GamerSushi Power Rankings: December 2013

Wolf Among Us

A new generation of challengers arrive!

It’s pretty weird to see PS4 box art in this update of the Power Rankings, but they’re here, plain as day and just as bright and shiny. This month, we’re diving into 3DS games, PlayStation 4 games, small PC titles and more. I think the number 1 spot will surprise you, considering how down we were on last year’s outing, but rest assured that this game deserves all the praise we’ll no doubt heap on it over the next few weeks. You’ve been warned. Continue reading GamerSushi Power Rankings: December 2013

GamerSushi Asks: Online Launch Issues?

GTA Online Heist

Grand Theft Auto Online launched 10 days ago and it only now seems to have reached a stable state, much to the dismay of people with amnesia. For the rest of us, we all knew it would be a disaster, as we have seen this movie many times before and starring companies who have far more experience and know-how with online games than Rockstar does. Hell, if Blizzard can’t get it right with Diablo III, what chance does anyone else have?

That being said, it is pretty messed up that we can’t expect to play something we bought for on the day it launches: from Simcity to Call of Duty, the first day and even week can be a symphony of frustration to any gamer who dares dip their toe into the online world. How does this make you feel? Do you get angry at this or have you come to a place of serene acceptance, as I have? Are these just the breaks or should companies go out of their way to compensate their customers, as Rockstar is doing now with the bribe, I mean, gift of $500,000 for GTA Online? Should they stagger allowing certain timezones access or would that make you angry knowing that people on the East Coast are already playing while you have to wait a few more hours? Speak now or forever hold your peace!

Getting Addicted to Grand Theft Auto V

Grand Theft Auto V

Guys, I have a confession.

You see, in the last couple of weeks I’ve developed a bit of an addiction. Every day at work, my mind is driven by thoughts of drugs, violence, theft, mayhem and destruction. At night my actions are guided by these impulses, and I disappear into the dark underbelly of my psyche to participate in grotesque fantasies, some of which leave people bloodied and battered.

Of course, I’m talking about Grand Theft Auto V here, Rockstar’s record-breaking new game that puts you in the shoes of the retired thief Michael, the up-and-coming gangster Franklin and the maniacal, homicidal addict Trevor. I can’t get enough of it. Continue reading Getting Addicted to Grand Theft Auto V

GTA V Myths Are Up All Night To Get Busted

The white whale has landed: Grand Theft Auto V has been in our hot little hands for over a week now and with the white whale comes the white lies: people making up all manner of tall tales, the kind that spread through message boards and social media like a digital Ebola virus. In the old days, outrageous claims were difficult to confirm. You had to try it yourself, usually several thousand times while wondering if you were following that jerk on the playground’s instructions exactly or if he was just a being a tool.

Thankfully, in this age of Youtube, we can test out some of these myths and legends for ourselves. And that’s just what DefendTheHouse has done on its Youtube channel: they’ve rounded up some of the biggest GTA myths out there and set about to prove them true or false. From towing a pursuing police car to stabbing a shark while underwater, these myths get put to the test. My personal favorite is the one about a car’s backfire igniting a gasoline trail. Little details like that really make the game stand out.

So take a look at the video below and tell us about your favorite video game myths, from GTA and from other games. Remember: busting makes you feel good. Go!

Source: DefendTheHouse

Pixel Count: The Review Game?

Welp, it’s Grand Theft Auto V week here on the Internet, so you can guess what we’re talking about.

Despite our many, many grievances about Grand Theft Auto IV, Grand Theft Auto V has managed to charm me over the last few weeks. I have to give credit to Rockstar for the way that they’ve managed the flow of information about this game, from the screenshots to the trailers to the details about GTA Online. It’s created a bit of a frenzy for a game I never wanted to play, to the point where all this week I’ve been salivating over reviews.

Which leads me to today’s Pixel Count. We’ve all got our methods about how we choose our games, or how we rate them before we’ve played them. I wanted to know how you guys get a sense of a game when it releases. Vote and tell us more in the comments!

Who Do You Listen to When a Game Comes Out?

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GamerSushi Asks: What Are You Playing?

Saint's Row 4

Sushians! The dreaded fall abyss approaches.

You know, the one that we’re all going to disappear into while we’re busy playing games. The first harbinger of doom comes in the form of one Grand Theft Auto V, which somehow is only a few days away. I’m not really sure how that happened, but I’m not complaining about it. After that, we’ll have games like Watch Dogs, Batman: Arkham Origins, AC IV, Battlefield 4 and then some.

But before all that, what are you guys playing right now? To prepare myself for battle at the moment, I’ve been diving into Saint’s Row IV, trying to finish it in a mad dash just in time for GTA V. I’m also trying to wrap up Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, and hope to knock out Call of Juarez: Gunslinger sometime in the near future as well… but my eyes are often bigger than my stomach when it comes to gaming.

So what about you guys? What are you playing while you await the inevitable fall madness? Go!

Pixel Count: Most Anticipated September Release

September is the official first month of Fall and with it comes the official start of blockbuster games season. It’s not overflowing with gaming goodness and there is a legitimate reason that we can point to: Grand Theft Auto V. Perhaps you’ve heard of it? Check the list and poll of games below and then meet me after the jump to discuss September’s offerings in further detail:

Most Anticipated September Release

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Continue reading Pixel Count: Most Anticipated September Release

Rockstar Reveals GTA Online

Damn you, Rockstar.

My hatred of Grand Theft Auto IV has not been exaggerated or underreported in the slightest over the last few years. While Liberty City was gorgeous to look at through Niko’s eyes, I found it to be a dull, tedious place that I hardly cared about, or cared to be a part of.

But dang, does Grand Theft Auto V look different. In addition to a campaign that looks to mix up the formula with three protagonists, Rockstar’s newest iteration of the popular series is taking the multiplayer in a different direction than ever before by way of Grand Theft Auto Online, a persistent world where you and up to 15 others can heist, race, deathmatch, build and generally unleash havoc together. I’ll let the video do the rest of the gushing.

Grand Theft Auto Online releases on October 1, and is free with every retail version of GTA V. What do you guys think? Am I jumping too far into the hype train? Have I been burned too many times to take another chance?

Battle of the GameCops: 2013 Edition!

game cop

It’s been two years since gaming’s finest detectives took their cases, but now they’re back. This time, their beat includes Grand Theft Auto V’s hype (or lack thereof), Richard Garriott’s comments that “most game developers suck” and Hideo Kojima’s newest antics with the Phantom Pain. Naturally, they tackle these with all the integrity and tenacity that you’ve come to expect from your favorite gaming gumshoes.

Since you haven’t seen them in a couple of years, here’s how this feature works: GameCop is a sensible gamer, looking out for your best interests. LameCop is your average forum troll, causing havoc for the lulz, while PsychoCop should be locked up for everyone’s safety.

Here’s how they feel about these issues: Continue reading Battle of the GameCops: 2013 Edition!

How Rockstar Can Bring The Magic Back To GTA

GTA V blonde

With Game Informer’s cover story finally unveiling some concrete details about Grand Theft Auto V, the Internet finally has a reason to talk incessantly about Rockstar’s popular open-world series and we here at GamerSushi are no different. I have stoically ignored all GTA V rumors and discussion until new information was released. However, since that has now happened and we find ourselves in the golden age of GTA V info, I have some thoughts and concerns, as I so often do.

First, as we have mentioned in the past, Grand Theft Auto IV was a disappointment. I know some people swear up and down by it, but as a huge fan of the PS2 trilogy, I didn’t find much to like. The world has bigger and denser, but there just wasn’t much of a reason to explore it anymore. The numerous side activities of previous games were scaled back, leaving you with only a few things to do other than the story missions. Instead, they were replaced by what amounted to taking your friends out on dates, which was fun and unique exactly once. We all got a laugh when we took our perverted cousin Roman to the strip club, but that wasn’t something I was anxious to repeat.

The other minigames were poorly controlled and very tedious. Bowling was kind of interesting, but a single game took forever and the overly long animations had me scrambling to quit as fast as I could. And the only real purpose for this was so you could get bonuses, like Jacob the weapons dealer giving you a discount. Honestly, what kind of black market merchant of death cuts into his bottom line just because someone takes him to a comedy show? It just makes no sense and wasn’t fun. Continue reading How Rockstar Can Bring The Magic Back To GTA

Games Media Fail: GTA V Not Confirmed

GTA V Fraud

I’ve long been hard on video game “journalism”, especially when it comes to getting news and scoops about games from voice actors and people not directly involved with the development of the game, but I’ve kept my silence. Until now. You may have heard on numerous sites on the Internet (but not this one) that news of Grand Theft Auto V had leaked. How did this get out? Someone checked the IMDB profile of Declan Mulvey and saw he was credited as being in Grand Theft Auto V.

And what did many sites do? They ran with it, many of them even bothering to contact Rockstar or Take-Two for confirmation, forgetting that real journalists get confirmation BEFORE running a story, not after. And lo and behold, it turns out that it was a typo, as Eurogamer so helpfully points out. It was meant to read Grand Theft Auto IV, not V.

Do things like this bother you? They seriously get under my skin. All this running around, checking out domain registers, talking to voice actors and then walking back stories is starting to get old. It makes the whole games media look juvenile. Am I being too harsh here? Or is this just the state of the Internet these days? Go!

Source – EuroGamer

Poll: Which Unannounced Sequel Do You Want First?

While we generally know the lists of titles available in the coming months, including Spring of 2011, we’re still unsure about what all lies in store for next year. There’s plenty of room for surprise when it comes to gaming release dates, and anybody’s guess is as good as mine.

That being said, I started thinking about a list of sequels that we haven’t really heard any rumblings about in a while, with no idea as to when they’re going to come. This “unannounced sequels list” includes: Half-Life 2: Episode 3, The Elder Scrolls V, Counter-Strike 2, Grand Theft Auto V, Mass Effect 3 and Uncharted 3. Really, looking at them, that’s an incredible line-up, and I wouldn’t be sorry to see all of them drop in the same year, say 2012 or so.

It’s actually hard to decide which one I’d want to tackle first, so I thought I’d let you guys decide. Go.

Which do you want to play first?

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The Grand Theft Auto 5 Wish List

Grand Theft Auto IV

Just a few months ago, if you had said the words “Grand Theft Auto” to me, I might have done a terrible Niko Bellic impersonation or laughed in your face, spouting all the predictable things I’ve come to repeat about GTA 4 and what a let down it was for me. Granted, that would have been before Red Dead Redemption, which has renewed my interest in Rockstar games, and given me hope for the inevitable Grand Theft Auto 5.

The lovable dudes over at GamesRadar have put together a bit of a wish list for Grand Theft Auto 5, plotting out all the things they’re dying to see. As is the case with their other wish lists, I really like some of the stuff they mentioned, particularly the bits about the driving, more wide open spaces and a new time period. I know I constantly get mocked for this, but I just want a GTA that takes place in the future. Call me crazy.

What do you guys think of this wish list, and what would you put on yours?

Source – GamesRadar