While I was grocery shopping yesterday I walked by the magazine rack and picked up a copy of Playstation Magazine. It had some news on inFamous 2 and some reviews that I thought I'd check out, but I stopped at the first page to read what the Editor in Chief, Gary Steinman, had to say. What I read I agreed with wholeheartedly and thought I'd share with people here.

Much has been made about Cole's make-overs. But, according to the team at Sucker Punch, it's much ado about nothing. The gameplay - they were quick to assure us in our recent visit to their secret lair - hasn't been altered. And the essence of Cole is intact; he's just been adjusted, thanks to the incessant clattering of the inFamous fanbase.

This whipsaw-like reaction can be seen two ways. The positive spin? Sucker Punch listens. They care about their audience, enough so that when they drew back the curtain on Cole 2.0, they suggested his new look was partly due to fan reaction (or make that non-reaction) to their game's non-descript hero.

...

Which brings me to the not-so-positive spin. First, to be clear, this isn't just a Sucker Punch problem; it's a challenge afflicting the entire games industry. In short: we've trained ourselves to think our opinion matters in each and every situation. We stamp our feet and insist everything go our way - or else.

That makes me nervous, because we risk robbing ourselves of something I love about games: being drawn into a new world. I want to be surprised. I want to be moved. I want to care. But that often requires the hand of the creator to be dominant and for the vision to be as pure as possible.

For the record, I liked Cole 2.0. But having played some of inFamous 2, I also like Cole 1.5. This might be a case where the changes truly don't affect the overall experience - the game is spectacular so far. But it's something we should all be aware of when we demand a game comany do exactly what we want.

Gary Steinman

Thoughts? Steinman hit the nail on the head in my opinion. Too often do I hear about fans wanting this and wanting that, all these petitions for games, in the end it could hurt the end product, something I think we'd all like to avoid.

Well Black Friday has come and gone. I didn't go out this year since I'm going to New York for Spring Break, but I did purchase a couple things off of Amazon. I bought Mad Men seasons 1 -3 on Bluray for $10 each. Too big of a steal to pass up for a show that is said to be amazing. Cannot wait to watch it.

Before that though, Amazon had been doing deals all week. So I found Harry Potter Years 1 - 6 on Bluray for $40, and I also bought Diablo 2 which I am eagerly anticipating. I have only played about 30 minutes of Diablo 2 in my life and that was about two years ago. My excitement is through the roof and I'm so ready to play.

I've also been playing a whole lot of The World Ends With You lately. I've owned the game since its release but I haven't played it since I couldn't grasp the two screen mechanic. Now that I have played it, I'm addicted. Its a great game.

Now I just wait for Christmas to see if I'll get any other new games. I hoping for Metal Gear Solid: Peacewalker, Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood and Epic Mickey but we'll see what happens.

I'm in the mood to write a blog but I don't know what to write about. So I figured I would just put down five Top Five lists!

Top 5 Games of the Generation

• Mass Effect 1/2
• Dragon Age: Origins
• Dead Space
• Batman: Arkham Asylum
• Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

Top 5 Favorite New Songs

• Love the Way You Lie - Eminem feat. Rihanna
• Kick Ass - Mika
• The Worst Things Beautiful - Ours
• Katherine Wheel - HIM
• Black Sheep - Metric

Top 5 Favorite Movies

• The Dark Knight
• (500) Days of Summer
• Beauty & the Beast
• Kick-Ass
• Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

Top 5 Favorite TV Shows

• How I Met Your Mother
• Scrubs
• Futurama
• Doctor Who
• Dexter

Top 5 Most Anticipated Video Games

• Halo: Reach
• Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep
• Dead Space 2
• Batman: Arkham City
• Dragon Age 2

Even though my time for gaming will be jam packed with Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep and Halo: Reach, I couldn't help but take part of the deal at K-Mart: buy Dragon Quest IX and get The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks free. Basically I got DQIX for cheap since I sold LoZ: ST to a friend since I had already beaten my copy.

Regardless, the game is fun and addicting and a worthy RPG to own on my DS now that I am tired of playing Pokemon. :P Dragon Quest IX seems a lot different from its predecessor, DQVIII, simply because of the customization. I'm not sure if I'll beat the game but its a lot of fun and I can't wait to try out the multiplayer.

Shifting gears now from Dragon Quest to Dragon Age. After stopping my playthrough with my Rogue and having not played the game for a few months, I decided to restart the game as a Mage. Specifically as a Controller mage. Right now, all my spells center around hindering the enemy and debuffing. This means no damage and no healing, something that I foresee becoming a problem later on. So I'm trying to decide who else I should have in my party. I'm thinking Alistair, Morrigan and either Wynne or the Rogue or Bard, yet during my last playthrough Alistair was dying a lot and I had a rogue and another tank, Shale, there to take some of the damage. So if there are any recommendations there, please let me know. :P

Regarldess of not beating the game, Dragon Age is a fantastic game and just increases my love for Bioware. As such I restarted Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic the other night too. Since my Xbox is in my bedroom, I figured I'd play that when I just want to relax before bed instead of sitting around in the living room. I forgot how great KotOR is and I'm hoping I'll actually beat it this time. :P

It also brings me to my last point. I wish there were some WRPGs for handhelds. Something like KotOR, DA, Elder Scrolls, Baldur's Gate, anything would be great to have. So many people say JRPGs are dying and yet that is all there is on handhelds. JRPGs are all I own on my DS. If I'm missing any WRPGs on handhelds, let me know. I just hope Bioware shows some love for the 3DS in the future.

After about 55 hours I had finally beaten Final Fantasy XIII. It was a fun game and I enjoyed myself, but I have that feeling that it could have been better. And I don't know why the game took that many years to release when you have other developers that pump out games with, maybe not as much length, but just as solid polish and what-not every year. Meh...

Now, while I'd like to go and do the missions in FFXIII, I feel that I should play some other games. I'm usually stuck choosing between five games:

• Super Mario Galaxy
• Dragon Age: Origins
• Demon's Souls
• New Super Mario Bros
• Red Dead Redemption

Its a problem choosing what game I'd like to play, especially when what I really want to do is play either DA: O or DS but I'm still near the beginning with those games, so I have a long ways to go with them and not sure I want to devote all that time. :P

But my two upcoming games that will take time out of my schedule:

• Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep
• Halo: Reach

After I beat the campaign on Heroic I will be playing online multiplayer extensively, which is really a first for me. I have always relied on local multiplayer to train me because I'm not a big online multiplayer guy, so it will be a new battefiled playing online all the time. But if you're wanting to play, make sure to add my Gamertag and we'll see if we can get into some matches.

I am not sure if it is because of the release of information of Skyward Sword but I am in such a mood to play games in the series. So, when I go home for my grandparents' 50th anniversary my plan is to pick up my Gamecube games and then play The Wind Waker, Twilight Princess, Majora's Mask, etc.

I'm also trying to beat Spirit Tracks. It suddenly feels fresh again now that I took a break from itwhich is a very good thing. It was feeling a little too much like Phantom Hourglass personally.

So I haven't been online much lately due to my Macbook Pro's screen going out. Its getting fixed now but it couldn't have picked a worse time to break down. My first show is going up and I could have definitely used it for publicity; I have a presentation on there that I have to give Thursday and I have to finish a 13 page paper soon which half of it is on there.

Bah...

But I've been playing Pokemon and I just got Red Steel 2. Fun stuff. First-person shooters with the Wii-mote are quite different. Not sure I like it more than a regular controller (I don't) but its fun in its own right. It feels like a last-gen game, Red Steel 2, but in a good way. Not the dated way, but the 'retro' or isn't trying to be another generic shooter type of game. I'm enjoying it.

And I have never played a Pokemon game as much as I have HeartGold. Usually I get frustrated halfway through the gym leaders because I like 9 Pokemon and I can't decide which ones I want to use. But I have over 100 some in my Dex and I have 4-5 regulars in my party and I'm trying to find a good final couple. I have:

• Swampert
• Pupitar (will become Tyranitar)
• Lucario
• Ho-Oh

I just started bringing Elekid in my party for an Electric type; want to get him to Electvire and I think he's pretty powerful. I've been messing around with a Dratini lately and I think I'll keep him, and I also had the secondary evolution of Gabite that I was using but... I'm still trying to find a good couple other Pokemon. I'm also trying to decide if Lucario is worth it. :? Suggestions?

Yep. Girlfriend got me one and gave it to me as my birthday present. :D The special value bundle, with Wiisports Resort and MotionPlus; I'm super stoked. :) Playing through Super Mario Galaxy now.

Also, I've been totally addicted to Pokemon since I got HeartGold and I can't wait for White/Black.

That's all.

Would it be foolish of me to change ratings to something a bit more... realistic? I'm looking now and I see a lot of 9.0's and stuff. That's fine I suppose but looking at everything... I feel I should change all the scores since the change to .5 increments here at Gamespot.

So what do you think? Change or leave them?

Oh, and I beat GoW3 and Heavy Rain was patched. :D I am a happy man.

As if Heavy Rain glitching on me last week wasn't enough, PSN is now down for phat PS3 users.

Kotaku's Article

I'm currently watching Twitter for any PS3 updates.

Just to let you know: trophies are disappearing, no connectivity to PSN, date reverting to 1999, not being able to play games, etc.

This is a big problem...