Eddy has written a total of 422,116 words on this site.

I write about samurai girls and space marines. Writer for Smooth Few Films. Rooster Teeth Freelancer. Author of Red vs. Blue, The Ultimate Fan Guide, out NOW!

GamerSushi Top 10 Games of 2010

Another year of gaming has gone by, which means it’s time for us to reflect on the games that really made 2010 stand out all its own as one to be remembered. This trip around the sun has produced some clunkers, disappointments, triumphs, wins, fails, works of art and everything in between. We saw quality releases from January through December, and a few surprises that threw us for a major loop in the best way possible.

To create this list, the GamerSushi staff (myself, Nick, Anthony, Mitch and Jeff) all made our own individual top 10 lists. From there, Nick used the powerful science of magicmatics to conjure up a final list, based on some mumbo jumbo he did with a point system. What you see is something like an average of all of our lists together, and one that we’re all happy with, minus a few honorable mentions of course.

So, without further ramblings from myself, I present the Top 10 games of 2010!

Best of 2010

Continue reading GamerSushi Top 10 Games of 2010

Finding the Sweet Spot in Demos

Enslaved Demo

With the break we took on GamerSushi over the last couple of weeks, I suddenly played more video games than I’ve played in a long while. Correlation? Probably.

One of the games I sampled in my several week long buffet was Enslaved. The game was good, but not great, although I would still recommend it for anybody looking for an Uncharted fix with not-quite-as-good gameplay. Sadly, the game underperformed like crazy, and is reportedly one of the bigger busts of the year in terms of sales.

Part of me wonders how much of this has to do with the game’s demo. Like many games, Enslaved’s trial covers the first level of the game, which provides a basic introduction to the world and the main character, Monkey. And when I say basic, I really mean it. It’s meant as the set up for the story rather than the gameplay, with incredibly linear platforming sections and only the slightest of combat. Much of the game revolves around the co-op aspect with the AI partners you encounter, and the platforming and combat grow from there. The first level is in no way representative of the game as a whole, so it’s baffling to me that Namco Bandai and Ninja Theory would choose that as the sample that they wanted people to play. Continue reading Finding the Sweet Spot in Demos

GamerSushi Asks: What Are Your Gaming Resolutions?

RDR Undead Nightmare

Happy new year, folks. Yesterday marked the first day of the brand new year. Surprisingly, this blue and green ball keeps spinning along through space, un-attacked by alien oppressors. One day, though, this will happen. I have foreseen it in the moving cinema pictures.

Anyway, now that the holiday season is largely over, how did your gaming go? What games have you been playing? For me, I’ve been knocking out quite a few games. I started with Forgotten Sands, then moved onto Enslaved, and now I’m playing Undead Nightmare and lots of NBA 2K11. One of my resolutions this year is to just enjoy more books and games, getting a healthy dose of each one of those every week. Something called Web Zeroes and writing a couple of books got in the way last year, but I won’t let that happen this year.

So what about you guys? Do you have any resolutions or gaming related goals you’ve set for this year? Any non-gaming ones? Go!

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

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!

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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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

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?

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

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

The GamerSushi Show, Ep 13: VGA Special

VGA 2010Wow. So the VGA’s happened last night, and anybody that’s remotely interested in gaming news has probably heard by now – 2011 is going to be insane. With Portal 2, Uncharted 3, Mass Effect 3, Elder Scrolls V, Forza 4, Resistance 3, Killzone 3, Dragon Age 2, Twisted Metal, Last Guardian and Gears of War 3… it’s looking like many of us are going to go broke just trying to keep up with everything.

As I’ve said previously, I’m not exactly a fan of televised video game anything, because it seems that the people producing the material have no idea what really appeals to gamers. While the VGAs had some gimmicky and annoying bits about them last night, they were certainly better than years before, primarily because a lot of the content skewed towards gaming more than it has in the past.

Anyway, before all of this insanity happened, the GamerSushi dudes got together to record a podcast and make some predictions. We thought it’d be cool to post just after, so you can fact check us against everything that happened. Here’s the list of official VGA 2010 winners if you’re interested. Beyond the VGA’s, we play another one of Nick’s awesome games and even talk about the reveals of Uncharted 3 and Mass Effect 3.

Hopefully you guys enjoy our goofy rantings. Once again, please go rate this cast on iTunes and subscribe with the handy links to the right. Enjoy! Continue reading The GamerSushi Show, Ep 13: VGA Special

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Who’s Watching the VGA’s?

Spike Video Game Awards 2010Friends, gamers, dudes, etc – did you know that the 2010 Video Game Awards are on tonight? They’ll be airing twice in a row on Spike, so that you can catch all of the video games in their televised glory.

Honestly, I’m not always that excited about the VGA’s, but this year rumors abound with all of the potential reveals and game announcements. For one, we’ll get to see the first glimpses of Unchated 3, as well as Batman: Arkham City. And if the rumors hold true, Mass Effect 3. I’m hoping the show itself isn’t mega lame, but I’m willing to bear with it if it means that we get to see all kinds of crazy trailers and announcements for games we didn’t know about previously.

And in addition to all of that, there will be that whole “awards” thing, where different games get honored for their achievements. If you haven’t seen the full list, we’ve got it posted here, so be sure to check that out and make your early predictions.

If you’re hankering for even more VGA talk, our podcast is going to drop tomorrow, and this week’s edition is all about our VGA predictions, so you can check if we’re right.

So, who’s actually going to be watching this, and what games are you hoping to see? Which ones do you want to win? Go!

Call of Duty: Black Ops Outsells Everything, Ever

Black Ops

Yikes. So apparently, Call of Duty: Black Ops isn’t only a fairly good time and a fun game to play, it also cures cancer, makes sandwiches and prints out posters of Christina Hendricks. Wait, no. It doesn’t actually do all that other stuff. So why in the world are people buying it like the future of the free world depends on it?

Regardless of the reason, Call of Duty: Black Ops has sold over 14 million copies worldwide, and more than 8.4 million in the U.S. alone. That means that it has barely passed the likes of great gaming staples such as the Mass Effect and Uncharted series combined. It’s also sold more than Grand Theft Auto 3, Ocarina of Time and Metal Gear Solid. And Halo 3. So maybe that doesn’t mean it’s outsold everything, ever (the Super Mario games will probably always stay on top), but dang if this isn’t still impressive.

It’s seriously hard to wrap my head around the sheer juggernaut capabilities of the Call of Duty franchise. Every year it gains more and more steam, and it’s hard to imagine that it won’t outlive its welcome some time in the next few years. That being said, I plan on buying it soon.

Who’s still loving this game which is apparently the Chosen One of all things video game, ever?

Source – Kotaku

Today’s WTF: A Whole Decade of The Old Republic

The Old Republic

I think a few years back, if you told me I was going to get 10 solid years of the Knights of the Old Republic universe I would have either called you a liar or maybe pushed you into a pile of broken glass for the way you were taunting my gaming psyche. However, now that I know that the next entry into Bioware’s beloved Star Wars RPG franchise is actually going to be an MMO, that makes a little more sense. Sort of.

According to EA CFO Eric Brown, the gaming giant isn’t just hoping for something to come along and help them take a shot at WoW, but they also want a game that can be sustained for the better part of ten years. I’ll let him explain:

“We think we can run and operate a very successful and profitable MMO at different levels… The key thing here is to really perfect the product. We’re shooting for an extremely high quality game experience. We view this as a 10 year opportunity.”

Yikes. That’s a long time to stick on the same MMO. Obviously, the big dog on the block here is WoW, and if you’re wondering they are in the middle of their 7th year. I’d say it’s pretty ambitious to shoot for a new MMO in this market in general, but to hope that it has the same staying power as the PS2 seems more than a bit optimistic. Considering that the game is coming out in 2011, that means they could still be milking this thing in 2021. By then, “old” will be the most appropriate title imaginable. But hey, I’ve been wrong before.

What do you guys think? Am I being a Debbie Downer here?

Source – Eurogamer

Experience PC Envy with the 3DMark 11 Launch

If you PC gamers were unaware, 3DMark 11 dropped today with a few versions for you to try out on your fancy machines and see how it stacks up in today’s market. Strangely enough, the last time I attempted a PC benchmark was all the way back around 2002 or 2003, back when I was still into the whole PC gaming scene. As I’ve said on numerous occasions, the rig I’m working on right now was built in 2005, so I imagine my benchmark leaves quite a bit to be desired.

Here’s a video of the test from version 11 in all of its glory and fidelity:

For those of you that are super serious about the whole benchmarking thing, there are a couple of advanced versions of 3DMark 11 for you to grab, including one professional installment that will cost you $995 big ones. I don’t know anyone that hardcore about it, but there you go. For the rest of us normal dudes, the free version should suffice.

Did anyone else try this out? What was your score? Go!

Source – 3DMark11

Gaming’s Most Bizarre Endings

Solidus Snake

There’s nothing more satisfying than beating a video game that you’ve been sinking a lot of time into. For me, watching the resolution of all of those hours of gameplay is pure bliss, especially if it comes on the heels of some long dungeon grinding or a particularly epic boss fight to tie off the whole experience. I love that feeling of setting the controller, and then kicking back to see what kind of ending I earned. You know, unless that ending sucks.

Sadly, this has happened more times than ought to, and I think the most recent examples of this for me would be Alan Wake. My wife even looked over at me after it was finished and asked if I was mad, following that question up with “I would be if I just played that crap.” Usually, when I’m slapped in the face with a bad ending, I just kind of stare at my TV in shock rather than anger. I don’t know, maybe I hope there’s a secret ending hidden somewhere.

It seems that I’m not the only one who’s experienced bad endings though, seeing as how UGO put together a list of the 11 Weirdest Game Endings of all time. Here’s a hint: MGS2 is number 1, because of that weird Solidus Snake business. Definitely worth the read, and you’ll be able to laugh at it alot, unless of course you played those games and were burned by them.

What game endings have left you dissatisfied with the outcome? Any games that were particularly weird? Go!

Source – UGO

The GamerSushi Show, Ep 12: Characters and Cameras

Epic MickeyIt’s the first week of December, so we’re bringing a brand new edition of the GamerSushi Show, back in our shorter and more frequent format. If we can keep rolling with this, you should see one of these bad boys each and every week.

In this edition, we cover a whole slew of topics, including a brief look back at 2010, and a look forward at the titles we’re going to be playing in an effort to close the year out strong. We also tackle the release of Epic Mickey, one of the Wii’s new flagship titles, and discuss the game’s virtues and a couple of its shortcomings, including third person video game cameras and why it seems so hard for developers to get it right. After that we tackle a new game from Nick (which Anthony dominates) and then take a look at Game Informer’s list of 30 Characters that Defined a Decade.

So, as you can see, just because things are shorter does not mean we don’t have anything to talk about. Once again, please go rate this cast on iTunes and subscribe with the handy links to the right. Enjoy! Continue reading The GamerSushi Show, Ep 12: Characters and Cameras

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GamerSushi Asks: Favorite Sleepers of 2010?

Pac Man

Every year, there’s a bunch of games that seem to slip through our nets as gamers. As frantic as we are about our hobby, there’s absolutely no way we can manage to grab or buy everything so that we can get a full sample of the year for review. I know that in my life, I pretty much have to narrow down my buys to a handful of games and really cut it off there, for fear of an angry wife or an empty checkbook.

Because of this whole “not enough money and time” thing that reality constantly slams us with, occasionally a few great games slip by the wayside. On top of that, sometimes the gaming media at large doesn’t always properly cover everything in a way that highlights some of the greats. They tend to focus on the Halo: Reach’s, the Valve games, the Call of Duty’s out there while ignoring some of the other sleepers.

For instance, I keep hearing things about the following games: Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit, Pac-Man Championship Edition DX, Vanquish, Enslaved, Super Meat Boy, Donkey Kong Country Returns, and Amnesia: The Dark Descent for PC, but haven’t been able to see or play any of these games as of yet. I think that needs to change.

So what do you guys think? Do you have a favorite sleeper hit of 2010 so far? Is there a game that you’ve been loving lately (or even earlier) that doesn’t always seem to get a lot of buzz? Share!