Another Battlefield 4 Update

So here we stand, another update has hit Battlefield 4 on PC. This time, I was actually able to play through two rounds before I quit for the night. I was able to hit the exit button on my own, I wasn't booted due to a crash. That said, I'm only running about 20 frames a second while I play. Sometimes it jumps up to anywhere from 60 to 90, but as soon as I round a corner or something moves, my framerate drops down to the low 20's. So, we're getting better!

I'm looking to upgrade my old video card too. After I sell my laptop to pay bills, the remaining cash will be used to buy some much needed upgrades to my poor machine. I'm running an AMD Phenom II X4 955 processor that's overclocked to 3.5ghz. There's also an ATI Radeon HD 5770 1gb video card that' been mildly overclocked as well. Follow that with 4gb of 1600mhz DDR 3 RAM and you've got a system that's starting to show its age. For those interested I'm upgrading to 8gb of RAM and I'm going between an AMD R9 280X and an AMD R9 290X. There's a significant price difference and I've got to do some creative manuvering to get either card to fit into my case, which surprised me, but it should be fun. I'll update when I decide on what I'm going with and when I buy it.

Finally, the Steam Holiday Sale has begun, so, prepare your wallets. Nothing seemed to spectacular today, but that's just my opinion. I'm hoping to maybe pick up CoD: Ghosts(not on sale) or Assassin's Creed 4(also not on sale, maybe not even on Steam) if I manage to get that new video card, but we'll see. Also, there's a website - gog.com that's got some pretty nice deals for more indie and classic games. If you haven't heard of them, I say check 'em out. Their games are all DRM free and a lot of them work on both Windows and Mac.

Take it easy internet, Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah. Whatever your particular celebration of choice, Happy Whatever and play some games!

Battlefield 4 (PC) Update

After jumping through many hoops and with the help of digging through the Reddit Battlefield community I found a list of potential fixes. I tried about 90% of them and my game actually worked! However, I went from running fairly smoothly in the test range to getting 25-32 fps while playing. It's semi-playable at best, and at worst I can't hit anything. However, it did finally work and it worked for several rounds before I got too frustrated to keep playing. So, that's that. I'm going to try and upgrade my video card at some point in the nearish future. I'm looking at an AMD R9 280X. It seems like a nice little piece of hardware and should work with my current setup. *fingers crossed*

On another note, My wife bought us matching copies of Animal Crossing: New Leaf for our 3ds systems. I've gotta say, we both love the game. I've spent nearly 30 hours in my town and causing various levels of chaos in her town. I would recommend that anyone with a 3ds check this one out.

Battlefield 4 (PC) Major problems. Also, good sales.

Valued internet, I have purchased and played* Battlefield 4. I have thoroughly not enjoyed my experience with the game thus far. I should note, that the "*" next to "Played" means that I have launched the game about a dozen times and failed to complete a match or level or anything. I played in the test range for a while, things went very smoothly and I even bumped the game up to Ultra just to see how amazing it looked. It was freaking beautiful. So, I bumped it back down to low/medium and tried to launch into campaign. Here's where the problems started. I played about a minute and a half and the game locked up and crashed to the desktop. There was some kind of message about bad arguments being sent to my video card. This problem persisted no matter what resolution or quality I put the game on. I managed no more than about eight minutes into the campaign. I gave up and tried to load into multiplayer thinking that maybe there was just some slight issues in the manor of Medal of Honor. Lo and behold, upon loading into a match of multiplayer I was met with the same issues. Plus several other major problems including but not limited to, major lag, framerate crashes, and occasional moments of total brokenness. All of these things happened during my play time before my game crashed and sent me back to the desktop with the "Bad arguments" error.

I've never encountered this error message before. I have no idea how to handle it. My system setup is as follows: AMD Phenom II X4 955 processor overclocked to 3.2 ghz, 4 gb DDR3 Ram at 1600 mhz, and an AMD Radeon HD 5770 1 gb Video Card, also overclocked. I've updated drivers and tried replacing and reinstalling the drivers. I've overclocked my CPU slightly, and I've overclocked my GPU a bit. My system meets the requirements for the game and a little bit more. I'm very disappointed in this game and unfortunately cannot review it at this time since I can't play the damn thing.

On an unrelated note, this week's Humble Bundle is pretty nice. As is the Indie Gala Codemasters Sale, so check those out. Humble Bundle is featuring Garry's Mod, Magicka + DLC, Orcs Must Die 2 complete collection, Natural Selection 2, Sanctum 2, and Serious Sam 3. It's promising to add more games on Tuesday so we'll see what else shows up. Indie Gala features Damnation, Clive Barker's Jericho, Overlord, Overlord 2, Overlord Raising Hell, Operation Flashpoint Dragon Rising, and Operation Flashpoint Red River. Both bundles can be currently purchased for less than $11 to get all the content.

So that's that. Have fun internet, We'll talk again soon.

Silence. Also Broken Hardware.

Hello internet. We've been quiet as of late and that's due to our personal lives getting in the way of our love of gaming. I believe the last review we posted was back in August and it was for Saints Row 4 which was fairly disappointing. We're still here chugging along, and hoping to get things back up and running soon. Between the three of us that write reviews and articles here there is one PlayStation 4 and no Xbox One. Our sports writer picked up a PS4 on launch day and has loved every minute of playing FIFA 14 on it.

On a side note, there have been reports of hardware issues for both consoles at launch. I've heard mostly of HDMI port problems with the PS4 and some occasional update problems. I've heard that Xbox One has had problems with the disc drive, the day one update, and some overall system stability issues. All in all, I'm of a wait and see frame of mind with both systems and will probably be reverting to my PC and 3DS for a while. That said, the PS3 and 360 still have a bit of life left in them, but they're officially members of the previous generation now.

That's all for now, we'll have more as we have time to write. Keep an eye out for a holiday buying guide in the next few days!

Pokemon X and Y are out! Impressions (Part 1)

And wow are they awesome. I'm only about two hours into it at this point, but I've already encountered several changes that make the game fantastic. First off, the new 3D game engine is fantastic! Finally, fans have a (mostly) 3D world to explore and battle through. It's not completely 3D, there's some sections where the camera is still basically top down, but the battles are fully 3D and look great. Eight-way movement has been implemented! This seems like a small thing but it makes moving around so much easier. There are also new ways to train your Pokemon's base stats via Super Training and Core Training. Super Training has to be done in it's own event though it's launch-able at almost any time. Core Training is more of a background mini-game to be played while walking around and tapping on the touch screen.

One final note in this short post, the social features are vastly improved. When I fired up my game I received a notification in my PSS page that I had a couple friends nearby. The PSS system read my registered friends from my 3DS system and told me that they were playing nearby. I was able to offer them O-Powers and I received some in return for my gift. My wife and I then traded wirelessly to get some Pokedex data. All of this happened fairly smoothly other than my wife hitting the wrong connection buttons while we were trying to trade.

So far I'm impressed and I've only been at the game for a couple hours. I'm looking forward to what is still in store. Please stay with us as we'll be providing updates from time to time based on our gameplay experiences and will have a review ready as soon as we can.

Saints Row IV Review (PS3)

Saints Row IV is all about having as much fun as humanly possible. This is the final chapter in the story of the Third Street Saints as we've seen them develop over four three previous titles and this chapter delivers. Laughter, love, revenge, and closure are all present in Saints Row IV.

Graphically speaking, Saints Row IV looks dated to me. There is a brownish fog that covers the world, though draw distance is still pretty great, the fog is always present. Once I completed the main story the fog seemed to lift a bit and there was some sunlight and color to the world of Steelport. There is also a reddish-brown tint to the world and I never noticed a sunny or rainy day while spending my time in Steelport until I beat the main story. There was just an overcast brownish colored sky. Character models moved well, though also looked a tad on the dated side. One final note, the digitizing effect placed on the simulated version of Steelport can be incredibly distracting. This is very true when your character is just standing and admiring the scenery.

I did not have any issues with any of the sound design and was pleasantly surprised to see how many voice actors returned for the final chapter of the Saints story. The characters sounded great and there was some fun banter back and forth between the cast. There were numerous callbacks to past events and characters. Also scattered about Steelport are 39 audio logs from past and present characters to add more story to the Saints Row universe which was nice to listen to.

Saints Row IV played fairly well, though I did have a number of glitches. The super power mechanic replaces grenades and not being able to use your powers outside of the simulated world without having grenades to back myself up with was kind of a downer. That said, the super powers are a lot of fun to play around with. Combining them brought some pretty great outcomes and offered some creative ways to eliminate my enemies. Combat has been adjusted slightly as well. Health no longer regenerates quickly, it takes a while for it to start coming back. To offset this, there are now health drops that fall from dead enemies. This does make combat a bit more tough and I noticed myself dying a bit more than I did in Saints Row: The Third. Shooting feels relatively tight and control-wise the game is fairly responsive. I did have a few glitches pop up while playing. Framerate drops happened several times, usually while using the UFO or in heavy combat. I had several freezes during missions where I had to reboot my PS3 completely so I have two saves and usually save every 20ish minutes. I also ran into some issues while trying to jump and get in vehicles. Occasionally, and I'm not sure if this was by design or by glitch, character models in the environment would stretch out, or have some weird sort of ultra long legs or huge eyes. This happened a few times while I was wandering the streets not doing anything.

The same customization options that were available to your character and gang in Saints Row: The Third are available here. There are a few more options for clothing and outfits but it's largely the same character editor that we've seen and used before. The city of Steelport is pretty much unchanged from the last game as well. Minus removing any influences of the Saints gang from Saints Row: The Third. Many of the vehicles are the same from the previous game as well. There are still many customization options for your cars, but with the super sprint and flight super powers there really isn't a point in driving unless it's forced. Weapons are still fully upgradeable and now have customizable skins to add some fun touches to them. While outside of Steelport players can run around in the spaceship. There are no customization options for the ship. However there are options to talk to and romance every member of the crew, minus romancing Keith David because to quote him "I'm not into that sort of thing".

Going through the story of Saints Row IV is a decent experience. It was fairly predictable sci-fi story but it was a lot of fun and meshed with the game well. There were several times while playing that I was laughing to the point that it effected my playing ability. The story itself feels fairly short and including all side missions, finding a majority of the collectables, completing all of the activities, and a couple hours of random running around causing chaos I had the game beat in around 21 hours. I'm still hunting for a few collectables (There's close to 1300 total) and I'm considering a second playthrough with the "Nolan North" voice, but all in all, I was a little disappointed in the length of the game. There are some co-op only activities I have yet to play through, but 21 hours feels kinda short for an open world game like this.

Overall, I enjoyed Saints Row IV. I can overlook some of its flaws, and find the diamond shining beneath. The game is far from perfect, but if you'd prefer an alternative to Grand Theft Auto, and are looking for something that is just dumb fun, I suggest picking this one up. We're awarding Saints Row IV a 7/10.

Xbox One and PS4 Release Dates!

So, at Gamescom Sony announced that the PlayStation 4 will be available in North America (minus Mexico) on November 15th. Europe, Central and South America, and Australia/New Zealand will get the PS4 on November 29th. Today Microsoft announced that the Xbox One will be available on November 22nd to it's thirteen territories that are being launched in including USA, Western Europe, and Australia. I've still not preordered an Xbox One, but I will watch it cautiously as most of the policies that I was against are now reversed. I have my PlayStation 4 preordered with Killzone Shadow Fall and an extra controller coming. I am also saving some cash back to upgrade my PC to handle more advanced graphics and games.

Also, we'll have a review up for Saints Row IV in the near future. I'm almost done with the game.

Xbox One Update

So yesterday Microsoft surprised everyone by reversing a majority of their restrictions on the Xbox One. Claiming that they listened to their consumers and decided to do what we wanted they committed what was one of the biggest flip-flops we've seen in the gaming industry.

The changes are as follows:
 No 24 hour online check in
No Used Games restrictions
No Region Lock
Internet is required for console SETUP only, afterwards, it can stay offline for eternity unless playing a game that requires an internet connection.

The Kinect was mentioned, but only that they are still requiring it to be connected to make the device function. So, other than requiring the Kinect and the $100 difference in price, the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 are basically on the same ground now.  It will be interesting to see the systems compete now that the field is leveled. If you've got thoughts on the matter, please share them with us in the comments below!

Xbox One and PlayStation 4

After spending some time watching both conferences and thinking about the systems I feel that I've got enough information to weigh in on my take on the systems.

Sony definitely had the stronger press conference in terms of what gamers want. That said, Microsoft had some better games but the issues with the Xbox One are going to hinder people's like for the system.

Sony announced that the PlayStation 4 will support used games without restrictions placed by Sony. The publisher must decide if they want to allow a gamer to buy a used copy of their game. PlayStation also seems to be supporting the indie game developers much more, bringing several indie games to the console first, and allowing the developers to self publish over the PlayStation Network. There is also no online check in for the PS4, and players are allowed to swap games with their friends at will. Also, the system was revealed and I think that it looks more aesthetically pleasing to the eyes. The PlayStation Eye is also not a requirement for the system to function.

Xbox showed some more of their exclusive titles, but seemed to be more focused on announcing that DLC for several games was coming to the Xbox first. Not that it was exclusive, but that it was coming first. There were several great looking exclusives, like Titanfall and Quantum Break. Xbox One has placed a one time use license code in their games, and only allows you to gift your games to one of your friends once, providing they have been on your friends list for at least thirty days. There is also a once every twenty-four hour check in online while playing games on your own console. If you are playing your content on another Xbox you have to check in online every hour or the games stop functioning. Xbox does also support a much more robust suite of entertainment features than the PS4, but that comes at the cost of freedom for playing your games.

Both systems have pros and cons, as is with all systems. The thing is, Xbox says that they are for the gamers, but are being extremely restrictive on how the players are allowed to play. Sony has placed it into the hands of the publishers to decide how restrictive they want to be. At this point, I think that is I were to buy an Xbox One it would be for the entertainment aspects, not the games. That said, I do have a preorder placed on the PlayStation 4, but not for the Xbox One. I want to see how things play out over the first year or so with Xbox before I decide to join in.

We are still here.

I swear we haven't fallen off the side of the planet or anything. Just had a lot going on and haven't bought any new games lately. We all apologize sincerely for that, and I'm hoping I'm going to be getting "The Last of Us" when it comes out. We'll also be watching the news outlets to see what's going on at E3 and have that for you guys so bear with us a little longer. Brighter things are on the horizon!

Also, Scorpion is the next DLC character for Injustice: Gods Among Us... I don't like that very much. What is a Mortal Kombat fighter doing in a DC Universe game!? Oh well, at least they got Jim Lee to redesign his look and he does look pretty cool.

So to recap: Scorpion is in Injustice and we are not dead.

Thanks for reading our blog!

Injustice: Gods Among Us Review (PS3)

Upon first booting Injustice I couldn't help but think that this is just going to be a reskinned Mortal Kombat. I could not have been more wrong. While the core fighting game remains the same, the rest of the game is changed up enough to make Injustice feel similar, but very different from Netherrealm's previous game.

Playing the game is a treat for anyone who is a fan of the DC comics. Injustice looks great during the fights, not so much during the cutscenes. Animations flow smoothly and transitioning between moves looks fantastic. Environments are nicely made and highly interactive on most levels. The only complaint I've got, and it's not even a major one, is just the way that some of the characters look. The art design at times seems a bit interesting, with most of the characters, including Superman, look like they are armor plated. There are also an incredible amount of unlockable and alternate skins for the characters.

The voice acting in the game is top notch. Netherrealm took the time to get some of the voice actors who work on the various DC Animated Universe projects to come in and do voices. Kevin Conroy is Batman, Adam Baldwin and Jennifer Hale also lend their voices to the game. The sounds around the arena are pretty well done also, most notably with the level transitions.

Injustice feels like a licensed game done right, and it largely is. There are 24 characters from the DC Universe to choose from, with at least four more on tap to be delivered through DLC. The cast consists of twelve heroes and twelve villains. They range from Superman and Batman to the lesser known Raven and Killer Frost.  Each character has at least two costumes, but some have more than that, such as Solomon Grundy, who I currently have four costumes for. The story mode is crafted by Netherrealm and plays out very well. It kept me entertained for several hours before I moved on to the Battles mode. These modes are the standard ladder matches where you pick your character (most of the time) and duke it out with a bunch of enemies on a sliding scale for difficulty. There are a number of different options you can pick for the Battles mode, including Heroes only, Villains only, and Mirror Mode. These add a lot of extra replayability and challenge to the game. The next mode available for play is the S.T.A.R. Labs mode, which offers players 240 missions to play. You get ranked between one and three stars depending on how well you do on these missions with a trophy to get three stars on all of them adding a good bit of challenge.

Playing through the fights of Injustice is a lot of fun. Combos are easy to pull off and flow very well. There are numerous interactive elements in each level that help add a bit of strategy to your playstyle. There are also level transitions that can be initiated which look really cool, though when done by someone like Catwoman seems a bit over the top. The characters all play similarly, but differently enough that each one feels fairly unique.  The game allows you to tag certain moves you want to try and will display them on the side of the screen as a kind of on the fly tutorial for players who are having trouble remembering combos or special moves. Another change from Mortal Kombat is the removal of Fatalities. This game is only rated "T" so they had to tone the violence down a bit. So Fatalities were replaced with Super Moves which have a similar impact to the X-Ray moves from Mortal Kombat. You can pull them off as soon as your super meter is full and have potential to do more than one per match. One more small complaint I've noticed during my time with Injustice is that there isn't a traditional round over. You fight until one of the two combatants runs out of thier first health bar, then they start onto their second bar without a new round warning. The winning player of that round also does not get a restored health bar, they fight with what was left of their first one until they win or lose it and start into their second. This was an interesting choice that took a lot of getting used to, but I sort of like it now that I'm used to it.

All in all, Injustice: Gods Among Us is a great fighting game. There are some solid mechanics that help better the genre, but there are a few issues too. Graphically, the game isn't groundbreaking, the fighting is solid, but the between round break thing is a lot awkward. The story is interesting and is worth checking out. Overall, we are awarding Injustice: Gods Among Us an 8/10.

Bioshock Infinite Review (PS3)

Bioshock Infinite gets a whole lot of things right in making a game. Not just from a video game standpoint, from an artistic standpoint. The game has a masterful story,  amazing graphics and sound, a beautiful and fantastic setting, and phenomenal gameplay. The game hits quite a few right notes, but does make me wonder about some of the choices that the developer made while making the game.

The first thing that you'll notice when playing Bioshock Infinite is how similar the opening is to the original Bioshock. This didn't detract from the overall look of the game, but it's still an interesting point to think about. The second thing that you'll notice is how absolutely gorgeous the game is. Upon my first look at Columbia I actually stopped moving and just stared at what was around me. The world is incredibly detailed, with some terrific lighting work done. While I was walking through the city of Columbia, I truly felt that I was wandering through a fully developed city. It looked and felt like the utopia that it was supposed to be. The characters looked incredibly lifelike and moved very fluidly. I only noticed some slight graphical issues, such as some framerate hiccups and an occasional very odd pause to load while a lot was happening on screen towards the end of the game. The engine handles the combat and scores of action fairly well otherwise.

In the sound department, Bioshock is perfect. Character voices are incredible, with high praise to the twin characters. The back and forth between Booker and Elizabeth throughout the campaign is great and by the end I actually felt attached to Elizabeth. The voxophone recordings that you listen to during the campaign are remarkably clear, but take a backseat when more important story based dialogue starts up. Weapons sound respectably like their real world counter-parts. Even the background characters and enemies have some great voice work to them.

While not going too heavily into the story of the game, I will say that Irrational crafted an amazing narrative. I was kept guessing up to the end. The original objective takes on a whole new meaning by the time you view the ending. The middle section of the game does falter a touch, placing you at the heart of a civil war between the Founders and the Vox Populi. Some interesting themes from the early 1900's are explored, such as national pride, religion, racism, and segregation. These all come together to help move the story along, but also help the player get a glimpse into life in Columbia.

Playing through Infinite is where things got fairly interesting. First off, the powers are called vigors now, not plasmids. There are two sets of weapons to use, the Founder weapons and the Vox weapons. The mechanics work just fine; moving and shooting are very tight and the other controls are extremely responsive. You gain a shield ability, and a vigor that also acts as a shield, and you can only carry two weapons at a time. While these are standard conventions for most shooters now, they just felt a little wrong in Infinite. The weapon and vigor upgrade systems were fairly basic and while I never had enough money to fully upgrade everything (lets face it, there are way too many guns for that to happen) I did have enough to fully upgrade my favorite weapons and vigors.

Another complaint I had was the length and pacing of the game itself. The beginning and ending sections are awesome, but the middle just seems to drag on a bit. There are a lot of backtracking quest lines in the middle portion of the story, which feel like Irrational was trying to artificially inflate the length of the campaign. I managed to get the game beat in around thirteen hours or so, but I spent a lot of time exploring and backtracking to make sure I got everything I could before continuing.

Games like this shine in their replayability though, and  Bioshock Infinite offers a very great replay value. Upping the difficulty will add a lot of time to your game depending on your overall skill. I played on medium and there were several sections I don't want to play on a harder difficulty because I barely made it through. There are also a number of weapons and vigors to experiment with, so if nothing else play the game again but use different equipment. Another great thing about replaying the game is that you know where the story is going. Looking at the experience a second time adds a lot of additional perspective and helps to bring some things together that were confusing the first time. Additionally, the game is entirely single player. There is no unnecessary, tacked on multiplayer suite to artificially extend the life of the game. Thank you Irrational Games!

Several new additions have been made to the combat of Bioshock Infinite. A new item called gear has been added. Gear comes in four classes (Hat, Shirt, Pants, Shoes) and each piece has a different ability. Combining these with the various upgrades you get to your abilities makes for some great combat ideas. Sky lines are another new mechanic that allow you to fly around the area at breakneck speeds and drop down on enemies, or you can choose to shoot them while moving around. There are also freight hooks to grapple onto, and inter-dimensional tears that Elizabeth can open up to call in anything from health kits to automated turrets. All of these add some very interesting dynamics to combat, but to compensate, there are a lot more enemies to fight. There were several times while playing that I actually had to pause for a second to get my bearings as to what was going on. This was especially true when Handymen were involved in the fights.


Bioshock Infinite is a fantastic, story driven game. Gameplay is great, and the story is top notch. If not for some strange design choices, I think this could have seriously been a perfect game. I definitely think that anyone who considers themselves a gamer should pick this game up and experience it. Bioshock Infinite earns a 9/10.

Gears of War: Judgment Review (360)

Gears of War: Judgment is a game that up until a couple weeks ago I didn’t even think I was going to get. Then, I went to my local GameStop and placed several pre-orders and one of those games was Gears of War: Judgment. Here’s the good news about this, the game is great!

Graphically speaking, Gears of War: Judgment does some things a little differently than previous Gears games. Generally, with some exception to Gears 3, the Gears of War franchise has been based in a color scheme of grays. Destruction has always been at the heart of this series. Judgment changes this up a bit and shows a bit of what some areas of Sera looked like before the Locust and COG destroyed everything. There are a lot of brighter areas to look at while fighting through the war. Though, towards the end, things do turn bleak and dark and the game goes back to feeling like its set in the Gears of War universe we’ve all come to know and love. The characters move very fluidly with the animations going off without a hitch 99% of the time. Character models look great, though the age of the hardware and engine are starting to show, this is still the best looking gears game yet.   There were some hiccups with the chainsaw animation for the lancer, occasionally not lining up correctly when done on the stairs, or two people hitting the same enemy at the same time can look a little wonky. There were also a couple times when I went for the execution and the camera angle cut way back from everything instead of zooming into the kill. These were all very rare occurrences but they were there from time to time.

Gears of War: Judgment sounds exactly like any other Gears of War game. The characters sound great, with the original actors returning for their respective characters. The banter between the squads that was standard for the first three games seems a little lacking at times in this entry. There were times that I thought Paduk was literally just there because there had to be four people in the squad. There was a lot of underdevelopment for several of the characters in the game which left me feeling a little uncaring about what happened to them as the game went on.

Gears of War: Judgment plays like any other Gears game. It’s a cover-based third person shooter. The controls are tight and responsive, I had no issue aiming or moving my character around the map. This game does move a little quicker than previous entries, which is an absolute treat. There is an added measure of verticality to the levels that previously was not present in Gears of War. These maps have been designed to give the player some options when going into combat.

The game is broken up into six chapters; each played in short sections that never took me more than about twenty minutes to complete. Overall, the game took me around ten to twelve hours to complete the campaign. The narrative is set up as being told through flashbacks from each member of Kilo Squad. Each section of the chapters has an extra option of doing what is called a “declassified” mission. These side missions add an extra level of difficulty to the missions, but add a little bit of extra story to the game that was otherwise left out of the testimony. I had a couple complaints from within the campaign, chiefly that the main villain is completely pointless. The sole reason he’s even included is so that there is something enormous to kill for the final mission. I was also hoping that since this was a prequel there would be a lot more back story given to Cole and Baird, but they didn’t really develop the characters as fully as I’d like to have seen. Finally, while the declassified missions added a little story, sometimes it would have been nice to have them add new objectives or make the player take a different route through the level. There were a couple of the declassified missions that were just frustrating to play through.

Multiplayer for the series is largely unchanged. The strategy is still dive towards your enemy with a shotgun and hope you hit them for an instant kill. Though, I did notice more players not using this strategy than I have before, this was the predominant strategy online. Deathmatch and King of the Hill make their return nestled with two other modes that are class based. Survival has the player outlast ten waves of AI controlled Locust while defending a point. If you lose the first time, there are two more chances to win the game. Overrun is similar to survival except that players play as both the Locust and the COG. In Overrun COG must defend three points throughout the map, and the Locust must attack and destroy them. These modes replace Horde and Beast mode and do an adequate job of that.

Overall, Gears of War: Judgment is a great game with a couple of missed opportunities within it. Characters are hollow, the villain is completely worthless as a villain, and the declassified objectives feel like an artificial way to try and extend the campaign without actually expanding it. We’re giving a score of 8 out of 10 on this one. See you online.

MLB 13: The Show Review (PS3)

Sorry this one's a little late guys. We've been a little busy personally as of late. However as they say, better late than never!

MLB 13: THE SHOW

            San Diego Studios hit another home run with this year’s release of MLB 13: The Show.  Year after year this franchise continues to impress by taking an already astounding baseball simulation and somehow improving upon it.  It is like going to the movies for the release of (Insert Movie Title Here) 2 and having high expectations that are not met… except The Show meets them every time.

            MLB 13: The Show appears to take an old adage and modify it slightly: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it… just add more of it.”  Gameplay in The Show 13 is relatively the same as in years past, the controls are identical with multiple configurations to chose from.  The major addition is a Beginner Mode which is, you guessed it, for beginners in The Show franchise.  The AI starts off by feeding you pitches that even an American League closer could hit until you get the hang of it.  Slowly the difficulty picks up as you advance through Beginner Mode.  It is a nice new addition to the franchise.  A new throwing meter is also introduced for those who have familiarized themselves with The Show over the years.  This meter has a sweet spot in the center and accuracy gets increasingly wilder as it fades from a green center, to yellow, and red at the ends.  It takes some getting used to, but adds a degree of difficulty to throwing.  This can always be switched to the old style by accessing the controls menu.

            The Road To The Show Mode returns and is as good as ever.  This year, San Diego Studios takes you onto the field with the presentation.  You still get the preshow experience of the television broadcast as well as occasional “Prospect Spotlights” on your major league hopeful.  The telecast experience pops up after your player has completed an at bat, batter faced, or fielding opportunity.  But for the most part, you hear what your player hears.  There is no commentary during your game events, just the sound of umpires, coaches, players, and fans.  Hitting and base running has been improved upon as well.  When you hit the ball, the camera drops to your hitter’s shoulder so you can more accurately track the hit from the player’s prospective.  You can also lock on to the ball or third base coach with the simple push of a button to see exactly what is going on.  Fielding opportunities now have a more personal feel as well by allowing the player the option of catching the ball by pressing a button when the virtual player should close his glove.  This adds a nice little timing factor and a little more realism, if the player so chooses.

            Two major game modes have been added this year as well.  The Show Live allows the player to jump right into a game scheduled for today’s date, similar to the NBA 2K franchise.  The other game mode addition is Postseason Mode which allows you to skip the regular season and jump right into the playoffs.  The atmosphere of Postseason Mode games is intensified to give you the impression that this game means more.  San Diego Studios recorded crowds from actual playoff games to accurately get a feel for the noise level.  The presence of rally towels also adds to the excitement.  Having been to three postseason games in the last two years, I can vouch that the atmosphere is pretty accurate to the way the postseason feels as a fan.

            Presentation received many new additions this year.  Steve Lyons returns to the series, replacing Dave Campbell in the commentary.  When creating a player, you now have the option for “warrior” style Bryce Harper eye black.  Batting animations have been broken down into stance, follow through, missed swings, etc.  Various scenes have been added to games as well.  For example, after your first virtual home run in RTTS, you just might receive the silent treatment from your teammates before being congratulated with high fives and back slaps.

            Overall, MLB 13: The Show took an already astounding franchise and made it better.  They did not tinker with things that work well, but did make some slick additions for new and old gamers alike.  San Diego Studios continues to impress year after year with easily the best baseball simulation available.

Delay on a Couple Reviews

We will have the review for MLB '13 The Show very soon. Having some slight delays. On another note, due to the sudden death of my PS3, the review for God of War: Ascension is on hold until I get my system replaced.

BIG NEWS! PS4 OFFICIALLY ANNOUNCED!!!!!

Sorry for the all caps in the title, but I'm a little excited. As of six o'clock EST last night, the PlayStation 4 has become official. The system will launch during the holiday season this year. So that's all great right?

We didn't get to see what the thing actually looked like, which was a bit of a downer, but it's okay! I have faith that it's gonna look nice on my cabinet next to my PS3 and 360. That controller is different though. I'm glad that they didn't go with the LCD touch screen, and just decided to do a touch pad, similar to what the Vita has on the back of it. But otherwise, it looked pretty much like a normal DualShock controller.

The share button functionality is pretty interesting. I like that the system has a built in function to let you stream, or record and upload your own gameplay footage. Friends being able to watch what you play while you're playing it, and even offer help via text boxes, talking, or even taking over your controller for a temporary period is pretty awesome. The system seems to have a much more simplified connection to the various social networks and a much more social focus than previous generations when the social network boom was just starting.

Speaking of the Vita, remote playability of PS4 games on the Vita!? With the goal of making all PlayStation games available to stream and play remotely. The Gaikai aspect of everything is pretty promising too. I like that they said you'll be able to stream the games and play them before you buy them, sort of like the 60 minute trial with PS Plus on the PS3, but this seems like it could be less limiting. I'm looking forward to that capability. Going with the streaming topic, Sony has taken a hint from PC services like Steam and will allow PS4 users to play the games as they download instead of download forever, install forever, then finally play.

The tech specs for the system are very intelligent and make me think that Sony really did do their homework. The system is built kinda like a PC, which is going to help the developers making games a much more simple process than has been in the past. Using an AMD APU and 8 gb of RAM the system is basically a mid-range PC or Laptop at this point which means the coding should be nearly identical between PC and PS4 versions of games. The system will come with a Blu-Ray drive and support DVD playback. It also will NOT require an online connection to play. Debunking rumors of digital only and always online to play.

There has been an upgrade to the graphical capabilities of the PS4 as well when compared to the current generation of systems. The games that were shown off at the event were absolutely stunning, but this is where I'm very leery of what Sony has to offer with their games. Knack looked like a Pixar movie that you could play through. Infamous: Second Son's announce trailer was beautiful but there wasn't any gameplay. Watch Dogs and Killzone: Shadow Fall were both absolutely beautiful to watch. I'm more of a "meh" towards Diablo 3, which wasn't shown, but announced. Finally, Destiny again looked stunning while running on the PS4. Square Enix showed off a new engine, and I wasn't sure if Capcom's Deep Down was a tech demo, or an actual game, but it looked powerful. The video we've all seen for Unreal Engine 4 was shown running on a PS4 and looked just like the PC demo. So, cautious optimism for this new system's capabilities, but the future looks promising. 

All in all, Sony's event last night was pretty fantastic, and if you can watch it, I highly recommend it. http://www.playstation.com/meeting2013 is the link for the video stream. All information contained in this article was pulled from that video. I'm not saying that this article is all inclusive, it just highlights some of the more pertinent information. I don't know about you, but E3 just got a lot more exciting. Providing there is a decent set of games announced for launch, I'll probably be picking this up on day 1. Leave your thoughts and comments if you like, I do enjoy reading the few that we get. And as always, See you online!

Video Game Ratings Discussion

Hello again everyone. Last time we spoke, I ranted on about having way too many systems to choose from for us to game on. This time, I wanted to take a second and through up our thoughts on video game violence since that's become the big thing lately.

First off, I wrote a paper a few years ago, if I can ever find the files, I'll post a copy of it on here, but it was a long (10 page or so) paper, detailing out video game violence and some solutions to keep the sensitive kiddy eyes away from it.

Now into the discussion. As has been said in any article that isn't from a major news outlet, video game violence has NEVER been connected to real life violence. I recently read a story about a teenager in New Mexico who when nuts and killed his family. The kid talked about how he loved "violent" games. The article immediately said there was a correlation. However, there is no link that has been studied that connects playing hours of Call of Duty to murdering a bunch of real people. That being said, I can see a critics point of view that says these psychos play violent games all the time. Personally, I'd like to see a little bit more study into it. But, I'm also interested to see what an "official" definition of violent games would be. Would it be any first person shooter, even the ones that aren't rated for mature audiences? Would Street Fighter qualify on the same level as Mortal Kombat? Would 007 Legends be as terrible as Call of Duty? These are some questions that we need to consider when talking about these violent games.

I don't think that "violent" games, whatever that category falls under, need to be outlawed. I think that the ratings system needs to be enforced. There was talk a couple years ago of fines being issued to stores and individuals who sell Mature rated games to people who are underage. This is a great idea! This will help to keep the store clerks from allowing the players who are too young to buy the games themselves. Another point is to make sure that if the parent is buying the game for their kid (I work retail, you can often tell when this is happening) that they understand that the game is rated "M" for mature, (Or 16 and 18 if you live in the countries that use the PEGI system) then their child who is probably between twelve and fifteen shouldn't play the game. When that point gets reached, the parent should be held responsible for making sure that their child can understand the difference between reality and fantasy.

The ESRB is the ratings board for the USA. The ratings are very simple to understand, and I plan on breaking them down in just a bit for everyone. ESRB ratings are displayed on the front of every game case carried in your local stores. On the bottom left corner in a black and white box, there will be a giant solid black letter signifying what the game is rated. On the back of the cases, on the bottom right, is a description of why the game is rated what it is. If you think that your child can handle Blood and Gore, Violence, Strong Language, then buy it. If you think they can't, then you probably shouldn't. I've found an easy way to understand game ratings is to relate them to movie ratings. Now, a quick summary of the ESRB rating system compared against the MPAA system for rating movies. I'm using ESRB because living in the USA, that is the system I'm most familiar with.

"E" stands for Everyone 6 and up, stuff in this game can be related to what you would find in a "G" rated movie. Generally has nothing objectionable in it. Pokemon is an "E" rated game series.

"E10" stands for Everyone 10 and up,  similar to a "PG" rated movie, so still pretty much kid friendly, not really any kind of language or blood and guts, maybe a bit of action. LEGO Harry Potter falls under this category.

"T" stands for Teens 13 and up. This is your basic "PG-13" rating if it were a movie. Some blood, language, gun fire, maybe some partial nudity and light drug or alcohol use. May want to check this out before buying it for your child, just to be safe. The Uncharted Series are under this rating.

"M" stands for Mature players 17 and up. This is your "R" rated movie. A simple way to judge whether or not you would want your child playing this is to ask if you want them to watch an "R" rated movie. Blood and gore, violence, moderate to strong language, dismemberment, nudity, drug and alcohol use, or anything else goes with these. Parents should definitely do research before getting these for their kids. This would be your Call of Duty, Halo, and Assassin's Creed type games.

"AO" stands for Adults Only, 18 and up. Basically an "NC-17" movie. These games tend to only be available on the internet for computers. Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo do not allow them on their consoles. These are generally heavily involved with sex, and some extreme super violence that would make the Saw franchise look like Barney and Friends. These are pretty hard to come by, and pretty much impossible on a console game. I actually don't know any games rated AO. Shows you guys how rare they are.

So, there it is, plain as day for anyone who isn't already aware of what these ratings mean. If you are a regular reader of this blog, you probably already know all of this. Do all of us who are involved in the gaming world a favor, and make sure people are aware of these ratings. It's amazing how many people aren't. As I said towards the top of this post, the problem doesn't revolve around the content of the games, the problem is that parents need to make sure that their kids are playing things that are appropriate for their child's age. That's not to say that not following the system will screw up your kids, I played Perfect Dark when I was ten, but I was also well aware of what was reality and what wasn't. Share this article with someone who isn't familiar with game ratings. Education people! That's how we are going to keep games from turning into scapegoats! See you online!

An Opinion on Gaming Systems

I'm sitting here listening to music stream from my PS3 and a thought occurred. We are sitting on a very delicate situation for old, seasoned gamers such as those of us here at GWB, and a potentially very confusing situation for gamers freshly entering the market of buying their own systems. There are a surprising amount of consoles and handhelds that are on the market currently, or being developed to be released in the very near future. I'm gonna go into a little detail, but the TL-DR version, is to read into things and make knowledgeable purchases for your systems. Don't fall for gimmicks.

Back in the early to mid '90s there were a frightening number of gaming devices on the market. The NES, the SNES, the Genesis (1, 2, and 3), the SegaCD, the Sega Saturn, the 3do, the list goes on. The problem with these was over saturation, and lack of a defining super game for the systems save for Sega and Nintendo. We are seeing a similar situation developing now. The public is currently free to buy a Wii-U, Wii, PS3, 360, PSP, Vita, DS, and a 3DS. All of these systems are being supported. (The Wii and PSP not so much as they used to be really) This coming year, we are expecting to see the next Xbox, the PS4, the Ouya, the Steam Box, iPads and iPhones, and several handheld devices that are Android powered. This puts developers in a very difficult situation with deciding on what platforms to make games.

The Wii, DS, and PSP are all dying systems. The development of newer games has slowed drastically, though the systems still sell fairly well. The DS may have been dealt it's death blow by Nintendo's recent announcement Pokemon X and Y coming only to the 3DS with some awesome looking new graphical direction. The fact of the matter is, even with these systems on the way out, there's still an enormous amount of choices for the gamers of today to partake in.

I see a problem where a developer may look at a game and decide that they have the team to make it for all available platforms thus splintering a team into many small parts, each one needing separate managers to be able to keep track of all the information and reporting to the creative director who is going to have to make changes to each specific game based on the needs of each system. Hypothetically, if a developer were to take this approach, they would need to have at least seven different versions of their game. While each version would fundamentally be the same, they would all have to be coded differently, take different controls, and be coded to run properly within the limitations of each system. Conversely, if a developer decides to make games for one particular system, in the vein of a second party developer, they run a strong risk of limiting their earning potential.

Competition is a key factor in any kind of business, but with an industry like the video game industry, too much competition can be a poison. Each system needs to make sure that people have a reason to buy their system that is above and beyond what the competition has to offer. For example, PS3 has free online, access to Netflix, Hulu Plus, Amazon Instant Video, and several other video services. It also has a built in Blu-Ray player, which isn't as important now as it was a few years ago. The Xbox on the other hand offers a pay to play online service, but has many more video, music, and social services to offer if you do decide to pay. PS3 has many more exclusive games that come to it, but that is in part due to Sony outright owning twelve or so studios. Microsoft cannot keep up with the amount of exclusive games that Sony has, but it does offer a much better online experience.

Every system has their fanboys, but the fact of the matter is, without something to set all of these individual systems apart from the others, consumers are going to become confused and apathetic towards purchasing a new system. Another issue with that is that if nobody buys the hardware, the companies making the hardware will have a hard time staying afloat unless they have several other interests such as Microsoft and Windows, or Sony and TVs. 

I'm sitting in my chair right now surrounded by all kinds of technology. I have my PS3 running, my 360 is off, my Wii is in standby, my 3DS is on the charger, and so is my Android phone. Whenever I decide I'm going to purchase a game, I have to sit and think about what system I'm buying it for. Although, I generally don't buy games for my phone, I tend to stick to the free ones there. These kind of decisions are sometimes difficult because I have a different number of controllers for each system so I need to decide what system that I would prefer to play the (potential) multiplayer portion of each game on. I know that later on this year I'm going to probably have to make a choice as to buying the next PlayStation or the next Xbox. I still haven't managed to get enough cash around to get a Wii-U yet, but that's another system I want to get my hands on, which will give me another set of options on what system to buy the games for.

I'm not trying to be an alarmist. I do not think that the Android based handhelds, the Ouya, or the Steam Box will cause a lot of issue with consumers. The Steam Box will be bought by people who have a steam account, but are looking for some different ways to play their games. The Ouya will be bought by people looking for something cheap to be able to play games on their TVs. Finally, the Android based handhelds will come and go by the by due to the 3DS and the Vita. However, these things that as consumers we should all probably be aware of. Make sure you know your system before you buy it. Do some basic research on Google. Knowledge is power, and money is not an infinite resource for most of us. Just some things for everyone to think on. If you have any thoughts, please don't hesitate to comment below, I'd like to see what you guys think. See you online.