New level. As always here's what it means:

Level 43 - Sword of Sodan - A side-scrolling hack-and-slash for the Sega Genesis.How to GameSpot

Now on to the good stuff and what everyone has been talking about: Sony's E3 conference.

In my personal opinion they absolutely nailed it. Looking back in a few years, I believe E3 2013 will have been a standout year for Sony as the year they pulled themselves back into the game and offered a serious challenge to their competitors.

Personally I couldn't be happier with everything I saw from them, and aside from a little lackluster news concerning the Vita, I think Sony really delivered a strong message not only to the industry but--more importantly--to their consumers and that is what resonates the strongest.

There is no doubt in my mind which console I will continue to stick with next gen and which company is more deserving of my money. You see, it's not about brand loyalty as much as you might think. It all boils down to offering your customer the best value. A fine line, maybe, but still a very distingushable line from blind loyalty.

I've already pre-ordered my PS4 from Amazon, and as well as planning to build a competent gaming PC this year I am eagerly anticipating next gen.

Aw, man. I'm excited I received this game from Amazon today and anxiously dove into it. After much deliberation and hemming and hawing after researching this game through professional/user reviews and gameplay videos, I decided to buy it. I've been looking for a "serious," mature, deep RPG and this seems to be it.

God bless Amazon. I was able to score the Enhanced Edition for less than $20 (compared to GameStop's overpriced $30+ after tax). It arrived today and is in pristine condition as well containing all the extra stuff such as a high quality mini-guide that I'm assuming is a walk-through for the entire game, a fold-out map and, to my surprise, the game's soundtrack as well which I was not aware was included.

I'm liking it despite some early frustration which, in all honesty, was all my fault because I was trying to "rush" or play the game faster than you should. This is a game that requires due diligence in execution. It rewards "smart" playing and preparation over hack 'n' slash. I knew this going in which is part of the appeal I found about the game. But due to a severe lack of these types of games, I was trying to play it differently than is optimal. 

First-hand impressions are positive. As I said, this isn't your typical hack 'n' slash, dungeon crawler; but a much more methodical experience. Quick example: You cannot drink a healing potion once you've engaged in combat. Any potions and status effects must be drunk/prepared ahead of time. You must coat your sword in various oils which have different effects towards different enemies. You have two main swords to contend with; one for human enemies and the other for creatures.

It's very "in-depth" without feeling overwhelming, at least to me. So it allows a true sense of accomplishment after every battle because you're only going to survive if you use your head and plan first. It's very much a thinking-man's RPG if such a thing exists. If I have piqued your interest at all, don't hesitate to check out the review here at the site since that's where I started.

So that's what I'm currently playing. I haven't played BioShock Infinite in over a month. I just kinda lost interest; not that it's a bad game or anything but I'm weird like that :D

What's going on? Where is all this support for Sony coming from all of a sudden? I thought it was "cool" to hate on Sony. What gives? How come in GameSpot's Twitter battle Sony is leading with a commanding 86% to MS's 14%? Where are all the snarky, loud-mouthed, obnoxious Xbox 360 zealots verbally masturbating about how superior Microsoft is???

What happened over the course of an hour this morning in Washington? Did all those Microsoft lovers drop off the face of the Earth?

Oh where have all the Xbox fanboys gone? I mean, it seems as if just yesterday (and for that matter, the SEVEN YEARS leading up to today) that people have been ceaselessly dragging Sony's name through the mud; unmercilessly critiquing every little thing they did and lambasting them as incompetent, pompous monkeys that were out of touch with their customers, all the while lifting Microsoft up on a pedestal as though they were the Second Coming of Christ and were beyond mortal transgressions.

WHERE ARE ALL THOSE PEOPLE NOW?????

Oh, they're voting for Sony apparently.

Today, all of a sudden, Sony seems to be "cool" again.

Huh...isn't that funny.

Anyone interested in joining up to play? I've got another friend who will be joining me tonight; it will be both our first time checking this game out. So I was kinda hoping that I could wrangle in some more people from the site here.

I don't play much online but this game seems like it could hold some promise. I'm not trying to form a clan or any long-term commitments so don't worry. I'm just asking if a few people would also be interested in joining my friend and I. Let me know if you are.

Robocorn

Hey look, it's a totally original dude wearing armor. With a huge gun and a helmet (a visor?). And he's riding a unicorn. This user was granted this magical emblem for not having any of their user profile images hosted on untrusted websites during The Great Purge of March 2013.

Will you be my player 2?

This emblem goes out to all those love birds who shared with us their favorite video game valentine, or simply stopped by to say Happy Valentines Day.

What's your newest emblem(s)?

Level 42 - Karnov - An arcade game (also on the NES) in which you played as a bald-headed fire-breathing brute. Karnov was a Muslim prince in the original arcade version, but possibly to avoid causing offense to Muslims, he became Jiborav Karnovsky, a Russian circus strongman, for the NES version.GameSpot

I've been playing and moderately enjoying Sleeping Dogs. It's very evident how clearly inspired this game is from GTA with some notable exceptions. For instance, I like how they emphasize hand-to-hand combat over gunplay. There are guns to be had, but I find myself not wanting to use them because it's so much more satisfying beating enemies to a pulp. The combat system is very easy to get accustomed to and really is a fun part of the game.

A short blog series on the games I'm playing and, more interesting, why I'm playing them

This is, ooooh, my fourth or fifth attempt to get into this game. Demon's Souls, to me, is the quintessential game that represents the type of gamer I wish I was: Hardcore. Unfortunately, for a variety of reasons, Demon's Souls remains elusive. It's not so much the extreme difficulty as it is just how intricate everything about the game is. The sheer amount of time needed in order to learn the intricate game mechanics and stats to be successful requires a level of dedication I am incapable of. The detail included in every facet of the game overwhelms me. This is a game that requires independent study in order to grasp just the basic understanding of how everything works and interacts with each other. Not to mention the game isn't very clear in terms of what to do and where to go next. Demon's Souls is like an unfit mother that doesn't give a damn about her child. And no matter how much you cry she will never help you.

It is precisely because of this uncaring feeling that I have decided to watch a Let's Play of this game; to try and at least get some semblance of a "starting point" of what to do and how to do it. I've tried diving head first into this game on my own and that tactic backfired on me multiple times because I didn't know what the hell to do and I became discouraged and quit. Hopefully after watching this Let's Play I'll have a better understanding to help guide me and keep me motivated to continue playing.

Sleeping Dogs is a game that originally went under my radar for the longest time. But as I watched more videos of it and heard more people talk about it, I got the bug in me to try it. Unfortunately for me it's been a long, hard wait to get this game through Gamefly as it literally sat in my game queue for close to two months because of its limited availability. Not to mention, on two separate occasions I was cruelly tricked in to thinking it was going to be the next game to ship due to its higher availability and optimal timing by me sending back the game I had out at the same time that Sleeping Dogs became available. Both times failed as I was shipped the next game in my queue instead of Sleeping Dogs and both times I was mad as hell. But I digress, all that is behind me because as of today I finally received this game in the mail. Now I just hope it was worth the wait and anguish I went through to get it!

The most recently released game I'm playing at the moment. I've been a fan of Studio Ghibli ever since watching Spirited Away which was my first introduction to the famous Japanese animation company. Level 5 is a much respected JRPG developer that I don't have much firsthand experience with, but their pedigree is so well-respected that I trust them. The game so far is charming, although if I must be honest it does tend to dip into the hokey department more often than I'd like. If Demon's Souls is an unfit mother that doesn't care about you, then Ni no Kuni is the mother that has separation anxiety and can't cut the umbilical. I'm well over sixteen hours into the game so far and the hand-holding is still present. I don't know if this is a big oversight or if they really did mean to market this game to kids and thought it necessary. Regardless, the game is truly an instant classic despite its saccharine-like appearance and overprotective mother mode.

I've recently had an epiphany: I like short games. Let me clarify that a bit: I enjoy shorter games. That's not to say I'm an advocate of developers releasing four hour single-player campaigns, but more to say that if a game fails to clock in at 20+ hours, I'm OK with that.

Now obviously game length is a sort of "hot" topic when it comes to gamers with some saying how today's games are "way too short." But I believe it all depends on the genre. Certainly there is a level of expectation when it comes to specific genres; RPGs traditionally have much longer campaigns than FPS games do.

So when I hear gamers complain about how "X game was too short" and "Y game wasn't long enough," it makes me wonder exactly how much longer they would want those games to last. For easy math sake, let's say the "average" length of a FPS is six hours. At $60, you spent $10 per hour to play that game. Considering how much DLC costs upwards of $15 for maybe a couple of hours of content, $10 per hour is not bad.

But there's the other consideration: How much longer do you really want to play a single-player campaign? I think six to ten hours is a decent time sink if we're talking about the FPS genre. It also depends on player skill level since it may take some gamers longer to play a shorter game and more skilled gamers less time. So where's the happy medium?

As I get older and free time is more of a luxury less than it is a certainty, I find that I don't have the time I used to when I was younger to just sit around all day and play games. Which is why I appreciate those games that I can spend some time with but not have them overstay their welcome so I can move on to the next one.

See that guy above? That used to be me. I'm proud to announce that I finally found a job during the past month here; just shy of one year of being fully unemployed.

It's such a relief.

In other news I leveled up here. Here's what the new rank means:

Level 41 - Thunder Force - A series of side-scrolling action games for the Commodore 64, Genesis and Saturn."GameSpot

Other than that not much has happened. I haven't blogged in a while because, well, I haven't had anything to say.

Yep. We're still here. I guess all those idiots that mistook the end of the Mayan calendar as the "end of the world" were *gasp* wrong afterall. I'm shocked :roll:

No end of the world. No end of humanity. Nope. We're all still here. You still have bills to pay and other responsibilities to worry about.

Damn.

Well, one positive outcome from all of this (besides not not existing anymore) is we can finally stop hearing about the 21st of December 2012! Good God, it was getting annoying after awhile. Now maybe we can finally go back to worrying about (and fixing) things that matter.

Maybe?

Of course, the types of people that get suckered into believing the end of the world is coming will no doubt find some other, silly nonsense belief to hang their hat on.

It never fails.

Hope everyone has a good day :)