So having spent some time with the demo of this game, set to release in January 2013, I have finally decided to pre-order this baby!!

So I would like to spent some time trying to lay your doubts to rest.

First of all, DANTE IS BACK!! And he is still a bad-ass. Not because of his hair color, or his boy-ish nature, but because he can still kick ass better than even Kratos. The controls are easy to learn for all DMC fans out there, and quite intuitive for new commers as well, and the game FINALLY give you SOME control over the camera, and in a decent way.

Now, I have to admit, when I first saw this picture, I had a bad feeling about this....

This guy looks like a mess, and not the sort of guy who would inspire anyone. The first thig that went through my mind was "What the Sh*T is this, and what does it have to do with Dante??"

Thankfully, it seems that Ninja Theory saw the error of their ways, and took a good long look at this guy, and actually listened to the cries of the fans, and instead they gave us this...

Now THIS GUY I can relate to. He seems cool, confident and looks like he could do some serious damage to some monsters and stuff, so this is acceptable.

I know that most people wanted an official sequel of the original series, but that is just not what Capcom wanted for the franchise, and I think, or rather "I KNOW" that it is unfair of people to judge Ninja Theory for trying to do what Capcom told them to do, while at the same time giving the fans a good experience with a well known character.

The reaction to the new version of Dante, seems a lot like the mass reaction to Christian Bale's version of Batman compaired to Michael Keaton, who many still think was the best, and this is also unfair. The rules have changed, because what once was, is no more, or like they say "Nothing good lasts for ever".

It's time for something new, different and maybe even (Dare I say it) BETTER than what once was..

I realize that it might be naive of me to appeal to the "Goodness" in the gamers, since if this gaming year has proved anything AT ALL, it is that most gamers do not seem to have any mercy or compassion in them, I at least want to appeal to your sences and tell you, "GO PLAY THIS GAME" or just give the Demo a try, because I was not dissappointed with it, and I doubt you will either.

Dante is a great guy even in this form, and the story has changed a bit, because today everyone wants a good story in ALL of their games.

So PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAASSSSSSSSEEE.... Giv this game a try, and give Ninja Theory the benefit of the doubt, because they know how to make good games, and if we do not give them a try, then we will have destroyed the chance of having a "Non Generic" game developer for the next generation, and all we will be stuck with are the same Call Of Duty and World of Warcrafts that have been nothing but generic and boring for so many years. If we as gamers truely want non-generic games, then we have to prove it, and it all starts here..

Well, the Wii U has finally seen it's launch, and everyone is happy... Noooooooooooooot!!!

No, in all seriousness the Wii U did appeal to me in many ways that neither the Xbox 360 or PS3 did, the Wii U has backwards compatibility, it has a bunch of cool titles that Microsoft and Sony will never get their hands on, and it has a small touch screen built in to the controller, which I think is a much better idea than Xbox smartglass where you have to keep your eyes on both TV and mobile device, and hands on both smartscreen and controller, but Nintendo tries to put it all together into one system, very smart.

I had a Nintendo Wii, 3 years ago and I only had it for 6 months before I got tired of it, and traded it away again at Gamestop, and the reason being that I absolutely despised the nunchucks which every developer wanted to be a part of their games. The Wii U sounds much more attractive to me, and appeals to a guy like myself, who grew up playing lots of old-school co-op games played on a single console, and the Wii U tries to bring this back but without sacrificing half a screen, by giving the consumers a small screen on the controller. Very smart Idea!

But here comes the downside..

During the last 2 months I have discovered some bad news about Nintendo's new console, and with each new revelation I gradually lost my interest in the Wii U, as a new console at least.

1: The Wii U does not allow people to transport their Mii character from other Nintendo consoles to the Wii U, and by binding these Mii characters to one system only, they are sending the signal that they do not yet understand the current trend of Online Accounts, like we have with our Xbox Live avatars and all of our achievements there.

2: The Wii U does have backwards compatibility, but you need old Wii hardware to play old Wii games, and for a guy like me who did not have any old hardware, it meant that I had to get new-old Wii controllers and remotes.

3: I got wind that the New Super Mario Bros U can only be used with the Wii U gamepad for singleplayer, and for multiplayer you would need some old Wii remotes combined with the gamepad, so again I would have to spend more money than I already had.

4: News that the Wii U did not perform better than the PS3 with most multi-platform games, meant that I would spent more money on the same experience as I could get from buying a new PS3 with 500Gb hard drive.

5: Nintendo TVii won't be operating until a month after the release of the console.

In the recent years, developers from several nations suddenly created some GOOD gaming experiences for the Nintendo Wii, and I wanted to play most of these games on the Wii U, but with the new system telling me that I had to spend about 200$ on old Wii hardware in order to play the old games, I decided to Cancel my pre-ordre and buy a brand new Wii with all of those GOOD Wii games that had been launched in the last 2 ½ years, like Xenoblade Chronicles, Monster Hunter Tri and The Last Story, being a fan of the Final Fantasy series this seemed appropriate.

So does this mean that I dont want a Wii U?? NO!!

But the Wii U is the first console I have ever pre-ordred, and normally I wait for about 6-12 months after a console has been released before I spend money on the system, and not because I want it cheaper, but because I only want AAA titles and most consoles on their launch have a bunch of crap games that wouldnt be caught dead with, and the Wii U seemed different, when being launched with Mario and Pikmin, and a bunch of cool 3rd party titles like Darksiders 2, Tekken Tag Tournament 2 and Assassins Creed 3. This however is not enough when the system feels only half-ready. And when Nintendo says "It wil be compatible with old Wii games" but decides to leave out the fact that you will need old Wii controllers and remotes to play the old games, that is the same as buying a APPLE computer and then Apple tells me that "oh, and you also have to buy this, and this, and this, and more of these", and THAT I am NOT okey with.

A new system with so many fault at its launch is no better that a new Elder Scrolls game being launched with so many glitches and bugs that some missions cannot be completed until a patch is delivered to the gamers, and a new Elder Scrolls game only costs about 60$ in North America, and around 90$ in northern Europe, but the Wii U costs 300-350$ in North America, and 440-500@ in northern Europe, and patches for a game is free, but hardware for a console is not. At this price range faults are in some cases completely unacceptable.

So do I want a Wii U?? YES, or maybe.

But only when these faults have been corrected and the system has been given a general overview, one that Nintendo FAILED to give us because they did not reveal any in-depth details on the system until people had already pre-ordered a copy of the system.

But that does not work on me. I will not put up with any more crap from hardware or software developers who have misstreated so many consumers during this last console cycle, because I want my money's worth, and I believe I have the right to demand that as a paying customer.

Social games, one of my favorite HATE subjects, and why is this? Because the definition of being social is so different from person to person, that the more I hear about it the more confused I get. Today social gaming is very normal to talk about, partially because publishers want social and multiplayer games to take over the gaming industry, and many think this is a good thing, to be able to connect to other people across the globe, to a point where distance no longer matters, with online communication being at an all time high, it is easy to have a chat with anyone from anywhere.

So why do I hate the subject? I know that most who read this article will hate me for this, but I'm going to speak my mind here and vent a little.

To be social means to interact with other people, to have contact with them and to communicate with them, but please be honest, how many of the people you crush in League of Legends or whose brains have been splattered on walls by your 45' calibre in Call of Duty, how many of these people are we actually conversing with, how many of them are we interacting with other than those who get to feel the anger after being blown to pieces by our grenades??? Many people play some sort of MMO, whether it is an RTS, FPS or RPG and many also join a guild of like minded gamers in order to raid a dungeon with a chance of success, but there are just as many gamers who play an MMO-RPG without ever joining a guild, people who just want some casual fun, and previously MMO games would not make this easy for the casual gamer, but this year we saw the launch of a very successful MMO-RPG by the name of GUILD WARS 2, the first MMO to ever appeal to the casual and single-player gamer. So if "social" gaming is so popular, then why launch a game that appeals to those that have no wish to game for the sake of being social?

Dont get me wrong, I know that many people play competitively or cooperatively over great distances, and for this sake I agree that online gaming is a good way to connect people, but I also know that many of these people will never have a meaningful conversation with one another, but all they talk about is how good this game is and how bad that game is, and the results of their last dungeon raid. What today qualifies as being social is mostly superficial and shallow, I may never know something valuable about a person even after having played games with this person for several years, and this superficial relationship has for many people completely replaced any TRUE sense of a social life and connection with other people.

In the good old days(yes, I suffer from that syndrome as well) social gaming was done by 2 or more people in the same room while having actual conversations with each other, but this has been replaced with many gamers not being willing to get their ass of the couch and going over to their friends house to play games while still being face-to-face, and this is the very aspect that I believe modern interpretations of social gaming is lacking.

I hear so many people talking about E-sports and MMO dungeon raiding, and none of these aspects of gaming wake the slightest interest in me, because I come from a family where gaming is not a huge issue, when I was a child my mother would not allow a console, like the Commodore 64 or NES inside the house, so I was forced to go visit my friends and play with them, and already here I learned about the enormous amounts of fun you can have with just you, a couple friends and a console with multiple controlers, and I really miss those days.

The true reason for publishers wanting to take everything Online, is not because they care about changing the gaming industry, but rather the same factor that made Blizzard incorporate an always-online feature in Diablo III, this is their way of controling who has a valid copy and code, and who does not. EA has an Online-Passport ffeature that they want to impliment into all of their games, and for this reason ONLY, they will probably force all of their developers to make a multiplayer component in all of their games, so EA can combat the treat of PIRACY and used-game sales. :twisted:

I respect the fact that games as a medium has to change like everything else, but that does not mean that we as humans have to change, or compromise with our ideals just because the majority of Core Gamers want everything to become multi-player, when games like TES: Skyrim and Batman: Arkham City have proven that there is still a HUGE market for single-player gaming, and lots of people who realize that the best Social Gaming is done the old fashioned way, with face-to-face communication and people also being able to talk about other things than their latest raids and deathmatches.

If however, you feel differently about this subject, please feel free to leave a comment, I would love to hear what fascinates you about E-sports or other forms of Social Gaming. :D

According to reviews and fan feedback, this has been the great year of disappointments for the gaming industry, regarding the lack of functions in our games like clunky cameras and controls, publishers forcing online activation's and all the way up to the disappointing story settings in some of the most anticipated games of the last decade.

I feel an urge to cry out to EVERYONE, not just the publishers or developers, or the money hungry investors that decide the future of western games, but also to the gamers them selves. And why is that? Because the rantings that have been spewed all over the internet this year is some of the worst I've ever seen or heard, and it is in no way helping the gaming industry, gamers lashing out at the hard working developers for doing something they believed would be of interest to the broad spectrum of gamer's interests, but instead had the opposite effect.

Until just recently I thought we had heard it all with Mass Effect 3 having bad dialog and a bad ending, or Diablo 3 incorporating an always-online feature and Max Payne 3 not being dark enough, but now the turn has come to Resident Evil 6 and it caused quite the stir in the gaming community. With the series going for a broad spectrum of ideas and no longer staying true to the HORROR elements of the first 6 - 7 installments in the series, former fans felt it necessary to lash out at Capcom for just giving them another action game, claiming that the RE series is all about horror and puzzles and not about cover-shooting. This feed back I feel is misleading since it just tells the developer that we don't like action games, but strangely that is what the statistics say is the only type of games that we buy, and most Horror games are not even mentioned on any "Game of the Year" awards, but plenty of all-action games are. Earlier this year the Mass Effect series was subjected to "The Great Rant" which was devestating to Bioware and has since caused people to quit both the developer and the publisher EA, because they felt that the gaming market was not acceptant of their products or their methods, a rant that will most definately go in to the history books. Why do fans scream and cry like little girls when they don't get exactly what they want, and then demand money back or a change of in-game events all so they can get a scene where Shepard and Liara get married and have babies??? It is impossible for developers to take people serious when they behave this way, don't get me wrong, I don't like the fact that Diablo 3 has an always-online feature that you are forced to uphold, I don't like like the original endings to Mass Effect 3 but I will not start sending cupcakes to Bioware in hopes that they will change their games, but rather I would send them cupcakes in hopes that they might invite me to their studio so I could help guide them according to what I know the fans want, rather than try to force them to change something that has been launched on a global scale, and let's face it, the ending of Mass Effect 3 is NOT the worst we have ever seen, if you feel that way then you have obviously not played many games or watched many movies.

Now for the Developers and Publishers.

I realize that these people are partially to blame for this as well, if their products do not live up to the demands of the gamers, then they loose their trust in the developers, but the problem is that gamers like to splatter their oppinion all over the web :-S

In the end of this current Console generation many have turned to PC and Mobile games for new challenges and experiences, while claiming that the console games are filled with continuations and offer nothing truely new or exciting. But even when some developers dare to enter the curent console market with a brand new IP, the general gaming community simply shakes their head and goes looking for the next Call of Duty or other Main-Stream titles like it, if we really want to change the current market, then we as gamers must be willing to spend our money on other products than those we have bound our seves to purchase year after year. It is up to us gamers to risk a bit of money on new products as well, and not just ask the publishers to do it for us, and then NOT reward them for doing so, that's just NOT how it works people :-O

My problems with most of the games from this post is far beyond just the things I have mentioned, but I am man enough to admit that my ranting or the rantings of any one else will NOT help games evolve, but at the same time it is not enough for developers to deliver a product they don't even understand, the developers have to BE GAMERS in order to understand us, and many of these company's hire developers who have NEVER played a game in their life, so what the ?@%! are they doing in this buisness, that is a question I cannot answer.

So far I can tell you that I no longer have any western developed console, or any console that mainly caters to western audiences(although I do have a PC) because I am TIRED of the rantings from angry fools, and I am tired of developers not understanding us, and I am SICK and TIRED of western based publishers tryng to force certain features over our heads, and the heads of the developers that we neither want nor need.

I just bought the Nintendo 3DS XL, and I'm getting the Wii U(In your faces western publishers(except for bethesda)) :-P..

PS: SORRY FOR THE RANT AT THE ENDING HERE, I JUST NEEDED TO VENT A LITTLE.

In the recent years people have become more and more obsessed with game reviews and consumer reaction, but this was not always the case for the general gamer. once upon a time we would simply buy a game because it sounded interesting, not spending our money or time on magazines that gave us their own opinion of each game, but we bought a game because we wanted to have some fun, and we wanted to try out something new.

Today all we want are the games that we have come to expect so much from, popular IP's that always deliver an experience that does not surprise us, but almost never disappoints us because we know what we are getting. But in our younger days we didn't seem to care that much about the media's opinion of the games we bought, when a friend recommended a game to us it seemed natural to purchase the same product, not because our friends played the same thing, but because we trusted the judgment of our friends and believed that if it was good enough for them then it would be good enough for us. Now we wait for the reviews to come in from all the biggest and most popular magazines and websites, where as in the good old days we would simply go buy the games we thought sounded cool, without caring if the critics would only give it a 6/10 score, but this changed at some point when we started listening to much to the media, and for some reason we let them dictate what was good enough for us. Because of this many games never get the attention they deserve, because we only go for the IP's we know of and let the predictions of the media convince us that a product is either good or bad.

After the gaming year 2012 and all of it's debacles regarding: Lack of innovation, bad game endings, higher demands to hardware and the anger towards publishers, I have had about enough!

I want to be able to enjoy games again, like I did before the age af cynical Reviews, continuing IP's and Gamers raging out at the developers and publishers for not giving them what they want, but when finally a game comes out that gives the entire gaming community what they have been asking for, suddenly no one seems to care about it. Good games are being left in the dark because people have become afraid to try new IP's, and some for a good reason. Having a good games series with a good plot and good gameplay, and then releasing an ending chapter that seems rushed and leaves the consumers very dissatisfied with the overall series, just because the final chapter did not deliver up to their expectations. Now if we can't even trust the existing IP's then why should we trust the new one? This is a very good and valid question!

In august, 2012 i pre-ordered Sleeping Dogs, despite most people not paying attention to it, and critics had gotten thier hands on a demo of the product, and already at this point said that it was not anything special. But when the game was released, and after completing this game I had the best surprise of the year, this was officially he best new game I had played so far, and this was just a game I took a chance on, not caring weather the critics or gaming community had any interest in it. This time it was all about what I wanted, and also the first time I pre-ordered a game on STEAM, without having to high hopes for this product and it turned out to bbethe best gaming experience I had had all year. This is excactly what I want to go back to, the era of gaming where it was all about ME, and not about a community or reviews that often puts good games in a bad light and the other way as well.

So what does this mean, should we all start taking a chance on games we are not sure of? Shoukd we all stop expecting to much of the games we buy?

Well, consider this, you buy a game without reading a review and without listening to the angry ranting of the gaming community, you play the game and you might be surprised because you did not have to high expectations, or you might be a bit disappointed because you expected more, but none the lessyou gave it a chance. Meanwhile the new Call of Duty has just been released and now you dont have the money for that game, and because of this Activision will not be making any money off of you, leaving them to think that perhaps their game was not as goodas it could have been, since more and more people are buying the games that only get a 6-7 out of 10, so Activision finally starts to give us something other than just FPS games. What we can learn from this is that you may have spent 60 dollars on a gme that was not the most popular game in the world, but you have just invested in the future, and maybe that is what we as gamers should be doing, instead of just eaving this to the Publishers/Investors who's money are dictating the future of the games industry.

There are many arguments for and against this, but none the less it is a good point that I personally will be taking in to consideration next time I purchase a game.

For years now, the gaming market has been overrun with products, that each try harder than the other to excel at graphical achievements, with the developers believing that they can make their mark on gaming history as the ones who pushed the current hardware/consoles to their maximum capabilities. But for some reason, the games that excel at selling most copies are the ones who have absolutely nothing to boast about in the graphics department.

We have all heard of games like Super Meatboy, Braid, Minecraft and others like them, and these ?Indie? games have become the ?Talk of the town? so to speak. But why would people spend their money on products that have less work behind them? Well for one, they are cheap and provide consumers with many hours of entertainment, and at a very low cost. I personally do not play any of the above named games, but I have just bought my very first Apple product, the iPad 2. This little device gives me access to many free and cheap applications and games, products that have since provided me with several hours of entertainment, and this is coming from a guy who, just a year ago said ?I am NEVER going to? buy a smartphone? and here I am, with a product that has seemingly no other purpose than pure entertainment, and it?s all touch based.

So why would I do this, when I was opposed to these devices just a year ago? Well, let's just take a walkthrough of these touch devices.

No matter which device or brand you have chosen, they all have the same things in common; they provide entertainment at a cheaper price than PC?s and consoles, they can be used for more than just gaming, and best of all; they are portable. But these devices are not at the same level of graphical power as modern consoles and PC's, but they all provide entertainment for both casual and more hardcore gamers.

Many games are released with the highest graphics engines, and yet they get a lot of criticism from reviewers and consumers alike. When games come out in a form in which good gaming experiences, including good gameplay, story and general fun are traded in for graphic engines that push the current generation of hardware to a point, where everyone is screaming for better processors, the gamers tend to get bored with the power struggle between developers and hardware producers. This would cause them to seek cheaper alternatives, but also sensible alternatives such as tablets and smartphones. These devices suffer less from a power struggle, and struggle more to provide the best services and applications for the consumers, in order to gain a good market share and build up trust with the buyers.

For this reason I love my new tablet, the iPad 2, because these tablet developers seem to struggle more to please me, than just to push the current hardware generation to its maximum capacity, and developers seem more than willing to get a bite out of this proverbial "Pie."

Like all forms of hardware in the entertainment sector, these devices have to evolve beyond their current state, but I see them staying for a long time, and possibly replacing the console market one day.

For some time now, Bioware has been really quiet, and they have not even updated their website with news or even rumors. The "Mass Hysteria" surrounding the latest chapter in their popular Mass Effect series, and the way it failed to tell a story that would please the fans, has given me some thoughts I'd like to share with everyone.

STORY:

When telling a story, be it in a book, a movie or a game, you will start to appeal to peoples emotions, invoking something in their minds and hearts that may have been there before in a dormant state, or simply giving them inspirations that may even change their point of view in certain areas. This is one of the most beautiful things about a good story, and the fact that stories can be made interactive through games, just helps the developers make their products more interesting.

Unfortunately, this can also have serious repercussions. When Mass Effect 3 was released, it was clear that Bioware had forgotten to treat the story of ME 3 the same way you would a book or a movie, namely, they forgot that ALL STORIES play with people's emotions.

When telling a story to an audience, you must always remember, the audience may not always expect a "HAPPY ending" but they do expect a "VALID," something that makes sense in the grand scheme of things, and the best way to do this, is by stating the truth in a discrete way that does not make it to obvious, but by ensuring that it does not surprise people in a negative way. When trying to explain the ending, the way Bioware wanted it, they came up with the idea of an AI, that was ultimately the very reason for every bad thing that had happened through the entire series. This seems like a way to wrap up the story, in such a way that it might have a chance of continuation, if the opportunity arises.

The "last minute" reveal of this main villain that had been hidden through the entire series, was a factor that turned the entire story of the series upside down, and NOT in a subtle way, but very sudden and shocking, there by not allowing the player to get used to the idea. As for the emotions involved in this process, The players of ME 3, most of them have been playing this series for years, and have build their own little story, because this was the whole meaning of the franchise, to give the player a limited amount of control over the events of the series, there by allowing the consumer to feel as close to the product as the developers themselves.

By changing the entire "flow" of the story in the last minute, they broke this rule of storytelling, and practically "threw" an ending in the face of the consumer, not allowing anyone to get used to the idea of complete 160 degree turn, and thereby removing the players ability to direct the story in any way.

Consumer/Developer relationship:

When letting the consumer get so close to the events of the story, as ME 3 has done, it also makes the consumers think that this product, and the work behind it belongs to them, just as much as the actual developer. This has allowed the players to develope an unhealthy devotion to the game and it's story. So by taking the control completely away from the player right at the end of the story, would naturally cause some emotional conflicts between the consumer and developer.

The actual developer has every right to change the story in any way they see fit, but this is a very stupid thing to do, when the game from the start has been all about putting the story into the hands of the consumer, and then suddenly removing it in the last, and most important moment. When a relationship based on trust, has been made between developer and consumer, it is very important not to "rock the boat." But it seems that Bioware was in a hurry to finish the product, such a hurry that this factor was not taken in to consideration.

Conclusion:

I believe that ANY ending to a story is a good one, if told in the right way, and at the right time, but with a story as complex as a game that lets you transport saves from game-to-game, it will take a lot of time and hard work. Did Bioware run out of time??? Mass Effect made it feel like we had actually created the story our selves, and then in the last minute, it was taken from us.

I'll admit, I was one of the very furious people, who would originally spend time on the web, reading about every-body's negative reaction to this game, but I have since realized that I am just as responsible as the developer. Sure, they tempted me to get very emotionally involved in the story, but I was the one who gave in, and I should have seen it coming. Instead I held my head high and hoped for the best, but secretly I expected far to much.

(I would like to extend my personal apologies to Bioware, for not bringing any "constructive" criticism to their doorstep, and spending most of my time venting my anger on the forums of several websites, when this post is something I should have done long before.)

For people to get so emotionally involved in a form of entertainment, is very dangerous, since ultimately they have no real control over it, but the Mass Effect series let us all believe that we did. When we discovered the truth, it hit us in a way that bypassed ALL of our natural defences and went straight for our emotions, and that's where it really hurts.

Maybe it's time for the consumers to HELP the developers, instead of verbally insulting them, since that will only have a Mass "negative" Effect. And maybe giving the player, control over the story is a risky thing that will only lead to disaster.

As I'm living in Denmark, Europe I have already seen The Avengers movie, and trust me on this, it is worth EVERY penny, no matter how much you pay for it. It is by far the best movie I have seen this year, and it will certainly give Christopher Nolan's last Batman movie a run for it's money.

Do your self a favor and get the tickets, NOW!!!

PS: Joss Whedon is a GENIOUS.

Finally I'm getting my hands on the enhanced content, though still for PC, but with all the money I've spent on building my own PC these past 6-8 months, I'm eager to try out my PC's power with this game. I'm not sure if I want to do another review just because of the extra content, Maybe, but still not sure. Until then, you can check out my review of the original edition from last year. Trust me, this game is worth every penny.

http://www.gamespot.com/the-witcher-2-assassins-of-kings/user-reviews/773263/

So April 14th, this year it is exactly 100 years since the world was shocked, when the unsinkable was brought to the depths of the Atlantic Ocean. TV's will be full of memorial shows, and we will probably get a revisit to all the different movies made on the subject.

I, for one am NOT looking forward to revisit Leonardo Dicaprio's role as the guy who thought that standing on the forward edge of a huge ocean luxury liner, is the same as flying. Since then I've had the chance to experience him in movies like Inception(AWESOME) and The Man With The Iron Mask.

I can however tell you, that the Titanic was 269 metres in length, this I remember from all the many books I have read on the subject, voluntarily I might add.