Saturday night my wife and I had the opportunity to see Video Games Live, Tommy Tallarico's incredible orchestral game concert series. (Tommy is probably best known for the soundtrack to Earthworm Jim, though he holds the Guinness Book of World Records record for working on more video games than any other person. Over 300!) This was our second time going (our first was about two and a half years ago) and it was just as good this time around. They revisited a few of the same games as the last we saw them but it was mostly new stuff. They had a Phoenix Wright medley! I might have squeaked with delight just a little bit when they started that one. Another favorite of mine was the Mega Man medley. Hearing that Wily 2 music from a live orchestra was moving. There were some expected franchises represented like Mario, Zelda, Sonic, Castlevania, and Final Fantasy, which were all really great (Castlevania was a total rock fest with Tommy himself playing the electric guitar). Last time they played the music to the opening cinematic of World of Warcraft: Cataclysm as the visuals played on the big screen; this time they played Warlords of Draenor. Blizzard sure knows how to do those things! They also played League of Legends, Skyrim, and Resident Evil 5. Even though I've played the game, I was surprised by how much I liked the music from Uncharted 2. Metal Gear Solid, Shadow of the Colosus, Mass Effect, Halo, Street Fighter II, Kingdom Hearts (I can never hear "Hikari" too many times)—so much good stuff!
Includes
~Prologue~
I was listening to an interview with comic book writer Scott Snyder, currently helming Batman, who is known for putting an emphasis on horror into his stories— underline horror with a big fat red pen! The interesting thing that he said was that when working on Batman, he wanted to focus on writing smaller stories, but because of the precedent set by previous writers and the significance of the character, he feels like he can only write big stories. As I was finishing up Revelations 2, I was wondering if considering that the Revelations series was meant to be a smaller scale side story, did the precedent for the series force Capcom to go overboard yet again?
What Game(s) are you playing at the moment?
I hate giving up on a game when I just start them, but I rarley have regrets when I do. Some games I never finished that I think were good games were Resonance of Fate, and Valkyria Chronicles. With Resonance of Fate there were long sections where you had to survive before reaching the boss at the end, a dungeon if you will. Dying half way and having to restart was very frustrating, but probably meant that I didn't understand the combat well enough. This is more likely true. Valkyria Chronicles, which is like an anime XCOM had long campaigns where you could end your game after an hour over a dumb mistake. Again, it probably means I didn't understand the game mechanics well enough to keep going. They are both really good games in my opinion, but with so many games to play out there, I don't feel like investing time to learn new systems all the time. I need to cut down to one or two games a month, instead of every week.
Firstly, I missed a day. I apologise but I had to move out of college so I was a touch busy. Any way let's finish this list shall we?
Because I refuse to succumb to the temptation of cat gifs, here's a Sonic blog:
I can’t believe 2013 is over already. It was a good year, all in all, and I actually know what I’ve played through the year thanks to Backloggery.com and my monthly recap blogs. Below you’ll find all the games I beat this year and below that the number of games I bought or somehow acquired. The numbers for PS+ and Free with Gold games that follow in parentheses are included in the total; I just wanted to make special mention of them since I didn’t have to pay for them beyond the membership fee. After looking through all that, make sure to stick around for the Golden Hippo Awards!
The video game hobby is one loved by all, right? Not exactly. Violence, anti-social behavior, obesity—within certain circles, video games are blamed and hated for many things.
I went to the Doctor's yesterday, and it turns out I have a respiratory infection. Yay. So I'm on roughly $66 worth of inhalers, antibiotics and steroids. Which confused me. The doctor didn't tell me she was giving me steroids! Or maybe she did. I wasn't really coherent during that visit. She told me I shouldn't use my brain too much and that I should rest. This confused me greatly, seeing how I HAVE A FUCKING RESPIRATORY ILLNESS, NOT A BRAIN TUMOR! Anyway, I didn't question this at the time, but I did ask if video games were considered too taxing. She looked at me oddly with a weird sort of grin, and sort of laughed and said: That should be ok, you don't really have to think when you play games. I almost punched her. Fighting my temptation to immitate commander shepherd and PUNCH WOMEN IN THE FACE, I kept my mouth shit. She kept talking, and eventually she mutated into some weird, demonic form and tried to eat me. Ok, maybe I was a little out of it at that stage.
Well I right now have 12.80 on my PSN account to spend on PSN games. I rarely keep up with new PSN games because Im mostly keeping up with disc based ones. So Im needing a little help with what I should buy with the remaining bit.
In film, “popcorn flick” often holds a negative connotation, but like any genre it comprises both good and bad works judged by their own set of standards. Resident Evil 6 is a popcorn game and despite a few misguided design choices, it’s a damn good one.
January was a crazy month for me on the games front with a bunch of games beat or bought. February was much simpler.
I've been pretty under the radar the last few weeks, so it's time to put the periscope up, do some recon to find out what my friends are up to, and send out an update transmission. Last week we had my grandpa's funeral and it went really well. The honor guard turned out to give him a gun-salute as well as give the folded American flag to my grandmother. After the funeral we started a bathroom renovation at our house so everything has been messy. However, my Xbox has still been getting some love despite the distractions.
If Resident Evil 6’s three campaigns didn’t sound like enough gameplay already, don’t worry, because Capcom has you covered. The company officially revealed yesterday that Resident Evil 6 will feature another campaign starring the recurring character, Ada Wong.
As wonderful and awesome as the internet is, it really fucked things up for gamers like me. It wasn’t really an issue in the early stages – that short period of time before it was as all pervasive as it is now. Consoles remained offline for the most part, with only a handful of games offering any kind of online component. Online gaming was for the PC crowd, not the console kids who enjoyed a far more streamlined and simplified gaming experience.
Resident Evil has been an important series in gaming for a long time now. Games like Resident Evil 2 and 4 were revolutionary landmarks in survival horror and third person gameplay. Despite its lineage of quality titles, the series has been often criticized for its departure from survival horror and its venture into more of an action oriented style. Resident Evil 6 aims to combine the best of both its past horror-focused outings and the action-oriented gameplay of its more recent titles.
Konichiwa, beyotches! It's time for another edition of PixlTalk, Tri-Force style! It's all about Japan this week, as your intrepid trio takes a look at the Japanese industry and talk about how concerned we are about the future of gaming over there. Your cup will runneth over with podcasty goodness as we argue about the merits of Mario for the hardcore gamer, discuss the sexuality of Bayonetta, casual racism in Resident Evil 5 (among other games), and mention some of our favorite Japanese games from this generation. We talk in some detail about Metal Gear Solid 4, Vanquish, Demon's Souls, and then Patrick makes sweet, sweet love to The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. So sit back, pour some sake, and listen to a podcast so meaty you'll need to hold it with both hands.
An image surfaced on Xbox.com over the weekend that exposed a few interesting details about Resident Evil 6, including a six player co-op option as well as eight player multiplayer.
So, Resident Evil 6 has finally been announced. By now, I will assume everyone has seen the (awesome) trailer and I must say, I'm pumped. Not only does Resident Evil 6 choose the series' two most notable (male) protagonists, Leon and Chris, but it looks to have refined the gameplay of RE4 and 5, while introducing some new elements as well. At the same time it seems to be trying to find a balance between the action packed set pieces of RE5 and the scaryness of the originals. While I find it hard to believe that the series will ever be as scary as it once was known for, I do believe that 6 has a lot of potential to be the best in the series.
After days of culminating intrigue, Capcom has officially pulled the curtain back on Resident Evil 6. The "No Hope Left" ads can now officially be linked to Capcom as they were in fact teasing the upcoming game. The prominently featured date and time of 1/19/2012 2PM PST, marked the exact moment Capcom broke the news of the sixth iteration in the iconic series. A video showcases a portion of the plot of the game, as well as its expected release date and platforms. Coming on November 20 for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC, Resident Evil 6 is expected to feature both single and co-operative play.
Resident Evil 4 on the GameCube was a game that won over countless fans. The game brought the series into a new era with revolutionary gameplay while retaining the series' classic creepy feel. Over the years we've seen many different ports of the game, and this time we see what is likely to be the last version: Resident Evil 4 HD. It retains all of the features from the PS2 and Wii ports along with a graphical makeover which surprisingly is the weakest part of the package. But a great game is a great game, and this HD port is proof.