Mitch has written a total of 335,654 words on this site.

mitch@gamersushi.com Twitter: @mi7ch Gamertag: Lubeius PSN ID: Lubeius SteamID: Mister_L Origin/EA:Lube182 Currently Playing: PUBG, Rainbow 6: Siege, Assassin's Creed: Origins, Total War: Warhammer 2

Today’s WTF: Treyarch to Gamers: Stop Being so Angry, Yo

treyarch angry gamers

While Call of Duty: Black Ops may be Treyarch’s best contribution to the series to date, there are some out there who think that the game isn’t all that great. They’ll say that the story is confusing and poorly written and the multiplayer is full of broken spawns, latency, and on the PS3, dirty hackers. They might also say that the game is basically the same it’s been for the last eight years.

As the underdog studio just released the First Strike Map Pack (available exclusively on Xbox LIVE, kids), Treyarch community manager Josh Olin gave a little interview with NowGamer about how patches are important to the online experience and what Treyarch are doing to keep Blops going strong. At the end of the interview, however, the writer asks Mr. Olin what he thinks the biggest problem with the game industry is: Continue reading Today’s WTF: Treyarch to Gamers: Stop Being so Angry, Yo

GamerSushi Asks: Can a Game Have Too Much Hype?

homefront hype

It’s only natural that, with a market so inundated with products, video games publishers are going to crank up the advertising for their game if only to push it into greater awareness with the consumers. Sometimes, though, there’s a game that takes it too far.

While most games can get on our nerves if we see them too many times of news sites or watch their commercials on TV, there’s the rare time that too much exposure can be a bad thing. For me, this phenomenon is happening with Homefront, THQ’s Korea invades America shooter. It seems that every time I go to check one of the blogs I frequent there’s something on how the game’s narrative will really get to you, or the multiplayer will revolutionize the industry, or how the game is being written by the guy who wrote Red Dawn. At first I was kind of interested in the premise, but now every time I see something about this game, it just draws out a sigh of apathy.
Continue reading GamerSushi Asks: Can a Game Have Too Much Hype?

Review: Dead Space 2

dead space 2 review

A couple of years back, EA started making a big push to get more original IPs out on the market instead of relying on pumping out sequels to successful franchises every year. Leading the charge on this initiative was DICE with Mirror’s Edge and EA Redwood Shores with Dead Space. Of the two, Dead Space did better critically and commercially so Redwood Shores was formed into Visceral Games and a green light was given on the sequel.

Set three years after the events of the first game, Dead Space 2 brings Isaac Clarke, the hapless engineer/universal savior, to The Sprawl, a giant space station in orbit around Saturn. Isaac can’t remember what’s been happening in the intervening time period, and the small glimpses given during the opening cut-scene look like he’s stuck in a psyche ward. After everything goes to hell (with one of the best cold opens in any medium ever), Mr. Clarke is on a fast-paced bloody thrill ride to discover what’s been happening while he’s been comatose.
Continue reading Review: Dead Space 2

GamerSushi Poll: Sony’s NGP vs Nintendo’s 3DS

In a huge move last night, Sony announced the Next Generation Portable (nee NGP or PSP2) and hot damn, does it look impressive. It has two analog sticks, a touch-sensitive OLED screen, two touch pads on the back of the device, and it can render PlayStation 3 games in real time (like Metal Gear Solid 4’s cutscenes running at a steady 20 frames per second). It also ditches the clunky old UMD format and adopts a sexy new flash-based card which allows developers to pack more punch in their games.

Additionally, Sony confirmed that a long list of studios have already queued up to produce games for the NGP. They also revealed that some big name franchises will make an apperance on the portable such as Uncharted, Killzone and Metal Gear Solid, to name a few.

Sony came out in a big way last night, and it looks like they’re attempting to break the portable gaming market by shoving everything they can into their device. While price hasn’t been confirmed, speculation points to it being more than the 3DS. Since Sony is going all out with this device, how is Nintendo’s 3DS going to fare? As we’re so considerate, we made a poll for you guys to vote on. So, go ahead: which platform are you rooting for: Sony’s NGP or Nintendo’s 3DS?

Which Portable Gaming Device Will Come Out Ahead?

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As always, if you have any thoughts please write them in the comments section below. Fight!

Tuesday Demo Overload With Crysis 2 and Bulletstorm

Crysis 2 demo

Today is a big day for EA Games as they not only drop Dead Space 2 on us, but also unleash the multiplayer demo for Crysis 2 on the Xbox 360 and Bulletstorm on both consoles (no PC, sorry fellas). Since there’s really not much else going on in the world of gaming (and I’ve got a lot of free time) I decided to check out both demos and report on them for you. Ain’t I thoughtful?

The first one that I tried was the multiplayer demo for Cyrsis 2. I played a lot of the original on the PC, including some very fun stints in the multiplayer mode. While the original version emphasized large-scale maps with vehicles a la Battlefield, the sequel drops you into small arenas like those found in Call of Duty. Both teams are equipped with the series’ iconic Nanosuit and there are several load-outs to choose from, unlocked via ranking up through the in-game progression system.

Gameplay wise, it’s exactly as I imagined Crysis would be if I played it with a gamepad as opposed to a mouse and keyboard system. As an old-school PC guy, the mouse and keyboard set up is far superior for fast-paced gameplay, so I ended up with more deaths than kills. Watching everyone else use their suit powers to leap around the map and absorb bullets was pretty wicked though, and the game definitely looks gorgeous. Crysis 2 on the 360 doesn’t look anything like the videos parading around on the Internet, but it is one of the better looking game I’ve played in recent memory. Suffice it to say that, while it was fun, I’d much prefer to get it on the PC come release day. One thing that did irk me about the graphics is that the level I was playing on, Skyline, features a lot of brown textures, and the opposing team was decked out in brown colored Nanosuits. Seeing as my team was wearing white, this struck me as a little unbalanced. Hit the jump for my thoughts on Bulletstorm! Continue reading Tuesday Demo Overload With Crysis 2 and Bulletstorm

LA Noire Gets a Gritty Trailer and an Equally Gritty Release Date

For a game that was stuck in development hell for years, Team Bondi’s upcoming 1940’s crime thriller LA Noire has certainly shot out of the gate in the past few months, stunning us with its detailed character animation and the technology that powers it. Despite the fact that it’s been flitting on and off the radar screen for a while, we now have a hard target set for the release date: May 17 (May 20 in Europe), to be exact. To celebrate, LA Noire publisher Rockstar has posted an all-new in-engine trailer for us to drool over:

Like Red Dead Redemption, I’m kind of going into this game blind, but that payed off for RDR as it was my favorite game of last year. I have no idea what the gameplay is like, who the characters are or what the plot is besides the fact that you’re tracking a serial killer, but since I’m an information sponge I might end up enjoying it more not knowing ever facet of the game. Anyone else got this on their must-buy list?

What The Old Republic Needs to Do to Survive

As GamerSushi’s resident MMO player (that is to say, the person with the most experience), I believe it is my duty to try out BioWare’s upcoming Star Wars flavored offering, The Old Republic. While I don’t currently play any MMOs, I’ve made my history with that genre well known on this site, starting with Sony’s Star Wars Galaxies, then moving to World of Warcraft and trying City of Heroes and Champions Online in between.

Since I have such a breadth of knowledge about MMOs and what makes them tick, that means I’m well positioned to know that there are certain check-boxes that The Old Republic needs to cross off to be considered a “success” in this most competitive of arenas. While it isn’t going to unseat World of Warcraft, there are some very important features it needs to launch with in order to ensure that it lives past its first year. What are those things, you might be asking? Read on, and you’ll find out just what The Old Republic needs to do to stay afloat.
Continue reading What The Old Republic Needs to Do to Survive

Nintendo 3DS Price and Launch Date Roundup

Nintendo 3DS launch date and priceThe handheld console that captured the hearts and minds of hardcore gamers last E3 is finally coming to North America and Europe. The Nintendo 3DS, the next iteration of the device that won’t stop selling, is hitting stores on March 27 and will run a whopping $249.99. For the starting price, you get quite a few extra goodies which are: a 2GB SD card, a charging cradle and six Augmented Reality cards. If you’re unclear on what an Augmented Reality (shortened to AR) card is, it’s a little expansion that plugs into your 3DS and overlays images on pictures captured through your 3DS’s camera, sort of like that Star Wars iPhone game we posted about a while back.

Besides a bunch of additional dongles, the 3DS also comes packaged with quite a bit of software out of the box. The aforementioned camera is used quite a bit with these features, like the AR games and Face Raiders, which consists of taking pictures of your friend’s faces and then shooting at them. Also included is the Mii Maker which uses the 3DS’s camera to construct your Mii, and the StreetPass Mii Plaza where you can meet other Miis (I’m going to be calling this the Miit Market). Also included is the ability to transfer purchased DSiWare games from 3DS to 3DS or from a DSi to a 3DS. This being Nintendo, there is a certain limit to what can be transfered, but that hasn’t been announced yet. There are additional services that will be implemented in the 3DS in the coming months like the Internet browser and the ability to watch 3D movies.

As we’ve said many times, the thing that moves consoles are games and the 3DS has no shortage of those, with an expected 30 titles to be available between its launch date and the next E3. Sadly, Ocarina of Time, Kid Icarus and Metal Gear Solid are not specified in that list, but hit the jump to find out what the games are set to coincide with the release date: Continue reading Nintendo 3DS Price and Launch Date Roundup

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer Says Xbox Isn’t Just for Games

xbox 360 isn't a gaming machineWe’ve been grumbling and moaning around here since E3 of last year about the Xbox 360 and Microsoft’s seemingly all-in strategy with Kinect, but I think that we took solace in the fact that the 360 would remain a bastion for the hardcore in some respects even after Kinect sold 8 million copies this past holiday season. Our hopes may be in vain, however, as Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer recently spelled out the company’s long term plan in an interview with USA Today, citing how the Xbox 360 isn’t only made for playing the video games.

“Xbox isn’t a gaming console. Xbox is a family entertainment center. It’s a place to socialize. It’s a place to watch TV. We have Hulu coming. It’s the only system where you are the controller. Your voice, your gestures, your body.”

Mr. Ballmer goes on to say that while the Xbox has the 15 year old boy demographic nailed down, they’re searching for ways to expand beyond that, into the 15 year old girl and the middle aged market. Things like Kinect will go a long way towards that end, especially after the aforementioned sales bonanza which outstripped Microsoft’s own internal estimations. Sounds like the Xbox only does everything, right?
Continue reading Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer Says Xbox Isn’t Just for Games

Today’s WTF: Your Mom Hates Dead Space 2

Oh, marketing departments, the bane of sophisticated gamers everywhere. It’s easier to make your product appeal to the lowest common denominator these days, but sometimes I have to wonder how these ad campaigns get pushed through. Take this recent bout of advertising for Dead Space 2 which features 200 mothers watching, and being horrified by, EA’s upcoming sci-fi thriller. Now, as a child of the 90s, I’m pretty sure I’ve seen this type of advertising stunt before, probably for Soldier of Fortune or something. I’m sure that my mom would hate Dead Space 2, but would I make her watch it and upload my own reaction video to win a custom PS3? Probably. Here’s the shameful behind the scenes video.

So, any opinions on EA’s attempt to bring Dead Space 2 down to the level of common grade schlock? Any thoughts on months and months of hard work invalidated in order to appeal to 12 year olds?

NBC’s Life Trolls Video Gamers

There’s a video making its rounds on the Internet right now from a TV show called “Life”, a police procedural about a detective who was sent to jail for a crime he didn’t commit, that centers around an incredibly off-base interpretation of Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones and video games in general. While the video shows many falsehoods based around the game itself, perhaps the most egregious offense it makes is the depiction of gamers as 30-somethings who live with their moms and have Captain Kirk outfits. Seriously, watch this and try not to have an aneurysm.

Have you ever owned a game so hard it spits out spreadsheets of your drug deals? I know I haven’t. I know this is a TV show, but come on people, there’s no way you could get away with being this off base with anything else besides video games. If you want to see a blow-by-blow of what Life did wrong, check out the post on Geekosystem, where the author clearly had a bit of nerd-rage. Any opinion on this most egregious interpretation of our hobby? It’s almost as insulting as the Video Game Awards. Fire away!

Fight Night Champion Breaks Spam With Stamina

I’m not a big sports game guy buy any means, but Fight Night Round 4 is something of an obsession amongst my friends and I. Before a big night, we like to kick back with a few brews and a couple rounds of boxing that somehow end up taking half the night away. We even created near perfect facsimiles of ourselves in the game, and there’s something cathartic about beating your friends into submission (I imagine the same is true for them walloping me). Since Fight Night is a such a big hit with us, it wouldn’t be too much of a leap to imagine that we’re eagerly anticipating Fight Night Champion which releases March 1. There’s a new trailer out explaining the new Stamina system and the streamlined Corner Game. Check it!

Fight Night Round 4 was suprisingly addictive, and I imagine Champion will absorb many a night when it gets released. Anyone picking this up?

Dragon Age 2 Developer Diary Lays Out the Narrative

If there was ever a title out there scampering about with a question mark firmly planted above its head, it would definitely be Dragon Age 2. While the original game in the newly birthed fantasy franchise was a slightly revamped cross between the combat sensibilities of Bulder’s Gate and the dialog system of older BioWare games like Knights of the Old Republic, Dragon Age 2 is, to further use our phrase, “Mass Effecting” it a little. Gone is the very mutable player character: you now control a human named Hawke, who’s only variables are gender and class. How is this going to work in a world that was defined by your actions and not necessarily your character? BioWare has just dropped some relevant knowledge on us in the form of a developer diary which I’ve embedded below:

BioWare is playing Dragon Age 2 very close to the chest this time around, causing a lot of Dragon Age: Origins’ fans to raise a very justified eyebrow. While we’ll see for certain on March 2 whether Dragon Age 2 can live up to the original, at this point I’m certain that BioWare’s pedigree speaks for itself. Who’s got Dragon Age on their must buy list?

Telltale’s Jurassic Park Will Draw Inspiration From Heavy Rain

telltale games jurassic park

When big companies go to translate their franchises to video games, there are usually two routes they typically take: make a first person shooter, or emulate God of War. When Universal Studios wanted to make a game based on Jurassic Park, they didn’t want another FPS associated with the JP name and a third-person brawler would have been a little far fetched. Knowing that the franchise needed a gentle hand, the movie company approached Telltale Games, the development house known these days for keeping the dying adventure game genre alive.

According to Telltale executive director Kevin Boyle, the nature of making a Jurassic Park game has forced the team to rethink how they typically go about making adventure games. While large parts of the game will no doubt resemble the classic point and click style of Back to the Future or Sam and Max, Mr. Boyle says that there where be frantic moments that require Heavy Rain level reactions and input from the player.

Kevin Boyle and his team think that the best way to combine the character-building moments of Jurassic Park with the thrills of dinosaurs leaping at you is to mash-up the precise pace of adventure games with the slam-bang action of Heavy Rain’s quicktime events. The series will be episodic and five episodes are currently planned for a PC/Mac release.

What do you guys think about this? Does this sound interesting enough to get you to look a bit more closely at Jurassic Park? I know it worked for me.

Source – The Escapist

Nintendo Busts Out Jazz Renditions of Classic Themes

Nintendo has a lot of great franchises under their belt, and all of them have instantly memorable themes. Perhaps the most iconic of these, besides the Mario over-world theme, is the music from the Legend of Zelda of series. Ocarina of Time seems to be a veritable gold mine of classic songs, and at a recent gathering called Nintendo World, Ninty assembled a bunch of musicians to play a jazzed up version of the many songs found in Zelda.

Pretty wicked, if you ask me. Also, I really appreciate the saxophone player’s Street Fighter-themed dress shirt. Two more awesome mash-ups after the jump! Continue reading Nintendo Busts Out Jazz Renditions of Classic Themes

Dead Space 2’s Excavations Trailer Digs Up the Plot

I think it’s almost a given that in most sci-fi settings, humanity is represented as a collection of greedy jerks, spoiling planets for our own personal gain. That’s how the original Dead Space came about in a way, as the Marker, the terrifying alien obelisk that created the Necromorphs, was found during “planet-cracking”, the method of stripping a world for resources. Since Dead Space 2 is inbound for a January 25 release (28 in Europe), the new, extended Excavations trailer catches us up on the background information series, complete with the requisite horror and gore that the series is known for.

As the first big release of 2011, Dead Space 2 will go a long way in setting the tone for what will be an excellent year for us gamers. With a new spine-chilling single player campaign and an added multiplayer mode, Dead Space 2 might just cause us to shout with joy…if anyone could hear you scream in space, that is. Is Dead Space 2 a must have for you, or a rental? Go!

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!

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:

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