Gamer Interview- Chris Brittain

REVIEW ME: Chris Brittain

Question #1: When were you first introduced to games and what game was it?
Answer: I'd have to say the classic Super Mario Bros. I used to play it but I wasn't even that good. I didn't really have the awareness for the game play. I inherited the system after that.

Question #2: What's your fondest memory of gaming as a child or ever?
Answer: I don't know about one moment in specific in my life, but it's that moment in gaming when you finally figure something out by yourself or you realize how to complete a puzzle and then you do it. Like in Final Fantasy 3 when you realize you don't have to fight Phantom Train because you can just one shot him with a Phoenix Down. That's why I hate strategy guides because they just ruin moments like that for people.

Question #3: Would you consider gaming a hobby of yours, or more of a lifestyle?
Answer: It's becoming more popular and socially acceptable to make it a lifestyle to be a video game player. If not I'd say it's one of my core hobbies. You're drawing a fine line here when you say lifestyle choice though. You can't say it's an addiction, that's a cop out because it's not affecting my life detrimentally but it's definitely a big part of my routine.

Question#4: Favorite thing about gaming right now?
Answer: My favorite thing in gaming is the excitement and intensity of competitive play. You can always tell the video game players who play casually in comparison to the people who play competitively by the way they react to a loss. When a competitive player loses he has a back up plan he has a way to adapt and make him or herself win the next round. A competitive player is flexible in what they do.

Question #5: Least favorite thing about gaming right now?
Answer: It's all about the players who play the top tier characters just to win. It's fun for nobody. They don't take any risks and that's lame. They just take the safe choice to secure a win. It takes the fun out of the game even from a spectator's position.

Question #6: Favorite genre of video game and why?
Answer: Its always been RPG's for me. I played Halo, what can I tell you about Master Chief? Nothing at all. After I played Chrono Trigger I could write a detailed report on each character and I still can. That's what I love. I love character development and there's no better genre for that than RPG's. I think in Super Mario RPG is when I started feeling bad for Bowser. It developed him and his story so much and it was only fully possible with the help of RPG story telling elements. I like characters I care about and I like a good villain. Some of my favorite would be Bowser, Kefka and Magus.

Question #7: What's your favorite RPG and why?
Answer: It's absolutely Chrono Trigger. I've thought about this thoroughly and it's hands down Chrono Trigger. For its time it was incredibly innovative and and progressive with things ranging from the battle system to its story line to its character development. There's like 13 or 14 different endings and the course of the game changes and the world changes depending on how you progress, that game came out over 10 years ago. That sort of game play is still being heavily implemented now, it's a staple now. Back then was completely unheard of. What else? The villain was incredible and I actually gave a shit about him and cared about his back story. I haven't had that to the same extent since. The music is more than just impressive and really everything about the game is incredibly solid.

I love fighting games because they make you play to your strengths and they challenge you to be the best and they drive you, but with RPG's you care about the actual game, the piece of work in front of you and not so much how well you do but how the characters you're playing as progress through their lives.

Question #8: Explain your love of and history for Super Smash Bros. Melee? How many hours have you put in?
Answer: They say to master anything you need 10,000 hours of practice. On my console alone I have 6,000 hours all together? Shit, I'd probably say abot 7,000 to 8,000 hours. I started playing Smash Bros. 64 in my buddies basement back in the day. It was Donkey Kong versus Pikachu and we played 99 stocks and saw who could do 99 back throws first. When it came to Melee my friend Angelo played the game to the fullest and immersed himself completely and he dragged me in with him. I got pretty serious with the game when I saw some technical players play and I honed my skills the best I could from videos on the internet and I played Luigi. Eventually, Angelo stopped playing and I took up the mantle of Captain Falcon. It wasn't until 2009 that I participated in my first tournament called "Show Me Your Moves" and I thought I had no chance. I played for a few rounds and I did well and then finally I came up against a player called "Nesn00b". I lost, but that was a good thing. It made me want to get that much better at the game and it really drove me further to become a solid player and from there I really did get much better and gained knowledge I wouldn't have if I continued to think I was the best because I beat this one random guy at this tournament. Because of that I realized how fast the game was, how I could best take advantage of certain situations and how I could ultimately become a better all around player. I took on more tournaments and started doing better. But before all of the tournaments there was Brawl.... which really made me appreciate how good and fleshed out Melee really is. Brawl has a skill cap in comparison to Melee. Players are more rewarded for playing defensively and safe than how good they actually are. I'm not saying there's no skill involved, but it's definitely toned down drastically. It was the sequel that no one liked.

Question #9: Explain the Smash community to me.
Answer: It's a huge group of people from all around the world that want to pick up the game. It's very popular among college kids or high school kids. Just people who have some extra time on their hands and want to pick up a pretty expansive game. I mean, there are some married people who play too and there are some girls who play, but usually they don't get quite as good. I don't mean to be sexist but generally they don't commit the time to their games like guys do. It could be a sex thing it could be how we're raised but for some reason you don't see many really good female players. Smashboards.com is the central hub for Smash Bros. because it shows beginners how the game works, it shows other players where tournaments are and it really just brings everyone who shows or has interest for the game together. I met so many people through this community.

Chris Brittain is a gamer who primarily spends his free time playing Super Smash Bros. Melee and Project Melee. He doesn't consider himself a pro although he does compete with the likes of some well known players such as Armada, Taj, Darkrain, Hax, Kage. Videos for all of these players can be found on youtube. Some of the people he has played in Melee are from Michigan, Indiana, Wisconsin, California, Texas, Nevada, Arizona, Sweden and Israel to name a few and remember this game has no online. He has played in many Midwest states in California and hopes to continue playing for years to come. If I could give any piece of advice to a person trying to become good at a game don't just become as good as you need to be be as good as you possibly can be. Also, if you want to win, by all means, play the top tier characters, but if you want to have fun stick with the character you love and deal with their flaws. It makes for a better understanding of the game and an all around more enjoyable experience for everybody.

Give me some videos that best sum you up:

Robo's Theme: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOWf_T0jdgQ
Kefka Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=395kZApqb_M

Chris vs. Armada: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nosNfmhljSQ
Chris vs. Taj: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0_FdNfdG3A
Chris vs. Ripple in Project M: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHhPy7EPEuM

Chrono Trigger vs. Magus: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtC5RNaguzo

Captain Falcon guide by Scar: http://www.smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=227344
Frame Data guid by Angelo Bangelo: http://www.smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=222781

Hope you all enjoyed the interview. Until next time... SEICHUSAN GODANZUKI!

Borderlands 2 Preview- Why Fix it If It Ain't Broke?

After watching one of the many gameplay videos for Borderlands 2 I have come to the conclusion that this is going to be very similar to the first one. If you don't believe me see for yourself in this video. See? Told you, jackass. Now, the real question is and will always be whether or not this is a good thing. For the betterment of gaming, this is terrible, for fans of the series who wanted a straight up sequel... well let's just say there's a lot of people creamin' their pants right now.

The story revolves around something or whatever and the main character needs to kill bad people. Easy enough. I remember playing Borderlands and loving the gameplay, but by the end I wasn't really sure why I was so happy that I won. It was just... "Yay, I won.". That's ok, I loved the gameplay so it made up for it, but for people who disliked the first game because of the forgettable storyline you might want to steer clear of this one.

As far as the gameplay goes it looks like the face-shooting, leveling up goodness is all still intact. Players still have a skill tree they can put experience points into and gain new abilities as their character grows. Vehicles are still present in the game and now come equipped with four seats instead of the two from the first game. The last game had one billion ka-jillion different guns... THIS ONE HAS TWO BILLION KA-JILLION GUNS. My point is everything from the first game is still there and it's more fleshed out in most cases, but there aren't too many new gameplay mechanics I've seen besides having a trade menu instead of having to manually drop weapons and having your partner manually pick them up. Nice additions, but nothing tremendous. Also, graphics are pretty much the same. No upgrades really, but for a game like this who cares. It's not Final Fantasy or Halo where that shit's pretty much expected.

I'm most likely going to pick this game up. I have a friend who'll sit there and share the experience with so hell I could probably just wait for him to get it and write something based on that, but I'm not by any means expecting this game to blow me away and quite frankly I'll be surprised if it's much better than the first one, but hey, this industry is based around sticking to formulas that work so what's the point of even complaining about one that does that once? I also know a game like this will have plenty of DLC's, one of which will include an additional character, so I'm not worried about a lack of content here either.

Overall, I expect this game to be pretty well received by critics and will most likely get scores that range from 8 to 9.5. If you loved the first "role-playing shooter" you're most likely gonna love this. Here's a couple of videos to hold you over until its release:

1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VW7qO_wpfvk
2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8U7nYb3ts7w
3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6d91Zvujs5g
4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvHqocIPn2s

If you don't care about Borderlands 2 I don't understand why you're still reading but here's something for you too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuFF_6bg4T4&feature=fvst
Ha... now you're gay.

Check out the new kid on the block!

So I guess I'm inspiring people all over the world with this little blog! Well, that may be a steaming pile of bullshit, but, a friend of mine did start a blog on game reviews and I'd like to think I'm at least partially responsible for that. Anyways, this guy's a smart ass and I pretty much enjoy anything he has to say about games so I strongly suggest you to check out what he's writing and I guarantee you'll love his backhanded remarks about everything games by the time you're done reading.  The name of his blog is brutalgamereview.blogspot.com so get over there and check out his commentary on Darksiders 2 and an overall commentary on the gaming industry as a whole. Warning: Do not read if you take games too seriously and have major crushes on certain franchises. He will bash them and you will be butt hurt. Other than that enjoy the sarcastic insight this guy has to offer!

Guest Reviewer- Daniel Culligan

Guild Wars 2 Review: Part 1

By: Dan Culligan

                If you are any type of PC gamer, chances are you’ve heard of Guild Wars 2. It’s a game that has been pegged with tons of hype from media and gamers alike, and it was to the point that a lot of people were worried it wouldn’t be able to live up to its foretold grandeur. I was one of those people who thought it could only disappoint with all the excitement about it, but it not only lives up to the hype, it exceeds what I thought it could be.

                When you first start up the game you are asked to choose between 5 different races: the Sylvari (Plant people born from a tree), Charr (Cat people-esque creatures), Asura (Think dobby from Harry Potter), Norn (Nordic people), and of course your average human. Each race has certain racial abilities but they are not designed to give any certain race a distinct advantage over the other. These abilities can range from being condition removals all the way up to letting you summon creatures to help you in the heat of battle. The powers are nice but they truly give no one race an advantage over the other, and this is a good thing as other MMOs have had many people upset with balance issues in the past. 

After choosing your race you are asked to choose from one of eight different professions: Warrior, Guardian, Elementalist, Engineer, Ranger, Necromancer, Theif, and Mesmer. Warrior being your average choose a weapon and hit people with it, Guardians are kind of like warriors with magic, Elementalist uses the elements to win fights (as per the name), Engineer uses turrets, traps, and bombs to take on their enemies, Ranger gets a pet companion and is mostly a projectile profession, Necromancer can summon creatures and place curses, Thief is a more sneaky, stabby type of profession, and Mesmer can project images of themselves to distract enemies and players alike. Now, people will be tempted to tag a specific role to each of these professions, but a big point of this game is that there are no defined roles to a profession. This means that there is no tank, healer, or DPS specific profession. In fact, the game has done away with these roles completely and the abilities you use will be based on the weapon you are carrying. For instance, a warrior carrying a mace and a shield will have more defensive abilities built around preventing incoming damage and keeping himself alive, while a warrior carrying a great sword is purely offense and is concentrated on pumping out damage.

This weapon system is something that is brand new to MMOs and it seems to be working out quite well. As you use a weapon you will start out with only an auto attack, but the more you use it, the more skills you unlock. The way the abilities are set up in the interface are the first three corresponding to your main hand and the last two corresponding to your off hand, unless you are using a two handed weapon, which will take up all five weapon skills. Now this system is great if you have a class that can use a lot of weapons, but if you are a class more limited to what weapons you can use, it can seem like you don’t have much to look forward to once you have unlocked all the abilities for the weapons you are using. With all the other stuff to do in the game, though, you won’t have to worry much about being entertained by your weapon.

This brings me to my next point. This game is loaded with content. I can’t speak for the end game but I’ve never had so much to do while I’ve been leveling. Between the vistas (viewpoints that you have to find a way to climb up to), the dynamic events and renown hearts you will never be bored while playing this game. Oh and by the way, you get experience for everything you do in this game, even for just gathering stuff that you need for crafting. This helps the game never feel like a grind, which is a big deal when it comes to MMOs. Most games try to hide grind but don’t really accomplish it, but this game really succeeds in doing so with the way the questing system is set up. It removes quest givers and instead gives you empty golden hearts on your map that when you enter the area around them it gives you a list of things you can do and gives you a bar that fills up as you do them. Not knowing that you have to collect a certain amount of a things keeps it from feeling like you are doing the same thing over and over.

The last thing I want to cover in part 1 of this review is how beautiful this game is. It is the best looking MMO I have ever played. I have gotten entertainment from just walking around and looking at the scenery that the game presents to you. The vistas really help show this off and they also allow you to get a little experience on the side as a little extra incentive. I’ve never seen this much attention to the environment in an MMO in my long time playing them and it is a very refreshing thing to have in a game.

Well, that’s it for now. I’ve still got a lot to get through in this game so I can give you guys my final grade on it. So far, it’s pretty incredible and I expect it to stay that way. In my next part I will go in depth with the dynamic events as well as give you my impressions on the zones that I have been working through on my Norn Warrior and even get into a little on the PvP side of things. Keep checking back for more.

This article was written by Daniel Culligan, a good friend of mine and man who has played many different games. Personally, I've seen him play the likes of Batman: Arkham City, Resident Evil 4, NCAA Football 12, the Mass Effect series, the Uncharted series and Battlefield 3 just to name a few. He is from Louisville, Kentucky and is currently a junior studying creative writing. If you have any questions or comments feel free to email me at aflynn@dailyegyptian.com and I will send the message to Dan. Hope you enjoyed the article and keep your eyes out for the second Guild Wars 2 review by Dan coming soon.

Gamer Interview-Anthony Pickens

Question #1: When did you first start playing video games and what was your first game?
Answer: I started when I was about 5. The first game I played was the original Mario Bros. You know? The one that was hard as hell. It wasn't my console it was my brother's but yeah my brother or sister always had a console for me to play.

Question #2: What was the first console that you owned?
Answer: It was the Sega Genesis. It wasn't mine at first but gradually it was passed on to me by my brother and sister. I remember playing Sonic the Hedgehog and Street Fighter 2: Hyper. For the most part that's about it we had other games but those we're probably the two I played most.

Question #3: What is your favorite genre of video games and why?
Answer: Action/Adventure. Anything along the lines of Assassin's Creed, Batman: Arkham City or Legend of Zelda. I like them so much because they're so versatile, you know, they can encompass many different things in one game. One of the most memorable moments in an Action/Adventure for me would be getting past the Water Temple in one of the Zelda games. It's so doggone difficult to beat those things, most of the time just because of how confusing they are.

Question #4: What are your top 5 favorite video games?
Answer: Resident Evil 4, Batman: Arkham City, Ocarina of Time, Silent Hill 2 and then Pokemon: the original Gold & Silver.

Question #5: What's the most agitating thing to you about the video game community nowadays?
Answer: The fact that most young gamers don't know the history of video games. It's like most of the games are changed to the action/adventure genre, which diminishes the strength of other genres. While action/adventure is my favorite genre I don't want everything to be blended together. Shooters too, I mean heck, lately they've just been combining the two because of the popularity of both genres. A perfect example of this taking away from an already great franchise is Resident Evil 5. It's just that I expected the game to actually be scary, or at least closer to Resident Evil 4 where action and horror were blended together in an acceptable way, not 99 percent action and 0.5 percent attempt at horror. The other 0.5 percent they just kind of gave up.

Question #5: Most disappointing aspect of video games nowadays in your opinion?
Answer: Just the fact that it seems like while games are more able to become an art form and be creative, developers are just taking the easy way out and making something they know will do well in this market. There's no innovation right now because developers want to make games they know will yield a strong profit and because of that so much creative potential is being wasted. A perfect example of that would be call of Duty. When Modern Warfare 1 came out it was interesting and new, but ever since they found a formula people responded well to they've just been milking it ever since.

Question #6: What's one of the best indie games that you've played in the past year?
Answer: It didn't come out a year ago, but I'd have to say Limbo. It really brought back the sense of the old days when people were playing nothing but platformers and added in a darker vibe.

Question #7: What are you looking forward to most, game-wise, in the next year?
Answer: It's between Resident Evil 6 and Assassin's Creed 3. I expect Assassins's Creed 3 to be game of the year, enough said. I expect Resident Evil 6 to bring much the same to the table that RE4 did in terms of blending horror with action so fans of both RE4 and RE5 have something to look forward to.

Question #8: What's the game you feel you are the most skilled at?
Answer: I'd have to say Street Fighter because I've literally been playing it since childhood. I'm also really good at first person shooters, whether it's Halo or Battlefield and the only reason I'm good at them is because I put the time in, I mean, shooters aren't terribly hard to get good at as long as you put a little time in. Being good at fighting games is harder though because you have to go beyond the instruction booklet. You have to know such technical aspects like frame advantage and specific match-ups so you're almost never fighting with the same style or mindset, especially with all the online players.

Question #9: Why do you still play games? What about them draws you in?
Answer: Out of all the art forms out there, whether it be TV, Movies, paintings, music or books I feel it is the one form that is growing quickly and ascending to a point where other art forms are not. Movies seem to be generally getting worse every year and even though many people think games aren't art you can definitely tell by the amount of people games draw to the type of creative minds working for game companies that gaming is truly grabbing people's attentions.

Question #10: PC gaming or console gaming and why?
Answer: Console gaming. I never really had a strong enough PC to fully appreciate what PC gaming has to offer and I've always felt more comfortable with a controller in my hand than a mouse when it comes to controlling a video game.

Anthony Pickens is a Journalism major from St. Louis that attends Southern Illinois University. He hopes to someday be a video game journalist and write for the magazine Game Informer not just doing video game reviews but write cover stories that are featured on the front page of the publication. He wants to write gaming articles nobody else has knowledge of because he believes it carries more weight than just the typical review. He can be reached at apickens5@siu.edu and will be writing a Madden review for this blog as well as some other game related pieces in the near future.

Nintendo hopes old solution fixes new problem

The following is an article printed in the August 30 Edition of the Daily Egyptian

As companies grow older and mature, often times so do their business practices, but Nintendo fans can rest assured that some things never change.

About a year and three months after the March 27, 2011, release of the 3DS, the 3DS XL was announced to hit store shelves by Aug. 19 of this year. The device was said to be a beefed up version of the original handheld with a 90 percent bigger screen, a longer battery life and minor aesthetic enhancements. After its release 11 days ago, consumers are left wondering to themselves, “Is it worth it?”

The conclusion consumers come to could greatly affect Nintendo’s finances.

Nintendo is no stranger to the frequent face lifts it gives its handhelds. The company released its first portable system titled Game Boy, back in August 1989.

Provided Photo

This quickly became popular with the help of iconic games such as Mario, Tetris, Mega Man and Pokemon, the game that started a world-wide craze.

While the Game Boy did remain standard for seven years Nintendo released a slimmer version of the system in 1996 called the Gameboy Pocket. The company released the Game Boy Color two years later.

Within a nine-year timespan, the company released three different versions of the same system with specific modifications such as a size change or the ability to display colored images.

This proved successful as the company reported $120 million in total sales for just the hardware. Thats more than any other console or handheld they’ve ever released, with the exception of the Nintendo DS which generated more than $150 million for the company.

Nintendo would then go on to release other handheld systems such as the Game Boy Advance, the Nintendo DS and finally the Nintendo 3DS.

Each of the separate portable systems had multiple transformations in their lifetime with the Game Boy Advance having three different versions in a four-year timespan, the Nintendo DS having four iterations in a five-year time period and the 3DS with two varieties released in a little more than a year.

All of these upgrades created a steady cash flow for the company in the past, and in light of some recent profit losses — a net loss of about $220 million in the company’s 2012 quarter one sales reports — Nintendo will depend on a boost in sales with the release of its super-sized 3DS.

However, some technical and packaging issues could lead to a less-than-impressive quarter two sales turnout for the Japan-based gaming company.

When the 3DS was first released, many consumers were upset with a few features the system hyped up such as the 3D visuals the system is named after.

After the device was on the market for about six months, games were also released that would greatly benefit from the addition of a second analog stick. When Sony, Nintendo’s competitor, released its new handheld, the PS Vita, gamers were not only given the second analog stick they wanted so badly, but they also got enhanced graphics with a bigger screen to enjoy them on.

Although the 3DS outsold the Vita by more than 400,000 units, Nintendo still struggles to please its fans with the release of the XL, a move that could drop its sales even further.

The first issue fans have with the 3DS XL is its lack of a second analog stick. Even after much feedback from fans through emails and comments on the company’s YouTube page, Nintendo still neglected the possible addition.

According to a report by slashgear.com, a website for technology reviews, Nintendo President Satoru Iwata said the addition of a second analog stick would not have been possible in combination with a longer battery life and an overall size that kept the system portable.

The second problem consumers have with the 3DS XL is one not seen in America.

The system does not come packaged with a charger in Japan and Europe. Nintendo states this is being done to cut production costs, but this limits sales of the handheld to Japanese and European people who already own a 3DS, or people who are willing to shell out the extra $10-20 for a charger.

This alienates a large portion of consumers in Japan and Europe, and it leaves the people who have already bought the original 3DS as the target selling audience. While the XL does offer some great upgrades, it doesn’t justify spending another $200 out of the bank, especially with the issues that still remain.

This isn’t to say the XL’s redeeming qualities aren’t worth a mention.

The bigger screen and longer battery life makes for a great experience that enhances the 3D effects in a longer, more immersive way.

Aesthetic changes such as a fingerprint-resistant matte finish and smoothed corners help alleviate some comfortability problems presented by the original device as well.

In all, the 3DS XL is a wonderful opportunity for gamers who missed out on the 3DS to immediately upgrade their gaming experience for an extra $30, but people who already own the original will most likely stick with what they have.

The real question is whether the 3DS XL will save Nintendo from its lowered sales. The answer, as it seems right now, is no.

Although it may have worked for the company defined by a mushroom-munching plumber in the past, Nintendo may have to wait for the release of the Wii U to get its financial issues sorted out.

Sometimes it’s not all 1-ups and saving princesses, and Nintendo might have to find that out the hard way.

Well, regardless of if you guys agree with me or not I hope you like the article nonetheless and I really hope Nintendo turns their problems around. I'm not too worried though, I mean, it's Nintendo. They always bounce back. Right? 

Gamer Interview - Ben Bayliff

Question #1: What is the first video game you can remember playing?
Answer: Mario on the NES when I was about 5 or 6 years old. I remember being at my Grandma's house playing it and just feeling joy. I don't remember all of the game but I remember the feeling.

Question #2: What's the game that got you really seriously playing?
Answer: I would have to say the "Pokemans" got me into gaming. It was really the first game that I just sat there for hours on end and played straight through. It was a game I played with my friends and we built somewhat of a community and it was the game that got me looking out for sequels and into the mindset of "what's the next best game that's going to come out. I looked up information on the game, that was really the first game I cared enough to do that with.

Question #3:  What games are you really seriously playing now?
Answer: Guild Wars 2, NHL 13 the demo (lol) and Minecraft and those'll be my top 3 for the next 5 months. And when I say seriously play Guild wars 2 I mean it. The game has been out for less than a week and I've already logged 54 hours into it sooooo....

Question #4: Tell me about your time with Minecraft and why you think its become so popular.
Answer: I started out with Minecraft just like everybody else. I heard about it and me and my friends started a server. Long story short my friends got tired of it and I wanted to keep playing so I entered a building competition hosted byFyreUK, which is a pair of british gents who create intricate Minecraft structures, and won which allowed me to play and help build these great works. FyreUK is pretty well known within the Minecraft community, especially for their amazing time lapse videos. Honestly, I think Minecraft is just so popular because the community behind it and the modification aspect to the game. There's a huge creative community behind the game that continually posts content so the game is always fresh even for people who've been playing since day 1.

Question #5: What's your favorite video game?
Answer: Can I pick a franchise? Can I pick a developer? Hahahaha, oh this is going to be hard. Um, if I had to narrow it down to two franchises I would say Ratchet & Clank and Kingdom Hearts. Ratchet & Clank because of the ability of the game to be awesome no matter how many times it comes out and Kingdom Hearts because of the story line. In my opinion, you don't get much better than Kingdom Hearts as far as story line goes. All NHL games get an honorable mention.

Question #6: What's your least favorite thing about video games, the industry or the community?
Answer: It's heavily around the Call of Duty franchise and how it's gone to shit and how we've let it go to shit. People have bought the game year after year and we don't question the fact that they change next to nothing about the game. It's one of the most profitable games and they seriously don't change anything about it. We're just going to let developers get away with that and let them keep making money off of their lack of hard work and creativity. I just want to shoot Activision in the face with their poorly designed weapons. A close second though is the immaturity of online gaming. I mean, it's all about trashing the other player, there's no more respect.

Question #7: Who's your favorite video game character? Why?
Answer: Riku, from Kingdom Hearts. I like him because of the inner turmoil he has to go through to save his friends while satisfying the curiosity he has at the beginning of the game. The character development in that game is insane so choosing someone from Kingdom Hearts is an easy choice. You could say Mario, but you don't connect to Mario in the same way. He's just a face at times, like, you know he's in the middle of a struggle but you don't really know why. The only thing that keeps you playing is the gameplay for the most part and that's why I say Riku because even though I din't play as him I had a strong connection to him as a character.

Question #8: Least favorite video game character?
Answer: Mr. X from Resident Evil 2. When he popped out of walls... it scared THE SHIT out of me.

Question #9: Favorite video game quote?
Answer: It's either Ansem when he says "Why do we hate the darkness so much when it is half of everything?"or Sora when he says "That's not true! The heart maybe weak and sometimes it may even give in. But I've learned that deep down there's a light that never goes out!"

Question #10: PC gaming or console gaming? Why?
Answer: I mean, it's always nice to sit in front of a TV and play your favorite game, but with PC gaming there's just so much more to offer for everyone. Developers can add so much more to the game, gamers can mod, more customization is available and the graphics are pretty much always better and the community is better because of the amount of social tools available online. I've met a lot of really cool people online I wouldn't have been able to interact with had it not been for a computer.

Ben Bayliff is a senior at SIUC from St.Louis studying Information Systems technology. You can see some of the FyreUK videos he's helped plan at FyreUK.com. Some of the works he's played a large part in are "Huge Train Station", "Aquila", and "City of Mages". I seriously recommend you guys check out what this guy has done because it really is amazing, even for people who are well versed with Minecraft. This is The Tin Man Flynn signing out. Until next time everybody, take it easy.

Darksiders 2 First Impressions Interview

Spencer Cordts, a previous poster on this blog, has bought Darksiders 2 for the PS3 and he and I thought it would be a fun idea to do an interview about his first impressions of the game. He's only put in about 10 hours so take the information as you will, just keep in mind there will be periodic updates throughout the next week or so.We're going to try and keep this short and sweet so enjoy and tell us what you thought about it in the comments below.

Question #1: What's the biggest improvement from the first game?
Answer: Not all items in the game are unlocked through progression of the game or purchasing from vendors but rather through leveling up and overall character progression. I like it because in the first game you had to beat a boss to get abyssal form and other such items, this took a while. Now you can get great items if you work hard enough at leveling your character.

Question #2: What's the biggest disappointment about the game so far?
Answer: Weapons are way too easy to upgrade and you're constantly getting better ones so doing side quests seems pointless since you're just going to get something better in 15 minutes anyways.(It's almost as bad as buying an iPhone). Also, the world is much bigger overall and there's a lot more content because of that, but the world can be a pain in the ass to travel around in sometimes, it's hard to figure out where to go and how to get there because the puzzles can be a pretty cryptic at times. I enjoy puzzles, but the ones in Darksiders aren't frustrating because of the challenge but rather the confusion of how the game presents them.

Question #3: How are you liking the story line so far?
Answer: It's good. I mean, it's a great continuation of the original story despite being a different main character. Being true to a story line and successfully building upon it is something that's important to me and clearly it's something that's important to the developers. If you just look at the amount of time they put into the look and environment you'd be able to tell they care very much about the title and the story is no exception to that.

Question #4: What do you think about the main character, Death, in comparison to War?
Answer: I like him more. War was a really good basis for the gaming or starting character, but Death is more interesting because everyone knows him in the game. His popularity is pretty funny in the game because some NPC's are like 'oh shit it's Death', which gives the impression that some people can die more than once and still be apart of the universe. It can just be a comical interaction at times while still giving in to that persona everyone sees the Grim Reaper as.

Question #5: Do you think Death looks like a member of Slipknot just a bit too much?
Answer: No, I don't think so. I think he looks a bit less like the Grim Reaper, but seriously, I think he looks way more bad ass than Slipknot. He makes them look like a bunch of crybabies?

Question #6: What would you want to see addeed?
Answer: The different customizable weapons and abilities give the game a nice RPG feel while still staying true to the original Darksiders. You don't have to customize anything in the game, I mean, you'll progress just fine without it, but just giving players the option to makes the game that much more enjoyable.

First Impression 3DS XL

Well, Nintendo decided to make a bigger version of the 3DS. If anyone says they're surprised right now they are either A) lying or B) trolling or C) unfamiliar with common Nintendo business practices. Either way, my job is to tell you guys whether or not it's worth buying and even though I feel like a sucker for picking up this thing I'd have to say it's absolutely worth it.

To start, most of the comparison I offer comes from playing my friend's 3DS for about two weeks before the release of the 3DS XL and minor play with other friends 3DS's when the handheld was first released. I'm happy to report that while the 3D effect is still a gimmick and loses its appeal when one you're not facing the device squarely, when you are properly viewing the screen the 3D effect is quite a bit more engaging and fleshed out than what can be seen from the smaller screen of the original. It really made Star Fox 64 3D a fun play and made me enjoy a game I've experienced in the past for a whole new set of reasons. It also seems like the 3D illusion isn't ruined quite as easily if one does move around when playing, but onlookers will still  be unable to see the 3D at all so backseat gaming is a near impossibility with the device. Overall, the 3D has been enhanced a noticeable amount but will still be the butt of many jokes and criticisms for the remainder of its lifetime (A bigger screen can't fix everything).

The design is nice with smoothed corners and a matte finish that is pleasing to the touch. The stylus has also been moved from the back of the device to the right side, but is no longer retractable(not a big deal in my opinion). I'll talk in more detail later when I make more entries but for now I'm going to try and keep it breezy. However, I feel I must address the one complaint glaringly obvious when anybody talks about the upgrade for more than two seconds... the absence of a second circle pad. While I will admit that it does suck the second circle pad is missing I have to say the games I've played absolutely does not need it. The only games I could see the second circle pad pad impacting the game play in a big way is Resident Evil: Revelation, Kid Icarus and Monster Hunter 4. Also, I do agree only having one circle pad does limit what developers can do with the games they create and the kind of mechanics they can implement in their games, but I don't think Nintendo will be hurting too much from this one and I know the consumers will get over it. Nintendo will continue to make great games despite the limitations and hopefully when they release their next handheld they'll remember to add that second, pesky stick. Until then people can complain and talk trash on Nintendo and all those White Knights can come galloping up in all their glory.

The two games I've played for the handheld are Final Fantasy Theatrhythm, a rhythm based game similar to Elite Beat Agents made by Square Enix, and Star Fox 64 3D. The other game I own is Kingdom Hearts: Dream drop Distance and while I haven't played it I am looking forward to what I've seen. Controls are precise and fluid for the two games I have played with Theatrhythm using the touch screen more heavily and Star Fox deploying the circle pad and buttons more. I picked up the gameplay for both titles quickly, but I wouldn't expect any less from a Square Enix and Nintendo game respectively.

As of now this is all I have to report on the 3DS XL and while some of the information is vague this is just the beginning to all of the updates I'm going to put out on the device. First impressions though have exceeded my expectations and I have thoroughly enjoyed my roughly ten hours I've spent with the new piece of Nintendo hardware.

Stay tuned for more updates on the XL and much more. We have an article on the new Madden game coming up as well as impressions of Darksiders 2 and a duel review of Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance with myself and a guest writer. If you have any questions about the XL just let me know and I'll try to address them in one of the next updates. Until then eat your mushrooms and keeping jumping on those turtles people!            -The Tin Man Flynn

Changes Are A Coming

Well, I usually don't write stuff like this but I'm trying to do an update on the blog and get some more frequent posts so here goes. This is my last year in school and I realized I need to post more on this thing so I get more coverage and get famous or whatever. There will hopefully be more writers coming on board and I'm looking into posting videos so get ready for more frequent posting hopefully and seriously, give me feedback and ideas, I need to be writing stuff people want to read so a little help like that can go a long way.

My other news is that I just got a 3DS XL woot. I've bought a few games for that and will hopefully reviewing that pretty often. I figured I can keep covering PS3 stuff and PC games too but hopefully I'll be getting someone a little more experienced with PC gaming to write about all the new releases(so pretty much MMO's lol).

Over the next few weeks I'm gonna try to feel things out and coordinate my school and work schedule to allow me to write more for this so if you've liked what you've seen in the past and were frustrated because I didn't post enough hopefully this will be enough to meet your needs. Look forward to that 3DS XL review in the next couple of days though. Tell your friends. HENSHIN A GO GO BABY!!!

Random Reviewer: Spencer Cordts on the Playstation Vita

PS Vita, is it worth it?

                                 Written by: Spencer Cordts

The PS Vita itself starts at $259.00 for the standard Wi-Fi system and there is a 3G version which comes with an 8Gig memory card that is priced at $299.99 which seems like a lot of money.  But you have to realize that what you are paying for is almost the equivalent to a next generation ystem (Xbox360, PS3, Wii) in system performance.

Although, it seems like a lot of money to spend on a game system it is well worth its cost.  This same situation happened back in the 90s when the Sega Dreamcast came out it was way beyond the other systems that came out at the time. So if you think about it the PS Vita is like the Dreamcast of this age.

I had a hard time justifying buying this, until I saw all TBA games that will be coming out for the Vita.  It has very powerful titles behind it.  The games coming out for Vita are more interesting to me than some of the major titles coming out for the home consoles.

For an idea of how powerful the PS Vita actually is the game Gravity Rush which was originally intended for the PS3 will be on the Vita and the game Uncharted: Golden Abyss.  If you want to want to see how impressive the graphics are for the Vita look up game play of these games.  Gravity Rush was released June 12 of this year and it is definitely worth watching.

Some people say they are interested in the Vita but the games out for it right now aren’t interesting enough for them to make the leap to the Vita. One thing I have to say is that if you didn’t own a PSP because you didn’t want to invest the money into the games, they have made the leap to the Vita for a reduced price on the PlayStation Network or PSN.

Most Vita games run between 25 to 40 USD, which is not a leap from PSP games that generally capped off at 40 USD with a few PSN exclusives: Escape Plan, Hustle Kings, Plants vs. Zombies and someothers.  Matt Machado, a Vita owner, said “I bought a lot of games off the PSN, its cheaper and I don’t have to worry about losing them.”

Another great asset the Vita has is its apps, similar to what one might find on a smartphone. “Near” is a powerful example of those apps.  Near is an app for the Vita that allows you to find out what other people are doing around you.  But it also you can find gifts from your friends for games that you play.

Something else that is quite impressive was the fact that the Vita launched with 25 launch Titles.  Additionally a few of the Vita games are ports from systems BlazBlue Compendium Shift: Extended, Marvel vs. Capcom 3, as well as some cross platform games.

One of the things that interested me most to getting this system is a remake of Final Fantasy X, one of the most well received games in the franchise.  I cannot wait for that game to come out on the PSN so I can start playing it again. 

My first impression upon turning on my Vita was the incredible resolution of the screen.  As well as the responsiveness of the touch screen.  The screen itself claims much of the front of the Vita at 5 inches which is an OLED display that lends itself well to the games on the Vita.  Weston Wright, a former PSP owner, said. “Ah PlayStation Vita…amazing interior of technology, the most powerful handheld device in the world and guess what it doesn’t cost $800 like an Ipad.”

The joysticks on the Vita are massively improved from the PSP control pad which for lack of a better term was garbage.  The joysticks not only sport a great feel of grip and support for your fingers but work well with most of the titles the system has to offer.

The buttons look small at first in comparison to the PSP but they are also well built, as well as being about the same size as the 3DS, the competing Nintendo handled system.

Some complaints I have with the Vita start with the time it takes to load things onto the Vita. Its content manager is subpar because it loads information to the system extremely slowly because it uses the Vita itself instead of the PS3 or Computer.  And when you load it from the PS3 it locks it on the screen when it has more processing power than the vita so it should be able to handle multiple tasks and shouldn’t be locked in the connection screen.  Which seems unnecessary because the PSP didn’t have something like that you just manually put it in the systems memory card.

Another complaint is the internet browser, when you open up links on pages the browser does not save you position on the original page.  Now I know the Vita wasn’t built to just use the internet browser but I still think it should be able to at least keep your position on the page even if you leave the page to another one.  It seems like a silly thing to complain about but when you’re on form sites and the links posted are imperative to what they have written, it becomes really annoying to have to scroll pages continuously.

My next complaint is with the battery life while listening to music.  Without headphones plugged in with the volume on full the battery dies within 2 to 3 hours and that’s a generous estimate. Again, I know the Vita was not made solely to be an mp3 player but I feel like it is a fair expectation.  If you can get a good 6 hours of game play on one charge more than 3 hours of music on full shouldn’t be too much to ask for.

The final complaint is small but I would like to have some patch notes for this system.  When a new system version comes out I would like to read what it is for and how it fixes the problem.  I do like the fact that you don’t have to update your games when you go to play them on the Vita.  Instead it shows you that you have an update when you start the game and you can choose to update it whenever you want.

Overall, I love the Vita. It is an excellent demonstration of how good mobile gaming is becoming.  The system makes leaps and bounds from where the PSP was and improved everything about the PSP that that needed work.

With a GPS, a mobile gaming hub that keeps track of the people you meet, as well as apps for Facebook, Twitter and other things the Vita made a strong release for itself and will surely build upon that for years to come. I feel like the other aspects of the system should be polished enough or they should be looking to constantly improve it as seen with the many improved iterations of the PSP before it.

Spencer Cordts is a 22-year old gamer who has owned such systems as the Playstation 2, Gamecube, many Gameboys, PSP, PS3 and most recently a PS Vita. Some of his favorite games include Fire Emblem, Star Craft, World of Warcraft, Chaos Legion Final Fantasy 7 and Monster Hunter. He will be attending Southern Illinois University Carbondale in the fall and hopes to become a history teacher in the future. He absolutely hates Mudkip and everything it stands for and will be glad to take on any challenger in Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine. For more information on Mr. Cordts contact aflynn@dailyegyptian.com or hatchethead57@yahoo.com. Thanks for reading!

Dark Knight trilogy rises above previous releases

By: Austin Flynn

Ever since the release of Tim Burton’s “Batman” in 1989, movie goers have swooned over Gotham’s hero, but no other adaptation has been as gripping and emotion-rich as that of Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy.

Since his days played by Adam West in the 60’s, fans of Batman have seen many different renditions of the caped crusader through mediums such as cartoons, video games and movies, and after the release of “The Dark Knight Rises” it’s apparent Christian Bale and Nolan have the strongest showing of the superhero yet.

In 2005, “Batman Begins” showed fans a more gritty, realistic version of Batman’s origin they couldn’t get from Burton’s cartoonish telling or Joel Shumacher’s half-hearted attempt at the franchise.

From the realistic way villains were portrayed, to the explanations for each and every gadget Batman had at his disposal, Nolan did an incredible job of making an otherwise far-fetched character into one fans could accept more readily.

Take Batman himself, for example.

While Bale has taken some criticism for the rough, beaten voice he uses as Batman, it is completely necessary for the realism portrayed in these movies.

If somebody as high profile as Bruce Wayne is going to jump into a skin-tight suit and beat up bad guys, he has to use the voice because 99 percent of Gotham has heard what Bruce Wayne sounds like.

He’s the only Batman to extremely disguise his voice, and admittedly, it sounds a little goofy at times, but better to sound goofy once or twice than have everyone know your true identity.

It’s just one choice out of many Bale made as Batman that added to the realism of the character and quite frankly put him above the previous actors (Val Kilmer, George Clooney, Michael Keaton) who tried their hand at the Bat.

Two other characters who also deserve mention would be Lieutenant Jim Gordon and Alfred.

Michael Caine hit a home run with his acting in the trilogy, a big feat considering how important this butler really is to the movie.

While he isn’t in every scene he is a source of deep emotion for the movie, being the closest thing to family Bruce Wayne has in the film, and Caine uses this fact to the best of his acting abilities.

Jim Gordon is portrayed differently in the Dark Knight trilogy in a way that commands respect from the audience as well.

In the original 1989 “Batman”, he was a cop dead set on catching Batman, but eventually came to use him as a way to deal with the villains the police couldn’t handle.

Gary Oldman (Nolan’s Lieutenant Gordon) not only called upon the vigilante when the city needed him most, but connected with him on a personal level to the point of friendship.

There is a scene in “The Dark Knight Rises” that displays this when an injured Gordon persuades Bruce Wayne to take up the mantle once more and defend the streets of Gotham from a developing threat.

Next is the portrayal of villains.

While Jack Nicholson did a commendable job as The Joker in “Batman” and Bane was an interesting addition, albeit a small appearance at best, in “Batman and Robin” the two respective roles were polished and primed to near perfection by Heath Ledger and Tom Hardy in the trilogy.

Nicholson’s version of The Joker was more of a zany, cartoon character, whereas Ledger played the part as a mentally unstable man with no name, a serial killer with a sense of humor. He made the audience feel his madness where Nicholson could only show it. He wanted to simply “watch the world burn” and such simplicity lent itself perfectly to Ledger’s acting style in the film.

Hardy, on the other hand, gave the impression of sheer power to Bane.

There is a chilling scene in “The Dark Knight Rises” whereas despite Batman hitting the antagonist with everything he had, he wasn’t able to take down the titan of a man.

Bane literally took punches to the face only to shrug them off and continue an all-out assault on Gotham’s best, pummeling him further into submission, giving the audience the impression of all hope being lost.

Hardy’s Bane puts the “Batman and Robin” Bane to shame with dark dialogue and a fist even Batman couldn’t compete with.

Overall, the trilogy serves as a more realistic take of Batman and delivers on countless levels.

There are a few weird plot choices, and some people may absolutely hate Bale’s “where’s Harvey” voice, but those small imperfections pale in comparison to the grandeur that is “The Dark Knight” trilogy.

All three movies in the trilogy scored better on the website metacritic.com, a website created to compile the scores of all movie critics, than the four other renditions before it with the 1989 Batman being the closest with a score of 66 compared to the 70, 82 and 78 scored by “Batman Begins”, “The Dark Knight” and “The Dark Knight Rises” respectively.

It’s a take on the “world’s greatest detective” even Adam West can’t deny, and a masterpiece fans will hold in their hearts forever.

Read more: http://dailyegyptian.com/2012/07/23/dark-knight-trilogy-rises-above-previous-releases/#ixzz2234g9oux