Category: PC

Battlefield 3 Returns With Fault Line Part 2

Continuing in the grand tradition of posting videos only I care about, I bring you the next installment of the “Fault Line” series of trailers for Battlefield 3. Previously on Fault Line, we saw our squad of Marines take the fight to some insurgents in a parking lot, but this time around they’re up against a sniper with a fifty caliber rifle. How do you deal with such a threat? Heavy ordnance, of course. Have a look at Fault Line Part 2: Good Effect on Target:

It’s still amazing to me that this is apparently an Alpha build, because the whole thing is really impressive. I know that I’ve said that quite a few times about this game, but for real, take a look at those animations. Part three will debut on the 30 of March, so come back then for the newest episode! What do you guys think of this trailer?

Review: Dragon Age 2

dragon age 2 review

Dragon Age: Origins was a strange sort of game when it released back in the Fall of 2009. Not to say it was bad by any means (Eddy gave it a good review), but the game seemed to draw on more of the old RPG conventions than newer ones. It still retained that BioWare dedication to character and story, but for those of us who got most of their RPG experience from games like Fallout 3 and Mass Effect, it was a little difficult to get into.

Regardless of what you may have thought about the original’s mechanics, the success it obtained meant that BioWare launched head-first into a sequel, dropping Dragon Age 2 a year and a bit after the original and all of its expansion. A lot of things have been changed, re-vamped or just plain dropped this time around. Does BioWare work their magic again, or should we call the Templars?
Continue reading Review: Dragon Age 2

Batman: Arkham City Trailer Swoops in with Gameplay

Oh man. My love for Batman: Arkham Asylum has been well documented on this site. It combined the best parts of Metal Gear Solid, Metroidvania structure and just feeling like a badass and churned out perhaps one of the best licensed games to ever grace our screens. For months, anticipation has been building about the follow-up, Arkham City, and I’ve been waiting anxiously to see some kind of gameplay after all of those tantalizing yet empty pre-rendered trailers.

Fortunately, the first Arkham City gameplay trailer has arrived, and it’s something to behold. If Arkham Asylum was the Batman game I’ve always wanted, Arkham City looks like the one I’ve always dreamed of. Check it out.

Thoughts? Drool? Go.

Black Mesa Source Devs Make Light of Japanese Earthquake

black mesa source devs are idiots

I long ago lost my faith in most of humanity so people mocking horrible natural disasters no longer surprises me, but I thought this particular faux pas should be brought to our attention as it concerns Black Mesa Source, the long-time coming Source Engine update for the original Half-Life.

On the game’s official forums, the lead developer posted a comment concerning his thoughts on the Japanese Earthquake, and boy, is it a doozy. The quote is not safe for work, and is plenty offensive aside, so I’m not going to post it here. You have to be a member of the BMS forums to view posts, but Neogaf has all the appropriate links.

Black Mesa Source has been on the radar for quite a while, but the game has reportedly been making real strides towards an actual release and the developers have received a lot of support from Valve themselves. It’s unfortunate that the developers of BMS feel this way, and it will no doubt hurt the game in the long run. If you weren’t disgusted enough, though, members of the forums are backing up the devs, supporting them and their moronic statements.

What do you guys think about this? Sure, it’s one guys opinion, but he’s the public face for a mod that has been the focal point of many articles in official publications for years, not to mention fervent fan support. Should he have kept his mouth shut, and will this affect reception of the game in the long run?

Source – Neogaf

DICE Calls Out Competitors

Battlefield 3

I think this is when junk, in a very official capacity, “gets real”.

Apparently one of the bigger trends in the industry these days is for game developers to call out other game developers in a no holds barred type of way, causing the blogosphere to erupt in a collective chorus of “oh snap”. The most recent edition of this would have to be Battlefield 3 wranglers DICE, who in the upcoming issue of the Official Playstation Magazine has dropped notice to its competitors.

Here’s what general manager of DICE Karl-Magnus Troedsson (or should it be Trollson?) had to say.

Our competitors are getting lazy. They’re using the same engine, the same recipe for building a game. At some point you need to take that leap. I haven’t seen them take that leap since a long time ago. We are doing that now. They had better watch out. We are coming for them.

This seems specifically aimed at Call of Duty, which is everyone’s favorite target these days. While it makes for a funny quote, I don’t think anybody is going to knock Activision’s shooter off of its sales throne anytime soon. Honestly, my attitude toward this kind of statement is that I wish guys would just be quiet and make awesome games.

What do you guys think about stuff like this? Are you rooting for DICE and Battlefield 3? Do you want them to keep their mouths shut? Go!

Source – CVG

Eclipsing the World (of Warcraft)

BlizzardIt’s hard to believe that anyone could try and out-do the mammoth MMO that is World of Warcraft, even Blizzard itself. But already Blizzard COO Paul Sams has been quoted, saying they are going to do just that with their new MMO codenamed “Titan”.

“I believe it’s the most ambitious thing we’ve ever attempted, and I feel like we have set our company up to succeed on that. We have some of our most talented and most experienced developers on that team. Many of the people that built World of Warcraft are full time on that other team.”

While this doesn’t spell the death of World of Warcraft it does lead to some questions as the highly experienced and talented staff that created the most successful MMO gears forwards on its new project. Sam’s also said that World of Warcraft still has an experienced staff watching over the game, just key members were moving on to the new project. The quote that really interests me is this next one… Continue reading Eclipsing the World (of Warcraft)

Dragon Age 2 and Sequel Changes

Dragon Age 2

Hark and rejoice (and other fun things) friends, for Dragon Age 2 has been bestowed upon our collective brows, adorning us with epic RPG action and signature Bioware storytelling know-how. That last bit was an unintentional rhyme, but I don’t feel like editing the sentence. It seems you’re stuck with my accidental poetry.

Anyway, Dragon Age 2 is out, and I happily plunged into it last night for a couple of hours. After more than half an hour of fiddling with some ridiculous online EA garbage to redeem my preorder bonuses (which didn’t work), I was finally able to play the game proper. I was admittedly nervous about this game after the review embargo lifted yesterday, because so far everyone seems to have it pegged at about the same scores the first game received. Not that that’s a bad thing, exactly. I loved the first game, it’s just that I was hoping for a Mass Effect 2 style improvement.

It seems that the biggest complaints being leveled (get it?) against Dragon Age 2 would be that in terms of its story, it replaced the grand, sweeping 60 hour tale of the first game with a more local, small scale story that only spans about 20-30 hours. Instead of Ferelden-hopping and dealing with a massive conflict, the game focuses on one city and the political events inside of it. Other complaints about the game deal with its inventory system, which, while benefiting from a good old-fashioned streamline, makes almost all loot generic. And we all know we love us some RPG loot, yes? Continue reading Dragon Age 2 and Sequel Changes

Crytek Shows Off CryEngine 3’s Pretty Pixels at GDC 11

GDC 11 happened last week, and it seems that one of the highlights of the show was when Epic demoed its next gen ambitions behind closed doors. The demonstration ran in real time and had a Blade Runner-esque feel to it, astounding gaming press viewers who went on to report about it on their respective sites.

As impressive as the screenshots are, I couldn’t help but think that Crytek essentially does the same kind of thing now with its various iterations of CryEngine. And wouldn’t you know it: Crytek confirmed its awesomeness with a brand new CryEngine 3 video demonstration.

If there was a way to display the face I made when I saw this demo via text, I would have just pasted it here and not bothered with any kind of setup. Seriously, just watch it. Then we can drool together in the comments.

Gaming Pop Quiz: Spring 2011 Edition

Where is 2011 going? It’s already a week into March, and I feel like time for playing games is just slipping through my fingers. I was going to see if I could make a joke about pixels and grains of sand in there, but it kind of fell through last second. Don’t judge me.

As we have no doubt beaten the issue beyond death by now, you probably already know that 2011 is the year of the gaming assault. Already we’ve had some stellar titles, and we’ve barely even scratched the surface. Nearly every single month for the rest of the year is going to have some kind of landmark release (or several), and for March that title is Dragon Age 2. Naturally, we thought it was time to check in with another edition of the Gaming Pop Quiz. You know, because of the dragons and all.

As always with our getting-to-know-you type games, feel free to answer with as much or as little as you like. Answer to the best of your ability. Go! Continue reading Gaming Pop Quiz: Spring 2011 Edition

GamerSushi Asks: Best Looking Games Ever?

TF2 Pyro

I’ve never been one to call myself a graphics whore. In fact, over the years, I’ve taken quite a few shots at those friends of mine that I knew only cared about graphics. Oddly enough, the two types of people that seem to really love graphics fall on opposite ends of the spectrum, ranging from hardcore PC gamers that love their real time benchmark demos to frat boys who can not get over how good a game looks, bra.

However, even my elitist mind can get knocked down a few pegs when I see something truly stunning, something that makes my jaw drop until drool leaks out, and I’m left mumbling incoherently while watching awe-inspiring visuals. Over the years, games that have really stood out to me in terms of graphics have been Mass Effect 2, Uncharted 2, Red Dead Redemption, Metal Gear Solid 4 and Crysis. In terms of design, I’d have to say Shadow of the Colossus and any number of the Zelda games.

It seems that CVG has put together a list of what they consider to be the 9 best looking games of all time. That’s a fairly lofty claim, although I don’t know if any of you will be surprised by their list, save for one or two entries. I really do like that they included Team Fortress 2 and Limbo on the list though, because those two games have such unique looks that make them both iconic.

So what do you guys think? What games left you stunned visually when they came out, and what games do you think still rank among the best looking games of all time? Go!

Source – CVG

Battlefield 3 Shakes It Up With The Fault Line Series

When I posted the Battlefield 3 Gameplay teaser last week, I had a pretty decent understanding that a much longer, more involved trailer was going to follow shortly thereafter. The fact of the matter is I’m really digging Battlefield 3, so I apologize for “double dipping”, as it were. That said, I think you’re going to enjoy this trailer (Part 1 of the Fault Line Series) which goes a bit more in-depth with the short snippets we saw last week.

I’d file that under “do want” for sure. Since this is Part 1 of an ongoing series, you can bet that I’ll be posting the remainder as they come. I’m certain that we won’t be disappointed.

The GamerSushi Show, Ep 21: Drunk Cast

Urgh. This is the episode of the podcast where we decided to play a drinking game in honor of our 21st birthday together, so to speak. The results are either brilliant or completely inaudible. For real. You may excuse yourself from this if you don’t want to hear us all embarrass ourselves. Especially me.

Along with the drinking game we play (shots every fifteen minutes plus drinks for podcast memes), we also chat about Skyrim, marrying video games, Battlefield 3, Bulletstorm, goats and donkeys, the Dragon Age 2 demo and difficulty in games. Nick also takes time away from slamming beer and whiskey to deliver a brand new game of grades. The results are not very pretty, but probably hilarious to listen to.

So yeah. Hopefully you don’t hate us after this.

Alright, warnings aside, here’s the podcast. Listen. Rate. Enjoy.

Continue reading The GamerSushi Show, Ep 21: Drunk Cast

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GamerSushi Asks: Top 100 PC Games of All Time?

Deus Ex

Alright, guys. Time to take the gloves off.

It seems that PC Gamer recently released a list of what their contributors feel are the 100 best PC games of all time. I know how riled up everyone here gets over these crazy lists, so I thought I’d bring it over to see everyone froth at the mouth.

All in all, I actually don’t think there’s much wrong with the list, although I’d probably move Counter-Strike into the top 10. Granted, I haven’t played a lot of these PC games, but there are only a handful of games that I feel define what made me a PC gamer back in the day: Myst, Counter-Strike, Quake 3, Doom, and more recently Team Fortress 2 and Portal. In fact, these games are the reason that I still maintain that bond with my PC gaming roots, and why I don’t know if I could ever turn my back to it completely. Even now, I’m infected with the bug of wanting to upgrade my rig in anticipation of some of the awesome titles coming out later this year.

So what do you guys think of this list? What titles define your PC gaming?

Source – PC Gamer

Today’s WTF: Magicka Goes to Vietnam

It seems that the Veitnam setting is the current hot button for video games with first person shooter franchises Battlefield and Call of Duty staking their claim in that dark period of America’s history. Not to be left behind, PC gaming upstart Magicka is jumping on board with a Vietnam expansion. Yes, you did read that right. Check out the trailer complete with the requisite Vietnam era song with a bit of a twist.

That was kind of weird, I’m just going to say that. Now that you know that Magicka is the word, are you going to check out this “unique” expansion?

Remembering the Half Life 2 Heist

HL2 Source Code

If you recall, one of the most famous gaming heists of all time occurred back in October of 2003, when a lone hacker cracked into Valve’s servers and lifted all of Half Life 2’s source code in its entirety. Even in the days before sensationalist gaming blogs, this was a monstrously huge deal, and the news of it swept over the gaming community like a tsunami.

Several months later, German student Axel Gembe was arrested by police officers in order to keep the hacker from being picked up by the FBI in America, under a presumed trip to visit Valve for a job interview. That’s the part of the story you might not be aware of. Eurogamer recently did an interview with Gembe, who has set his life on a different path since all of that craziness went down. It’s one of the cooler gaming articles I’ve ever read, especially looking back on all that’s happened since then with Valve and its meteoric rise in the industry.

Anyway, give it a read if you think it’s something that would catch your fancy. Do you guys remember when this went down? What did you think of the article? What do you think of Gembe’s remorse and the changes he’s made in his life?

Source – Eurogamer

Review: Bulletstorm

bulletstorm review

While some may say that the age of the “silent protagonist” in video games is over, there are a few times where I wish that we could return to the days of yore, where our controlled hero just got on with the job and didn’t have a smart-ass remark for everything. Bulletstorm is one of those times. Everyone in this game suffers from a severe form of tourettes crossed with verbal diarrhea. The story in your game doesn’t have to be amazing to please me, but at least make it so I don’t want to jam a power drill through my skull every time I have to listen to one of the characters wax philosophic about dicks.

For a little history, Bulletstorm is a First-Person-Shooter collaboration between Epic Games and People Can Fly where the object of the game is to kill enemies in creative ways to rack up Skillshots. Taking advantage of the Unreal 3 engine, and going out of its way to distance itself from every other FPS on the market, Bulletstorm hopes to carve out a niche with its unique take on FPS mechanics. How well does it fare in that regard?
Continue reading Review: Bulletstorm

GamerSushi Asks: Sound Off!

Skyrim

At GamerSushi we do our best to scour the Webz for the things that we think you guys would like to talk about. Over the years, we feel like we’ve gathered a decent taste for everyone’s interests (Valve). When we can’t locate anything worthwhile, we try to pull from the issues we ourselves face in the games we play. Typically, this means we select all of the topics and put them up for your perusal.

Tonight, I wanted to try something different. I thought I’d ask what you guys want to talk about. Since we don’t have a forum proper (and plan on keeping things that way), you guys don’t always get to sound off on what you’ve been thinking about from a gaming perspective. Heaven knows that between all of the trailers (such as Skyrim or Dead Island) and new releases over the last few weeks, there’s certainly a lot to discuss.

So, have at it. What have you guys been thinking about in terms of games? Thoughts on the industry or things you’re playing? We’ll see how deep this rabbit hole goes. Go!

The GamerSushi Show, Ep 20: Hype Machines

Welcome to Episode 20 of the podcast, this time with bigger explosions, more sadness and lots of terrible burns. Mitch is absent for part of this cast, although Jeff is back. But worry not, for the fellowship will be re-united tonight when we record Episode 21 of the podcast, complete with drinking games.

In this podcast, we tackle a number of gaming issues, including the ridiculously good Dead Island trailer (and all they have to live up to), replaying classic video games and ten year console cycles. Nick also hits us with a mathematically stimulating game of percentages which has us battle about Marvel Vs Capcom 3, Video Games at the Smithsonian, and Bungie’s Space MMO. We also chat about Mega Ran’s Black Materia, the FFVII hip hop tribute which is seriously incredible stuff. I may post about it separately later, but for real, check it out if you love either hip hop or the FFVII soundtrack.

So, without further ado, here’s the podcast. Listen. Rate. Enjoy.

Continue reading The GamerSushi Show, Ep 20: Hype Machines

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Skyrim Official Gameplay Trailer Released

I don’t know about you guys but Skyrim has me excited. As some people around here anticipate some of the upcoming titles like Battlefield 3 you may notice some of us even talking about PC upgrades already, 8 months before the titles are set for release. Skyrim now has its official trailer released with in game footage. You can find the video embedded below or check it out at The Elder Scrolls website.

Wow. All I can think about is everything I see in there that has been talked about by the developers. From the stunning new graphics and world to the death moves and dynamic new gameplay. The trailer shows off enough for me to already be impressed with the look and feel of the game.

So after seeing the official trailer for the game, are any of you more stoked about Skyrim? With a taste of the gameplay are you planning on console or PC?

Source – The Elder Scrolls Official Site

Battlefield 3 Gameplay Trailer Looks Oh So Good

Without a doubt, 2011 is going to be a crazy year. If you’ve been hanging around this site long enough, you’ll know that we hit on certain beats over and over again, so the over-the-top gaming goodness of this year is something you’ll hear us bring up a few more times. Speaking of over-the-top, a new trailer for Battlefield 3 dropped today featuring some in game footage, and needless to say, it did a Strike at Karkand…in my pants. This is not pre-rendered, folks, this is all running on the Frostbite 2 engine (on a crazy rig, probably) and it’s amazing.

It really sucks that I’m going to have to upgrade my PC to Windows 7 to play this (I’ve been running XP since it came out), but it just might be worth it. I’ve already put down my hard-earned monies on the pre-order to get the Back to Karkand expansion for free. What about you guys? Down for some Battlefield 3? What system are you getting it on?