Super Street Fighter IV Review -- History Repeating?

Super Street Fighter IV has ushered in a new community of fighting game fans and continues to cater to us old schoolers. So why do I get the sneaking suspicion that we could be on the cusp of yet another fighting game flood?
Within the week of me writing this I’ve had the pleasure of: purchasing my first arcade joystick, arranging plans with friends to attend a fighting game tournament and review a long-time competitor in Tekken 6. Needless to say, I’m suffering from a frame counting overload. Imagine my surprise when I opened up a little envelop in my mailbox and out popped a shiny new copy of Super Street Fighter IV. Looking at my stack of growing games I rarely play, I noticed a dusty copy of the original Street Fighter IV which was released a year prior. My joy slowly waned as I questioned whether Capcom was repeating history and gouging its fans by flooding the fighting game market with sequels and spin-offs.

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Tekken 6 Review -- What Happened To Tekken?

Here lies Tekken 6. A fantastic fighting game that never wants you to play it online. EVER.
No matter how many times you adjust your collectible head gear and change outfits on your favorite polygonal fighter, it won’t bring back the one you love. For the past three iterations of the once illustrious 3D fighting Tekken franchise, the series has been balancing the art of evolving and correcting previous miscues. Where this current Street Fighter community had the ability to grow two-fold thanks to this new age of online play and console connectivity, Tekken fans will still yearn for an online system more sophisticated than the one found in this game. The biggest issue with Tekken 6 currently, isn’t so much the robust fighting system and the well-realized graphics engine, but how it presents these features to a varied audience of hardcore enthusiast and newcomers.

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The Social Network Review -- I Wanted To Hate It

Who knew the history of Facebook rested on the bathroom sandals of such a neurotic prick?

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Gaming Sensitive

Games as a means of exploiting the sensitive topics of pop culture and current events has never been the medium’s strongest suit. If Thrill Kill and RapeLay are the best we can do, then we are a far cry away from “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”. Six Days In Fallujah could have been one of few first-person shooters that ignited a discussion on the war in Iraq between gamers and the general public. This growing schism of what gamers want versus what gamers actually play seems to go hand in hand with how the culture has matured. Do we want our games to comment on our environment? Is the quality of a game a factor when the plot is meant to be the focal point? Where is the line between addressing matters in our culture that are topical and when do we cross that line into insensitivity?

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Red Dead Redemption -- Why Open World Narratives Fail

A game rich with architecture, dialog and distraction. Red Dead Redemption makes huge steps for open world games with narrative, but plays it safe with a bevy of sidequests and mulitplayer options that distracts more than it immerses.
Red Dead Redemption -- a very fortunate game with some unfortunate pieces. I feel like I’m destined to never complete an RPG or an open world game. I’m not sure if this should be seen as a review, because [by my standards] a true review comes from thoroughly exploring every aspect of a game. But times have changed. Red Dead Redemption and games of its massive budget-ilk are a fantastic example of how different games are in this generation in comparison to any preceding. A game rife with imagery and characters that bleed imagination and heavy influence from a time and genre the common gamer will not completely identify with. With as many inspiring answers as to what gaming is capable of today, I’m left asking more questions to the contrary. Why isn’t this an MMO? Do open-world games break a game’s narrative outline [no matter the quality]? And more importantly, why couldn’t I finish this incredible game?

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Resident Evil Afterlife: Review -- "Fans Of The Genre..."

 Even Milla's beautiful skin and limitless ammo could not save us from such a debacle of a film.

Striking cinematography, broad characters, Matrix-esque fight scenes supplied by a soundtrack weirder than a giant man carrying an ax-mallet, this is what the Resident Evil film franchise has been reduced to. I struggled with this review. Usually watching a movie I know in my heart and colon to be, at best, a junk food movie and at worst, cataract inducing -- its pretty cut and dry. The new Resident Evil movie hurts more than it helps videogame-to-movie adaptation gain some form of credulity. I avoid certain phrases in a lot in my game reviews and one of the contributing factors as to why scribbling these words [via keyboard] was more vexing was because I wanted to avoid the term, “Fans of the genre.”

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Duke Nukem Forever: Reverse Excitement

Image courtesy of Wired

I don’t normally write about the current events in gaming and when you’re done reading this you’ll probably understand why. The trials and tribulations of [at the time] 3D Realms’ Duke Nukem: Forever has stood as the secret handshake amongst most hardcore gamers and game journalists in-the-know. If you knew about the ill-fated 3D Realms 13-year development struggles of one game, then you were inducted into some sort of nerd ring where complaining about screen-tearing and boob physics are the norm. So, in short, I don’t get it.

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Games Of 2010 Owe Thanks To Modern Warfare 2

Because Modern Warfare 2's highly advertised release in 2009, game publishers pushed several titles to be released in 2010. Could this single act be responsible for changing how & when we consume games?

If ex-Infinity Ward employees troubled relationship with Activision bore any positive fruits, it would be the late 2009 gaming industry shake-up of Modern Warfare 2’s release. Regardless of how one feels about the quality of the product, Modern Warfare 2 may have had the largest impact on 2010’s gaming release schedule than was initially anticipated. Whether this actually helped or hurt the industry financially is a task I’ll leave to the number crunchers who produce the monthly NPDs. What I have noticed [and I’m sure you’ll correct me if I’m wrong] is that as a result of Modern Warfare 2’s release, this essentially front-loaded this year with game releases. In a way, because of one major game release, the industry was forced to realize how important the rest of the year is in regards to the gaming culture. Though this rising tide doesn’t lift all boats, could this be the start of larger game titles being spread evenly throughout a given year?

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Is This Good For The Company?

The Bob's Think That You Aren't Challenging Your Self Enough, Games Industry.

In an age where having an individual product isn’t enough, where building a brand through viral marketing via ‘synergized releases’ -- its easy to lose sight of what’s important. Did we need the insulting and insensitive advertising campaign circulating the release of Dante’s Inferno? When you ate Dominio’s pizza in the 90’s where you thinking, “You know, if I could avoid the Noid and eat pizza, life would be so close to completion.” Maybe the Doom movie should have been released straight to DVD, seeing as theater goers typically do not support video game movies starring men [Angelina Jolie & Milla Jovovich]. The point is, we have come far from the days of Ducktales and Aladdin. We exist in a time where seeing a broken cd on the sidewalk is common. Furthermore, seeing brands stretched and skewed to make a buck -- makes what you liked about said brand much more disposable.

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Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Review -- Success And Failure Of A Genre

Looking Awesome Comes At A Price Of Carrying Over 200 Pounds Of Ammo And A Wardrobe Totaling 1200 Pockets.

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