Month: May 2010

The Games of E3, In List Form

E3 2010As we talked about in our stupendously awesome podcast the other day, next month marks one of my favorite gaming times of the year: E3. It has seriously always been my goal to attend this one day, even if it suddenly turns lame and un-fun. PAX is as close as I’ve gotten to an event of this magnitude regarding video games, so hopefully one day I’ll be able to see the sacred halls of E3 as well.

E3 2010 promises to be a big year for the expo, what with all the Natal and Move stuff that Sony and Microsoft will no doubt be showing. It also makes you wonder if Nintendo’s packing something up its sleeve to prove that it is the dominant and forward thinker that it seems to be in terms of what the masses want this generation.

Honestly, I can’t wait to see what unfolds, which is why I’m superbly giddy about this awesome list of E3 games that IGN posted. There will be an unbelievable amount of games on display, though it seems that folks like Nintendo are being coy about what they’ll be showing off. Meanwhile, Sony’s bringing more games than I realized they would be. And no doubt Microsoft is hiding a few up its sleeve as well. I’m also noticing Valve’s absence…

Anyway, hit the jump to see the full list.
Continue reading The Games of E3, In List Form

Warhammer 40,000 MMO to be Announced at E3

WH40KIt’s kind of inevitable that, at some point, all the MMOs in the world will finally join servers and hook into their players to form giant living batteries to power their machines of war as they trundle across the Earth, destroying the last holdouts of the human race. Until that happens, we get to play all the neat titles that are coming out from this ever expanding genre.

World of Warcraft has a firm and irreversible death grip on the market, there’s no denying that. When your player base produces enough capital to surpass the gross national product of a small nation, it’s pretty much a given that you’re on easy street. Where other MMOs need to strike their claim is the territories that WoW hasn’t expanded into yet. The most recent example of this is Star Trek Online, which had boring ground combat but apparently had some of the best space battles in a game so far. It won players based on that merit alone, so I’m interested to see what the 40K universe can produce.

For those of you who are maybe unfamiliar with this particular franchise, Warhammer 40K is a futuristic tabletop miniatures game with several races, all of whom can find some reason to fight each other. The game is well known for both its dark and gritty tone and its ever evolving design. I’ve been in and out of that particular scene for a while, mostly because of the prohibitive price, but I can see myself playing the MMO.

What about you guys? Does this interest you, or are still against MMOs? Are you holding out for Star Wars: The Old Republic?

Source: Kotaku

New Dragon Age DLC Lets You Command Darkspawn

Darkspawn ChroniclesLast year, Dragon Age Origins stood out to me as one of the better RPG experiences I’ve had this gen. Even though there were parts of it that frustrated me, overall it was a really solid game that created a rich world with a vibrant history. It was everything I want from a fantasy game. Of course, now that I’ve played Mass Effect 2, I know that there are even better things to come, but the game still deserves its due.

So imagine my delight when I saw that even more DLC is coming to the Bioware RPG in the form of something we haven’t quite seen before. The new DLC, Darkspawn Chronicles, let’s you play as the Darkspawn vanguard attacking Denerim at the end of the game proper. It lets you explore an alternate history, one where the Grey Warden is killed and you get to see (and play) what happens when the bad guys win.

I think that has to be some of the more unique DLC that I’ve heard of so far. While I haven’t played Awakening yet, this seems like something that is also worthy of a purchase, especially at only 5 big ones. So what do you guys think of this idea? Should more games dabble in alternate history and endings via DLC?

Source- Bioware

The GamerSushi Show, Ep 1: Very Important Conference Call!

PodcastThe other day Mitch made a post asking for topics of discussion about a super secret feature that he totally couldn’t tell you about. Well, that topic was actually regarding something we’ve been talking about doing for about six months amongst ourselves, and we finally put it together this week: a GamerSushi podcast.

The GamerSushi Show will hopefully be a recurring feature that takes place every 2-3 weeks, depending on our schedules. In the future, we want to talk about gaming stories, topics that you guys submit and reflect on cool discussions that have happened here on the site. We’re pretty excited about this, to say the least. We’re all in love with the cool community we’ve got growing here, so this is one of the many new steps we’re in the process of taking to help enhance and grow it in good ways.

Anyway, take the time and listen to us all ramble, nerd-style, about the video games we love and the things that interest us about them. It’s a fairly long first take at a podcast, clocking in at about 52 minutes or so, but I think it turned out alright for our first go at it. These things are tricky business, especially since we are all in different places and recording it via Skype, and I’m excited about how it’ll get better over time. Continue reading The GamerSushi Show, Ep 1: Very Important Conference Call!

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Great Moments in Video Game Music: Uncharted 2 – Drake’s Theme

Time for another awesome song that I think you guys will like. Just to clarify, I am trying to pick songs that are good regardless of whether or not you have played the game.

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves was one of the most critically acclaimed games of all time and amid all the praise, the music is one aspect that really drew me into the game. Featuring a score akin to that of something by John Williams, this is the main theme of the game and one of my favorites.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkPF5UiDi4g[/youtube]

Defend the House is Back With Halo: Reach Betabusters

Well, we did warn you about the incoming slew of Reach related posts, but I think we can be forgiven for putting up the newest video by Defend the House, the dedicated group behind Halo 3 Mythbusters and Modern Warfare 2 Mythbusters. This time around they’ve turned their sights on the Halo Reach Beta, exposing a few things about the gameplay in the Beta that you might not have known about. Have a watch.

Pretty neat, don’t you think? Did you guys find out anything useful that you can apply to your gameplay? What do you think of the Beta so far? And where are my friend requests?

GamerSushi Asks: Would You Rather?

The summer drought of gaming is upon us. Naturally, this means it’s time for another “Would You Rather” feature, since gaming news has pretty much slowed to a crawl unless it’s related to the Halo: Reach Beta. So, it’s time for some more getting-to-know-you type features.

In Would You Rather, I simply ask a series of questions, and you follow up with your answers. Give as much or as little explanation as you want for your choices, but we all know that we like to see the reasoning behind the madness.

Don’t let your answers suck, though. We will judge you harshly. Like, we might call you bad names and stuff.

Continue reading GamerSushi Asks: Would You Rather?

Halo: Reach Beta Role Call

Halo Reach BetaI’m going to go ahead and apologize to you non-Haloites in advance. Over the next few weeks, we will no doubt have quite a few Halo: Reach stories up and running, since the beta is kicking in full effect tomorrow. While I am no doubt excited, I am trying to quell my Halo fanboy-ism so that I don’t annoy you all to death with it. But patience and forgiveness will be required, brothers.

What’s crazy is I remember playing the Halo 3 beta years ago, and how excited I was to play it then. I booted up my 360 to start the beta downloading first thing in the morning… and then my 360 red ringed on me. Maybe one of the worst things to happen to me in my adult life. It was horrible. Then my bud Daniel let me borrow his 360 for the beta… only I had left the Crackdown disc in the red ringed 360 which got shipped to MS. It was not a very good month for me.

Anyway, I wanted to take this opportunity to post and figure out which of you guys would be joining me and fellow GS writer Mitch in the ensuing 3 week Halo: Reach Beta madness. Post your gamertags here and feel free to send us invites (Pwnocchio and Lubeius). Let me know you’re from GS when you do so!

I’ve got my ODST disc waiting. Super pumped.

GamerSushi Asks: Giving Up On Games?

DarksidersIn the past, I’ve been foolishly devoted to games at some points. I’m the guy that used to play the JRPGs, even when I couldn’t stand them, all the way to the end. There’s something to me about giving the game the benefit of the doubt, and giving it a chance to unfold a little bit. If I hadn’t done that, there would have been plenty of games I would have missed out on.

Unfortunately, I don’t have the time to do that kind of thing as much anymore. Games have to get my attention fairly early on in order for me stick them out, unless they’re known to be pretty short. This is why I stuck out Splinter Cell: Conviction even though I wasn’t thrilled through it. Tonight I played Darksiders. I’ve heard a few good things about it, so I thought I would give it the trial run earlier. Much to my surprise though, a few minutes in, I caught a game breaking glitch and couldn’t play it anymore. I immediately put it back in the GameFly envelope and lost interest.

This is kind of odd for me as I’ve never given up on a game that quickly. It felt rash at the time, but now I’m glad I did it, as it frees up time for me to play the Halo: Reach Beta on Monday. What’s funny is that I can’t remember the last time I’ve done something like that. I think the most recent game was Red Faction. It made me wonder about you guys, and what’s the fastest time for you to have given up on a game? Go!

Call of Duty: Black Ops is So Secret, the Trailer Says Nothing

I try not to be too snarky and leave most of the editorial out of news posts on this site when I can, but sometimes the hype machine around videogames drives me to new lengths I never thought possible before.

Take this Call of Duty: Black Ops trailer, for instance, which has been hyped all week long and is currently taking over the front page of Gametrailers. It pretty much tells you nothing. While I’m generally not a fan of teaser trailers for video games (why do I care about a game trailer with no gameplay), this one is even worse than most. I get it. Fast cuts means excitement. But it’s nice to see what’s going on every now and then.

I dunno, am I being an old fart about this? Slow down your videos, you crazy kids!

Bee tee dub, this game is by Treyarch. I know that’s going to make people go loopy in the comments, so have fun.