Hello! Just 8 days from now, my inactive streak will reach 1 year! Too bad I just broke that streak...

How's everyone been doing? :D

Heeeeey how ya doin' how ya doin' how ya doin'...

Just finished my Crysis 2 Review, and throughly enjoyed playing it. What I didn't enjoy was taking a week just to write the damn thing, I mean it's not long or anything, but I have been bored out of my mind with PSN being down. I feel like I haven't really been commenting on anybodies blogs, so I'll try to keep up on that... How have my beloved trackers been, anyways? I don't really know anybody on this site :P

Annnnnyways... POLL TIME!!!! :D

I'm currently on the rope on what to choose between these two games, and I thought I'd get some insight, the choices are...

Dragon Age 2

NFS Shift 2:Unleashed (UNLEASHED! >:O)

That's pretty much it for now, have a great day everyone!

-Idol

It seems like we've been hyping this year to be one of the greatest in gaming history, and I can't really disagree with that. Portal 2, Crysis 2, Dead Space 2, Mass Effect 3, Skyrim, Uncharted 3, Gears of War 3, and it just goes on and on and on... I've never seen a year this packed, ever. Granted, I'm only 15 and I really only started careing about this more recently, but it is still very impressive compared to other years in gaming (1998 to be specific.) But I can recall when some year wasn't as good as it was intended to be. It has happened, and sure, there could be fantastic games within said year, but as a whole, it would be considered a disappointment.

2010 is the first year that comes to mind when I think "disappointing", at least for a PS3 user. There were a ton of games for the platform, but more than enough of them were pretty disappointing to me. The top three exclusives for me that year are the obvious choices, Heavy Rain, Gran Turismo 5, and God of War III. I picked up a few others like MAG and White Knight Chronicles, but those were pretty disappointing to (especially WKC.) It wasn't just exclusives that disappointed me, Lost Planet 2 (released in May) took me a few months to realize that it could've been a HELL of a lot more than what it was. Final Fantasy XIII needs to be mentioned as well, to summarize it in one short sentence; this game made me sick of the series, and RPG's in general. And don't even get me started on Medal of Honor...*sigh*.

It made me realize that hype can only carry a game for so long, so only so much can be said of 2011 so far. To be honest, Killzone 3 has pretty much putten me on edge on whether I will like this year or not (why you gotta do that Guerrilla :(.) I'm still disappointed in the fact that this could've been one of the greatest FPS's of all time, but doesn't even come close to that, or matching the quality of Killzone 2. However, Dead Space 2 and Crysis 2 have made me a believer in this year again, highly anticipating the releases of other games like Uncharted 3 and the Last Guardian. But I'm really proceeding with caution as far as that goes.

How about you? What year did you find really disappointing as a whole, and for what reason?

-Idol

Recent Reviews:

Dead Space 2

Lost Planet: Extreme Condition

:P

Buy this game.

You bet your ass...

Review

You've probably seen a hurricane of reception Killzone 3 got from both reviewers and players by now. You've also noticed that these two different opinions vary quite a lot (not really). People have been b**ching about how critics are all wrong about Killzone 3, saying that it was better than Call of Duty Black Ops by miles when seeing their reviews of said game. Well number 1, your opinion is only 0.5 off, so quit crying. And number 2, they aren't even in the same class, but Killzone 3 is better as a game. You might think I'm rambling like any other Gamespotter on the topic that really bugs them. And truth be told, I kinda am. But people have been so mad at the reviews that were given on these big mainstream websites, and it is so frustrating that it is only because it is 0.5 away from a 9 on most sites. Do people honestly care that much about such a weak difference? There's no real way for me to express what I mean over a keyboard, but I'll try to do so.

Killzone 3 is without a doubt, a great game. Nobody can deny the fact that this is one awesome FPS that delivers on all fronts that it presents. Nobody except those who are too blinded by hype to see that this game is virtually missing some of the most important things that every FPS should offer. No online co-op, bad balancing and maps, lackluster story, and bugs that will annoy the hell out of you. Let's start with the co-op. It boggles my mind the GG didn't even think to put something like this in a game. Not only does it lack what most FPS's do, but it disappoints even more due to the fact that this game would have been perfect for co-op. Sure, there's offline co-op, but doing this **** online would have been much funner. It baffles me so much that these "veteran" designers didn't even bother addressing such a feature.

The online has worn me out quickly too. Not only does it not play out as well as Killzone 2's, but it also jumbles it up with some of the stupidest design choices I've ever seen in a FPS. Poor weapon balancing, poor map design... These problems show themselves to me like it's nothing at all. I was great at Killzone 2 online, but I'm really subpar in the sequel, why is this? Oh yeah, it's more accessible. You know why? Because **** popularity, that's why.

I feel really bad for GG, because this could've been one of the best games on the PS3. But the stupidest little things screwed this game up. If you're enjoying it, enjoy it even more! I encourage people to play what they want, and this is something I wanted to play, but just couldn't get into :(

-Idol

...Florida was abysmal! D:

The state itself was nice but my whole experience down there was sitting down and doing nothing but watching Comedy Central and getting a nasty sunburn. I also had the pleasure of getting the damn flu while I was there, while we were camping on an island in the damn ocean!

Anyways...

POLL TIME!

I'm currently on a rope between two games that I want to get and I'd like to hear your guys's opinions. Which should I get?

Crysis 2

Yakuza 4

Brink

I may come back to get Brink later, but for now these are the games that look great to a person with only enough to buy one.

-Idol

In Orlando right now at a Starbucks haha. It's really nice over here, at least compared to Washington. I'll be back on Thursday to tell of my shennanigans!

-Idol

Square Enix.

What a company. They seem to have both the best and worst rap-sheet in gaming history. How is this even possible? Well, with the Japanese gaming industry, anything is possible. I'm sure that at one point or another you have purchased a product from this company, whether it be Kingdom Hearts, Dragon Quest, Front Mission, or the infamous Final Fantasy series. This company sure has a way of suckering us into there never ending chain of good and bad, and it has become more evident now more than ever. They build us up only to tear us down, expectation wise. I titled this the way I did because it wasn't always like this. Remember Squaresoft, that company that used to make so many exceptional RPG's on the original Playstation? Vagrant Story, Xenogear, Legends of Mana, Threads of Fate, and the oh so memorable Final Fantasy's 7-9. These are only a few games that would properly demonstrate why this company was unmatched at the time. How could it possibly get worse? Well, as most would remark, Japanese gaming is somewhat of a lost art in modern day gaming, with only few Japanese getting good marks that are actually worthy of such accolades. Square Enix is no exception to this rule.

The Merge

Back in April of 2003, Squaresoft made the merge with the company Enix to form Square Enix. The reason for this was the near bank-ruptcy of Squaresoft after the movie Final Fantasy:Spirits Within which is considered a technical benchmark in animated design in movies. Unfortunately, this movie took a huge chunk of Squaresofts stocks, while receiving poor reception from most critics. This movie was the main reason why Enix was not sure whether this merge would work. This movie was released in 2001, two years before the merge. When the merge occured, around 80% of the companies employees consisted of Squaresoft, while the other some 20% was taken by Enix. This new company was headed by Yoichi Wada of Squaresoft, and Yasuhiro Fukushima. Smaller companies like Taito and Eidos came under this mergers hood and supported a new line up of software for this company.

The Early Years

The earliest products put out by this company were still under Squaresoft, like Final Fantasy X, Final Fantasy Tactics: Advanced, and more. it wasn't until the official merge that the new label of Square Enix was put into place. Some of the first games the company put out were recieved fairly well, but seemed to pale in comparison to past Squaresoft and Enix titles. The company still specialized in RPG's, and released them fairly often on a wide set of hardware options. They continued there popular franchises, like Final Fantasy and Dragonquest, while also introducing a number of new IP's, like the highly regarded Kingdom Hearts series. It seemed like everything was smooth sailing for this company, what with the success of the MMORPG Final Fantasy XI being a jackpot and other games reaching millions upon millions of sales. They also made a line of movie products, like Final Fantasy: Advent Children, which did much better than Spirits Within.

Here and Now

This, is were we discuss Square Enix's real failure. Right now, Square is struggling to keep up with their games after the colossal failure that is Final Fantasy XIV. Such titles as Deus Ex: Human Revolution and the PS3 port of Final Fantasy XIV have been put on hold for a considerable amount of time. And it doesn't end there. So far, Square Enix has published two games in 2011 that have gotten poor reviews (Lords of Arcana and Mindjack), while only producing a few decent games (with the exception of the new Tactics Ogre for the PSP, which is there best game thus far this year). This has been the case with most all other years in our current genration these past few years. They've been milking the hell out of Final Fantasy for what it's worth, and they have been releasing new games that miss their mark by a lot. For example, both Kane and Lynch games were released to lackluster reviews and harsh criticism from the general public. This was almost never the case when we entered the new century. They made some stinkers then, sure, but then again, everybody does. What seperates these two time lines so much is that most games with their logo on the box are usually mediocre at best. Then there are titles like Final Fantasy XIII that are liked by critics, but are absolutely despised by the fanbase. It really isn't a good time to be this company.

What it comes down to, is that Square Enix is slowly falling apart, and they have only themselves to blame. I've bought a lot of their games, and have enjoyed a lot of their games. But if they don't get their act together soon, it will be Spirits Within all over again. I might not seem all the mad at this company, but trust me, I am.

-Idol

Recent Reviews:

God of War III

Uncharted 2

Heyllo everyone. I've been thinking a lot about the industry lately and I thought I'd give more two cents on a lot of matters that have been bugging me. There is more to the gaming industry now than there has ever been ever before, what with online capabilities, pre-ordering, and so-called advances in technology that push games to their absolute limit. The truth is that I'm not exactly an expert on anything as far as technology goes, but I am one of the many consumers that buys stuff that companies cram down our throats. What better time to talk about a lot of this stuff then a year that is looking to be one of the best of all time, as far as both hardware and software goes. I'm mainly doing this because I WAS going to be making a Mortal Kombat Anthology, but Gamespot thought it'd be funny to take a dump on me when I was half way through making it, so I guess you could say that I am pumped to be talking about such companies as Activision and EA ;). But I am getting ahead of myself, so I'll just start at the beginning, the matter that has been bothering me most.

Japanese Gaming vs. American/European Gaming.

There has been a lot of debate around the declining quality of Japanese gaming. It's no surprise that when you take any two Japanese games and compare them to any two American based game, the American games usually come out on top. Why is this? Japanese gaming used to be the center piece of what gaming was. This change in gaming was only really apparent to start with in the Xbox/Ps2/Gamecube era. When the HD consoles (and Wii) rolled around, it was becoming more and more evident that Eastern games were very steadily declining in quality. Now i'll ask the question again; why is this? In my honest opinion, it isn't because the companies like Capcom and Square Enix are westernizing their products, it's because they development theories never seem to develope like the rest of the industry. Casual gamers might not notice this, but even if you are slightly hardcore, as far as gaming goes, comparing Western and Eastern games usually results in Western games coming out on top. You might think I'm blowing smoke up your a**, so let me give some examples.

Resident Evil 5 vs. Deadspace

Both games are from the same genre, survival-horror. Hell, both were released in the same year, 2009. Resident Evil 5 was developed and published by Capcom, and Deadspace was developed by Viceral Games, and published by EA. Both received generally positive reviews, with Deadspace being slightly more well recieved than Resident Evil 5. I've had the pleasure of playing both games, and I very much enjoyed both. But to the average consumer, Deadspace would be the more preferred choice as opposed to Resident Evil 5. Why? Because Resident Evil 5 didn't evolve at all from it's predecessor, Resident Evil 4. I'm not sure why, but Capcom stuck to what was so well received and thought that the average consumer would prefer a tweaked Resident Evil 4 as opposed to something different that might affect sales. You might think I am bashing Capcom and Resident Evil 5 and have some sort of grudge against them, but no. Capcom is easily my favorite Japanese company of all time, making some of the best games that I have ever played. But more recently, they've fallen under the "sales over quality" theory that seems to work oh-so well with Call of Duty and Halo. Meaning, what ever works well enough to get sales the first time around must be enough to please the consumer for another go around. Deadspace, on the other hand, gave us something new that refreshed the genre and sold quite well, despite the lack of hype. Both games sold well in the end, but if you were to ask most any gamer, they would most likely prefer Deadspace over Resident Evil 5.

Final Fantasy XIII vs. Mass Effect 2

This time, it's with RPG's, a genre that was once dominated by Eastern companies. This proves my point more so than my last example in the simple fact that the reviews were definitely split apart much farther than Resident Evil 4 and Deadspace. And this is for one simple reason; Final Fantasy XIII is one of the most despised RPG's of all time, atleast as far as consumers go. Sure, there will be people who will prefer Final Fantasy XIII over Mass Effect 2, but they will be outmatched by atleast 20 people or more. The main difference between these two games is that Mass Effect 2 evolved, Final Fantasy XIII took a step backwards in most regards. Technically, Final Fantasy XIII is a sound game. But as far as legitimate flaws go, it is absolutely riddled with them. I liked Final Fantasy XIII, but not that much.

I think I will end things here for now and pick up on it tomorrow. For now, I'd like to hear what you guys think about this subject matter.

-Idol

Up n' running. I know I've been laying it heavy with these PS3 exculsives, but can you blame me? I think I might take a break here soon, seeing as how I just got a few new games and that I'm still working on Heavy Rain and MAG. More to come! Be sure to rate :D

-Idol

God of War III

Uncharted 2