks on unsuspecting citizens in their town. I instantly rolled my eyes at this trailer and thought the film looked an awful lot like a corny tween show featured on The CW. It was not until the extremely positive reviews and word-of-mouth came pouring in that the thought of actually seeing this film crossed my mind. Hollywood tends to poorly market films now with horribly misleading trailers so I decided to give the film the benefit of the doubt by giving it a shot this weekend.

The film starts off in the bedroom of the main character Andrew, (played by Dane Dehaan) who is bullied by his classmates, his neighbors, and even his father. Andrew begins to record his everyday life on video camera with the purpose of documenting his father's abuse. Andrew's only friend is his cousin Matt (played by Alex Russell) who himself tends to think of Andrew as a loser. It is not until Matt drags Andrew to a party that Andrew begins to come out of his shell and make friends. However, all of this begins to occur when Matt and a popular classmate Steve (played by Michael B. Jordan) come across a strange cave that houses a glowing rock that makes the three pass out. Afterwards, the group start to notice they are gaining strange powers that happen to be growing stronger by the day.

The first thing I noticed about Chronicle is how strongly the film cares about it's characters. The film begins showing how Andrew's father is abusive, his mother is terminally ill, and his classmates treat him like garbage. Right from the start of the film I got a sense that Andrew is troubled and instantly connect with him. The cousin fights with identity issues and teen peer-pressure and Steve shows us that even the most popular kid in school can be a caring and compassionate person by wanting to use his newly found powers to help people. The film at this point has already positively surpassed my initial negative impressions of the film due to this fact alone. Due to the characters being so strong, I cared about all three of them throughout the whole runtime. Whether or not anyone enjoys this film will solely rely on if the viewer can successfully connect with these characters.

The film starts to take a dark turn when Andrew's negative world view skews his actions into using his powers to harm others. It is this point in the film where the whole tone takes a completely different turn and the characters start to question their actions and each other's actions and the film turns into sort of a compelling thriller. The most impressive aspect of Chronicle is how well the actors portray their characters and how convincing the actions of the characters and the dialog is to how I would perceive a teenager would act in this day and age. I honestly feel like if high school seniors did possess super powers, the actions would pretty much mimic the actions of the characters in the film. All of this makes Chronicle feel much more authentic than most films portraying high school kids and makes the film much more enjoyable to watch. The film also tackles the super power aspect respectfully by keeping both the viewer and the characters clouded in confusion of what these powers really are and not treading hokey territory by having the characters even think about fighting crime or wearing tights.

My big complaint about the film is the special effects. Often times there will be an action on screen heavily using special effects that simply looks odd on-screen mixed with the film's camcorder "guerrilla video" styled shooting that throws off the visual style. The special effects do not necessarily look bad; everything fails to blend in properly unlike some films that attempted to do the same thing (Troll Hunter, Cloverfield). Even though the film properly explains why; the video camera tends to film the action as any standard film does (pointing at the actors and not being in the first person perspective) and can also throw off the vibe of the film. Both of these complaints do not ruin the film at all but they do stand out like a sore thumb.

Chronicle was a film I wrote off well before its release and the positive word-of-mouth drew me into the theater. I was pleasantly surprised with the acting, the serious tone of the film, and the pacing of the film and walked out of the theater quite pleased. Chronicle is the first sleeper hit of the year and I honestly recommend film buffs to plop down their cash with an open mind and give the film a try.

Rating: