My thoughts on the 3 major consoles of generation 8.

I was recently asked by a user on gonintendo my thoughts on the 3 new systems now that they're out.  I gave a pretty detailed response that I felt was blog worthy so here it is.  I should note, this has definitely been edited as I typed up the original response at some crazy hour of the morning.

Honestly? I feel that this generation of gaming is a bit of a let down compared to the previous generation but especially the home consoles. The graphical jump, while noticeable even on the Wii U (with Wii U games made specifically for the system), is not the graphical leap that we saw from PS2 and Xbox to PS3 and 360 and the Wii U Pad is in no way as revolutionary as the Wii remotes were. Many games that you can buy on PS3 and 360, while they do look better on PS4, XB1, and occasionally Wii U, don't look good enough for somebody to say "I gotta get those new systems or I'll be missing out." If anything, it's making people go in hoards to PC gaming for the vastly superior Steam service, user mods, and the highest end of graphical fidelity.

Why ReviewtechUSA abandoned consoles.

Also the whole sharing features of the new systems, some of the main features all 3 companies seem to heralding, are pretty limited over all which I'll get into more of when I talk about the individual systems. The lack of proper backwards compatibility is disgusting, the lack of digital media playback is disgusting, the forced online payments is disgusting, the storage situations are disgusting... it really seems like outside of marginally better graphics and slightly better online, the 3 new consoles are pretty much a disappointment. But talking about the 3 systems individually...


Wii U:


I find the library of games, since launch, to be the most diverse but the hardware is definitely not pushing the same horsepower as the other 2 consoles meaning, getting publisher support will be more challenging, especially without major sales numbers and a large install base. I love the fact that they introduced the Miiverse and gave the community a family friendly yet steam like way to communicate, I love the built in browser (it's quite possibly the best browser on a console yet), I love the fact they don't require payments to play online, I like the fact there's actual backwards compatibility, and the eShop is by far the best over all shopping experience of the 3 new home consoles however the lack of a real comprehensive account system, the lack of cross game chat, the lack of on screen notifications, the lack of game invites and game joining, and the lack of gamecube support is all VERY disappointing.

To add to this, the weird emulated Wii that basically puts a system in a system needs to go. Backwards compatibility needs to be like what the 3DS has where you can see all digital games in the eShop, not in a separate digital store from the previous generation and launch all physical games straight from the main OS, not an emulated one. Also, I'd really like to see better use of the Wii U pad in more first and 3rd party games as imo it's actually a pretty cool controller with all the buttons you need how you need them (minus analog triggers) and they need to get the controller part of it working with Wii games, not just the screen on the pad and the sensor bar on it. Also they need to get the integration of streaming content better implemented into Nintendo TVii so you don't need to launch different services based on what service has what show. They also really need to consider putting more storage into their systems, yes I understand it has external drive support and it uses quick and expensive flash memory however 32 gb is very small and almost nothing. They should consider shipping the system with 128 gb and with the bigger more powerful battery for the Wii U pad.

He can be pretty trolly but he's right, Nintendo needs to get with the times.

On the note of Miiverse and "sharing" on the Wii U, I find that Wii U unintentionally has the most "open" sharing of the 3 systems. You can upload your Wii U screens wherever you want via the amazing browser and you can access your Miiverse posts pretty much anywhere by linking them. That said, video recording is greatly needed and it is a bit disappointing that there isn't any twitch or ustream streaming features, especially for me as I like to stream games myself for the fun of it.

Lastly, I do wanna go ahead and state that I love the fact that the system has so many different kinds of controllers to choose from. I didn't have to go out and get all new controllers right off the bat because my Wii remotes worked. Also, I highly enjoy the Wii U gamepad (despite its limited battery life) and, despite the triggers being digital and it not offering a headset/headphone jack, the Wii U Pro controller is by far my favorite controller of this generation and quite possibly my favorite of all time (though Sega Saturn, Sega Dreamcast, and Gamecube are major contenders for that title for me as well).


Playstation 4:


I actually find the library of games at launch and even announced so far to be the least diverse, which I find very disappointing. It feels Sony has completely gotten rid of what got them to where they are now and are trying to appeal to only an audience that wants mature western themed games. I know KH3 and FFXV are on the way but they're multi platform titles that could end out being on Steam. I'd like to see more of the games that made PS1 and PS2 great, make their glorious return, not more games that look like what most 3rd parties are doing and have been doing for a long time. I'd love a new Jet Moto, or a new Jak and Daxter, or a new Wild Arms, or a new Legend of Dragoon, or a new Dark Cloud, or a new Jumping Flash, or a new Lemmings, a new Parappa the Rappa, etc.

As for the system itself, the hardware is the most powerful on paper but after playing around with the 3 systems, its definitely not the graphical difference the internet makes it out to be and it's definitely not as powerful as my PC (and many other people's for that matter). Don't get me wrong, the games look good, but like the Vita vs 3DS or PS3 vs 360, the graphical difference isn't enough to really sway the smart consumer or the core gamers to the system. I like the controller redesign, the triggers are no longer bent the wrong way, the analogs are stiffer and have more tread, the handles are incredibly comfy, and the dpad has a nice roll to it and is no longer squishy. That said, the triggers feel a bit loose and flimsy, the track pad is awkward and unresponsive, start button went MIA and the share button feels like it could have had its functions mapped to the PS button.

I like the look and speed of the interface. It feels like a very good visual evolution from the XMB and it's definitely the fastest over all however I dislike how it takes your most recent application and moves it to the front though and the front wall looks a bit cluttered though. I hate the fact your forced to pay for PS+ in order to play games online. It's in stake contrast to the whole PS3 is free online and 360 you gotta pay claims that people seem to have forgotten over the past 3 years. Also, when you have a free service like Steam available which is infinitely better then anything any of the 3 console companies are doing and have ever thought of, I personally find it hard to justify paying for a SIGNIFICANTLY WORSE service. Also, I hate the lack of backwards compatibility, especially with digital purchases, which could end up screwing me and other consumers over who bought plenty of digital games on the 7th gen consoles.  Sure there is Gaikai aka PS Now but it's a payed service that requires a constant stable connection.  Anybody promoting Gaikai as the end all be all answer to BC but was against the XB1 DRM should re-evaluate their thinking process as there standards couldn't be any more double.

Killzone: Shadow Fall visually looks great but it still doesn't justify buying clunky new systems with no backwards compatibility.

I like the fact you can change out the internal storage, which is a huge thumbs up to Sony for that but I dislike the fact that you have to install every game you purchase (which can go up to 50 gb) and have all this recording functionality yet it only comes with 500 gbs. The storage is a complaint I have for all 3 systems though to be completely honest. Also, I'm very disappointed there isn't more media features with digital music and videos, which is something PS3 had plenty of. I will say though, I'm very glad they decided to say no to the DRM crap and forced Microsoft to change their ways or lose all their customers.  That said I'm still very skeptical because the question of DRM should have never been an issue in the first place.

Last 2 things, the sharing on the system is one of the most hyped up features of this gen but I feel it's incredibly over rated. The share button could have been mapped to the PS button the way it's mapped to the home button on Wii U and it's mapped to the Xbox button on the XB1 and the sharing is bottled into PSN and facebook... which isn't very many options for sharing at all. It's cool to see the streaming options but nothing about this systems "sharing" makes it this major selling feature. Also the price point, while good, I feel is very skewed when people talk about it. When you buy a PS4, you actually get the least right out of the box. Unless you get a special bundle, it doesn't come with games, it doesn't come with the camera, it doesn't come with with a second screen for off tv play, and it doesn't come with TV functionality. I'm not saying the price is bad, because it isn't, but in general, consoles box price points are not the price you'll be paying for the system, especially in the long run and in the case of the PS4, despite having a pretty good entry price, you'll actually be paying more to take full advantage of the system then you would XB1 and especially Wii U.


Xbox One:


This is by far the most under rated system of this new generation with the most under rated launch line up. Don't get me wrong, there are many more things I dislike about the XB1 then I actually like about it and I actually dislike much more about it then I do both Wii U and even PS4 but it's nowhere near as bad as the rep it's got from it's reveal and forward. First and foremost, I'll say this now, if it wasn't for the payment methods of the games in its launch line up, its launch line up would be my favorite of the 3. It recieved the western focused 3rd party titles also got some other titles worth mentioning such as Killer freaking Instinct. Sure, I know, it's not a real Killer Instinct made by Rareware, but I had a whole lot of fun playing it and in the end, that's what matters. Also, though I wished I was using a Wii Remote or DS/3DS/Wii U touch screen and stylus while playing it, I actually highly enjoyed my time with Crimson Dragon. While it's definitely not a real horror game, Dead Rising was a lot of fun. Max: The Curse of Brotherhood is the sequel to one of my favorite games on Wiiware and is awesome.  Even many of the announced games on the way look great, such as Project Spark, Sunset Overdrive, Below, D4, Titanfall, etc.

Unfortunately, outside of the games... things get pretty ugh worthy. The controller fixes a lot of problems that the 360 controller had. The D-pad is WAY better and has a nice roll, the the face buttons aren't as hard and blister inducing, the triggers feel great on the fingers and have the rumble in them which really is nice and the design is the same design that made the 360 controller quite nice. That said, though the analogs have a generous amount of tread, the analogs feel loose and don't have enough force feedback (though they're not as bad as the Vita's) and the lack of a battery in the controller is facepalm worthy.

Pretty much describes what I think of cable companies.

The DVR functionality is interesting but is immediately hurt by the fact that, unlike Nintendo TVii, you need cable in order to use it. Then you also have the added storage problem to go along with it as the system only has 500 gb and, like the PS4, is supposed to be a system with mandatory game installations, have recording and sharing functionality, BUT ALSO is a DVR. Being a DVR alone and only having 500 gb is pushing it but all the other stuff too.... are you kidding me...? Oh and how do you go from a system that had the most awesome detachable and portable storage option to a system that requires you to take apart the entire system and void the warranty just to upgrade the storage?!? REALLY!?!? To add to that, the lack of external storage is insult to injury here.

The interface .... well it's fast.... Outside of that though, it's pretty nasty. I guess I'm biased here because I can't stand Windows 8 but the fact of the matter is, it's Windows 8, not Xbox. It's incredibly convoluted and confusing (I spent a good 10 minutes just to figure out how to suspend and launch software), it screams corporate, it lacks the avatars, and to be honest, it lacks a soul. Sure its fast and you can use Kinect to get around in it, but it's so uninviting and unispired and doesn't feel anything like the Xbox brand.

Yep.

The lack of backwards compatibility, just like the PS4 is really disgusting but the fact they aren't doing anything to compensate for it shows they really don't care too much about the actual gamer. Then again, what would you expect, it's Microsoft. I just feel that the direction they're taking the Xbox brand will kill it off very quickly. Also, while I understand why the price point is as high as it is, I mean it has the Kinect and the DVR functions built in, the price point would be justified if the DVR functions were more open and the Kinect shown serious promise. Granted the Kinect is great for interacting with your system and moving around the interface quickly but I have yet to see anything that actually uses it to really enhance the gameplay that wasn't just voice commands.

Graphically, the system is much better graphically then the internet makes it out to be. Looking at XB1 and PS4 side by side in action at the store and at friends houses, they're near identical. Granted, there is a difference, but it's not this huge gap the way the net makes it out to be. That said, while things didn't look bad here, like the PS4, I wasn't blown away. What I played was not the bleeding edge of graphics and it felt like what I was playing 2 or 3 years ago on PC. They both look good but they're not this major graphical gap over their predecessors.

Lastly, on the note of sharing, while the XB1 isn't as directly open as the Wii U, it's by far the best sharing experience of the 3 systems or rather, it will be.  It has every feature the PS4 has without the overhyped new button and diehard fan hype but it also does much MUCH more.  First and foremost, every achievement allows you to record footage letting people see exactly how you got said achievement which imo is GOLD.  Another thing is you can highly edit your clips to the point where you won't really need to do things later unless you're trying to go for production like quality.  Also, you can upload your clips to your skydrive allowing you to share your stuff basically anywhere you want.  The problem here though is not all of the features are implemented yet.  Sure they just got streaming but you still can't upload everywhere, which both the Wii U and PS4 had all their sharing features up and running day 1.  Hopefully, this will eventually get resolved.


Overall:


Sorry about the ultra pessimistic post but I'm really not digging this generation of consoles. I'm very disappointed about the direction they're going and saddened by the decisions the companies are making and continue to make. Hopefully all three get their crap in gear and turn things around but I just don't see that happening and feel console gaming is increasingly not for me. I currently have no intention of getting a PS4 or XB1 and if Nintendo continues making the decisions that they are, I doubt I'll be getting another Nintendo system again (even handhelds) and go completely PC.

The State of Gaming

I guess I should start by saying, I love video games, I've been playing them since I was 3 and I grew up with them as the main staple of my entertainment.  I gained my appreciation for music from them, pursued art as a profession because of them, started scripting and learning programing when I was 12 by messing around with them, and ultimately learned to type and structure sentences in a coherent manner because of them.  For me, it's more then just a passed time or hobby, it's my inspiration, it's what taught me, and it's part of my culture.  It's who I am, kind of like the kids who grew up watching movies in the theaters back in the 30's only to move on to become actors, directors, writers, and producers.

With all of that said, many people have the horrible misconception that follows a dumb stereotype from the 90's that gamers are lazy people who's brains are turning to mush and eyes are frying from playing games.  Of course, this is all bollox and couldn't be further from the truth but this blog entry isn't about arguing the merits and legitimacy of such claims, rather I'm going to take such a claim and run with it as I move into the point of this blog.

The thing is, I'm a gamer, I enjoy gaming, but I'm tired... and feel drained.  Gaming in general has become increasingly political to the point where as a gamer, I've spent more time in the past few years involving myself in the politics of gaming then I have been actually playing games.  I'm not talking about this console company vs this console company type of stuff that we've had since there was more then 1 system on the market (Genesis vs Super Nintendo anybody?), heck I'm not even referring to the constant political groups targeting gaming referring to games as the ultimate evil and the reason the (insert evil thing) exists....  No, I'm talking about the constant struggles we have from the game companies themselves, the constant dumb decisions that are made by the companies that are extremely anti consumer and the campaigns the gamers and fans have to do to not get screwed over.

Operation Rainfall anybody?

It seems like every month there's something new.  Like the above video is a reminder of, not too long ago we had the whole Operation Rainfall campaign because Nintendo of America refused to localize major Japanese games that Nintendo of Europe already did the translation and legwork for.  This of course happened during a huge drought of quality games for Wii and DS, a drought of JRPG's in general on all systems, the 3DS stumbling after launch with not everything ready for launch and much of the quality games a ways off, and Nintendo's business in general reporting their first losses in decades.  Of course Nintendo IS NOT the only culprits here and this is only 1 of the major events in recent times.  Earlier that year you had the whole Playstation Network Outage mess that was caused by a downwards spiral of drama from hackers upset by Sony taking away features from the PS3.  In the process of the outage, a "rumor" with an extreme amount of evidence and truth behind it from many sources came out saying Sony's security wasn't up to snuff and that Sony even knew about it.

Of course both of these scenarios were "amended" by the companies giving away free games and getting their business models back on track but in reality, they shouldn't of happened in the first place and as gamers we shouldn't have to constantly tell the companies to get their acts together.  Why is it though, we're still having to face similar problems and stupidity?  The whole No DRM Campaign that was being aimed at both Microsoft and Sony after Sony's rumored bought DRM rights and lack of straight forward confirmation about the subject when pressed saying it will be up to publishers and Microsoft's rumored DRM/always online which was later confirmed in the form of requiring once a day connections and DRM that binds physical games to an account basically cutting out used games.  In my personal and honest opinion as well as in the opinion of many people in the industry, DRM isn't entirely a bad idea, as companies, such as gamestop, have been leeching off of the success of the industry and exploiting loopholes that were there to give convenience to gamers through their used games strategy.  In example, its rare to find used DS games that have cases and booklets even at places other then gamestop because Gamestop gets rid of the cases and booklets for DS games which is evidence to the monopoly they have on used games.  With all of that said, the way the Microsoft and Sony went about this though and the apathetic, nonchalant, and sometimes even cocky attitudes they had on this situation and even the lack of backwards compatibility rubbed me and other like minded gamers the wrong way.  Messaging couldn't be any worse.... the whole issue shouldn't be happening in the first place and shows just how far greed will take companies, even at the risk of destroying their own image, destroying their industry, and alienating consumers in the process.

The gamer point of view about DRM.

Again, these are just a few of the problems and issues.  Currently there's a campaign going on by gamers and Nintendo fans to End Region Locking that not only has been taken up on social networking but also on Nintendo's own social network aka Miiverse.  For reasons shown above, this is also a huge issue because region locking is effectively segregating gamers who are more then willing to buy games if given the chance.  In the case of Operation Rainfall, it made the success of the games it was gunning to get localized go up by knowledge and word of mouth but a huge majority of the people who would of potentially bought the NA versions of the games modded their systems to import the European versions of the games or even worse, were one of the nearly 1 million people to download the game illegally in 2011 alone.

As a gamer all of this frustrates me greatly and at times it feels like only Valve understands how to do proper business with gamers.  Of course this isn't true but it does get old always having to deal with all of these problems.  The lack of backwards compatibility, the region locking problem, localization issues (Monster Hunter Frontier and Monster Hunter Portable 3rd HD anybody?), stupid hardware designs (lack of a second slider pad built in on 3DS, proprietary memory memory on Vita, low internal storage on Wii U, 360's crappy d-pad, PS3's wrong turned triggers, Wii plug in attachments on the Wiimotes, crappy battery life on the Wii U pad 3DS AND Vita), faulty hardware problems (PS3 and 360's failure rates were unbelievably high), wondering why publishers won't bring their older games out (lets talk Capcom - Breath of Fire 2 is on the Wii VC and Breath of Fire 4 is on PSN but BoF 1 and BoF 3 are nowhere to be seen, no Rival Schools or RS Project Justice to be seen, still waiting on Powerstone and Onimusha on PSN and XBLA), the segregation of hardware in order to undercut others, lack of care for making new entries in older IP from 3rd party publishers and the spam of dark mature gritty violent games that turn women into objects rather then attempting to create unique experiences at the retail level that stand out as original ideas.

Thing is, I'm getting fed up with all of this and I'm pretty sure other gamers are as well.  This could be one of the major reasons why the Ouya kickstarter was so successful as the Ouya is offering methods that are going against what the industry is trying to do.  The platform is completely open, it allows anybody to make games on it, because it's games are completely digital it won't have to worry about the used game market, it's open ended nature will kill any region locking through user mods, it will offer the same upgrading and user mod experience that you get out of PC gaming and Valve, and because it allows anybody to make games on it, companies can easily support the system with software if they so choose.  While there are some aspects of its open nature I'm not the biggest fan of, such as the emulation, the PC already offers this, anybody who mods a system can already do this, and quite frankly, like Valve said about piracy, the biggest factor and reason for people to get games illegally is because of a lack of availability which again goes back to failures on the 3 major console companies parts.  I don't support emulation or piracy, but I'm definitely ready for change at a console level and hope that the success of the Ouya and other like platforms as well as the entry of Google and Steam in the console race could help move a young and somewhat hurting industry forward.

Either way, I'll still be gaming, hopefully I'll be doing more gaming and less campaigning, and I'll continue to support the developers that make the games that I want.  In the meantime, my Ouya just came in, time to go unpack it.

Long Overdue Game Update

Once again, here I am, a good 2 months after my last blog entry, needing to write and inform and wondering why I haven't been blogging regularly.  With that said, a lot has happened that I haven't yet talked about, so again, I'm going to write about some of it and try to cover it.  This time, some of the games I've been playing.



Xenoblade Chronicles

This game is absolutely gorgeous

Xenoblade finally came out, after a very, very, VERY long wait  Yes I know, this came out back in April and yes, I've had it since launch.  I've been slacking in talking about it as well as slacking in playing it.  I was actually doing a live stream of it but due to a major SWTOR patch dropping (and my net being really nasty) I haven't gotten back to it.  With that said, this is an incredible experience and I feel I should note that and give this game some praise and notice.

First, let me go ahead and say this.  This game is by far one of the biggest and deepest RPG's I've played ever.  It easily holds its own to any RPG that came out this generation, regardless of region and is easily the biggest most robust single player experience on the Wii.  The amount of depth and thought put into this game is jaw dropping.  The soundtrack is an instant classic, the English voice acting is a lot better then I thought it would be, and if you're an Otaku, you have the option of listening to the whole game with the Japanese voices.  The environments are enormous and show off a scope not seen in any game this generation, EVEN SKYRIM.  The combat system seems simplistic at first but even 15 hours in the game, you're constantly learning new features that the combat system offers.  There's crafting in the game (yes crafting in a single player Japanese RPG) which is mostly for the "gems" but the amount of stats and effects that go into play from gems plus the fact there's several tiers of them leaves a very deep element of the game that you'll actually need a wiki or a quick gamefaqs search in order to know exactly what to do.

Gem Crafting

There's tons of side quests that have you killing tons of named mobs and exploring the world, that can seem overwhelmingly daunting because there's so many (kind of like MMO's and Elder Scrolls games) but ultimately help drastically in the items you obtain, the equipment you find, and levels.  Of course just like the crafting, you'll need to refer to a wiki or gamefaqs more then once in order to find out what you need to do and some named mob fights such as Reckless Godwin you may even need to refer to youtube gameplay vids for help.

Ultimately this game is, so far, one of the best games I've played in the past 10 years, the best JRPG I've played this gen, and easily the most bank for your buck as far as single player games go on Wii.  I can't stress how much fun this game is or how good this game is.  All you need to know is if you want to play a game where Western RPG mechanics meet a Japanese style RPG, you're wanting a very lengthy and deep single player Wii game or if you're looking for an excellent RPG regardless of platform, look no further.  If not, well, you're missing out.  I'm over 50 hours in and far from finished.  I'll be going back to this game very soon.



Kid Icarus: Uprising

Kid Icarus: Uprising box art

When Super Smash Bros Brawl was first revealed, many of us, myself included had the question "Where have I seen this angel character before?"  That's when rekindled interest in the Kid Icarus IP first started.  Fast forward to March 23 of this year, Nintendo released Kid Icarus: Uprising, which is the first new game in a series that has been dormant for over 20 years since the gameboy sequel to the original Kid Icarus.  This was a series that I never played but remember hearing about and seeing many years ago.  Ultimately what pushed this purchase over the edge for me was the inclusion of the 3D remake of the original NES title and the 3DS stand that came with a pre-order of the game.  Boy did I make a good purchase.

This game is one of the most content heavy, fully featured titles on a handheld, ever.  The voice acting is fantastic and reminds me of a Saturday morning cartoons while the music ranges from absolutely gorgeous to cheesy heroic on the fly.  The single player takes you through stages that are broken apart as part rail shooter and part 3rd person action game.  The difficulty scales from drastically easy, ultra casual friendly to insanely intense bullet hell most hardcore of the hardcore.  Along the journey, there's tons of items for collection that range from quick healing and power items to weapons and gear that you can equip to ultimately make you play different and get stronger.  I should also note, throughout the entire stage, all the major characters, whether good or bad, talk with each other constantly leaving plenty of comedy and adds a nice touch of detail to the experience that most other games can't match.

Screens of the game look better on the 3DS and in 3D

Between each level you're brought to a Super Smash Bros Brawl like menu (which is interactive and a game within itself) that lets you use an in game currency for "idol tossing" which gives you a random chance to get different unlocks, which usually have a nice description and story to them.  Also in the menu you can equip new gear, combine gear and make new gear, and you can go to a practice range to test out your equipment.  You can also equip sub items that you can use during your adventure, such as 1 use bombs, healing items and buffing items.

Like other 3DS games such as Dead or Alive Dimensions and Super Street Fighter IV: 3D Edition, the game makes very good use of the 3DS's wireless, featuring local and online multiplayer which is very well polished and addictive.  Furthermore, they implemented street pass and spot pass features that allow you to send and receive gems with people you pass by, which the gems contain the same stuff you get from the idols, which basically is more collectables and codex entrees.  Also you can fuse gems together to make more items.  They also took advantage of the systems AR features allowing you to collect cards with different gems and duke it out in 3D, which I should also note, this game has so far, the best 3D I've seen on the 3DS.  As for the AR feature, after messing with it in this game, if this catches on, I can see Pokemon being bigger then it ever was before.

Over all, this is another fantastic experience that if you can get passed the controls (which work fine to me) and you own a 3DS, I'd highly recommend it!  Very few games have this much content for only $40.



Radiant Historia

You'd be crazy to miss this one

Radiant Historia is one of the many MANY games that got completely overlooked as it's a JRPG, on the Nintendo DS, and doesn't have huge designer, publisher, or series name behind it.  Because of this, Atlus made the decision to initially make this game a limited print when it came out February 22, 2011.  However, it sold out pretty quickly, became an underground hit, and made a cult following.  Kind of like Demon Souls, the demand for the game was completely unprecedented; they never knew that it would become such a hit.  Four months after the release, the game was rare and hard to find, with amazon being the only reliable source for purchase but even there the game was going for well over $100 new and $50 used without booklet or case.  Luckily, me and many other gamers were pleasantly surprised and taken off guard when Atlus made the brave decision this February and announced that in due to high demand, they were going to reprint the game and have it available online on March 19, 2012.  Needless to say, Amazon and other stores started taking pre-orders and of course, this time, I plopped the money down.

I was sitting on this game for a long time without playing it but this August I decided to put in my 3DS and start playing it.  Boy is this game a good experience.  The graphics are reminiscent of Xenogears, the story is reminiscent of Chrono Cross/Trigger, and the battle system has an interesting grid base, not for your allies but rather the enemies.  Nothing is truly "new" about the game but it's a very well polished and extremely enjoyable experience.  One thing though that it does do different then most other games, is it has 2 simultaneous stories going on that stem from 2 separate realities from 2 separate timelines that stem from a decision you make early on in the game.  All throughout the game you can make decisions than go back to them via a time transport, which allows you to accomplish different things and alter history.  It isn't an open ended story like that of an Elder Scrolls or Bioware game but it does offer an interesting method of story telling, especially as you're constantly going back and forth between story lines in order to progress the over all game.

The time chart

The music in the game is enjoyable but far from memorable when set side to side with the 2 previous games I talked about.  It does definitely fit the game and set the mood though.  Also going back to the combat, while it doesn't feel entirely original, it does offer a very strategic and engaging experience from the typical turn based system.  Just doing attacks won't get you very far and you really have to pay attention.  The combat is consistently a lot tougher then most turn based RPG's and even after getting 50 hours in the game, I still struggle with some groups of mobs.  Expect to deplete your mana regularly.  If you're looking for a challenging and very polished RPG that's reminiscent to past PS1 and SNES games, I recommend checking this game out.  Don't wait too long either, as it can disappear again.



Heroes of Ruin

Hit or miss

In a previous blog I noted that there were many games I was anticipating.  One of them, was the overly ambitious isometric dungeon crawler action RPG, Heroes of Ruin which is made by N-Space and published by SquareEnix.  SE in recent years has been publishing more western games, which is good for them as it helps sales, keeps them competing with the giants like EA and Activision, and keeps smaller developers who's publishers may of dropped them still making games.  This game however, unlike many others, really caught my eye because of the strong online features most online RPG's, on not just handhelds but even consoles, lack and the big focus on randomized items and dungeons.

Ultimately, the randomization of the dungeons was hurt drastically by not having respawning bosses and respawning randomized dungeons for each stage.  This and of course the lack of a new game + killed the longevity of the game.  That said, there's a lot of loot with 3 main stats but a lot of sub stats, the talent tree while basic offers a lot more depth then expected, and the actual core gameplay is rock solid.  The online, while hindered by the lack of respawning content, is a lot of fun, offers voice chat, gives perks for playing with friends, tracks your stats on the website, and balances the game out to be a good mix for the levels of the players in the game.

The environments look great but the models need work

The presentation isn't really anything to write home about.  The menu's are bland and basic, the story is told in still images that only really look good in 3D, and the voice acting is nothing to write home about.  With that said, while the voice acting isn't stellar, it's better then expected and the music is pretty stunning.  Furthermore, while the models could be a lot better, the environments are gorgeous.  Over all, the game is a hit or miss.  For me, I enjoy it for what it is but it definitely lacks the polish and budget of games like Torchlight 2 and Diablo 3.



SWTOR patches 1.2 - 1.4 and Server Merges

Darth Malgus and a Jedi Master flash mob cosplay

I've written a lot about Starwars: The Old Republic.  It was easily my most anticipated game in 2011 behind only Xenoblade.  When the game launched, there was a lot of good things about the game that made it a really awesome experience, particularly while questing, however after spending a good amount of time with it, you began to start noticing certain things that really need to be changed, dropped, and added.  I actually stopped playing the game in February due to some of these problems and issues and came back a little after patch 1.2 dropped on April 12th, right during the middle of my Xenoblade playthrough.

This patch fixed 2 major problems with the game.  First and the reason why I stopped playing SWTOR, it fixed codex entrees.  During my time playing SWTOR, I really REALLY got into the story and lore of the game.  I did every quest, I watched every cutscene, and of course, I read every codex entry.  When I got mid way through Belsavis, my codex stopped working after I got a glitched out datacron.  From there my experience started getting really flat and mid way through questing on Voss, I just closed out of my account because the experience became too flat for me.  Luckily, patch 1.2 fixed this problem and rekindled my interest in the game.  The other major problem that this patch fixed was an annoying and rather troublesome problem with crewskills.  While crafting, in order for me to learn higher versions of my crafts, I need to reverse engineer them which turns items I make into materials but also has a chance of letting me learn higher end versions of my the item I'm crafting.  The problem with this was, at the time, it would roll a dice on it and usually, it would try and give you a version of the item you already know, making you have to constantly RE (reverse engineer) and use tons of materials in the process of trying to obtain the higher end recipes.  The fix basically made it so that when you RE and it lands on a version of the item you already know, it goes automatically to the next version so you're not constantly getting the same thing over and over and over.  This was a huge fix for me and when I came back, I finally got the things I've been lusting after.

All of this + broken system = not fun

Patch 1.2 wasn't all good though, as they didn't add in ranked warzones the way they said they would and do to this, many players that were holding out for it, left the game out of frustration because of the lack of it.  Also, while they introduced legacy, many of the things they shown off with legacy didn't make it to this patch (and still aren't in the game) though myself, I haven't kept up with what all that was and in the coming months after 1.2 enjoyed the crap out of 1.2 and legacy.  I should also mention, the addition of UI customization was a very nice addition for me.

Seems small but it helps a lot!

One thing I did notice was after 1.2's event and all the hold outs left, the servers became barren.  PVP queue's took sometimes upwards of 2 hours, getting a group for anything was impossible without friends, and the questing hubs felt very empty.  This spawned the need for server merges and transfers.  Right before 1.3, they started allowing people to transfer their toons from low population servers to a group of about 10 servers for higher amounts in the population.  Soon after this 1.3 dropped, which brought group finder, ranked warzones, character perks for legacy, same faction warzones, and the ability to add augment slots to your gear.  All of these were long overdue features but after the server merges and with a larger concentration of players to do stuff with, they all helped drastically.

This is a pretty accurate representation of how I felt.

Of course, soon after this we learned that the game will be going free to play and a lot of negative news came out that SWTOR is dieing but the fact of the matter is, with the server merges and the switch to the F2P model, it seems like they're making the correct moves needed to save their game.  They did a lot already to fix major problems and added missing features, most of which a good amount of people who bought the game at launch won't know they changed because they stopped playing early on.  Doing this can and most likely will rekindle interest and get people to take a second look at a game that has, since release, gotten a major face lift.

The recent patch 1.4 however, while adding more content, fails to deliver any major face lifts, which is a bit of a disappointment.  It could be because the game will soon shift to free to play and they'll soon be doing a lot of new things or it could be that they feel there isn't anything else that needs to be changed but there is still one glaring issue that I've had a problem with for a very, VERY long time and it's a PVP thing.  There are some stats in PVP that play little next to nothing in the grand scheme of things for PVP, those being accruacy, defense, shield rating, and absorption rating.  This is also do to how the game works, basically having most attacks labeled to being elemental, kinetic, and internal, rather then playing off of weapon damage, which is the only type of damage that any of those stats work with.  This is a problem imo for all aspects of the game, it makes DPS not have to worry about accuracy in PVE and PVP and it makes it so that tanks with tank stats get shredded apart in PVP.  If you're a tank, you should be able to dodge a fist, knife, and kick better then a blaster shot, which is not the case with this system.  Furthermore, an energy shield is not a middle aged big clunky piece of metal.  It should go off any time an outside force gets close, even something as small as a fly.  The fact that all these attacks don't bring up my shield generator's shield not only doesn't make any sense logically, it's also a broken system all around and needs to be fixed.  Hopefully, this will get looked at because currently, it's one of the most frustrating elements in PVP in SWTOR.  Furthermore, hopefully they fix Illum soon.

E3 and OUYA

 Wow it has been quite some time since I posted.  I need to get into the habbit of posting more regularly... I've been quite busy with a lot of stuff.  There's a lot of things right now that I want to cover, mostly because I haven't put one of these up in a long time, however to keep things at a reasonable size, I'll just go over 2 subjects.





E3

 

Was expecting more.

 
 Another year another E3.  E3 has come and gone this year and ultimately left me feeling a bit empty.  E3 was EXTREMELY underwhelming.  All 3 console companies had pretty piss poor conferences and EA's was... why?  The only conference that actually had a pretty consistent showing was Ubisofts which was good but not amazing.


Microsoft

Big stage but it lacked big exclusives and variety.

Microsoft's conference had little to no new big titles and it felt like they were beating a dead horse with Kinect.  Don't get me wrong, I'm sure Halo, Gears of War and Call of Duty will sell and do well but there needs to be more, something that feels fresh.  I will say what they shown of Halo, I was impressed, I feel they're evolving the series and they're taking it in a new, fresh direction.  As for game of the show, South Park actually ended up being the show stealer, a licensed series, and as expected, they did have me laughing.  Over all, the 3rd party's is what made Xbox's conference worth watching.  Both Splinter Cell and Tomb Raider looked great and had a great showing.  Lastly, Smart Glass was announced which looks like a cool tech innovation as it gets your phone/pad working with the 360 but ultimately, I don't see myself or many others using this.  I understand the idea of a second screen, I use 2 for PC gaming, I have a DS and 3DS, I like the idea of the Wii U's controller and using the Vita as a controller for PS3 seems fun however I want buttons AND the screen in my hand at the same time.  Having to put down 1 controller and pick up the screen constantly throughout gameplay doesn't won't make the experience more engaging and will ultimately be more cumbersome.

Halo 4 got a nice facelift and seems to be evolving!

 
They also had some downloadable and Kinect games shown off but nothing looked really impressive.  They had an on stage demo of this horrible Angry Birds esc Kinect game called Wreckateer that really did not deserve to take up stage space.  Very underwhelming conference over all though the 3rd parties looked pretty good.  They could of used other 3rd party games up there, like Borderlands 2 though I should mention Resident Evil 6 which looks decent.

Smart Glass and running with a newly announced XBLA title Ascend: New Gods.

Ubisoft

Splinter Cell Blacklist is looking very impressive!

Ubisoft's conference was easily the most well executed and the most exciting conference shown.  Gameplay was shown off for Assassin's Creed 3 which looks epic though, the Sony conference had the better of the trailers.  Splintercell Blacklist was also shown in more detail and it looks really amazing.  Even though it doesn't have the same voice actor for Sam Fisher, the gameplay in it looks fantastic and the animations are top notch.  The animations are good enough to the point they could dethrone the Uncharted series.  A really awesome trailer was shown off for Farcry 3 that displayed the hectic gameplay it'll have and gave us a little more narrative.  It was more mature and had nipples, definitely not for kids, but the game looked really awesome.

Farcry 3!  It's good to see a different, non military or scifi shooter in the mix.

There was also a very awesome demo shown off for Rayman Legends which is a Wii U exclusive.  It was easily the best on stage demo of E3 and shown off the frantic fast pace multiplayer with the Wii U interactivity.  Basically, the players playing as the actual characters use normal controllers while the Wii U tablet is used by a player who controls a helper sort of character that interacts with the stage which ultimately makes the game have an even larger emphasis on coop.  One stages displayed, that had a music theme, shown off very fast pace cooperative action and displayed a very tough, very core feeling.  The crowd was pretty hyped at it and the sounds of the demo started getting drowned in the sounds of the cheering!  This got me very excited to try this one!  I really can't wait to try it!

Rayman Legends made the crowd go wild!

The last game, easily the best ending to any of the conferences and easily the game of the show, was a new IP reveal called Watch Dogs.  The game has a modern scifi sort of theme that revolves around hackers and networks.  It shown a guy basically hacking his way into a club by using a mobile phone and getting all sorts of knowledge about the people around him using his phone alone.  It gives a whole new meaning to the phrase "there's an app for that".  The action looked pretty fun as well as the theme, while not original, is a nice change of pace from most of the games at E3.  I also liked the fact it didn't feel overly dark and felt more like an action suspense.  Around the end it gave the impression that the game is going to have online multiplayer and connect via this hacker network.  Nothing else (as far as I currently know) has come out about this explaining more details however it was extremely impressive and a great way to end a conference.

This game easily stood out at E3 this year.

EA

Wake me when it's over....

EA's show.......  Dead Space is coop... taking one of the last few "scary" series's and turning it into basically Lost Planet...  Crysis still looks gorgeous but unfortunately it's still in New York and not the Jungle....  Battlefield 3 is getting a horrible premium service....  Medal of Honor looks like a poor mans CoD....  Oh and then the usual sports and racing updates.  Huzzah...  The somewhat interesting news was Sims is going to have curvy roads, no I'm not being sarcastic.  Apparently the series never had them (I haven't really played it) and people have been wanting them for a long time.  The other somewhat interesting bit of news is SWTOR is still getting updates and Bioware has big plans for the future amidst all the controversy (I'll speak more on SWTOR in another blog).  This conference shouldn't of even happened, it's a waist of time, money and space.

Biggest news from EA.

Sony

Mr. Sony himself, Kevin Butler!

Sony actually had some pretty big announcements and some pretty big exclusives however, many of the announcements and news were not original and few of the things that they shown felt new.  They had Playstation Allstar Battle Royal which is a game that takes Playstation characters in pits them against each other in a 4 player free for all in stages that have themes from various Playstation games with Smash Bros like floating mechanics, camera style, and launching mechanics.  The game is a clear Smash Bros clone but instead of admitting it or saying that they were inspired by it, the game is getting pushed as something "new" and "original" which is pretty annoying especially considering how big Smash Bros is.

Inside the development studio behind Playstation Allstar Battle Royal

With that said, it was one of if not the best looking exclusive they shown and I'm admittedly excited about it.  Parappa the Rappa kicking, punching, and chopping Kratos and Sweet Tooth?  Fat Princess and Sly Cooper facing off smack dead in the middle of the Ratchet and Clank universe?  Yes plz!!  I should mention that when they shown the game off, it was a battle on stage using both the PS3 and the Vita playing cross platform.

Playstation Allstars Battle Royal is looking good!

Outside of Playstation All Star Battle Royal, I felt there was a lot of let down.  Like Microsoft they actually touched their motion controller which like Kinect, still hasn't proven itself to the core.  The game they shown off for Move was Wonderbook, a very bad looking story book game that was even more unimpressive then the Angry Birds esc Kinect game.  It just didn't look responsive, it looked nearly unplayable.  They shown off more of the new multiplayer God of War game.  No offense, I think they need to leave this series.  Don't get me wrong, I like it but it's a story heavy game and they already ended it.  Also the game outside of multiplayer doesn't look like its really evolved much.  There needs to be new direction if they're going to continue it and maybe a new protagonist.

No lie, this was on stage.  Why?

The other 2 major exclusive titles they shown off were The Last of Us which is made by Naughty Dog and Beyond Two Souls which is made by the people behind Heavy Rain.  Neither of these games look bad but neither of these games look original in theme and style.  Beyond Two Souls plays a lot like Heavy Rain and basically follows a girl who allegedly is possessed or can see spirits.  Thing about it is because it plays like Heavy Rain, that means you hardly play it and more or less watch it as the game is more about graphics and story.  Another problem I have with this game is the fact is it gets to that really dark, kind of more violent sort of theme that a lot of games have but it's all around a child which I find disturbing.  The other title, The Last of Us, has a very post apocalyptic theme (this style theme is getting old) but Naughty Dog somehow made the games environment absolutely gorgeous.  Also unlike Beyond Two Souls, the game is a REAL game that you actually play.  Problem, like Beyond Two Souls but even more so, the game has dark and violent theme that plays out in front of a kid.  This game however is pretty violent, like the killing and fighting is on par with what I saw from Splinter Cell.  The difference here, you're doing all of this ultra violent stuff right in front of a kid.  Not going to go elaborate on it but needless to say, though a lot of people are super excited for both of these games and the crowds went while in the Playstation conference, I was more disturbed.

A bit too disturbing for my tastes.

Over all, it felt like 3rd parties, in particular Ubisoft, stole the show at Sony's conference with 2 showings for Assassins Creed, 1 on PS3 and the other on Vita and a pretty awesome looking Farcry 3 multiplayer demo.  Also I'd like to go ahead and say this, I think Farcry 3 is a nice contrast to what most FPS's are doing and because of this, I want to play it a lot more then most the games getting pushed.  Also, I was a bit disappointed there wasn't more emphasis on Vita...  I was also saddened by the lack of Warrior's Lair which appears to be MIA.

Not enough Vita, Kaz Hirai, or Riiiiiidge Racer!

Nintendo

Nintendo's new mascot!  Nonspecific Action Figure!

Nintendo had a lot to go over.  Technically they had 2 conferences for the public, 1 press specific conference, and a Nintendo Direct (as well as a second Nintendo Direct a week or so afterwards).  The first Nintendo Direct was entirely about the Wii U and they dropped some major bombs during it.  They shown off a redesign of the Wii U controller with real analogs that have the click buttons when you press down on them, the controller screen is now bigger, the design is sleeker and made for better comfort, and it has a NFC reader in it as well as all the previous features such as a built in mic, built in camera, and gyro and motion sensing.  Also a new addition is the controller can be used as a TV remote as well.  Over all the controller is looking amazing and a lot of the features that it has are actually really cool.  They also shown off the Wii U Pro controller which look A LOT like a 360 controller shell (though I'm not complaining as the 360 controller is comfy) however I'll need to try it and see what I think as the analogs are both above the buttons and d-pad.

Wii U controller redesign.

Wii U game pad pro.  Looks an awful lot like the 360 controller (which is a good thing imo).

You can control your TV with this too!

They also shown of the Miiverse which is Nintendo's take on the systems online.  I have to admit, I am absolutely impressed.  Basically the Mii's populate the screen and gather around different software and games, showing you what people in your region are playing and doing.  There's a wall system for games where people can communicate with each other in a twitter/facebook sort of fashion.  There's voice and video chat that looks like it can happen while running whatever game as the video shown the person pause the game then go run the video chat (though I won't believe true cross gaming voice chat till I see it in action).  There's also an achievement system and the ability to comment on peoples achievements, warn people of a problem ahead, and basically give little messages all over which clearly shows inspirations fromm demon/dark souls.  Furthermore, after the Wii U launches, the Miiverse can be accessed through the 3DS, PC's, and phones making the Miiverse literally Nintendo's own social network.  Over all it looks like they're taking online seriously now and look to be taking it in the right direction.

The Miiverse in all its greatness.

The Miiverse wall forum thing.

In game Miiverse

The E3 press conference that happened a few days afterwards, was nowhere near as good as the build up from Nintendo Direct and didn't have the WOW factor.  I don't think any "completely" new IP's were shown at all and there's was very little big and unexpected games shown from Nintendo.  Pikmin 3 was shown off and looks fantastic gameplay wise, though graphics kind of look like Wii in HD, however, Pikmin isn't a game that's about graphics, it's a game about gameplay.  Anyways the game has remained the same in many ways, which isn't a bad thing as its been a while since Pikmin 2 came out.  The gameplay, look, and theme are very familiar however there are a few new pikmin and you don't play as Captain Olimar, rather you play as 4 other new Captains.  Nothing was revealed as to why Captain Olimar isn't here, or course, but it can lead to some fun story elements and gameplay.  The gameplay was shown primarily with the Wiimote and Nunchuck as those controls are the most accurate with that style game which is fine by me.  One thing that I didn't like though is Pikmin 3 will have multiplayer.... but no online...  Not that previous ones had online on gamecube (or really any other games outside of Phantasy Star Online games) however that could of and should of been there.  It could hurt the games sales, especially after such an awesome online service was shown off and pushed a couple days before.

Pikmin 3 and the legend himself, Mr. Miyamoto.

They also shown off New Super Mario Bros U which while I know a lot of people didn't like New Super Mario Bros Wii, the game sold very well and is a system seller.  Like New Super Mario Bros Wii, I can see this game being a really big key title for Nintendo.  As far as looks, it is definitely the best graphics in any of the New Super Mario Bros games and the actual style of the game is very much like Super Mario World on SNES which looked awesome mind you.  The game also was the main game they used to show off the Miiverse however whether the game will have online or not is not confirmed, which in Nintendo's case, silence could mean anything.. but usually means no.  They also took a little time to show off some first party 3DS games, such as New Super Mario Bros 2, Paper Mario: Sticker Star, and Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon.  Nothing new really.  New Super Mario Bros 2 feels a bit redundant considering there's one coming out on the Wii U and it hasn't even been a year since Super Mario 3D Land.  They also talked a little about Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion, Castlevania: Mirror of Fate, Scribblenauts Unlimited, Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance, and Lego City 3DS though nothing was shown.  What was shown though was a ton of 3rd party games on Wii U.

New Super Mario Bros. U

Scribblenauts Wii U was shown and was completely unexpected.  The game looks to take the Scribblenauts idea, theme and style and expand on it greatly.  Literally, a huge world is built around your ideas and the game has strong online multiplayer.  I'm highly looking forward to it.  Also shown off and completely unexpected was Lego City: Undercover which looks to be a Lego spoof of the GTA-esc sand box city games.  It actually looks pretty fun and I'm actually interested in it.  Zombi U was also shown off which looks to be the one game to really showcase what this controller can do.  It uses it as a way to interact with the world, a way to manage your inventory, and a your go to device.  Not enough of the game was shown off during the conference though, probably because it's a more mature title however, I'm actually highly looking forward to this one.  Along with these 3 games Batman: Arkham City was shown off and Dark Siders 2, Mass Effect 3, Tank! Tank! Tank!, Tekken Tag Tournament 2, Trine 2, Ninja Gaiden 3, Aliens: Colonial Marines, Assassins Creed 3, and Rabbids Land were all talked about.  There were also plenty of the usual fitness, dancing, and ultra casual stuff.... in particular, Sing looked pretty...... gross.  A straight Singstar's clone if you ask me.  Either way, no matter the good or bad, Nintendo is making a much bigger push for 3rd party games then ever before and things are looking better for them in this area.

Scribblenauts came completely out of nowhere.  I'm excited for this one!

The final bit shown off Nintendo Land which looks to be a mini game bundle, using the Mii's, based around a Nintendo Universe.  The on stage display of the game though did not really convey what the game had to offer or what it truly was about and over all felt underwhelming.  Unfortunately they ended the conference on this note.... well not before a cheesy firework session in Nintendo Land as Reggie left the stage.  It was a horrible way to end the press conference and left a feeling of wanting more.  This could also stem from the news that broke after E3 that Retro Studios had a game that they were going to show off but they pulled out at the last moment.  On Nintendo's own E3 page, they shown off more footage of Nintendo Land for about half an hour after the conference which made the game look a lot better but I didn't see this till after E3.  I was too busy watching GT TV do live demo's of Zombi U which looks freakin awesome and uses the controller brilliantly which should of been done on stage at the Nintendo conference and Project P-100 which is a Wii U exclusive that looks amazing.  Project P-100 is made by Platinum games and has a very actionriffic Pikmin sort of feel but for whatever reason though, it was also missing from the E3 conference.

My initial impression of this game is the one you get from looking at this image.

The 3DS conference that they had afterwards mostly felt like a rehash of known things.  Everything I mentioned earlier was shown off in greater detail.  New Super Mario Bros 2 while redundant, does offer its own feel with tons and I do mean tons of coins everywhere.  Paper Mario Sticker Star was shown off more and it looks great as well as Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon.  Castlevania had a trailer shown and it looks pretty fun.  It brings a nice 2.5d to the table.  Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion was shown more of though, honestly, it doesn't look like a full price retail game and I personally wouldn't pay $40 for it.  Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance was shown more of as well and it looks like... well.. Kingdom Hearts which isn't a bad thing.  Though it does feels very much the same as older Kingdom Hearts, even after playing the demo, the gameplay is rock solid and what we want from this style game.  Pokemon Black 2 and White 2 was also shown off and they touched how it works with the 3DS downloadable Pokemon games.  Lego Batman 2 was also shown off as well.  Ultimately nothing was shown off that couldn't of been added to Nintendo's original E3 conference.

Not enough new to justify a second conference.

E3 Last Words

Ubisoft indeed won.

I felt over all, E3 was lacking.  I miss the days of seeing Konami and Capcom having there own presentations, which they did, just not on stage.  I miss the days of more Japanese games being shown off.  I didn't like the fact they gave less space to the indie scene and put less emphasis on it.  But even more then everything that I just mentioned, I was very disappointed with Microsoft's, Sony's and Nintendo's conferences.  Both Microsoft and Sony have been on this shooters and motion games are the only things gamers want craze and its been pretty disheartening.  Sony has a huge list of awesome games just waiting to be revived from PS1 and PS2, like Parappa the Rappa, who is arguably the most talked about character in Playstation All Stars Battle Royal, but instead of going after fan favorite series's, they keep going after more mature, gory, and many times gun-riffic titles that are getting really played out.  Microsoft, while they don't have the history that Sony has, they do have quite a few IP's that could really use a revival as well.  Some from Xbox original, some from the early days of 360 and xbox live, and some from a studio they acquired called Rare.  It is so sad to see Rare's potential go to waste.  They have a ton of REALLY BIG series's that are just waiting to be revived and the lack of using those series's is doing more harm then good for Microsoft.

This is what Microsoft has Rare doing these days....

Parappa's going to be in Playstation Allstars Battle Royal but when's he getting a new game?

Vita didn't get enough screen time... and whatever happened to Warrior's Lair?

I felt over all Nintendo's news was good but the conferences were lacking.  The best information came from the Nintendo Direct, from Gametrailer's stage, from the floor, and from things that happened afterwards.  Reggie confirmed Fire Emblem Awakening off screen, which should of been an on stage announcement.  The 3DS XL was announced in a Nintendo Direct a week or 2 after the conference.  Project P-100 wasn't on Nintendo's stage, neither was the Rayman Legends Demo nor the lengthy ZombiU demo.  These are some of the biggest announcements and demo's shown off at E3 and unfortunately none of them were in the conference.  They didn't show off Heroes of Ruin gameplay which imo, should of been there.  They didn't touch The Last Story till the Nintendo Direct after E3, which should of also been on stage.  Over all, I feel that Nintendo should of cut out the needless talking from E3, such as spread sheets and sales pitches, and put the content from the 2 Nintendo Directs and the 3DS conference into the main conference as well as shown off all Wii U exclusives in detail in the conference.  If they would of done this, there conference would of been great but because they didn't many people who only pay attention to that one conference were not impressed.

The Last Story should of been shown or at least mentioned in the conference.

Heroes of Ruin should of had an on stage demo.

ZombiU deserved a lot more screen time.  It's easily the best game to showcase the new controller.

The mere mention of Fire Emblem would of also been HUGE but they waited till after the E3 conferences to announce it randomly in an interview on the floor.

The Nintendo 3DS XL should of been E3.  PERIOD!

Project P-100 was one of the biggest surprises and was one of the most awesome looking new IP's at E3, yet it wasn't in Nintendo's conference...

I felt that this E3 was very stale and that console gaming is feeling pretty stagnant.  If it was for Ubisoft, E3 would of been total a bust.  I also feel that E3 needs to showcase more foreign and indie games, not just the big titles.  Because they didn't, we were left with one of the worst E3's over all.

Ubisoft dropped major bombs on E3.  Assassins Creed stole the limelight more then once.

OUYA

Here comes a new challenger!

This month, 1 month after E3, one of the biggest pieces of gaming news has hit which the announcement of this alone at E3 could of changed the entire outlook of it.  A new gaming console called OUYA was announced out of nowhere.  It's powered by the Android operating system, uses a Tegra 3 chip, and wants to bring the free to play model, the indie experience, and the modding community to consoles by making the system an open platform and letting basically anybody develop for it.  The system also is only going to cost $99.  The kicker here is the system is not being backed by the big investors nor the publishers and has gone to kickstarter to raise the money needed ($950,000) to get going.  It reached that goal in a matter of hours and in 1 day reached over 2 million dollars and made a lot of supporters.  As of right now, as I type, they have over 36,000 backers and they have gotten over 4.6 million dollars in pledges.  This is amazing considering the kickstarter has 25 days till it ends.  The splash this system made while not mainstream, is huge.

This is the console size compared to the PS3 and 360.

I'm very interested in this.  One of the major problems with this generation of systems is the fact the systems are so closed off.  There have been some major games that have come out in other regions that me and like minded gamers wanted to play, like Monster Hunter Frontier, Disaster Day of Crysis, Fatal Frame 4, Toshinden Wii, and plenty of other games that never came out in NA and some that we had to fight tooth and nail to get like Xenoblade and The Last Story which are games from pretty big name designers and design teams. 

The idea that region locking in this day and age is good for business is a complete load of crap.  Region locking is only good IF YOU LOCALIZE YOUR PRODUCTS!!!

Because 360 and Wii are region locked and you can't easily import games, you either need to get an imported console or mod your system which modding is very bad for 360 and Wii users.  On 360, Microsoft is constantly doing scans banning peoples accounts from Xbox Live (their payed online service), banning peoples consoles, and sometimes even their IP's which basically kills the point in modding as many 360 games are about the online.  On Wii it's even worse, if you mod your system, you can easily brick your system (break it) and if you don't but you're still going online regularly after modding, Nintendo will brick your system in a forced update.  To add to this, if you get around the updates but lets say you bought a ton of games in Wii's online store and your system breaks or goes out, those games you bought are now permanently lost as the games bind to your system and not an account... and well, Nintendo IS NOT going to help anybody who tampered with the system regardless of purpose.

Here's a list of the most Pirated games of 2011.  Xenoblade is arguably a much smaller name but manages to come in #3 do to taking too long to get localized (or rather players not knowing it would get localized) and region locking....

The PS3 thankfully doesn't have region locking however it also has its fair share of problems, like the crazy PSN outage that happened last year from hackers taking down their unsecure online service and the updates that take away features that were originaly put on the system.  The platform is a lot more open then either 360 or Wii but still, developers face a high entry fee regardless of console and legally, there is no modding community.

The creators of OUYA WANT you to hack and mod as it is what has been the driving creative force behind gaming for years.

This is where OUYA can easily outshine the current consoles.  Encouraging modding and hacking means user made translations for Japanese games that the developers can't (or rather publishers won't) bring over, DOTA/Tower Defense and Counter Strike like start ups except on a console, and even strong indie games and game school projects that can go straight to a console without the stupid politics and ridiculous prices of the current console companies.  The possibilities of this system are huge!  A platform like this could really change the console gaming industry and in a good way.  Hopefully, this system comes out and they do things right!