Looking back at the 7+ years that this generation of video-game titles have brought us, I can easily say that this one could possibly be the most memorable in my opinion. A lot of highly unique and original IPs, smash-hit blockbusters, faithful sequels...and of course, the occasional "merlnderl" fuck-ups. So where does THE INDUSTRY OF INTERACTIVE ENTERTAINMENT(R) go from here? With the upcoming PS4 and Next-box rearing their ugly heads, perhaps we get another wave of great ideas. That's beside the point of the blog, however. I've noticed, that with a lot of popular games that've released that there's some sort of competitive edge that has resurged since te popularity of online gaming rose. People besting their friends in multiplayer shooters, fighting games, etc. This isn't unusual of course. Wether you like it or not, the vocal majority likes playing games with friends.

Then we get to the people who play for the thrill...of dying. The enjoyment of being hurt or losing lives or starting over with next to nothing on their next life. These are the games that have, for some reason, resurged and met with the same reception. Could it possibly be, that, the next generation, that sadistic nature and rising patience that some gamers are beginning to adapt will return? Difficulty is scaling in all the right ways, and I honestly think that it's a good thing.



This game and it's predecessor has seemed to been the benchmark of all challenging Action-RPGs, and I agree with that title wholeheartedly. It does challenge right--instead of putting highly challenging enemies everywhere and forcing you to fight head on, the game Dark Souls forces you to use your head and your surroundings to defeat enemies. What's the best way to learn from your mistakes than a little trial-and-error, correct? You may think that, the game punishes you for dying for taking all of your souls, but the game in fact does the opposite. The game is adjusting you to stay on it's learning curve, and holding your hand to tell you that "This enemy? Oh, he's a pushover, kick his ass." or, "You're not gonna beat this guy. Don't fucking do it. Yes there're weapons over there. Don't." (See: The Valley of Drakes dragon.) While being seemingly open and directionless, it uses your pain and your deaths as a marker to make the right decisions, at the cost of one's patience and level of sadism. It truly is the core of a very challenging video game of this generation.

This is where I tell you that, "this game is nothing compared to Spelunky!"



I am taking this to the grave with me: Spelunky! is harder than Dark Souls. Spelunky! asks more from the player than Dark Souls. Spelunky! appears to have the trimmings and monotony of a regular platformer, but I can fucking guarantee you that first-timers die in the first cavern because they don't know what the fuck to do. Temptation is one the main attractions of Spelunky!'s challenge. "Should I get that totem?" or, "I should steal from this guy." and even, "GOTTA KEEP MINING!!!" are one of the multiple factors that get players destroyed. Temptation, greed, and speedy finishes. You're always on a clock in Spelunky! because there is an unkillable entity that will kill you if you don't get out of the cavern. There's jewels everywhere, and to keep yourself alive and stocked, you'll need loads of money to keep afloat amidst all of the enemies and traps. It's so bad that even the items can screw you over. Shoot a rope? Trigger a tiki and an arrow comes down and fucks you over. Throw an arrow and fuck up? It'll bite you back. The game demands you to think before you act, much like Dark Souls, but in a much more agressive and demanding way. Instead of holding your hand, Spelunky! grabs you by the ear and twists harder and harder until you do it right. But you'll never know you're doing it right because THE CAVERNS ARE RANDOM! The same place you were in earlier? Nope, it's a dark snake pit. Also for some reason the game decides to put UFOs in it.



Before I begin, I don't hate DmC. I've never played DmC. I have no personal feelings for, or against it. What I do know is that unlike previous titles, the game is much more easier than other installments. There has been a lot of negative reception to the game. Everyone knows this. Not because of the aesthetics, but for the fact that the game is easy. Devil May Cry has been known for extremely challenging action titles, so straying away from the norm to appeal to the vocal majority is a bad thing that crippled the game in terms of sales and user acclaim. Then we get to recent releases such as Metal Gear Rising Revengeance, a much much more harder title, we see people praising it's difficulty and learning curve. The whole widespread service of having an optional, aggressive difficulty filter has been getting more popular with Bioshock Infinite's 1999 mode, Metro: Last Light's Ranger mode, etc.DuckTales, an admittedly very very hard game, is seeing a return with an even harder difficulty! Not to mention the impending release of Bayonetta 2.

There's an audience for these games that are growing greatly, and if it goes into the next generation, we might see this rebirth of challenge a Again it's much more than having really challenging AI. If having challenging AI were the case, a lot of awful games with that would be regarded as great. (Looking at Battle-toads.) Regardless, the sadistic, patient audience/demographic seems like it's here to stay.

They just appeal to me with their sparkly figures and dynamite physiques. Ask me questions about it or something.

So. In short, Cliff Blizenski, creator of Jazz Jackrabbit and Gears of War (two games I love.), made a comment regarding a blog and it's relevancy. Now, you people know me: I'm a very snarky person who likes to make snarky comments. I made one in response to him, while not angry, yet very mellow in it's insulting approach.

Then, 1:30 AM approaches and for some reason he replies. As you can see, the 'irrelevancy' comment returns. You can see my responses to him. He then blocks me and continues his little tirade on trolls.

Criticism, no matter what facade, is still criticism. If you can't take it, stop performing your profession.

Or something.

I'm sleepy.

(DISCLAIMER: I have no concrete feelings on the Gameranx article mentioned one way or the other. I have a high respect for Cliff because he made some of my favorite titles. That being said, this was no way in support for or against any of the two parties. I just made a comment, and he replied, and blocked me. That was the entirety of the exchange. Again, Neutral as fuck.)

I'm writing this as I play more of a few old kart racers. Kart racers have been my bigger fancy of racing titles, because I love the arcade-y approach, skill 'balancing'. (I love rubber-band A.I.), and the overall charm of the games. Diddy Kong Racing, Crash Team Racing, MotorToon, Double Dash, and more recently ModNation Racers. Not just Kart Racers, it's more with any arcade influenced sports title, and man have we been getting quite a few! The return of NBA Jam and NFL Blitz, SSX, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater HD (which honestly isn't all that rewarding, but post patch it's a bit more tolerable.), Sonic and SEGA All-Stars Racing: Transformed, and among others. We're getting more praise and recognition from both the internet, community and journalism alike.

Then we get to the sports 'sims.' -- your Maddens, your 2Ks, your NHLs and all of that jazz. It seems that their relevance is really beginning to thin out. Not even the internet, just in the gaming environment in general. No more overzealous hypings of the next Madden or NCAA title, no 'pro' endorsements that are vocal like previous years. I've been noticing this decline, and it was around 2009 where we see Sports Sims becoming more pushed out the gaming cycle, if that makes any sense.

Is....this...a good thing?



I mean you people know me enough to know that I despise realism and authenticity in video-games. Games are meant to be unrealistic, in my eyes. So, you would think that having these games lose it's hype and recognition would be a good thing for me? Well, it is, but it's a bigger thing more than just losing a few sports sims. I'm speaking of the concept of 'realism' in video-games. Titles like ARMA, Battlefield, Heavy Rain, those off-beat fishing titles not made by SEGA that no one cares about--it feels as if last year was surprisingly mute of those types of titles. No 'photorealistic' environments or detailed facial expressions, no pitch-perfect simulation of weight and less shimmering. Though there was plenty of bloom. People sure love their bloom.

2012, for me, was more of a showing of it's style due to the massive variety of titles. These colorful, offbeat games that release prove to be successful for both the developer and publisher, whereas these multimillion feats of 'visual representations of real-life' tend to do sell a lot less, no matter how "good." (Spec-Ops: The Line.) or "bad." (Medal of Honor: Warfighterwarefieldvengance) they are made. Let's focus on Spec-Ops. While I haven't played it, I've heard very good things about the story and how vastly different the game is from other tried and true third person shooters. Though how it presented itself to the consumer miiiight have been the reason why it did extremely poorly in sales. Same with Warfighter, but that game was bad in general so disregard that.



So, why am I bringing this up? Isn't losing the realism a good thing? Well, popularity is a double edged sword when it comes to videogames. You're guaranteed sales, yes, but it will lead to an abundant oversaturation of titles and imitators. The ones that are different from the others get destroyed sales while, no matter how much praise it gets. Bulletstorm is a fine example. Now it's 2013, and we're gearing enough for another apocalyptic fall-o-geddon with Battlefield 4 and CoD /10/ leading the pack. We've already had a wonderful start of a variety of titles, good and bad releasing, so this could possibly be the year where 'realism' finally takes another backseat to variety? Possibly.

But could 'variety' fall into another trap as 'realism' has? Will Madden sales finally see stop enough for EA to rethink the genre? And what of the Skylanders series, as it's getting imitators such as Disney Infinity. Will we start seeing a synthesis of games and toys more and will that saturate the market? I mean, honestly, you know there will be people who would buy CoD toy guns if it means to use the gun in-game and the alloted perks with it. Perhaps that's what they're planning with Destiny! DO ALIENS EXIST?! DID GREEDO SHOOT FIRST?!



Maybe this is just nonsensical rambling and I'm worrying a bit too much.

Woo. First blog of 2013. Are you people excited? No. Why would you be? This isn't your post or anything, it's mine. A post that will most likely be full of immaturity and swearing, like I write with every other blog. But, I digress. I'm nearing the end of 2013, and I bought a few games that I thought were pretty rad enough to warrant talking about them. Not to mention, we're approaching that early blitz of videogames that I want a lot but fear going broke from buying them. God, the first three months are stressful. Then we reach that gap of nothing good coming out until August, then FALLOCAUST.

I got good vibes for 2013. Jet Set Radio 3? Maybe not. TimeSplitters HD? Ooh, probably! (By the way go sign that petition here )



I don't care if you don't own an Xbox 360 or a PS3. Anarchy Reigns/Max Anarchy is $29.99 and it is an absolute blast to play multiplayer on. Though this is Platinum Games first romp around in the multiplayer front, and there are some noticeable absences that make the game's multiplayer a bit of a stress to go through.(Lack of Region Filtering so that different people from different regions can be on the same playing field--I'm looking at you, two-bar Ai Rin and Baron players from Japan.--, no party system for easier friend invites, no kick system to get rid of the poor Region Filtering, you can't earn experience in Death Ball, no split-screen, etc.), but this is an excellent first approach. The roster is varied and all fun to use in their own merits. I'm personally prone to use Mathilda and Ai Rin myself because the electric attribute is rad. Also, Death Ball. If you have eight online friends, this mode is the best of the best. Again; it's $29.99. Cop this.



Yes, I'm going to be that guy, and proudly say that Playstation All-Stars is a damn fine game, regardless if it's a shameless clone of Super Smash Bros. Yes, there are more glaring issues with the game (Host Migration. I was going to say Drake/Kratos/Radec players, but Drake recently got nerfed so I'm okay with him now!), but this game is an absolute blast online. The entirety of the roster is varied and very very fun to use in it's own right, other than Evil Cole because fuck Evil Cole. I mean I swear to god, Evil Cole is the absolute worst and shame on you if you use him it takes no absolute skill to use Evil Cole. Buuut other than that? I'm excited for the DLC! (Still holding out for Raziel and Blasto as DLC.)



This is actually the first time I've played an Oddworld title that wasn't Abe's Odyssee, and I was pleased at how varied the gameplay was in Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath. The Shooting elements, while a tad bit annoying to migrate from platforming to shooting, is clean enough to get the baiting and trapping done, and the platforming is really great. I think the challenge of dispatching enemies one by one with the live ammo provided, while migrating with the game's piss poor stealth system, is really a bigger part of the challenge of the game. Also, I've grown a fancy to The Stranger's voice.

[b[Demos[/b]



Oh man, where do I begin with the Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time demo? I was very, very impressed with what this game did for me. It reminded me of the previous titles, and while it didn't do anything new, it did everything that made Sly Cooper, 'Sly', so very fun. The platforming, the minigames (HACKING MISSIONS!), the writing, the design of the levels, the style--it's all Sly. I have absolutely full, 100% faith in Sanzaru in making a proper return to Sly Cooper, and I am gladly giving them my $39.99 in this game. Not to mention, this is just another game to add to my Cross-play roster for whenever I buy a Vita. (Spoiler: I won't. Probably.) I mean, it's a Sony original IP. This shit won't sell. It'll be great. It won't sell because Sony in the marketing department is about as limp as a dildo.



I liked the demo. I hate Konami. Used purchase it is.

...

So, yeah. These are a few games I played in 2013. Looking forward to Feb. with Aliens and shit.

Holy shit, I think 2012 will be the first year in which I was utterly devoted into downloadable titles and new IPs. I was looking back at my recent purchases, and over $300-$400 in fundings was towards some really really fucking radical downloadable games. Oh, and I guess I walked outside to pick up a disc. I didn't enjoy that. You know actually, I think before I list a bunch of games that are utterly meaningless to you and your tastes because Journey is the hottest flavor of the year (even though that game is a fucking art gallery, but that's beside the point!), I want to say that I am really really impressed by both Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo making an effort to push retail titles to the downloadable front. I'm becoming extremely fucking lazy, so this helps me out and I can finally buy games with tits on the cover without being judged. I love especially Sony's Day-One digital initiative. Let's keep it up with more of that.

Also, it's 2012 and MS still hasn't made the jump to stop charging for online.



Shoot Many Robots were one of the first downloadable titles I've purchased, and since I have a fond love for the Metal Slug series, this represented everything I loved of the Metal Slug franchise all wrapped up in redneck shenannigans. Also, the soundtrack was one of the ways I got introduced to Disasterpeace, and instantly fell in love with his work. This OST was one of the first I've bought from the artist. Though, it's a shame that more people didn't support the title to keep it's online afloat. It's the perfect mixture of variety, challenge, and humour.



So, hey. This is a pretty good fighting game that came out this year. I mean, it's very pretty and very well animated. Gameplay works well too. I would go as far as to say that this is was the best fighter of the game, but I will have to decline because A) it was too barebones. Come on, it' 2012, having only eight characters and having plans for DLC and an improvement patch up in the air? Tragic. B) It does not justify it's 1200MSP/$15 asking price. I'm sorry. This was an impulse buy for me. I mean for god's sake the 360 version hasn't even gotten the patch in yet. Still, it isn't as cancerous as Persona 4 Arena's region locking, SFxT being an awful title, or VF5:FS being...well, VF.



THIS GAME IS FUCKING FABULOUS. I am a huge fan of JoJo, so when I heard the classic JJBA Capcom game was going to release, I flipped. Though a /bit/ high at the $20 mark, it's still a really fucking fun fighter I MEAN COME ON YOU CAN PLAY AS A GUY WHO CAN TURN PEOPLE INTO BABIES. It also inspired me to actually attempt to import the upcoming JJBA: All Star Battle and actually get back into reading the manga, which is still really fucking long and fabulous.

Also I think I want to run butter down Dio's chest, but that's just me.
(Road roller da.)


Mercenaries join the fight! Now, I normally really fucking hate MOBAs, but Awesomenauts has enough charm to it that warrants the $10 purchase. I mean, look at the fucking title! Not to mention the game is beautiful as shit, the gameplay and balancing (post-patch!) is perfect, and there's a frog alien rapper. Recently, after realizing that the 360 version will never be updated, I just went to get the PC version while it was on sale and I haven't looked back at all.

I main Derpl. Derpl all day.



Shooter of the Year.



This game reinvented the stealth genre in every way in form, second only to Dishonored. It does everything successfully. For a stealth title, this doesn't punish you for making slight mistakes in your stealth, yet it will slap your hand if you even attempt to strike and go the offensive route. Someone like The Ninja is not cut out for that. Hell, this might be the game that forced me to provoke me into buying a new HDTV!



I cannot even begin to say how much of an adventure and joyful experience this game is despite of it's nail bitingly hard difficulty. Harder than Dark Souls? Maybe. Though, it doesn't punish you for cheap shopkeeper or spider deaths: this is one of the few games that wants you to be absorbed in it's surroundings so that you can manipulate and win it. Every single step counts, every single jump matters, going for the totem is make or break, items are crucial to survival. At the end of the day, my first death was on my first spike trap, and I will never beat the ice stage.

God damn you, Spelunky. God. Damn. You.




Game. Of. The. Year.

Other Titles I liked in three to five words.
Dishonored--Excellent Stealth Title.
Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown--Great Fighting Game.
SSX--It's Very Complicated.
Syndicate--Wub wub wub Steampunk.
Borderlands 2--Great sequel.
Telltale Games' The Walking Dead--FEELS. SO MANY FEELS.
Ghost Recon: Future Soldier--An underratted third person shooter.
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive--It's Counter-Strike.
Asura's Wrath.--So fucking manly.