Anthony has written a total of 170,227 words on this site.

Age: 34 PSN ID: Starkiller81. I've played games since before I can remember, starting with my dad's Atari and I haven't stopped yet. Keep them coming and I will keep playing them.

Alleged Console Port Causes Portal 2 Backlash

Portal 2 hug

File this under “This is why we can’t have nice things”. Apparently, the Alternate Reality Game that Eddy posted about earlier, along with DLC already available on the day of the game’s launch and rumors of the game being a console port has prompted some raging Metacritic users to emancipate Portal 2 from any true Metacritic User Rating by lowering it’s score. Currently, the game sits at a 6.9, which is far lower than expected from such a hotly anticipated game.

So what exactly is the cause? As 1UP is reporting, the disappointment that the aforementioned ARG was a ploy to get people to buy/play Steam games, along with the alleged short length of the game (I guess they aren’t counting the co-op in this) and the -WAIT FOR IT- “obvious console port clues” was just too much for these monsters to bear. A cursory scan of the comments reveals much hatred for Valve, the likes of which not seen since the days of Left 4 Dead 2.

Just for fun, here’s a quick sampling of some of the comments:
Continue reading Alleged Console Port Causes Portal 2 Backlash

30 Obscure Final Fantasy Facts

Final Fantasy - Lightning

One of the most popular and most written about (especially by me) franchises, Final Fantasy is also something of an enigma to most gamers. From its odd spin-offs and the confusing issue regarding the numbering of the games, there is a lot of misinformation out there about the series. Hell, the name alone gets made fun of at least once a month on the Internet. Tell me if you haven’t seen this little ditty or some derivative before: “But how can it be the FINAL fantasy if there are 14 of them?” hardy har har. NOT FUNNY.

Well, 1UP provided us with a handy list of 30 Things You (Probably) Didn’t Know About Final Fantasy. I actually knew most of them in general, but the details of some, like Cid’s name being a pun or the fact that the combat was inspired by Formula One racing, were all news to me. It’s a pretty informative read and it even explains just why it’s called “Final” Fantasy to begin with.

So hit the link and educate yourself!

How much of this final fantasy trivia did you guys already know? What surprised you?

Source: 1Up.com

Gamersushi Asks: Games You’ll Never Trade?

Reach

Trading games in has became a normal way of life for gamers, something I begrudgingly have come to terms with. I’ve always tried not to buy something that I know I will trade in right after finishing and if I truly love a game and think I will replay it again one day, in some mythical future when I have more time, I hold onto it.

But some games, even if I won’t likely play them again, I can’t get rid of, like Final Fantasy games. Not the spin-offs, mind you. I’m not crazy. But the main series entries. I have all of them, in various incarnations and the thought of getting rid of any of them makes my blood curdle. For a long time, I also felt that way about Grand Theft Auto, though that sentiment has faded in recent years.

One game I have held onto is Halo: Reach, simply for the occasional night of fun with Eddy and Mitch and Call of Duty: Black Ops for the PS3 to play with my brother on weekends. I will likely hold onto those until the next Halo and Call of Duty games come out because sometimes, I need that quick FPS fix.

What games are considered untouchable to you? Get jiggy with it in the comments!

Fly Your Fanboy Flag

Tingle

Fanboyism has been a hot topic around here lately and I am pretty happy with the respectful, but fierce debate we’ve been able to generate. However, it’s time for a change of pace, as we mainly have been talking about what fanboys annoy us the most and other issues of that sort.

So, in this topic, let’s talk about what games, systems or franchises that you are a fanboy for. We all know there is one thing out there that has won our hearts we will never get over it. That one entity that you will always buy, always defend and never trade in.

For me, as most of you know, it’s Final Fantasy. I love everything about the franchise and even the ones that are lackluster and that I crap on sometimes, I still love more than most other games. Square Enix has got a hold on me and despite my confusion at their current downward spiral, I will be there until the bitter, fiery end.

So what about you? What out there will you never turn your back on? Has anything you loved ever disappointed you so much that you actually did? Hit me with your comments!

Poll: Most Anticipated April Release

Now that publishers have finally decided to wise up and allow great video games to come out year round, we find ourselves with too many games and not enough time or money. So, we have to be more selective. And now that the month of April is upon us, that means more blockbuster games are on the way. Thankfully, this month is lighter than most, but the ones that are coming out are pretty gigantic.

Personally, Portal 2 is already pre-ordered and I expect to play that quite a bit with all my GamerSushi buds. I will probably pass on the other ones this month, as I am still working on my backlog.

What about you?

What April Release Are You Most Excited About?

View Results

Loading ... Loading ...

April Fools: Sony Drops Lawsuit, Hires Geohot

Geohot

In a stunning reversal, Sony Computer Entertainment of America has decided to drop their lawsuit against George “Geohot” Hotz and hire the hacker to head up a new division of cyber security focusing exclusively on the Playstation 3 and Sony’s upcoming handheld platform, codenamed NGP.

A Sony spokesman was quoted as saying:

He just had so many good ideas, we felt that he would be a better asset to us and the gaming community as an employee rather than a defendant.

Hotz, the infamous hacker who was the first to jailbreak the iPhone, expressed a desire to return the Linux operating system to the PS3 via firmware update by the end of April and upload a PS2 emulator before the end of the year. Sony also promised to compensate Hotz for his legal expenses, which seems decent of them.

Well, frankly, I am pretty shocked and more than a little upset. It seems that the online hacker community, which has been clamoring for Sony to just shut up and hire Hotz, has finally gotten their wish. I think this sets a dangerous precedent, where bad and perhaps illegal behavior is rewarded. Although PS2 emulation rocks my socks.

Am I being too harsh? Did Sony do the right thing here? GO!

Source: Wired

Angry Birds Dev Flames Nintendo

Angry Birds

The video games industry is starting to remind me of the East Coast/West Coast hip hop wars of the 90s. First, Nintendo said that smartphone gaming was destroying the value of video games. Then they crapped all over “garage developers”. Now, the Angry Birds are firing back at the Big N for their arrogance.

Peter Vesterbacka of Rovio (love that name) responded to Nintendo’s claims by saying:

“Of course, if I was trying to sell a $49 pieces of plastic to people then yes, I’d be worried too. But I think it’s a good sign that people are concerned – because from my point of view we’re doing something right.”

He goes on to say that the consoles aren’t the fastest growing market anymore and that “real” games can be made on smartphones, as well as consoles.

Now, I have no interest in smartphone gaming one iota and I personally think Angry Birds is an overrated game, back when I played something similar to it years ago, but I agree (to a point) with Vesterbacka. There is enough room for everyone in this industry, but it appears he is doing the same thing Nintendo is.

Nintendo is writing off smartphone gaming because they view it as a threat. Vesterbacka is doing the same thing with consoles because they aren’t the hot new thing out there anymore. Both can coexist in the same market, though. And Vesterbacka shouldn’t worry: Nintendo is pretty good at selling pieces of plastic.

What say you, GamerSushi nation? Is Nintendo right or are the Birds’ anger justified?

Source: MCV

Poll: Most Annoying Fanboys

Here at GamerSushi, we try to stay above the fray and out of the trenches of the massive fanboy flame wars currently raging all across the vast plains of cyberspace. That’s not to say that we don’t have our own preferences about systems and games and such, but I think we all truly wish success for all of the platforms. Except for the Kinect. And no amount of fervor can help the PSP. But I digress…

Sadly, we are the vast minority, our cries for equality and fairness bludgeoned by the maces of Microsoft fanboys, severed by the Sony swordsmen and bullied by the noogies of Nintendo nuts. Oh, and punctured by the PC polearms. Whew. Had to stretch that one out a bit. Anyhoo, I know we all have that one segment of the gamer population that just grates our nerves, so I thought I would take a poll and find out who is the biggest offender.

Please elaborate in the comments, but try to be respectful. We’re all friends here and just because someone likes something more than you do doesn’t make them evil. Just misguided!

😉

Which fanboys annoy you the most?

View Results

Loading ... Loading ...

Legend of Mana Springs to Life on PSN

Legend of Mana

I think Square Enix just got the Internet hooked up to their offices because they’ve been bombarding the PSN lately with classic releases, finally listening to what their fans have been clamoring for (Well, in some cases). Last week brought Parasite Eve and starting tomorrow another PS1 classic, Legend of Mana, will be available for download. Having rented Legend of Mana about 11 years ago, I am pretty excited to be able to play it again.

For those of you who don’t know, the game plays like the SNES classic Secret of Mana, but with a World Map, which involves you placing the locations and rebuilding the world. Depending on where things are placed in relation to each other, new secrets will be revealed. Also, the game is very side-quest heavy, so if you aren’t into that sort of thing, consider yourself warned.

What other classic games are missing from PSN, XBLA and Virtual Console? Hit me!

Source: Playstation Blog

Wordy Bastion Will Talk Your Ear Off

I’m always on the lookout for something different (yes, even though I play Call of Duty) and I’ve been hearing about Bastion, an upcoming downloadable action-RPG by Supergiant Games, an indie developer, for some quite. So I finally decided to take a look see at what all the fuss is about and honestly, I am intrigued and looking forward to its release on PSN, Xbox Live and PC this year.

I don’t know much beyond this: I kinda love the art style, the isometric viewpoint brings back fond memories of Super Mario RPG and the constant commentary is going go be awesome or super annoying within the first 15 minutes. Have a look:

[youtube width=”500″ height=”310″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqQE6f2BzTs[/youtube]

What say you? Seem like an interesting concept? Or just a lame gimmick? The narrator has plenty to say, what about you?

GamerSushi Asks: Games Least Interested In?

Homefront

Here on Gamersushi, we are some nosy people, always asking you what you’re playing, what you want to be playing and what you’re going to be playing. But on the other end of the DO WANT spectrum lies DO NOT WANT: the games that you honestly couldn’t care less about it. You know, the ones that get a lot of hype and discussion, but if someone paid you, you would probably not even play it.

For me, this Homefront game is one of them, but I’m keeping an open mind should any reviews make it sound worthy. Also, I don’t really care about Prototype 2 at all, despite any apologies/improvements the developers may make. Crysis 2 is another that rates high on the “meh” meter and sad to say, I don’t have high hopes for the next Mortal Kombat.

What about you? What games that are coming out this year are so far off your radar that they might as well be invisible? COME AT ME WITH COMMENTS!

Poll: What Influences Your Game Buying Decisions?

We’ve come a long way in video games in how we determine what games to buy. In the old days, box art was pretty much all you had to go on. Maybe, if you were lucky, your friend took a chance on something and you got to try it at his house first, but until the video game magazines really got going, information was sparse.

Now, nothing could be further from the truth. There is almost too much information out there about video games, so much so that myself and others are really only reading reviews now and not even able to focus on the myriad previews that are posted daily on the Internet. Which leads me to ask: what is the biggest factor in your game buying process? Myself, it’s reviews, but the score matters less than the text. I know what I like, so I can usually figure it out based on a well-written review. What about you?

What influences your decision most?

View Results

Loading ... Loading ...

Street Fighter II Turns 20

Street Fighter II

Hadoken.

That word alone is enough to send veteran gamers plunging into the mists of nostalgia, thinking of callouses earned in arcades and later, on the SNES and Sega Genesis as we attempted to pummel our friends, the AI and even a parked car, into submission while playing Street Fighter II. Back in the day, nothing was as big as Street Fighter II. This week marks the 20th anniversary of the game, so time for a trip down memory lane.

In the arcades, lines would form a dozen people deep. At home, the whole neighborhood would descend on the house of whoever had it and massive tournaments were held. Hell, fights broke out just over what character would be chosen, especially if you managed to score a couple of cheap wins against people. So, we honor Street Fighter II, the most popular and influential fighting game of all time.

And I ask you: what’s your favorite Street Fighter memory? How about your favorite character? Are you man enough to comment? Fight!

User Created Missions Will Make You Infamous 2

infamous 2

As if the excitement for Infamous 2 isn’t palpable enough, Sucker Punch decided to…well…sucker punch us with the news that the sequel to the popular super hero/open world game will have user-made missions, as reported by 1UP. That’s right, you can devise all kinds of crazy ways to put Cole through his paces and piss your friends right off.

The missions can be uploaded online and will actually appear in the game world on the map, though user-created content will be marked by a different color and also display the creator’s username. The levels range from races to puzzles to regular missions where you kill lots and lots of enemies. There appears to be quite a bit of options, including action triggers and enemy placement.

I was already pretty pumped about this, but now I think Infamous 2 might be in my top 5 most anticipated games of 2011. Does something like this interest you? Do you think more open world games should incorporate features like this? Sound off!

Source: 1UP

Games Media Fail: GTA V Not Confirmed

GTA V Fraud

I’ve long been hard on video game “journalism”, especially when it comes to getting news and scoops about games from voice actors and people not directly involved with the development of the game, but I’ve kept my silence. Until now. You may have heard on numerous sites on the Internet (but not this one) that news of Grand Theft Auto V had leaked. How did this get out? Someone checked the IMDB profile of Declan Mulvey and saw he was credited as being in Grand Theft Auto V.

And what did many sites do? They ran with it, many of them even bothering to contact Rockstar or Take-Two for confirmation, forgetting that real journalists get confirmation BEFORE running a story, not after. And lo and behold, it turns out that it was a typo, as Eurogamer so helpfully points out. It was meant to read Grand Theft Auto IV, not V.

Do things like this bother you? They seriously get under my skin. All this running around, checking out domain registers, talking to voice actors and then walking back stories is starting to get old. It makes the whole games media look juvenile. Am I being too harsh here? Or is this just the state of the Internet these days? Go!

Source – EuroGamer

Art Reveals Truth: Do Games Reveal Truth?

Bioshock

Oh, no. Not this debate again. Yes, I’m afraid so. To quote The Dude, “New shit has come to light, man.”

But not on purpose. Video games were the farthest thing from my mind as I was reading an interview on NYMag.com with David Simon, creator of “The Wire” and “Treme”. Simon used to be a journalist, but has moved on to television. His shows are known for their realistix slang, authenticity and frankly, being better than 90% of the stuff out there. He was asked, if he loves realism so much, why doesn’t he make documentaries. This was his response:

We know more about human pride, purpose, and obsession from Moby-Dick than from any contemporaneous account of the Nantucket whaler that was actually struck and sunk by a whale in the nineteenth-century incident on which Melville based his book. And we know how much of an affront the Spanish Civil War was to the human spirit when we stare at Picasso’s Guernica than when we read a more deliberate, fact-based account. I am not comparing anything I’ve done to any of the above; please, please do not presume that because I cite someone else’s art, I claim anything similar for anything I’ve done. But I cite the above because it makes the answer to your question obvious: Picasso said art is the lie that allows us to see the truth. That is it exactly.

Which stopped me in my tracks. We do, as a people, learn more about humanity from fiction than we do history books, which are devoid of emotion, but full of facts. Fiction may skimp on facts, but there is a soul there that highlights the best and worst of the world.

So my question is…what truth do video games allow us to see? What insights have you gleaned from playing games? I’m not talking about learning what a FAMAS is or even being more curious about Objectivism from playing Bioshock and looking it up on Wikipedia, but more of glimpses into the human condition and lessons of life that are readily apparent in other mediums. Answering this question will go a long way towards settling the debate on whether games are art or not.

Source – Nymag.com

Top Six: Anthony’s All-Time Favorite Games

I am now 30 years old, the alleged average age of video game players. I’ve been playing video games for as long as I can remember, dating back to the Atari, arcade games at the mall, the NES all the way to the PS3. I’ve seen a lot in my time. I’ve played a lot. Some only once. Some more times than I would care to admit. My loyalties have shifted from Nintendo to Sony to my current state as a free agent gamer who tries to avoid fanboy wars. I play games because I love them. And the following is a list of the games I love the most.

This isn’t meant to be a greatest of all time list or most influential list or anything silly like that. These are my favorite games, the ones that I want to play over and over again, even at the expense of playing the newest games on the market. Simply put, these are the games that constantly call out to me, like Jacob Marley to Scrooge: “Play me again, Anthony! Play me again!”

Enjoy your glimpse into my gaming soul: Continue reading Top Six: Anthony’s All-Time Favorite Games

NFL Bestows Mercy On EA

Madden

For those of you who don’t know, the billionaire owners of the NFL are engaged in a life or death struggle with the millionaire players of the NFL which will likely result in a lockout starting in March, which could cancel or delay the NFL season this fall. All of the various parasites who suckle at the NFL’s teat are pretty much out of luck, but EA is getting a break that few others will receive.

SportsBusinessDaily is reporting that the NFL has restructured its deal with EA, allowing EA to escape some of its obligations this year due to the pending lockout, but also adds another year of NFL exclusivity, much to the chagrin of gamers who want to see innovation and competition in the NFL video game market. While exact details of the deal are not being disclosed, we do know that NFL makes 30 to 40 million dollars a year from their Madden license, so it likely will reduce the amount that EA has to pay.

Should EA receive such a deal or should they tough it out like all the rest of the NFL’s partners? Do you think interest in Madden will be higher or lower next year? If there is no football to be played, I would think more people would buy Madden, if only to get SOMETHING that resembles the NFL on their TV. Ready? Set? Hike!

Source: SportsBusinessDaily

GamerSushi Asks: Favorite Game Soundtrack?

final fantasy vii

It’s no secret that I’m a big fan of game music, mainly Square Enix games, naturally. I’ve shared my favorite moments in game music with you several times, but I’ve never asked you, dear reader, what game music moves you. The reason for my asking is Eddy and I have both been on a game soundtrack kick, but we didn’t realize the other was doing it also until yesterday.

Eddy has been uber-productive at work while listening to the Final Fantasy VII soundtrack, no doubt rocking to One-Winged Angel and Jenova, if he has any sense. Meanwhile, across the country, I’ve been jamming with the Chrono Cross soundtrack, drifting away on memories of a game played 10 years ago. Which is why we think game soundtracks are so awesome to listen to. In a way, it allows you to replay and revisit those awesome moments in your head. Frankly, there’s nothing like it.

So, that being said, what game soundtracks do you like to listen to when you want to set a certain mood, such a nice stroll down memory lane or something to pump you up before a night out on the town? Are there any hidden gems we need to listen to? Speak now!

2010’s Top Selling Games By Platform

Just Dance 2

The NPD’s new stance on not releasing sales data has caused all manner of consternation across the world, especially in message board threads where fanboys endlessly snipe at each other. But, even non-partisan minds have a curiosity about such things and thankfully, Gamasutra has managed to obtain some of the juicy details.

Breaking down the top ten games across each non-PC platform, we see that Just Dance 2 was the best-selling Wii game of the year and despite lukewarm reviews and a late entry, Epic Mickey managed to nab the 4th spot. Not as many Nintendo games as usual and some of the titles in the top 10 are likely unknown to most of us.

Hit the jump for the full lists!
Continue reading 2010’s Top Selling Games By Platform