Friday, March 26, 2010

A Damn Funny List of Sexual Terms I Would of Never Thought Were Sexual

Destructoid's Andrew Kauz has come up with a really funny list of terms and names from a variety of video games that are completely sexual if you think really hard, and some not at all.


 Some of these terms include Sturdy Bone, Sticky White Stuff and Tactical Insertion. I know...and that's just a taste of the list.

Check out the full article here

Amazon selling Xbox 360 Elite with Lego Batman, Pure and $50 Amazon Gift Card

Amazon has a great deal for anybody shopping for a brand spanking new Xbox 360.

A $50 Amazon Gift card is received with any purchase of an Xbox 360 Winter Edition which includes Lego Batman and Pure, two great multiplayer games for the family and friends to sit on the couch or room and enjoy.

Check out the deal here.

Torchlight For $5 On Steam


Torchlight, the loot-filled game that has some love on the web, is on sale on Steam for 75% off.

 It is regularly $20, so this is a great deal for anybody who is into good games. Do yourself a favor and pick this title up while it's still cheap. 

Zombie Street Fighter. Enough Said.

Kotaku has posted some pictures of Street Fighter characters like Akuma and Ryu as zombies with a little bit of flare and creepiness if I do say so myself. They have a Resident Evil-vibe illuminating off of their broken flesh.  

If these were available as skins in Super Street Fighter IV; I’d scrounge the money up for a fresh copy.

Screenshot from Kotaku.  

A Robo Overview: Co-Op Gaming

Co-op gaming is a staple in some of the best video games out today. Such titles like Resident Evil 5, the Gears of War and Halo series, and Left 4 Dead 1 & 2 have allowed gamers to enjoy the co-op experience. There are a number of elements that go into a good co-op game that keeps the players wanting more. 

Gears of War is one of those games that made co-op great because it was exciting and easy to control for most gamers. The cover system, which was fresh at the time, allowed flanking and tactical exploitation like a game had never done before. The easy drop in and drop out of the online and offline modes allowed players to interact with their friends, family and people all over the world in ways that the older generations could not do. Even though the story wasn’t something too memorable, it gave co-op gamers a reason to blow crap up and enjoy it together.

 Good co-op games mesh together memorable experiences with entertaining gameplay in order to give gamers the time of their lives. Gears of War 2 and Halo: ODST have their own variation of a “Horde Mode” which puts gamers in the middle of a level and pits them against waves of enemies. The goal of Horde Mode is to survive, and team work is the only way that gamers can progress to the last level. The fun about this kind of gameplay is that it allows gamers to play together and work as a team in order to progress past the waves of enemies that are trying to eliminate you. The upcoming Splinter Cell: Conviction will employ a similar mode called Last Stand which pits spies against 20 waves of enemies, which can lead to hours of fun for any person a fan of the mode and spies.

Besides an excellent cover system and demolishing enemies to bits in harmony, a cooperative experience should be easy to enter and leave, then come back for another enjoyable sitting. The interface for games such as Halo 3 and Gears of War 2 allowed gamers to enter a person’s lobby, play a level or two and then leave. Army of Two also had that fault, the lobby interface was annoying. The way gamers play together has to not annoy the players to the point where they do not want to play anymore, break the game in half and curse out the developers and it also has to feel seamless and smooth as they connect online or offline.

A good co-op game does not need to great story that is coherent and interesting, but it sure helps. When two players can make a comment, good or bad, about a game, it should be something that makes them bond and think in ways they’ve never thought before. It is one of the ways that helps people bond together to better enjoy the experience they are having together. Gears of War 2’s story is not a gold standard, but it is sort of easy to follow, or at least explain. Halo’s four player co-op allowed players to watch as Master Chief and his alien allies destroyed another ancient artifact that could destroy the world. It gave gamers something to talk about.

 One thing which should be in every game, but especially in co-op games, are random events that create excitement. When someone destroys a giant enemies with four rockets at the same time is something that gamers can talk about together and freak out about. These extraordinary events are something that a developer cannot create, but the players create themselves with a little bit of luck.  

Some developers have tried to build their whole video game around co-op, like Gears of War and Army of Two, and have succeeded and failed in some ways. Army of Two succeeded in showing gamers that they can work together to get the job done by allowing the characters to interact with the world together. It also added elements like aggro and back-to-back shooting to add tactical advantages that co-op players can use. The controls made it a little more difficult to convey that.

 Sites like Ars Technica and Co-Optimus allows gamers to interact in order to setup co-op games. Co-Optimus has some great features like allowing gamers to find games they have and match themselves with other people who are looking for people to play with. Have Crackdown and want to fight crime with another Crackdown player? Co-Optimus has people who will play with you. It is a community that wants to share and expand across the computer partners in single player games.  

Sharing an experience with somebody is just a great feeling whether it is sitting on the same couch or a different couch across town. Co-op gaming allows relationships to be created and to expand. It feeds the gamers need to share with others in ways they normally can’t in real life.

 Here is the message: Play together people!
 

Thursday, March 25, 2010

New Section: Random Classics

I had an idea for a new section. I will play old games that have sequels coming out soon. The next game will be Crackdown.

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Gamefly and Amazon Deals Make My Cheap Ass Happy


Cheap Ass Gamer (CAG) has posted two really good deals on the site.

Amazon is having a buy 2 get 1 deal on all Xbox 360 platinum hits. You can grab up some hit titles like Fallout 3, Mass Effect, Gears of War 2 and more for a great price.

Gamefly has used games on discount prices. You can ;pick up Batman: Arkham Asylum, Halo: ODST, Red Faction: Guerrilla for under $20.

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Hey, You Got My Social Networking In My Video Game!


Social networking is a huge thing on the internet. It seems like people have grown obsessed with letting other people know what they are doing every second of every day. Social networking has worked its way into many different platforms in the world, and video games are no exception.

Gamers game for different reasons: to waste time, to be entertained, and to have something to share with someone else whether it be an experience or a score. Social networking is a great medium to share those scores and experiences with other people. Sites like Facebook and Twitter allow gamers to share their latest high scores and tell people what they are doing.

The last Xbox 360 spring update added Facebook and Twitter functionality to the dashboard. It allows gamers to contact these social networking sites and tell their friends and family what games they are playing, what achievements they are getting and how good they are at a game.

Sony has its place in the social networking game as well. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves has Twitter integrated in it. Gamers have the option to allow the game to auto-tweet their milestones within the game. There has been some controversy about the game tweeting when gamers complete a mission. That has since been removed in an update.


There is one problem that the Uncharted issue addresses with social networking and gaming: spoilers. Gamers who follow other gamers can have their experience spoiled when they see that their friends are tweeting about a major plot point. That may not be an issue for some gamers and that is fine, but for some that could be a major issue. It can cause people to lose followers or be blocked or hidden because they are minimizing a person's excitement for a game because they are telling him or her the story without realizing it. Some people really want an experience to be as fresh as possible.

Gamers like to share what they do. The experience of a game is something that should be shared with others. Social networking sites are the bridge that gamers can use as another way to share fun times, every small character at a time.

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Would you play Bioshock if it had grotesque mutants?

Joystiq has a post with a photo of one of the mutants that was cut from the original Bioshock.

 The ugly creature looks like a mix between a human and a roach or fly; it is really gross. It has a semblance of a Dead Space creature with the classic movie, The Fly.  

Bioshock is filled with goons who are mutated in their own right, but not as bad as this bad boy here. The splicers of Bioshock showed pain in their structure along with the insanity that the fall of Rapture introduced into their lives. It was beautiful, painful and awesome to fight these drug-abusing humans while knowing who they were.    

Would gamers want to know Bioshock’s world if these ugly beasts stalked the dark corridors of Rapture?  

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Anybody Want to Take The Metro?


Announcement: Metro 2033, the post apocalyptic first person shooter based in a subway in a future Moscow, will be the upcoming Robo-Review.  

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Transformers: War for Cybertron sounds AWESOME



Arthur Gies' description of the new Transformers game makes me excited for a product I had absolutely no interest in.

Transformers: War on Cybertron takes place before the first generation on a Cybertron that fans have not seen. It tells the stories behind relations of popular decepticons and autobots and reveals why the Transformers came to earth. 

The gameplay sounds action packed and worthwhile. Little touches like having the Transformers blend with the environment they interact with is a nice touch that  High Moon studios added. 

Check out the Gies' full feature over on Team Xbox and listen to him talk about it on Rebel FM.     

Robo-Review: Final Fantasy XIII


Square Enix has released their thirteenth installment in the main series of Final Fantasy. Beautiful environments, characters with depth and a combat system that flows like water make up the essence of Final Fantasy XIII and it is a great game, if you don’t mind being pushed from place to place.

Final Fantasy XIII follows the formula that Square has set for its Final Fantasy video games. You have scenery that expands from rain forests filled with dangerous creatures around every corner to a city under siege by a forceful government. Take control of intriguing characters that get tangled together by one cause and thrown into an epic adventure where they have to save the world or lose all they love.

Combat has been changed in order to create a rhythm with fast thinking. The mixture between turn-based actions with real time fighting is what makes Final Fantasy XIII’s combat fresh. Players can either create a smooth fight by actually thinking about their decisions or use the auto-battle command which lets the AI choose what to do depending on the situation at hand. The AI does a good job at choosing what attacks or skills to use at any given moment, and you can basically play the game like that and just mash the action button every fight. The choice is up to the player.

One of thing that is not up to the player is where he or she wants to go. The game is extremely linear. You go from beautiful dungeon to beautiful dungeon, beating monster after monster till the big boss arrives at the end. Some environments do have certain aspects about them that make them unique like the rain forest where you are able to control the weather and what monsters appear. Most Final Fantasy games allowed the gamer to travel to different worlds and do whatever they wanted, whether it is to look at the beautiful cities or one of the dangerous dungeons to get something you missed before. It just doesn’t let you have all the freedom you had in games in the series such as Final Fantasy X or Final Fantasy VII.

While you’re running through these dungeons, you advance your skills and attributes with the new upgrade system called crystogenesis. Using the crystarium, you upgrade a character’s class using points won through battle. For example, commandos can be upgraded to learn more up close attacks and medics can learn more powerful healing abilities. Every character has a particular class that he or she is good at, but it is good to switch up the classes in order to save your party from certain death.

Paradigms are the latest addition along with the crystarium. Paradigms allow players to set what classes the party can be. A paradigm group that is offensive would have a physical attacking commando with two magic wielding ravengers or group that enhances each other would have a commando, a medic and a synergist who temporarily enhances the group’s abilities and attributes. While in battle, players can switch between each paradigm simultaneously. It can turn the fate of the battle around dramatically if you learn how to use them wisely.

Final Fantasy XIII is a big footstep in the trail of Square Enix’s masterful stories. Characters that make you feel for them when they are in despair and drive you to run through the straight forward dungeons is a great experience for any JRPG fan to enjoy.

Robo-Review: The Adventures of P.B. Winterbottom



The Adventures of P.B. Winterbottom is a one trick pony that menaces you with grueling puzzles and pie.


The goal of the game is to feed P.B. Winterbottoms lust for delicious pies that are scattered throughout the world. PB Winterbottom must solve puzzle after puzzle using clones in order to get his plump, greedy self some pies.


The puzzles start off easy at first, but grow harder and more diabolical as they come. they start from simply platforming to the desired pie to creating as many as six clones in order to progress. The gameplay is fun, but the fact that all you can do is create clones that copy your actions seems a little dissatisfying. There is potential to equip Winterbottom with enough power to feed the hungry man, but not make it look like a clone of such titles as the classic Prince of Persia or Braid.

The adventures of PB Winter bottom is wonderful game that was created by a creative group of college students and worth a playthrough. 

Monday, March 8, 2010

Amazon deals for Final Fantasy XIII


Amazon has two deals that will really tickle the fancy of some anxious Final Fantasy fans.

Anyone who pre-orders Final Fantasy XIII will get a $10 credit on any future purchase and a PDF containing pages from the official strategy guide.
   

Good Morning, Final Fantasy!


Good morning readers!

Announcement: This week will be Final Fantasy week due to the release of the latest title in the giant series this Tuesday.

Expect a review of Final Fantasy XIII by Monday.

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Halo Reach Trailer Makes Master Chief it's Bitch


Two Spartans Fist Fight in Halo Reach Multiplayer Teaser. 


Anyone who purchased Halo: ODST new have received access to the Halo Reach miltiplayer beta. 

The beta looks amazing and is a twist to past Halo games and many new elements have been added to the mix. 

Some of the big surprises in the trailer are hand-to-hand combat, barrel rolling, surprise attacks, and jet packs. All these elements add a new bit of strategy to the first person shooter. 



Batman enters 3D



Square Enix has announced that they will be releasing a Game of The Year edition of Batman: Arkham Asylum with new content and 3-D capabilities.

The game will be packed with six new challenge maps and "TriOviz 3D" support.

Released with the content is a pair of 3D glasses to enhance your experience as the Dark Knight.

For all the achievement whores out there, no need to fret because there is a whole new set of achievements to obtain.

Batman: Arkham Asylum GoTY edition has been set for a March release in Europe. No release date for North America has been confirmed. 

Update: Batman Arkham Asylum GoTY will not be released in North America as confirmed by Joystiq. It will, however, be released in Europe, Asia and Australia.     

Mass Effect Action Figures Preview

Four action figures from the Mass Effect 2 universe including


the default Commander Shepard


Tali


Thane


Grunt

Photos provided by Kotaku