Month: December 2010

The 2010 Sushis: A Year Honored and Belittled

If everyone else gets to make “Best of the Year” lists, then by golly, so do we. Only, instead of the trite awards that every other site dishes out, we try to be a bit more creative with our end of year awards, bestowing unique honors that bring both shame and glory. That’s right: it’s time again for the annual Sushi Awards.

For those with a keen memory (or that know how to use our search bar), you’ll recall that we did this for 2009 and 2008 as well, so feel free to go over those to remember how awesome those years were, prior to this one.

As with those previous entries, keep in mind that the Sushi awards represent our goofy and snarky take on the year in gaming, for better or worse, chosen by the GS dudes. A proper “best of” top 10 list is coming next week. But for now, enjoy these custom awards and tell us what you think!

Enjoy!

Continue reading The 2010 Sushis: A Year Honored and Belittled

CNN Ranks Their Top Games of 2010

cnn top games of 2010

Like everyone and their dog, “Best of” lists are coming fast and furious as publications set about to rank and rate the various entertainment properties that 2010 has bestowed upon us. While we’re certainly no exception (keep your peepers peeled folks), we’re a little below the notoriety level of say, CNN. Like Time Magazine, they’ve put out a list of their favorite games of 2010, headed off by Heavy Rain.

Unlike Time Magazine, however, Alan Wake is nowhere to be found and Mass Effect 2 ranks sufficiently higher. This list makes a bit more sense to my ingrained gamer traditionalism, but I’m just one man with an opinion. Take a look at the list after the jump: Continue reading CNN Ranks Their Top Games of 2010

GamerSushi Asks: Resurgent Games

Halo: Reach

I’m sure it’s happened to all of us: we beat a game, put the disc back in the box and set it back on our shelf, sure that it’s going to gather dust or end up as trade in fodder at GameStop. Yet something stops us from trading it in, and a while later, be it a few weeks or even a couple months, that game is back in your console or on Steam, once again sucking up your time.

Lately for me this game has been Halo: Reach. I started playing it on a whim about a week ago, and I’ve ranked a couple of times and have been investing more now in the Theater mode than ever before. I’ve even come to appreciate the Challenge system more, even after whining about it when I was stuck in the Warrant Officer hump a few months ago.

Has this phenomenon ever happened to you, and for which game? Go!

One Man Versus the Super Mario Galaxy Soundtrack

I have made plenty of snarky remarks in the past about the nature of the Internet and how it gravitates towards certain viral videos. One of the trends that I dislike is the way everyone clamors over every single cover of the original Super Mario Bros. theme. It’s completely lost any magic it once had for me.

However, this is something different. This is one dude (Diwa de Leon) covering a medley of Super Mario Galaxy’s excellent original score. Yes, he voices/plays all the instruments himself. And yes, I’m impressed. You should be, too.

Ranking the Best Co-Op Video Games

Left 4 Dead co-op

If there’s one thing that we’re crazy about here at GamerSushi, it’s the wonder of co-op gaming. I’m surprised you guys aren’t sick of hearing about me always talk about how much I love playing games with other people. I don’t know if co-op’s just that fun or if I’m just that sad and lonely, but either way, I want to marry it.

UGO recently added a new list to their site about the 25 Best Co-Op Games of all time, and it’s interesting as a study of the wide variety of co-op games we’ve seen over gaming history. Really, the NES, Sega Genesis and SNES days had a lot more co-op gaming than I gave them credit for, which makes a lot of sense considering how much my friends and I used to play together. Toe Jam and Earl is one the list reminded me of that I hadn’t considered in a long time.

It’s actually pretty difficult to quantify my favorite co-op experiences of all time. There’s so many to choose from. For this gen it would be Resident Evil 5 (no jokes, wise guys), Guardian of Light, Crackdown and Left 4 Dead.

What about you guys? What do you think of this list? I know we’ve asked this before, but what are your favorite co-op games you’ve ever played?

Source – UGO

Merry Christmas, Fools!

Christmas

Or whatever other thing you celebrate. But today’s Christmas. So as such, I wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, you animals. I hope this post finds all of you doing some gaming, enjoying families, being Christmas-y in general.

I’ve had family in town for the last week, but was finally able to get back to the gaming yesterday, when I beat Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood. I also ran over to Gamestop and picked up Lost Odyssey and Prince of Persia: Forgotten Sands, both of which were only around $20 bucks apiece. Apparently they started a deal the day after, where if you buy two used games, you get one free – so make good on that and get yourself some extra Christmas bonuses.

Anyway, how have your holidays been? What are you playing? What was your loot? Post it!

Call of Duty Looks Strange in Real Life

How’s your lead-up to the holidays going, GamerSushi-ans? I hope that you’ve bought all the presents you need because things get a little crazy out there come tomorrow. Anyways, the staff here is taking a little break as Eddy mentioned, but I thought that I would pop in and give you a little gift in the form of a new Freddie Wong video, who in the past has explored gaming conventions like how aimbot would work in real life. This time, he’s poking fun at Call of Duty, similar to his Time Crisis spoof but without the guy from Spartacus. Watch and enjoy:

LittleBigPlanet 2 Beta Beats Capcom to the Punch

It’s kind of hard not to be amazed by what people are capable of. LittleBigPlanet 2 is still only in beta and yet more and more amazing videos keep coming out. Take this newest video for instance, which recreates Marvel vs. Capcom 3, managing to edge Capcom’s release date by a few months.

The dynamic camera movements are a nice new feature, as is the obviously over-dramatic voice recorded to announce the fight’s beginning. What really impressed me were the special moves that were on display, such as a missile and bomb projectiles. Also, a demo for LBP 2 will hit the PSN Store tomorrow and while it likely will just be a Story mode-based demo without any of the building tools, I am still anxious to get my grubby hands on it.

[youtube width=”500″ height=”310″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-AdUZeuxYc&feature=player_embedded#![/youtube]

What do you think? What games are you looking to make using this handy new dev kit? I would love to see some RPGs, myself. Is anyone going to download the demo tomorrow? Speak!

The GamerSushi Show, Ep 14: The 2010 Recap

Mass Effect 3As promised, here’s yet another edition of the GamerSushi Show, 3 weeks in a row! Seriously, you should be impressed with us, because I am. And I am not easily impressed.

Anyway, I actually didn’t make it to this podcast as I had family in town, but the other dudes are more than capable and ended up having a great discussion on the year 2010 in review. There’s a big discussion about the VGAs, the biggest disappointments of 2010, as well as its biggest surprises. Naturally, since I’m not there, it probably means it was maybe the greatest podcast ever of all time, so please listen to it and tell everyone how much better it is without me.

There probably won’t be a podcast next week because of Christmas, so don’t hold your breath. We’ll let you guys know if it’s coming or not, it just depends. In the mean time, check out this podcast and enjoy its gaming goodness.

And, as always, please go rate this cast on iTunes and subscribe with the handy links to the right. Enjoy! Continue reading The GamerSushi Show, Ep 14: The 2010 Recap

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Bungie Serves Up Crazy Halo: Reach Stats

As a gaming nerd, I’m a big fan of statistics (though not nearly as much as Eddy), so looking at the accumulated kills of Grunts in Halo: Reach is a nice Christmas present from the folks at Bungie. Ever since Halo: Reach dropped back on September 14, the Noble Sixes of the world have been investing a lot of time in the sci-fi shooter, spending about twenty-four thousand years in game and earning nine hundred trillion credits in the process.

Of course, reading stats dry off a page is kind of boring, which is why Bungie whipped up a handy infographic detailing the genocidal, time-wasting nature of Halo players. I’ve posted the whole thing after the jump, so go take a look!

Continue reading Bungie Serves Up Crazy Halo: Reach Stats

Ruling the Open Gaming World

Fable 3

Howdy, gents. I hope that this post finds all of you starting the holiday gaming extravaganza that this time of year is typically known for. As I said, we’re mostly taking it easy for the next couple of weeks, but because I like you all, I thought I’d share a post with you that I found.

Over at the Moving Pixels blog at Pop Matters (one of my favorite gaming blogs), a recent article goes over the idea of owning the open world in single player sandbox games. Taking a look at new games Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood, Fallout: New Vegas and Fable III, they study the recent trend in game design that pushes players to control major portions of real estate and owning/converting as much of the game world as possible. It’s interesting to think about the idea that in many of these games, the players tend to want to set the main storyline aside in favor of getting invested in the world itself, which I guess is the case with many RPG’s as well, even apart from owning land.

I think this gets to another interesting issue as well: does this mean that the stories in those games aren’t actually all that compelling? If we are willing to set them aside to do everything else but the stories, is there a problem with the design there? In addition, most of these games almost seem to require a fair amount of exploration and sidequest upgrading in order to stand a fair chance in the proper endgames.

So what do you guys think? Do you tend to set aside single player campaigns in favor of sidequests? Do you like the idea of controlling game worlds, or do you just focus on the stories when you play? Go!

Source – Pop Matters

Battlefield: Bad Company 2: Vietnam Trailer is a Fortunate Son

I’ve made no secret about my love for Battlefield: Bad Company 2, and on more than one occasion I’ve referred to the multiplayer as the best I’ve ever played. How fortunate for me, then, that after months and months of free maps (hey, most weren’t that great, but they didn’t cost me a dime), Battlefield: Bad Company 2 is a getting a full-fledged expansion with Vietnam. Since I’m a total sucker for anything CCR, this trailer is right up my alley, and maybe it will be for you too.

Apparently this multiplayer add-on is blowing critics out of the water because IGN gave it a 9.5. PC players are getting access to Vietnam on Saturday, three days in advance of the console players. I’m picking this up for sure, but what about you guys? Are you going to run through the jungle?

GamerSushi Asks: What Are You Playing?

X Men

You’ve probably noticed a bit of a slow down on the site, and that’s mostly intentional. Since the holidays are rolling in with a vengeance, we’ll still be posting but there will be a tad bit of down time as we take a break and recharge for 2011. There should be a podcast posted in the next couple of days, and maybe a couple of features and news posts as we see them, but overall we’re going to be playing lots of games just like you guys. It’s been a pretty awesome year for us here at the ‘Sushi, and we’re looking forward to next year even more.

So, now that that’s out of the way, what are you guys playing? Right now, I’m working on Dead Rising 2 like a crazy person. I beat the game last weekend and now I’m just rolling through and trying to level up and pick up some extra achievements. In addition to that, I’m on the cusp of finishing Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood (affectionately known as AssBro by Mitch). I’ve even been playing the re-released X-Men arcade game over XBL with Anthony, which has been a good time. I can’t wait to get some more gaming out of the way.

And you dudes? What are you guys playing?

PS3 Version of Mass Effect 2 Uses Mass Effect 3 Engine

Mass Effect 2 Logo

You have to love Bioware. Since PS3 owners can’t experience the joy of the original Mass Effect, thanks to it having been published by Microsoft, Bioware is going all out to make things right with the PS3 release of Mass Effect 2. First, there’s the 15 minute interactive comic that starts out the game, catching players up on what happened while allowing them to make critical choices themselves, which will of course carry over into Mass Effect 2.

But now, with the news that Mass Effect 2 for the PS3 is actually using the engine for Mass Effect 3, resulting in better graphics, it’s just too much. Bioware could have done the quick and dirty port that so many others have done, but they are really going out of their way to craft a quality product and I have to admire them for that. Personally, it doesn’t matter to me because I will be playing Mass Effect 3 on the 360, but it matters to all those PS3 owners who have to create their own adventure with Shepherd.

What do you think about this? Should more companies be like Bioware or are they just wasting their time and money with needless features and gimmicks?

Source: 1UP

Rooster Teeth’s Immersion is Back With Side Scroller

I’ve always enjoyed the stuff Rooster Teeth has put out, and their new series Immersion is probably my favorite of the bunch. While I don’t like their machinima as much as a certain series by a different team (raise, please), Rooster Teeth makes an effort to stay fresh and reinvent themselves. In this week’s episode of Immersion, the RT team test how well someone can perform on an obstacle course in 2D vision in the vein of Super Mario Bros.

What did you guys think of this weeks episode?

The Video Games of 2011 So Far

Dead Space 2

I’m just going to go ahead and get this out of the way now.

2010 isn’t even over yet, and already I am kind of freaking out about the kind of year 2011 has in store for us. We’ve been saying it a lot over the last few weeks, and you’ll just have to bear with us, because we’ll be saying it a lot over the next few months as well: 2011 is going to be a tornado of gaming. It will be so crazy you may slap a bear in the face. And trust me, that’s crazy.

I promise we’ll try not to talk about Uncharted 3, Mass Effect 3 and Portal 2 too much. But it’ll be difficult. So, in an effort not to overdo the hype and the excitement, I feel like it’s best to just have an official topic dedicated to the list of 2011 games. Kotaku recently posted the entire thing, and it’s even crazier when you see it all together.

Hit the jump to see the full thing!
Continue reading The Video Games of 2011 So Far

Uncharted 3 Gameplay is on Fire

After the surprise pre-VGA announcement of Uncharted 3, followed by the delicious teaser trailer confirming a release date of November 1, 2011, what will Nathan Drake do next? How about a gameplay demo on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon? Would that be something that would interest you?

Naughty Dog and Sony are really pulling out all the stops this time around. Now that they have a known quantity on their hands, they seem intent on spreading the word, which is kind of nice to see from the usually subtle and esoteric Sony. The gameplay footage, by the way, is pretty spectacular with gorgeous fire effects and pretty nifty hand to hand combat, including a dive from a high perch to crush a bad guy below. Check it out and tell us what you think!

Time’s Top 10 Games of 2010 Hails Alan Wake

time top ten games 2010Hot off of Eddy’s post about a list (we told you they were coming), I bring to you Time Magazine’s Top 10 games of 2010. Personally, I feel that the list is kind of strange, but I thought I would put it up here to see what kind of reaction you guys have to it. The first thing that I noticed about the list is that Alan Wake, Microsoft’s Lovecraftian exclusive, comes in at number one, beating out other luminaries like Red Dead Redemption and Halo: Reach.

The number two game on the list, something that I’m sure will make Jeff happy, is Rovio’s mobile sensation Angry Birds. On a traditional “game of the year” list, throwing something like Angry Birds on there still looks strange to me, even though I personally love the game. Instead of running through the list one by one, though, I’ll post it for you fellas after the jump. Continue reading Time’s Top 10 Games of 2010 Hails Alan Wake

GamerSushi Asks: Biggest Let Downs of 2010?

Final Fantasy 14

As the end of the year draws nigh, it’s only natural that every site in the world is going to come up with a series of “Best Of” lists regarding the nearly late but still great 2010. We try to vary things up around here when we can, but since there’s no news, you’ll probably be getting a few of these lists as we find them, because hey, we like to post. Sort of.

Anyway, Gamasutra has been doing a series of lists about 2010 in review, including this new one I enjoyed where they covered the year’s Top 5 Disappointments. The list covers everything from the giant cluster that was the Final Fantasy XIV launch through the removal of the Taliban in Medal of Honor. I suppose it could also be called the biggest fails of 2010, but hey, it’s their list. I think if I’m going over my list of disappointments, it would include Little Big Planet 2 getting moved to next year, and Microsoft’s focus on Kinect at E3.

So what about you guys? What were your top disappointments of 2010?

Source – Gamasutra

Poll: Favorite Announcement of VGA’s?

Well, the 2010 Spike Video Game Awards have come and they have gone, leaving us slightly more forgiving of the show’s shortcomings this year, thanks to the plethora of awesome reveals dumped on us. Honestly, I was expecting something pretty cool, but what we got was beyond awesome.

Which leads to our poll. Vote for the announcement that got you most excited and let us know why. Personally, confirmation of Mass Effect 3 being released this year coupled with Elder Scrolls V and seeing just a snippet of gameplay of Uncharted 3 was my favorite part. I know, I picked 3 things, sue me, it’s my post. Also, did you like the trailers we saw or would you prefer more gameplay? Vote now!

Most Exciting Announcement of the 2010 VGA's?

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