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

GamerSushi Poll: How Many Hours a Week Do You Spend Playing Video Games?

It seems like forever ago, but a discussion happened on our podcast that covered the topic of how many hours a week a “hardcore” gamers spends on playing games (the answer was something ridiculous like 45+). We decided that this survey was a bit skewed, and it only occurred to me just now that we never conducted a census of our own.

I’m here to remedy this situation with a new poll, which you shall cast your votes on. It’s rather simple, we just want to know how many hours a week you spend glued to your TV or PC monitor. Personally, I’d say about 10-15 because anymore than that interferes with “real life”, that bothersome thing that keeps making me go to work and pay rent. That’s just me though. What about you?

How Many Hours a Week Do You Play Games?

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Review: The Force Unleashed 2

Aside from a few misgivings, I actually enjoyed 2008’s The Force Unleashed. Despite the sometimes buggy way that all of its different engines would work together, it still managed to be a good game with a great Star Wars story that filled in an important part of the canon. Taking on the role of Darth Vader’s secret apprentice, you guided Galen Marek, nee Starkiller, through various worlds until you reached the final confrontation on the first Death Star.

The game was filled with great moments and definitely seemed to have some promise of better things to come lurking around. We’ve seen a few games this generation that used the first game in their series as sort of a tech demo, a jumping off point for bigger and better things. The Force Unleashed seemed poised to make this leap when it was announced last year at Spike’s Video Game Awards, so how does it do now that it’s on the second iteration? Is this game any good, or has Star Wars disappointed us for the last time?
Continue reading Review: The Force Unleashed 2

GamerSushi Asks: Unnecessary Sequels?

rainbow_six_vegas_2

There’s been a specific game I’ve been playing over the last couple of days that got me thinking about the necessity of sequels in the gaming world. Obviously, publishers want more money, and if a game does well enough the first time, they’re going to try and make the lighting strike as many times as possible. What I’m talking about are sequels from our perspective.

While it doesn’t happen often, there are usually a couple games that get sequels pumped out in a short time frame with little to no improvements aside from maybe a sprint button or the addition of an experience system, just to capitalize on the good will of the first. Rainbow Six Vegas 2 (hereby known as “double Rainbow”), is the first example that comes to mind, as that game just stinks of a quick cash in, made to take advantage of the overwhelming surprise success of the first game. Aside from the addition of the aforementioned sprint, the game was exactly the same, so it was panned critically and didn’t fare as well as the first did commercially.

I can think of a couple more examples, but I want to know if you guys were ever disappointed by a sequel. Are there any games out there that just broke your heart when they came out because they didn’t do justice to the legacy of the first? Maybe it was a third game in a trilogy that fell flat? Let us know!

Donkey Kong Returns Trailer is Old School Fun

If there’s anyone on the planet who knows how to handle Nintendo properties right, it’s Retro Studios, makers of the critically and commercially successful Metroid Prime series. While I originally thought it was overkill to put the team that handled Metroid’s transition to the previous generation on something as simple as Donkey Kong, I’ve been hearing things that indicate that Retro approached Nintendo with the outline to revive this classic platformer. A new trailer just went up for the game, and it looks like a gloriously fun time. Have a watch:

Sort of in the vein of New Super Mario Bros. Wii but with the addition of the big ape we all know and love. It also looks fairly ridiculous, and it has the added benefit of being co-op enabled. So, what do you guys think of the trailer for Donkey Kong Country Returns? Got room in your holiday season for the resurgence of the Kong? The game comes out November 21.

Review: Fallout: New Vegas

fallout new vegas review

Fallout 3 was probably the best game of 2008, its massive, interactive world allowing players to explore the ruins of an alternate reality Washington DC destroyed by nuclear war. I personally must have spent at least 100 hours roaming the Capital Wasteland, and I’m pretty sure that I still haven’t done everything in the game. The DLC added a lot more to do, but eventually the font of encounters was going to run dry. As good as Fallout 3 was, gamers wanted more.

Bethesda tapped the infamous sequel team Obsidian (known for Knight of the Old Republic 2 and Alpha Protocol) to deliver on a follow up. Their answer is Fallout: New Vegas, which hearkens back to the original games by way of having several members of Fallout 2’s team on staff at Obsidian. Making the trip back to the American West, New Vegas puts players in the boots of the Courier, shot and left for dead in the Mojave by Chandler Bing (Matthew Perry, for those of us who never watched Friends). Was putting Obsidian in charge of the sequel a good gamble considering their previous offerings?
Continue reading Review: Fallout: New Vegas

Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood Trailer Welcomes You to Rome

Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood (or AC:ODST if you aren’t sick of that joke) just went gold, and to celebrate Ubisoft has dropped a new trailer on us showing a bit more of Rome and the various characters. Also included is some footage of the city being renovated and Ezio’s hired hands kicking ass. If you’re so inclined, we’ve embedded the trailer below for your viewing pleasure.

Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood is the second last big title dropping for me this year, and that’s especially welcome considering how much my wallet is hurting. 2010 has been quite the year, and I’m probably going to be in serious debt for a while. We’ve posted a few trailers on Brotherhood before, but as always we’d like to read your opinions if you feel like giving them. Now that we’re almost out of the holiday blitz, are you revising your spending plans?

Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood drops November 16 on the Xbox 360 and PS3 with a PC release following next year.

Valve Adds Boss Monster to Team Fortress 2 for Halloween

Team Fortress 2 Halloween
For a three year old game, Team Fortress 2 manages to still have a few tricks up its sleeves mostly thanks to Valve’s penchant for thinking outside of the box. While the additions to TF2 started small with upgraded weapons, Valve slowly built the game up into a more than full-featured title featuring custom clothing, an in-game economy and now a boss encounter.

Yes, you read that right. Valve’s team-based frag fest comes one step closer to MMO territory with the addition of a neutral boss monster named the Horseless Headless Horsemann. When I say “neutral” I don’t mean in the conscientious objector kind of way, but rather that he hates both Red and Blu equally and can only be defeated by the combined might of both teams.

The Halloween update also features a two new community made maps (they’re free, don’t worry) and the return of last year’s spooky themed achievements. Players can now also gift wrap spare items for others, and I can only imagine the disappointed look on Timmy’s face when the bright wrapping reveals the unpleasant surprise of Jarate.

Yet again Valve uses Team Fortress 2 as an experimental platform, and I’d say they’re on track for success once more. I’ll definitely be hopping online this weekend to check out how the Horsemann works in game (and pick up some cheevos and hats) so what about you guys? Anyone lapsed on TF2 but have come back because of the constant love and care lavished on it by Valve? Do you wish that other developers would try something like this in their games?

Source – Team Fortress 2 Blog

User Interfaces: Which Games do Them Right?

Dead Rising 2 UI
The user interface is incredibly important to a person’s gaming experience, yet it often seems that this particular facet of design is either over looked or included as a last-minute thought. Even games with amazing visuals elsewhere have generic menus and head’s up displays, marring their otherwise perfect visages.

As a group, I think that gamers have gotten used to average looking UIs and we usually block them out. However, there are some that stand head and shoulders above the rest. Fable 3 is one of those, the few and the proud. This is a game that eschews the idea of traditional menus entirely and replaces the pause screen with your Sanctuary, essentially a magical bat-cave. There’s no long, arduous trek, or even loading, just a simple press of the “start” button brings you back to your John Cleese-staffed retreat. To me, this is a masterful solution to the multitude of clothing, weapon, spell, and quest menus that cluttered up previous games of the series and similar titles in the genre. I spent a good ten to fifteen minutes looking around seeing what it offered, and I’m anticipating the options that will come along to pimp it out as the game progresses.
Continue reading User Interfaces: Which Games do Them Right?

GamerSushi Asks: Ignoring Reviews

Vanquish
It’s human nature that sometimes we become so stubborn about certain things that nothing can change our opinions. Video games seem to be one of the most divisive topics when it comes to people’s stances on them, second only to movies. Some people are so sure of their perception of a title that, even when the reviews come out one way or another, they turn a blind eye to them.

The most recent example I can think of is The Force Unleashed 2, which comes out today. The game is universally being panned for having repetitive gameplay, a meandering, pointless story and a short length. Should I have shifted my pre-order money onto something else? Possibly, but I’m so sure that I’ll enjoy TFU 2 that I marched resolutely into GameStop and picked that game up with pride. Sure, the clerk may have looked at me like I was crazy, his arched eyebrow saying “have you read the Internet this morning?” but I am willing to look past the reviews and try it for myself, consensus be damned.

That little rant brings us to you guys, and whether this little phenomenon has ever happened to you. Have you ever been so enraptured by a game that, for whatever reason, you choose to clamp down on the part of your brain that regulates common sense and proper spending and just buy that sucker?
Continue reading GamerSushi Asks: Ignoring Reviews

Champions Online Jumps on the Free-to-Play Train

champions online free to playThe MMORPG world is quite the cut-throat business and if you want to survive against World of Warcraft then you have to be prepared to make some changes to your subscription model before your game sinks. The current solution to the “WoW Question” is the Free-to-Play option, where the developer makes their game available to everyone, free of charge, and recoups their costs through microtransactions and other options.

Champions Online, which I played and wrote impressions on way back when I first started at GamerSushi, is the newest adherent to this business plan, making the jump to Free-to-Play in the coming weeks. While people will still be able to subscribe for $14.99 a month (called a Gold subscriber), there will also be a new tier available called a Silver membership. While Gold members will retain all the bells and whistles that came with the package before, Silver members are getting the short end of the stick as benefits their thrifty ways.
Continue reading Champions Online Jumps on the Free-to-Play Train

Noble Map Pack Trailer Shows the Stuff You Wish Would Happen in Halo: Reach

I don’t know about you guys, but every time I see a multiplayer trailer for any game I get a little sad, mostly because I know I can never do anything as awesome as what’s depicted. Hit a man-cannon and Spartan Laser a tank? It’s more likely that I’ll get assassinated. Armor lock an oncoming Banshee so it explodes? I’ll probably miss the button by one second and get splattered. All of these feats and more occur in the new trailer for the upcoming DLC for Halo: Reach, the Noble Map Pack.

Now that we’ve seen the maps in action, has anyone had their opinions revised? Apparently you can go outside the field on Anchor 9 and into space, so consider me sold. I’m desperately trying to get the last Achievement for Halo: Reach (Make it Rain) before the DLC comes out and ruins my 100% completion. Everyone here in the same boat, or am I alone in my shame? The Noble Map Pack hits November 30, 2010.

GameCop Vs LameCop Vs PsychoCop

We’re back with our three favorite enforcers, ready to weigh in on a few hot topics which have cropped up in the past couple of weeks: EA Louse, Gran Tourismo and Fallout: New Vegas’ less than perfect launch.

As always, these sorts of eyebrow-raising news stories are perfect fodder for the Cops. Here’s how they break down: GameCop is a sensible gamer, looking out for your best interests. LameCop is your average forum troll, causing havoc for the lulz, while PsychoCop should be locked up for everyone’s safety. Keep reading to find out what they have to say on these issues:

Continue reading GameCop Vs LameCop Vs PsychoCop

Diablo 3 Brings Demon Hunters and PvP Arenas to BlizzCon

In case you’re living under a rock or just don’t like awesome PC games, BlizzCon 2010 is happening right now in Anaheim, California, and there’s been a few new developments on the Diablo 3 front, which has been pretty silent since last BlizzCon. Today the fifth and final class, the Demon Hunter, was announced with the requisite kick-ass video. Looks like fans of the ranged DPS (damage per second) option will have their choice right here.

The other big announcement today was the introduction of dedicated Player versus Player Arenas for Diablo 3, which should help circumvent the “gank the new guy in town” stuff that keeps happening to me in Diablo 2. Despite these two devilish pieces of info, we still don’t have a release date for Diablo 3, but I’d say late 2011 is probably a safe bet. Anyone getting excited about Diablo 3? Who’s going to roll a Demon Hunter when the game drops?

Seven Minute Metal Gear Solid 3DS Demo is Still in a Dream

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater is probably still one of my favorite video games ever, so the news that this classic will soon become portable on the Nintendo 3DS is enough to give me mind boners, to coin a term Eddy once used for the Dragon Age cinematic trailer. We’ve seen snippets of the Metal Gear Solid 3DS demo here and there since E3, but never in English, and certainly not for seven minutes. I’ve embedded the demo for Metal Gear Solid 3DS below for your viewing pleasure:

No word of a lie, that was incredible. I mean, it lacks the pop of the 3D, but you definitely get a sense that when we get this thing in our hands we’re going to be blown away. When the Snake Eater theme comes on at the end of the video, I kind of lost it. I mean, I am a huge fan of MGS3, so that’s my natural reaction, but how do you guys feel? Were you as riveted as I was? Are you waiting on a different 3DS title to grab you?

Today’s WTF: Angry Minecraft Fans Shut Down Minecraft Because They Want More Minecraft

minecraft ddos attack

Don’t worry, GamerSushi faithful, today’s Minecraft post isn’t about some crazy contraption or a replica of a Star Destroyer (although that would be cool), but instead about a group of pissed-off protesters who are attempting to force the developer to update the game with a hack attack.

According to the blog of the head developer of Minecraft and newly minted owner of Mojang Specifications, Notch, the Minecraft servers starting having trouble last night because of a DDoS, or Distributed Denial of Service, attack. For those unfamiliar with the term, this basically amounts to occupying a specific resource for a long time so no one else can utilize at. As Notch himself put it, it’s kind of like paying for your groceries with small coins, then finding out you don’t have enough after you’ve counted all of them up very slowly.

Notch himself isn’t too sure why Minecraft is being targeted, but Kotaku dug up an apparent manifesto on 4chan, which is the Internet equivalent of Mos Eisley from Star Wars. According to the rant, a group of hackers banded together to force Notch to update Minecraft which, for a half-price Alpha, isn’t being improved upon fast enough in their eyes. Here’s the group’s alleged ransom letter: Continue reading Today’s WTF: Angry Minecraft Fans Shut Down Minecraft Because They Want More Minecraft

Battlefield: Bad Company 2: Vietnam Trailer Loves the Smell of Napalm in The Morning

Out of all the multiplayer-centric franchises out there, I’ve got to say that the Battlefield games are still my favorite so anything new on this series is bound to get me “stimulated”, if you’ll pardon the inside joke. Bad Company 2 is still hands-down the best multiplayer experience I’ve had this year (Reach is a close second), so needless to say that the upcoming Vietnam expansion is right up my rubble-strewn alley. Check out the new trailer, which gives us the price and a vague release date:

Four multiplayer maps for fifteen dollars? I’ve payed more for less, so I’m happy as a clam. What about you guys? Anyone going to be picking this up? I know that Bad Company 2 isn’t super popular on the Xbox anymore, but it’s still kicking on PC, which is where I’ll be hanging my hat. Let us know!

THQ’s Danny Bilson to Publishers: Make New IPs

THQ New IP
It’s always refreshing to see someone high up in the games industry look at things the way we do. While there are going to be some people who won’t feel the same, we bemoaned the lack of original games in a recent podcast (and many times before) because we’re getting a little tired of spending our money on the same thing every year.

At the recent opening of their Montreal studio, THQ’s Executive VP of Core Games Danny Bilson talked with IndustryGamers about a variety of things, one of them being the importance of new intellectual properties, or IPs. While most publishers seem to be content to push out a new title in a franchise every year with little experimentation because it’s safer, Bilson argues that this could be more harmful in the long run. See his reasoning after the jump: Continue reading THQ’s Danny Bilson to Publishers: Make New IPs

GamerSushi Asks: Launch Day Frustrations

fallout-new-vegas bugs

It’s happened to all of us. We get home from work or school, tear the shrink wrapping off the box or boot up Steam, only to discover that the video game gods have different plans for us. Whether it’s a RAIDed video card melting inside of an improperly ventilated Alienware PC or Games for Windows Live just decided to take a day off (or even the dreaded Red Ring of Death), there are many malignant forces at work attempting to prevent you from playing your game.

The last sort of launch day shenanigans I can remember happened with Fallout 3, which needed to go through Games for Windows Live and just didn’t like the fact that I kept trying to sign into my Gamer Profile. I eventually got it to work, but at the cost of a day’s worth of Fallout. Recently, I’ve heard that New Vegas is pretty unstable, and has been giving users some grief when they try to load it through Steam.

I didn’t have any problems with New Vegas personally (except for my weapon clipping through my body in third-person view), but I was wondering if you guys had any launch-day horror stories to tell. Did your computer blue screen, or were you just unable to play your game? Any Xbox owners experience the RRoD, which always seems to come out of the woodwork on the launch of big games. I’ve never heard of a PlayStation crapping out on a new game, but I’d love to hear about it. Tell us your harrowing tale in the comments!

What’s In a Game: The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask

majora's maskI’ve made no secret about my mad love for the Nintendo 64’s Majora’s Mask; I might even go as far to say that it is my favorite Zelda title. Why am I so infatuated with the game, though? The general consensus was that this Ocarina follow-up was OK, but it lacked the magic, the charm and the feel. I couldn’t disagree more, because Majora’s Mask was the darkest, most thematic and most engaging Zelda ever made.

Let’s start with the beginning of the game, where a child Link is riding Epona through a forest, searching for a lost friend. Right away the game established the creepy tone, with a small boy, albeit well equipped for a fight, riding through a dark misty forest. The fact that you play as young Link is meant to make you feel powerless in some respects, particularly more so as you progress through the opening chapters. Adult Link is a favorite of gamers, so right away Nintendo might have alienated some Ocarina of Time fans.
Continue reading What’s In a Game: The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask

Go Behind the Scenes of Halo: Reach’s Deliver Hope

The most recent of the Halo live action trailers, Deliver Hope for Halo:Reach was a pretty decent affair, featuring a lot of firsts for the commercials such as live action Spartans and Elites, among other things. Microsoft recently put up a behind the scenes video for Deliver Hope that delves into all the work that went into making this trailer a reality:

I always appreciate these kinds of sneak peeks, but seeing a man don Kat’s armor kind of ruined it for me. Also, note how they only show snippets of the Elite costume but never give us a look at the whole thing in motion. Overall, it’s still a pretty cool video showing the making of one of the most elaborate commercials of all time.