Last year, EA surprised much of the gaming world with several brand new titles that showed innovation and style, opening gamers up to the possibility that the company had turned over a new leaf. One of those titles was Mirror’s Edge, the first person platformer that puts you behind the eyes and in the shoes of Faith, a runner in a future dystopia. She climbs rooftops and leaps across alleys, and you control it all from her point of view.
One of the first things you’ll notice when you turn the game on is the design, the feel of Mirror’s Edge as you play. The city’s rooftops are pristine, clean and vibrant. The camera sways slightly with Faith’s run, and you can hear her breathe from the the strain of diving from platform to platform. Working together, it really does simulate first person in a way that I haven’t experienced before, and it is incredibly immersive.
Continue reading Review: Mirror’s Edge
Lots of people crack on Nintendo for not making hardcore games anymore. Today, a patent went public that may confirm this suspicion for many people: 
Kind of funny how time flies. Now that about 2-3 years has gone by for each console, we’re now over the hump in terms of this generation, and descending on the back end towards the demise of each machine’s lifespan. Crazy, no?
With what seems to be just a so-so year for the XBox 360 and a stellar year for the PS3 coming up, one wonders what Nintendo is up to for the future. So far, there are many that feel that Nintendo has left the hardcore gamers behind, but the overwhelmingly huge sales that they’ve been raking in deserve lots of praise.
Every generation has its underrated games. The ones that get overlooked, missed and perhaps swallowed in the wake of the hype of other gaming behemoths. I feel like one of those games for this generation has to be Mass Effect, which presented a level of story and cinematic presentation that I feel was unprecedented and largely unnoticed when it dropped.
I am maybe the least handy person in a world. I can’t build anything for crap. You should have seen my lame shop class creations. So that’s why I’m always absurdly impressed by the things that gamers come up with given the time, determination and the resources.
Ever since Halo claimed the console FPS throne, several games have come and gone to try to take the title “Halo Killer”. As if all of FPS-dom were some huge hill that could be overtaken, and fans would automatically shift their allegiances to this new god-like app with the ability to fell Master Chief and his minions.
It’s kind of a given that in terms of AAA titles, Microsoft has really set the bar high over the last couple of years. From games like Mass Effect, Gears of War, Halo, and even some great XBLA titles like Castle Crashers or Braid, the 360 set itself up as a gaming machine with some unique content. Will 2009 continue the trend?
I remember one of the coolest things when I was a kid was getting a subscription to Nintendo Power. The idea of getting a printed magazine each month about video games was incredible, and through the years I moved around to different gaming mags. While the Internet is a great and wonderful thing, it has slowly and inevitably contributed to the death of print media.
In the epic fanboy debates of ages past and present, the ultimate factor always turns out to be console exclusives. Being able to tout a game that the other console doesn’t have wins major points, even if the other side pretends that they wouldn’t touch Halo or Metal Gear Solid if it was on their console of choice. Yeah. Right.
In terms of games, the last couple of years have belonged to Microsoft, with just a few exceptions for both Nintendo and Sony. The slew of games for the 360 since 2007 seems to have finally slowed though, and we’ve gobbled up the bevy of FPS games til our eyes have turned red. Now that the 360 doesn’t seem to have much on its plate, this could easily be Sony’s year, and it’s about time.
Seriously. Kick me right in the nuts, because I must be dreaming. I’m not really sure how this hasn’t gathered more attention recently, but it’s true- 
There’s nothing worse than being super excited about a video game only to have it suck. We all know that all-too-familiar pang of disappointment as we pop a game in the disc drive and then play it, only to wonder aloud “WTF” as the game really gets moving. Or not moving, if that’s the case. So what were the disappointments of last year?
You all know that I’m not a huge fan of Nintendo these days. I won’t hide it, and very often (too often, I know) I like to prod Nintendo where I can, dishing out death by papercut through my snide remarks and witty criticisms. Most of that is due to the Wii, which I feel is a colossal stab in the back to the Nintendo hardcore, but unfortunately, the machine is a ludicrous success, so I guess it doesn’t matter.