Gamer Cinema: Video Game High School, Season One

Wouldn't it be cool if high school was all about video games? In VGHS, it is. The best up and coming players in the world are invited to the competitive Video Game High School, which is currently dominated by the famous "The Law". Brian D, a complete nobody gets the chance of a lifetime when by pure luck he embarrasses Law by beating him on live TV and therefore gets a chance to attend the prestigious VGHS. But of course The Law is also there and is determined to show that not only was Brian D lucky, but that he doesn't even belong at the school.

Developed by competitive gaming celebrity Freddie Wong, VGHS is a web series (that is conveniently condensed into a movie on Netflix) that was funded through kickstarter for it's first season and the seeing as the second season starts up this week, I thought it would be a good idea to check out the first season.

For a web series, VGHS has pretty good production values, like those you'd see on cable. The highlight is easily the gaming sequences, as those are exciting and well-directed. It's outside of the gaming that it all falls apart. I don't really think this is a fault of the actors as they do a decent enough job in the roles, but if the show was a little tamer I'd swear it belonged with any of those garbage "comedies" for tweeners that you see on the Disney Channel. A perfect example is that at one point Brian D is expelled from the school and hours later he is running an arcade. There is no explanation for this, and the characters even say it's only been 24 hours since he was expelled, but that whole wink at the audience falls completely flat. The season is just loaded with rapid-fire jokes that all fall flat. It also can't seem to decide whether Brian D is actually any good or not. At times he seems confident in his abilities and others claims he's not very good and then claims he's only good with his love interest. It's a pretty annoying inconsistency.

Despite all this I do see potential in the series, and many great series have a pretty underwhelming first season. The premise does work really well and as I said before the action scenes are well-executed and exciting. I'm certainly willing to give it at least a few episodes of the second season before completely writing it off.

That's all for today, I should have a new post up tomorrow or Saturday.

Gamer Cinema: Game Over, The Complete Series

TV is littered with short-lived shows that by all rights probably should've gone on longer and despite their short run are well-loved and have tons of fans. Game Over is not one of these. Limited to a thankfully short 6 episode run on the also thankfully short-lived UPN, Game Over was Wreck-it Ralph with far worse writing and virtually no budget. The Show focuses on a family that lives in the video game world, not that you would know it aside from the occasional straight out reference that isn't even a joke (hey let's mention Mario! There's a random poster with Crash Bandicoot!) and obviously there to remind you that this is supposed to to be a video game universe. The main characters sure as hell don't. The father Rip is  race car driver (driving, that's only done in video games, right?) The mom is a secret agent? Treausre Hunter? Who knows but she seems to be chasing after a different mineral monkey statue every episode. But does that mean she's a gaming character? No real references or evidence is given. The two kids? The boy is a wannabe rapper and is one of the most annoying characters I've ever seen stuck in the 90s even though this was in 2004. The daughter is Hayley from American Dad, that's it. But without characters like Stan or Roger to play off of it's a role that doesn't make sense. She's pretty much a rebel without a cause. And finally there is Turbo who is the requisite smart ass pet, but he's lacking the depth you get from a Brian or a Klaus.

The humor is mostly based around the idea of stories that everyone can relate to, that at the end of the day they are a regular family who have regular problems. Which is fine because you can only carry the it's a video game world joke so far. The problem is that again they don't act like they are in a video game world, which would've been a good way to put a fresh spin on tired plots about Dad having trouble connecting with his kids and Mom being too busy with her job top help her kid with a project, etc. Instead it's just tired joke on top of tired joke with no effort whatsoever.

The final nail in the coffin is the animation. I won't necessarily knock a series for having an obviously limited budget when it comes to animation. I wasn't expecting Toy Story, but there were series years before that looked better. Rather than going for the cheap-looking CGI that the series is presented in(and many cheap kids shows are still done in), they've could've gone with something that actually looked like a video game and that would've at least been unique.

Arguably the only redeeming feature of this whole show is that it features Patrick Warburton, Lucy Liu & Rachel Dratch doing their best to give life to completely dead material, but even the biggest fans of these actors would be tolerating at best this rather than actually enjoying it. Game Over was clearly over before it even began.

The devil is in the details...

The Shin Megami Tensai series may be one of the most prolific game series around. It's got several spin-offs all with tons of their own titles (most notable being the Persona series) and like many long-standing Japanese role-playing game franchises, it's been pretty unwilling to change it's core mechanics over the years, for better or worse. People may knock Final Fantasy but at least it's willing to try to be different nearly every time out. Series like this, Persona, Etrian Odyssey Dragon Warrior and of course Pokemon evolve so slowly over time it might be a couple generations before you notice any significant changes.

The main hook of the  Shin Megami series is that it's a far more intricate version of Pokemon, only with demons. You negotiate with these demons to get them on your side and can fuse demons to make them more powerful. It's a pretty addicting mechanic. But admittedly the series is also known for being super difficult and not horribly inviting to new people. Add to that an unusually high $50 price tag and it's kind of a hard sell. Though admittedly it's good timing. I just finished Project X Zone and while I'm still playing plenty of Animal Crossing, that's a game built for playing no more than an hour or so a day. Add to that it's still about a month until Mario & Luigi Dream Team hits so it's incredibly good filler material if nothing else.

And that's it for today, and possibly as far as game releases go it for the month as there are no really noteworthy releases til August but look forward to another Gamer Cinema on my next post, most likely on Wednesday.

Gamer Cinema: Noobz

Welcome to a new feature of Medium Entertainment, Gamer Cinema. There are tons of movies out there about games and gaming culture that cover most any genre you can think of, so I thought it would be fun to regularly review them. This feature will mostly focus on smaller movies, documentaries and fan films mostly because those will be awful and easy to make fun of, but occasionally you'll get a nice hidden gem as well. Basically as long as it has at least some tenuous connection to gaming I will watch and review it (admittedly if I start getting low on material the connection might be pretty loose, but given how much I've found on Netflix and Hulu alone I doubt that'll be an issue). I should be able to put in at least one of these week, maybe more depending on my schedule.

Anyways, first up is Noobz, a straight to video comedy written, directed and starring Blake Freeman as Cody. Cody is pretty down on his luck, he just got fired from his job as a realtor and his wife left him because he can't hold down a job and spends most of his time playing video games (namely Gears of War 3). But Cody is actually really good at video games, and his buddies Andy (Jason Mewes) & Oliver (Matt Shively) convince him to come with them to LA to compete in the Cyberbowl Championships for a big cash prize.

Noobz is a fairly boilerplate comedy, but considering how low my expectations were initially(I mean seriously, look at that cover and tell me it doesn't look like some quick cash in by somebody who actually has no idea about games), that was an incredibly pleasant surprise. Freeman is pretty affable as the straight man lead. Shively is ok as a barely in the closet buddy and manages to get a few laughs but considering this a 2012 movie he doesn't have much reason to be and might've been funnier just being gay and ok/proud of it. The real surprise is Mewes, who is miles away from his well-known obnoxious Jay persona which is funny in small doses but can't really carry a movie (see Jay & Sient Bob Strike Back). This is a very toned down and low key performance and he manages to be pretty funny and charming most of the movie, which is good because his subplot is the love story between him and a rival female gamer played by Zelda Williams (Robin Williams daughter) and they actually have pretty good chemistry and you have no problem believing that she would fall for a decent guy like him. Casper Van Dien is also pretty funny in a small amount of screen time playing himself.

What also helps is that obviously Freeman is a gaming fan, as the movie is littered with actual gaming paraphernalia and even a couple well-known gaming personalities like Adam Sessler and the fact that unlike many much bigger movies, it actually features a real game and not something that looks incredibly fake. This might be the most respectful representation of gamers I've seen in movie to date as well, as nobody really falls into the horribly offensive stereotype of loser virgins living in their mom's basement. Though admittedly anyone who's a fan of arcade games may feel slighted by the subplot of a former Frogger Champion trying to make a comeback that basically represents arcade gaming as ancient and extremely unpopular even though documentaries like King of Kong show otherwise.

My only big complaint about the movie is that a couple of jokes come at the expense of the plot actually making sense and not many but a few of the jokes are so cliched and tired they pretty much kill the momentum that the movie had going up to that point. Luckily the movie doesn't take long to pick up again. Bottom line, this was an extremely pleasant surprise and if you are looking for a decent comedy or even just a movie that treats gamers with a modicum of respect, this is a pretty good choice.

There's a new Ratchet & Clank game! Why am I not that excited about it?

A new Ratchet & Clank game? That goes back to the roots? For $30? For the PS3? Ah, it's that last one. I love the Ratchet and Clank series, it's easily my favorite Sony IP. Between the PS2 & PS3 I've played and enjoyed nearly every title (pretty much with the exception of All 4 One). But you know what, we've had two fantastic core R&C titles for the PS3 that I can easily recommend to anyone, and I feel like those have taken this series as far as it can go in the current generation. The Ratchet & Clank series would be such a prime candidate to have a launch title for the PS4. And it could've been a short (like 4-6 hour) $30 title that just really shows off the graphic capabilities, maybe even free with a PS plus subscription. That would sell me more than a slightly stripped down version of a driving sim I wasn't going to buy in the first place. This almost seems like an apology for the last couple of downright disappointing R&C game and possibly for anybody who suffered trough Fuse. I'm all for supporting the PS3 for another year or two, but not with franchises that are already well-represented, especially when they could use the infusion of freshness that a new generation would bring. I mean think about it, probably the most comparable title on the PS4 is Knack, and even by Mark Cerny's own admission, it's not a particularly lengthy title (10 hours in dev speak is more like 6 hours in real gameplay terms) and somewhat of a tech demo. I'd much more buy into that as an established franchise like R&C for a lower price than pay $60 for basically a less polished experience with a character that I'm not familiar with and at least from previews, doesn't have much personality.

That's really all I have for today, but I'll try and do a post Sunday, probably with what games I've been playing lately (I'm thinking of making that a more regular feature, especially since I've been catching up on some older titles). Until then, here's your video game music of the week: THE NEXT-GEN WARS MUSICAL!

7 Reasons to not move on to next gen just yet...

So the dust of E3 and Xbox 180 has somewhat settled, and while there may be some surprises at an event like the Tokyo Game Show or Gamescom, we pretty much know what the launch will be like. And frankly it's not that positive. There's a laundry list of issues that you can easily avoid by just waiting til next year or even longer. Here's 7 perfectly good reasons to spend that $600+ (when you add in games/peripherals) on all the good current gen stuff.

For every console ever...

7. You will still be able get the biggest hits on current consoles: Granted, most games that are focused on next-gen and being farmed out to some other team to be put out on other consoles might give you a reason to upgrade, but that's pretty much just Titanfall and Destiny at this point, which are a long ways off. Call of Duty probably won't be much different. Assassins Creed IV & Watch Dogs will be similar.

6. You aren't ready to give up your library: This is the first gen of consoles that have lasted this long and have a fair amount of gamers with some or possibly a lot of digital content. Granted, you could keep it, but a majority trade-in/sell/give away their consoles when they are ready to move on the next gen because shelf/entertainment center space gets pretty premium when you are talking about multiple platforms and multiple generations. I have 3 home consoles right now and it barely seems like there is room for 4, something will probably have to go and I doubt I'm alone on that.

5. There are still plenty of games coming out for current consoles: Aside from cross-gen titles, most of the more exciting titles this year are strictly currrent gen. Tomb Raider, Bioshock Infinite and Last of Us are out now and all early GOTY contenders. Arkham Origins, GTA V and Stick of Truth are probably the most exciting games for the rest of this year and they won't be on the new platforms.

4. The launch line-up is laughable: I had a PS4 pre-ordered, and I know some are getting it to "support" Sony, but I took a long hard look at the launch line-up, there was nothing that good. Knack is probably the most interesting exclusive title and sure as hell not worth $400. What about the Xbox One launch is exciting? Maybe Dead Rising 3? Ryse is apparently better than it looked, but that's not saying a lot. As much as post-launch support for the Wii U was terrible, the actual launch line-up was really strong with several unique titles. The PS4 and Xbox One both seem to be lacking anything that would make someone really want to pony up the money at launch. Leading into my next point:

3. Next-Gen is expensive: Granted, the Wii U suffered at $350 because the Wii was so cheap, but the last few launches (3DS, Vita, Wii U) have all been blasted for not really providing value equivalent to their launch price. I'm straining to see anything on either console that screams this is worth this huge investment that would basically be most of my Xmas budget or a good chunk of my tax return when there will probably be either a price drop or some good giftcard/bundle deals offered next year (especially with the hardware supposedly being much cheaper to make as compared to last gen). The graphics don't look that much better, the features just aren't that interesting (live TV! That's so great!). Most of the more interesting features and games aren't coming to fruition until at least next year (i.e. Gakai), and this bring up my number two reason:

Maybe in 2015. If we're very lucky...

2. The best games are a long ways off: Lots of great games were shown at E3. You know who has the most exclusive games coming out this holiday season? Nintendo. Sony & MS showed at lot of very early in development games that might come out next year with nothing solid in terms of gameplay. I doubt it will be as bad as the Wii U because Nintendo just wasn't on the ball but don't be surprised if December through March is pretty dry because there's just nothing planned for those consoles in that period. If PS4 gamers are lucky they might get Infamous in that time period. And I don't see anything on Microsoft's end that really looks like it'll be out in that period.

 1. The bugs won't be worked out: I hope we won't have anything as serious as the red ring, but Wii U needed a day one update. Xbox One needs a day one update. The PSN was a goddamn mass up until a few years ago. Both the 360 & PS3 have evolved to be very different beasts then they were at launch. I think they Xbox One and PS4 will be a lot closer to their vision (for better or worse) in a year or two, and anybody buying in now gets the privilege of paying a premium while dealing with all those headaches.

That's the list. I'm sure both consoles will sell and be hard to find this holiday season (yet another reason, fuck lines and scouring stores for units) but I'll pretty happily play my current consoles and my Wii U and be very busy and satisfied.

Dante, Chun Li and Frank West walk into a bar. And then proceed to kick demon ass...

A game with a premise like Project X-Zone is quite the rarity outside of Japan, where licensing issues aren't nearly as complicated. Various characters from Namco Bandai, Sega and Capcom along with a few originals team-up in a srpg that;s a tad reminiscent of Kingdom Hearts with all these random franchises coming together. The plot is also about as nonsensical as the KH series, and much like that series is not where you'll get most of your enjoyment from. The battle system is simplistic but entertaining, combining turn-based srpg tactics with simplistic but fun fighting inputs. How much enjoyment you'll get out of the game is heavily dependent on how much you get a kick out of seeing these characters interact with each other and while some are pretty well known others are incredibly obscure. For the record, I'm already having a blast seeing characters from Street Fighter, Virtua Fighter and Tekken all in the same scene, and that's just the second battle in. If that sounds just as awesome to you, I highly recommend a purchase.

Now Deadpool is a little harder to easily recommend. It's combat is simple fun but also shallow and doesn't have much oomph (enemies barely react to being hit as do you) and there are numerous glitches.It's also pretty damn short, clocking in at well under 10 hours. But there's a certain undeniable charm to the title. Deadpool is captured perfectly with a great balance between crass humor and brilliant 4th wall breaking jokes, and you can really see that with just a little bit of fine-tuning and tweaking it might actually be a tremendous game. As it is if it was a $20 or even $30 game, especially a digital one, I could still probably recommend it. But it's $50. This is sort of a prime example of how broken gaming is. I mean there are certainly better-looking games that give you more bang for your buck on PSN. But I'm sure Activision felt they had to do a retail release and probably price it at least $50 because admittedly budget titles have a well-deserved bad rep. Hopefully it'll balance out because I think a lot more studios could survive with more realistic prices if the public really starts seeing some quality releases in that range. Companies keep saying games should be cheaper but of course very few if any seem to be willing to drop theirs, claiming that of course they provide great value for that price. Anyways, if you see Deadpool on sale for $30 or less and enjoy action titles, it's probably a worthwhile pickup.

Finally The Ouya hit retail this week. Apparently it's selling pretty well initially. And why not? At a $100 it's hard not to see at least some value in it, as it already comes loaded with titles and has quite the emulation system (though given that's in a legally grey area, it's not an official benefit). If it really does take off, it could be a great haven for indy titles if it's successful, but we;ll have to wait and see, most initial reviews are mixed. I don't have much interest in picking one up now, but I'm open to getting one somewhere down the line (maybe when my current backlog isn't looking so busy) and I'll be sure t give impressions if and when I do. What might help is a standout title or two that really shows off why I should get one, and I'm just not seeing that right now.

That's all for today, but I should be able to get another post up this weekend. Until then back to X-Zone and finishing off Deadpool.

Nintendo knows how to do DLC???

Super Luigi U is (as far as I know) Nintendo's first real effort to provide a meaty dlc expansion to any of their titles, most certainly any of their flagship franchises such as New Super Mario Bros. Now granted, if you were expecting something all new and drastically different from NSMBU, you may dissapointed, as it's the same worlds with remixed levels so there aren't any new bosses or anything of that sort. But I got tthe DLC and have played through several worlds and it's pretty good. The re-designed levels are clever and challenging, along with Luigi controlling very different from Mario so it changes your approach. Add in a mere 100 seconds to complete levels and you have quite the challenge as well. Most companies who have been doing dlc for years often still provide flimsy overpriced poor excuses for cash grabs. If you liked NSMBU, I highly recommend downloading this as it's a great extension of that. Also a nice addition for people who suck at these games is being able to play as Nabbit who is virtually invincible.

This post is a few days later than I planned, but I have a good excuse: I'm pretty psyched about the upcoming PS4 title, Infamous: Second Son (which sadly is not a launch title but in that vague "launch window" that is essentially meaningless). So much so that I'm getting into the previous games which I never gave much of a chance and am finding the first one incredibly fun so far. To that effect, I made my first fan video in 3 years. It was a lot of fun. I hope to do them more often but it does take a combination of a game I'm excited about and hearing a piece of music that goes with it really well. I don't go looking for it. So hopefully another one in not too much longer, but for now enjoy:



That's all for today, but I should definitely be back Tuesday or Wednesday with thoughts on Deadpool (which actually looks pretty fun) and Project X Zone.

7 very serious issues the Xbox One still has...

So Microsoft made a compete 180 today, removing their rather ridiculous DRM requirements and and allowing gamers to lend and trade-in games freely as opposed to the completely confusing policy they had in place before. But I'm still not too enticed to buy one. There are lots of serious issues the Xbox One still has that should make you at least wary of buying it anytime soon:

Yeah, cause people really needed a next-gen version of this...

7. They still treat Indies like shit: Microsoft has terrible policies regarding independent game developers. While this may not reflect a whole ton on console sales, indies are where all the new risky fresh gameplay ideas coming from. It's also a good way to fill gaps in-between big AAA releases.  Based on their current policies, Minecraft would have never even gotten made. And you saw evidence of this at E3, every other platform is far more enticing and you saw far more indie games on those platforms. It may not matter that much to the mainstream consumer, but for gamers looking for something besides your usual AAA safe bets, it will.

$60 extra bucks a year to enjoy services I already pay for? Sign me up!

6. Xbox Live Gold is a terrible "deal": At the start of this gen, Gold was great because while it offered a far superior service. Now it might still be a little better but the service you get on Sony platforms only charges for multi-player going forward and does not charge me to watch Netflix or Hulu+ in addition to offering great free games and discounts. Nintendo's online is entirely free. Gold is essentially a scam at this point.

5. It's still expensive: Especially now at $100 more than the now virtually similar PS4 (which is actually more powerful). At least before they could claim it was a console of the future, now what? It's $100 more at the very least because they are forcing people to buy Kinect, which at the very least core gamers absolutely loathe, which leads me to the next issue.

4. Kinect will still be terrible: This has nothing to do with privacy concerns or targeted advertising, that could be another whole column. Kinect is a terrible hardware device, and this "new and improved" version hasn't proved anything different yet. Gesture-based gaming is still generally terrible save for dance and exercise titles, voice recognition will be terrible because voice recognition is.

3. The games aren't all that different, at least not yet: This is a problem on the PS4 as well, but at least we are seeing variety with  games like Infamous: Second Son, Knack and again all those indie titles. Think about it: Virtually all the Xbox One titles were "dudebro" shooters (Battlefield, COD, Destiny, Titanfall). Isn't next-gen where we get some new gameplay types or at least some fresh spins on the standard gameplay types? Again not seeing a ton on Sony's end, but absolutely notthing on Microsoft's. Maybe that'll change in a few years when everything stops being cross-gen, but that's a big maybe when AAA publishers are playing it so safe these days.

2. The change in policy removes all the positive things about the Xbox One: Despite all the bad press, the Xbox One had some pretty awesome features that really could've changed the future of gaming. Lending games out friends far away? Awesome. Playing your entire library on someone else's Xbox? Pretty cool. And it could have led to cheaper games, but based on MS current policies and digital pricing structure that was a long shot. I'm not saying these benefits outweighed the restrictions, that was the big problem to begin with, but it also doesn't mean there weren't some cool ideas in there.

1. DRM could (and probably will) come back: If it can be this easily taken it out, it can be just as easily put back in. It's clear from today's messaging that Microsoft is far from happy about making this decision, and eventually they will bring it back. This is an almost definite future we are facing in terms of gaming, especially when the market goes full digital like PC practically is now. The important thing is that we are offered clear tangible incentives to get to a point where it's natural. I don't know if Microsoft has actually learned this lesson and will just try again when people have forgotten or do it the right way.

That's it for today, I should be back tomorrow with thoughts on Super Luigi U and a couple other things.

The Last of Us is totally Uncharted with zombies. ..

I was planning to do a favorite games of E3, but considering aside from the known quantities coming out this holiday, everything is so far off in the magical land of maybe 2014 (especially when we are talking next-gen titles, right now it's hard to make a good argument to get either upcoming system with a lack of truly next-gen titles at launch. Not that there isn't stuff I'm looking forward too. Virtually all of Nintendo's line-up over the next 6 months looks great. Arkham Origins looks to be just fresh enough to still be really fun. I'm hoping despite the jokey trailer that South Park: The Stick of Truth will actually come out this year, because that probably my most anticipated rpg since Xenoblade. Just none of it so exciting as to make some list of big things that impressed me. 2013 seems like a solid year to either stick with what you have or buy a Wii U. 2014 seems like a time to hopefully get real excited for the next year.

Easily the last big exclusive release this year on PS3 (does the 360 have any exclusives anymore?), The Last of Us is Naughty Dog's last attempt to squeeze every bit of performance out of the PS3 and probably so they are known as something other than those Uncharted dudes. The story is your standard zombie apocalypse but it's well paced and acted, and absolutely gorgeous. I'm not sure you could do this on a 360 period. It shows when someone knows what to do with the system how awesome PS3 games can look. Seeing as the PS4 is also more powerful than the Xbox One yet far easier to develop for than the PS3 was I think a lot of exclusive titles will be looking noticeably better than anything on the Xbox One in a couple years as well.

But when it comes to the gameplay, well it's Uncharted with clunkier combat. And there are just some idiotic game logic flaws. Ammo is at a premium in this world, so why aren't heavily armed enemies dropping much if any? That's completely arbitrary and a stupid way to go when you are trying to be somewhat realistic. Think of the combat as a clunkier version of Uncharted, which isn't that fine-tuned to begin with. You can argue that the protagonist Joel, is no Nathan Drake, but he is a grizzled hardened survivor who has lived in this world for 20 years. His fighting and survival skills should be pretty damn well tuned to reflect that, and they aren't, even with the upgrade system you have in place. Finally, as much as Naughty Dog was trying to stress that The Last of Us is not Uncharted with zombies, it totally is.  Whenever you are not in combat, it has the exact same kind of land-traversal puzzles that series is known for, down to helping people open doors and giving them boosts up to higher levels.

If it sounds like I'm casting the Last of Us in a negative light, I'm really not. I'm about 6 hours in and having a good overall time with it. Just based on Naughty Dog's own hype and the reviews I was expecting a unique refreshing experience. What I'm getting is Uncharted with zombies, which is fine just not worthy of the extreme praise it's been getting.

That's all for today, I should have another post up by Tuesday, until then, here's your VIDEO GAME MUSIC OF THE DAY:

Nintendo may have the best holiday lineup. But it may not matter...

I feel kind of sorry for Nintendo. They don't have drm, offer free online and you can trade games freely, yet Sony is treated as a hero of the people for doing it, regardless of how good their games are. I think people have kind of lost perspective because has anybody looked at the launch line-up for either the Xbox One or the PS4? In terms of games you can only get on those consoles, you are talking 2-3 games tops.

 If you haven't gotten into the next generation and want a ton of games to play, The Wii U makes a hell of a lot more sense than the PS4 or the Xbox One this holiday season. It will actually have big third party titles such as Watch Dogs and Assassin's Creed 4, Batman Arkham Origins (and possibly COD Ghosts) along with more unique titles than anybody else. You have a new Mario, Donkey Kong, Windwaker HD, Pikimin, Scribblenauts Unmasked and arguably my most anticipated 2014 Wii U title-The Wonderful 101.  That's an incredibly strong line-up and I don't think anybody would be bored or disappointed with it.

But I feel like Nintendo has missed their big opportunity here. The rest of this year seems comprised of things that shoud've been out already (Pikmin, Rayman, Wonderful 101) and extremely safe bets. Mario 3D World looks fun, but its also basically 3D Land ported. The other big holiday release, Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze is an extremely safe game that basically looks the same as Donkey Country Returns. It's a great line-up but no stand out title that will really move systems. Hopefully they will realize they need a price cut because even with a better line-up I don't think anyone will look at them and look at a PS4 and not pay the extra $50. Which admittedly now might not be the best move because their exclusive offerings seem to pretty much be Knack (which does look amazing though) and a new Killzone. That's not worth $400 frankly.

That's it for today, I should be be back this weekend with a list of my most anticipated titles from E3.

Microsoft won the battle, but Sony might've already won the war...

You know, it would be nice if console gaming really was just about the games. If you looked at yesterday's two big conferences from a pure gaming perspective, Microsoft to their credit won pretty handily. Their conference was nearly all games, games games as they said it would be. Most of those games looked pretty damn cool. I was really impressed with several titles, some of which are launch titles. If was just about the games, I'd probably be getting a Xbox One before I got a PS4.

Sony's Press conference in comparison wasn't all that strong, partially because they really had to cover a lot more subject matter. PS3, Vita(though just barely), boring media stuff. It seemed to take forever to get to games. And not to discount indy games, but that's the stuff you give time to on the show floor, not things you show to try and sell consoles. It's awesome that FFXV & KHIII are coming to the system. At some vague time in the future. The launch line-up itself is kind of vague and not all that strong (maybe Knack & Second Son at launch along with Killzone?). Hell now they are going to be charging for multi-player. If that was all they had going for them I think most would've said MS handily won the day.

But then Sony suddenly became the hero of the consumer by not only undercutting the Xbox One by $100, but keeping their stance on used games and drm the same as it is now, which is basically letting you do what you want. The crowd erupted in genuine enthusiasm and in a few moments Sony had just won to everyone watching. Whether or not this will make a difference this holiday is a little hard to say when you figure the average consumer doesn't pay attention to this stuff, but I think they'll pay attention to the difference in price at least.

I am certainly firmly in camp Sony at this point, and it may be awhile, if ever before I even look in the direction of the Xbox One.

See you at the crossroads...

It's incredibly hard to describe Animal Crossing and make it sound remotely interesting. You buy a house and it expand it, usually by collecting bugs, fish, fossils and fruits in order to pay the bills. On the surface, that's really all there is to it, and man does that sound boring as hell. But if you actually play the game, it hooks you in with it's simple charm and surprising addictiveness. You do care about catching new insects and digging up fossils. You enjoy the funny quirky townspeople, and suddenly you are hooked and don't mind so much being under the tyrannical thumb of evil real estate baron Tom Nook. This new entry does add a twist by making you the mayor, which makes the whole town your responsibility but also addressees the common complaint the series has had that since  it's completely based on your system's clock, if you had an abnormal schedule you couldn't get much accomplished and now you can do things like make the town a bunch of early risers or night owls.

It's also not meant to be played in any kind of long marathon sessions, as you usually run out of things to do for  the day within a couple of hours. But that's ok, Animal Crossing isn't about rushing you. It might actually be one of the best long-term games out there with it's really fantastic sense of pacing. There's almost always something going on every day keeping you coming back for weeks, months, even years. The original on the Gamecube had me hooked for a year solid and though I was able to resist the call of the DS & Wii titles, the 3DS with an easy digital download with my portable backlog all cleared proved way too tempting  I've only gotten a few hours in so far, but it's proving just as addicting. Probably the perfect thing to chill me out so I don't explode in nerd rage at E3 tomorrow...

That's really it for today. I'll probably just absorb the next couple of days of press conferences and post my thoughts late Tuesday or Wednesday.
 

Microsoft confirms our fears...

Ok a couple quick notes on things besides the big Xbox One news because that's obviously what I am covering today:

 
1. The Project X-Zone demo: Really damn short. It's one battle. It was fun and I got a kick out of the characters I did recognize like Ryu & Ken and people from Sakura Wars and Valkyria Chronicles, etc. The battle system is fun and much more interactive than your usual strategy game, mashing buttons to really max out damage. I can see that getting old if there's no variety to the moves though. However it has the advantage of having a pretty solid amount of time between when it comes out later this month and when the next noteworthy 3DS game hits (That'd be Mario & Luigi Dream Team which hits mid August) so it should be pretty decent filler if you aren't obsessing over the new Animal Crossing.

2. Konami's "big" press conference: This was ok? I wasn't expecting that much. Keifer Sutherland as the new voice of Snake is sure to raise a few eyebrows after David Hayter doing it for so long, but it's still Metal Gear and I LOATHE Metal Gear. Lords of Shadow 2 did look pretty intriguing, I've meant to check out the original forever and I may do that soon. The biggest disappointment was easily the end when they said they had a "surprise" and instead of a big game reveal it was just a halfway decent Mega 64 skit. I'm glad it was only 30 minutes because even then it kind of dragged. Hopefully this is the worst thing we will see in the next week as it was just ok, which is kind of an accomplishment for Konami if you look at their previous E3 presentations.

And now we get to the big news: Surprisingly, Microsoft has come clean about two big controversies they wouldn't even discuss a couple days ago: Online connectivity and Used games. I'll give them credit for responding to these questions relatively quickly given that I thought they would wait until well after E3 to say anything. The bad news is that they are pretty much as Orwellian as most people feared. First the used games: Yes you can trade in used games. To people specifically in business with Microsoft. That most likely means you'll be able to trade games at Gamestop along with some other major retailers, but it pretty much kills smaller game-based businesses, individual sales and renting games. I think potentially this is not a terrible thing as I've stated before. If it leads to lots of quick sales and price drops like you see on Steam it could work out really well but given how Microsoft handles pricing of digital content I seriously doubt it will.

In all honesty how the used games work is the least nagging issue.for me. I buy a large majority of games new on a pretty limited budget and while I do trade in games to help with that I am an adult I can just wait for games to be a price I can afford. no big deal. Of much more concern to me is the other 3 big issues I have: Forced Hard Drive Installs, mandatory Kinect inclusion and biggest is online check-ins.

Hard Drive installs are easy: Next gen games are going to be pretty big and fill up a 500gb hard drive pretty quickly so that means it won't be long before I am forced to buy another hard drive, essentially driving up the price. People complain about the Wii U's HD space but since it doesn't require you to install anything it doesn't have to be such a big deal.

Then there's Kinect 2.0: I cannot overstate how much I hate Kinect. It doesn't matter how much more sensitive it is, it's still far less efficient than pressing a button and it lacks the heft of having anything in your hands, making most actions feel disjointed and unnatural. Yeah that works fine for Dance Central but any game where you have a weapon will be terrible. That's in addition to the voice commands, which I'm sure assholes will have a lot of fun yelling "XBOX OFF" when you are in the middle of a game.

But really the final last straw is the confirmation of online check-ins required every 24 hours or your Xbox One basically becomes useless. This is beyond terrible. Microsoft has already admitted that if you either travel a bunch or are in the military you might as well not get one. How about if you live in a place with even remotely spotty internet connection? Don't get one. Live somewhere that has extreme weather and might have power/internet outages? Don't bother. Ever planning on moving? Yeah don't get one. I might be getting a tad extreme with that last example but all the others are completely valid. This is pretty much inexcusable in my opinion and relegates the Xbox One to a pretty distant last in my console buying choices. I'll most likely own a PS4, a Vita an Ouya and possibly even something completely dead like a Jaguar before I get an Xbox One.

All right that is it for today I will probably have some kind of Pre-E3 post up Sunday (thanks to an injury I have the week off so I can do lots of posting) and I I have pretty much cleared my 3DS slate so if I do pick up Animal Crossing I'll do some impressions then.

Has Nintendo shown too much of their E3 plans?

This year's E3 is shaping up to easily be the most exciting in years, possibly ever. This is thanks to the fact that pretty much everybody needs to bring their A game as the big 3 all have a lot to prove. Sony & Microsoft have held their E3 plans pretty close to the chest. We don't have much in the way of clues of what they are going to show which makes it potentially extremely exciting.
As a Wii U owner I'm extremely excited about Nintendo's E3 presentation. But unless they are holding a lot back, we might already know too much. Here's their E3 site, and it constantly changes between extremely recognizable silhouettes.

So in this image alone we can see Pikmin, Link (most likely for Windwaker HD) a character from Wonderful 101, Mario on his own suggesting the already pretty much confirmed new Mario 3D title for Wii U, etc. Then we already know in some form we will see Smash Bros and Mario Kart. So is that it? Not that I'm not excited for these games, but a large majority we already know about. Nintendo doesn't need to "win" E3 but if they want to get some buzz going they need some surprises too, or nobody is going to be talking about them. This year's E3 more than any in years is one for new ideas and surprises and Nintendo needs some badly, not a bunch of known quantities when Sony is basically known for constantly showing off new IP and Microsoft promising at least 8 original games in the first year of the Xbox one. Hopefully I'm wrong and this is just teasing a small portion of what we will see or I doubt anyone will be talking about what Nintendo shows next week in the wake of whatever Sony and Microsoft show.

That's all for today but I should have at least one more post up this week with thoughts on the Project X Zone demo that should be up sometime today and Konami's pre-E3 conference on Thursday.

5 things Microsoft can do to "save" the Xbox One

I can't think of a bigger PR disaster in recent history than the unveiling of the Xbox One. The presentation itself was underwhelming at best even for non-gaming outlets (you get in bed with crappy cable companies but don't eliminate the need for a cable box and don't work with dvrs?). Then the inability to even just keep to "no comment" and instead throwing out several different answers to questions about used games and online requirements caused massive confusion and outrage. Right now it seems like even if the Xbox One is a hit with the so-called "bro-gamers" who only play Madden and COD and the more casual crowd who care about things like it being a set top media center, the core gamers, those people who line up on day one, won't be there to support the console. But there's still time and with E3 right around the corner it's the perfect chance to get on the right track. Here's 5 ways they can do that.

5. Make Xbox Live an actual deal: Xbox live is without a doubt the slickest service out there for consoles. But the competition offers much better deals considering Nintendo's online is completely free and Playstation Plus is an optional service that gets you tons of free and discounted content. Now, it's a good money bet that Sony will incorporate Plus as something you need to pay for if you want to do online MP, it's just leaving too much money on the table. But you would still get all the free stuff and discounts, while most other things like Hulu & Netflix, would be free to watch. That makes sense. Xbox Live Gold does not and rumors are they are raising the price. If you are going to still charge for it and not make me laugh, make it worth my while and don't throw everything behind a paywall. I've got lots of acceptable alternatives to paying for your bullshit.

4. Don't shove Kinect down our throats: I get it, Kinect was a massive success with the casual crowd, so yu are introducing a new and improved one for the next generation and want to makeit an integral part of the Xbox One experience. It makes perfect sense, and the Kinect 2.0 is admittedly an impressive piece of tech itself. But do what makes sense. Don't require it for games that don't need it (see anything labeled "better with Kinect") and if I want to press buttons instead of making obscene gestures, let me do that. Kinect is a potentially great piece of tech just don't push so hard on it.

3. Have a clear message: Again this is probably where the most damage was done. Instead of the usual no comment or being honest we got different answers from different people on just about everything. Unfortunately we probably won't get answers at E3, they are more likely to really just stonewall any questions about used games or connectivity. I don't think that's the right way to go. Be honest and direct and say "this is how we are going to do this and this is how it's going to be and this is why it's a good thing." We'll appreciate it because right now all we have are very bad rumors with no benefits for consumers. Have concrete simple answers instead of this mess you currently have.

2. Make no used games work for us: No used games isn't the ultimate anti-consumer practice many are making it out to be. But you have to explain why this isn't a bad thing. Steam is a pretty good example-You can't trade in anything but there are price drops and discounts all the time. Plus Microsoft had said there would be a way to trade in games. Can I do it digitally? That would actually be pretty cool. So do that and maybe no used games won't be such a big deal.

1. Games, games games: Microsoft has pounded home the message that E3 is all about the games. I hope they keep to that. Showing  commitment to gamers with awesome games we will actually care about will go a longer way towards getting the gamers back on your side than virtually anything else. And I don't mean Kinect games or COD or Sports games. We need new ideas, new IP. We need some risks. Do that Microsoft and the other stuff may not even matter.

So despite how bad Microsoft looks at the moment, they still have a pretty decent chance to turn things around. And as a gamer I'm hoping they do because I would like the decision of what console to buy next to be a hard one...

Don't put all your eggs in Sony's basket just yet...

So in the span of a couple days it seems like everyone had already decided they are buying a PS4 (or a Wii U or nothing at all) and never ever buying am Xbox One. There are plenty of reasons, the biggest probably being their likely stance on used games (I would like to note that Microsoft has confirmed nothing in terms of their plans for used games, but haven't denied anything either). But there are still a ton of unanswered questions about the PS4 as well. They haven't really given any concrete answers on their stance on used games either. While they may not require an online connection for authorization, their biggest touted features such as the share button. Of course price will be a factor as well, I'm sure it will be at least compatible to the Xbox One, but will that still be too much for consumers who are pretty satisfied with what they currently have?

But I think it's also important to remember the games. Did Sony show a more gamer-centric focus at their February unveiling? Undoubtedly, but that wasn't Microsoft's focus for this past Tuesday, and the general consensus for Sony's event was that the games shown weren't extremely compelling. Not a lot of people care about another Killzone or another Infamous title and Media Molecule's segment was pretty reminiscent of the straight up weirdness of stuff like Wii Music. Neither company is really giving a truly compelling case for dropping several hundred dollars on jumping into the next generation at this point. That could change come E3 and I really hope it does, but as it stands right now, if I am picking up something new this holiday season it's more likely to be a Vita than any of these shiny new things that used to play video games regardless of my internet connection...

That's it for today, I'll probably have another post up Monday or Tuesday until then here's you video game music of the week: Zelda Medley

Microsoft doesn't know what message it wants to send...

So the big unveiling of the Xbox One happened today, and if you've been reading any of the internet reactions, it has not been pretty. At All. People seemed extremely upset that games were such a minor point of the conference to the point of the Xbox One barely being a console, and more a DVR that you can use voice commands on. However, had any of them been paying attention, this was pretty much the plan. This conference was never about games. That is being saved for E3. As far as games, MS should hopefully quell our fears with the announcement of 15 exclusive titles on the first year, 8 of them all new IPs. That's pretty promising. Of course we will see if any of those deliver but it shows Microsoft has heard the concerns about no exclusives and weak first party support. Granted, Xbox One is a pretty terrible name, and shoehorning Kinect into everything will suck, but it's all stuff that we can deal with. I think if those were the biggest concerns the chatter would've died down pretty quickly.

And then the question of used games & always online comes up...

And the internet went nuts, quite understandably so. Mandatory installs, not always on but requiring an internet connection for validation and possibly the biggest/worst news of all: fees for pre-owned titles, fees for titles being used on different accounts, etc. This was made even worse by many Microsoft employees contradicting each other as to whether this was the case and nobody outright denying it saying instead they haven't revealed plans as of yet. MS needs to get a clear message out and quick before they are just twisting in the wind. Admittedly if the message is that I cannot buy used titles or even rent titles without paying an additional fee I will most likely not be getting an Xbox One anytime soon. Add to that needing to authorize even single-player titles with an online connection (what if I'm out of town? Do I have to re-authorize any games while my system was off or unplugged? What if my internet is down for a few days?) And I may never get one. Hopefully Microsoft sends a clear message to us gamers at E3 or I have a feeling we'll be making other choices come this holiday be it Wii U or PS4 or nothing at all....

The new Batman trailer has me really worried...

The new Batman game is out in a mere 5 months.We already know a studio whose biggest claim to fame so far was doing a fairly shoddy Wii U port of Arkham City and that it is very likely it will have multi-player, which makes virtually no sense given the style of game. Then the first trailer hits, with no hint of gameplay whatsoever. At best it looks like a pretty impressive fan film. Granted, maybe they are just waiting for E3 as it's a few weeks away, but a 4 minute movie that really shows nothing is not a great start. I'm hoping I'm proven wrong, but it's looking kind of doubtful at this point.

Tomorrow we will finally see (probably) the new hardware from Microsoft. Will it be always online? Probably not in the way we think. Will it be backwards compatible? Most likely not. We will see games? I'm kinda doubtful. Even MS had said their E3 presser will be all about the games, so at least they will hold back any big guns til then. One good thing is that they supposedly have dropped some massive cash to score some key exclusives, which basically covers my number one worry about this upcoming generation-that Microsoft would have very little to offer in terms of exclusives. It's a given that a large majority of 3rd party titles will appear on both systems, so this would be a good move for MS given their current slate of IP is pretty weak. Of course for all we know it could be similar to this generation where they just got fairly pointless exclusive content for 3rd party titles. I'm just hoping it will at least be interesting to watch and get me excited. The relatively short 60 minute run time should mean they don't spend a lot of time on boring crap no one cares about. We'll see in about 24 hours.

That's really all I got for today, but be assured I will have a post up tomorrow sometime after the event with my thoughts on it.

5 Things Lego City Undercover does better than GTA...

Is it blasphemy to say I don't give a damn about GTA V? I haven't even looked at any of the trailers. IV looked pretty but it fell apart pretty damn quickly with the usual terrible combination of bad driving, camera and piss poor shooting along with being an errand boy for various annoying morons has really turned me off the series in general. I've honestly been pretty tired of the Lego games as well. Picked up Lego Batman 2 last year and quickly got bored with it. Surely a Lego game that's clearly a GTA clone would be a terrible choice, right? Well as the Wii U is sorely lacking in games lately and me needing a solid break from rpgs after finishing several in the last couple of months I gave it a shot as it had really good word of mouth. Turns out it's surprisingly excellent. In fact it does some stuff better than the GTA series ever has:

1.It's funnier: GTA started out as a satire. It's still got hints of that here and there, but it's gotten so serious the last few entries that's it's actually a little more absurd than titles like Saints Row that parody it. LCU takes pretty much every opportunity to make a joke or a pun and for the most part it works pretty well, especially newbie Frank Honey, who is pure gold.

2. Better Map: Holy crap do I get lost and turned around in GTA games. I have to constantly pause to check the map. I still get lost. Not in LCU. Thanks to the gamepad it's easy to see where I need to go and even see shortcuts plus an extremely handy trail of green lego studs to point my way whenever I'm in a vehicle. GTA has nothing on this.

3. The City looks better: GTA always has cutting edge graphics. For the time. The problem is cutting edge never ages very well. It's almost always better to go with something with a distinct style and Lego City just looks very clean with no glitches, not a lot of draw-in space and no pop-up.

4. Better Driving: Maybe it's far more realistic but the driving in GTA is absolutely terrible. All vehicles handle horribly, traffic is a pain to get through and cars really can't handle any damage. The vehicles in LCU don't handle incredibly well, but are serviceable and more important, incredibly durable. You have to actively work to destroy one. There's traffic, but not such a ridiculous amount it gets in your way and even if it does most of the time you can smash right through it.

5. It does a better job at distracting you: But most will say the real fun of GTA is all the extra stuff you can do apart from the main storyline. Problem is you have to work hard to find a lot of it and there aren't a whole lot of clues. LCU has shiny colorful things everywhere distracting you from whatever you are supposed to be doing. It's bad for your OCD, but way more of a fun time than most of the side stuff in any GTA.

OK that's the list. I won't say LCU is a game worth buying a Wii U for specifically but it's easily the best post launch game so far and you really should pick it up if your Wii U is just sitting there collecting dust. I will be back tomorrow with a review of Star Trek Into Darkness.