Friday, August 31, 2012

On the Download: August 26-September 1

Well it is the last weekly edition of On the Download for a while.  It has been a lot of fun to put the spotlight on all these unique and incredibly interesting downloadable titles that release weekly and even daily for the PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, 3DS, iDevices and PC.  Downloadable games have made their mark in the video game industry these past few years by standing toe-to-toe with even the biggest of triple A console or PC titles.  Some of the most innovative and inventive experiences in video games today come from these smaller downloadable titles.  I have really enjoyed writing On the Download on a regular basis and giving a spotlight to these games that many gamers overlook.  It has been one of my favourite weekly posts to write here on Silver Bit and I hope you all enjoyed reading it.

Now that I am done with the little farewell for now speech, let us get down to business.  Got a packed week of downloadable games to talk about.  Two games I want to talk about quickly here in the intro and the other two I will get into more detail below.  First, this week Telltale Games released the third episode in their Walking Dead adventure series called The Long Road Ahead.  Decisions from the earlier episodes affect the events of The Long Road Ahead and pave a way for new long-lasting decisions that will affect future episodes in the series.  The third episode of Telltale's The Walking Dead game is available on PSN, XBLA and PC for 5 dollars.  The second game I want to mention here is the iOS port of Bastion.  Coming completely out of right field, Supergiant Games announced the game earlier in the week only to release it for iOS this past Thursday.  Easily one of the best downloadable games of 2011 has been re-imagined to work on the iPad.  Bastion only works on iPad 2 or higher and costs 5 dollars.  If you missed out on this remarkable game last year and own one of the newer iPad models, Bastion is a no-brainer.  Download it right now!  It is that good.
For a while there it looked like Rock Band and much of the rhythm game genre was dead, thanks to an over saturation of Rock Band and Guitar Hero games from EA and Activision.  With games like Audiosurf and Symphony trying to revitalize this genre through the downloadable game space, Harmonix has decided to bring Rock Band to the downloadable space with Rock Band Blitz.  Unlike the core Rock Band games for console, Rock Band Blitz does not use special peripherals to play the game. In Rock Band Blitz, you will use the regular controller to switch between each instrument lane and match notes in one of the game's 25 songs, which is very similar to Harmonix's older rhythm games such as Frequency and Amplitude.  Rock Band Blitz offer the same Rock Band gameplay, now all just for single-player.  Without much of a campaign, the main drive to play Rock Band Blitz is due to the online leaderboards,which tracks your top scores on each song.  In addition to the 25 songs that come with Rock Band Blitz, gamers are able to import any song they have for Rock Band 3.  Rock Band Blitz is now available for PSN and XBLA for 15 dollars or 1200 Microsoft Points.
Mass Effect is a huge series with one of the most expansive universes in video game history.  To extend the life of their RPG epic and provide more insight into the rich mythology of this universe, BioWare has developed the Leviathan DLC for Mass Effect 3.  The Leviathan DLC takes place before the final mission on Earth and dives into the dark history of the Reapers.  Commander Shepard hears reports of something lurking in the dark corners of space.  That something being powerful enough to single-handedly slay a Reaper.  What is this powerful being, this leviathan of sorts and is it friend or foe?  It is up to Shepard and his crew of the Normandy to find that out.  Leviathan expands on the events of Mass Effect 3 and provides new characters to interact with, new pieces of information on the mythology to chew on and new weapons and upgrades to play with.  For those not ignorant enough to abandon Mass Effect 3 because of the polarizing ending and want to dive back into this incredible game, you can pick Leviathan for PC, PSN and XLBA for 10 dollars or 800 Microsoft Points.

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Hump Day Video: Transformers: Fall of Cybertron Credits

Monday afternoon immediately after I got home from work, I played through the final three missions of Transformers: Fall of Cybertron campaign.  I beat Fall of Cybertron just a week after my brother bought the game and I have to say that was one hell of an experience.  I will be putting up my review of Fall of Cybertron this Friday here on Silver Bit.  Just need to play some multi-player, but so far this game is definitely worth the 60 dollar price point with the campaign alone.  Easily one of the best game of the summer and one of my personal favourite games of the year.  The final days of Cybertron are an experience that all gamers should take time to play.

Considering the title of this post is Hump Day Video, I should share a video with you today.  Seeing as I recently beat Transformers: Fall of Cybertron, this video comes from the game.  After the rather abrupt ending, which I will get more into in my review, you are treated one of the best credits in the video game industry.  You are greeted with High Moon Studios' logo and Optimus Prime's booming voice which says "Til All are One!"  That takes us right into shots of Fall of Cybertron's beautifully rendered environments set to Stan Bush's "The Touch."  Then the song slows as we see Cliffjumper and Jazz perform the most epic fist bump of all time.  This fist bump leads into the more straight forward credits with a black background.  Every once and a while, Transformers interact in the corners.  From the Dinobots just strolling along to Cliffjumper getting chased by an Insecticon, this little scenes are very amusing and will easily put a smile on anybodies' face.  My personal favourite scene sees Metroplex playing with playing with two Decepticons like they are action figures.  Much like War for Cybertron's credits, which I will also be sharing below, Fall of Cybertron's credits are highly entertaining, not overly long and drawn out and show how much the developers love this product and franchise down.  For an overly serious and dark game, it is very nice that the developers can take a step back and make a credits that is very light hearted and funny.  A great way to end this highly polished and incredibly fun game.  Hope you enjoy these videos.



Launch Station: Guild Wars 2

Madden NFL 13 and all those PlayStation game collections were not the only games released Tuesday.  Tuesday saw the release of a highly anticipated MMORPG, Guild Wars 2.  Guild Wars 2 is possibly the only MMO that could give Blizzard's MMO giant World of Warcraft a run for it's money.  With huge improvements and no monthly subscription, Guild Wars 2 looks to be the MMORPG experience not to miss this year.

Guild Wars 2 is set 250 years after the original game.  In that time, the world of Tyria has faced massive changes, devastating cataclysms and other huge global events that have caused big changes to Guild Wars 2's environments and play areas.  Humans are no longer the dominant species as the balance has shifted to towards the many other races inhabiting Tyria.  To make things worse, dragons have awoken from their slumber to wreak habit on the world.  You, the player, are tasked with reuniting the disbanded Destiny's Edge guild in order to combat the dragon threat.  At the outset of Guild Wars 2, players are able to create their own character from a combination of five races (humans, charr, asura, norn and sylvari) and eight professions (engineer, necromancer, thief, elementalist, warrior, ranger, mesmer and guardian).  Each race and profession have different attributes that effect which skills the player has access to.  Guild Wars 2 combat system is very skill-based, so players can only use 10 skills in combat.  Each skill slot has predefined roles in order to make each character balanced and have the combat focus more on strategy than just spamming certain skills.  Guild Wars 2 also includes a higher level cap of 80, a more elaborate crafting system and a World PvP that players can jump into at anytime and play anybody in the world.

Not everybody enjoys playing MMOs, but the original Guild Wars and in turn Guild Wars 2 offers a lower barrier of entry thanks to the game having no monthly subscription.  All you have to do to play Guild Wars 2 is just buy the base game in store or online and you are ready to go.  It is very appealing especially for people like yours truly whose biggest reason for not playing many MMOs was due to the monthly subscriptions.  I personally will not be picking up Guild Wars 2 because there is no way my computer could run it, but possibly someday down the road.  Blizzard and World of Warcraft have some serious competition in NCSoft and ArenaNet's Guild Wars 2.  We will have to see who wins out, but I believe it is time for a changing of the guard.

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Launch Station: PlayStation Game Collections

Yes, it is Madden day, but I do not enjoy doing sports game previews.  There is not much to talk to about other than the incremental improvements that I honestly do not care about.  If you are a football fan, you have probably already bought Madden NFL 13 and have been playing it for the past 24 hours.  You do not need my preview.  Instead of highlighting the umpteenth edition of Madden NFL, I am going to highlight the four, yes four, game collections that Sony released this Tuesday for the PS3.  These games are going for 30 to 40 dollars and include 3 full games at the least.  If you missed any of these games the first time around, these are the collections that you should definitely pick up no ifs, ands or buts.
This collection brings us all the way back to the PS2 days.  The days where Sony had three mascot platformers all competing for your attention in Jak and Daxter, Sly Cooper and Ratchet and Clank.  While Jak and Sly have gotten their times to shine in the HD Collection high, Sony fans have waited quite a long time to see Insomniac's beloved characters join the party.  The Ratchet and Clank Collection runs 30 dollars and includes the first three Ratchet and Clank games (Ratchet and Clank, Going Commando and Up Your Arsenal), a 10th Anniversary Ratchet and Clank Avatar item and early access to the Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time demo.  Along with the obvious HD upgrade to the graphics, there is trophy support for each game and online multi-player exclusively for Up Your Arsenal.
After Sucker Punch made a name for itself with Sly Cooper, this team moved onto the more mature darker superhero game in the Infamous series.  For being a new IP when it released in 2009, Infamous did very well.  Enough to get a sequel in 2011 and a special Halloween-themed DLC.  For those who missed out on this series when it first released, they should look no further than the Infamous Collection.  The Infamous Collection includes both Infamous 1 and 2, the Festival of Blood DLC and all other extra DLC missions, costumes and weapons all for 40 dollars.
Easily the most bang for your buck, God of War Saga includes the entirety of the God of War series leading up to the release of God of War: Ascension next year.  There are five games packed onto one disc for only 40 dollars.  You get God of War 1, 2, 3, Chains of Olympus and Ghosts of Sparta.  Five high quality incredibly cinematic hack-and-slash action game classics that has spanned the PS2, PSP and PS3.  On top of that the God of War Saga includes exclusive bonus content and a one month trial of PlayStation Plus, which is also included in the Infamous Collection.
thatgamecompany has made a name for themselves by releasing incredibly unique and artistically splendid downloadable games exclusively for the PS3.  Their latest effort Journey made waves in the video game industry when it released earlier this March, which easily made it one of the highest selling PSN game of all-time.  Capturing the hearts of many including yours truly, Journey is one of the video games you have to, and I emphasize have to, experience this year.  There is no way to not to experience now considering Sony and thatgamecompany just released the Journey Collector's Edition for the amazingly affordable price of 30 dollars.  The Journey Collector's Edition does not just include Journey.  You get Flow and Flower, thatgamecompany's previous games, three game prototypes created during thatgamecompany's Game Jam and art galleries, commentaries and soundtracks for Journey, Flower and Flow.  That is not all as this package also includes exclusive PSN avatars and a one month trial for PlayStation Plus.

Saturday, August 25, 2012

Bit by Bit: August 19-25

Well I have entered the last week of regular posting as it is the final week of August.  It is funny how the summer has gone so fast and school is coming so quickly.  I have one more busy week of blogging which will be capped off by a post next Saturday on the future of Silver Bit.  It should be an exciting week and considering I do not work evenings, let us make the final week of August the best week we can.

Game of the Week
Last Story, Transformers.  Transformers, Last Story.  Which one to choose for Game of the Week?  For some it might be a big dilemma, for me not so much.  I have played a considerable amount of The Last Story and I am enjoying it.  The starting of The Last Story was fine, but did not draw me in as much as an early story quest to retrieve medicine from a group of bandits.  Once I got past that mission, The Last Story has got me hooked with the story and gameplay and I will definitely be playing it in the weeks to come.  The Last Story would easily win Game of the Week if not for Transformers: Fall of Cybertron.  The more I play Fall of Cybertron, the more I fall in love with it.  While I have not tackled the multi-player, Fall of Cybertron's campaign is absolutely amazing.  The levels may come off as a little too linear, the amount of variety packed in these levels is just incredible.  There is always something new around the corner for you to experience from commanding a massive city-sized Autobot to playing as the indestructible ultimate form of the Combaticons known as Bruticus.  Two of my top highlights of Fall of Cybertron's campaign so far are the Cliffjumper and Jazz levels, which have a heavier focus more on stealth and platforming over the regular shooter gameplay.  In my opinion, Transformers: Fall of Cybertron has improved on the foundation High Moon Studios laid down with War of Cybertron in every way possible creating easily the greatest Transformers game of all-time.  If you are still on the fence, I highly recommend you get off it and pick up a copy of Transformers: Fall of Cybertron.  You will be happy that you did.

Most Anticipated Game of the Week
While I am very much looking forward to the Journey Collector's Edition, which releases this coming Tuesday, my Most Anticipated Game of the Week goes to the new piece of Mass Effect 3 story DLC, Leviathan that also releases Tuesday.  The Leviathan DLC has Commander Shepard and his team explore the corners of the galaxy to find a rogue Reaper called Leviathan.  In this DLC, Shepard discovers more about the dark origins of the Reapers, explore new uncharted planets, interact with new characters and dive into the deep depths inside a mech.  It is more Mass Effect goodness for 10 dollars. Considering I am buying the Journey Collector's Edition this week and picked up a few big video game books this past week, I might pass on Leviathan for the time being, but that does not mean I cannot be excited for this new extension to my favourite game of 2012.



Video of the Week
Let me introduce to you the newest show by The Completionist called Here Comes a New Challenger. In Here Comes a New Challenger, Jirard reviews new releases, be it an indie game or a Triple A title, to see if they are worth your hard earned cash.  Here Comes a New Challenger does not focus on completing the games being reviewed, but experiencing enough of the game to give a fair analysis of the game.  The first game to take the challenge is none other than Symphony!  Yes, that downloadable game I talked about a few weeks back.  Here is another opinion on the game for those that may still be on the fence.  It is a very good review and I do look forward to seeing more of Here Comes a New Challenger reviews in the future.

Friday, August 24, 2012

The Power is Over: The End of Nintendo Power

This past Tuesday rumours surfaced around the net that Nintendo would not be renewing their deal with Future US to continue Nintendo Power.  While at first it was just a lot of speculation, the rumour was confirmed on Wednesday by Nintendo of America, Nintendo Power web site and many Nintendo Power editors.  The publication will end production with the December 2012 issue, which will release on newsstands December 4, 2012.

Easily the longest running video game magazine in existence, it is very sad to see Nintendo Power go.  Personally this year marked the first time I ever picked up an issue of Nintendo Power.  After buying each and every issue for a good year, I decided to get a subscription with Nintendo Power for Christmas from my parents back in 2002.  A subscription that will have lasted exactly a decade from this December.  For me, Nintendo Power was my introduction to incredible world of print magazines.  Reading a monthly anthology of information on my favourite hobby and my favourite video game company in the world just blew my mind.  I was hooked into looking through each and every issue cover to cover and reading the articles that I wanted to.  Eventually when I grew older, I started reading every magazine I bought cover to cover.  If it was not for Nintendo Power, I would never be the gamer that I am today, I would have never pursued a career making video game, I would have never started reading and eventually subscribe to EGM and Game Informer and I would have never gotten through a lot of difficult things in my life.  Getting a new issue of Nintendo Power in the mail was always a great moment that will be severely missed this coming January.  I really owe a lot to this magazine and its' editors for providing me with the quintessential information about anything Nintendo-related.

All I can say is thank you, Nintendo Power and all your editors throughout the years for providing me and many others with an incredible amount of memories.  I would love to find a way to keep you going for as long as possible, but that is not reality.  Reality is that Nintendo Power like a lot of printed media is coming to an end and there is nothing we can do about it.  With the dawn of the internet, tablets and suped-up mobile devices, it is hard for tactile-printed media to compete with the flexibility of digital media.  Sad thing is I expect to see more magazines either close shop or go digital-only in the coming years.  All we can do now is show our support and make the last few issues the best issues in the publications existence.  Again thank you and farewell Nintendo Power.
My favourite issue of Nintendo Power.

On the Download: Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

It looks like when the big retail releases start coming in force at the end of the summer, the downloadable games start to trickle.  That is not a big problem consider what released this week.  Valve has brought the return of the king of competitive shooters in Counter-Strike.  Easily keeping the attention of many gamers for the weeks, months and possibly years to come.  There are still a lot of people that play the original Counter-Strike and that game is over a decade old.  Another noteworthy downloadable release this week is Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II has finally released for Steam.  As a big fan of the original Knights of the Old Republic, I have personally been waiting for this game to be released on Steam for the last few years and very excited to pick it up in the near future.  Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II is available on Steam for 10 dollars if anybody is interested in picking it up.
After 12 long years, Valve has made a full-on sequel to their ever-popular Half-Life mod, Counter-Strike.  Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is an online first-person shooter that focuses on skillful team-based gameplay.  Each match allows players to play either a Terrorist or Counter-Terrorist.  The goal of a round is to either complete the designated objective or eliminating the opposing team.  In each round, the player is given one life.  If you die, you must wait until the next round to respawn.  Between rounds, players are able to purchase weapons and equipment using the money earned during the round. You earn money by completing objectives and killing enemies and you lose money by killing a teammate or hostage (accident or not).  Global Offensive features new game modes, new maps and new weapons and equipment for players to indulge in.  Along with all the new stuff packed in Global Offensive, Valve has added updated versions of classic Counter-Strike maps, game modes, weapons and equipment such as de_dust.  If you want to join in huge multi-player experience that is Counter-Strike, Counter-Strike is available on Steam, XBLA and PSN for 15 dollars or 1200 Microsoft Points.

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Hump Day Music: Awesomenauts Theme Song

Never has there been a theme song so, dare I say, awesome, pun fully intended, than the theme song for Awesomenauts.  The whole reason I first became interested in Awesomenauts when it was showed off way back at E3 2011 was because of this epic theme song.  I would watch Awesomenauts' first trailer over and over again only to listen to the less than one minute snippet of this incredibly infectious song.  For the longest of times, all gamers heard of the Awesomenauts theme song was the snippets that played during every trailer for the game.  With the release of the full game for XBLA, PSN and PC, Ronimo Games has released the full theme song for download on the Awesomenauts web site.  The song is free to download only after promoting the game through Facebook or Twitter, an incredibly inexpensive way of getting a song and giving Ronimo Games some publicity.

The first time I listened to the Awesomenauts theme song, I loved it.  It is an incredibly infectious song that is very reminiscent of an old 80s cartoon theme song.  It is so simply and repetitive that it gets ingrained in your head.  Before you know it, you are humming the song wherever you go and singing along whenever you hear the song playing.  Personally I can listen to this song for hours on end and never grow tired of it.  The Awesomenauts theme song is that damn good.  So please take the time to listen to this gem of a song and if you like it download the song from the Awesomenauts web site.

Hump Day Music: Rocket Knight Adventures Stage 5A

Well I did not get around to writing anything on Monday.  Once I got home from work, I fell asleep for a good two and a half hours then spent the rest of the night playing The Last Story and watching Raw.  To say the least, I did not get around or feel up to writing a blog post on Monday.  To make up for skipping Monday, I have decided to do two Hump Day Musics today.

On Monday, I was on Game Trailers and found a new Video Game Vault from the guys over at Screwattack.  This Video Game Vault was on Sparkster: Rocket Knights Adventure 2 for the Sega Genesis.  After watching this video, I got very nostalgic for Konami's jet pack wearing opossum.  Having played and loved the original Rocket Knights Adventure and the new Rocket Knight downloadable game, I started listening to some music from the game.  Today, I would like to share with you one of my favourite tracks from Rocket Knight Adventures from my favourite level in the game.

Every piece of music in Rocket Knight Adventures is amazing, but this piece stands above the rest in my opinion because of how great it accentuates the gameplay.  Stage 5 starts with Sparkster making his charge right into the base of his nemesis, Axel Gear.  Flying across the sky above the base, Sparkster is bombarded by missiles, balloon-hoisted pigs and a few other robotic contraptions.  It is one epic introduction to this hostile environment and one of the many highlights of this incredible game.  The music really makes this gaming moment really shine in my heart.  The music really gets the desperation of the situation.  Sparkster is so motivated to save Princess Sherry from Axel Gear that he will fly head first into the most hostile of areas to save her.  The track fits in the environment so well as it feels very industrial and rigid.  It really gets your blood pumping especially when you are playing it.  One incredible track for one incredible level.

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Launch Station: Transformers: Fall of Cybertron

It has taken a while, but Transformers: Fall of Cybertron is here.  The biggest and most anticipated Transformers game in existence.  The never-ending war between the Autobots and the Decepticons rages on in High Moon Studios' incredibly ambitious sequel to their universally revered War for Cybertron game.  Unless you are the most cynical of Transformers fans or dumb enough to believe the Michael Bay universe is the definitive Transformers lore, there is no real Transformers fan that is not excited for this game.  While personally I did not grow up with G1 (I grew up with Beast Wars), I have the biggest respect for all these characters and this world that to finally see a developer in High Moon Studios do this beloved series justice in the media of video games makes this fan very happy.

Transformers: Fall of Cybertron picks up immediately after the events of War for Cybertron.  The civil war between the Autobots and Decepticons over control of their home world, Cybertron has escalated to a disastrous scale.  After Megatron infected Cybertron's core with the dreaded Dark Energon, Cybertron can no longer produce the Energon needed for the Transformers to survive on their home world.  The only hope for the Transformers to survive is to leave their planet in search of a new home.  Fall of Cybertron follows the events leading up to the Transformers' exodus from Cybertron.  The main mode in Fall of Cybertron is the campaign.  In the campaign, you play 12 lengthy missions split up between Autobots and Decepticons.  Each mission is tailored to a different Transformer that has specific abilities in order to offer more variety to the campaign.  Fall of Cybertron features fully-fledged co-op and competitive multi-player modes.  The co-op multi-player is called Escalation and it serves as wave defense horde-like mode.  The competitive multi-player has players competing in deathmatch and capture the flag-like modes.  The multi-player includes a huge character creation tool that allows players to create their own Transformer out of the parts they gain from playing multi-player.

Personally, I have been excited for Transformers: Fall of Cybertron since Optimus Prime and Grimlock graced the cover of Game Informer back in November 2011.  Over the past nine months since the announcement, my anticipation for this game has been building with every preview and trailer to be released along the way.  I am soo excited to play Fall of Cybertron that I want to play as much of the game as I can before I start school in September.  Transformers fan or not, Fall of Cybertron looks to be an incredibly polished game experience from the excellent developers at High Moon Studios.  If you are looking for a game to pick up this August, Transformers: Fall of Cybertron should be among your top choices.

Saturday, August 18, 2012

Bit by Bit: August 12-18

Working the evening shift almost every single day this past week did not give me much time to play many games this week sadly.  I did get enough time to blog each day and follow up on all the news at least.  The pay check is good, but there are some times when you just want to sit back, relax and enjoy playing.  With only a few shifts at my one job this week, I cannot wait to spend some quality time with The Last Story, which I just picked up today due to some delays shipping the game out for Tuesday, and Transformers: Fall of Cybertron, which I will get to in a bit.

Purchase of the Week
Considering the shipment for The Last Story only arrived at EB Games today, I have not gotten a chance to play the game at all.  What I can talk about though is all the extras that came with the game.  The packaging for The Last Story is just incredibly beautiful and well made.  The art book is not the most comprehensive anthology of the game's concept art, but it is a great accompanying book to The Last Story.  While The Last Story Premium Soundtrack that you get for pre-ordering the game does not have every track in found in The Last Story, seven tracks composed by the legendary Nobuo Uematsuis better than none at all.  Even though it did take a little longer to get the game than I had hoped, I am very impressed with the love and care Xseed Games took in making the North American release of The Last Story feel special.  It makes me feel a little disappointed that Xenoblade Chronicles did not receive the same treatment when it released this past April.  Thank you, Xseed Games for publishing this great Wii RPG for us, North Americans.

Most Anticipated Game of the Week
If there is one game that I am excited to play more than The Last Story, it is Transformers: Fall of Cybertron.  Being a huge Transformers fans since I watched my first episode of Beast Wars, the fact that there is a Transformers game that does the franchise justice in War for Cybertron is just incredible.  The fact that come this Tuesday, there will be two Transformers games that do the franchise the justice it rightfully deserves considering how some people, namely Michael Bay, has treated the franchise as of late.  I am so excited for Transformers: Fall of Cybertron that I have an inkling that it could be one of my top games of 2012.  We will have to see come Tuesday when the Transformers transform and roll out onto our consoles.

Video of the Week
Going right in line with my excitement for the release of Transformers: Fall of Cybertron, the Video of the Week goes to the launch trailer for Fall of Cybertron.  It is a great trailer that highlights this epic tale of the Transformers' last days on Cybertron and possibly arrival on a planet we all know and love called Earth.  For those who missed my Hump Day Video, I highly recommend that you also check out the trailer and gameplay footage for Capcom's newest IP, Remember Me.  Right now, let us enjoy some Transformers awesomeness.

Thursday, August 16, 2012

Launch Station: New Super Mario Bros. 2

Back in 2006, Nintendo revitalized classic 2D side-scrolling Mario with New Super Mario Bros. for the Nintendo DS.  New Super Mario Bros. was so popular for Nintendo that they brought it to the Wii in 2009.  Now 2012 marks a rare occasion that sees two 2D side-scrolling Mario games release in the same year, New Super Mario Bros. 2 and New Super Mario Bros. U.  Today, we are looking at the direct sequel to New Super Mario Bros. for the original DS, New Super Mario Bros. 2.  While New Super Mario Bros. 2 does mark the first 3DS entry of this type of Mario game, New Super Mario Bros. 2 is also the first 3DS game to release in both digital and physical forms simultaneously.  Come midnight Sunday, you will be able to download New Super Mario Bros. 2 from the Nintendo eShop for the same price as the retail copy of the game will be sold for.  While quite late in the game, it is a pretty big step in the right direction for Nintendo to say the least.

Bowser has kidnapped Princess Peach yet again and it is up to the Mario Brothers to save the monarch of the Mushroom Kingdom once again.  There is a huge emphasis on coin collecting in New Super Mario Bros. 2.  While your main goal like all Mario games is the save Princess Peach, the ultimate goal of New Super Mario Bros. 2 is to collect one million coins.  There are a few new items such as the Gold Flower and the Gold Block to help produce large amounts of coins for Mario and Luigi to collect.      Aside from the main game, there is the new Gold Rush mode for gamers to sink their teeth into.  In Gold Rush mode, you play a set of three levels collecting as many coins as you can possibly collect with one life and challenge other gamers to beat your high score through StreetPass.  Sometime after the release of New Super Mario Bros. 2, Nintendo will be releasing brand new levels to play in Coin Rush mode that you can buy as DLC.  As long as you have two copies of New Super Mario Bros. 2, you can play two player co-op throughout the entire game.

When Nintendo first announced New Super Mario Bros. 2 back in April, I was very excited for a brand new entry in the New Super Mario Bros. series.  Come August, I not as excited as I once was.  The more I have seen of the newest Mario side-scrollers, the more it feels like the same.  Do I plan of ever picking up New Super Mario Bros. 2?  Yes, I do plan on picking it up, just not now.  I have other big games to pick up this month and sadly New Super Mario Bros. 2 does not fit into the equation.  As much as I love classic side-scrolling Mario games, it is time for Nintendo to shake things up before I really get excited for another one.  Everything here is just one mans' opinion.  If you are looking for a 3DS game that will certainly be worth the money or just a big Mario fan, definitely pick up New Super Mario Bros. 2.  You can never go wrong with Mario.

On the Download: August 12-18

The new game releases keep on rolling.  There were some big retail releases this week in Darksiders II and Sleeping Dogs and some big downloadable releases in Papo & Yo and Dust: An Elysian Tail, which I will be highlighting today in On the Download.  As I have nothing more to say, let us get on with the show.
Sony's Play promotion continues to roll on with a unique downloadable adventure game from Minority Media, Papo & Yo.  In Papo & Yo, you play as a young boy named Quico, who is accompanied by his best friend Monster.  Monster is a huge beast that has a problematic addiction to poisonous frogs.  Whenever Monster sees a frog, he immediately gobbles it up thus sending the beast into an intoxicated rage where no one including Quico is save.  Due to the bond between the two, it is up to Quico to help his best friend kick this dangerous habit.  In order to solve the puzzles in the game and further the adventure for a cure, Quico must work together with Monster and learn to use the beast's emotions, both good and bad, to their advantage.  Papo & Yo is a deep gaming experience that is directly influenced by creative director Vander Caballero's troubled relationship with his alcoholic father.  It is a really inspiring story for a game and an unique adventure that those interested in taking should make an effort to download Papo & Yo.  You can Papo & Yo from the PlayStation Store for 15 dollars.
Another year, another Summer of Arcade has come and gone.  It has been a very diverse month of games released exclusively for XBLA.  The final game in this year's Summer of Arcade is Dust:  An Elysian Tail.  Made entirely by one person, Dust is a 2D action RPG where you play as an mysterious adventurer on a quest to liberate an oppressed village and in turn find his true identity.  This mysterious adventurer goes by the name Dust and is aided by the ancient Blade of Ahrah and his sidekick, Fidget.  The world of Falana is a massive open world that encourages gamers to explore, take on many side-quests, discover the many secrets of Falana and master the real-time combat system that rewards skilled players and discourages button-mashing.  All the content packed into Dust: An Elysian Tail is suppose to take 20+ hours to complete.  So if you are a gamer looking for a long action RPG to dive into this summer, you can pick up Dust: An Elysian Tail for 1200 Microsoft Points.

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Hump Day Video: Remember Me

For the past few years, Germany's Gamescom has become one of the big video game conventions of the year.  While it may not be as popular as E3, there are quite a few big announcements saved for this August convention.  With EA, Capcom and Sony having their big press conferences at the event yesterday, there is already quite a bit palpable gaming news from the event such as release dates for upcoming games and announcements for a slew of Vita and PSN games.  Even companies like Activision and Microsoft are showing off some new stuff for their big games this holiday as both Call of Duty: Black Ops II and Halo 4 are getting their full multi-player reveals at Gamescom.  There is even a rumour floating around that the next Half-Life game will be revealed at Gamescom.

Out of all the stuff revealed these first couple of days at Gamescom, it is a new IP from Capcom that has caught the eyes of many gamers including yours truly.  Published by Capcom and developed by a French studio known as Dontnod Entertainment, Remember Me is an action game set in a futuristic Paris.  In this future, everybody has brain implants that control and store their memories.  While these implants are used to govern a person's memories, they can in turn be hacked by outside forces.  The protagonist of Remember Me, Nilin is a former memory hunter that has been betrayed by her former employer and left with no memories whatsoever.  Remember Me has a very interesting premise that has futuristic Mirror's Edge/Deus Ex vibe to it.  I cannot wait to see more of Remember Me in the months leading up to its May 2013 release for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC.  Right now, I got the announcement trailer and first gameplay footage of Remember Me so you guys can see why you should be excited for Remember Me.



Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Launch Station: Darksiders II

At the beginning of 2010, the original Darksiders took many people by surprise.  While Darksiders did borrow heavily from God of War and The Legend of Zelda, it had enough of a new atmosphere, setting, characters and interesting level design to capture the hearts of many gamers.  At first, I was not anywhere close to interested in Darksiders as I thought it borrowed too much from God of War and The Legend of Zelda to stand on its' own.  Once I played the demo, the opinion made a complete 180 and fell in love with this incredible series to the point that Darksiders II will be one of the first games I pick up for the Wii U once it comes out later this year.

Unlike your regular sequel, the story of Darksiders II runs parallel to the story of the first Darksiders.  Only this time around, you control Death, one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, on his quest to  restore mankind and clear the name of his brother War, the protagonist of the first Darksiders.  Death is very different character than War.  Death focuses more on speed, magic and quick feats of raw power than the slow pace and brute force of War.  While Death's primary weapons are his two scythes, he is able to switch between other weapons at a lightning quick pace, which makes it easy to set-up huge combos.  Darksiders II is set in the Nether Realms, which is a massive open world that is easily multiple times bigger than the firs Darksiders.  Death is able to explore the Nether Realms at his own leisure completing side quests, fighting enemies for loot and finding tons of secrets from hidden areas to secret bosses.  You progress in Darksiders II by completing dungeons interspersed throughout the Nether Realms.   Darksiders II also includes some light RPG elements where you are able to customize Death's skills, armour sets and weapons.

Out of all the games releasing this week, Darksiders II is easily the most anticipated game.  All thanks to all the fans that spread the word about how good the first Darksiders was and got their friends, family and other acquaintances to try the game.  No matter what anybody says about Darksiders II, I will definitely be picking it up for myself and seeing how it continues the series.  If you are interested at all in Darksiders, I highly suggest picking up the first game.  If you enjoyed the first Darksiders, help support Vigil Games and in turn THQ, whose financial woes have been well documented, by picking up Darksiders II.

Monday, August 13, 2012

Launch Station: Sleeping Dogs

Cancelled by Activision in early 2011, it looked like United Front Games take on the True Crime universe would never see the light of day.  Late last year, Square Enix announced that they had picked up the rights to publish True Crime: Hong Kong under the new name of Sleeping Dogs because Activision still owns the rights to the True Crimes name.  Not many games come back from being cancelled.  United Front Games is very fortunate to have another chance to release the game that have spent the last four years working on.  Hopefully it can live up to some high expectations from the publisher, Square Enix, and the fans of the True Crime series.

Sleeping Dogs follows the story of Wei Shen, an undercover cop apart of an operation to take down the Triads from the inside.  Wei Shen must work his way up in the organization by taking part in the brutal criminal activities without blowing his cover.  As Wei Shen dives deeper into the ranks of the Triad, the lines between truth and honour, right and wrong blur severely and he is left to struggle between his loyalty to the police and the trust he has gained from the Triads.  At its' core, Sleeping Dogs is a open world action game.  You are given all of Hong Kong to explore whatever way you want from walking on foot to driving a variety of vehicles.  While the story missions are necessary to unlock certain areas and content in the game, you are able to complete them at your own leisure.  The city of Hong Kong is bustling with side missions to complete, activities such as gambling and street fighting to participate in and even girlfriends for Wei Shen to date.  While you are able to use guns in the game, most of the combat revolves around hand-to-hand combat, which allows players to perform deadly martial arts and brutal takedowns much like Batman in the Arkham games.  Also Sleeping Dogs features some light RPG elements.  Depending on what you do in the game, you earn three types of experience points, Triad XP, Police XP and Face XP.  Each type of experience points measures your reputation with certain groups or as a whole.

Personally, I have never been a fan of the True Crime series so Sleeping Dogs does not quite appeal to me that much.  I am happy that Square Enix did the right thing and let this game that almost got eaten up by Activision see the funding it needed to reach store shelves.  Now it is up to the fans of the True Crime series that have most likely been following the development of Sleeping Dogs since it was announced in 2008 and those interested in the game to support Sleeping Dogs with their hard earned cash.  If Sleeping Dogs proves successful, it might influence other publishers to help save other games from being cancelled in the future.

Saturday, August 11, 2012

Bit by Bit: August 5-11

Sorry about all the delays on the posts this week.  This week was much busier than I had previously expected.  There were quite a few days when I was either busy hanging out with friends or did not fell up to writing a blog post.  In the end, I got everything done and up before the end of the week.  With the weeks winding down before school starts, I will definitely be getting busier and busier.  Let us make the best of the last few weeks of regular blog posts here on Silver Bit.

Game of the Week
At the beginning of this week, I plowed through the last few missions of Advance Wars: Days of Ruin to finally beat that game.  Even though I did spend a lot of time with Advance Wars this week, my Game of the Week goes to Symphony.  This new music game mixed with a vertical shooter is a lot of fun.  The shooter gameplay is tight and the music to level translation is incredible.  It took me a little while to get my music library to properly work with Symphony, but once it did playing through my music felt incredible.  I wanted to try each song to see how I would do and how Symphony would translate that song into a level in the game.  The inclusion of the six difficulties and online leaderboards really ups the re-playability of Symphony as you look to reach the highest score for all your songs.  While story might not be the most stellar narrative you have ever seen, it is serviceable nonetheless and makes for some really cool surprise boss battles.  I can easily see myself diving hours into Symphony like I did when I bought Audiosurf.  If you are either a fan of music game s or have a huge library of music you would like to do a little more with than just listen to, Symphony is a game to pick up.

Most Anticipated Game of the Week
Seeing as it comes out this Tuesday, my Most Anticipated Game of the Week goes to The Last Story.  Considering my Launch Station for the game is already up on Silver Bit, I say you should go read that for my full views on The Last Story before its' release.  I will say that for 50 dollars, people who pick up the game at launch will sure get their moneys worth.  A steelbook, an artbook and a game soundtrack along with an epic RPG from the legendary Hironobu Sakaguchi, creator of Final Fantasy.  There is no way that I am going to let this game slip through my hands because in just a few months, it will be close to impossible to find this game.  Case and point, try finding a new copy of Xenoblade Chronicles.

Video of the Week
Way back when Pokemon hit North America, Nintendo launched the games alongside the anime, which added more narrative to the plot of the games.  Along with the Pokemon games, the anime was thus catapulted into superstardom.  All the kids loved it.  Rushing home from school to watch the newest episode and singing the theme song at the top of their lungs when the show started.  I know all this because I was one of those kids.  While my love for the Pokemon RPGs never wavered, eventually the Pokemon anime grew old fast especially when it took about 20 episodes for Ash and friends to reach each gym.  Imagine if Nintendo went back to the drawing board with the Pokemon anime and decided to go in say a more mature approach to the series in order to appeal to the older fans like yours truly.  I believe the result would be this incredible cutscene for the upcoming Pokemon Black 2 and White 2.  The more I watch it, the more I wish we would see this cutscene turn into a full-on anime.  I would definitely watch it, would you?

Launch Station: The Last Story

Much like with Xenoblade Chronicles that released earlier this year, gamers have had to patiently wait for The Last Story.  Originally set to release in the middle of June for Wii, The Last Story's release date has been up in the air for a little over a month until Xseed Games came out and announced the official release date, August 14th.  After months of pleading Nintendo to localize this game along with Xenoblade and Pandora's Tower, The Last Story will finally be available in North America this Tuesday.  Even though there seems to be no plans for Nintendo or any other company to localize Pandora's Tower, but two out of the three games featured in Operation Rainfall making it to our shores is a victory nonetheless.  For having to wait so long for The Last Story, Xseed Games has spoiled us.  The first edition of The Last Story to hit stores this Tuesday will be a special limited edition that comes with a Steelbook case for the game, an exclusive art book and a short CD for those who pre-ordered the game from certain retailers.  For the 50 dollars The Last Story will be at launch, this package should be a must-buy for RPG enthusiasts and hardcore Wii owners.  Much like with the release of Xenoblade Chronicles, it is time for hardcore Wii gamers to put their money where their mouth is and support this game that you have been pleading Nintendo to bring to North America for about a year.  I have done my part.  I will be buying The Last Story on launch day.  It is time to do your part.

Lazulis Island, governed by Count Arganan, has become a small wonder of power for it's nearly impenetrable defence and mysterious attributes.  Lazulis Island's reputation brings in many people looking to make a fortune.  Among those people is Zael and his fellow band of mercenaries.  Even though on Lazulis Island mercenaries are perceived to be upon the lower classes of society, Zael and his friends catch the eye of none other than Count Arganan.  Waving the caveat of knighthood in front of their eyes, Count Arganan employs Zael and his friends to complete missions for him personally.  On one of Count Arganan's missions, Zael is bestowed with a mysterious power known as the Gathering that sends him and his friends on a journey they will never forget.  With The Last Story, Hironobu Sakaguchi and his team at Mistwalker looked to evolve the rather stagnant JRPG genre in new and creative ways.  With this directive in mind, The Last Story employs an innovative real-time battle system that has not been seen in any other JRPG.  Battles happen all in real-time with the player controlling Zael while the computers control the other party members.  To help set up big chain attacks and other strategic plans, you are able issue commands such as directing allies or telling a magic user to destroy a bridge to your party members in real-time.  The Last Story has a full-on cover and stealth system that works in tandem with the battle system that allows players to hide behind cover in order to avoid enemy fire, get the advantage on certain enemies and pick off dangerous ranged enemies from a distance.  The Gathering power that Zael gains can be used in battle to help your party as it draws all enemy attention to Zael, which buys party members enough time to cast spells, heal or take a much needed rest from the onslaught.  Lazulis Island is a rich setting that players can explore at anytime during the game.  There are over 30 side quests to complete, tons of items to collect, new powers such as Focus and Seek to acquire and an incredible amount of additional backstory and information about the world of The Last Story for players to discover.  If players tire of the huge single-player story, The Last Story also includes both competitive and co-operative online multi-player modes.  Players can either team up against monsters or battle one another in order to collect some rare items for use in the single-player.

Coming off of the heels of Xenoblade Chronicles, which turned out to be a success for Nintendo, The Last Story looks to be the last great game to release for Nintendo's aging Wii console.  It will easily tide hardcore Wii gamers until the release of the Wii U.  Hironobu Sakaguchi's newest creation looks to be one of his finest.  It is a game that every hardcore Wii gamer and JRPG aficionado should pick up this coming Tuesday.

Thursday, August 9, 2012

On the Download: August 5-11

While this edition of On the Download is not as big as I originally thought it would be, but it is a packed edition nonetheless.  Got some big games to talk about this week on XBLA, PSN and Steam.  So without further ado, let us jump right in.
After some initial server problems, the newest release in Microsoft's Summer of Arcade promotion is up  on the marketplace.  This game happens to be Hybrid, 5th Cell's (creators of Scribblenauts and Run Roo Run) first foray into developing console games.  Hybrid is an online only multi-player third person shooter.  Hybrid takes place in 2032 where a Supercollider implosion causes a rift between our world and an alternate reality.  From this rift, a new species known as the Variant emerges.  The emergence of this new species causes a world war to break out between the Variants and a group of rebel humans known as Paladins.  Playing as either the Variants or the Paladins, players compete in 3-on-3 matches that will affect this massive online war.  Included in Hybrid are 10 maps and modes for players to compete on and tons of weapons and abilities to customize their character.  For those interested in joining this world war, Hybrid is available exclusively on XBLA for 1200 Microsoft Points.
Ever since the full reveal of the PlayStation Vita at E3 2011, there has been one game that has been everybody's mind.  That game is Sound Shapes, the latest project from Canadian-based Queasy Games that brought acclaimed PSN shooter Everyday Shooter.  Sound Shapes has finally released on PSN and good news, you can play it on both the PS3 and the PS Vita for one price of 15 dollars.  Sound Shapes is a unique blend of side-scrolling platformer with a rhythm game.  Every action in Sound Shapes from playing, composing and sharing levels all make the music in the game.  For those looking for some single-player action, Sound Shapes offers a comprehensive campaign that fuses music and artwork into a classic 2D platformer.  Many great artists from Pixeljam to Superbrothers and musicians from Beck to Deadmau5 contributed to artwork and music used in Sound Shapes' campaign.  As much as Sound Shapes is a game, it is also equal parts a musical instrument that musicians or just regular games can pick up and create their own musical levels.  All the levels you create in Sound Shapes can be shared online with friends and the entire Sound Shapes community.
Sound Shapes was not the only music game released for download this week.  Brought to you by Empty Clip Studios, Symphony is a vertical shooter in which you play through levels composed of your own library of music.  In Symphony, your music is under attack and it is up to you to liberate it.  A mysterious entity is corrupting your music as you play it.  It is up to you to play through your collection of songs in order to discover items, battle bosses, find pages of the Symphony of Souls and reclaim your music.  By completing a song in Symphony, you unlock a new item to customize your ship with in order to tackle higher difficulty levels and score targets.  Symphony also includes 6 difficulty levels and online leaderboards to keep players engaged for a long time.  If you are interested in this unique musical shooter, you can download Symphony off of Steam for 10 dollars.

Hump Day Music: His World Instrumental

Funny thing about work sometimes.  When you think you have a full day off, you don't actually because they you can get called anytime to work.  So my day and all the plans I had got extremely shortened or thrown out the window.  Sadly one of those plans was to write Hump Day Music, but that got postponed to today.  To make up for the delay, I have picked one amazing track from the Sonic the Hedgehog series, His World.

While His World does come from easily the biggest disgrace in Sega and Sonic's career in Sonic the Hedgehog 2006, it is an incredible track that has become one of my favourites of the series.  Before anybody knew of the travesty that Sonic 2006 would become, this piece of music is what got me so hyped up for the game.  I would watch every trailer that came out just to listen to His World.  Sadly Sonic 2006 became yet another nail in Sonic's coffin instead of the rejuvenation of the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise that many, myself included, thought it would be.  Sonic fans would have to wait until the release of Sonic Colors to see the Blue Blur return to his former glory.  Enough of my little tangent, the only good thing that came out of Sonic 2006 was the soundtrack.  Sega made an excellent decision to have the music in a Sonic game be all orchestrated because it is just beautiful.  The Sonic 2006 soundtrack is a treat for the ears.  You can find two lyrical versions of His World done by Zebrahead and Crush 40 respectively, but the best version in my opinion is the His World Instrumental.  Hearing the instrumental without being bogged with lyrics that do not always sound the best with a song this epic is the best way to listen to His World.  Even though Sonic 2006 was an atrocity that would be better off forgotten, His World is a piece of video game music that deserves more praise than it gets from everybody outside the most hardcore Sonic fans like yours truly.

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

SGC 3: Help Bring Back the Biggest Party in Gaming

If you have been following Silver Bit for a while, you already know that Screwattack is my favourite video game website.  I have been visiting Screwattack almost everyday for a good four years and I have highlighted many of their videos and other content on this blog many times.  Back in 2009 as part of a way to give back to fans, Screwattack put on the first ever Screwattack Gaming Convention (SGC for short).  More of a party than a convention, SGC was a huge success that spawned a second just as successful convention in 2010.  SGC played host to some incredible guests such as Brentalfloss, Keith Apicary, Angry Video Game Nerd, Nolan Bushnell, Uwe Boll and Jack Thompson, some incredible events such as the debut of Brentalfloss' song Corey, the Iron Man of Gaming tournament and the reveal of Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1 as the final game of the 2010 Iron Man of Gaming.  For 2011 and 2012, Screwattack could not afford to put on SGC.  During the absence of SGC for these two past years, everybody and their mother has been asking the crew at Screwattack for SGC to return.  Screwattack has heard it all and has thought of a way to fund SGC 3, Kickstarter.  The goal for this Kickstarter is 100 thousand dollars.  At the moment that I am writing this post, the SGC 3 Kickstarter has 401 (including yours truly) and has 40 001 dollars pledged towards it with 17 days left.  Like all Kickstarter projects, there are many tiers for the amount of money you pledge.  The lowest tier for the SGC 3 Kickstarter is 2 dollars or more with your being put on Screwattack's "supported by" page going all the way up to receiving tickets for the event and even receiving every piece of Screwattack merchandise ever made.  The fun does not end there.  Screwattack has built in stretch-goals to this Kickstarter, which could bring down the price of registation or fund other big events for SGC 3 and beyond, if the goal of 100 thousand dollars is met and/or surpassed.  Pledges start at a minimum of 1 single dollar.  So if you are planning on wanting to go to SGC 3 or want to support the great guys and gals at Screwattack, please support this Kickstarter.  Even though there is no possible way I could go to SGC 3 if it happens due to school and co-op, I have put five dollars in support of the website that I love and hopes of going to a future SGC.  If you are interested in helping, you can go to the SGC 3 Kickstarter at the link provided, www.kickstarter.com/projects/screwattack/let-throw-the-best-gaming-party-in-the-world-again.

Launch Station: Persona 4 Arena

The Persona series is a spin-off of the Shin Megami Tensei, a big franchise of RPGs which focuses on summoning demons.  Persona focuses on the many different groups of teenagers to summon a special side of their psyche known as a Persona to fight demons.  From a series that has established itself in the RPG genre, it is surprising to see Atlus create a fighting game based off the fourth and currently final entry in the Persona series.  Employing Arc System Works, the team behind both Guilty Gear and BlazBlue fighting game series, Atlus might have the right team to transition Persona from RPG to fighting game successfully.

Persona 4 Arena takes place two months after the end of Persona 4.  A mysterious fighting tournament has started in TV World, a realm that in the Persona universe runs parallel to our world, and characters from both Persona 3 and 4 are trapped fighting in it.  By playing through the story mode for each character, you will solve who is running this mysterious fighting tournament and how can these characters escape.  Unlike the latest entries in Street Fighter and Marvel vs. Capcom that have embraced 3D models, Persona 4 Arena sticks with gorgeous high definition 2D sprites with incredible amount of hand-drawn animation and stages.  While in a fight, characters are able to fight on their own with their fists or call upon their Persona to assist them.  Combining your own physical attacks with assists from your Persona can prolong combos and be the difference between winning or losing.  Like in many other fighting games, players are able to execute special attacks and defend from opponent's attacks for prolonged periods of time.  To inhibit players from spamming these moves and techniques, special moves and guarding are limited by the Persona 4 Arena's Burst Gauge.  Persona 4 Arena also includes both offline and online multi-player for players to challenge friends and absolute strangers to one-on-one fights.

Personally, I have never played any of the Persona games so I am not too familiar with the series to get excited for a Persona fighting game.  For fans of Persona or fighting game fans in general, Persona 4 Arena looks like a solid fighting game that will satisfy your Persona and/or fighting needs.  I will say it is pretty cool yet risky decision for Atlus to take Persona from its' RPG roots and make it a fighting game.  One decision that I personally would like to see succeed.

Saturday, August 4, 2012

Bit by Bit: July 29-August 4

As we enter August, we enter the final month that I will be posting regularly six times a week.  Come the second week of September, I start university so I am going to be too busy to write a blog post every single day.  I will talk about this situation in more detail when the time comes for the change, but I would like to give a little warning so I do not surprise anybody with the news.  Now with that news out of the way, let us get on with the regular scheduled blogging.

Game of the Week
Last week, I said that Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 would probably be my Game of the Week.  Well a funny thing happened this past week.  I barely even picked up the game this past week.  Not that Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 is a bad game at all because it is an excellent fighter, I just got sucked into playing a lot of my 3DS.  I did play through some more Pokemon Conquest where I completed the first of many side-stories.  My Game of the Week goes to a game that I am on the cusp of beating, but have not played it for a while.  The game in question is Advance Wars: Days of Ruin for the DS.  Easily the darkest entry in this very light-hearted series, Days of Ruin takes place in the days and months following an apocalyptic meteor shower that leaves the world in absolute turmoil.  While story has never been what Advance Wars has been known for, Days of Ruin's narrative has it's fair share of enjoyable twists and turns.  The main pull of an Advance Wars game is the series' superb turn-based gameplay.  For me, great Advance Wars missions play a lot like chess with each CO trading great feats of power and strategy.  While sometimes it is easy to overpower certain opponents, it is the missions where you start at a disadvantage that are much more satisfying when you win.  There was one mission I played this week that was a nightmare the first few times I tried it.  Then the very first time I tried a different strategy, I won the mission after a long war of attrition.  Advance Wars: Days of Ruin may not  be the most popular entry in the this great turn-based strategy game series, but it is a great game for your DS and/or 3DS if you have a chance to pick it up.

Most Anticipated Game of the Week
My favourite music game of all-time goes to a little 10 dollar PC game known as Audiosurf.  In Audiosurf, you literally surf your own music.  You can select any song from your music library and Audiosurf will create a track for you to surf through with your little ship.  It is an incredible experience that in my opinion has not been replicated with much success.  A little while back I saw a trailer for this unique new music game called Symphony by Empty Clip Studios.  Much like Audiosurf, Symphony can take any track from your library of music and create a level for you to play.  Instead of creating a tracks for you to surf, Symphony turns each track into a vertical shooter.  As you fight to liberate your music, you will fight bosses, discover items to help you along the way and go for the high scores.  It looks to be another gem of a music game just for the PC that many should at least take a look at.

Video of the Week
Sadly I cannot find any good video on the gymnast who did her routine at the London 2012 Summer Olympics to The Legend of Zelda music.  So in place of that I give you the latest episode of The Completionist to enjoy.

Friday, August 3, 2012

Off the Newsstand: Game Informer Issue 232

Just two months removed from the events of E3 2012, magazines are still covering all the big news from the huge conference.  While the July issues of each magazine covered most of the games showed off to the press before E3, the August issues are usually when each magazine breaks down everything at E3.  Giving their grades for each of the Big Three, ranking the games at this year's event and giving away their Best of E3 awards.  For those of us that cannot see every single thing at E3 due to publishers and developers keeping certain games and demos behind closed doors, these issues of each video game magazine serves as our one stop shop for everything that we may have missed at E3.

Being the annual E3 issue, every article excluding the reviews and Game Over sections are all about E3 2012.  From Game Informer's annual breakdown of the Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo's showings at E3 to the humongous cover story, which includes previews of Game Informer's Top 50 Games at E3 2012, you are in for some of the most comprehensive coverage of E3 found in any magazine.  For collector's Issue 232 of Game Informer has six different covers.  Each cover showcases a game highlighted in the E3 Hot 50 cover story.  They are all pretty cool, but my personal favourites are the Castlevania, Resident Evil 6 and Splinter Cell Blacklist covers.  The bulk of the issue is dedicated to the cover story which is more or less an expanded previews section and that is not a bad thing.  I am baffled at how Game Informer picked some of the games on this Top 50 Games of E3 list such as Gears of War: Judgment and Star Wars 1313 when they had little to nothing to show at E3 this year, but everybody is entitled to their opinion.  Honestly I do not really see the purpose of even making this a Top 50 when each writer is essentially writing a preview and not selling why a certain game is at a certain spot on the list.  For the sheer amount and quality of the content in this cover story, it is a must-read for any gamer.  Just forget about the numbering because it does not mean much of anything.  This issue of Game Informer also includes interviews with some big names in the industry, an in-depth analysis of Square Enix's Agni's Philosophy tech demo, a rundown of the most interesting downloadable games and Action MMOs of E3 2012, an in-depth interview with Jason Rubin on his new role at THQ and his plans for the future of the struggling company, reviews and a retrospective look at the first game Rod Fergusson, the director of production at Epic Games, ever worked on.

If you have been living under a rock for the past two months and completely missed out E3 2012, Issue 232 of Game Informer is your one stop shop on all the big announcements and up-to-date game previews.  The sheer amount of content crammed into these 116 pages is incredible.  Definitely an issue of Game Informer that any gamer should go out of their way to read.

Thursday, August 2, 2012

On the Download: July 29-August 4

It is sad to see things to slow down this much on the downloadable front.  I can expect it from the retail side of things, but there has been a relentless slew of new quality downloadable games all competing for our hard earned cash as of late.  It is rather sad to see things slow down this much.  There was not even any new games released for the 3DS Virtual Console as part of their 8-Bit Summer initiative or a Game of Weekend deal on the eShop as well.  I am still hoping either Pushmo and/or Dillion's Rolling Western to get discounted a few dollars one of these weekends.  Even with the lack of noteworthy downloadable games being released at this very moment, there are a couple noteworthy ones that people should consider pre-purchasing.  You can pre-purchase Symphony, a very interesting musical shooter that I have actually picked up, on Steam for 8 dollars (20% off the regular price) or Sound Shapes, a platformer where the actions make the music, on PSN for 15 dollars (12 dollars if you have PlayStation Plus) both of which come out next week.  Also the first piece of Skyrim DLC, Dawnguard has been released for PC for those PC Elder Scrolls fanatics that have been waiting what to them must seems like ages for this big add-on.  This week there might not be a lot of games releasing on the downloadable side of things, but next week looks to shaping up to be one big week for downloadable games.  Might be big enough to warrant another two part edition of On the Download.  We will have to wait and see.  Before we can get to next week, we still got to take a look at the lone downloadable offering from this week, Deadlight.
Microsoft's Summer of Arcade continues with the release of Deadlight.  Deadlight is a puzzle platformer much like Limbo and Shadow Complex, which both debuted in one of Microsoft's Summer of Arcade promotions from years past.  Set in 1986, the world has been ravaged by a zombie plague.  Deadlight casts you as Randall Wayne, a survivor of this perilous plague.  After his wife and daughter go missing during the beginning of the outbreak, Randall sets out for Seattle to possibly find refuge and hopefully, if they are still alive, find his family.  Each enemy encounter in the game plays out like a puzzle.  You have to expertly use the environment to your advantage in order to get by zombies and other obstacles.  While you are given access to weapons such as an axe and guns to combat the zombie horde, the best solution is to avoid combat unless it is absolutely necessary.  It seems like every other game that releases nowadays has zombies in them in some shape or form and it is getting very tiresome.  While Deadlight is yet another game set in a zombie apocalypse, it looks to be an unique enough experience to make it standout among the horde of zombie games.  If you are interested in Deadlight, you can download from XBLA for 1200 Microsoft Points.

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Hump Day Music: Mortal Kombat!!!

I have been in a fighting game mood as of late, all thanks to my purchase of Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 last Friday.  While I am playing it quite a bit, there has not been a piece of music that has jumped out me like Ken's theme from Street Fighter, Take You For a Ride from Marvel vs. Capcom 2 and the theme I am going to highlight.  Easily the most iconic fighting game theme of all-time.  It literally will have you screaming the name of the game at the top of your lungs.  It is time for MORTAL KOMBAT!!!

Midway's classic fighting game from the early 1990s easily ranked high in the eyes of many children of time due to it's gratuitous amounts of blood and violence.  I remember when I was younger being in awe of the insane 16-bit violence, but I never saw it anything more than a great fighting game.  I never had the urge to try any of the humanly impossible Fatalities on anybody outside of the game like many politicians and video game activists would have you believe.  While the violence did make Mortal Kombat remembered in the annals of video game history, it is the game's theme that has stuck with me all these years.  This impactful theme grabs you from the very beginning and never lets go.  The electronic beat that underlines the entire piece will get you pumped up in no time.  From "Test Your Might" to running down the names of the entire roster, the very basic and repetitive lyrics will have you singing or it would be better to say yelling along.  Every time I hear the chorus, it makes me want to yell Mortal Kombat as loud as I can.  Let us see if you will test your might and listen to the Mortal Kombat theme.