GamerSushi Top Six: Freed Franchises

freedomWell folks, it’s time for another GamerSushi Top Six, where Anthony and I dissect the gaming world and come up with a list of six spectacular things. Why six? Because six sells. Our feature this week even has a holiday theme.

In the spirit of Independence Day, when us Americans threw off the shackles of tyranny by some other snooty country that nobody even remembers the name of, we have compiled a dream list of franchises that could be liberated from their current developers and sent to live with someone who will treat them in a way they’ve never been treated before.
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N64: Remembering the Multiplayer Madness

n64One of the first games I ever played with more than 2 people was Doom on the PC, when a friend of mine had several computers set up on a LAN. We would go over there after school and just kill each other for hours at a time. I had never experienced anything like it.

Multiplayer gaming is relatively new to the gaming world, having come to the forefront in maybe only the last 15 years or so. Growing up, playing games was always a single player ordeal, me and my fingers against cpu minions as I whittled away the summer hours beating whatever new piece of software I had in my possession. However, that all changed with PC gaming going online, and eventually, the home console.
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A Little Reason Goes A Long Way

sinkingTake a look at any video game news site and you will be sure to find a story about how the PS3 is in third place in the Console Wars and how Sony should just give up and go the way of Sega and make games and not consoles. Yeah, cause that worked out so well for Sega. But I digress. The Playstation brand has seen rough days but it would foolish to count Sony out just yet.

Now, I understand that costs are very high to make video games and that making games on the PS3 is very complex and probably more expensive. I also understand that 360 has a higher install base, but I have news for you: it’s not that much higher. The 360 has sold about 30 million worldwide compared to the 22 million sold for the PS3. Consider the fact that the PS3 launched a year later and around the same time as the Wii. Factor in the admittely high cost of the PS3 and an 8 million unit lead is nice, but not nearly as big as everyone makes it out to be. From the way people fanboys talk, you would think the 360 has a 112 million unit lead or something. Oh wait…112 million units is the amount that the PS2 outsold the original Xbox by. But you didn’t hear this kind of doomsday talk for the Xbox then, did you? I know I didn’t. And the PS3 has already sold as many units as the original Xbox, which is not a mark of success by any means, but it sure does make you stop and wonder where all this negativity is coming from.

Let’s face it: the PS3 has had a rough launch. The high price and lack of killer games really hurt for a long time. But that time is over. With LittleBigPlanet, Killzone 2, Infamous and God of War III all out or soon to be out, the future for the PS3 is looking very bright. This article is not meant to prop up the PS3 or bring down the Wii or 360. I am merely trying to point out some facts that seem to fall by the wayside in these debates. Sony is not going anywhere and neither is Microsoft or Nintendo. Sony thumped everyone in the last round of consoles, so losing this one isn’t going to be end of the world for them.

Besides, these consoles are just getting going. Nintendo has jumped out to a seemingly insurmountable lead, but Wii sales have already slowed down and while mining the casual market seems to have done them a great service, the loss of the hardcore market might mean that the Wii’s days of ruling the sales charts are over. The 360 and PS3 will only get stronger, so we have a long way to go before this battle in the Console War is over.

Just relax and enjoy the games and try to let the guys who get paid tons of money worry about the business side of things. You want to support your console? Buy new, not used games. Other than that, it’s out of our hands. Except for the controller, of course. Until the Natal comes out.

Your System Sucks: A Rant About Fanboys

fanboy-3A few months ago, I wrote a feature about the things that are wrong with the gaming industry on the whole. Some of that had to do with the games themselves, some of it had to with the journalists that covered and reviewed them, and some of it had to do with the gamers that played them. In terms of gamers that are hurting gaming and its culture unknowingly, console and even PC fanboys rank right at the top.

What is a fanboy? A fanboy used to be someone that just played and loved their system or machine exclusively. I think we’ve all done this at some point in our lives. I remember loving the Sega Genesis and the Nintendo 64 and being just fine with not owning the rival systems.
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Top 3 Hottest New Releases For June

proto1All my complaining about a sparse summer season for games has fallen by the wayside, as now I simply am struggling to keep up with it all. We just had Infamous drop and now here comes a few more potential blockbusters to soak up the summer hours:
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GamerSushi Asks: Would You Rather?

On the eve of E3, it’s time for gamers young and old to dream up a world of possibilities for our next year of gaming. With that in mind, I figured it was a great chance for a new Would You Rather.

In Would You Rather, I simply ask a series of questions, and you follow up with your answers. Give as much or as little explanation as you want for your choices, but we all know that we like to see the reasoning behind the madness.

Don’t let your answers suck, though. You’ll be tarred, feathered and quite possibly beaten like you stole something.

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A Fool And His Money… Or: Why Do Gamers Spend Money Like The Federal Government?

lolcat-moneyGames are expensive. And as you get older, you get more money to buy games. Inversely, you have less time to play said games. Therefore, life is cruel. But one thing I have noticed about gamers is that we are morons when it comes to money. It seems that we just can’t wait to part with our hard earned cash.
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Gamer Conversations: Mario

mario1Welcome to a new GamerSushi feature, Gamer Conversations, where Anthony and I attempt to actually have a civil conversation without the GameCop/LameCop or other personas. These are just casual talks about some of our favorite gaming icons, ideas or stories. Best of all, you guys get to join in when it’s all done.

Today’s topic: Mario. He’s everyone’s favorite plumber, and has been a thing of legend amongst gamers for decades now. The most interesting part of this Nintendo mascot is that he means something a little different to everyone.
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Dude, Where Are My Genres?

marioThe more I look at this generation of video games, the more I grow perplexed and a bit worried about what gaming is turning into. No, not that games are somehow becoming lame or less fun. But more in the sense of the quickly disappearing idea of video game genres.

Allow me to explain. When I first started playing video games in the mid 1980’s, there was really only one main genre: the 2D sidescrolling platformer. Super Mario Bros. defined this. While we always had things like Pac-Man and such, the image of Super Mario Bros. and what it stood for as a game was synonymous with the idea that people young and old alike had in mind when thinking of video games. Over time, this idea grew to encompass all kinds of different types of video games, including sports, shooting, puzzle and even fantasy role-playing games.
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A Gamer Growing Older

g_simpsonAs I get older and grumpier (which some people did not think that was possible, but I got skills) I find myself changing in the way I play and look at games. I love them, but I don’t feel the need to rush out and get something on the first day or to play it over and over trying to get 100% completion. I just don’t have the time anymore or the energy.
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