Tag: video games

Robot Tells the Sad Truth About Working in the Games Industry

So, you want to work in the games industry? There are a few things you should know first.

I came across a humorous video today in a thread where people were discussing the now somewhat viral video made by a girl who wants to get a job at Valve. What hers and many other pleas from gaming industry hopefuls often miss is the kind of work that goes on in that world. It seems like the best piece of advice is to learn to make games on your own, and work at it until one of them can get noticed.

Anyway, I thought the video was full of a few megaton truth bombs, as cynical as it is. It’s a bit old, too, so forgive me if you’ve seen it already. Thoughts?

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

Video Games And Bicycles: The Target of Society’s Ire (Among Other Things)

video games are evil

As fans of video games, we’re certainly familiar with the bizarre claims thrown at our hobby by the ill informed. Whether it’s the fact that violent video games cause people to go on killing sprees, or the unavoidable truth that games like Bulletstorm and Mass Effect will lead to rape (something we touched on during the most recent episode of The GamerSushi Show), video games are the current scapegoat for our world’s problems.

It wasn’t always this way, though. Before Fox News accused Commander Shepard of violating aliens, people pointed their mass hysteria elsewhere. In a recent article by the good folks at GamePro, things like the bycicle, Dungeons & Dragons and even the bikini were pointed to as instrumental in the demonizing of the young folk and the cause of the world’s problems.

GamePro basically put together this article to demonstrate that we’ve always been willing to shift our blame onto the current hot trend and make that the reason our civilization is going down the crapper. As time has gone on, though, our previous trouble-makers have become social norms, or at least acceptable. Dungeons & Dragons doesn’t lead to satanic cults, and who doesn’t like a good bicycle ride? Even though comic books and music are still sometimes blamed for crazy people doing crazy things (just ask Marilyn Manson), we’ve come to understand that sometimes people are just weird, no matter what their taste in entertainment is.

What do you guys think of GamePro’s expose? Will video games come through their time in the fire? What new trend will take over as the lead cause of the impending armageddon? I’m guessing either The Jersey Shore or Justin Bieber. Hit me!

Source- GamePro

What Do You Do When You’re Not Gaming?

Reality - Video GamesGaming. It’s the bond that keeps our little community together. It’s the glue that holds us strong like… you know, glue, I guess. Anyway, we’ve been going strong for two years now, and we’ve talked about everything gaming related under the sun from a double takedown of Catwoman and Harley Quinn to arguments about which drug Hideo Kojima will use for his next inspiration.

And while I believe there are many more wells to tap, and deep ones at that, I thought I would venture a little bit outside the gaming sphere and find out more about you guys. I’ve said before that one of the things I love about this place is the way we all interact in the comments, so I’m counting on some pretty solid answers to this next question: what the heck do you guys do when you’re not gaming?

For me, as many of you know, I help run a goofy little outfit of guys making dumb Web videos. We’re currently on break right now, so in the meantime I’m doing a lot of personal writing. One of my dreams is to be a fantasy/sci-fi author. Barring that, I will just play video games the rest of my days until my thumbs fall off. And what about you guys? What kind of stuff are you into? Do you go to school? Work? Are you a superhero at night? Go!

Submit Your Podcast Questions!

MicrophoneThe time to record another podcast is nigh, so that means we need some good old fashioned community questions. We’re going to try and do a better job of hitting those in the next few podcasts, because we always have some really good discussions built around the stuff that you guys like to talk about. You know, when we’re not talking about Saturday morning cartoons or something like that.

Anyway, you know the drill. Ask whatever question you think it would be cool to hear us argue or chat about. If you’ve asked it before but we haven’t covered it, feel free to submit it again, and we’ll do our best. And feel free to leave any podcast feedback you have in here as well.

Go!

Poll: What is Your Current Game of the Year?

We’re on the precipice of the holiday gaming rush with Halo: Reach leading the charge in about two months, so I thought I would whip up a quick poll and find out what your current favorite for 2010 is. We’ve had a really excellent first half of the year, and just making this poll made my brain light afire with all the great experiences I’ve had so far. Whether I was pressing X to “Jaaason” or rising my horse across the dusty wasteland, 2010 has given me some of the most outstanding gaming moments of recent memory, and if the fall is any indication, the hits are going to keep on coming. Take a look at the options below, and let your opinion be known!

What Is Your Current Game of the Year?

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The Economics of Gaming

MoneyWhen I was a kid, I remember lugging around a case of 20 or so NES games with me to my day care during the summer. The place that my brother and were imprisoned at had one bonus about it: a row of NES systems to keep the kids occupied, herded like sheep and left to stare bleating in front of small television screens.

Oddly enough there’s only thing to me that’s strange about this scenario. And no, it’s not the fact that I can’t even remember anything else about this period of my life except beating Mega Man 3 in front of onlookers, or the fact that the day care had all these NES units in the first place. The weirdest part of the whole thing for me? As a little kid, how did I afford to buy that many NES games for myself?

If there’s one drawback to this otherwise beloved hobby of ours, it’s that video games don’t grow on trees or drop out of the sky for our enjoyment. These little boxes of contained and bridled joy are ass expensive, especially when you add them up over time. Continue reading The Economics of Gaming

Submit Your Podcast Questions!

PodcastOK, a week has gone by since our last super awesome podcast. Granted, it was mostly awesome because Mitch wasn’t present, but that’s beside the point. We’re working on phasing him out for you guys, but it’s a slow and painful process. I kid! Maybe.

Anyway, we’ll be recording a brand new edition of the GamerSushi Show this weekend, and like last time, we want some user submitted topics. These were great fun for us to riff on, and if you listened to most of the bit, you’ll notice that most of the show was dedicated to the awesome questions we got, to the point that we had to skip out on a few of them.

So, if your question was skipped over last time, or if you have a new one, feel free to re-submit that here and hopefully we’ll have a chance to discuss it this weekend. Thanks dudes!

GamerSushi Asks: Collector’s Editions?

halo 3It seems almost inevitable that all major releases will have a special edition these days. Gone are the simpler times when you could just walk into your local retailer and pick up a plain old box with a manual and the game; these days, you can choose from up to three flavors of your game, ranging from the basic package to some $200 monstrosity that might contain night-vision goggles, a ten-pound statue, or anything in-between.

Besides being home to extravagant pieces of memorabilia, special editions of games often include codes that allows the purchaser to access additional in-game content, things that may not even be available to other consumers some months down the line. That’s all right for those of us who want to feel that they are buying something that they can hold on to, something that is not just another toy, but what of those of us who don’t want, or can’t afford, the upgraded versions?

So, I submit this question to you guys: how often do you purchase limited or collectors editions? What kind of extra goodies are needed to guarantee that you will drop your hard earned money on it? Let us know!

A New GamerSushi Feature Approaches, Send Us Your Questions and Topics!

As you guys know, we here at GamerSushi are all about community, and we feel like we’ve got a pretty good back and forth going. How it’s been working so far, though, is that we pose questions to you guys in the form of posts and features, and then you tell us what you think. We have thought about mixing this up a little, and for an upcoming feature, we’d like you guys to ask us the questions or give us topics you’d like to hear us discuss.

It’s simple enough, just drop your suggestions in the comments, and we’ll pick a few and have the GS staff riff on them for a bit. Any ones we don’t get to this time around, we’ll go over in the next installment. Try to keep it video game related, and fire away!

GamerSushi Asks: What Are You Playing?

bc2
We might sound like a broken record around here, but this first half of this year has been an absolute treasure trove for our hobby. We’ve already had several Game of the Year candidates land on our consoles already, and we’re not even in April yet! Even though we’ve got Splinter Cell: Conviction and Red Dead Redemption on approach, we’re getting ever closer to the dreaded Summer Drought where our consoles remain cold and dark and we’re forced to venture outside in search of amusement.

Before that happens, we have a few more weeks of glorious gaming! Seeing as how we’re inundated with more excellent games than we know what to do with, I thought I’d initiate our little monthly quiz and find out what you’re playing.

Since I know you’re dying to find out what I’m spending my time on, I’ll deign to answer your queries. This time, anyways. I’m currently doing a heck of a lot of PC gaming, mostly on Battlefield: Bad Company 2. This game continues to be fantastic, and I just can’t get enough of it. I’m also smiting the forces of Chaos in Dawn of War II, and that’s a pretty good time, especially in the co-op campaign. On the console, I’m just about done my fourth Mass Effect 2 playthrough, this time with a Shepard carried over from the original. I also got my mits on a PlayStation 3, so I’m looking forward to firing up some of 2010’s big PS titles. Oh, and I’m playing Pokemon HeartGold, but don’t tell anyone.

What about you guys? What have you got on the go, and what are you looking forward to? Anything that we haven’t talked about on GamerSushi that you think we should be checking out?

GamerSushi Asks: Are Games Pissing You Off?

conviction
One thing I’ve been noticing a lot recently is that it takes fewer and fewer annoyances to make me give up a game in frustration. In my youth, I used to be able to look past repeated cheap deaths or terrible voice acting, but now that I’m older and my time has become increasingly more valuable I’m throwing aside games that rub me the wrong way very quickly.

A couple examples of this have come from two demos I’ve played recently: Splinter Cell: Conviction and Just Cause 2. While they both have the makings of two very fun titles, there are certain aspects of both that make me doubt whether or not I even want to bother with them. I’m going to sound a little petty here, but just hear me out. For Splinter Cell: Conviction, I was having a decent time tagging guys and doing silent take-downs, even if I did find the actions a little repetitious after a while. Once I got detected by the guards, that’s when I started to get agitated. While they’re searching for you, the various henchmen populating the level will spout phrases like: “Target lost, requesting update!”, or, “Continuing search for the target!” over and over until you put several bullets through their skulls. While this may not be enough to set most people off, having to listen to a dozen automatons bark their dialogue while waving their flashlights around really did the game in for me.
Continue reading GamerSushi Asks: Are Games Pissing You Off?

GamerSushi Asks: Immediate Regrets?

stalkerIt’s happened to all of us at one point or another: we buy a game, tear off the shrink wrapping, pop the disc into our console or PC, boot it up and watch as our hopes are torn asunder. It doesn’t occur all that often, being the net-savvy video game fans we are, but there are some games that manage to defeat all of our ingrained warnings and end up absorbing our hard earned cash.

This circumstance befell me last week with STALKER: Call of Pripyat, an open-world FPS by GSC Game World, a Ukraine-based developer of some note. I’ve been interested in the Stalker series for a while, but I’ve never had a machine capable of running the titles until now. I figured that, after three iterations on the formula, it was probably a safe bet that Call of Pripyat would fix up the nagging problems I’ve heard about the first two games, namely the repeated crashes and lock-ups.

Well, you know what they say about assumptions, and it turns out that Call of Pripyat is just as unstable as the other two games. After raising all my graphic options to maximum, the game promptly crashed, forcing me to do it all over again. It also doesn’t help that, even on full graphics, the game looks and plays like a budget 2007 title. I understand that GSC is using the same engine, but they could have at least given it a bit of spit shine.

Needless to say, I promptly uninstalled the game and began pining after my forty misspent dollars. Has something like this happened to anyone else? I can think of two other instances of this phenomenon, but I’d like to hear your stories first. Have any of you been burned by hype? Sound off!

Review: BioShock 2

As the cover for BioShock 2 tells you, it is the “sequel to [the] Game of the Year”. Cheeky, that, but in many ways that bit of advertising copy defines this sequel, for better or for worse. BioShock 2 has big shoes to fill, and a lot of people were either full of anticipation that the second go-round would be as inventive and atmospheric as the first, or instantly dismissive of something that could never live up to the original.

The original game has a reputation of excellence from most quarters. It’s actually the first game I played this generation, when I picked up my 360 back in 2008. I had heard so much about BioShock that I just had to check it out. Also, I’ve always been a fan of “horror” games, which BioShock is to a certain degree. It isn’t a full-bore jump-and-scream gorefest, but it does have an evocative setting and deliberate pacing that fills you with tension and certainly creeped me out.

So when a sequel was announced, I was instantly excited. I loved the setting of the original game, and no amount of multiplayer or skeptical friends were going to keep me from picking up the sequel on release day. Here I am a week later to tell you how it all stands up.

Continue reading Review: BioShock 2

GamerSushi Demands: Post Your Lootz!

Well, it’s Christmas time, and naturally that means one thing: epic loot! For many gamers, this is the time of year that we can’t stand waiting for, because we know that Christmas Day will reap a bountiful harvest of the things we’ve been dying to play for the last year or even longer.

So far, I haven’t been able to do any present opening, so I’m not sure of what gaming things might be waiting for me, if any. If I get some money/gift cards, I’ll be very tempted to buy Left 4 Dead 2, which I keep hearing is even better than the first one. If nothing else, I’m going to be saving up money for Mass Effect 2 (January), Splinter Cell (February), Final Fantasy XIII (March) and Heavy Rain. This week I’ve been playing Assassin’s Creed 2 and while it starts off pretty terribly, it’s getting better fast.

So, what kind of loot did you guys get? Feel free to post about it, gaming or otherwise. Go!

Introducing: GamerSushi Reviews Page

premiereWell, aren’t we fancy? We just keep adding these features, don’t we? Soon, you’ll all revolt, longing to go back to the “GamerSushi that was”…

But until then, enjoy the brand spanking new GamerSushi Reviews page, which compiles all of our reviews in an easy-to-browse manner. This should hopefully be helpful in the future as we continue to add more games. Much thanks to JJ, who really killed it with putting the layout together.

In terms of more functionality and updating, we’ve got more stuff we’re working on for the near future with GamerSushi. Any other features you would love to see on this site? What do you think of the review page? Go!

Holiday Gaming Memories

holidaysHappy Turkey Day, fools!

One of the most interesting things about holidays is the traditions that we and our families adopt, and the memories that form with them. For me, every Thanksgiving is a get-together with the family, along with some board games such as Risk or Apples to Apples. We also throw the football around a little. We’ve been repeating this for quite some time, and I enjoy it for the most part, especially the way we’ve all grown and changed over time. It really makes for some fond memories.

While gorging myself on food today, kind of wishing I was home finishing Dragon Age: Origins or jumping in on the second season of 1 Vs 100, it made me think about some of my favorite memories and traditions from my gaming background.
Continue reading Holiday Gaming Memories

GamerSushi Asks: What Are You Playing?

thanksgivingThe holidays are coming up. The games are coming out. And here we are, with all these new toys to play with. What’s more important, though, is that some of us are going to have lots of time on our hands to play them next week, due to the wonderful thing known as Thanksgiving break.

Right now, I’ve been pouring my whole life into Dragon Age: Origins. It’s a very deep RPG with some great writing, a fascinating world, cool characters and a fun story. I have to say, I’m starting to hit the near obsessive point with it, wanting to play it all hours of the night and during the day. I don’t know if it’s that it’s such a wonderful game so much as I’ve been needing an RPG fix for a long time, and this has just what I’ve desired. We’ll see how I feel when I’m done.

I’m also playing Modern Warfare 2, Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2, and I’m hoping to be knocking out some Assassin’s Creed II or Left 4 Dead 2 next week. What about you guys? What will you be playing during Thanksgiving week?

Fighting Gaming Addictions

everquestEven though I joke about being addicted to video games, I don’t think I can ever honestly say that I’ve had a real actual addiction to them at any point in my life. Thankfully, games have been an area where the fun stays fun, and I can walk away if something is sucking away too much of my life, though Counter-Strike came close to reversing that.

A really interesting article went up a couple of days ago on Kotaku called I Kept Playing – The Cost of My Gaming Addiction. I highly recommend reading it for any of you who have ever had a problem with MMOs (or any game for that matter), or if you’ve had friends affected by the kinds of addiction described within. He describes losing two jobs and the love of his life, all for Everquest. While I’ve had my share of difficulties in one area or another over the years, I’ve never experienced need for something to that level. It really is frightening to think that something could come along and uproot everything that people work for. And a videogame, of all things.

A few years back, my brother went through a pretty rough time where Everquest was all he did. It took him awhile to come out of the funk, and he doesn’t like to think back on it. He’s all better now, thankfully, and living a normal life, but those years were a little nuts. What about you guys? Have you ever known anybody who’s had a gaming addiction like this?

Source- Kotaku

Griefing Table Manners

campingGriefing. It is perhaps the biggest bane of an online gamer’s existence. No matter what system or game that you choose to leap into the online mega-verse with, you can not escape its pull. Whether the griefing takes place in the form of an obnoxious brat screaming obscenities or even team-killing, you know that you are going to run into it in some way, shape or form on any given night. But what happens when you are the one accused of griefing? And are all griefing sins really so equal? Let’s discuss.
Continue reading Griefing Table Manners