Category: Gaming Theory

Do You Do Tabletop Gaming?

table top gaming

Just because I’m a huge nerd, I’ve been wanting to try Dungeons and Dragons for a while, especially after attending a demo during PAX Prime last year. I do tend to restrict my gaming to electronic devices, but I have dabbled with Warhammer 40,000 in the past and a few collectible card games here and there.

Even though I’ve given up getting together a group of friends locally to play D&D, I’ve joined a game with one of my friends and a few of his guild mates from World of Warcraft. Using a program called Vassal, we’re able to replicate the D&D experience to a tee and it’s been a lot of fun. We haven’t really gotten that far in our adventure (and I almost got killed by wererats) but I’m looking forward to making the game part of my weekly routine.

It’s nice to mix things up once and while and playing D&D is a far cry from my typical gaming sessions, even if I am using a program on the PC. As a nice side benefit, I’m finally getting to experience the game that influenced generations of game designers, so I feel like I’ll come to appreciate video gaming a little bit more because of that. What about you guys? Do any of you play table top games, and if you do, which ones do you play? Dungeons and Dragons, Warhammer, or something different?

Why I Feel Sorry for this Generation’s Kid Gamers

FF7I feel sorry for this generation’s kid gamers.

I’ll unpack that, but first I’m going to apologize up front for a couple of things.

For starters, I’m going to sound like a crotchety jaded gamer. I may only be 27 years old, but as a gamer that practically makes me ancient, someone that grew up with gaming’s hallowed yesteryear, raised on the classics and growing up right alongside my favorite hobby. Such a thing can be said about few other mediums.

Secondly, I’m not going to say anything wholly original. This has all been said before, and probably in much better, prettier, or funnier ways. I’ll probably come across as some kind of gaming elitist, or the equivalent to the guy that sits on his porch with a bum leg and says “back in my day,” but I’m OK with that.

Now that that’s out of the way, I’ll say it again. I feel sorry for the crop of youngsters (how’s that for a crotchety word) that’s growing up in this generation of games. Continue reading Why I Feel Sorry for this Generation’s Kid Gamers

Uncharted 3 Multiplayer Goes For The Gold

Uncharted 3

Uncharted 2 was widely considered one of the best single-player games of all time. But the multiplayer, while not quite reaching that level of greatness, was nothing to sneer at either. From the enjoyable standalone co-op levels to the cover/platform based versus modes, it was a surprise to many that Naughty Dog had done such a great job on their first time out.

So it should be no surprise to anyone that they aren’t content to simply throw in a few new skins and ship it out again, as is. Gamasutra conducted an interview with Naughty Dog co-president Evan Wells specifically to ask about the refinements being made and the ambitions of the developer.

One new feature is something called, “Power Plays” which allow a trailing team to get back into the game, if things aren’t going according to plan.

One of those power plays is called “marked man,” during which one or two members on the leading team get marked, and if the trailing team can kill them, they’ll get three points for that kill so it can help them catch up. It’s a very interesting dynamic because as soon as someone gets marked, the opposing team can all see exactly where he is and the leading team gets to defend him, so it changes the experience for this short little burst.

Personally, that sounds kind of awesome to me. I like that the dynamic of a game changes quickly, forcing you to react and adapt, instead of playing mindless deathmatch all day long. Wells goes on to say that they are working hard to ensure this feature doesn’t cause Mario Kart-esque “rubber banding” and irritate gamers.

So what do you think about a feature like this to liven things up a bit? Nathan Drake demands your answer!

Source – Gamasutra

Bro Game Reviews

Alright nerds, it’s time to get real around here. When I’m not busy slamming beers and stealing your girlfriends, I sometimes play video games. As a guy who really knows his stuff, I thought I’d do all you dweebs a favor and tell you which of these upcoming games are worth your time and money. I’ve been convinced by the other dudes around here to use the grading scale to rate these games, so let’s pop those collars and get down to business. This is gonna be boss. Continue reading Bro Game Reviews

What Should the Setting of Assassin’s Creed 3 Be?

assassins creed 3 settings

Now that we know all about Assassin’s Creed: Revelations and its place in the series as the conclusion of Ezio’s story, people are starting to wonder what the future settings of Assassin’s Creed will be. Judging by your comments on the article, we’re all a little sick of the Renaissance (and the annualization of the titles) so which time period should the games visit next?

This has been investigated a bit over at IGN, who can turn out an interesting feature when they want to. They suggest four unique settings that haven’t really been explored in the gaming space outside of a few recent titles. While a Wild West Assassin’s Creed would end up being unfavorably compared to Red Dead Redemption, a post-World War 2 (that conflict being a period the developers wanted to avoid) game focused on the hunting down of Nazi war criminals who escaped prosecution would fit rather well into the existing fictional framework as well as provide players with a relatively fresh setting to discover.

One of the most appealing things about Assassin’s Creed has always been, at least for me, the dedicated recreation of parts of our history not usually explored in video games. While I’m practically gagging for an AC game set in feudal Japan, a post-WW2 or Industrial London game would be tip top as well. What do you guys think will be the setting of the next Assassin’s Creed? Will it be another slice of the past, or will we finally get to see Desmond steal the spotlight? What would make for interesting multiplayer arenas? Go!

Source – IGN

GamerSushi Asks: Do Games Fail at Endings?

Red Dead Redemption

We’ve talked about video game endings multiple times on this site, but I just had to bring the issue back up after reading an excellent article about today by Christian Higley over at Digital Hippo about How Video Games Fail to End.

In it, Higley explores the idea that many games fail at a very basic level of storytelling: narrative structure. While stories typically have a first, second and final act, most games end the game right after the second act, before the real conclusion can actually set in. Red Dead Redemption is one of the few games I can think of that actually gives gamers a third act (and does it to great effect), in that Marston is allowed to return home, and the player spends time winding the story down before its sad but powerful conclusion.

While that’s not a new argument, the writer goes a step further by pointing out that most games are even missing the first act, choosing instead to thrust players right into the second act. The more I thought about it, the more I realized how true it is: games typically begin at the “inciting incident”. It’s the equivalent of starting A New Hope at the very moment Luke’s aunt and uncle are killed. Or in many cases, even after that. Continue reading GamerSushi Asks: Do Games Fail at Endings?

The GamerSushi Show, Ep 27: The Portal One

Well, it was only inevitable that when we all finished Portal 2, the next podcast would be mostly dominated by that discussion. So, Episode 27 is the fruition of that idea. In it, we chat for a very long time about Portal 2, and then we move on to other big topics from the last couple of weeks, including Nintendo’s Project Cafe and the crazy huge hack of PSN.

After all of that tomfoolery, we jump into an exciting game of Fill in the Blank that was extremely well-played by myself. Trust me, you’ll want to hold onto your butts from my amazing vocabulaciousness. Anyway, be careful of the Portal 2 section, which makes up the first half hour, because the discussion comes complete with single player spoilers. If you’re not wanting to hear those, feel free to skip about 30 minutes ahead, as indicated by the time chart below.

What are you waiting for? Listen, rate and enjoy, yo. Continue reading The GamerSushi Show, Ep 27: The Portal One

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Today’s Sadface: Mass Effect 3 Delayed to 2012

Mass Effect 3

Say it isn’t so!

Well, it looks like the first of the AAA delay casualties has struck, and boy if it isn’t a big one. It was only a matter of time before one of the many gaming titles threw up the white flag for 2011, and it looks Mass Effect 3 is the first. Today a Bioware employee posted a quote on the Bioware forums from Casey Hudson, Executive Producer of the Mass Effect series, announcing the delay.

Today we have confirmed that Mass Effect 3 will be released in the first three months of 2012. The development team is laser focused on making sure Mass Effect 3 is the biggest, boldest and best game in the series, ensuring that it exceeds everyone’s expectations.

Pretty standard delay business, really. Honestly, I’m not too surprised, seeing as how the turn around time between ME2 and ME3 seemed to defy all logic anyway. We can only hope that this makes the game better in the long run. In the short term, my wallet can breathe a little easier this fall.

So what do you guys think? Upset? Disappointed? How do you feel about the reason for the delay, which seems to be to adjust mechanics that will increase Mass Effect 3’s market opportunity? Go!

Sources – Bioware Forums, Joystiq

GamerSushi Asks: Gaming Hardware Horror Stories

gaming hardware horror stories

It’s a sad thing, but sometimes we lose our precious gaming hardware through the cruel machinations of an uncaring universe. I know the pain of lending a GameBoy to a friend only to have it returned minus an intact screen and case, or felt the sting of seeing all my game discs laid out bare in the hot afternoon soon, or resting upon the heat dispersal vent for the Xbox 360.

I’ve never had anything really truly horrible happen to me aside from the aforementioned GameBoy incident, but I do know of a computer that has melted not once, but twice. The first time my friend booted up his PC only to be greeted with an unfamiliar beeping noise was a harrowing experience, and when it happened again recently, we knew the device was toast. In both cases, it had been the video cards that had melted; they were originally in a RAID configuration, but over the six years of that computer’s life span, they both bit the dust.

As is so often the case here on GamerSushi, I bring this topic up because I was wondering if any of you have a similar story, or perhaps worse. Ever throw your Wiimote into the TV, or cracked a controller in a fit of rage? Let us know in the comments, you crazy kids.

Diablo III on the “Home Stretch”

Diablo 3

Urge to squee… rising…

OK, I think I can hold off long enough to type for a few minutes. In the midst of all of Sony’s craziness, plus that whole Bin Laden thing, you might have missed out on some Diablo III news this past weekend. And of course, who could blame you?

And what’s the news, you ask? Well, Blizzard gave a bit of a hands-on preview of Diablo 3 to the New York Times last week. While the article has some nice tidbits about the game that we mostly knew, and a few we didn’t know (such as a much simpler trading availability), the big shocker comes near the end of the article. Jay Wilson, Diablo III’s director, had this to say about the game’s development.

“We’re definitely in the home stretch. We’re crunching. This is when the magic happens.”

Now, maybe I’m just reaching here, but does this mean we could possibly see a Diablo III release in 2011? Blizzard as of yet has been noncommittal about when the game is going to come out, and have seemingly gone back and forth on it a few times.

What do you guys think? Am I being too optimistic here? Place your bets on 2011 or 2012. Go!

Source – NYTimes

When Co-Op Gaming Brings Out the Worst in You

magicka co-op gaming

Ever since Eddy built his new gaming PC, we’ve been planning to do a little Magicka and last Friday we had our chance. Eddy, Nick, Jeff and myself all hopped on Skype and booted up the co-op magic fest and a blast was had by all. Well, mostly by all; I discovered that day that I have a bit of a tendency to be a (huge) jerk when people don’t perform to my exact specifications.

I can’t quite remember the specifics of the incident now, but having completed Magicka before, and therefore being an expert at the game, I am sad to admit that I wasn’t exactly the best guide to be shepherding a group of noobies through this unforgiving game. Just because I know how to do most of the powerful spells off by heart, and I’m willing to sacrifice an ally for the sake of casting lighting, doesn’t mean I’m the nominal leader.

Even though cooperation is at the heart of the Magicka experience, I was letting my own hubris get in the way of teamwork and to my fellow wizards at arms, I apologize. Now that my sordid laundry has been hung out to dry, metaphorically speaking, I was wondering if any of you have a similar horror story. Were you playing a game with a friend and you tweaked out on them? Do you maybe just want to laugh at the fact that Magicka turned me into a huge douche? Cast some comments!

Top Six: Mitch’s Favorite Video Game Theme Songs

Music is an inextricable part of gaming, as much as it is for every other visual medium. Music can pull us into the moment, bring up the appropriate feelings and make something unforgettable. Throughout our hobby’s long history, we’ve had a great many composers gift us with some incredible songs, all the way from the NES era (and before) to today. Anthony did something similar a while back with his weekly music posts, but I thought I’d collect my favorite songs in one handy dandy top six list. Why six, you ask? Because six sells.
Continue reading Top Six: Mitch’s Favorite Video Game Theme Songs

Eight Video Game Urban Legends to Keep You Up at Night

super mario galaxy 2 urban legends

Just like anything else, video game have become a source for urban legends, creepy little anecdotes that get passed around to keep the nerdy and guillible up at night. The comedy wizards over at Cracked have cooked up a list of eight video game urban legends that just happen to be true.

Now, I don’t know about the GLaDOS one, as that picture of her interpreted as a bound woman is just a piece of art made by a fan, but the rest of them seem pretty plausible to me. That Mario Galaxy 2 one is especially disturbing. What are those aliens doing up there?

So what do you guys think of these urban legends? Are they for real, or just a bunch of people looking at video games a little to hard? Honestly, can these even be urban legends since all of these things are purposefully put into these games by the developers, essentially making them unnerving Easter eggs? Hit us up with your thoughts!

Source – Cracked

Gamestradamus Predicts: E3 2011

Every now and then, we like to pay a little visit to our good friend, Gamestradamus, the Gaming Fortune Teller. Last year, we asked him his predictions about the Nintendo 3DS, which turned out to be largely true, minus a few small quibbles. Gamestradamus is different than the rest of us lowly gamers in that he is gifted with the ability to see into the great beyond, the ever-future, the swirling blender of time – and he can tell us bits of what he knows.

As the E3 fervor is getting ready to build into complete mania over the next few weeks, we thought we’d pay Gamestradamus a visit to glean his secrets before the rumors broke. What we found was shocking, titillating (tee hee) and worth reporting about here at GamerSushi. Beware, gents. Spoilers. Continue reading Gamestradamus Predicts: E3 2011

What Can Sony Do to Regain Your Trust?

PSN

By now, we’ve all heard about the massive data breach of the Playstation Network by a hacker of unknown origin. If this is somehow breaking news to you, IGN has a nice summation of the entire saga here. As someone who has a credit card linked to my PSN account, not to mention my undying desire to play Portal 2 co-op, I am pretty steamed. (Get it?)

Sony and the hacker both share a lot of blame and I don’t think Sony kept it secret for a week that our information was stolen, but the fact remains: Sony has lost the trust of its consumer base. Granted, there will be fanboys who defend them to the last breath, but those people don’t count. Also, one benefit from this fiasco: it makes it real easy to spot the fanboys.

So what will it take for Sony to win back your trust? Free loot? Cross-game chat? Paying for credit protection for 2 years, as some have suggested? Personally, I want all of the above and maybe a little more. I am disgusted by this whole thing and I want more than a silly email and some vague mutterings about checking my statement.

What say you? Has Sony lost you forever? Speak now or forever hold your PSN anger!

Source: IGN

Poll: What’s Your Current Game of the Year?

Seeing as how we’re almost five months into the glorious year of 2011, and given that we’ve already seen a slew of quality releases, I thought I’d conduct an informal poll (TWSS) and find out what your current Game of the Year is.

While we do have a few luminary titles coming at us in a few weeks, the recent release of Portal 2 gave us undoubtedly one of this year’s critical juggernauts. Gaming is for all types though, so maybe you liked something else? Let us know which game you’re rooting for in this handy-dandy poll we cooked up. Chances are, you’ll like a game with the number “2” in it. Just a guess.

For anyone wondering why I picked these games, I basically selected big ticket titles over a score of 87 on Metacritic. If you’d like me to add something else, please let me know in the comments!

What's Your Current Game of the Year for 2011?

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Is Valve Done with Single Player Games?

Half Life 2 Episode 2

Interesting. I’m not sure if you guys have heard about Geoff Keighley’s The Final Hours of Portal 2 app for the iPad, but it sounds like a fascinating look into the development of Portal 2, particularly the last few weeks before it was done. Keighley was given a staggering amount of access to Valve, much like when he covered the Final Hours of Half-Life 2, and I’ve heard the results are phenomenal.

On top of being a remarkable piece of journalism, it seems that Keighley reports on a few choice remarks from Gabe Newell himself, particularly about the future of Valve when it comes to single player gaming. Apparently, Here’s what Keighley had to say:

“Portal 2 will probably be Valve’s last game with an isolated single-player experience… What this all means is something Newell is still trying to figure out.”

Apparently, he heard this from Newell during his time at Valve. Considering Valve’s track record seems to be skewing towards more multiplayer and co-op focused games, it doesn’t surprise me that much. However, it does make me curious about what the future could hold for a title like Half-Life 2: Episode 3…

So what do you guys think about this quote and about its implications? Is it just the gaming press getting out of hand? Or could you see there being something to this idea? It should be noted that Valve allowed Keighley to publish whatever he wanted with no limitations as soon as Portal 2 was done, so it’s very likely that he did in fact hear this straight from Gabe’s mouth.

Thoughts?

Source – Kotaku

GamerSushi Asks: Would You Play an MMO Shooter?

Brink

Ever since the wild success of WoW, MMOs have been the apple of every major publisher’s eye. They all want one, they’re all desperate to have one, but it turns out that making lightning strike twice is a bit trickier than anyone could have imagined. Note the sarcasm, there.

However, Paul Wedgewood, CEO of Splash Damage (currently working on the awesome-looking FPS Brink), feels that there is a large portion of the market untapped when it comes to MMOs. Specifically, he’s wondering why there aren’t any major MMO FPS games.

“You know, for a long time it hasn’t been technically feasible because you need super low latency connections for good shooter combat and that’s generally incompatible with 1000 people being on a server at the same time… But there are enough solutions around now so that it’s reasonably feasible. I know that there are some teams on the periphery working on ideas for this.”

So what do you guys think? I know we’ve got some WoW players here and more than our fair share of FPS gamers. Would you guys play an FPS MMO? Are we at the point where you think a good one is plausible? What do you think would make you take a peek? And is anyone excited about Brink? Go!

Source – CVG

The GamerSushi Show, Ep 26: Nintendo Power

Another week, another podcast. This week’s cast covers the big happenings from last week: namely, the rumors of Nintendo’s new console, as well as the massive-but-actually-less-massive-than-everyone-first-though Portal 2 ARG. We actually kick things off a little differently in this episode, starting first with the game of percentages.

After all of that riveting discussion (and my consequent victory), we dive into a lengthy conversation about our video game level bucket lists, and the levels we think everyone should play before they keel over. I’m curious to see if you guys like the format of the game first, or if you like it the way it’s been. Let us know!

No podcast will be out next week, since it’s a holiday weekend and all. Which saddens me, as it means we’ll have to wait that much longer before giving our Portal 2 impressions.

So, listen. Then rate. And of course, enjoy. Continue reading The GamerSushi Show, Ep 26: Nintendo Power

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The Making of AC: Brotherhood’s Multiplayer

AC: Brotherhood Multiplayer

As much as I still love a good old-fashioned bout of death match and the ever-exciting game of capture the flag, Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood’s multiplayer mode was something fresh and new to sink my teeth into. It took the normal humdrum affair of online play and flipped everything on its head. You weren’t a super assassin out killing other super assassins – you were being hunted and could only defend yourself long enough to run away, rather than engage. You couldn’t just run through a match killing everyone in sight – you gained points for the more methodical, well-placed kills. All of these things enthralled me as I played, and I hope to see more out of it in the franchise in the future.

It’s because of my love for this multiplayer mode that I was excited to see a feature about it up on CVG about how AC: Brotherhood’s multiplayer was made. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that it was the team behind Splinter Cell’s fantastic multiplayer mode, the beloved Spies versus Mercs game mode that was so spellbinding at the time of its release.

If you’re banking on being a game designer of some kind in the future, I’d highly suggest reading this. I love their breakdown of the design process and just how the mode progressed over the course of several years (yes, years).

So what are your thoughts? What other types of multiplayer modes do you wish we’d see more of? Personally, I’d love to see better variations of CTF, or perhaps something more along the lines of a super-powered Juggernaught mode that we find in Halo. Go!

Source – CVG