_{[Editor's Note: We're not just a (rad) news site -- we also publish opinions/editorials from our community & employees like this one, though be aware it may not jive with the opinions of Destructoid as a whole, or how our moms raised us. Want to post your own article in response? Publish it now on our community blogs.]}

During my 48 hour binge of Way of the Samurai 3, I ended up with only a few "roll credits" endings, against several "You suck at games/don't we have a cool death screen?" endings. My best involved self sacrifice and followed a specific stream of decisions and compromise through the branching storyline. A little sad, a little unfortunate, and the result of playing as a hero and a lifesaver within the context of the fictional world. I was told throughout that I was unique for a samurai, but I was also a good person for making the decisions that I had. Though there are several ways to reach a reasoned and rewarding ending, its clear to me that I played by the rules and gained exaltation among at least some of the people of Amana.

Then there was my last playthrough.

While I had started with every intention to be an obedient soldier of the ruling faction, something in me snapped. I didn't want this run around life. Delivering secret messages and quelling reasonable uprising of the disgruntled villagers. No sir. Not this time. The Ouka Clan had sent their portly leader to receive a secret message. Are you really risking the life of your leader to accept a clandestine letter from a shadowy sub figure of the ruling govern. With no guards? 

[Editor's Note: We're not just a (rad) news site -- we also publish opinions/editorials from our community & employees like this one, though be aware it may not jive with the opinions of Destructoid as a whole, or how our moms raised us. Want to post your own article in response? Publish it now on our community blogs.]

"If you prick us, do we not take 528 initial damage and an additional 406 damage over the next 30 seconds?" 

That's not how that quote goes obviously, but that's about what the concept of "bleeding" amounts to when you look at games. Game characters don't have actual blood, or a systematic need for a circulatory system.

By and large, the ability to live, the life force of a game character relies on the the filling and emptying of a meter, containing the totality of that character's will to live: HP, Hit Points, Life Bars, Stamina, Hearts. At worst, arguably, its a number that the player stays keenly aware of, watching and recalculating like a hawk to maintain one's grasp on this virtually mortal coil. At best, its an abstract and finite limit that responds to damage and healing in contextually appropriate ways. But even then, its still this linear, quantitative meter that rules our decision making at any given moment.

[It's time for another Monthly Musing -- the monthly community blog theme that provides readers with a chance to get their articles and discussions printed on the frontpage. -- CTZ] 

I never thought I'd meet Button Gwinett, the second signer of the Declaration of Independence. But, there he was, standing in the basement of the National Archives.

Or, at least the robot programmed to impersonate him for tours and historic posterity. He was no more than a witty sideshow for tourists and educators passing through DC to get a glimpse of our nation's history. However, in the Post-Apocalypse, Mr. Gwinett guards this founding document with a pair of terminal operated machine gun turrets. We had our work cutout for us, Sydney and I.

I had just met Sydney a few minutes prior, but our goal was the same: retrieve the Declaration of Independence and deliver it to Mr. Abraham Washington in Rivet City. I trusted her enough not to shoot me in the back before we found the document. She knew the secret path into the National Archives, and she handled a mean SMG. With all the Super Mutants and renegade robots though, we needed each other alive if we were going to turn a profit from this suicide mission.

[It's time for another Monthly Musing -- the monthly community blog theme that provides readers with a chance to get their articles and discussions printed on the frontpage. -- CTZ] 

While trying to come up with a good topic, I started in on making a bunch of different blogs. I started one about a Chrono Trigger sequel in my mind that never was and another about the Blues Brothers IP and car chases. I even thought about rehashing a blog article I wrote last year about a Star Trek idea. None of it really took form as a complete thought, and I've yet to throw my hat into the ring for this month's Musing.

However, I think I've been getting at one main idea with all these half starts. In all cases, each IP could benefit from a heaping serving of good old fashioned situational simulation and straight up, by the book, number crunching. While the payout isn't immediate to any investor, putting time into building a great simulation system could revolutionize our play experiences.

[It's time for another Monthly Musing -- the monthly community blog theme that provides readers with a chance to get their articles and discussions printed on the frontpage. Also, Happy Birthday, Tubatic!-- CTZ]  

Last year's hyped-up darling, Mirror's Edge, took a mild critical beating for its low cost cut-scenes, restricted play area and death riddled learning curve. Its shallow and arguably unfair fighting system brought much heat upon the game for failing to bring the "Shooter" along with this First Person runner gameplay. While most gamers considered it a negative, I think the enemy difficulty of the game suggested something that's very hard to swallow:

As an evil organization, the security forces of The City are the most effective and competent outfit in gaming. Every other minion horde could learn at least seven good lessons from The City's Finest.

[Editor's note: Tubatic talks about not talking in multiplayer games for his Playing With Others piece. -- CTZ]

I'm the guy that likes to play multiplayer without voice chat.

You know, its not that I don't like people. People are cool. I really do enjoy getting to know people in general. But for the most part, I don't want to participate in headset banter. In some circles, one might label me a jerk.

Don't get me wrong though. I'm not a complete tool. If I'm playing something that involves heavy strategy or tight verbal coordination, I'm throwing on the headset, no question. Call of Duty or Left 4 Dead would be a generally disastrous experience without voice chat. When strategy is necessary, I'm there with you. But, considering that necessity, I'll probably not be the guy you'll hear too often over the chat channel. 

[Editor's note: Tubatic wants everyone to STFUAJPG. -- CTZ]

Sometimes, you seriously need to STFUAJPG.

Things are different now that game news comes quicker than once a month or word of mouth. There are shows about videogames, by the hour updates to a multitude of big corporate and indy gameblogs and Web sites. Not to mention the multitude of discussions happening on any number of game forums. Along with rapid fire news, opinions and discussions on games -- they're flying acros the screen faster than the speed of forming an informed opinion. On any given day, the drama and venom of everyone's opinions can engross a significant chunk of your time and mindshare.

Meanwhile, you're not playing games. And isn't that what all this talk is about in the first place?

The FEAR? Its a fear of becoming so critically minded that we critique ourselves out of the pure wonder and enjoyment of playing games that we afforded ourselves as younger or otherwise less tethered gamers. 

[Editor's note: Tubatic takes a look at the Mega Man series and tells us how he would improve it as part of May's Monthly Musings theme. Adding Ikaruga to just about anything would make it ten times more awesome. -- CTZ] 

I love the Mega Man games, for pretty much all the reasons anyone could love Mega Man. The flow of gameplay, the higher difficulty, the style of it, the ridiculous and sometimes even heartfelt stories (see: Mega Man X). 

That said, lets talk about changing some things, using the core Mega Man series as a base model. Hit the jump to see how I would change this series.