E3 2015: The Big Questions

Here we go again.  Another year, another week of gaming goodness or corporate catastrophe is less than a day away.  This uncertainty seems to be the name of the game when it comes to the 2015 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3).  On one hand, there has been little in the way of earth-shattering news to come out of the video game industry in such a long time that E3 could be a glorious avalanche of huge announcements and surprises.  On the other hand, all the leaks and trailers from the past two weeks could be the extent of this year's offerings.

While E3 2015 could go either way, there a some big questions that the industry needs to address in the coming week.  Questions that concern the video game industry's future in both the short and long-term.

How will a lack of exclusives affect Sony and Microsoft?
This question only concerns Sony and Microsoft because a console manufacturer (*cough* Nintendo) needs to rely solely on their exclusive content to sell their consoles when they have no third-party support.

The challenges Sony and Microsoft face when it comes to their lineup of exclusives are completely different.  Sony has a problem when it comes to mobilizing an exclusive game to fill the void Uncharted 4's delay left, while Microsoft relies far too much on third-parties that their small roster of over-exposed exclusives are struggling to maintain momentum from year-to-year.

Yet again, we enter a Sony press conference with little to no plan for the holiday season.  Uncharted 4 was suppose to Sony's answer to Halo 5 and Rise of the Tomb Raider.  Now, all Sony has planned are Until Dawn and Tearaway Unfolded, two great-looking titles that sadly are nowhere close to heavy-hitters.  Sony is also re-releasing the first three Uncharted games on PS4, but the Uncharted Collection's upwards of 70 dollars price point is more of a rip-off than a worthy substitute for Uncharted 4.

Last holiday season, Sony relied a lot on third-parties, especially Activision's Destiny, to move PS4s because their exclusives—DriveClub and LittleBigPlanet 3—weren't the killer apps that people wanted.  These wise business decisions along with an insane wave of momentum Sony has been riding since the PS4's launch has kept the system leaps and bounds ahead of the Xbox One, but that string of good luck will eventually run out.  Sony needs to start capitalizing on their huge lead or somebody else, namely Microsoft, will take advantage of their arrogance.  Sony has an army of game studios at their disposal so how we don't have another huge title to replace Uncharted 4 is absurd.  Slot in The Last Guardian or Guerrilla's unannounced project into Uncharted's spot because Sony cannot spend another holiday season sitting on their hands.

While Sony has a problem with capitalizing on their lead, Microsoft is having problems convincing people to buy the Xbox One.  In all honesty, the Xbox One is severely lacking when it comes to exclusives, especially when you take into account indie titles and timed exclusives such as Titanfall, Sunset Overdrive and Rise of the Tomb Raider.  On top of that, their small roster of first-party properties (Halo, Fable, Forza and Gears of War) have all been over-exposed thanks to yearly releases or franchise mismanagement.  Gears of War may be the only major franchise that gamers are craving for since there hasn't been a new entry in the series for over two years now.

Last year at E3, Microsoft made a concerted effort to show gamers that they had a renewed interest in first-party development with a large lineup of new exclusive content including Scalebound, Crackdown, Quantum Break and Phantom Dust.  Here we are a year later and Microsoft's supposed renewed interest in first-party development has seemingly gone up in smoke.  Scalebound, Crackdown and Quantum Break will not be at this year's E3 and Phantom Dust is stuck in development limbo as Microsoft dropped the game's developer in February and has yet to find a replacement.  Unless Microsoft has a slew of unannounced projects ready to drop on us at their press conference, they are stuck with a major problem that could plague them this entire generation.

Third-party support and exclusive DLC can only take a system so far.  There NEEDS to be a consistent lineup of exclusives or the Xbox One won't have the staying power needed to compete with the more robust lineups of the Wii U and PS4.

Will the new contenders in press conference circuit sink or swim?
There use to be a time when E3 played host to a plethora of press conferences from Konami to Disney Interactive.  Sadly as time went on, some publishers stopped running press conferences due to ever-increasing costs or their own corporate restructuring.  As a result, five publishers were left as the flag bearers for every show: Microsoft, EA, Ubisoft, Sony and Nintendo.  This time around two new challengers in Bethesda and Square Enix are entering the E3 press conference circuit to try their luck at hanging with the big publishers in the industry.

There has been a lot of speculation surrounding these new conferences because neither company would invest the insane amount of money and effort into a conference if they didn't have a stellar lineup of titles to show.  Bethesda has already announced that Fallout 4 and Doom 4 will be at their presser.  On the other end, Square Enix has confirmed Deus Ex: Mankind Divided's first gameplay footage for their conference along with Final Fantasy XV's absence from the show altogether.  Could this mean we'll get some surprises like the rumoured Dishonored 2 or an official release date for Kingdom Hearts 3?  Those questions may soon be answered as Bethesda kicks off the proceedings late Sunday, June 14th and Square Enix stands as the final press conference before the show floor opens Tuesday, June 16th.

How will Virtual Reality (VR) headsets factor into E3?
With Oculus VR at the helm, virtual reality (VR) headsets have taken the industry by storm.  Game publishers and developers are eagerly jumping into the VR headset race with their own VR headset or games made for the devices.

Is VR the future of video games as we know it?  Maybe in the distant future, but it's hard to say at this point in time.  At this very moment, there are two key issues that can completely halt VR's forward momentum: price and input.  Funny enough, price is the one topic no one wants to talk about and input devices like Oculus Touch have only been demoed through video or behind closed doors.

Since E3 will be the final trade show before VR headsets land on store shelves starting this Fall, it will be the most important show for VR as a whole.  E3 is the final push for these VR manufacturers and developers to convince gamers to shell their hard-earned cash on their products.  There is also a possibility that VR headsets could be a centerpiece at the Sony and Microsoft press conferences considering Sony is developing their own headset called Project Morpheus and Microsoft's newly announced partnership with Oculus.

It will be interesting to see how much of a factor VR will play into E3 as a whole.  VR could either end up being the new input device for games going forward or go the way of 3D and motion gaming.

Bit by Bit: August 2014

As the weeks pass, we continue to inch ever so closer to the end of the summer.  For most including yours truly, the end of summer means the beginning of school.  With a new school year, I move from the craziness of managing two jobs, this blog and life to insanity of managing four university courses, a volunteer position at the university newspaper and a co-op job search on top of everything else mentioned above.  Before all that awesomeness becomes reality, there are two more weeks to relax and make the most of the summer.  Among the large list of things to do in these two weeks, I am going to Fan Expo Canada this coming Friday, August 29th.  It has been four long years since I last went to this event and things have really changed especially on the video game side of things.  Expect plenty of impressions on Fan Expo and all the games I get a chance to demo at the event in the weeks to come.  While all that amazing content is going to coming to Silver Bit in the near future, it is that time again to take our monthly trip down memory lane in Bit by Bit.

Game of the Month
License games do not have the best reputation among gamers.  Most of these projects do a poor job in translating the properties they represent to the video game medium that many have soured to license games altogether.  Every once and awhile, there comes a diamond in the rough to show us the great potential of coupling a huge license, be it a movie, comic or television show, with this interactive medium.  The latest diamond comes from the fusion of Broforce, a side-scrolling action game made by Free Lives that honours and parodies 80s action films and unabashed American patriotism, and the Expendables, Sylvester Stallone's action movie franchise that plays with nostalgia for a bygone age of blockbuster action movies and their larger than life stars.  From this match made in heaven came the Expendabros.

Expendabros is a free standalone expansion to Broforce which gives players a taste of Broforce's hectic gameplay with bro-ified versions of the Expendables 3 cast.  To describe Expendabros' gameplay as anything short of insane would not do the game justice.  Destructible environments, bombastic weapons, buckets of pixelated blood and enough explosions to bring a tear to Michael Bay's eyes kept a grin firmly planted on my face throughout my time with the game.  As much fun as I had with with the Expendabros, I did run into a good amount of slowdown especially when there were lots of explosions on screen and while loading new levels or cutscenes that took away from my experience.  While Expendabros has a few problems, the game has put Broforce on my radar of games I need to play and I highly recommend those who own a PC to give this free game a try because it is loads of fun.

Most Anticipated Game of the Month
I try not to have many repeats for Most Anticipated Game of the Month, but Azure Striker Gunvolt is the exception especially considering the game is less than a week away from release.  Comcept and Inti Creates' spiritual successor to Mega Man Zero will be available to download from the Nintendo eShop this coming Friday, August 29th for 15 dollars.  Those who purchase Azure Striker Gunvolt within the first three months of its launch will receive Mighty Gunvolt, an 8-bit side-scrolling crossover between Gunvolt, Mighty No. 9 and Gal Gun, free of charge.  From the brief gameplay trailer, Mighty Gunvolt looks to be modeled after the NES era Mega Man games with some new gameplay twists such as character specific abilities.  Seeing as Capcom will be sitting on Mega Man aside from re-releasing past games on new platforms for the foreseeable future, I am glad that Keiji Inafune, Comcept and Inti Creates are taking it upon themselves to fill the void with quality successors to the Mega Man name.  I cannot wait to get my hands on the fruition of their hard work later this week.

Video of the Month
When was the last time a game legitimately scared you?  For me, it was BioShock.  The dark, unsettling setting of Rapture combined with its disturbing residents caused me to debate whether or not to venture further into the level or shudder over the haunting screams that echoed through those halls many times.

While I personally hate horror movies due to their predictable plots and over reliance on blood and gore, I find survival horror games and games with significant horror elements very engaging because I am directly involved in the horrific events rather than a passive observer.  With the drop in quality among survival horror games (Resident Evil and Alone in the Dark) and the need to give players an overabundance of firepower and strength in action games with horror elements (BioShock Infinite and The Last of Us), games that truly scare are few and far between.

Konami looks to change that situation with its new additions of Silent Hill, which will be developed by Kojima Productions with the help of horror movie aficionado Guillermo del Toro and starring The Walking Dead's Norman Reedus.  With a lot of big names behind these projects, it seems like Konami is finally taking the Silent Hill franchise serious once again, but that is not all Konami did.  To show the new direction for these Silent Hills, Konami released P.T. (Playable Teaser) as a free download on PS4.  The one-two punch of the announcement trailer and playable teaser has generated an incredible amount of excitement for these new installments in the Silent Hill franchise.  I strongly encourage everybody to try out the unique yet incredibly scary P.T. for themselves or watch a walkthrough online if you do not own a PS4.  While P.T. may be more of an interactive experience than a game, it is something that all gamers mature enough should take the time to experience.

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.

On the Download: July 8-14

There are sales galore this weekend.  Thousands of games are being discounted on Steam while you can grab Mighty Switch Force for the discounted of price of 3 dollars this weekend on the Nintendo eShop.  Along with the sales, a couple of big downloadable games are coming to different platforms.  The every popular Tiny Wings is getting an HD port for the iPad, which you can find on sale for 3 dollars on the App Store and Airtight Game's first big downloadable project has been released for XBLA and PSN this week for 1200 Microsoft Points or 15 dollars respectively.  Re-releases were not the only thing this week as we got a few notable games to download.

While Nintendo's 8-Bit Summer continued with the release of Kirby's Pinball Land and Sword of Hope II for the 3DS Virtual Console, there is a 3DS download that should get a little more attention than it already has.  The game is called Johnny Kung Fu and comes to us by the talented people at UFO Interactive Games.  The local crime gang run by the notorious Mr. Wang has kidnapped Johnny's girlfriend.  Knowing what needs to be done, Johnny dons his Kung Fu grab in order to save his girlfriend, who is being held at the top of Mr. Wang's tower.  Johnny Kung Fu is a unique 3DS download that mixes old and new.  The game jumps between side-scrolling brawling segments to Donkey Kong-esqe platforming levels reminiscent of the games found on Nintendo's old Game and Watch handhelds.  Things start to ramp up as Johnny only has a hour or two to save his girlfriend.  If you like to pick up a game that bridges the old and new in the way Johnny Kung Fu does, you can pick this game up for 6 dollars on the Nintendo eShop.

Made by small indie developer SideQuest Studios, Rainbow Moon is a strategy RPG exclusive to the PS3 which has a strong emphasis on exploration, character development and turn-based combat.  In Rainbow Moon, you start out playing as Baldren, who has been warped to the world of Rainbow Moon by his arch-rival.  Trapped in this unknown realm, Baldren has accidentally opened up a dimensional gate which has freed a full army of monsters.  These monsters overwhelm Rainbow Moon thus turning the once peaceful realm into a living hell.  Now it is up to Baldren to seal the dimensional gate and find a way back to his home world.  Rainbow Moon is packed to the brim with content.  There are six playable characters including Baldren that can be customized with upgradable weapons, armour and other accessories.  There are over 100 special skills that you can teach one of the six playable characters, more than 20 dungeons to explore and a compelling story that will last you over 40 hours.  If you are interested, you can download Rainbow Moon off of the PSN Store for 15 dollars.

Konami has tried many times to bring Frogger into the modern age of gaming, but every time they failed.  Taking a page from what Namco did with Pac Man, Konami has released the classic Frogger gamers know and love with modern graphics and new game modes with Frogger: Hyper Arcade Edition, available on XBLA, PSN and WiiWare.  Along with the classic Frogger game mode, there are a brand new game modes such as Tile Capture, Battle Royal and Freak Out for gamers to play through.      In the Hyper Arcade Edition of Frogger, you can customize the graphics through different skins.  Some of the skins you can use are the modern neon skin of Hyper Arcade or classic 8-bit skins and sprites from Frogger, Castlevania and Contra.  Frogger: Hyper Arcade Edition also includes 4 player competitive multi-player so friends can compete to see who is the best at Frogger.  Looking to relive the glory days of Frogger, Frogger: Hyper Arcade Edition is available for 10 dollars on PSN, 800 Microsoft Points on XBLA and 700 Wii Points on the Wii Shop Channel.

E3 2012: Most Anticipated Games

E3 is home to the big reveals, huge surprises and incredible showcases of the biggest games of the 2012, 2013 and possibly 2014 and farther in the future.  Going into the big show, there is a good number of games and products that we know will be showcased.  This list of games contains the ones I am most looking forward to seeing in all the E3 coverage around the net and on TV.  A few are carryovers from my Most Anticipated Games of 2012 list from the beginning of the year along with some newly announced games that I am most looking forward to seeing more about.

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow- Mirror of Fate
Just revealed in the newest edition of Nintendo Power, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow- Mirror of Fate is the first Castlevania game for the 3DS and serves as the bridge between Lords of Shadow and Lords of Shadow 2.  Mirror of Fate is a 2.5D sidescrolling adventure that is very similar to the other Metroidvania style handheld offerings like Dawn of Sorrow and Portrait of Ruin.  You begin the game as Trevor Belmont and in later stages of the game will be able to play as up to three other descendants of the Belmont clan including the iconic Simon Belmont.  From the screenshots I have seen and the cover story I read, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow- Mirror of Fate has quickly jumped up my list of anticipated games.  Really looking forward to see the game in motion at E3 next week.

Fire Emblem: Awakening
Another 3DS game highly anticipated by yours truly.  The newest Fire Emblem has been doing well in Japan since its release earlier in the year yet nothing has been said about a North American release.  E3 seems like a perfect time for Nintendo to announce the newest installment in this incredible strategy game series is coming to our shores complete with accompanying DLC.

Resident Evil 6
Ever since Capcom announced Resident Evil 6 way back in January, I have been hanging on every little thing Capcom drops on the game.  Apart from the trailers and screenshots, nothing else has been showed on the next game in this classic survival horror franchise.  Resident Evil 6 looks to blend the tension-filled atmosphere of the original Resident Evil games with the high-octane action of later installments in the series.  Being Capcom's biggest game of 2012, there should be no doubt that we should see at least one or two demos of the game being showed off next week along with another excellent trailer to boot.

Tomb Raider
Tomb Raider was easily one of my most anticipated games of 2012 until it got delayed until March 2013.  Even though I am a little sad, it means more time for the Crystal Dynamics to make the best Tomb Raider game of all-time.  More visceral, more gritty and more mature than all the other installments in the Tomb Raider franchise, Tomb Raider serves as Lara Croft's origin story.  The E3 2012 trailer was released earlier today and it is just incredible.  If this trailer is a sign of the things to come this year at E3, Tomb Raider should definitely impress.

Wii U
I have stated this fact many times before and I will state it once again.  I am a huge Nintendo fan and the one thing I have been patiently waiting to hear and see more of is the Wii U.  First shown of last year at E3 to some confusion, this year is the full unveiling of Nintendo's next generation console.  The uses of the controller, the final specs of the console, the first-party games, the third-party support and the plan for online are among few of the topics that will definitely be addressed this coming Tuesday.  My anticipation for Wii U has been building for a year now as I have patiently waited for this year's Nintendo Press Conference.  Tuesday honestly could not come any sooner.  It should be incredible.

Hump Day Music: Dance of the Holy Man

The Castlevania series is no stranger to Hump Day Music.  Konami's venerable vampire whipping platforming franchise has an incredible amount of amazing and iconic pieces of video game music.  From Bloody Tears, which I highlighted earlier in the year, all the way to Vampire Killer, great music and Castlevania go hand-in-hand.  Today, I would like to highlight a track that first debuted in Super Castlevania IV and serves as the theme to the most recognizable character in the Castlevania series, Simon Belmont.  In honour of Simon appearing in the recently announced Castlevania: Lords of Shadow- Mirror of Fate for the 3DS, today I highlight Dance of the Holy Man.

Dance of the Holy Man is easily recognizable by many as Simon's theme.  Once you hear it, you immediately think of the first Belmont to take up arms against the evil of Dracula.  Dance of the Holy Man is very infectious.  After listening it only once, it gets stuck in your head and you will even start humming it from time to time as I do on a semi-regular basis.  My favourite version of Dance of the Holy Man is the incredible orchestrated version from Castlevania Chronicles for the PS1, but I do enjoy all the other versions of the song that have popped up from time to time in other Castlevania games.  Personally there is a special place in my heart for the original piece from Super Castlevania IV.  Instead of showcasing just one version of the song, I will share the each one in this video I found on Youtube that collects each version of Dance of the Holy Man in one 9 minute video.  Enjoy.

Rocket Knight Review

Note:  As I am participating in a math contest tomorrow, I am going to be very busy studying today.  So I have dig up an old review I wrote back in 2010 for Rocket Knight.  Hope everybody enjoys.

After sixteen long years, Sparkster dons his rocket pack once again to protect the kingdom of Zephyrus from the evil wolf army.  Today I am reviewing Rocket Knight for the PC, which you can get through Steam, but it is also out for Xbox Live Arcade and the PlayStation Network. 

Playing Rocket Knight brought back memories of the first time I got my hands on Rocket Knight Adventures back on the Sega Genesis as they both share the same game mechanics.  The best feature of Rocket Knight is the use of the rocket pack.  By pressing the Z key on the computer, Sparkster launches himself into the direction in which he is looking.  You can do so many things with the rocket pack such as bounce off of walls at 45 degree angles, dash at enemies or combine it with other moves to launch Sparkster to some hard to reach places and power-ups.

    

Like Rocket Knight Adventures, Rocket Knight has phenomenal level design.  Each level has different unique challenges and events.  No level is alike in any way; there is always some new fun challenge that keeps things feeling new and fresh.   The game is broken up into four worlds each with three to four levels.  Each world consists of the standard platformer level, side-scrolling shooter level and a boss fight.  One of the most enjoyable levels in Rocket Knight had to be the Cyberswine Lab.  The level puts all your platforming skills to the test as you dodge energy barriers, clear certain sections before a timer runs out and much more.  Then when you think you beat the level by destroying the labs’ main generator, you have to escape the oncoming explosion.  It was a very exhilarating level. 

Even though the game has great level designs, it is over before you know it.  Rocket Knight is just too short.  You can breeze through Rocket Knight in three to four hours.  There are online leaderboards, unlockables and free play mode to extend your time with the game, but in the end you are just left wanting more. 

If you are playing Rocket Knight with a controller, you will be in heaven as the controls work perfectly.  If you are using a keyboard like me, you will have quite a bit of a learning curve and some frustration while getting use to controls.  Some of the keys are not mapped that well to the keyboard.  For example, I would accidently hit other keys on the keyboard that would either minimize the game window or perform some action that I did not intend to do when trying to play the game.

With Rocket Knight, Sparkster has truly been reborn in the 21^st century.  Konami has brought everything you loved about the previous Sparkster games and integrated it into Rocket Knight.  If you are willing to pay the 15 dollars for the game, you will not be disappointed.  As Rocket Knight is a great downloadable game for anybody who loves any kind of platformer in the vein of the 2D Mario and Sonic games.

Launch Station: Silent Hill: Downpour

Once a big name in the survival-horror genre, Silent Hill has fell into obscurity in the last few years with some abysmal entries in the series.  Looking to bring Silent Hill back to the glory days, Konami has decided to inject some new blood into the series.  Czech game developer Vatra Games has been given the reins to bring Silent Hill back to the limelight in a genre dominated by Resident Evil and Dead Space with the new Silent Hill: Downpour.

Unrelated to previous entries in the Silent Hill series, Silent Hill: Downpour follows Murphy Pendleton, a prisoner.  During a prison transfer, the prison's vehicle careens off the road, which strands Murphy in the town of Silent Hill.  What awaits Murphy is not freedom per se, but mysterious locals waiting to welcome Murphy into their own personal hell.  Being a survival horror game, players are placed in tense and scary situations be it exploring abandoned environments or fighting a dangerous monster.  Vatra Games has looked to improve the combat for Downpour as it has been one of the series weakest features.  Downpour's combat looks to give the player some way of defending themselves against enemies while also creating tension as weapons deteriorate as they are used.  Downpour allows players to explore the town of Silent Hill unlike any other game in the series.  There are plenty of side-quests to complete, areas to unlock and special items to discover as you explore the world of Silent Hill: Downpour.  Playing off of the game's subtitle, Downpour features a real-time weather system.  The change in weather indicates to the player that some kind of danger is approaching.

While Konami and Vatra Games seem serious about bringing Silent Hill back to the glory days, I personally am not excited.  I am not a huge survival horror fan even though I do enjoy Resident Evil and I could care less for the Silent Hill series.  From what I have read and seen on this game, Silent Hill: Downpour does not impress or excite me.  It feels like the series is more or less treading water instead of moving forward.  Hardcore Silent Hill and/or survival horror fans will most likely enjoy Silent Hill: Downpour.  Those looking just for a good scare may want to wait a week and pick up the Silent Hill HD Collection when it comes out next Tuesday.

On the Download: January 29-February 4

Booting up the Nintendo eShop today expecting some exciting new demo or possibly a new 3DS Virtual Console, sadly nothing.  For those looking something to download to their 3DS this week, I will be talking about the big new release on the eShop later in this post.  I was a little upset especially with the fact there has not been a new 3DS Virtual Console game in over a month.  Nintendo and other developers have a plethora of great games from the Game Boy, Game Boy Color and Game BoyAdvance systems that they can re-release for the 3DS such as Castlevania Adventure, The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages/Seasons and Mega Man Zero.  There are a good number of titles already on the 3DS Virtual Console, but for the huge library of games released on the Game Boy family of handhelds there should be a new 3DS Virtual Console game at least once or twice a month, even more.  Enough of my little rant, let us get down to business and take a look at some of the biggest downloadable games this week.

For those old enough to remember, there was a day and age when cartoon comedy shows such as Family Guy and South Park were actually good.  After what seems like endless seasons of brain-numbingly stupid jokes and absolute no plot, these shows are long over stayed their welcome.  Back twenty-some years ago, The Simpsons was the best show of them all and it got its own arcade beat-em up made by the great game developers at Konami.  Personally, I remember playing this arcade game at the hotel my family and I would go to each summer when I was younger and I had a ball dropping quarters into this fun beat-em up. Well this Friday on XBLA and next Monday on PSN, Konami will be re-releasing their classic licensed beat-em up with a few cool additions to the game.  These additions will be four player online co-op play, new modes and other bonuses such as the never-released Japanese version of the game, classic flyers and posters and a character guide.  For 10 dollars or 800 Microsoft Points, you could relive a classic beat-em up from the 90s with up to three friends.

For the last few years, Q Games have been making a bunch of unique games under the PixelJunk banner.  The PixelJunk series was exclusive to Sony consoles and handhelds as you could only find them for purchase on the PSN Store.  Now PixelJunk has come to the PC through Valve's Steam client with the release of PixelJunk Eden, the first game in the series.  The PC version of PixelJunk Eden has a number of new features the big feature is the newly re-imagined controls which are made especially for playing on the PC.  In each of the 15 levels, known as gardens, in Eden, you control the agile Grimp toward the Spectra that is hidden in the level.  Jump, swing, climb your way through vibrant plant-life solving puzzles, completing unique challenges and defeating enemies on your way to find Spectra.  Right now, PixelJunk Eden is on sale for 8 dollars or 12 dollars if you pick it up with the original techno soundtrack from indie artist Baiyon.  For those who have missed out on this series while on the PS3 and PSP, should check out this unique indie game that along with the the other installments in the PixelJunk series has received a vast amount of critical acclaim.

Speaking of former exclusive games jumping to other gaming platforms, Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective, which was originally exclusive for the Nintendo DS, was just released today on the App Store.  Ghost Trick follows the recently deceased Sissel as he tries to piece together the mystery surrounding his death.  As a ghost, Sissel can jump from inanimate object to inanimate object and perform tricks to solve puzzles and save others from meeting their demise.  If something goes wrong and a person you are trying to save dies, you can rewind four minutes before their death to get another chance at being the hero.  Currently, the first two chapters in Ghost Trick for the iOS are completely free, but to unlock the complete game you must shell 10 dollars.  It might seem steep for an iOS game, but considering finding the DS version is almost zero to none, there is no better deal for this great adventure-puzzler.

Other than disappointing me with the lack of support for the 3DS Virtual Console, Nintendo has been hitting it out of the park with these downloadable exclusives for the 3DS.  First Pushmo, now Sakura Samurai: Art of the Sword.  In Sakura Samurai, you play as a young samurai tasked with restoring peace to Japan by rescuing Princess Cherry Blossom, the daughter of the gods.  To complete your task, this young samurai must battle devious foes and bosses across feudal Japan.  The meat of this downloadable game is in the combat as you seamlessly transition from enemy to enemy dodging, parrying or blocking attacks while making attacks of your own.  In between battles, you can traverse villages in order to talk to NPCs, stock up on rice cakes, upgrade your sword and save your progress.  To say the least, Nintendo's downloadable offerings should get people excited as it looks like the Big N means business in the downloadable space.  Just like Pushmo, Sakura Samurai: Art of the Sword is only 7 dollars.  If you pick it up now or a little later in the year, Sakura Samurai looks to be another great downloadable game for Nintendo's 3D handheld.