Demon's Souls by From Software was launched in Europe this week along with an announcement that the online component of the game will be server supported until well into 2011. I'm sure that Europeans across the continent are now discovering the same thing that we did: this is one. tough. game! It's enjoyable, but brutal in its insistance that upon every death you lose all of your progress with a respawn at the start of the level. It's really very old school in that old Donkey Kong at the arcade 1980's way- but for this forty-something year old guy, it's beyond me. I'll likely keep at it every once in a while to see if I can make some progress - but I'm not going to be able to put in the effort that the game wants of me.

I downloaded the Mass Effect 2 Overlord DLC and completed it in one seating last week. The DLC is about the length of a good movie and the graphics and imagery are just stunning and very different from some of the drab colours and schemes of the full game. Bioware continues to do an excellent job in supporting their franchises and this additional content is well worth the effort for fans of the series.

William reminded methat I promised to play some Little Big Planet with him this weekendso weheaded out to Costco to pick up another controller for the PS3. We also downloaded the Marvel Superheroes map pack from PSN and played for a few hours last night. I love this game - a perfect family game filled with the same kind of intensity that one would get from any one of a number of other games, but without the violence. With the controllers priced at almost $50 - I noticed a nice combo pack at Costco that included a controller plus a game for about $60. That's a good deal by any standard versus the controller alone, and since William wanted a red controller I picked up the Resistance 2 package that comes bundled with a red controller. I remembered that there was a lot of hypeabout this game when it was released a few years ago but I didn't get around to picking it up for whatever reason. The game was developed by Insomniac Games out of Burbank, developers of the Ratchet & Clank series on the PS2/3 and the Spyro series on the PSone. The game in its early parts seems like a solid first person shooter, though the graphics are a bit on the dull side and the story appears pretty generic. I'll pick at it for a while - likely not a game that I'll be driven to finish but a good escape for when the mood is right.

Less than a year late for this party but glad to finally come on board, I actually unwrapped my copy of Demon's Souls today and gave it a whirl in the old PS3 for about an hour. The word on this game is that it is very difficult but very rewarding as you dig your way through the story. It was awarded the Game of the Year award by Gamespot in 2009 - an incredible achievement for a new UP, and a hard core RPG at that, that was released on a single platform on a limited budget in a year when the competition included huge hits like Modern Warfare 2 and Uncharted 2.

As I mentioned, I'm only about an hour into the game and while it is difficult at times I'm finding that the difficulty stems from the fact that "dying" in the game brings you straight back to the start of a level - meaning that you have to churn through familiar territory time after time in an attempt to make it through without suffering a fatal blow. The game comes across as pretty standard hack and slash fare, however the genius in the game is the innovative game mechanic that allows previous players of the game and players currently playing the game to assist each other, at least indirectly.

The game is a single player game - however From Software came up with this mechanic, which is absolute genius, in which you can see and read hints from other players that have played the game in your game world. If there's a trap ahead - some helpful soul that played the game before you likely marked the territory up ahead with a warning about the pending trap. As you move forward - now aware of the imminent danger, you might see some blood splattered on the ground. Click on the blood - and you can see the last few seconds of life from the player that died and what led to his death. Through this indirect form of communication, the chaos that is this very difficult game is stemmed through this in game assistance. You can leave your own tips for other players while a ranking mechanism (you can "like" a tip) assures you that the tip in question is well tested. Finally, as you play you can see ghost images of other players playing through on your particular level at the same time. While you can't communicate with them - this is another interesting twist that is completely in line with the story line and theme of the game - to capture enough souls to return back from the dead.

From Software was established in 1986 and had a few hits on the original PlayStation with the Armored Core series but it has struggled to hit the big time in North America with some moderate hits such as Chromehounds on the X360 and 3D Dot Heroes for the PS3. With innovation like this From is on the cusp of a real breakthrough game and I'm looking forward to it. In the meantime, I'm going to plug away on this over the next few months and see where it takes me.

Rumour has it that Red Dead Redemption took five years and up to $100 million dollars to develop, and while I frankly don't believe it (both are way too high), the game is nevertheless one of the most expansive and extensive games in the history of the industry. Taking the role of an ex-convict looking to protect his family by searching out and capturing or killing the leaders of his former gang during the turn of the twentieth century (1911 to be exact), the story is deep and symbolic, the voice acting is superb and the graphics, given the open nature of the game, are excellent.

The primary themes in the game are the themes of the United States and the dichotomy of its history. On the one hand, the wild west is an untamed hinterland full of independent minded folk minding their own business, while on the other hand the government is beginning to incur into the lives of these settlers, the natives are herded into reserves, a civil war is brewing in Mexico between an evil government and an evil revolutionary force and our hero is on a mission issued to him by the federal government, who has kidnapped his family in order to ensure his cooperation. The game manages these elements by providing the player with complete freedom in this amazing and incredible world while establishing a fixed story driven mission that tugs at your heartstrings as you dig deeper and deeper into the world, the characters and the plot.

In the end, the game was a joy to play - though not perfect for my taste. The controls were a touch unwieldy and needlessly complicated, the story was slow to develop and slow to end and the main story was a touch too long for my taste. The environment an the characterization were both excellent however and this game is a must-play as a result.

Below I talked about "The Next Game Console" and what it should look like and promised more to come. Here it is:

Game Streaming: OnLive is a streaming game service (www.onlive.com) that is set to launch in the next few months that is unfortunately a bit ahead of its time - but it will happen. Streaming games is a system in which the games themselves are processed in a centralized server in a remote location and then broadcast to your screen. No game machine is needed other than a simple add-on to connect your screen to the server and to transfer controller movements over the internet. The game itself is processed in the cloud - which means that the billions of dollars spent on Xbox's and PlayStations and Wii's and gaming computers to distribute the game experience to your home will not be required. There are some serious technical issues that will need to be overcome before this can become a reality on any large scale - but I am looking forward to see how OnLive roles it out.

Good 3D Gaming: I expect that as with any new development in technology that we will look back at the early attempts at rendering games for 3D televisions as clunky and as not adding much to the actual game play. This will be true until we get the Metal Gear Solid or the Final Fantasy VII of the 3DTV gaming era - and then we won't be able to look back. Metal Gear Solid in particular was a breakthrough in rendering games in 3D on a 2D screen - and it was done in a way that the game play was massively enhanced by the experience. We will see the same for 3D gaming - and when combined with technology like Natal for motion sensing and voice control, we might finally begin to move into the future that we expected to be in.

Shorter Episodic Games with a Longer Life Span: This one isn't really related to the next console per se, but I've included it because it's something that I really want to see. The average age of gamers is increasing and for most of us investing 30 plus hours to a single game is just not something that our schedule will allow. Ever. For us watching a single season of Mad Men on TV (13 hours over three months) is a considerable investment in time and effort - but it is short enough for us to be able to give it the hour per week that it requires, and long enough for us to become invested in the characters and the narrative. I'd love to see Halo 4 released as an episodic game over twenty episodes released as an hour of game play per week over a season. I understand that games aren't movies or television - but one of the great things about watching a live event or of a new episode of a television seriess or a newly released movie is the buzz around it - the talk and the social aspect is part of the experience. Right now this is experienced only by the most fervent fanboys that buy the game on release and play it for thirty hours in the first week. That just doesn't work for most of us, or even a majority of the rest of us.

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This coming November marks the fifth anniversary of the launch of the Xbox 360 game console in North America. Five years used to mark the end of one generation of consoles and the launch of the next. however this 7th generation of consoles appears to be displaying some stamina with Microsoft and Sony in particular focusing on the addition of accessories, further advancements in online play and on the addition of additional features to the existing consoles rather than launching a new 8th generation console. I for one would love to see the launch of a new wave of consoles with faster processors, better graphics and more memory however it would appear that for the time being we're going to have to settle for accessories like project Natal and the PlayStation Move rather than with a new core console. I'm guessing that the 8th generation will likely see a proper launch in 2012.

While I'm disappointed that a new console generation isn't yet on the horizon, there are a number of technologies that the next generation needs to embed, and frankly most of these developments have little to do with more processing power and memory. Now, without further adieu and in no particular order, below is a list of features that I want in my next console:

1. Full social network integration. Microsoft has launched Twitter and Facebook apps on the 360, the PS3 and Wii support web browsing, social services like Raptr.com have launched to stream game playing statistics - but for the most part these are all partial solutions. The next console needs to be designed as a social console. Social feeds need to be a basic component of the game so that at any time during a game for example you can view tweets left by people while they were playing that particular level or from people posting in real time or in a given location. This needs to be designed so that it's seamless and so that it doesn't interfere with the core gameplay - however there is no question in my mind at least that social networking will be embedded into all forms of media, from television to books to music in the future. Let's make sure that the game console is part of this revolution.

2. All accounts need to be cloud enabled so that all games and game saves and game data is downloadable to any system via the internet. The idea of having to unplug a hard drive and plug it into a different console (as is the case with the 360) or to carry around memory cards was a good idea five years ago. Today it's stupid. Valve's Steam platform for the PC an Mac is the standard that the next generation of game consoles should be looking to top.

3. Full integration with live television and other forms of content should be embedded into the system. With the recent launch of GoogleTV it's clear that the television and the web will continue to merge. Sony has decided to partner with Google to combine its televisions and Blu-Ray standards into a GoogleTV enabled unit. The next generation should incorporate all of this into a single game console.

4. Let's do away with physical media - but let's do it respectfully. I'm a collector and I like owning something physical - it gives me something tangible to hold on to. There is no doubt that the future is digital so let's move to it - but let's make the alternative to physical better than physical. Steam is once again a good place to start as a base level. Games acquired through the Steam service are available to be downloaded over and over again on different computers (and now even on different operating systems). The caveat being of course that you can only play the games while you are logged in to your account. This is a reasonable trade off - but let's do it for all media - digital books, movies, television programs, music and games. And while we're at it - let's set up a proper library for each title to give us a sense of tangibility - give the title it's own area with additional content and bonuses and so forth. 343 studios is doing this with Halo Waypoint on the Xbox 360 and Sony is developing something similar in PlayStation Home - but both of these solutions (especially PS Home) are clunky. Let's streamline it. And let's also make it portable. if I want to take a look at my game collection on my BlackBerry or iPhone or PC or Mac or whatever - there should be an app for that. A rating system for each game/movie/book and so forth should also be available so that we can track our likes and dislikes.

That's four points and I'm just getting started. I'll post part two of this later.

I finally got around to finishing off Heavy Rain - an interesting interactive game that plays out like a mystery movie. This isn't a typical game - more of an interactive story in which you follow the events as they unfold on the screen - many of them pre-scripted, while you adjust certain of your actions by selecting various buttons on your controller depending on the circumstances. The game is dark and depressing in tone, following a father and a group of people in their search to prevent a serial killer from murdering his next victim - a child, who will drown if you do not solve the mystery before the falling rain raises the water level in the hidden location in which the child is being held. Yes, it's as dark as it sounds.

While the concept is interesting and the desire to place more "story" into a "game" a laudable goal, ultimately the game disappoints because it fails in its primary mission: the story doesn't stand up to scrutiny. There are various plot holes that aren't resolved, the resolution to the "whodunnit" is confusing and the control scheme is relatively unforgiving in that it is very easy to choose an unintended action simply because of an incorrect button press that will have in some case severe and dire consequences to the final resolution of the story.

I hope to see more games of this type in the future - the genre has potential, however game developers need to understand that a game as the platform for your particular narrative, rather than say a novel or film, doesn't mean that we forgive bad story telling. It doesn't, and we won't.

Next up is Red Dead Redemption - the Rockstar San Diego open world game set in the wild, wild west. I should be set to dig into that next week.

Where does the time go? I've been with life outside of the Matrix for the last while which has reduced my interstitial space dramatically. Hence the lack of timely Here's a quick round-up:

Mass Effect 2 (360): I went back to ME2 once the new DLC content was released deciding that it was a good time to finish my second playthrough as a renegade vanguard Sheppard. I played the first game in the series twice to the end as a "good" and then as a "bad" character and I feel committed enough to these computer creations that I want to see their story through to the end. The new DLC was "ok" - it doesn't really add much to the game but it mixes things up enough to make this second playthrough seem more fresh. I've waxed enough about this game in the past but I'll do so one more time: this is an amazing piece of work by a Canadian studio that is at the top of their game.

Mario Kart (DS): I picked this game up for the kids during our trip to Florida over spring break and it was a really great buy. The game offers a good enough single player game but the real grabber is the 8 player multiplayer mode that is played using a single game cartridge. In other words, buy the game once and play the multiplayer with up to seven other people, even if they don't have the game themselves. It's a great bargain if you have kids and multiple DS's sitting around or if you have a bunch of kids coming over (for say a sleepover). I'd say this is a must buy for parents with more than two children in their home.

Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey (DS): I picked this game up because Atlas have proven themselves to be highly competent in their ability to pick up deep games with great stories that might otherwise be overlooked and to bring them to North America. Carrying the SMT banner was also a hook as it's a known and quality brand. I was also interested by the fact that it carries a Mature rating, which is unusual for a DS game. I've played the game for about an hour so far and I'm struggling to remain interested. I think that this game is going to head to the backburner. Maybe it will come back into the rotation for my next long flight.

Brutal Legend (360): Brutal Legend was a game that I was very excited about but it just wasn't able to hold my interest as I got deeper into the game. I might give it another go at a future time... which means if the past is any indication that I'll likely never finish it. I really do want to get back to this game though, it deserves my attention though it may not be able to grab enough of my time.

Left 4 Dead 2 (360): See above. L4D2 and BL both came out during the Christmas rush and were set aside in favour of other (and superior games, including Uncharted 2, Dragon Age and Mass Effect 2) and simply got lost in the shuffle. Maybe later.

Heavy Rain (PS3): This game was cast aside in favour of the second Mass Effect 2 playthrough, but I've come back to it and hope to finish it soon. It's an interesting experiment in a genre that hasn't gained much traction with me in the past and I think that it deserves a full playthrough. I think that I'm about halfway through... I'm going to finish this off before moving on to anything else.

Uncharted Drakes Fortune (PS3): I started playing this after finishing Uncharted 2 but it ran out of steam with me at around the three quarter point. I got stock on some puzzle somewhere - put it away and then just never got back to it. Mental note - this is another game that deserves to be finished.

I invested in Bioware this month. To be clear, by that I mean that I invested quite a bit of time on Bioware's two epic RPG's - Mass Effect 2 and Dragon Age: Origins, completing both games over the course of the month. Let me tell you, that is quite an exercise in time management given the length of these games and the level of detail that was put into them.

Mass Effect 2 is a work of genius pure and simple. Bioware's team has accomplished the unthinkable by marrying the strategy, RPG and shooter genres in a real time world that brings us one step closer to Star Trek TNG's Holodeck. Never have I felt as invested in a game and in the characters as I did in this game. The characters are so well developed and their back stories so compelling I that pretty well finished every side mission and explored almost every nook and cranny of the galaxy. The story is built around a mixture of action and drama with both soft moments and tight action. I carried over my main character from the original Mass Effect with the sequel incorporating my decisions from the first game (who liked me, who did I rescue, who died, who did I have an intimate relationship with) and brought them into the second game. As a result the game was both familiar and new at the same time. I don't think that it's an exaggeration when I say that Mass Effect 2 has revolutionized RPG's, and perhaps even gaming in the same way that Avatar did for movies. Once you've experienced it, the status quo is no longer adequate.

My fondness for Mass Effect 2 convinced me to give DA:O another shot. As I've mentioned in a prior post, I've played through every game that Bioware has published since it moved into console development in 2003 with KOTOR and I needed to go back to give this game another try. I'm glad that I did. While the battle and inventory systems still needlessly get in the way of one's enjoyment of the game, it comes across now that I've played both as a move to address different markets with different games. DA:O is a dark fantasy epic in the Lord of the Rings vein, with dwarves and dragons and magic that is geared toward a somewhat hardcore level of player - one who wants to obsess over every movement, develop potions and add runes to power up the armour. I can appreciate this for what it is, but for me managing things at that level is just not for me and for the most part I just ignored it. The game is huge, I clocked it at nearly 70 hours over four months - too much frankly for a working father of three. THe story is interesting but overdone - too many side quests, fetch quests andmissions that just don't mean anything appear to have been added to play the game length. It's certainly a game for those with a lot of time on their hands, but I've pretty well had enough of it and don't expect to revisit it again.

Having cleared the deck of these RPGs - next on deck is something completely different: Heavy Rain for the PS3. This is more of an interactive story rather than a game, in which you control a character looking for the Origami Killer in a story that is apparently more of a psychological thriller that deals with issues like depression. The reviews for it have been great, I'm looking forward to something different, and with an estimated play through time of about 10 hours, this sounds perfect.

A few posts ago I discussed my disappointment at what I consider to be some fundamental flaws in Bioware's Dragon Age: Origins. Mass Effect 2, also by Bioware, is the perfect antidote to wash away those DAO blues. I'm likely about one third of the way through this opus to science fiction gaming and in terms of depth, gameplay and the sheer joy of being inversed in an alternate universe - it is one of the greatest games ever made. I don't want to get into the details of the story, I'll post more once I'm further along in the game, but rarely has a game grabbed me by the nuggets this firmly and pulled me in. It's that good.

Unfortunately, real life has imposed itself on my gaming hobby, and so Brutal Legend and Left 4 Dead 2 have gotten very little gameplay since "appearing" in my stocking on Christmas Day. They are on the backlog for now, and for the near future.

I downloaded and played through the Zombie Island of Dr. Ned DLC for Borderlands over the last few weeks, and though it was more of the same, there's something addictive or even cathartic about this game that keeps me coming back. I have over 1000 Achievement points on it now, and I think I'm going to play it just a bit more... perhaps with my son Evan who I think is ready for the experience, especially if it keeps him away from his three year old relationship with all things Halo. We'll see about that, the single game co-op splits the screen horizontally which really messes with the game, if we're going to play it we'll need a second copy so that we can play online. There's also new DLC coming out for the game on December 29th, which means that I'll still be playing this one into the new year.

More recently, I started playing through the rest of Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, the first game in the series as a tribute to the glory of Uncharted II: Among Thieves, the best game of 2009 in my opinion. The first game is certainly not at the same standard as the sequel, but that's a good thing and it bodes well for the series' future development. Naughty Dog is on to something with these games, though it is interesting that as technically wonderful as the games may be, along with the graphics, the animation and the voice acting; they for whatever reason have not broken out as "super star" games in the same way that other genre defining games have. I think that the reason for this may be that the games are so cinematic that they actually take us out of the game: when I'm playing Halo, I *am* the Master Chief, when I'm playing Uncharted, Nathan Drake is the character that I am playing, and he is separate and distinct from myself. I'm going to probably finish this game in the next day or so, I understand that it's actually a very short game, maybe five or six hours in length. If that's the case, I'm about two hours in, so I'm one third of the way there, perfect. Uncharted and Uncharted II are both available exclusively on the PS3.

I have it on good authority that Brutal Legend and Left 4 Dead 2 are going to be in my stocking on Christmas (well, I know this because I paid for them), and I'm definitely looking forward to taking them on, especially the heavy metal genius that is Brutal Legend.