Call of Duty Modern Warfare is easily one of the best first person shooters of all time. Though the game may or may not be innovative (as in the first to use a leveling up or a reward system) it certainly brought many elements such as the perk system and in game rewards, which came together in such a cohirent package. I can go on all day about how polished the game's controls, presentation, writing, and gameplay are, but then I'd end up writing a review. We all know that the game is awesome, so I'll leave it at that. Infinity Ward knew that they had a hit, and knew that onceActivision announced to the public that they were working on Modern Warfare 2, fans wanted instant gratification by wanting to know all about their upcoming juggernaut. Over the course of the last 6 months, Infinity has released teaser trailers and infolayering one ontop of the other, building up the anticipation.

The orginal Modern Warfare held Infinity Ward's signature cinematic presentation that they've always been known for. Fire fights were fast paced and brutal, and cutscenses incorperating the story carried an epic scale and intensity that only they can deliver. Though the game was short, it was some of the most satisfying7-8 hours (if not less) ever spent. Warfare 2 looks to follow what was in the previous installment and multiply that serveral fold. The second reveal trailer shows off their Hollywood like presentation. It seems that the sequel will be far more engrossing and far more adredline filled than the last. It was personally one of the best premire trailers I've ever seen; every time I take the time to watch it every now and again, it gives me goose bumps andreminds me how awesone this game is gonna be.

Though it saddens me that the amount of scripting, directing, and devlopment it took to make what I'm sure is gonna be a fantastic campaign wont get all the attention it deserves, it cannot be helped that the single attraction here is gonna be Modern Warfare 2's behemoth multiplayer. In the original game, the bar was raised so high, that titles released afterward that tried to use similar systems (i.e. Killzone 2, Vegas 2 and others) couldnt even match it. The only game that came on pare with MW was Treyark, Call of Duty's B team,in World at War. But Infinity Ward has taken that back and proven that thisis their baby, and no one can do it better then them. After E3, a few multiplayer trailers revealed some satisfying footage. The first, which showed off the most, showcased the customizable KillStreak system, allowing players to customize what rewards they get during a killstreak to a certain extent, the 11th reward which will be the use of the mind blowing AC 130 which was only featured in the single player campaign in MW. One part of the trailer showed someone launching a homing missle towards the AC 130, but just before it was gonna hit, it fired off flares that threw the missle off course. At the end was a surprise reveal of sticky grenades similar to plasmas in Halo as he stuck it to an enemy player's head and watch it explode next to a copy machine, showing off it's dynamic particle effects. The second showed a short run-through called "Flag Runner" which didnt reveal too much at first. But just like the last trailer, the surprise at the end showed the player throwing a knife at the back of an enemies head. Bad @$$. Recently, Activision held a Call of Duty event allowing journalists and others in the industry to try out Modern Warfare2's multiplayer first hand. Previews covered the following: New perks: deathstreak- allows a player who dies 4 times in a row to gather all perks and weapons oftheir previous killer plus a health boost, tactical insurgence- instead of a grenade, players can mark their own spawn point (great for snipers) Bling- allows 2 attachments on a weapon, and pro perks which are upgrades of a perk. New rewards: predator missle which is a guided missle that rains down from the sky, supply drops (thinkMario Kart, but with rewards), anti UAV, and a refined air strikewhich allowsthe modification of the strike's direction; and of course new weapons and maps were included. There is so much more going on in Modern Warfare 2, its almost hard to imagine.MW is still going strong as one of the most played console online games. Infinity Wards newest installment is likely to repeat what happened 2 years ago and hold the number one position as the most playedonline console game, except this time, a lot longer.

Other titles released thus far arent likely to compete with MW2 forgame of the year. It's only competition are Halo ODST, Uncharted 2: AmongThieves, and maybe a few others such as Left 4 Dead 2 and Dragon Age Origins. Halo suffers from the disadvantage that its an old franchise that hasnt changed drastically since over the years. The campaign takes a new turn with the Shock Troopers instead of Master Chief, and Firefight is Bungie's interpetation of co-op types such as Horde mode in Gears 2, Survival mode in Left 4 Dead and Nazi Zombie in WAW. But all in all, this is a beefed up expansion pack compared to a full blown retail copy. Uncharted's action movie like campaign is bound to as good as or better than the last, and it does feature the series first multiplayer mode. MW's multiplayer is guarunteed to easily out perform Uncharted's, together with its campaign, it could very well be more impressive than Uncharted as a whole. Publisher's (whether they want to admit it or not) pushed their games to next year, avoiding holiday competition with Modern Warfare (Valve, good luck with those sales). Infinity Ward is taking the Call of Duty franchise in a direction that is likely to impact the genre once again and top its predicessor in virtually every way. This one is already getting my personal vote for GOTY.

Boy it took a long time to get this one out, but since the game has been out for so long, so lets hit the ground running.

Presentation:

Impressive from a tehcnical standpoint only in certain areas. The entire game seemed that it just wasnt quite there. You've got bump mapping, and great particle effectsin some parts, and muddy textures in others. Remember the whole "looks too generic" campaign that ran many months ago? Too bad that spilled over into the visuals. (Note, generic look and gameplay are different. COD 4 looked generic as another war shooter, but turned out to be one of the best first person shooters of all time) The back drop environments look TERRIBLE. Bland color pallet, fogettable "art direction", the game doesnt suck you in like most first person shooters should.

Gameplay:

Sure, HVS did the right thing by making the aiming controls completely customizable, that cant be denied. But some of the options represent some of the dumbest game design ideas I've ever seen. And when I say that, I'm looking at the aiming style. These aiming styles are purely gimmicks and show the lack of experience HVS has with shooters. IfI get into that, I could type a whole other post, but in short, u can do what ever you want in the single player campaign, but for the most of you, dont expect these obnoxious styles to work in multiplayer. The real testinment to aiming going up against tactical AI. Does that exist in the conduit? NO. Running through the game felt like a shooting gallery: Dude pops up, I pop him in the head. One level towards the very beginning of the game i was riunning up the stairs to the elevator and a Trust soldier is standing up there looking at me. I'm like, "WHAT R U LOOKING AT?" And he just stands there.Put a few rounds in him just to make him sturr, but he wont even budge. The only thing that made this game more challenging was the AI getting increasingly aggresive, not smarter. The entire game felt, op... here's that word again...GENERIC. Hallway after hallway ofcookie cut enemies popping up only to be mowed down shortly after.Rinse. Wash. Repeat. There was little variety in the gameplay, and this so called innovative ASE was a joke. Uninspiring to say the least.Even some of the worst shooters on other platforms can out perform the Conduit easily.

Multiplayer:

Good lord the multiplayer. I just gotta stay this, why the hell is the lock on system implemented into muliplayer? It (explitive) feels likeI'm playing (explitive)Metroid Prime! Anyone whohas played FPS's as much or more thanI have would laughed at this and fed the disc to their dog (feel free to call me a jerk for saying that. as it lacks logic, cause they could have returned or never bought it in the first place. which it what i did.). At leastthe lock on isnt a complete handicap where ud automatically shoot an enemy player, you still have to aim. But it just doesnt feel like I'm playing a REAL FPS. Match making is a pain in the rear. It could take up to 5 min to connect (note: dont you dare comment and blame this on internet connection. there's no excuse for this. my ps3 and 360 run perfectlyfine. the fault falls on either Nintendo, HVS, or both.), and other times it'll fail.The lobby is also a step backward. Other titles such as Halo and CODuse a veto system thatgive players the opportunity to experience all of the maps, and vote only the chosen map out, leaving them with the next choice. The voting system that the Conduit failsbecause most ofyou online sessions could be spent on one map (and im sure for the most of you, that map is Streets). Frame rate is a big issue and conflicts with these aiming controls.Its bad enough that these controls just arent that intuitive (yes, there. i said it. iwould much prefer dual analog, especially on 360 than pointer controls. juggling between COD 4 and the Conduit, COD boasts tighter and more reponsive controls. that "reality" that wii has better shooter controls hasnt been realized yet. even so, no shooter on wii comes close to any other console.), but the framerate interrupts the flow of combat. I cant really complain about the feature set in multiplayer becauseI expected it to be this BASIC.

So there you hav it. TheConduit is just not that great. I dont agree with gamespot's criticism, but this game is tailered to JUST the wii audience. Anyone who owns another console should just skipthis all together.

And here we are again. A few days ago, I wrote about how Suda plans on stopping the NMH franchise on Wii to move it to other platforms and linked that with Rockstar porting Chinatown Wars to the PSP. Now a new publisher brought up these decisions in their breifing. MMV, the Japanese publisher of Muramasa Demon Blade, Arc of Fantasia and tie ins with NMH and Little King Story (all of which show the companies strong support for the Wii) have discussed plans on releasing titles for the other two platforms this ficical year. They also considered porting over titles that have already been released for the Wii onto other platforms. Seeing that this was a financial breifing, this goes to show that again, another company is concerned with the Wii's less aggressive market for core titles and is seeking to focus their effort on either or both the 360 and the PS3. I need not to repeat myself, but this is becoming a pattern with publishers and developers moving away from the Wii. Nintendo, I hope you're paying attention, because it looks like your hardcore market is dying slowly.

Its been a while since I've written anything on the industry, too busy playing and reviewing games ontop of life. I still feel like documenting my opinion on this past E3, but that's not what this is about today. In recent news, Suda 51 in an interview with Edge Mag told them that No More Heroes: Desperate struggle will most likely be the last NMH title on Wii and that he wishes to continue to grow the franchise on another console. Reading the forums after this news, Nintendo fans are obviously pissed. He continues on saying that though he did enjoy developing the game for the Wii, he's done all that he could with it and the only way to let this franchise evolve is to move it to another platform. Though I am a Nintendo fan and ashamed to see Suda abandon the Wii, there are two sides to this shift. In this generation, we've seen plenty of movement with big name publishers including Square and Konami with Final Fantasy and Metal Gear to name a few. Though we as gamers enjoy playing their products, it needs to be understood that this is a business. The moves that these publishers make are in intent to make more revenue. However, Suda didnt expand on what exactly he ment by, "we've done everything we can with it now." Is he refering to technical limitations? If so, then Suda is severly misguided. The greatest downside to the first NMH was its lack of technical effort. It had some of the worst open world settings not only in this gen, but also last generation as well. The visuals were artistically stylized, but lacked graphical presentation. There's no excuse for this as other open-world games on Wii have achieved far better graphics then what was seen in NMH. Scarface for example was ported from last gen and still presented better polish. If Suda feels that NMH's colt style will appeal to PS3 and 360 owners better, then they better market it correctly. To the Hi-Def system owners, No More Heroes will seem like a new IP, and if NMH doesnt atleast stand out like it did on Wii, Suda's platform shift will be in vein.

Assuming that this change has something to do with the Wii's audience, as well has Suda's so called effert to grow the franchise, another shift caught my eye recently. GTA Chinatown Wars was annnouced that it'll be making its way to the PSP. Though Rockstar's Sam Houser mentioned nothing about the DS when it was reveald that Chinatown Wars was moving to the PSP; it's hard to believe that this had nothing to do with the game's shockingly low sales numbers after its release. Chinatown Wars had everything going for it: a popular brand name, agressive marketing, and high critical acclaim. This is everything a game needs to sell, and yet GTA's sales were not impressive in the least. The only factor that could explain this is that the DS market is still seen to be one for kids and casual players. With Suda 51 and Rockstar moving away from the Nintendo's platforms from what seems to be in order to chase a more responsive market, Nintendo needs to return to its original intent, games for everyone. Not games for mothers, daughters, grandparents and less experienced players, they need to include all of the above and the demographic that got them here in the first place. This last E3 hasnt proven that, as they spent most of their conference focusing on the casual market, and only brief snippits on core titles. It wasnt till coming close to the end of the conference that they dished out a series of games targeted towards the core market including their biggest surprise, Metroid: Other M. But other overal attitude of the conference was very casual.

Will Nintendo ever get it? It's hard to say. Both the Wii and the DS are far ahead of the competition. Looking at this from a present business standpoint, there isnt much need to break profit. However, Sony and Microsoft are starting to embrace Nintendo's strategy with Project Notal being the closest to release. At the rate that they're going, they may very well steal the market away from Nintendo. I'm afraid that once Nintendo realizes that they need to step up, it'll be too late.

http://g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/694581/Can-Wii-Be-A-Primary-Gaming-System.html

No.

Even as a Nintendo fanboy, I personally feel that the Wii isnt an appropreate primary gaming system for the hardcore gamer. Iblogged (http://www.gamespot.com/users/mrjam0/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=m-100-25559618)a similar topic sometime ago about how Wii only owners complain about certain third party titles not coming to Wii (RE5 was a big debate), and the universal crave for the next installment in a major Nintendo franchise. Even these gamers feel that their system is seemingly inadiquete. And for this, I purchased both of the other two consoles.

"Wii is just too different."In the linked topic above, former NintendoPower managing editor,Scott Pelland, listed some well recievedthird party titles such as: No More Heroes, Boom Blox, Tiger Woods, and Guitar Hero World Tour. " Games like Twilight Princess, Metroid Prime 3, Super Mario Galaxy, Smash Bros., and Mario Kart. The only problem about these titles is that with the exception of NMH and Zelda, most of these games arent exactly "hardcore". They're more like what Reggie likes to call "bridge games". Games that can be appreciate by both thehardcore and the casual. I'll admit to using the word problem too loosely asthat really isnt an issue, but it is a turn off to a lot of gamers.But back to themain point; one of my reasons for thinking that Wii can't really be usedas a primary system for more experienced players is that we, having played games for mostlikely well overa decade, have matured with the indusrty.As a result, we would much prefer titles that have evolved into something deeper, more engaging than games of old. Metal Gear Solid 4, Mass Effect, Fallout 3,Call of Duty... these are just a few examples of the sophisication that has matured and evolved with us over the past 10 years. Wii games just dont offer that experience, and compared to the aformentioned titles, its impossible. It's not just the violence and the gore,its the dynamics and the multi-leveled game design that goes into it.As of right now, Wii's library offers little of that.Its overwhelming casual appeal has forced their marketingto skew more into that direction to increase revenue.As a result, casualized games have flooded the shelves, greatly tippingthe ratio in their favor.

I've grown to appreciate some of the games on Wii (owning as much Wii games as 360, andmore than my PS3), and looking on the horizon, games likeThe Conduit are highly anticipated. So there seems to be a shift back to what Nintendo's original motto was: "games for EVERYONE." But as of right now, there just isnt enough. The way i look at Wii right now is that its an awesome stand-by system, not so much a great primary one.

"I laugh when people say the Wii is the cheapest console and then start buying extra Wiimotes and Nunchuks. That starts getting into PS3 price territory. It's an interesting observation about consumer practices. I guarentee that if Nintendo sold the Wii with an extra Wiimote and Nunchuk for $310 they would move a lot less at retail."

"...but $460 to get a game is steep (he's refering to the ps3). An Xbox 360 exclusive can be had for a $260 point-of-entry. The Wii comes in around $300, depending on the price of the game."

wtf is this guy talking about?

u know, occationally i watch g4 just because its there and i'm innately drawn towards it becasue i'm a gamer. but comments like this snap me back into reality and remind me to never take this comapny seriously.

ill start by looking back at the first quote and then start buying Wiimotes and nunchucks which then start moving into ps3 territory. the amount of controllers and attachments sold soly depends on the consumer. i myself only have two sets of wiimote and nun chuck combinations (meaning that i only bought one more set). and the only games that i would have a lan party with are brawl and mk wii which make use of the gamecube controllers as well. again, it is not required to buy 3 extra sets just to playthe vast majorityof the games in the wii's library. the only games that makes a difference are the ones that make use of the wiifit board. funny how he failed to mention that blue-tooth isnt included in the box just as headsets are for the 360. and the dual shock controller came out a while after the ps3's launch.

"Also, just so you don't think this is all PS3 bashing" yeah, u sure set urself up for this one.

secondly, in his last quote he attempts to break down the price differences between consoles. he states that a 360 exclusive would cost 260 point of entry. false. first off, idk where the hell he got that number from, secondly the 360 arcade might be the cheapest system on the market, but its the equivilent of buying a car w/o the engine. YOU NEED A HARDRIVE IN ORDER TO GET THE FULL EXPERIENCE. PERIOD. many games wont even go online w/o the inclusion of the hardrive. a 360 with the hardive 60 gigcost 299.99 retail. more expencive than the wii. then towards the end of his post, he claims that the wii costs 300 depending on the price of the game. so he marks the cheapest retail price of the 360 failing to mention the heavily important purchase of the hardrive, then he points out the average price wii consumers will spend along with buying a wii. double standard.

http://g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/694178/Sony-Focusing-on-PS3-Profits-and-Not-Market-Share.html

http://wii.ign.com/articles/960/960820p1.html

its annoying enough as one that owns all three consoles, sees the ridiculous lack of titles geared towards gamers like me. but i can get over that as the Wii has opened the door to an all new demographic.

but this just down right pisses me of that these family friendly nazis feel that they have the right to critisize nintendo for releasing Madworld for their platform.

remember NIMF, this IS a gaming console. nintendo didnt dedicate this console to you, this isnt YOUR CONSOLE, they just welcomed you in a successful attempt to broaden, NOT SHIFT, the gaming audience.

the nerve...

As western developers start to get more and more involved in making RPG titles, (Lionhead, Bioware, Liquid Entertainment, etc) the genre seems to be taking on a more colorful role. Skipping the traditional turn-based format, some recent games have featured combat styles such as third person shooter and action mechanics. However, I've noticed that the games' runtimes are dipping under the 20 hour mark: Fable 2 (8 hours), Mass Effect ( 14 hours), Rise of the Agronauts ( 10 hours). So is this acceptable for some RPG purists, those who get engrossed in a 50+ hour long campaign?

It depends. The appeal of RPGs is usually with JRPGs' magnetic storyline (sometimes) flamboyant characters, and the experience that your getting much more for your 50 or 60 dollars spent, easily killing well over a month with a single play-through. This is what many look forward to when a new Tales and especially Final Fantasy game is announced. On the western side of this topic, western titles haven't really delivered the appeal that traditional JRPGs go for. Fable 2 has a short campaign and isnt well know for its story. Mass Effect, one of the best RPGs this gen, can be killed in less than twenty hours. Even the most recent Rise of the Agronauts has an estimated 10 hour campaign. Could this be due the design choice taking out a turn based oriented combat system and avoiding forcing players in having to sit through long scenes and having to talk to every NPC in the town in order to make progress?

Despite all this, most can argue that its not the campaign that's the main focus in games such as Fable and Mass Effect. Fable employes a dynamic system allowing you to fully customize your character which impacts the world of Albion. Get married, kill your wife, get married again, have a kid. Buy some property, start a business, the extracariculars are extensive. Mass Effect featured a deep relationship based element in which you can get involved with the many characters in the Mass Effect universe. Not only that, but this game encourages multiple play-throughs as major events in the story vary from player to player based on the choices each has made.

But are some gamers let down by these runtimes, craving for a campaign that holds your hand for over 50 hours? Or has everyone accepted the developers' offer of leaving the game in your hands so its up to you to make of the game?

after reading thatDeadly creatures for the wii has been pushed back to feb of 09, i made the decision that my wii wont be touched till next year. ive been having a lot of problems with sheep lately. no matter what people say complaining about the lack of HARDCORE (oops, i said the word) titles, they respond "oh u cant accept the fact that nintendo doesnt care for u, and they have executed a new business strategy." my question is this, i as a consumer am looking for products to satisfy ME. if i hold out my hand to nintendo and they either slap it away, or drop a turd in my hand, im not suppose to be pissed? ha! ofcourse im upset.

the begining of 08 was a great year for core gamers like me, okami, no more heroes, ssbb, mk wii, pro evolution soccer... even somecould appreciate the debut of wii fit. but since then, through out the summer and up to today, nether the third party and especially nintendo have produced some truly great titles. de Blob imo is debateble, i personally hated it... cod: waw was atleast an effort on treytech's part, and guitar hero is a great bundle for woo. but that's where the fun ends. in almost a consistant pattern, these companies have made sure that stellar titles are released in time for the holiday season. Sony, who didnt have such a great year last holiday, managed Resistance 2, motorstorm, LBP, and getting the exclusive Valkaria Chronicles. the 360 titles that were released were Gears 2, Fable 2, Banjo, and the console (not overall palatform) exclusive left 4 dead. notice that i avoided the ridiculous list of thrid party titles like prince, dead speace, fallout 3, etc. so what did nintendo deliver this holiday? animal crossing? wii music. wtf nintendo? wii music was showcased at conventions OVER A YEAR AGO. u mean to tell me that after all this time, this is the piece of crap that uve been working on? for christ sake, uve got a motion control based system, u could have added some attachments, something... and animal crossing, this is the game that u claimed at ur e3 press confrence that would be the hardcore game to get. yet u market the game with two rich chicks CASUALLY sitting down talking about fishig and shopping, not to mention lacked any effort adding anything new to the franchise except vioce chat. irony. (mushroom men is the last link holding this weak chain together, we'll just have to wait for the reviews). its examples such as this that turn off third party developers from working with the system. nintendo should be on the phone, or holding meetings with other publishers negotiating so that they could act and work with nintendo.

on the flip side, nintendo did announce at the beginning of october a list of titles that they'll be releasing next year. the sad part is that the biggest anticipated titles are generally third party: no more heroes 2, Mad world, and the conduit. this all may change once more details about nintendo's new first party line up are revealed. but if there's anything else that this industry has taught us, its to not hold our breath. i truly feel sorry for those gamers who only own a wii.

im a pissed off nintendo fan, and now ill go back to playing resistance 2 and gears 2.

While socializing with Nintendo fans, I hear this far too often: "when's the next Mario/Zelda/Metroid/Zelda/Mario/Mario game coming out?" or "@&$#!! Nintendo for abandoning the hardcore crowd." and... well you get the idea. Complaints for the soley opinion based lack of games and hating Nintendo for turning to the casual crowd has been going on for far too long now. It amazes me that these same people still keep coming back to it. So, for those of you who only own a Wii, and keep whinning about the lack of hardcore titles, here's a simple yet slightley expensive suggestion: buy another sytem.

No seriously, do it. If you have a few hundred dollars to spare, the reward yourself with either a ps3 or a 360. This isnt a hate on Wii, rather a gamer enpowerment. The Wii was the first console i owned for about a year. After seeing games like Mass Effect, Halo 3, and Motorstorm, i decided that it was time to step out of my Nintendo fanboyism, and learn to appreciate all the stellar titles out there, regarless the platform. Looking back, I remember thinking, "Wii is just too different. Yes there's a definite benefit from owning one, but due to the systems limitations, and the direction that Nintendo is taking it in, would it really make sense for me to just own a Wii?" Mark Bozon stated over a year ago: Wii's great, but its just too different to satify a hardcore gamer. I think that if you own a Wii and a 360, you'll pretty much have your ground covered in terms of videogames (This is obviously an old statement as he later confirmed that he bought a Ps3 as well). With in the next two years, i bought both of the other two consoles a year from each other, and the purchases were more than worth it. Call of Duty 4 is arguably the best multiplayer experience you can get on the current gen consoles, something that is far from possible on Wii thanks to its very limited network. Metal Gear Solid 4, in my eyes, took the presumed GOTY title away from Grand Theft Auto 4 as it featured one of the most immersive experiences in my so called gaming career. Something that Wii cant even come close to with its basic format. Again, I'm not down playing Wii or denying its ability to produce great games. My overall favorite current gen title is Super Mario Galaxy. I'm just simply pointing out the vast differences between the consoles and their hardware.

So all i ak is for some of you to look at yourself and think of why is it that you stand so firm in only owning a Wii. Is it company loyalty? Come on. You can only hurt yourself by distancing and turning away from other consoles. There hasn't been a bigger wake up call for Wii only owners than this holiday season. There are only THREE titles that i;m looking forward to on Wii: Monster Lab, Tales of Symphonia, and Deadly Creatures. The number may be different for you, but one cannot deny that much larger library of anticipated titles coming to the other two consoles. Compare that to the 9-10 titles that are note worthy on both the Ps3 and 360 (yes most consist of multiplats, but if you pick one of the other two, that just about adds up). One can argue that there is a serious lack of core games coming to Wii this holiday. So if you're so disatified and are craving more games, do yourself a favor (if you have the cash), broaden your gaming horizon and embrace all without bias.