Why must we adhere to a relic of a system to this day, willful of its flaws and unreliability?

For quite some time now, the norm of reviews has included some sort of numerical rating system. These systems have sprung up on many video game related websites such as IGN and Metacritic. Although the prospect of having a numerical rating system ideally seems safe and reliable, that cannot be further from the truth. The prospect of using a numerical rating system stems from the idea that consumers wish for a quick and easy means of gauging the viability of a purchase. This mindset is understandable; money is important and one does not wish to waste it on a purchase that ends up being regretted and could have been prevented if only a system was in place. I personally would love to have seen a system in place that would have adequately represented the worth of a video game, but that is simply not the case.

One of the key factors of using a numerical rating system or any rating system in general is trust in the merit and validity of the result. For a system to be used by a consumer there must be some form of trust in the rating system accurately representing the worth of the video game. A rating system without trust is inherently worthless and a waste of time. Because of that belief, and the fact that numerical rating systems are still widely used, it should not be too far-fetched to conclude that there is sufficient faith in the system. This realization I find quite unsettling due to the rather corruptible and inherently flawed nature of such a system.

Now, it is understandable to question why I have such a rather bleak view on the systems in place. This view stems from various variables that influence and alter how the numerical rating systems are used. These variables range from basic societal reactions, the limitations of the ratings, and the possibility of abuse and corruption. Once these variables are understood and used in conjunction with the numerical rating systems, it becomes blatant as to how unreliable and inherently flawed they can be. Afterwards, perhaps as a community, there can be a push toward a more reliable and useful system and not reliant on outdated and relic of a system.

Societal Norms and Reactions

In gauging the inherent flawed nature of the numerical rating system, we must look to how as a society, we react and indulge in rating systems. With the age of the internet, society has become accustomed to gathering information both vast in quantity and at increasing speed. The age of hearing news and having to wait before reacting has long passed. When there is something that catches our attention, there is a desire to want to do something about it immediately. This mindset leads to kneejerk reactions and can have very negative repercussions. I do not believe that as a community, let alone society, we have the restraint to react to something without overreacting.

Often enough, it is the case that when major news comes out, not all the information has been released. One noticeable flaw in how as a society we enjoy reacting without the whole story. This can be devastating due to how as humans; we tend to act in unison. An example of this would be with debacle that was Guise of the Wolf. TotalBiscuit, known as the Cynical Brit released a reactionary video known as WTF Is... Guise of the Wolf. To put it bluntly, the video did not make the game out to be very good at all. The video was later flagged and copyright strikes were added to TotalBiscuit's Youtube Account. This did not sit well with him or the community so the masses flocked to the games Steam page. Following the unprofessional responses via Email and twitter by FUNCreators, the community began picking up their pitchforks and torches. They flocked to Metacritic and without all information being known (and this occurring in a matter of hours) which resulted in the score of the game dropping to a now 0.6. You can read the compilation of the story on Kotaku here.

Now do not get me wrong, standing up for what you believe is good but people are easily swayed by emotions and following the crowd. Consequences are almost never taken into account and the desire to put down grows to be too strong. This is the result of the inability to properly place how they feel toward the company, the game, or how to get their opinions across. The current numerical rating systems are inherently limited and how one can express their opinion on the game. The systems in place do not adequately represent the game resulting in a seemingly broken system. Take the Metacritic system as an example and how one rates a game.The previously mentioned event did an excellent job of illustrating one of the major flaws of the numerical rating system and how it can easily be broken. The reviews given are not that of gamers who tried the game and were disappointed, they were instead angry members of a community that felt the need to voice their opinion by giving the game an incredibly low score. Whether or not the game deserves the 0.6 is an entirely different discussion, but it does show how easily a single event can damage a score permanently. While others in their frustration move on, this score will forever be low and will not represent the games worth. It also shows how easily a community, especially large faithful communities can move in unison just like a flock of birds. There is something empowering about having hundreds if not thousands of people all focused on a single entity and feeling the same. It is difficult not to want to join which can prove to be incredibly bad in the long run.

Inadequacy due to Apparent Limitations

When you are to review a video game, you have a box where you can write your review and a scoring system ranging between 1 and 10. Now imagine if you were reviewing a game and you loved the story but the combat was horrible, what score would you give it? Some people may care more about the combat over that of the story so the scoring can end up completely different. How can one accurately look at a review and gauge the important aspects of the game to the consumer? This is an inherent problem when it comes to using numerical systems in general. You are somehow expected to have an objective understanding of how to rate the video game while at the same time, needing to be subjective and giving your opinion. This simply does not work; your interpretation of what a score of 7 reflects may and most likely will differ from that of another reviewer.

An example of this would be the rating system used by the popular video game critic, Angry Joe. When reviewing a video game, he often reiterates how his rating system works since he realizes what we may perceive as bad is average for him. For example a score of 4 which would be terrible to some people. According to Angry Joe’s rating, that means the game is mediocre. Even a score of 6 (which based in academia would be near fail) would be seen as exceptional. The rating is viewed differently by each person which makes having a system based on a numerical rating to be unreliable.

Now, one may argue the focus of the reviews is not the score but what follows. That would be true if emphasis on the written review was more prominent and focused. If you go to the major websites for video games, what do they all do? They have highlighted, in a very large manner, the score for the game. If you go to Metacritic, you primarily see the rating and shown cutoff versions of the reviews (so either expand it further or view more of them. And in the end, it still falls for the same limitations of having a vague scoring system with inadequate means of rating particulars (music, aesthetics, game play, story, etc.). This ultimately diminishes any faith in the accuracy and representation of the system leaving it irrelevant and pointless. In furthering the issue with how the systems are developed, we end up with the more controversial problem of potential abuse and corruption of the system.

Personal Interest and Abuse

It is by no means a stretch of the imagination to consider people with a financial agenda trying to either mislead or alter the scores based on their own interest. The idea of people manipulating rating systems or influencing them is nothing new. It occurs in many different areas, even presidential races. In the end, there will be some that try to overstep the boundaries for their personal interest, often financially driven. We do not have to go too far to see the seed of doubt at work. In particular, we have websites such as IGN which many view as unreliable and biased. This is due to the belief that there are reviews that are slanted due to personal bias or some alternative interest.

This particularly is true when it comes to video game journalism and journalistic integrity (or lack of). Trust seems to be lacking when it comes to journalist and giving unbiased reviews. Perhaps one of the more famous and hallmark representation of this occurring is with Geoff Keighley and his infamous Halo interview. Here we have Geoff Keighley sitting in front of a camera with a conveniently placed a bag of Doritos and Mountain Dew next to him. This notorious interview peeved many gamers because the second that was shown, the idea of trusting his opinion as being unbiased vanished in thin air. When the idea of someone essentially being paid off becomes planted, doubt will emerge and becomes incredibly difficult to get rid of.

Although not representative of all reviewers or journalist, it does give some credit to those that believe some cannot be trusted. Or at minimum, there is potential for abuse within the system. There have been cases where there have been some sketchy actions taken by some. In one such occurrence, there have been employees caught reviewing their own game. This brings into question the ethics of whether or not one should be reviewing their own work. An example of something like this happening is with Telltale and their Jurassic Park video game. As purported in Escapistmagazine, “… a series of four positive user reviews cropped up in quick succession, each giving the game a solid ten and lathering on the praise”.

“In true Telltale form this company decided to take on the task of adding new stories onto a beloved franchise that first came out almost 20 years ago," said one review. "I'm happy to say, I'm glad they did! The best way I can describe this game is if Steven Spielberg decided to direct Heavy Rain."

After some research, it was found that these reviews were written by employees of Telltale Games; a user interface artist and a cinematic artist. This was defended by the company as refraining from censoring their employees but does nothing to address the ethics of their actions. Luckily Telltale did respond by stating that anyone who does post will admit to being employees (which is at least a step in the right direction). Such an event is not alone for it has also occurred with a BioWare employee for Dragon Age 2 and coincidentally so too did they give it a 10/10 without any mention of being an employee.

Another prime example of underhanded actions taken by employees was with the release of the highly anticipated (and high disappointing) Star Trek video game. At its release, there were many issues with bugs and in particular, with co-op. During the rather poor spectacle of a release, there was a comment made which seemed quite odd to some. Since the online fiasco was widespread, it did seem peculiar that a user on steam by the name of Kenneth Lindenbaum stated, “Works fine for me” and mentioned, “Game uses Steam servers”. Now, when there is a major problem, pretty much well known and spreading like a virus, some might question the validity or honesty of a comment such as that. After some research, it was found that the user had already accumulated over 150 hours at launch and obtained a verity of achievements. This was a red flag and when further looked into (via LinkedIn), it was found that he was in fact the senior producer of the game.

Now this is where I was going to add one last example of the potential abuse and corruption of the numerical rating system but something has come up and changed my original plans. I was planning on discussing Rambo the Video Game and pointing out some questionable reviews giving the game 10 and on more than one account, using the same wording (both with the exact two games and with the exact same score). I went to the Rambo the Video Game Metacritic webpage to get the quotes but to my surprise, all the sudden the reviews with 10 were missing. What is even stranger is that in place of the User Rating, is now a box stating the game will not be out for another 54 days. Mind you, this was for the Pc version which had been released on Steam on the 21^st of February already. I promptly went to the Amazon website and the release dates are for March 25, 2014 which is 20 days from now, not 54.

I do find it fascinating and suspicious how the game which already had a user score now seemingly vanished and will be released on another day. It is as if instead of showing the score, someone decided it would have the game showing its release date for later in the year. As you can see with the picture, it also shows 11 positive reviews but only one review will show up if you click on it. If you click the “See all 42 User Reviews, the Positive reviews jumps from 11 to 26. Only after clicking further do you see the User Score of 2.3. Although I cannot say with certainty that trickery is afoot here but this is far from the norm.

Closing Remarks

The current systems in place, and in particular, the numerical rating systems are inherently flawed and open to abuse. We should strive for the removal of the current systems and push for a far more coherent and reliable system. For one, I do not believe ratings should be available upon release. The rating system should be delayed so to detour kneejerk reactions and give the developers some time to work out the kinks. For example, Diablo III was released with major connection issues (due to massive volume of players). Without even being able to play, hundreds flocks to Amazon and Metacritic to give terrible reviews. Yes, many were disappointed with the game but at the same time, we should avoid reaction reviews based on highly emotional state of minds.

Finally, I do believe we need to strive for more comprehensive and elaborate systems. These systems should allow the examination of variables such as game play, music, and story. Furthermore, the focus of the review ought not to be fixated on a simplistic summary of the game (such as, 2 out of 10) but rather; the focus should be on the content of the review itself. Break up the variables and have users review on those such as game play. That way, when one looks at a review, they can skip to whatever variable he or she deems most relevant to them personally.

Several years after its release, I have now decided to write a small review on Bastion. Ideally I would have wished to have reviewed the game at its release but that did not happen. That simply did not happen and after playing Bastion once again, I found myself wanting to review it for the sake of the work that has gone into the game.

Bastion is an immensely beautiful video game developed by a small company called Supergiant Games. It was originally released in 2011 with a DLC coming out a few months later in December of that year. It is intriguing that the DLC was released due to originally, the developers had no interest in releasing one. The developers believed the game was complete and did not require any additional content. Due to the overwhelming success of Bastion (with over 500,000 sales in the first few months), the developers decided to create a DLC as a thanks to all the fans and support they received.

The DLC was meant to be free initially as a thank you to all the fans. In terms of the PC release, it was free to download so in that instance, it was free. Unfortunately, due to Microsoft’s policies, it could not be free and so it ended up costing 80 Microsoft Points (which equates to $1.00). An unfortunate circumstance which was briefly explained in an article by the developer; “The Stranger’s Dream DLC will be available for 80 Microsoft Points ($1) on XBLA, which we can’t make free due to Microsoft policy, so it’s about as close as we could get”. In the end, with or without the additional $1.00, the game is well worth its price-tag of $14.99 (current price on Steam).

In Bastion, you play as the protagonist simply known as the Kid. From my perspective, the idea to give such a generic name to the protagonist was quite brilliant. Bastion is looked as being a pure story-based video game. You are meant to play and become the role as the Kid. By giving the protagonist a generic name, it makes putting yourself into the shoes of the hero far more seamless. You are to become the Kid and go through the world as the story is being told. For the majority of the game, each mechanic and aspect of the game is meant to further immerse the player into the world. Each weapon you find has a story and explanation of why it exists. Even the additions to the weapons and attributes (known as spirits) have their own story.

When you find items in the world such as the Something Stringy, it allows for customization of the bow while at the same time, it briefly explains the origins of the item. Being able to customize the weapon allows the player to partially play the game as they choose all the while continuing the story. Another way to customize one’s play style is the use of Spirits which are fundamentally perks for the Kid. At max level, you will be able to use 10 different spirits based on how you wish to play the game. The spirits act as perks in that they give beneficial attributes and conditions to the hero. An example of a spirit is the Cham-Pain (play on champagne) which gives +25% damage while reducing the chance of Carry On by one (Carry On is like a revive, if you are defeated, you can revive yourself at that very spot to continue). What makes using spirits nice and entertaining is that the narrator will give a brief comment on each one, “Cham-Pain’s made with Scumbag extract, hence the barley aroma… and the nausea”.

Mechanically, the game does not inherently have a difficulty setting (granted, you do have the choice to play the No-Sweat option which gives unlimited revives and is meant for less experienced players). What it does have is an Idol shop. Each Idol (or god of this particular world) will give you the benefit of additional experience and a boost in Fragments (which are the currency of this game used to purchase upgrades, abilities, and items) but at a cost. The idol system is conditional based; you get the benefits of additional experience and fragments but at the cost of the game being more difficult. The idols can result in enemies becoming more durable to physical damage, become more aggressive, and various other conditions to make the game more difficult. There are ten idols in total with each having their own consequence. By activating the idols, you will increase the difficulty (and reward) for each level. There will be moments that by adding the idols will lead to extremely difficult situations and potentially frustrating. But hey, a little challenge is always appreciated.

Now, time to get to what makes Bastion such an amazing and enthralling video game. There are three major aspects of this game that makes it both unique and an utter joy to play. There is the graphics (aesthetics), the music, and the most distinctive part of the game, the Narrator.

Bastion does an amazing job of blurring the lines between being a video game and art. Each stage, each cut-scene, each moment you are given a beautiful canvas with vibrant colors and minute attention to detail. Bastion is one of those games where you can stop for a moment and just appreciate the scenery and each detail carefully designed to give the game the atmosphere befitting for this story. When you are in bastion, there can be leafs floating around giving the aura of autumn, or rain pouring making the area become bleak and gloomy.

What amazed me most of each area is how the world grows under your feet. As you tread along, as if to represent turning the page, the ground rises to your feet, allowing you to proceed further. It gives the sensation of you actually playing a role in the game and the world revolving around you and not some static entity for you to traverse. What is remarkable is that you are drawn into this world where each piece of land being raised was choreographed for that particular moment. It makes you want to explore and see if there are hidden areas that may appear as you near it. With the scenery as active as it is, alongside the artwork of a background, the world felt dynamic as if it were alive. While aesthetically the world is stunning, to become immersed, the world still requires a fitting soundtrack that can compliment the aesthetics of the world.

Luckily enough, the composer did manage to pull it off. Darren Korb deserves credit for his job in making an amazing sound track to the game. One problem I see with video games generally speaking is that the focus on music often feels lacking. When video games and their music end up feeling like an after-thought, it detracts from the immersion and truly hurts all the work that has gone into the game. A remarkable example of music that enhances the immersion is that of the Diablo series. When you are in the catacombs, you have this eerie music in the background that makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand-up. It is the type of music that when you play it, without any context, it brings forth in your imagination the image of a dark, damp, and dreary place.

That is what Darren Korb managed to accomplish with the music in Bastion. There are many songs that were made specifically for a scene or moment and when you hear it, that scene comes to life. You are drawn into that moment and immersed into the game. Just like that of the Terran songs from Starcraft depicting that of an old western, this music allows your mind to create the atmosphere alongside the aesthetics of the game. Both the graphics and music of the game work together in creating a single moment of joy as you explore the world further and carry on your adventure. But, this is not the final piece. There is but one more critical part of the game that finds itself becoming one of the most poplar aspects of the game, the Narrator.

While Bastion is aesthetically a piece of art, what the game is known for really comes down to the narrator. Just like with any story, the narrator takes front stage in developing the story and playing a major role in what made Bastion so amazing. As to the surprise of many (including myself), the narration was not done by someone in their later years from the west wearing a cowboy hat and riding off into the sunset. In fact, his name is Logan Cunningham, one far younger than many would normally expect. With use of inspirations such as Deadwood, Logan tells the story of the epic story of the Kid. What makes the narration done so well is that it occurs throughout the entirety of the game.

Often enough, the narrator sets the story of the game in the beginning and then vanishes into the distances; on occasion, appearing at the end of the game. That can work in some games but not with Bastion. What makes Bastion different is how the story is being portrayed. In particular, the story is being narrated as it happens so we truly become the Kid. We, as the Kid, are progressing through this story being told by Logan Cunningham. What is enjoyable about the narration is how it is done in segments. When you find a new weapon, accomplish a goal, or even fall off the world, the narrator will make some sort of comment on it. By doing so, the game feels as if you are truly in the story and the game is fully aware of what you are doing. To put it bluntly, the narration is the final nail in the coffin that is immersion. While the game mechanically and aesthetically would have done well on its own, what makes Bastion the epic story is thanks to the narrator. It is for this reason that Valve even made an Announcer Pack (in DotA 2) with the voice of Logan Cunningham playing the role yet again as the narrator of your match. It was incredibly successful; one of the more popular announcer packs.

To bring this review to a close, let me end with this note. If you are into video games that are steep in story with beautiful scenery and aesthetics to put a smile on your face, Bastion is the game for you. It is not the longest of games but the reward for completing the game is worth it. While the ending is often the goal, the focus of this game is the journey. You will find yourself immersed in the role as the Kid and traverse the world with an epic narrator at your side. With the addition of DLC and alternative endings, you will find a reason to play it more than once. Upon finishing the game, you will feel accomplished as if to have finish a long epic novel. I recommend this game and suggest it to anyone.

I have attempted to write a review on To the Moon several times at this point and found it to be a rather difficult endeavor. To the Moon is one of those games where words seem far too limited in explaining sufficiently what has been experienced. Perhaps the reason is because the game is purely an experience and not a task. It is not the typical game where your goal is simply to reach the end by completing a variety of tasks and what keeps you going is the game play. Instead, the journey is just as important and focused as the ending. The ending can be seen as something marvelous at the end of a long journey.

Unfortunately, To the Moon is not an exceptionally long game which may seem like my previous comment was contradictory. An interesting aspect of the game is that it does not necessarily have to be long for it to feel like an enjoyable journey. You will be clocking in between three to five hours of game time which is not incredibly. But, I should point out is that although the game is quite short, it felt much more fulfilling than many twelve to twenty hour video games that I have played. The game can be best being seen as short and sweet.

I should preface this by saying I am from the era of early Nintendo and my favorite series are from back in the day have been that of Secret of Mana and various other RPG’s. What captivated me the most about To the Moon is how the aesthetics of the game are reminiscent of those games from the past, and in particular, Secret of Mana. The scenery had the same feel and look to it that made me enjoy the experience all the more. Perhaps what made the experience all the more nostalgic and enjoyable is how the music managed to compliment the game play so well. The music managed to avoid detracting any enjoyment from the game and made for great experience on its own. You can get the sense that when developing the game, they knew what type of music best suited it and managed to pull it off completely.

On top of the aesthetics and music, the dialogue was superbly done. There were many references from the past and early games that made its way into the game. One aspect of the game I found most surprising is how the development team managed to combine both humor and sadness so seamlessly. The emotional moments did not feel forced or contrived and worked very well. There would be a minor comical jab during a depressing moment and somehow manage to avoid pulling you out of the moment. If anything, the humor in the game acts as a means of contrasting the emotional and non-emotional moments.

I honestly do believe that the references work incredibly well for an indie game because you do feel like you have a connection with the developers. I liken it to that of an initial or an artist’s mark purposely added to differentiate themselves as if to make the player realize this was made by people, just like you and I. As I played the game, each time I saw a reference from another game or some cultural joke, it felt like the developers were showing us their own personal origins as gamers and fans of this particular genre. You can tell that those that made To the Moon truly respect and enjoy their work which differentiates the game from others that may feel manufactured. Similar to how one may notice the difference between a musician playing strictly for money and one doing it for the love of music.

With all of that said, the game does have its flaws. Luckily they are not numerous enough to where they truly ruin the experience. One aspect of the game that I felt unnecessary was the puzzle. Before you can go from one memory to another, you need to complete an image puzzle. Essentially you have to flip the boxes so that they all show the image. The problem I had with the puzzle is that it felt unnecessary and almost a distraction. There are potentially many other ways the developers could have gone about giving the player a task but this one was not done very well. It felt like there was no rhyme or reason for doing it; there was no obvious connection between showing the picture and moving on. If anything, that sort of task was ultimately not needed; To the Moon is a story based game that revolves around the experience and not the game play. It felt like the developers wished for some more game play and gone about it in a rather distracting manner. I believe that if the puzzles were removed, it would not have damaged the games experience at all and if anything, might have improved it.

The second issue I had with the game had to be the controls. The keyboard can and at times will be used but the mouse also tends to be used. It felt like the developers were not sure of which they should focus on so both felt incomplete. There would be moments where by clicking to move to an area, it would not immediately go or they would get stuck. But at the same time, you need to hover over certain items to see if there is a connection. Also, there were some moments where I would seemingly get stuck by the NPC’s. In one situation, I was around two NPC’s and each time I clicked on the other side of the room, one of them would for some reason be promoted to talk. It would get frustrating each time my character would talk to an NPC when I was just trying to move away. I do believe refinement was needed to make for a smoother and user friendly movement (although for this sort of video game, it is not truly necessary).

The last concern although very tiny is the lack of options. The game is very basic when it comes to options (as in… there are not really any) which means certain parts of the game could not be adjusted. But that is alright, it was not a major issue since you will completing the game relatively quickly.

Even with the faults, I highly recommend this game especially for those from the 90’s RPG era of gaming. When you finish the game, you will feel like you have truly finished a long journey. Sort of like finishing a great movie that has captivated you for hours.

Gotham City Impostors is a Free to Play First-Person-Shooter. It takes place in the grungy city of Gotham where two groups of essentially hooligans are at war with each other. Reminiscent of Gangs of New York, the Bats and the Jokerz are out to kill each other while Batman is out protecting the rest of the city. Armed with some rudimentary and comical weapons, they fight to the death in various unique and intriguing stages.

The game as a whole is straightforward—you have a round where you as a team need to accomplish a basic objective. What ultimately differentiate this game from other FPS’ are its numerous amounts of customization and unique additions. Having the license of using Batman’s likeness as a theme, the game allows for the inclusion of many Batman related items such as artwork.

The customization allows for a lot of freedom on how to make you more unique and different. Starting from the basic, you are given a choice of many different guns. Most of which will need to be unlocked from gaining unlocks. These are given from accomplishing achievements, leveling, and various objectives. The modifications for guns range from the traditional sights on a rifle to the odder and entertaining Body Odor Sniffer which can reveal nearby enemies.

You are given loadouts (or profiles) and you choose your Primary and Backup Weapon. Alongside the weapons, you get an assortment of Support items (such as boomerang) and Gadgets (like the grappling gun). As with the Primary weapon, you will unlock all the other items by unlocks where you choose what you want. Unfortunately you are not able to test the weapon out beforehand so make sure you make the right decision. With those items, you get the choice of Fun Facts which are essentially Perks, Rampage which are killstreak/deathstreak procs, and finally Psych Profiles. These are the double-edge swords of bonuses; you can choose to gain a bonus for fulfilling a prerequisite but if you do not, you will receive a penalty.

On top of modifying your weapons and items, you can alter your body shape. By changing your body shape, it alters how you perform at jumping, how much health you have, and the overall theme of your loadout. You get the choice of; Speedy, Nimble (the only way to play as female), Tough, Burly, and Mighty. The body shape can also change how your cosmetic items appear, for better or worse. You can change the look of your Joker and having him look amazing while speedy. If you use a heavier loadout with the same outfit, it can look hilarious and potentially embarrassing.

The game does have a lot going for it but there are a few downfalls which unfortunately hinder the game. One of which is the player population and its rather lacking existence. The unfortunate consequence of there not being a large enough player pool is my now inability to tryout the different Game Modes. In the game, you can play; Team Deathmatch, Fumigation, Psych Warfare, Bounty Hunter, Challenges, and Initiation. Of those listed, four of them are actually multiplayer and of those four, only one is playable. I tried for quite some time to play Fumigation, Psych Warfare, and Bounty Hunter but I could never get a game going. Either no one joined the lobby or there were an insufficient number of players.

From the many rounds of Team Deathmatch I did play, I enjoyed myself. The matches are very chaotic and fast paced. You can tell with the customization of weapons and general feel of the matches, the Call of Duty (CoD) series played a major role as an influence. Much of the stages are small and very corridor based so you will be running around and bumping into enemies repeatedly. The major negative for the game is its very wonky and lacking balancing system for teams. Player level is not an indicator of skill so most matches I played resulted in a one sided battle (either in my favor or the enemies).

Another negative part of the combat is the sheer number of ways you can die instantly. Often enough, you will die without being able to put up any glimmer of a fight. The traps and Support Items can lead to a feel of pointlessness and invisibility (of your death).

Along the same issue are the weapons and their strengths. There are a good number of weapons that are just vastly superior. Luckily enough the weapons vary enough to where you will see a good assortment of weapons and items being used. But, this also leads to a large number of them being too strong. Unless you are essentially a tank, expect to die very quickly.

The other shortcomings of the game have to do with its options (or rather, lack-of…). To begin with, the Menu is very simplistic. Going through the different menus is fine until you start messing with the loadouts. Sad to say but the design of the loadouts is pretty atrocious. It does not feel comfortable at all and paved with annoyances. One of the major issues is going back after you enter the loadout. If you enter the Primary slot followed by the weapon and wish to go back once, well guess what, you are out of luck. If you press back, it takes to back to the beginning of the loadout. You cannot go back to the previous menu. The scrolling for mods, cosmetics, and skins make you feel lost. Your never know where in the list you are so you will keep scrolling until it pops to the top or bottom.

The options have their limitations as well but are luckily not a complete disappointment. For those that play FPS a lot (and those weak to their stomachs), there is a Field of View slider. It is an option that many find necessary so when games like CoD: Ghost comes out and it is not an option, people get upset. Another important addition is Toggle Aim, an option I hate with a passion. By default it is enabled so if you aim, it will stay on until you click again. This can lead to your death very easily. An option which was missing is a proper supported Windowed Mode. Now, what game developers need to realize is that having a proper Windowed Mode (in particular, borderless Windowed Mode) is incredibly important. I cannot stress enough how infuriating it is to play a game that lacks one. It means we as players must go through launcher options and resort to third-party software.

Overall, the game is not without its faults. But, the game is solid and considering it is Free-to-Play, I would recommend it just to try out. Do not expect a lot from the game and you should be pleasantly surprised. The leveling and rewards given makes leveling enjoyable. The game does a good job of appealing to the achievement side of us gamers. I would recommend playing this with friends; it should make the experience far more entertaining and less frustrating.

What the game has going for it:

• · Quirky and can be comical.
• · Lots of customization
• · Fast paced combat
• · Large array of weapons and items
• · Gadgets add a level of uniqueness and strategy

Disappointments:

• · Loadout UI can be infuriating
• · Relatively small player base so makes playing other modes difficult
• · Weapons in need of balancing
• · Some of the weapons do not feel very solid.
• · Was disconnected from matches on multiple occasions out of the blue.

Now that Blizzcon has come and gone, we must take a moment to assess what exactly was shown and whether or not we should be excited. Considering the track record for Diablo III, it should not be a surprise that its panels and Q&A’s were possibly the most awkward and cringe worthy. Of course this says nothing of the actual content shown, but it does put Diablo III in a rather difficult situation. We can be sure of one thing though; there have been a good number of changes in hope of changing the core problems of the game.

The first topic of change would have to be the inclusion of what Blizzard calls, Adventure mode. For the poor souls that tread the B.net forums often, one of the more popular wishes is for the walls of varying acts to be brought down. Players will now have access to all Way Points with the inclusion of their acts. The philosophy Blizzard decided upon is Play when you want to, Play where you want to. It should be noted that this is a new Game Mode and not just a mere option.

Included within the Adventure mode is something called Bounty. This addition fits within Adventure Mode and acts as a sort of quest system. One concern Blizzard’s developers had is that with just Adventure Mode, there were too many options which conflicted with the idea of social interaction. It was decided to make a system within Bounty (which is optional) where a player is given a total of twenty-five varying missions (five per act). This allows for the sense of open world while having a goal.

Within the scope of Bounty, there are different types; Killing boss, Complete an event, Kill a unique, and Clear a dungeon. This new system will be used to showcase all of the content Diablo III has to offer that may otherwise have been skipped or disregarded. Upon completion of the bounties, you will be rewarded gold, experience, and items including Rift Keys. The benefit of this system will instill a more random feel to the game, not the same old run that is repeated to death. Furthermore, the system ties well with the Achievements in the game. It can make finding (and completing) Achievements a more fulfilling oriented accomplishment while avoiding the feeling of it being an utter chore.

Earlier I mentioned Rift Keys and they are new to the game. They can be found randomly throughout the Diablo III world on top of being potential rewards for Bounties. Rift Keys are used to open Nephalem Rifts. These are a sort of standalone dungeons that are entirely random. Both tile-set and monsters are all random so you can be fighting a monster from both Act I and Act IV. Included within the spectrum of randomness are the varying numbers of levels. You can have a dungeon that goes up to ten levels (currently in the game, the most used is two so a substantial increase).

The combination of dungeons varies within the dungeon itself so you can be in the cathedral on one level and the next level can be outside. The dungeons are self contained so it allows developers to go to the extremes and not ruin the game itself. This means you may find shrines that give invulnerability or even an aura that can one-shot enemies with lightning. Entities that in the campaign would normally feel too strong will be just fine. There will also be bosses in the dungeons and unlike the campaign, they will not be arena based. You may have to fight them while fighting a number of packs of unique monsters.

The new system gets a chance to shine due to the addition of Loot 2.0 which will be coinciding with the expansion. The drive to find better and more powerful items will make systems such as Nephalem Rifts become both wanted and needed. Loot 2.0 will be revamping the item system quite a bit, a much needed change. While contemplating how to rework the items, Blizzard came up with three design philosophies; Less is more, Items support Builds, Rarity = Power. Even though luck is very influential, Legendary items have been dropping far too often. This killed the idea of it being special, strong, and most importantly, Legendary.

Items will now support builds by their attributes and bonuses being actually useful. All of the Legendary items have been reworked and upgraded so that an item (such as Frostburn Gauntlets) will benefit you if you decide to go a frost build. There will be bonuses on Legendary items that can alter how skills work. For example, on the Frostburn Gauntlets, it can have the chance to freeze an enemy instead of just slowing them down.

On top of the change in affixes, the Legendary items as a whole will be vastly better. Due to the idea of rarity equating to power, there needs to be a sense of excitement when one drops. This has been accomplished in a few ways. For one, the ranges of values have been shrunk to a smaller size. As an example, an item that has a chance to give 100-500 intelligence will now have the chance to give 300-500. This means when a Legendary drops, even if it drops on the minimum side, it will still be useful.

The values tie in with the inclusion of a Smart Drop system. The Diablo III system will periodically look at what hero you are playing and give you an item with values that suit your hero. For example, it may drop an item that gives Strength since you are using a Barbarian. The Legendary items will also not be level restricted so any Legendary can drop at any point. The affixes and stats will be adjusted appropriately to the difficulty of the game and level.

Although there are still various other changes that could be noted but I do believe this illustrates well where Blizzard is heading with the game. One problem going into Blizzcon that I found is the mindset of Diablo III being a completed game and that this is a brand new expansion. If we compared this expansion to that of WoW’s expansions, it would come off as a lot less. What I had to do is change how I viewed the game. These changes were all necessary to make the game into what should have been developed in the first place. What Blizzard is now doing is working on the core of the game so to catch up to where it ought to have been.

We would have loved to have been given all these new gimmicky changes, pure content changes, but the game is not in the state where that could have been done. Throwing glitter onto a pile of crap will not do a very good job of hiding the mess. It needs to be fixed from the ground up which is what Blizzard has shown. That is why this Blizzcon in terms of content, Diablo III felt very boring. It was difficult to get excited for the expansion in its entirety. What I (and many others) seems to feel most excited for is the fact that Diablo III itself is being fixed. We are excited for these changes and not just the additional act and hero.

Diablo III is now looking to be the game many of us had hoped for originally and that is what Blizzcon showed us. Although Blizzard does work as a snail’s pace, I feel a bit more reassured at the future of Diablo III. Get the core down and we will be getting the goodies we have been expecting and wanting (such as PvP and Ladder). So to those that hate Diablo III I will say this one thing; put aside those feelings and try looking at Diablo III as a brand new game. Put away that baggage of negativity and try to look at the game as if it were coming out for the first time. If you do, there is a good chance you will feel better about it.

Like that of a gem from the past, DotA 2 is a game that will bring on feelings of frustration, pain, anger, and resentment; all the while enjoying each and every moment of it. In playing DotA 2, one must first and foremost acknowledge that they are and will be for a very long time, terrible at the game. It should not come to any surprise that one of the more promoted guides for beginners of DotA 2 is called Welcome to DotA, You Suck. I do not say this to discourage people from playing. If anything, I do it in hopes that one is prepared mentally for the beating they will endure so that they continue to play. Alas, before I go into further detail, I should discuss more of its origins.

What we know as today as DotA (Defense of the Ancients) was first developed as a UMS (Use Map Settings) for Starcraft. At the time, it was known as Aeon of Strife. Of course, this version was far from its current form today. You can perhaps say that Aeon of Strife was the foundation of what would later become one of the most popular competitive games in history. At the time, the UMS did not have a major following but there were some that wished to work off of the game and make it better.

Upon the release of Warcraft III, a new version of Aeon of Strife was worked on and developed by a player by the name of Eul. This iteration was far closer to the current installment, although much still had to be done. Even this version, although a larger fan base had gathered, was still but a glimmer of what it would eventually turn out to become. It was not until Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne was released with its more powerful World Editor that the game became popular. At the time, there were many versions that differed mostly in the types of heroes used. It was then that the mod had made its first major leap forward.

DotA 2 would perhaps not be the game that it is today without the help of a Steve Freaks, or better known as Guinsoo. Steve Freaks first took the reins of DotA by combing all the various versions of the mod and having one large hero pool. With the inclusion of many more heroes, it became known as DotA: All Stars. Steve Freaks not only just combined the different versions; he also made many changes to the game and altered the focus of it as a whole. The focus changed from dealing with the armies of the enemy to it being more of a PvP (Player versus player) game. There was also the limitation of items so that there was more of a strategy added to the game.

Steve Freaks worked on mod for quite some time. It was not until versions after 6.01 when Steve Freaks decided to stop working on it and gave control over a modder known as IceFrog. Steve Freaks went on to work on the immensely popular MOBA League Of Legends. In some ways, DotA will always have some part of Steve Freaks in it due to an item known as Guinsoos Scythe of Vyse. Although the name does not include Steve Freaks Guinsoo, it is still called the Scythe of Vyse. Perhaps it is a homage top one of its main creators. 

Not a whole lot is known of IceFrog, for he does love his space. His name has not been divulged, the entity remaining hidden to the masses since he first began working on the mod. Even to this day, you can ask around various forums, asking what his true identity is and you will most likely get many different answers. For the Top Gear fans out there, he would be the Stig of the DotA world. What we do know of him is that he was hired by Valve in October of 2009 where he would lead what would later be known as DotA 2. It was not until October 2010 that the game was officially announced by Valve. Even with perhaps one of the most important contributors to DotA involved, the development had its hurdled.

Both Blizzard and Riot went after Valve for its use of the Defense of the Ancients and development of the game with the title. There was a battle for the ownership and trademark of DotA. Blizzard did not necessarily want to own DotA as a trademark; it was more of just prohibiting Valve from using it. Blizzard would later announce its development of a UMS called Blizzard All-Stars (which is a Blizzard themed DotA map). In May 11th, 2012, Valve had been given undisputed rights to the commercial use of DotA. For non-commercial use of DotA, it would remain open to the public. As terms of release, DotA 2 would stay in a closed beta for a good couple of years. It would be officially released as of July 9th, 2013.

Since its development, DotA 2 has made great strides in terms of both accessibility and gameplay. For example, The International 2 was being promoted as the tournament for DotA 2 with a cumulative prize pool of $1,600,000 ($1,000,000 for first place). Even though the game was still considered in beta at the time, Valve decided to design a system to where anyone could essentially via the tournament in the game itself. For those unaware, DotA 2 allows for players to view matches going on in real time (although most of the time, there is a two minute delay so cheating is avoided). You can watch from commentators perspective, player perspective, automated perspective, or free roam. This allowed for a much larger range of viewership (there were also dedicated twitch.tv streams broadcasting).

Valves commitment toward E-sports has been acknowledged and praised by many within the industry. To point out some example; Vale had the brilliant idea to sell pennants which have the logos of the participating teams in the International. When you purchase the pennants, the revenue goes to the teams themselves and when the match with them goes on, it will show at the top of the screen just how many supporters are watching. That is just one of the imaginative and supportive ideas developed by Valve. Another would be the integration of Twitch.tv and DotA 2. So if a player wishes for the chance to get item drops without having to watch from within the game, a player can simply watch from Twitch.tv. Once the user decides to, the two systems can be integrated to make it even easier for the user to choose where to watch the tournament.

Whereas the UI and general system of DotA 2 allows for simplicity and ease, the gameplay is quite the opposite. There are many mechanics within the game which allows for a good amount of complexity and strategy. The hero list alone is quite vast and could be difficult to take in. Even though the game is free-to-play, the player has access to (currently) all 102 heroes. The heroes, each with their own abilities and unique feeling, all fall into three categories; Strength, Agility, and Intelligence. These primary stats means the focus of the items will differ and the players decision to go with one item over the other will be based on their primary stat. Of these three groups, there are hero roles that are taken into consideration. Within the groups are roles such as Carry (where you focus on late game and getting stronger), Support (the name explains the job), and Initiator. These are not all the roles and depending on how the user wishes to play, they can be changed around.

With the diverse hero pool, the map and fighting adds an entirely new level of complexity. The map is broken up into three lanes; Top, Middle, and Bottom lane. The top lane for Dire would be known as the long or safe lane. It means that the creeps are closest to the Tier 1 tower and your jungle is near while at the same time, farthest from the ancient. The bottom lane for Dire is known as the short and hard lane (since close to enemy tier 1 but shortest distance to the Ancients). Depending on your hero and escape abilities, you can be placed in any of the lanes to suit your hero the best. The combat is different from other games of similar genre.

One main difference between the games is the mechanic of denying. This means that below a certain percentage, a player can kill their own creep, tower, or even fellow teammate (although dependent on their HP and spells on them). By denying, you are denying the other team a certain amount of gold or experience. This adds more complexity since as an example, if you are mid, you might ask yourself if preventing the other hero Xp/gold is more important then you getting your last-hits. If you are laning with a support, the support may try to focus primarily on deny, harassing other teams heroes, or try to do both. It adds more choice to the game and makes to strategize a lot more. Even the decision to deny a tower may be question since you may have the ability to hold them off long enough to keep the tower up. It all depends on what you think is the best idea.

Another difference from other games similar to DotA 2 is the gold loss upon death. In DotA 2, you have two types of gold; reliable and unreliable gold. Reliable gold is any gold you obtained from killing towers, heroes, and Rosh. Unreliable gold is everything else which includes the killing of creeps and neutrals (from the jungle). These are differentiated because when you die, gold is loss only from the unreliable gold. This means you have to ask yourself if you should get a less expensive item now or risk losing the gold later and save up for the more expensive piece. If you are about to die, you also have to make sure to spend your gold before dying or risk the chance of not being able to afford your item (you can purchase an item anytime while alive but it will either be at the base or on a courier).

The various mechanics of the game (although I did not mention all) makes the game incredibly difficult to understand all of them, but at the same time, it become fulfilling when you do. There will be new tricks and abilities that you will learn and it will feel like a true accomplishment. After playing for ten, twenty, even a hundred hours. You will be able to look at yourself and see the vast improvements you have made. And that is what makes this game so amazing and enjoyable to play. Yes, it does have a very high learning curve and can be frustrating at times; but those moments when you see your own improvements and pull off something amazing makes it all worth it.

Since playing Starcraft and trying to play competitively, I have not had the thrill of sitting down and learning to play well. Since Starcraft, I have not had those moments while watch progamers pull of something so amazing that you jump off your chair and cheer. DotA 2 has somehow rekindled those competitive feelings I have had in the past. The game makes you want to improve and grow as a player. When you get your feet wet and begin understanding the game, watching the vods and tournaments becomes much more exciting. You begin appreciating what it is professional players are able to accomplish. Even with a few friends, you can muck-about and do whatever you want. You can play to have fun, using some absurd and crazy builds (like play a hero such as Treant which is support, and build the hero as a carry).

Alas, the game will not be for everyone which is completely fine. If a person gives it an honest shot (which means playing more than one game), I would be fine with player saying it is not for them. I do have but one warning for all potential new players. This game will make you want to spend money. Not out of necessity, but out of Valve somehow brainwashing you into falling for the game and wanting to support them (and the teams). I have managed to refrain from spending money on a game that was not subscription based. Somehow I found myself wanting to support the teams and cheer for them, so I purchased the pennants. With The International 3, I spent the $10.00 for the Compendium so I may support the competition. The prize pool went from the $1,600,000 to a record breaking $2,745,457 thanks to many gamers out there willing to spend a few dollars. It just goes to show how a little incentive and willingness to help the competitive scene can lead to major contributions by the community.

Give the game a shot and see how you like it. Who knows, you may end up enjoying it after you get destroyed repeatedly. If anything, you can at least say you gave it a shot. 

 At what point does protecting ones IP (Intellectual Property) become counterproductive and harmful to a company? This is a question that certain companies should be asking themselves due to some rather distasteful actions taken as of recent. One of which that many have already heard of and voiced their opinions on is SEGAs crusade of the Shining Force III. Although crusade might seem bit of a strong term to use, do keep in mind that SEGA was not holding back on when they systematically attacked youtube videos containing footage and commentaries of the game. It was not small in scale and many videos would be flagged leaving channels with copyright strikes on their record.

Although a good portion of the channels were small in nature, one of the largest videos effected was youtuber TotalBiscuit. Although he is known as the Cynical Brit, he was upset and quite vocal when his videos were flagged for copyright infringement and had to be removed (while being given copyright strikes on his channel). This prompted a boycott of any SEGA related video game coverage that lasts to this day. This sort of action by SEGA is a slap in-the-face to those fans and supporters of theirs and their games. Alas, why did such an event even take place?

There are many theories on the rationale behind the action but the more probably and potentially true reasoning had to do with the new release for SEGA on the PSP, Shining Ark. One of the theories is that SEGA wanted to do away with the Shining Force videos on youtube so that Shining Ark would be easier to find and not be hindered by an older title. Luckily there is not all bad news; SEGAs America Brand Manager posted and apology on their forum:

Hey everyone,

Thank you to all of our fans for waiting while we worked hard to get this issue solved. While SEGA may need to remove videos in rare cases, were happy to confirm that there are no further plans to remove Shining Force videos uploaded to Youtube by users living in North American and European territories. Additionally, if you live in these territories and your video was removed, please get in touch with us at communityteam@sega.com so that we can look into it for you.

SEGA believes strongly in our fans and we apologize for any inconvenience. You all are what keep us going thank you!

Although the copyright strikes on youtube channels such as TotalBiscuit were removed, there are still smaller channels that are affected by SEGAs crusade. Regardless of the reasoning at this point, the damage has been done and SEGA will be seen as the bad guy in a series of unfortunate events. In all honesty, the apology hardly counts as an apology. SEGA can be happy about at least one thing; they are not the only ones to make some rather foolish decisions.

Nintendo, a company that recently seems to be stumbling over their own feet, had decided that it would be a good idea to piss off many of their fans. There are many gamers out in the world that upload Lets Play on youtube. Although a good portion of the gamers do not make any money off of them, some do it as their job or career. This is done by monetization, a practice that allows ads to be placed in the video where the clicks and views result in some revenue. There are youtubers that make a living off of playing video games and need that monetization. Nintendo had decided that it would become a part of youtube and go after various gamers in the name of copyright.

Now, copyright on its own is a rather crude way of protecting ones IP. Instead of simply taken the videos down, Nintendo would force the monetization to be altered to where their ads would be played and they would be the ones to get the revenue. Considering there is peoples livelihood on the line, one can imagine that this practice would be undesirable and there would be backlash. This was no mistake on Nintendo's part of course, this was an intentional move to protect their IP as mentioned in a statement to Game Front:

As part of our on-going push to ensure Nintendo content is shared across social media channels in an appropriate and safe way, we became a YouTube partner and as such in February 2013 we registered our copyright content in the YouTube database. For most fan videos this will not result in any changes, however, for those videos featuring Nintendo-owned content, such as images or audio of a certain length, adverts will now appear at the beginning, next to or at the end of the clips. We continually want our fans to enjoy sharing Nintendo content on YouTube, and that is why, unlike other entertainment companies, we have chosen not to block people using our intellectual property.

What is most troubling about the statement is how the justification for the policy was presented in such a manner that tries to make them out to be the good guys here. Even though they are the ones getting the revenue, they have decided on the righteous decision of not blocking people from using their IPs. Luckily (for now), Nintendo did backpedal and are no longer adding their commercials or getting the revenue from Lets Play. This was not the last bad decision on their part.

Prior to EVO 2013 (Evolution Championship Series), the members of the tournament were notified by Nintendo that they would not have permission to broadcast Smash Bros Melee during the event. This was particularly upsetting due to there being a Super Smash Bros Melee  fundraiser for breast cancer which nearly raised $95,000. The internet went into frenzy mode and as a result, Nintendo informed EVO members that they would be allowed to broadcast the competition.

Although there are still numerous incidents such as the ones listed above, we must ask ourselves was it worth it? These large companies were taking steps toward protecting their IPs but at the expense of their fans and consumers. Of course people should be proactive in protecting their IPs, but it should not result in punishing those that support them. It really does not make sense to protect an entity by harming those that are actively promoting them. A company should not vilify someone that helps in promoting them and instead, they should support their actions.

What these and many other companies have managed to do is alienate groups of people while harming their own image. There needs to be innovation and collaboration amongst the companies and their fans. For example, in the case of Nintendo and their ads, why not have their ads plays while having the revenue go toward the youtuber. By doing that, Nintendo would be actively promoting themselves via ads while acknowledging and accepting youtubers as having a positive influence. That is only if the youtuber wishes for monetization for if someone does not have a large enough following, having commercial play may result in hindering or even hurting their progress.

This all seems like common sense and yet we have companies continuously the same mistakes over and over. Becoming proactive in support of those that actively promote their products ought to encouraged. This is a lesson that companies such as SEGA and Nintendo must learn or they they will end up shooting themselves in the foot yet again. 

 

The Elder Scrolls is an epic fantasy series that has captivated the hearts and imaginations of countless gamers around the globe. The series has its roots deep seeded within the Action-RPG genre, stemming from a great number of years since its original creation. It was created by at the time, a small developer known as Bethesda Softworks. Arena was an innovative Action-RPG for its time with a unique story and interesting fighting mechanics. One surprising detail of the very first installment of the series is the use of their unique compass on the top of the screen. The design is simple and clean which allowed it to evolve and become even more useful in the later releases of the series. During the DOS era of gaming, Bethesda was unfortunate in having a rather rough release of The Elder Scrolls: Arena in March of 1994. The launch was not the smoothest in history due to its original release being delayed and pushed back from the original Christmas 1993 deadline.

Fortunate for everyone, the series did not die due to the initial stumble of a release. Just two years later, the second installment of the series was released known as the Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall. The scope and size of this game is impressive, even by todays standards.  The second installment pushed the series much further, testing its capabilities as an Action-RPG game as well as a game of exploration. 

Much of the technology and ideas for creating large scaled games today was being used in the development of Daggerfall. To put it into perspective, the game used the idea of having randomized terrain which allowed for the vast amount of cities and terrain. It was even claimed that it was theoretically twice the size of Great Britain with over 15,000 areas to explore. For its time, this was a massive step in the right direction for games of this genre and game development in as a whole. Not only was the technology for the game itself brilliant, it was one of the first games to use a true 3D engine (XnGine). Daggerfall was released on August, 1996; in July of 2009, Bethesda made the game as a free download commemorating the 15th anniversary of the series.

It was then that Bethesda had decided to work on the next three titles at once. Considering the scope of the video games as a whole, the idea of working on three at once seems borderline crazy. Granted, they were not released all at once and each of the games different quite a bit in their size. The first two released could be thought of as expansions or even spin-offs of the series. They were not true sequels as we would know them as today. The first was released in 1997; it was An Elder Scrolls Legend: Battlespire. The game had taken on a different look and went with changing the action bar that we had known beforehand. Interestingly enough, the game had a very Doom-like feel to it. With the gore, the general texture, and even the aesthetic of the game came off as Doom. If Doom and Daggerfall[i/] had a child, this game would most likely be the end result.

In October of 1998, the second of the three games being worked on was released. It was given the title of The Elder Scrolls Adventures: Redguard and of all the previous installments, this was the unique of the group. Bethesda had gone with a different route in an attempt to evolve the game further. Some of which can be seen even with Skyrim today. They had decided to go with allowing the player to either have first or third person mode. Perhaps it is purely out of coincidence but video games such as Tomb Raider was released in 1996; right around the time one would expect for the development of Redguard to commence. Regardless of the reasoning, the game went with more of the Action part of the game and less RPG-esque. They had done away with the RPG elements such as naming and developing your own character as you saw fit.

In May of 2002, the true third installment of the Elder Scrolls series was released. Its title was The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind.  Little less than four years had passed and many changes occurred during its development. Bethesda had moved away from the strictly PC platform and released for the PC and Xbox. Not only was the use of a new platform exciting, a new gaming engine was used. The previous three games used as their engine the XnGine and with the new installment, they had decided to use GameBryo. This new Direct3D powered engine allowed a vastly superior look and feel for the game. Not only was the terrain much more appealing, but the enemies with the 32-bit textures looked far more menacing and enjoyable to slaughter. It was touted as Game of the Year and had over four-million sales, a feat that any game developer should be proud of.

This installment of the series for me marked the first game that was the culmination of all the other previous installments. Morrowind, although quite progressive, stuck with what worked and enhanced it further. Much like the graphical upgrades with the new Engine, the mechanics of the game were also upgraded. Morrowind went with a nice battle style, simple in its design (use of the left and right mouse button) all the while freeing up the screen. It had become void of all the other unnecessary action bar of the past. Redguard had the extreme where almost nothing was on the screen.

Along with the simplistic combat, minimalist screen, and general upgrade to the aesthetics; Bethesda went with free roam yet again. Using Redguard as a reference, it can be seen that there was linearity in the beginning. But it was not taken to the extreme, so it went with a similar route Daggerfall but without the completely randomized terrain. We can truly see how this game had become the melting pot of mechanics and ideas from all the previous installments. It is for this reason that I believe resulted in the sheer success of the game. And with the games success, the decision was made to further the game play and story by the introduction of two expansions.

The first official expansion to one of the Elder Scrolls installments was called The Elder Scrolls III: Tribunal. It was released in November of 2002, not long after the initial release of Morrowind. Not a whole lot had changed with the expansion. Which of course is to be expected since it is just an expansion. There were some changes, for example the area was only accessible by teleport. The most noticeable and important chance had to have been to the journal. Previously, the journals read like a novel and to some, one would get lost in all of the jargon. It could be seen as almost a turnoff to have so much text. With the expansion, the journal had a more simplistic and clean aesthetic to it. It was void of the massive text and kept to the quest itself in chronological order.

The second of the expansions was released in June of 2003. Elder Scrolls III: Bloodmoon had no real change to the game worked with adding more content. Whereas Tribunal added but a city, this expansion added an entire island. Similar to Morronwind and its inclusion of having the ability to transform (into a vampire), this was the first time the player was able to transform into a werewolf. This is a characteristic trait that players will be able to see and access in future installments.

As an honorable mention, I would like to point out that there were portable releases of games following Bloodmoon. I will not be going into detail for each of them but I thought I would mentioned them here as a brief note.

• The Elder Scrolls Travels: Stormhold  (2003)
• The Elder Scrolls Travels: Dawnstar    (2004)
• The Elder Scrolls Travels: Shadowkey (2004)
• The Elder Scrolls Travels: Oblivion     (2004)

 Following the release of Morrowind, development for the next installment to the series began. While the two expansions had been released and portable games developed, Bethesda was hard at work with 2K Games to develop their next game. It took four years before The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion was released in March of 2006. Oblivion did not make quite as large of a leap in sheer aesthetic design as with Morrowind but there were some noticeable changes. The Gamebryo (graphics) engine was being used still but it was in conjunction with the Havok (physics) and Speedtree(foliage) engines. If we were to label what the overall label for the game would be, I would have to name it fine-tuning. Whereas with the previous installments and their desire to vastly upgrade, improve, and revamp; Oblivion went with a more subtle decision. The developers wanted to make the game better and more realistic. 

This was illustrated with the installments of the two new engines as mentioned before, Havok and SpeedTree. The developers wanted to make world seem much more realistic and believable. That is why they had added the Havok physics engine and SpeedTree for the foliage. There was a high emphasis on paying attention to each detail. That is why there were photographs and nature books used as reference in development of the game. Of course, it does not end there; there was also the design use of the high dynamic range rendering (HDR) which allows for rendering based on light sources as well as the specular mapping technique (works with the shininess, brightness, and reflection of light on objects). Bethesda went even so far as to greatly improve the view distance to help with immersion.

The final paying attention to detail decision had to do with the NPCs and their interaction with the player. Since The Elder Scrolls first development, NPCs had been working based on a script model. It essentially means that the characters, although appearing in 3D, acted in a 2D manner. Bethesda had developed the Radiant A.I. system. This new system allowed the NPCs to act in a more reactionary manner; having an assortment of dialogues based on events and not a simple script that would be read regardless of the situation. This was not confined to mere dialogue; the NPCs would act in a different and more complex manner if needed.

On October of 2006, the first official expansion pack for Oblivion was announced. Although uncertain of when the development first began (if followed the general pattern of previous releases, it would have began either in March of April of 2006), The Elder Scrolls IV: Knights of the Nine was slated for release on November, 2006. With this expansion and similar to that of the previous expansions, Knights of the Nine did not change anything too major. There was the inclusion of the FaceGen technology which is produced by Singular Inversion. This technology allows for a robust and plentiful assortment of faces within the game. It allows for many for faces as well as character creation. Beyond the introduction of a new story and some new technology, there was not a whole lot added. Unfortunately for Bethesda, there were rumors and drama that occurred. A good portion of the negative PR stemmed from rumors and alleged decisions on Bethesdas part.

Although there are probably many out there that would love to hear of the drama and although I would love to go further into detail, Id rather stay away from rumors. With that said, we move on to the final expansion for Oblivion known as, The Elder Scrolls IV: Shivering Isles. The game was first officially announced on January 18th, 2007 whereas it has been known two weeks in advance. This was due to PC Zone revealing the game and following suit, PC Gamer had also featured the expansion before the official announcement. The second expansion is vastly larger than the first. It covered the Shivering Isles which was broken up into two sections, Mania and Dementia. Although content wise it is larger with more quest and new story, none of the core mechanics changed. This was it its core just an expansion which is absolutely fine; it is what one would expect.

With the successful launch of Oblivion and all of its expansion, the final stretch of The Elder Scrolls series arrives. On November 11th, 2011, the highly anticipated and eagerly awaited fifth installment to the Elder Scrolls series was finally launched. To say the game was on many gamers minds would be an understatement. If you are reading this blog, you were most likely one of the people awaiting its arrival. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim was a monumental release and years down the line, this game is still highly modded and played with vast amounts of enthusiasm. To put it into perspective, Morrowind which was extremely successful sold over four-million copies as a whole whereas Skyrim ended up shipping seven-million copies within the first week. One should take into considering though that the game was also released on the PC, Xbox 360, as well as the Playstation 3.  Conceptually, the game was being worked on not long after the release of Oblivion in 2006. However, the full development for the fifth installment did not begin until the release of Fallout 3 which was in 2008.

Due to its rather late development, Skyrim was developed with Bethesdas very own engine, the Creation Engine. With the new engine on hand and current technology, the game made great strides toward amazing aesthetics and atmosphere for the game. The allowance of Dynamic Lightning aided in the new look of the game including the items. When you enter a tavern, a cave, all of the software developed for the game brings on an entirely new level of immersion. The fascinating part of how the game was developed is the use of previous engines. Even though Bethesda created their own engine for the game; the physics engine Havok and the foliage engine SpeedTree. One can say these were a renewed force tailored in making the game look even more amazing. Even the Radiant A.I. was upgraded to allow NPCs to have more complexity and allow more freedom for them to act.

Skyrim has been a resounding success in the Elder Scrolls series. As of July 2012, Skyrim has sold ten-million units. Considering it has been a year (since the posting of this blog) and the amazing discount for the game during the Steam Summer Sale, the number is most likely significantly higher. It is almost staggering the sheer amount of copies sold and the amount of dedication people have put into the game. And of course, it should be of no surprise to anybody (especially with 3.5 million units sold in the first 48 hours) that there have been additions to the game. Since its release in November of 2011, there have been three add-ons to the game.

This is where there has been an interesting turn of events. Considering the track record of Bathesda, one would expect expansions to be plastered everywhere. What has happened is a bit of semantic waltzing. Skyrim has had three add-ons or DLCs. It seems like since the prevalence of DLCs has made its way into the gaming world, the core of what makes something an expansion has changed. Previously, Morrowind had its share of expansions but with Skyrim, it had its content which seems almost lacking. The first of these DLCs is Dawnguard. Its release was in June of 2012 (for the Xbox) whereas it was August for PC and February, 2013 for the Playstation 3. Content wise or should I say, the lack of it, would make me inclined to not consider Dawnguard remotely close to being an expansion.

The second add-on is known as Hearthfire, the more lacking of the three DLCs. It did not add anything of real value sadly; it allowed the construction of a house, the option to adopt children, and a new assortment of bugs. Let us just say this add-on was not highly praised. The third and final installment is Dragonborn. It was released on Xbox on December, 2012. As with the previous additions, the PC and Playstation 3 version were released later, February of 2013 to be more precise. Following suit, this was an add-on to the a story and not the typical expansion. It did add new dungeons, creatures, weapons, and new abilities. Of the three, this felt the most complete. 

In time, all great things must come to an end. This years Steam Summer Sales is no exception. The long awaited sales beseech to us by the almighty Gabe Newell is now coming to an end and with it, our abused wallets may finally be given their needed rest. Now with the ending of the sales, we can look to our Steam Libraries and see the products of our labor over the ten days. Although I am certain many purchases were made under the guise of rationally thinking; the gamers trigger-happy nature most likely resulted in a few purchases where we ask ourselves, why?
I along with many other gamers had been waiting for the Summer Sale for quite some time. There were many estimates and guesswork in figuring out when the sale would begin. It felt like we were being toyed with by Gabe Newell himself. One night, a website appeared and spread like wildfire. Like that of a comet foretold by some ancient prophecy, the gaben.tv/ website gave us hope and warned us of the imminent sale. On July 13th, the Summer Sale began and with it came praise, enjoyment, and sadly disappointment. With the sale came the good and the bad. The good came in some seemingly unexpected forms and genres whereas the bad were potentially due to the quite lacking wow factor I have witnessed. Do not get me wrong, there were some exceptional games and amazing discounts, but there was a sense of disappointment by at least some of the community. Upon the first day of sales, we were given a nice assortment of video games to choose from. Generally speaking, the video games shown were very good games. It felt like a nice beginning to what ended up being a long and tiresome journey fraught with dragons, demons, and dudes with flashlights. Probably the best way the Summer Sale can be explained is by giving my personal view on what ended up being good and what ended up being quite the disappointment. The first leg of the Steam Sale had reasonably good discounts and video games. Bioshock Infinite showed up during the first day for 50% off ($29.99) which was a reasonable deal considering the games rather recent release. Amazon had also had their sales with the same discount with the exception of there being a coupon for 15% off. If one went through Amazon, the game could have been bought for $25.49. Considering its recent release and it being highly praised, the discount was not that bad. Other noticeable mentions at least for the first day would be Hotline Miami (75% off) for $2.49. The game may not be for everyone but the games OST alone makes it worth the buy. It has phenomenal music for a rather unique game. The flash sales were alright but the best discount had to be the Elder Scrolls Skyrim Legendary Edition for $35.99. This includes the three DLCs (Dawnguard, Dragonborn, and Hearthfire). Considering the DLCs alone add up to $45.00, it is a very reasonable purchase. There seemed to be a nicer set of discounts during the first portion of the Summer Sale before it ended up feeling a bit stale. Another of the better sales had to have been FTL and its 75% off discount. This video game is brilliant for its $2.49 price tag. Along the same price tag, there was also Just Cause 2 which may not be for everyone but with a price of $2.99 (80% off), it ended up being a must buy. During the first portion of the Summer Sale, the last real reasonable purchase would be the Witcher 2 for $4.99 with 75% off. This is the sort of game that you will hate, despise, wish it to die but still continue to play. In terms of RPG, it is a great and memorable experience even with some apparent control problems and a rather weak prologue. Those were the early video games within the first few days. For the Summer Sale as a whole, the must buys ended up being; Dishonored ($10.19), Mark of the Ninja ($3.47), Alan Wake ($2.99), Deux Ex: Human Revolution ($2.99), Dark Souls ($7.49), Civilization V ($7.49), Super meat Boy ($3.74), and Borderlands 2 ($10.19). Those were the games that I believe to be the sure-buys for those interested (beyond that of those already mentioned). The honorable mentions which I would recommend would have to be Portal 2 ($4.99), Far Cry 3 ($23.99), Magicka ($2.49), and Fallout New Vegas ($2.49).
All in all, the games listed above are all greatly appreciated and very welcomed as a discounted game. After those games, I and others tend to start having issues with the Steam Summer Sale. The video games and their discounts did not for the most part blow me away. There were one or two games that had very high discounts while being a very good game (Alan Wake had a 90% discount). On top of a rather lacking pool of impressive discounts being dished out, there was also a lack of bundles. There were almost no video game bundles during the Summer Sale which I found to be rather odd. There was a high focus on individual games and their discounted DLCs but beside the Half-Life bundle. The Summer Sale itself, as odd as it may seem, went on for too long. I do appreciate a good sale when I see it but as the sales began repeating themselves, I too began losing interest. There would be games like Tomb Raider with a 75% off discount (which is nice) but the game itself felt void and empty of any merit. So I started seeing the game multiple times and each showing made the sale seem less interesting. Of course there will be plenty of people that will disagree with me which is fine, this is but my personal feeling. Plus, there is also the problem child of video games. This video game I am thinking of has been such a problem for steam and gamers of the genre. The particular game on my mind has spat in the faces of their customers, let down countless gamers, and gone on to do incredibly questionable deeds. It is the game that in my opinion should not have been on sale period for it should not get any more attention. The game I am referring to is Infestation, formerly known as WarZ. I am sorry to those gamers out there that actually enjoys playing it but the drama behind has left such a bad taste in my mouth that I hate seeing it. I will not get into detail here since it would take up quite some time but a simple Google of the controversy will bring up many blogs about it. The one about the game plagiarizing pictures from The Walking Dead is pretty bad. So when I saw infestation on sale multiple times, it made me quite sad for I know there will be many out there that will purchase it and give money to such an appalling group of developers. The game tarnished and stained the Summer Sales name but in the end, the last week or so has been enjoyable. As with concluding the Steam Summer Sale as a whole, it was good. That is the best way I can describe it; the sale did not blow me away nor did it truly captivate me. There were disappointments which lead to a someway negative outlook on this years sale. It did have good games with reasonable discounts and I imagine most people are satisfied. Perhaps my expectations for this years were simply too high and I set myself up to fall. I did have a blast checking each and every flash sale that went on and selling the cards did make me gain some of the money I spent back into my wallet. It is a good thing this happens during the summer for my wallet would not be able to handle this occurring multiple times. Looking forward now, I do have some hopes when it comes to next years Steam Summer Sales. I do wish for there to be more games in the listing; this whole showing the game multiple times only made the extended Summer Sale seem unnecessary. There also needs to be more bundles for series and video game titles. Of course it is up to the developers to decide on them but the lack of them proved to be a big letdown. Lastly, although entirely subjective, I want more of a wow response when I see the sales. There needs to be sales that when a person sees the discount, they are forced to spend the money since it is such a good deal. Perhaps we gamers have been spoiled in the past but hey, we do love our games!