Steam Summer Sale!

If you love PC games, than this is the week for you. If you are a PC gamer I'm positive that I do not need to explain steam to you in this post. Valve's much-loved distribution service is a cornerstone of modern PC gaming. This week is the Daytona 500, the Christmas, the Super Bowl of steam! EVERYTHING is on sale. So if there is a game you haven't gotten around to purchasing but you've always wanted to play, this is the week to get it.

So far I have purchased:
Crysis
Doom 3
Doom 3: Resurrection of Evil

And I am planning to purchase:
Torchlight 2
Bulletstorm
And possibly a couple more.

Be sure to search for the game you want to buy, just because it isn't on the front page doesn't mean it's not on sale! 

Blog Update

Unfortunately again my life has taken me far away from the world of video games for a long period of time. I apologize for the second massive delay in between posts. Thankfully, now that my summer class is complete and I am in a transition in my life, I will have some time to devote to both this blog and the gaming sphere. A lot has happened since the last time I posted, and I would like to take a moment to give my commentary on key happenings throughout the industry in the last couple months.

1. PS4 Conference (Before E3)
I will not bother to highlight what happened at the conference, as this conference was what seems now like eons ago. However, I will quickly note that I thought Sony did a really good job of focusing on what gamers wanted to hear. I was perplexed as to why they didn't show the actual box, but that was shown a couple months later at E3, which is acceptable.

2. Microsoft Conference (Before E3)
Contrary to the PS4 conference, I did not believe that Microsoft made the right move in the way they unveiled the Xbox One. The overall structure of the press conference was fine, but this particular conference should have been worked in either after the E3 conference, or scaled down and worked into a longer press conference at E3. The information they shared was important, but it's not the way to show a console for the first time. The people watching an XBOX press conference are going to care about the GAMES, not contracts with the NFL and watching The Price is Right. So, it was a decent press conference but at the wrong time.

3. E3
Microsoft: Much better press conference than their reveal event, completely focused on the games. Their lack of ability to answer pertinent questions about the always on DRM and lack of used games buried them. I believe righteously so, the gaming market is not ready for always online. There are better ways to get publishers the money from used game sales, which they do not receive currently. I don't mind online passes if it means I can still have used games and publishers/developers receive some compensation for the product they put on the market.

Sony: Brilliant press conference. Not just for the jabs that they sent Microsoft's way, but for there devotion to the hard core audience that they knew would be watching the show. There were surprises (Kingdom Hearts 3) and beastly tech demos (The Dark Sorcerer), to put together a near perfect conference. If there hadn't been some technical issues (ACIV) than it would have been flawless in my opinion.

Games to Watch: The Witcher 3 (personal favorite), Kingdom Hearts 3, The Order, MGS V, Star Wars Battlefront (YES), The Division, Battlefield 4, Titanfall, and Destiny.

Games That Looked Poopy: Call of Duty: Ghosts- What? What was that crap? Honestly I have never been more underwhelmed by a trailer than the most recent iteration of Call of Duty. Remote control dogs? No thanks. I have been a supporter of the franchise even up through Black Ops II, having only been disappointed with MW3. I'm not a Call of Duty hater, but I'm going to hate on this.

4. Microsoft 180
Microsoft redacting the always online and used game policies was a smart and necessary move. It's hilarious to watch Microsoft have to apologize with their tail between their legs. The gaming industry will benefit from this move, as competition is necessary for the console market to thrive. God knows Nintendo doesn't seem up to providing any for Sony.

E3 was better this year than any I can remember in recent history. I am genuinely excited to see what the next generation has in store. Games like Destiny and The Division show how the improved power of new systems can benefit developers in a way that isn't purely graphical. It's an exciting time for the game industry.

Games for Chromebook

Before I write this article, I would like to apologize for the lack of time that I have been dedicating to this blog over the past month. Unfortunately school and work caught up to me, and I simply did not have time to dedicate to writing. However, my course load has decreased significantly for the summer, and I hope to be writing much more! Keep on the lookout for new posts, as they should be more frequent.

So, as my second computer, I own a Chromebook. While a brilliant netbook, it doesn't have many uses past surfing the web and writing quick notes. I use it primarily for school, and would only recommend it to someone with similar needs from a second computer. While obviously the Chromebook is not built for playing games, every once and a while you might need a break from all that note-taking. Here are 3 of my favorite options.

1. Pokemon!

Who doesn't like the old GameBoy Pokemon games? Well, if you have misplaced/sold your GameBoy and want to relive that nostalgia, it's possible! I found a website recently called playr that allows you to play all of your old GameBoy games in flash format. There are tons of options, my favorite being Pokemon. The best part, if you make a free account, you can save your progress.

2. Monster Dash

Run games are all over the place now. They all have the same basic premise, you control the jumping and attacking of a character that runs at an increasing speed and try to see how far you get. This one in particular is very smooth, with 4 separate environments. It's a bit short, but definitely fun, and completely free.

3. Classic Snake Game

Kongregate, the website most commonly known for being directly associated with GameStop, is actually a very good flash game website. Packed with free games, you can spend your free time messing around with tons of different options. My favorite is Snake. Simple but fun, I have spent far too much time trying to up my high score on this old-school game.

LucasArts Shuts its Doors

When LucasFilm and LucasArts were both sold to Disney last year for over $4 billion, many expected the worst for the video game company LucasArts. With nothing being shown from the highly promising game Star Wars 1313 over the course of a few months, suspicions were amplified.

On Tuesday, this became reality as LucasArts closed and Star Wars 1313 as well as Star Wars: First Assault were announced cancelled.

Life may possibly remain for these games, especially 1313 which showed a lot of promise and raised a lot of hype at last years E3. Disney will look to outsource its games from now on, so hopefully someone will pick up the project. In addition, LucasArts was sitting on many coveted properties, both in and out of the Star Wars universe. Grim Fandango, The Secret of Monkey Island, Star Wars: Jedi Knight, and of course Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic will now be available for purchase theoretically.

Here's to hoping for a rebirth in Star Wars gaming.

In the meantime, here are my top 5 LucasArts published games. Bear in mind that I am a huge Star Wars nerd, and a little too young to have appreciated Grim Fandango or The Secret of Monkey Island. I also never owned a Super NES, so that counts out Super Star Wars and its sequels.

5. X-Wing Alliance- While X-Wing and Tie Fighter were both before my time, I appreciated them and can recognize why they were excellent games. X-Wing Alliance was just current enough when I picked it up for it to feel extremely playable. I loved the feeling of free exploration in space.

4. Star Wars: Bounty Hunter- I'm sure that this is a surprising pick as Bounty Hunter is not regarded as one of the best Star Wars games by basically anyone. However, I love it. It was easy to suffer through a wonky camera for incredibly intriguing back story of a universe that you have adored since a small child. Boba Fett was a bad ass in the original trilogy, and Jango Fett was a bad ass in this game. Also, collecting the extra bounties was a fun mechanic.

3. Star Wars Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader- The Nintendo GameCube didn't have many classic Star Wars games. Hell, it just didn't have many Star Wars games period. I would regard Rogue Squadron to be the best of them though, with incredibly graphics for it's time, as well as simple and enjoyable flight controls. It is one of the only recent Star Wars games to portray the main plot points of the original trilogy.

2. Star Wars Jedi Knight/Jedi Knight II: Dark Forces- Alright, so maybe I'm cheating putting two games into one slot, but I wanted to include as many different franchises as I could on this list, and I didn't want the original Jedi Knight to get left out. Jedi Knight had a great overall feel to it, and it was easy to feel like the Jedi Kyle Katarn that you were acting as in the game. It's sequel gave you even more control over your lightsaber, and in my opinion is the most fun you can have in a game with a lightsaber to-date. It feels like "an elegant weapon from a more civilized age".

1. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic- Surprise! Said no one. KOTOR is widely regarded as the best Star Wars game with reason. The game is one of the best western role playing games period. It includes one of the greatest twists in video games, and it's dynamic story was a precursor to the critical darling Mass Effect.

Honorable Mentions: Star Wars: Battlefront, Battlefront II

Battlefield 4 Trailer

Dice Interactive released a 17 minute trailer last Wednesday detailing a mission from their campaign. The trailer, titled "Fishing in Baku" created a large stur in the gaming community as this marks the longest example of "next-gen" footage released to-date. The trailer can be found here:

Birds

Personally, I found the trailer to be impressive, but only at key moments. The trailer was clearly created to show off different cababilties of the Frostbite 3 engine. Facial animation was a highlight, along with lighting effects. The amount of content that can be displayed on screen was also clearly something that they wanted to show off, highlighted with the flock of birds near the middle of the trailer, and the building crumbling near the end. 

Crumbling Building

Less impressive were the gun motions (bringing the gun up to sights, reloading) which seemed rigid. Even less impressive were the death animations. As games become more and more realistic graphically, items of a game that don't live up to that level of realism really can take you out of the experience. If you look at the enemy animations after they die in the trailer, they look pre-canned. There might possibly be a set difference between the animation of a man being shot in the legs compared to a man shot above the torso, however even if there is, there is clearly only a small number of canned animations for the game to chose from. This is not "next-gen". 

The explosions are gorgeous though.

Kings of Q*Bert Article

One of my favorite blogs to frequent is Bill Simmons' Grantland. The blog focuses mainly on sports, but also publishes stories on everything from video games to the Kardashians. A recent story on marathon gaming is definitely worth a read. It's a bit long, but interesting throughout.


Link: http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/9053237/q*bert-video-game-marathoning-trend-aftermath-king-kong

Left 4 Dead 2/ Resident Evil 6 Crossover

Left 4 Dead 2 has been a fan favorite since it's release in November 2009 and we are soon to see new content for both it and Resident Evil 6, first released on consoles in 2012. Coinciding with Resident Evil's release on Steam will be a crossover project allowing for Left 4 Dead characters in Resident Evil, and Resident Evil characters in Left 4 Dead.

Personally, I am more excited for the latter, as I have never given the Resident Evil franchise any time. I do love me some Left 4 Dead 2, and will gladly accept new enemies to shoot at. I would imagine this news is sure to be welcome for fans of both franchises.