Naughty Bear Review -- F**king Terrible

By the time you read this, Naughty Bear will have been released and several games that are more enjoyable should have followed. Created by a company called A2M [hold your sophomoric quips, its short for Artificial Mind and Movement] and published by 505 Studios -- Naughty Bear adds further fuel to the argument of how games are valued. A game with this few environments and [im]mature tone would have easily fared better as a downloadible title. Naughty Bear is trapped between being a childish murder-simulator and tepid action-adventure game. Though this romp won’t be on many game of the year lists [not in my imagination at least], it sure in the running for my personal “worst of...” by year’s end.

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BlazBlue: Continuum Shift -- Fighting For A Chance

It's not that Calamity Trigger wasn't an aweomely weird game, but that Continuum Shift is so much more awesome and weird.

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Video: Kinect's Joy Ride Fail

By now this video clip has circulated your favorite popular blogging sites and has garnered almost a half a million views as of me posting this entry. I want you to think about a couple things going on in this video. Kinect has been picked [in an odd sort of manner] for being this holiday season's high-tech Furby or Tickle Me Elmo toy. Much like political campaign strategies, advertising dollars control the masses. There were talks of having this Microsoft branded device in your living room being able to give you some form of a Minority Report experience. I'm guessing the video below will suffice as a lofty pipe dream being made into a kind of reality.

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Commercial Break: Possibly The Best Trailer For The Best Video Game Ever!

Finally, a trailer that has surpassed the immutable Executive Vice President Cat trailer. I'm glad to live in a world that you can play a game in Japan that has a table throwing peripheral. Hokkaido feel my wrath! Think about it, you too can be living the dream of throwing a table at a cafe, fancy restaurant, farmer's market, executive office, a doctor's office, Steven Siegal's house, and many more. Live the dream baby...live the damn dream. 

BioShock Review -- Late Is The New Early

BioShock could be one of the classiest games I have ever played, but I'm still unsure of what the future holds for the franchise.
This past Halloween I decided to invest in a bottle of blended wine and a game that had mounds of dust collected upon it, BioShock. I had always wanted to play it and had it not for broad plot points being spoiled and over-hyped fanboys echoing the zeitgeist, I would have taken on this epic much sooner. Be that as it may, this is my tale and it has taken me almost two weeks to formulate some form of a coherent opinion. I really liked BioShock [add me to the list]. From the Ayn Rand references to the allusions of governments past and present, BioShock is one of few games I’ve played where I finally understood the need for this current generation of consoles. The experience(s) found in BioShock instill a benchmark that is rarely pushed. A game that points out the foibles of man may have unintentionally pointed out the missteps of its own genre.

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Quantum Theory Review -- This Game Hates You

Gun fists, tribal tattooed scars and be-jugged armor -- what went wrong with Quantum Theory?
I remember seeing Dave Chappelle on James Lipton’s “Inside The Actor’s Studio” and I remember something he said about learning about how comedy works. “I’d go on weekends to see how jokes worked and how people reacted, then I’d go on Tuesday nights to see what's wrong with these people [comedians].” Chappelle said. Quantum Theory is a game I’d liken to a comedian bombing on a Tuesday night. There were plenty of warnings prior to me playing Quantum Theory as to what kind of bland hell I’d nominated my week to. The trailers shown at trade shows were a sad joke muttered on plenty of game industry podcasts. Tecmo Koei’s Quantum Theory is a game that poorly steals from Gears of War and lends credence to many fears for the direction of Japanese game design. But hey, at least a great drinking game came from it.

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Commercial Break: Creepy Mario Is Creepy

Mario As Terribly Drawn Deviant Art

I don't know what possesses me to do these little photochops when I get off of work, but here we are. The at1up guys are having a little Creepy Mario fun. You should go check it out here.

I got two more after the jump.

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Are You The Character Or Are You God?

When consuming any media, our brains decide how much of our personality is invested. In games, chances are you are either the master or a slave to the narrative.
I’ve been watching how I play games as of late. Like a lot of you I have a 9-to-5 job and personally, nothing makes a better pixellated punching bag than a soon to be sniped skull in a round of Bad Company 2 or Team Fortress 2 multiplayer mayhem. This week I decided to buck that trend and play BioShock for the first time. Saving the review of the game for a later date, I’m noticing a stark difference in how I’ve consciously decided to play the game. Not only this, but the role I’ve decided to play in games differs from RPGs, RTSs and so forth. With this small revelation, I look at other media I consume and how it effects me. I look at the quality of games and debate whether I’m making the game fun or otherwise. Maybe you’ve noticed something strange in how you play games as well?

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Justifying Your Purchase

How many of us buy with the hopes of a long future with our toys, only to be stuck holding the Super Scope 6? [Sorry, the Nintendo Scope 6 for our foreign readers]

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Then And Now: Feelings On The Fighting Game Genre

Fighting games are back! Or are they? Moreover, should I be nervous that less-than-stellar clones are not to far behind?

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