January 2013 Archives

GamerSushi on Twitch.Tv!

Twitch_Logo_Black

Sushians! As part of our new content spree of 2013 (which we’ve honorably dubbed as “Year of the Sushi” around these parts), we’ve started up our very own GamerSushi Twitch TV channel.

Last night I streamed the second half of Hotline Miami as a bit of a test, and a few of you joined and hung out for a little bit. And right now, Nick and I are streaming some Borderlands 2. Obviously if you see this a bit later, you’ll have missed out on the fun, but we’re working on some kind of loose schedule when we’ll be streaming some different games.

So yeah, join in on the fun. Year of the Sushi!

Update: All done playing now, but you can find the play session after the jump! Continue reading GamerSushi on Twitch.Tv!

Review: Hotline Miami

hotline_featured

When I first heard about Hotline Miami, I didn’t quite understand the attraction. My assumption was that it was just a gruesome beat-em-up with the old-fashioned pixellated visual style so common in indie games these days. I just wasn’t that interested in a game that appeared to involve nothing more than bashing in the heads of an endless number of goons. However, when I had a chance to pick it up on sale over the holidays for $2.50, I figured it couldn’t hurt to give it a try. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that Hotline Miami is stranger and far more challenging that I was originally expecting, and I knew within a few hours of gameplay that it was worthy of a place on my personal top ten games of the year.

Continue reading Review: Hotline Miami

GamerSushi Asks: Pre-Game Rituals?

Welcome to “GamerSushi Asks” Friday!

This week, I finally jumped into Far Cry 3’s sprawling green and blue playground of predators and pirates, and like many other gamers, have found myself enthralled by not only the emergent gameplay, but the sidequests that know just how to entice me off the beaten path. But before I started off-roading, gaining experience through stealth kills and skinning komodo dragons, I did what I do for every game — I tweaked the settings.

Starting a new game is equal parts excitement and ritual for me. I’ve got a bit of a ceremony whenever I pop in a new title. First, I turn on subtitles, since I’m usually trying to keep volume low so as not to wake up a sleeping baby (or worse yet, a sleeping wife). Then, I lower the overall master volume of the game. Next, I check controller settings to make sure that the y-axis isn’t inverted, and after that I lower the sensitvity to the point where it feels like the gun is dragging through molasses. No matter how engaging the beginning of a game, if these things aren’t set, I don’t feel like I’m in control of the experience.

So what about you guys? What pre-game rituals do you have before you start a new game? Do you mess with the audio? Is there a particular set of headphones you prefer to use? A particular time of day or a specific position you need to be in on the couch? Show us your OCD side in the comments.

Star Wars: The Old Republic Confines Same-Sex Romance to One Planet

The hits just keep on coming for BioWare and EA’s ill-fated Star Wars MMO, The Old Republic. After a less-than stellar launch and a much maligned move to free-to-play, the game is getting its first major expansion in the form of the Rise of the Hutt Cartel, which will feature, of all things, a planet where same-sex romances are permitted.

This might not seem too strange to people who haven’t played The Old Republic, but Makeb, as the planet is called, is the only place in the entire game where player characters can engage in same-sex romances with NPCs. This doesn’t turn previous companions into romance options, or even add new companions with this feature (because that would be “too difficult” according to the developers), but rather places new characters exclusively on Makeb.

As if that wasn’t strange enough, making this part of the Rise of the Hutt Cartel expansion means that same-sex romances are available only after paying for it. Putting SGR (same-gender romance as the TOR forums call it) on a single planet behind a paywall just smacks of not only laziness, but a lack of respect for customers looking for that kind of content. Continue reading Star Wars: The Old Republic Confines Same-Sex Romance to One Planet

Dead Island Riptide’s Zombie Bait Bust Flop

Welcome to “Stop the Presses” Thursday here on GamerSushi where we collect the biggest news stories of this week so you can give us your thoughts on them. Let’s get to it, shall we?

Just when you think the game industry couldn’t dig themselves any further into a misogynistic hole, out comes Deep Silver with their Zombie Bait Edition of Dead Island Riptide, boasting a bust of a zombified woman in a bikini. When I say bust, I mean bust: this is just a woman’s torso with no head or arms, and a Union flag-emblazoned bikini barely covering her breasts.

Special editions of games are no strangers to large, tacky statues, but I can’t think of anyone with half of a social life who would want to proudly display a severed torso in their living room. The bust is 31cm high, which means that this is one prominent piece of tawdry memorabilia. According to Deep Silver’s press release, the statue is meant to call to mind a grotesque version of a classic Roman torso sculpture. Continue reading Dead Island Riptide’s Zombie Bait Bust Flop

The GamerSushi Top 10 Games of 2012

2012 was a surprisingly robust year for gaming. While we didn’t quite get the bombardment of sequels to huge franchises that we’ve come to expect, we got a year filled with unique titles. 2012 was filled with strategy games, stealth games, new IPs and a new bar for emotional engagement in our favorite medium. Even the sequels found a way to change the game.

Suddenly, the industry gave us something we’ve been clambering for what has felt like years — some variety. And what a nice change of pace it’s been. So, without further ado, here is our list of the top 10 games of 2012. Enjoy, dudes.

Continue reading The GamerSushi Top 10 Games of 2012

Polygon: “Video games don’t create violence in society, they reflect it”

Polygon is a fairly recent addition to the world of gaming journalism, but they’re already doing an excellent job of posting thoughtful, well-written reporting. Since it’s “Did You See This” Wednesday, I thought I’d point you towards one of Brian Crecente’s recent posts on the subject of video game violence where he argues that video games reflect the violence in society and not the other way around.

Whenever another mass shooting happens in America, one of the first subjects brought up in the media is whether or not the shooter liked playing violent video games. Of course, studies have shown that “there is no good evidence that video games or other media contributes, even in a small way, to mass homicides or any other violence among youth“. So why, then, do we continue returning to the subject of video game violence as an explanation for real-world violence?

Continue reading Polygon: “Video games don’t create violence in society, they reflect it”

Pixel Count: Character Most In Need Of A Muzzle

Peace of mind is hard to come by in the gaming landscape these days. It’s bad enough we have online trolls spewing all manner of filth at us, but in the age of voice acting, we also have to contend with certain characters that just won’t shut the hell up. It can be enough to drive even a straight-edger to drink and the calmest gamer to fling his controller across the room.

In keeping with our newly implemented schedule and using only the latest in high-tech research equipment, we here at the GamerSushi Labs are trying to determine which character should be fitted with a digital muzzle. Will Slippy’s constant need for help be enough to help him win? What about Kenny, who seems to take great pleasure in being an antagonistic hypocrite? Or Kratos, who only has one volume setting and really needs to take a chill pill. And of course, the ever-present Claptrap and the irksome Tiny Tina are prone to make someone scramble for the mute button. Except Jeff. He loves Tiny Tina.

So vote now and hit the comments to let us know who you think should enjoy a nice cup of Shut The Hell Up!

Loading ...

Far Cry 3: Getting Sidetracked

There are 34 story missions in Far Cry 3. In my over 10 hours of playtime, I have completed 6. Out of 34. So what have I been doing with the rest of my time?

Whatever I want.

Far Cry 3 has brought out a new side of me, one that has no interest in hurrying through the story, but rather would like to take my time, hunt some animals, do some hang gliding and see the sights. Maybe liberate a few outposts or activate some radio towers, which then unlocks even more of the map, which in turn gives me more things to do. It’s a beautiful cycle. I’m going to get back to the story soon, I promise, but for now, I am loving just doing whatever catches my fancy. Continue reading Far Cry 3: Getting Sidetracked

Sick Tunes: The Soundtrack of Hotline Miami

In keeping with “What We’re Playing” Monday, I thought I’d throw up some examples of Hotline Miami’s phenomenal soundtrack. Part of what makes the 2D shooter so much like crack is the fact that the music so infectious and hypnotic, evoking that iconic 1980s synth sound of a bright but dark Miami. In some ways, the violence of the game coupled with a kicking soundtrack almost makes it feel like Drive: The Game — which isn’t a bad thing at all.

This first track, Miami, by Jasper Byrne, can be found at the end of our most recent podcast.

Continue reading Sick Tunes: The Soundtrack of Hotline Miami

Hotline Miami: The Drug of Rinse and Repeat

Sushians, welcome to our first ever “What We’re Playing” Monday post. I know. You can probably barely contain your excitement.

This weekend, I spent pretty much the entirety of Saturday afternoon obsessively picking my way through Hotline Miami, a top-down 2D stealth/challenge room shooter by Dennaton games, gifted to me during the most recent Steam Sale.

For those of you unaware (which means you haven’t listened to the newest podcast), Hotline Miami is a violent game about busting into rooms full of bad guys and taking them out in the most brutal, daring way possible — all while maintaining twitch-quick reflexes.

The thing about this game is that it is old school, throw your controller across the room hard. You bust into a room full of mobsters, and you have to rehearse how you’re going to eliminate them quickly and methodically, one by one. If you’re not perfect, you get your brains blown out. As such, it requires a certain amount of rinsing and repeating, as you attempt to clear the same rooms over and over, racking up an absurd amount of deaths.

There’s something strangely addicting about this kind of gameplay. I’m not sure if it taps into that old part of us that was used to trial-and-error gameplay, the kind that required you to get a level absolutely perfect, step-by-step, if you ever wanted any hope of progressing. All I know is that on Saturday, I was a slave to Hotline Miami’s drug, trudging through half of its levels all in one sitting, sometimes shouting in triumph, sometimes cursing and swearing the game off forever.

All that to say — if you haven’t played Hotline Miami, you should certainly give it a try. It’s probably one of the more addictive games I’ve played in the last year. Have any of you guys played it? What are some other games you’ve played recently that relied on this kind of rinse and repeat drug? Go!

Introducing: The GamerSushi Schedule

calender

So we’ve been doing this GamerSushi thing for over 4 years now, which means you guys have been reading a crazy amount of our goofy musings, rants, observations and editorials. We’ll of course be continuing all of these things in 2013, but with a bit more structure.

The GamerSushi Schedule is our new posting schedule — every weekday (Monday through Friday), we’ll have a designated theme that will be the focus of that day’s posts. This helps us post better content, and helps you know what will be on the site and when.

Why the change? There are a couple of reasons, but one of the biggest ones is the nature of the video game news cycle. When we started GamerSushi all those years ago, the content on video game websites was a different animal — news was regular and content was more substantive. These days, twice as many posts are written about half as much actual news (due to a fractured relationship between PR and journalists, as well as the growing competition), and it’s honestly more difficult to find quality content to point our readers to. Which sometimes means long stretches where we’re trying to find newsworthy articles.

For that reason, we want to shift the gears here, where we’re the engine behind the content that we post. You’ll find less pointing towards other sites, and more just… Sushi stuff, that hopefully you guys are just as interested in as us. Continue reading Introducing: The GamerSushi Schedule

The GamerSushi Show, Ep 58: PC Master Race

gamersushi show ep 58

Happy New Year, Sushians! Your glorious GamerSushi crew is back from our protracted holiday break, bringing you the first podcast of 2013! I know you’re excited.

Something strange happened to our staff over the break as everyone dipped pretty heavily into the PC gaming inkwell, and as such we talk exclusively about everybody’s favorite gaming machine. True, most of the titles we played were multiplatform, but Jeff does gab for a bit about Hotline Miami.

In addition to that we also spend some time talking about the new Steam Box and the Steam Winter Sale, which ruined more than a few wallets. Since it’s been just over a month since our last cast, here’s a quick refresher on how this goes down: listen to the podcast, rate the podcast, and comment on the podcast.

0:00 – 4:32 Intro
4:33 – 9:51 Sleeping Dogs
9:52 – 25:27 XCOM: Enemy Unknown
25:28 – 34:13 Far Cry 3
34:14 – 36:41 Torchlight 2
36:42 – 43:38 Dishonored
43:49 – 54:33 Spec Ops: The Line
54:34 – 1:00:30 Hotline Miami
1:00:31 – 1:07:13 PC Gaming and the Steam Sale
1:07:14 – 1:15:50 Steam Box
1:15:51 – 1:18:14 The Witcher 2
1:18:15 – 1:21:48 Outro

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Android | RSS

The 2012 Sushis: A Year of Highs and Lows

The 2012 Sushis

If you’ll do us the kindness of remembering, you’ll recall that GamerSushi does the annual recap a bit differently than most places. Sure, we’ll do our Top 10 Games of 2012 list within the next week, but before that we bring you the Sushis, our roast, celebration and general send-up of the previous year’s highs and lows.

In the 2012 Sushis, we mock the disappointments, high five the best multiplayer experiences and give solos to the unsung heroes of one of the generation’s most interesting years yet.

Enoy!

Continue reading The 2012 Sushis: A Year of Highs and Lows

Gabe Newell’s Steam Box Dream

PC gamers and Steam lovers can rejoice, because the cat’s finally out of the bag: a Valve’s “Steam Box” is official, Gabe Newell confirmed in a recent interview with The Verge.

While we can mostly guess at what a Steam Box means for games — namely a “Big Picture Mode” console designed for your TV — Newell did talk about some of the box’s other early features. For instance, rather than just the living room, they want the Steam experience to be sharable from screen to screen, and between different rooms with ease. But beyond that, Valve’s main emphasis will be open platforms with different manufacturers, open content and a way for gamers to publish and create their own content through the Steam store or possibly even personal stores. The goal is to make things easy for publishers and developers, and ideally that trickles down to gamers as well.

It’s certainly too early to tell anything about the Steam Box, but it basically sounds like my dream console. I’m pretty pumped on Steam at the moment, mostly due to the most recent Steam sale (sorry, but you’ll hear me mention it a million times over the next, I dunno, year, so I love the idea of an affordable console that runs what I think is currently best platform for games. I love that Valve will be removing the normal restrictions we see from consoles, and can’t wait to hear more about this. I definitely recommend checking out the rest of the interview, there’s even a bit about how they have been researching biometric feedback and new controller inputs.

What do you guys think of the Steam Box? Go!

Source – The Verge

GamerSushi Votes 2012: Biggest Disappointment

It’s a sad fact that when you have the highs of a year, there will unfortunately be lows. With so many big name titles getting their next iteration last year (and in some cases, wrapping up a planned trilogy) it was inevitable that gamers at large would be let down by some of them. Not saying that these games were bad across the board, but when you wait fifteen plus years for something, well, expectations tend to be a little inflated.

So, here’s a list of games I’ve put together that generated the most stink during 2012. This isn’t me saying that I think these games are awful, but rather these are the games that critics and players won’t stop bashing. Let’s put it to rest once and for all. What was the biggest disappointment in gaming for 2012?

Loading ...

Nintendo Announces Pokemon X and Y for 3DS October 2013

Well, Nintendo has officially erroded my will when it comes to the 3DS by announcing a new pair of Pokemon games, due out this October. Pokemon X and Y, as they are being called, will be a big change from the games of the past, moving the camera into a sort of third-person perspective as opposed to an isometric view. I always wondered how GameFreak was going to progress the franchise if they ever brought it to the 3DS, and this seems like a logical step. There’s even a trailer, which points to a European-styled setting (earlier Pokemon games were based on Japan while Black and White were inspired by New York City).

Expect me to be toting a 3DS by the end of the year, catching ’em all. I can’t decide between the new starters because unlike previous generations, there isn’t one single Pokemon that I don’t find incredibly stupid. I’ll probably roll with the Grass-type, as that one seems to be the least offensive to my tastes. Is anyone else chomping at the bit for a 3DS Pokemon title? Y or Y not? Will you X this off your list? Should I keep making these puns?

What’s Happening with the DayZ Standalone?

DayZ, one of the biggest breakout mod hits of 2012, was slated for release as a standalone version by the end of that year. Now that we’re in 2013 with no DayZ solo project in sight, Dean “Rocket” Hall has made a rather large post on the DayZ Devblog, detailing what’s happening with DayZ and some of the features that are being added.

One of the reasons that the DayZ standalone has been delayed is because Rocket and his team decided to increase the scope of the project a fair bit. According to the blog post, the game was supposed to be a polished version of the mod, packaged and sold as its own entity. The opportunity to completely redo the existing game was a little too tempting, however, so the developers decided to rework a whole host of systems, from the game engine to the UI and the scavenging.

The inventory has been rebuilt from the ground up, and will “fundamentally change” the DayZ experience, if the post is any indication. The new system allows for enhanced scavenging, or different items stats like if you shoot someone with night vision in the head, the night vision goggles will be damaged when you pick them up. This also applies to disease tracking, so you can leave cholera-infected items around for poor scroungers to find.

Another factor holding up development is that the designer of the original Chernarnus map, Ivan Buchta, is still imprisoned in Greece on espionage charges. This means that the DayZ team is having to get input from him via letters, stalling forward progress on their retooling of the landscape.

So it seems that Rocket allowed DayZ to blossom under his newfound development position, and Bohemia Interactive are letting him run with it. I’m all for a new UI and updated mechanics in DayZ, because the ARMA 2 interface is a little cumbersome, especially for a survival-type game.

What do you guys think about this new development? Excited for the prospect of “DayZ 2”, as it were?

Source – DayZ Developer Blog

GamerSushi Votes 2012: Best Single-Player

Now that we’ve talked about Best Multiplayer/Co-op let’s move on to the next segment of GamerSushi Votes. On the docket today is Best Single-Player, and it’s been a heck of a year for solitary experiences. A couple years back it looked like the single-player experience was on the way out and a good multiplayer portion was the ticket to success, but near the end of this generation we’ve swung back around to games having a really fleshed-out single-player campaign and tacked on multiplayer modes.

It was hard to narrow down the selection of single-player games to vote on, but I think I got a good sample. As usual, if there’s a game you think I missed, feel free to tell us in the comments. Now, vote!

Loading ...

“That was really entertaining guys. I hope you’re able to keep it up this...” Peter O'Neill + (@Petyr92) on The GamerSushi Show, Ep 95: Super Sushian Odyssey 80 days 8 hours ago

“Yeah, I thought I was ready for this cast, but I wasn’t. ;w; TOO SOON” dapurplesharpie on The GamerSushi Show, Ep 95: Super Sushian Odyssey 82 days 2 hours ago

“One thing I regretted not mentioned on the cast (even though I had the perfect opportunity at one...” Mitch on The GamerSushi Show, Ep 95: Super Sushian Odyssey 82 days 7 hours ago

“Hot damn boys. Exciting times 🙂” Julez Michaud on The GamerSushi Show, Ep 95: Super Sushian Odyssey 82 days 18 hours ago

“I didn’t enjoy the game either. A lot of the main quest NPCs just keep talking and...” Shane Steinhauser on GamerSushi Asks: Why Do You Like The Witcher 3? 497 days 11 hours ago