Game Avalache 2015: Guide to the Fall Game Rush

In a few short weeks, we enter the craziest time of the year—the avalanche known as the fall game releases. The sheer amount of games releasing in the period of one month is unbelievable. Most of them of huge AAA titles, like Halo 5, Black Ops III, Fallout 4, and Star Wars Battlefront, that will easily make a big dent in your wallet. With all these great games permeating store shelves the world over, the temptation of buying them all is definitely there. Unless you have a whole lot of disposable money, you sadly can't afford buying every game outright. For those money conscientious people out there, I'm here with some tips and tricks to help you through this trying time.

Pick and Choose
With new games selling for 70 to 80 dollars a piece, it's just too expensive to be buying every major release nowadays. Add in the nearly 20 hour plus campaigns and/or extensive multiplayer suites of modern titles, there is no way one person can beat each game in time for the next big release. There is too much coming out and not enough time or money to play them all right now. With all that in mind, best to stick with one or two new titles this holiday season and get the most out of them rather than trying to cram them all in.

Use Alternative Funding
Money can be an issue, especially for students and those dealing with debt. While it is important to budget your money in order to afford the necessities of life, the urge to get the latest and greatest game can be hard to overcome. If you need to pick up a game at launch with limited funds, it might be best to look at your backlog and see if there are any games you are willing to part with. Since most retailers nowadays accept games and other pieces of media for trade-in credit, trading in older titles is a viable solution for funding new game purchases.

Forewarning: don't go in expecting to get more than five dollars a game. Video game prices are in constant flux, so a title's trade-in value can change weekly based on factors such as rarity, popularity, or age. Unless a game's rarity or popularity trumps its age, the older the title is, the lower its resell value will be. Also the resell price of yearly releases, especially sports games, plummets once the newest entry hits store shelves. So it's best to trade those titles in before the new game comes out. Plus, keep an eye out for trade promotions because they will get you more money for the games you're looking to trade.

Play the Waiting Game
Good things come for those who wait. This adage is especially true when it comes to video game shopping during the holiday season. If you don't feel like buying a game within the first week of release, it's better to just wait. Sales happen regularly over the course of the last two months of the year. You might just find the game you're thinking of buying for 10 to 20 dollars off (sometimes more on Black Friday or Boxing Day) or somebody may give it to you for Christmas. Holding off your money spending urges might lead to the best rewards during this expensive season.

E3 2015: Microsoft Press Conference Impressions

Microsoft and the Xbox One has been reeling since their infamous performance at E3 2013.  Microsoft hasn't truly won back the support of gamers and the Xbox One is suffering because of it.  What Microsoft needs to do is announce titles that gamers can only find on the Xbox One and commit to shipping them in a timely manner.  The last thing they need is to repeat last year's good showing with no followup.  In fact, three key exclusives from last year's show (Crackdown, Scalebound and Quantum Break) aren't even going to be at E3 2015.  So does Microsoft have a few aces up their sleeve or are we in for another disappointing performance?

After 90 minutes, I can safely say that was Microsoft's best conference in recent memory.  While nothing at the conference was mind-blowing, it had a good mix of new and existing titles along with a couple surprises.

Microsoft's big strength at this conference was live demos.  The live demos for Halo 5, Rise of the Tomb Raider, Minecraft on Hololens and Gears 4 were all well done and highly entertaining to watch.  Out of the all the live demos, the Minecraft on Hololens demo was the best as it perfectly showed the potential of using holograms to interact with games in brand new ways.  Also it was nice to see a greater focus on survival horror and more proportional characters for Gears 4.

Outside of the demos, Microsoft had some solid announcements around exclusive content for Xbox One.  Comcept and Armature's Recore with an intriguing mechanic revolving around building up a team of friendly robots shows loads of potential.  Rare Replay and Sea of Thieves both look to recapture the spirit of Rare's former glory in the forms of a compilation and new IP respectively.  Even the ID@Xbox showcase and Xbox Game Preview unveiling were fun to watch although the approach seemed to be very familiar to Sony's way of highlighting indies at E3.

The one area where the Microsoft conference faltered was when it came to third-parties.  Aside from the Dark Souls III and Plants vs. Zombie: Garden Warfare 2 reveals, they spent a good third of the conference on titles like Fallout 4, The Division and Rainbow Six: Siege without breaking any new ground on them.  In particular, the "exclusive" Fallout 4 gameplay was the same demo from the Bethesda conference with a minute of new content.  On top of that, EA had an embarrassing showing of their EA Access subscription service.  I feel a little sorry for Peter Moore as every announcement he made fell on deaf ears, but the fact is gamers aren't going to respond to EA's crap no matter how nice you make it sound.

While Xbox One backwards compatibility does fall under the good from this conference, I am little skeptical on its functionality.  As Microsoft traditionally loves to do when they take about certain console features, they were very vague in how they outlined backwards compatibility for Xbox One.  Also they made a quick mention to downloading the 360 game to the Xbox One when you put in the game disc.  Due to the vague terminology, I have a feeling that Xbox One backwards compatibility won't be how everybody believes it will be.

Overall, Microsoft's E3 2015 press conference delivered where it counts: first-party content.  It was a relief to see Microsoft pull back from relying on third-parties so much and come more into their own.  Although we won't know if Microsoft can follow-up on these promises until months down the line, they did build the positive momentum needed at this point in time.

Grade:  B+

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.

First Byte: Fan Expo 2014 Gauntlet Part 1

A few weeks back, yours truly made the long trek to Toronto for Fan Expo Canada.  My main reason for going to Fan Expo this year was the plethora of upcoming games available to play at the event.  In total, Fan Expo had well over 30 games to play including Middle Earth: Shadows of Mordor, Halo: Master Chief Collection, Assassin's Creed Unity and Destiny.  While I was hoping to play every game on the show floor, that ambitious goal did not come close to happening.  In fact, I only got to play ten games.  Although that number might not seem like a lot, I got to play the games I was most interested in trying, and those with the shortest lines.  Considering I did not get a whole lot of time to fully experience each demo, I will be doing brief impressions on the games I played instead of doing separate first impression previews for each one. As I cannot fit all ten games in one article, there will be two parts to this Fan Expo Gauntlet.  The first part focuses on the demos I got less than ten minutes with while the second part previews the games that I got much more hands-on time playing.

First things first, I learned a valuable lesson at Fan Expo: I am horrible at racing sims and that's a fact.  I played three different racing sims on the show floor in Driveclub (exclusively for PS4), Forza Horizon 2 (exclusively for Xbox 360 and Xbox One) and The Crew (available on all platforms), and each game had a unique take on simulation racing.  Driveclub was solely focused on providing an experience that expertly replicates the nuances of driving.  With crisp graphics and precise controls, Driveclub seems to be tailored for a gaming steering wheel and throttle.  While Driveclub focused on a pure simulation of driving in a pristine environment, Forza Horizon 2 took the similar precise controls and crisp graphics and threw it in an open world.  The race I played in Forza was very interesting as the race dynamically moved from tarmac to dirt to grass causing me to think on the fly about how to control my car through the constantly changing terrain.  Even the great grip of the tarmac can be easily erased by a downpour, all thanks to Horizon 2's dynamic weather.  Although I ended up last in both Driveclub and Forza Horizon 2, I enjoyed my time with each game.  The same cannot be said about The Crew.  Ubisoft's unique street racing sim with a focus on team-play did little to impress due to the incredibly loose control of the cars and the complete lack of direction.  It may be nice to have an open world to drive around and explore, but when the only person able to initiate anything in the demo is the Ubisoft rep, there's a big problem.

Coming out of E3, The Order: 1886 looked like a promising new IP from Sony, but I still had some reservations due to the lack of demos on the game.  Once I saw that the game was going to be at Fan Expo, I was ecstatic to play it.  In fact, it was the first game I played on the show floor.  My ecstasy for The Order subsided when the demo ended after a mere three minutes.  You are dropped in the middle of Chapter 3 of the game with the objective to escape the alleyway.  Using the termite gun, you fire off a few rounds, try the special bullet time-esque pistol move, jump from multiple points of cover, activate a quick-time event and the demo is over.  Three minutes is nowhere close to enough time to form an opinion on the game other than hoping there is much more in the final product.  With only six months left until release, I hope Ready at Dawn has a lot more up their sleeve than this three minute disappointment.

Much like The Order: 1886, Far Cry 4 had a really good showing at E3 so again I was excited to get my hands on the game.  Very similar to my time with The Order, Far Cry 4 left a lot to be desired.  While The Order's problems stemmed from showing barely anything, Far Cry 4's problems stemmed from ridiculously long load times and severe pop-in.  You can give the benefit of the doubt to Ubisoft, but to show a game to the public in such a poor state does not help push pre-orders.  It will cause exactly the opposite to happen.  Despite those issues, Far Cry 4 gave you three scenarios in which to siege an enemy fortress: sneak, ride and fly.  I chose the ride option which allowed me to ride an elephant to siege the fortress.  While the destruction the elephant caused was a sight to behold, I found attacking the fortress to be ill fit for one person as I was easily swarmed and overwhelmed by the enemy AI on multiple occasions.  In my opinion, the demo would have greatly benefit from having two people cooperatively siege the fortress.  Due to the poor quality of this demo, my expectations for Far Cry 4 have lowered quite a bit.

In light of the small amount of time I got to play Mortal Kombat X (a mere three minutes, in fact), I am going to keep this short and sweet.  Mortal Kombat X was a lot of fun.  The controls felt responsive, it was a lot more approachable than past entries as I put together some unique combos with ease, the interactable elements were well integrated and the game has more than enough blood, gore and violence to keep any Mortal Kombat fan happy.  Although my time was short, I came away impressed with how Mortal Kombat X is progressing.  Finishing foes with fatalities cannot come soon enough.

First Byte: Destiny

Unless you were living under a rock sometime during the end of July, a beta for a little game called Destiny was released to the masses.  While Bungie did give a small taste of Destiny through the PS4 exclusive alpha back in June, the beta marked the first time gamers got a substantial piece of the game to play.  Available from July 17th to 27th on Sony consoles (PS3 and PS4) and July 23rd to 27th on Microsoft consoles (Xbox 360 and Xbox One), the Destiny beta gave players five story missions and one strike co-op mission to complete, the Old Russia wastelands and Guardian Tower to explore and the Control PvP match-type to compete in along with some addition content such as a new story mission and PvP match-type only opened for brief periods throughout the beta.  With the financial backing of publishing powerhouse Activision and the unstained reputation of developer Bungie, Destiny has easily become the most anticipated game of 2014 well before people ever got their hands on the game.  This beta marked a chance for millions of gamers the world over to try this major title without dropping 70 dollars to buy it or spending hundreds to play it at a gaming convention.  The Destiny beta was an unprecedented event, but that leaves one question: did it succeed in convincing those skeptical to buy the game and reinforcing the beliefs of those already excited for the game?  Although the true answer to that question will only be revealed on September 9th when Destiny is released to the public, I will be sharing my initial opinions on Destiny and recap my experience with the beta in this edition of First Byte.

Before launching right into the game, the Destiny beta starts off in a character creation screen.  In this screen, players choose their class (titan, warlock or hunter), sex (male or female), race (Human, Exo or Awoken) and other physical features.  As I am not the most adverse at character creators, I only spent a few minutes creating my unique Exo warlock.  Those interested in tweaking every little feature of their character to perfection might be disappointed in Destiny's focus on using preset features and colours for character creation; however it does keep players from spending an unnecessary amount of time in these menus and moves them into the action right away.

After finishing the character creation, the first cutscene plays setting up the conflict between the Traveler and the Darkness and the players' need to bear arms against the threat of the Darkness.  The first mission starts as my character is resurrected by a Ghost (your character's robot companion played by Game of Thrones star Peter Dinklage) and it plays out much like your standard fare tutorial introducing the core mechanics of the game.  Considering you gain one level every mission in the early stages of Destiny, the four other introductory missions are very similar as each one introduces a new element of the game such as special moves, vehicles, public events and new enemy races.  Once you complete the first mission, you are given access to the Tower, Destiny's social and non-combat hub.  While at the Tower, players are able to view messages, buy new weapons, armour and ship upgrades, decode encrypted items, store items in vaults, take on single and multiplayer bounties and interact with fellow guardians.  Exploring the Tower offers players a peaceful distraction outside the intense firefights of missions and multiplayer matches.  The Tower is not the only place guardians are able to roam as players can explore each major setting of the game at their leisure.  In these "explore" areas are loot caches to find, enemies to fight, secret areas to discover and side missions that come in the form of beacons to complete.  Considering I did not get a chance to play the multiplayer portion of the beta, Destiny's open world areas are where I spent most of my time and I spent most of my time exploring Destiny's open world areas and they were a fun way to kill some time.

Although I am not a huge fan of first-person shooters, Destiny got its hooks in me.  Even with the limited selection of missions and activities to do, I kept on coming back every chance I had and I believe it had to do with Destiny's excellent hybridization of expertly polished FPS gameplay with the empowering abilities and skills found in many RPGs.  The gun play is very reminiscent of Bungie's entries into the Halo series as each gun has its own strengths and weaknesses in effectively dealing with different situations from long distance shootouts to up close and personal brawls.  The RPG elements are excellently implemented as players gain levels independent of learning new skills such as hovering, draining health when using your melee or supercharged special moves.  Gaining levels never feels like a grind because there are plenty of opportunities to earn experience through missions, explore mode, multiplayer matches and public events.  Another impressive element of Destiny comes from the enemy AI.  It floors me how well the enemies react to your tactics by moving from cover to cover, flanking when you are busy fighting another enemy or swarming when you make a mistake.  Destiny's enemies are unlike the regular FPS grunts as they offer a considerable yet satisfying challenge for players of any skill level.

While I thoroughly enjoyed my time with Destiny, there are still a few issues I ran into during the beta.  The most prevalent issues came with the side missions and public events in explore mode as I ran into far too many missions and events with the exact same objectives.  The randomized nature of these activities is definitely a factor in this repetition, but Bungie should make a large enough pool of side missions and public events in order to avoid repetition of missions and events altogether.  The other issues I found were more graphical glitches like a enemy teleporting through objects, errant collision boxes the level designers forgot to remove or stuttering during loading screens, which are not that serious.  Hopefully, the beta helped the programmers and designers at Bungie find all the bugs and balancing issues needed to make Destiny a better game come launch.

Skepticism best describes my opinion of Destiny before taking part in the beta.  Due to the incredible marketing might Activistion is putting behind it, there is no doubt that Destiny will be a success upon its release, but would it actually be live up to the hype is whole other question.  The excellent quality of the Destiny beta has completely changed my opinion on the game.  In a year with a significant lack of triple A titles, Destiny will shine brighter than any game on the market this holiday season, possibly challenging Call of Duty in sales.  We will only know come September 9th if Destiny is the revolution in console MMOs that it is being hyped to be, but I do believe we are on the cusp of something special regardless.

Bit by Bit: July 2014

July has been an incredibly busy month.  Funny enough, it has been busy for every reason except gaming.  Once the final article for E3 2014 went up at the end of June, my life has consisted of endlessly working on a large report for an online course, picking up numerous shifts at my two jobs and volunteering for the university newspaper.  The little free time I had was spent away from the keyboard and either with friends trying to make the most of the summer or in front of a television re-watching Gundam Wing (one of my favourite animes) in its entirety.  To sum things up, Silver Bit has been the least of worries for the past month, but those priorities change now as I have a lot planned for August in order to end this summer as strong as it started.  Stay tuned to Silver Bit as the best is yet to come, I promise.  Before we get ahead of ourselves, let us look back at the month that was July 2014.

Game of the Month
When I snuck in some time to play games, there was one game which dominated my time.  If you paid attention to Silver Bit at all during July, you would have seen the review of said game posted a couple weeks ago.  Yes, Shovel Knight is the Game of the Month and rightfully so, the game is phenomenal.  Even after completing the game on Normal, I return to play a few levels in New Game+, search for hidden music sheets and maximize my treasure count.  I can rant and rave about Shovel Knight for hours on end, but I highly recommend reading the review to get my full opinion on the game.  If you are already enjoying Shovel Knight especially the music, the soundtrack and arranged album for the game are both available on composer Jake Kaufman's Bandcamp for any price you would like to pay.  Both albums work as excellent accompanying pieces to Shovel Knight and are highly recommended to anyone who enjoys video game music.  With that all said and done, I cannot stress how wonderful Shovel Knight is.  It is a game that needs to be experienced and at the low price of 15 dollars, there is no excuse to miss out on this adventure.

Most Anticipated Game of the Month
July 17th marked the start of the most anticipated beta in years, the Destiny beta.  The last time a beta was so highly anticipated was way back in 2007 with the Halo 3 beta and coincidentally the Destiny beta comes from the studio that originally created Halo-- Bungie.  A mere pre-order for Destiny gave you full access to the beta upon its release.  Even with that extremely low barrier of entry, those already in the beta received two addition beta codes in order to encourage others to play the beta and gain access to all the content in the beta including the cooperative strike mission (Destiny's equivalent to raids found in other massively multiplayer online games).  If you owned any Microsoft or Sony console, there was no reason not to play the Destiny beta during the last two weeks of July.  While I will be going into much further detail in an upcoming edition of First Byte, I want to share some of my initial thoughts on Destiny here.  Considering my youngest brother hogged the PS4 almost day and night to play the beta, I enjoyed the limited time with Destiny I snuck in between his long sessions.  It blends the expertly polished gameplay of Bungie's entries in the Halo series with the unique RPG elements of Borderlands to great success.  Nowadays, the FPS genre is full of shallow experiences that aim to imitate the latest Michael Bay action movie rather than create a compelling game with actual depth that Destiny feels so refreshing.  While I do not have a high opinion on the current direction of the genre, Destiny stands out as a first-person shooter that I am actually excited for and in all honesty that does not happen often.  I cannot wait to spend some quality time with Destiny come September unless my brother decides to commit every waking moment to playing the game.

Video of the Month
Another month, another Smash Bros. reveal.  This time around we did not get just one new addition to the roster, Nintendo dropped three.  Newcomers Robin and Lucina from Fire Emblem Awakening join the returning Captain Falcon as the newest members of the Super Smash Bros. for 3DS and Wii U roster.  The reveal trailer blends the anime-style graphics of Awakening's cutscenes with gameplay footage from the new Smash Bros. in a way that makes both art styles compliment one another.  Much like the other reveal trailers, the video speaks for itself.  So sit back, relax and let Mr. Sakurai take you for a ride.

E3 2014: Microsoft Press Conference Impressions

Welcome to the very first day of E3 2014.  Instead of roaming the floors of the LA Convention Center, press conferences will be broadcast to the world from various venues across the city of Los Angeles.  Every bit of anticipation and hype has been building for these sixty to ninety presentations.  The next steps towards the future of the video game industry begins right here, right now.  Following each press conference, yours truly will be sharing his impressions right here on Silver Bit.  These impressions will analyze the good, the bad and the ugly of each conference then wrap it up with a final grade.  As always, Microsoft kicks off E3 with their press conference.

Right off the bat, this press conference was one of the best conferences Microsoft has ever put on.  Much like last year's show, this conference focused solely on games.  The only mention of Kinect came in the brief minute Harmonix had where they spoke about Disney Fantasia and Dance Central Spotlight.  Another similarity to last year's conference came in the form of Microsoft cramming their ninety minutes with games, games and more games.  There was little to no room for anybody to breathe between game demos and trailers unless you count the incredibly awkward developer vignettes.  It was not hard to see that Microsoft wanted to hammer home that they listen to the core gamers, but those vignettes felt forced and completely unnecessary.  Although the pacing is something Microsoft needs to work on, it is a step in the right which should be a good sign for future press conferences.  The conference's strength came from the games shown.  Microsoft made a much better effort in highlighting the games coming from first-party studios. While none of them really made this writer excited, games like Crackdown 3, Fable Legends, Phantom Dust, Scalebound, Sunset Overdrive and Halo: Master Chief Collection will get some people interested in buying an Xbox One.  Along with all the first-party titles, there were a good number of third-party games showcased at the show.  The Microsoft presser saw the reveal trailer for Rise of the Tomb Raider, an impressive demo of Witcher III: Wild Hunt, a fun multiplayer demo of Assassin's Creed Unity and gameplay from both The Division and Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare.  Along with all the love for larger games, Microsoft made a little effort to showcase the indie games coming to Xbox One which they focused a lot of time on revealing Playdead's Inside.  The strengths came from all the content of the show, but Microsoft failed in one regard.  Microsoft did set their holiday lineup for 2014, but sadly it is very lackluster in this writer's honest opinion.  There is no real killer app among Forza Horizon 2, Halo: Master Chief Collection and Sunset Overdrive to elicit people to pick up the Xbox One this Christmas.  Their message came clear that all the games people will care about will be coming out in 2015 or later except that you can join the beta for every major game this holiday season.  Honestly, relying on betas to sell a system is not an effective business plan.  Microsoft needs to deliver on the games and soon because people are not going to wait forever.

Overall, the Microsoft E3 2014 Press Conference was really well done.  This holiday season may be very barren in regards to Microsoft's offerings, but there are some interesting projects down the pipeline to be excited about.  Although Microsoft did make some strides in impressing this year, it did play things far too safe with their reveals and demos than truly showcasing why the Xbox One is greater than the PS4.

Grade:  B

First Byte: Microsoft's Power Play

Ever since Microsoft announced the Xbox One to the public about a year ago, the system has been on a roller coaster of twists and turns.  Never seeming to be on solid footing, Microsoft has tirelessly been rebuilding their damaged reputation after alienating most of their audience at E3 2013.  Changing their policies one week after E3 was the first step, but there is a lot more that still needs to be done.  This past week Microsoft made the next significant steps in changing their tainted image for the better with two big announcements.

The first of Microsoft's two announcements concerns a brand new version of the Xbox One hitting store shelves in a few weeks.  This new Xbox One will run for 399 dollars and come without the Kinect sensor.  With this announcement, Microsoft looks to compete more directly with the PlayStation 4 instead of having one hundred dollar difference between the prices of the two systems.  Sadly if you live in Canada, the roles have now been reversed as the PS4 is now 50 dollars more than the Xbox One due to the poor projection of the Canadian dollar this year.  Microsoft's first real jab at taking some of Sony's profits lands on Monday, June 9th which is the first day of E3 2014.  It is not hard to imagine as a result that Microsoft's conference will be directed towards convincing potential customers to pick up this cheaper Xbox One that very day.

The second announcement from Microsoft involves some changes to Xbox Live.  In particular, it involves new free services being added to the free Xbox Live membership.  No longer will streaming apps such as Netflix, Hulu, Twitch and ESPN be behind the Xbox Live Gold pay wall.  This change cuts out the need for consumers to buy a Xbox Live subscription on top of their other subscriptions just to enjoy the same apps which are free to use on other consoles.  To make amends to current Gold subscribers which only use the service for streaming apps, Microsoft is offering refunds to these subscribers up until the end of August.

It has been well documented that yours truly is a critic of Microsoft especially the direction their game division has taken in the past five to six years.  When they do something right, this writer still has to give credit where credit is due.  While I personally have some reservations, Microsoft made two good moves this past week in removing the Kinect to drop the price of the Xbox One and moving streaming apps from the Gold pay wall.  Lowering the barrier of entry to the Xbox One and Xbox Live opens Microsoft's newest piece of hardware up to a broader audience that may have been scared away by the need to own Kinect and subscribe to Xbox Live Gold to get the most out of the system.  Coupling these changes with a plethora of quality exclusives that play to a variety of genres and differentiate themselves from Sony's offerings could help move a lot more Xbox Ones.  The announcement of Halo 5: Guardians this past week and releasing the first gameplay footage of Sunset Overdrive two weeks ago should get some more hype building around Microsoft and the Xbox One.  Now Microsoft needs to capitalize on this wave of good press with a great showing at E3 to continue building momentum for the Xbox One going into the last half of 2014.

As good as these announcements are, there are a few key details Microsoft has not touched which could sour this good news.  First and foremost, Microsoft has not mentioned anything about selling the Kinect separately from the Xbox One as of yet.  Considering Microsoft designed the entire system to run at its full potential when paired with Kinect, it would be silly not to give those people who purchase the Xbox One for 399 the option to buy a Kinect later.  With the Kinect, the next question is the price of the unit on its own.  The smart decision would be to release the unit at or under 100 dollars in order to avoid alienating the customers who purchase the cheaper Xbox One, but it would not surprise this writer to see Microsoft try to make a profit off of these people by pricing the Kinect between 120 to 150 dollars.  The other detail Microsoft has not mentioned yet are the exclusives coming to Xbox One in the near future.  Halo 5 is coming in Fall 2015, the next Gears of War game is in the earliest stages of development and Fable Legends has not seen the light of day since it was announced back at Gamescom 2013.  The only title confirmed for this coming Fall is Sunset Overdrive.  Hopefully at E3 Microsoft will shed some light on what is coming for 2014, but it needs to be something really big or something completely new to get the attention of the masses.  Microsoft cannot keep expecting to push their new system to the heights of the Xbox 360 with two shooter franchises people are quickly growing tired of, a fantasy RPG series that has never lived up to its true potential and a racing series that has overstayed its welcome.  Microsoft needs to show more initiative in being a first-party force on the Xbox One rather than a passive hardware creator that gets third-party exclusive items or DLC every once and awhile as it is the only way to convince the audience they lost to consider buying their system.

With these announcements, Microsoft is inching towards reestablishing a connection with their lost fan base and moving away from the negative connotations currently associated with the brand.  The more good will they can generate towards the Microsoft and Xbox brand, the closer Microsoft gets to cutting Sony's considerable lead in this new generation.  E3 2014 will be very significant event for all console developers including Microsoft as we get see if the promises made of power and new experiences brought on by the next generation come to fruition.  The need to deliver at this year's E3 is huge.  It could be the difference between ending Microsoft's current woes or making them even worse.

Kickstart This!: Summer of Kickstarter

Welcome to Silver Bit's newest recurring article, Kickstart This!  With Kickstarter's rise in popularity among video game developers and in some cases composers to fund their projects, yours truly has been trying to think of ways to promote these great projects.  A few of video game Kickstarter projects get the initial publicity on big video game media sites such as IGN and Gamespot if they are attached to a popular video game designer such as Tim Schafer or noteworthy developer like WayForward.  There are plenty of Kickstarter projects that never get the public attention they deserve.  While Silver Bit is not among the most viewed blogs in the world, this writer wants to do his part in spreading the word about the Kickstarter projects that appeal to him.  One more person talking about these projects will definitely get a few others talking and hopefully cause a domino effect as more and more decide to spread the word.

The inspiration behind Kickstart This! came about due to all the Kickstarter projects that yours truly has been following and supporting as of late.  I have supported a few projects over the past year or so, but not at the frequency that I am doing now.  It has gotten to a point where this writer is scared to find another project to whisk away more money.  What a better way to kick off Kickstart This!, pun fully intended, then with the three Kickstarter projects that sucked up this writer's money this past Summer.
                       
The first Kickstarter project highlighted today is actually not a video game.  Before you raise your virtual pitchforks, this project does involve video games in some form.  Particularly, it involves video game music.  This Kickstarter is to fund Video Games Live's third album.  For those who have not heard of Video Games Live, it is a multimedia symphonic/rock video game concert run by prolific video game composer Tommy Tallarico.  Video Games Live's first two albums focused on the most popular and recognizable video game music from the likes of Mario, Halo and Warcraft.  For the third album, known as Level 3, Video Games Live is focusing on the more underrated video game tracks from games like Monkey Island, Street Fighter, Journey and Beyond Good and Evil.  Due to how niche the audience for this album is, Video Games Live is looking for passionate gamers like you and I to help fund this project.  Video Games Live is looking to raise 250 thousand dollars to fund Level 3.  Currently 205 thousand dollars have been pledged to the project with only three days left.  If you are a lover of video game music, the Video Games Live Kickstarter is definitely one to support.  Every bit counts.
                       
It has been well documented on how horribly Capcom has dropped the ball with their flagship franchise, Mega Man.  Once the Blue Bomber's creator Keiji Inafue left Capcom to create his own independent studio Comcept, Capcom seemed to abandon their mascot.  Many have been clamouring for any sort of news about a new Mega Man game, but to no avail.  Capitalizing on the demand, Keiji Inafue announced a brand new project from Comcept called Mighty No. 9.  Mighty No. 9 is the spiritual successor to Mega Man.  It is a side-scrolling action game where you run, jump, shoot and transform much like Capcom's Blue Bomber.  It might seem a lot like Mega Man, but with one huge twist.  Beck, the main character, can transform at will.  These transformations are not only earned from defeating the bosses in the game; they can be gained from collecting energy dropped from common enemies.  The Mighty No. 9 Kickstarter has been a runaway success.  The game was funded within two days and is now currently working towards its 2.2 million dollar stretch goal, which will see Mighty No. 9 ported to PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii U.  With 21 days left to go, Comcept will definitely have enough money to fund Mighty No. 9 and then some.  Guess the demand for a Mega Man game is bigger than ever imagined, eh Capcom?
                        
Last but not least, the latest Kickstarter project to make me part with my money to support.  WayForward has been on a roll with their latest offerings (Mighty Switch Force series on 3DS and Wii U and DuckTales:  Remastered for consoles).  So it came as a surprise when they announced that they will be funding a new game project through Kickstarter.  Some thought it could be a whole new intellectual property or a console installment in one of WayForward's signature franchises.  The latter came true as Shantae: Half-Genie Hero was revealed to be said Kickstarter project this past Wednesday.  Shantae is WayForward's first original franchise.  It stars a female half-genie by the name of Shantae who is in charge of protecting a fishing port called Scuttle Town.  Half-Genie hero is Shantae's first venture on consoles as she has been at home on handheld and mobile systems for the past decade.  Before any funding was needed, WayForward confirmed Half-Genie Hero will be coming to PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Wii U and PC.  Meeting the funding goal of 400 thousand dollars will allow WayForward to create a HD Shantae game with an introduction and conclusion stage along with three chapters in between.  Stretch goals are in place to include extra modes, different costumes and even bonus chapters if WayForward's goal is met.  At the moment, Shantae: Half-Genie Hero is half way to its goal with just under a month to go.

Hopefully you all enjoyed this first edition of Kickstart This!  If you are interested in any of the projects shared in this article, please pledge some of your money to the project of your choice.  Kickstarter is becoming such a powerful tool in the video game industry especially for the gamers who are getting sick and tired of the current state of Triple A video game development.  These three projects are only a small sampling of everything that is on Kickstarter.  There a tons of projects out there to support.  If these projects did not speak to you, there is definitely a project out there.

First Byte: Nintendo 2DS

This past Wednesday was a big day if you are a Nintendo fan.  The Big N came out and revealed their plans for the remainder of 2013.  They gave release dates for all their first-party titles and finally announced a much-needed fifty dollar price drop for the Wii U.  This announcement alone would have been enough as it puts the Wii U in a better position to compete with the PS4 and Xbox One this holiday season.  Funny enough, the Wii U price drop and the slew of release dates was not all Nintendo had in store this past Wednesday.  The biggest and most polarizing news was the reveal of the Nintendo 2DS  (no that is not a typo).  The 2DS is the newest model of the Nintendo 3DS designed specifically for young children and those who cannot use the 3DS's glasses-less 3D features.  The 2DS's major changes are the removal of the signature 3D features and the bulky design, which is very similar to old Tiger Electronics handhelds.  Other than those changes, the 2DS is exactly the same as the other 3DS models on the market.  Since its reveal, the 2DS has created a major stir across the confines of the World Wide Web.  Due to how sudden the reveal of the 2DS was, the reactions from media outlets, game designers and general gamers have been very interesting.  So interesting in fact that it has inspired this writer to give his two cents on the topic.  To tackle this topic, yours truly has decided to take a different approach with this edition of First Byte.  This writer will be analyzing the 2DS from two different perspectives- Nintendo's perspective and the gamer's perspective.  There is no absolute right or wrong perspective to this topic because both have their pros and cons.  So sit back, take in the insights provided and do not be afraid to share your opinions in the comments below.

First and foremost, Nintendo did not design the 2DS for core gamers like you and I.  The 2DS is designed for children under the age of seven because 3D is damaging for a young child's developing eyes.  The 2DS, much like the Canada-exclusive Wii Mini, is designed to be a child's first handheld game system.  This mentality is why the 2DS looks a lot more like a children's toy than any other Nintendo before it.  The new bulky design is definitely built to withstand the abuse a child can give to a device.  The 3DS XL is very durable, but the original 3DS with its gloss finish is much more fragile than any Nintendo handhelds to date.  For a younger gamer, it is not hard to see them causing a lot of damage to the regular 3DS unless you invest extra money in protective case for it.  While children are the target audience for the 2DS, it also appeals to gamers that cannot use the 3D features of the 3DS because they get easily nauseated by 3D or it is damaging for their eyes.  You can just turn off the 3D on the regular 3DS, but there is no purpose for these people to have the option if they are never going to use it.  These people can now buy the cheaper 2DS and never have to worry about getting a migraine or experiencing double vision because they accidentally hit the 3D slider.  The final reason Nintendo decided to announce the 2DS has to do with its release date of October 12th.  Funny thing being that October 12th is the same day Pokemon X and Y release, hands down the 3DS's biggest games to date.  Connect two-and-two together and there is no doubt Nintendo is positioning Pokemon X and Y to sell the 2DS as it will cost less than 200 dollars to purchase them together.  It is an ingenious plan on Nintendo's part as this writer predicts Pokemon X and Y will be the best selling Pokemon games in years.

With all that said about why Nintendo decided to make the Nintendo 2DS, the question that should be on gamer's minds instead of blind rage is whether this was the right time to release the 2DS.  In all honesty, this writer thought somebody was playing one hell of prank on him when he first saw the announcement.  I had to check a calendar to make sure it was not April 1st.  The reason these thoughts were running through my mind was that the 3DS has been having the best year a system can ever have.  Nintendo did not need a new piece of hardware or a brand new accessory to sell the 3DS because the onslaught of quality games releasing for the system were doing it for them. Yes, they are taking advantage of the 3DS's immense momentum at the moment, but there is one caveat.  Nintendo is one entity and that entity as a whole is not in the greatest light with the problematic launch of the Wii U.  There is no reason to overshadow the best news the Wii U has gotten in months with the reveal of the 2DS.  By no means is the Wii U dead; in fact it is actually on the up swing.  Although, it should be Nintendo's top priority to get the Wii U on stable ground before making more strides with 3DS hardware.  Another problem with this system will come about because of the 2DS name.  This writer can easily see confusion with the target audience and uninformed parents.  From experience, it is hard for people who do not play games to wrap their head around some of the most basic concepts.  This writer has seen people buy 3DS games even though they do not own the 3DS because they see the DS logo after the three and think it must work on the DS.  A game can sitting its own separate section in different cases with Nintendo 3DS plastered all over it, it does not matter.  There is no doubt in my mind there will be a few kids that search high and dry for these mythical 2DS games as they do for Mario on the PS3 or Halo on Wii.  It will not cause massive confusion, but just enough to possibly frustrate the guardians of the target audience.

Is the Nintendo 2DS the worst idea for a game system?  No, it is not.  In actuality, it is a very smart business choice on Nintendo's part.  By designing a new version of the 3DS that is more approachable to younger children and those easily bothered by 3D, it drops the barrier of entry for those looking to invest in a video game system.  Including more people into this hobby we share is never a bad thing.  On the flip side, this writer whole heartedly believes that Nintendo's timing for announcing the 2DS, while ingenious in some sense, was absolutely horrible.  The 3DS is in a great place with an incredible lineup of games this year and leading into next year as well.  There is no need for Nintendo to focus too much energy on thinking up new 3DS redesigns when the Wii U is definitely in need of some good will for once.  Right now, Nintendo should step aside and let the 3DS games do the heavy lifting.  Get the Wii U on stable ground then unveil a new 3DS model when all the animosity has dissipated.  In this writer's opinion, six months to a year from now when people are concerned about the problems of the PS4 and Xbox One would have been a much better time to announce the 2DS.

Xbox One Reveal Impressions

The next generation of home consoles is just around the corner.  Nintendo has launched the Wii U, Sony has revealed the PlayStation 4, today was Microsoft's turn to reveal their plans for the next generation Xbox.  Being the last out of the gate meant a lot of eyes were focused on Microsoft to deliver the next evolution of their Xbox brand.  Microsoft's reveal was the Xbox One, the next generation system focused on being a one stop shop for entertainment, sports, social networking and gaming.  The initial reveal was this afternoon with plenty of new information being revealed throughout the day from Question and Answer sessions held after the event.  These impressions are of only the reveal itself.  I will leave my thoughts about the Xbox One as a whole to a later date when things settle down.  

Microsoft started their reveal by showing off the actual console itself.  Right off the bat, everybody saw the Xbox One, the new Kinect and the new controller, which were all had a slick industrial design.  From there, Microsoft showed off the Xbox One's interface.  The interface is very similar to that of Windows 8 with the added touches of the Kinect voice control and the ability to run multiple applications at a time.  The voice controls were impressive as the Xbox One instantaneously reacted to the presenter's commands, a huge improvement over the original Kinect's voice controls because they did actually work.  Microsoft then went into detail about the tech behind the Xbox One.  They separated this segment into three sections: the system, Kinect and the controller.  Microsoft took a quick look at the design and features behind each piece of the Xbox One.  While I personally do not believe for one second that there are forty innovations in the controller, this segment was enjoyable as it was concise and to the point unlike one other console manufacturer that loves to talk for hours on end about their consoles specs by the name of Sony.  The first half of the reveal concluded with a look at the new Xbox Live, which will boast thousands of servers, dynamic achievements and improved cloud storage.  

The second half of this reveal was where everything fell apart for Microsoft.  The first half got everybody excited to see what this new console could create.  Sadly, Microsoft could not show the software to back up their claims.  Nothing shown in the last thirty minutes did anything to excite, it actually made this writer role his eyes and yell at the television in disdain repeatedly.  Microsoft touted that they will be releasing fifteen exclusives for the Xbox One during the console's first year on the market.  Eight of those exclusives are suppose to be brand new franchises yet they had barely anything to show.  Microsoft did show teasers for Forza Motorsport 5, a series that is quickly overstaying its welcome, and Quantum Break, a new game from Remedy that looks like Beyond: Two Souls just with a young girl instead of Ellen Page.  The lack of first-party support at the reveal was very telling of how little Microsoft cares about their first-party content outside of milking Halo for all it is worth.  The third-party games on display were not much better.  EA Sports made fools of themselves by showing off their new Ignite engine along with a montage of what their games will "look" like on Xbox One.  This montage was very similar to the Madden 2006 target video showed off at the 360's reveal.  Personally I found it insulting for EA to try and pull the same crap they did at the beginning of this current generation.  There is no way these graphics will be possible on the Xbox One right out of the gate and people are not dumb enough to believe it.  EA should stop insulting the intelligence of the audience and show actual gameplay footage.  The other third party publisher at the reveal was Activision, who showed off the first gameplay footage for Call of Duty: Ghosts.  Despite Activision's attempts to convince those watching of the huge leap of graphics and gameplay from Modern Warfare 3 to Ghosts, it is more of the same with prettier graphics.  Ghosts was nothing special and the fact that it ended this presentation just left a bad taste in this writer's mouth.  Microsoft also announced a Halo television series and a partnership with ESPN, but honestly there was no reason to have these announcements thrown in with the rest of the game reveals.

Overall, Mircosoft started out strong with their showcase of the Xbox One's interface and features.  The last half of the Xbox One's reveal was a disaster.  There was no software to back up all the tech and features that Microsoft showed off at the beginning of the reveal.  This lack of software extremely hurt the Xbox One's first impression.  It did nothing to convince those skeptical to put down the cash to buy the Xbox One day one.  The fact Microsoft clearly told everyone that they are going to show all the good stuff off at E3 with their countdown clock meant this reveal had no real purpose or focus.  It was more of the same entertainment crap Microsoft has been shoving down our throats for a good two years now.  At one point during the reveal, this writer was ready to jump on the Xbox One bandwagon, but it only took thirty minutes to change those thoughts.  E3 is only a few short weeks away.  Microsoft has a second chance to impress those not convinced by this reveal, but it will be much harder to do so the second time around.  

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.

On the Download: May 6-12

With nothing extraordinary released on the PSN or Nintendo eShop, this week's edition of On the Download highlights some iOS offerings and one big XBLA release.  For Steam users who have not picked up Valve's excellent puzzle game Portal 2, it is on sale for only 7 dollars this weekend.  A phenomenal deal if I say so myself.

Gameloft has made a name for themselves by making carbon copies of the most influential and popular games in recent memory such as Call of Duty, Legend of Zelda and Starcraft.  Gameloft's tactics have also acted as a double-edged sword of sorts.  While Gameloft may trick the casual gamers by creating extremely similar games for iOS and other downloadable services, many core gamers such as yours truly do not hold the developer in high regard.  More or less Gameloft has become the poster boy of plagiarism in video games and the punchline to many jokes.  Gameloft's third entry in their complete ripoff of Halo, N.O.V.A. 3, has just launched for iOS.  N.O.V.A. 3 (short for Near Orbit Vanguard Alliance) follows hero Kal Wardin as he returns to Earth to stop the evil Volterite Protectorate.  The main campaign spans 10 missions that take players from a war-torn Earth to the frozen Volterite City.  N.O.V.A. 3 also includes a red vs. blue style multi-player modes with up to 12 players across 6 different maps.  If you are dying to have Halo on the go with you, N.O.V.A. 3 will cost you 7 dollars.  For those who have standards, it is much easier and more fun just to play Halo.

At the end of 2011, Frontier Developments brought a great WiiWare game in LostWinds to iOS.  Now about four months later, Frontier has brought LostWinds 2: Winter of the Melodias, another great WiiWare game, to iOS.  In Winter of Melodias, Toku and the Wind Spirit Enril must save Toku's mother, Magdi, from the clutches of Balasar.  Toku must harness the power of Sonte, the Spirit of Seasons, to instantly change Mistralis between the Summer and Winter.  This new power allows Toku to solve puzzles and interact with the environment unlike anything he has done before.  The first LostWinds worked really well on iOS so I do expect LostWinds 2 to be the same in quality or even better.  For 4 dollars, LostWinds 2 is another game to download for your iDevice.

The gaming phenomenon known as Minecraft has finally reached consoles with Minecraft's exclusive release on XBLA.  If you do not know what Minecraft is by now, where have you been for the past year?  Mojang's open-world sandbox game has captured the hearts of millions to the point there is a whole convention dedicated to this game.  The XBLA version of Minecraft was developed by 4J Studios.  Minecraft for 360 supports Kinect and cross platform play with anybody who owns the game on the PC.  In the PC version, players have the freedom to create however huge a world that they want.  In the 360 version, they are limited 1024 x 1024 blocks, but this limit will most likely be expanded in future updates.  Also the 360 version of Minecraft is quite a few versions behind the PC version due to how easy updating a game is on the PC compared to updating a game on the 360.  Do not worry as all the features found in the current version of Minecraft for the PC will make its way to the 360 eventually.  To make up for the shortcomings, Minecraft for the 360 has a good amount of content exclusive to this version of the game such as a newly designed crafting system and control interface.  For those who skipped out on the PC version of the game to pick Minecraft up for the 360, it will cost you 1600 Microsoft Points.

Hump Day Music: One Final Effort

Usually I like to tie in the music I highlight on Hump Day Music with what I am currently playing or a big piece of news.  It is just a coincidence that I thought of highlighting what is commonly known as Halo's theme just a week after Microsoft announced Halo 4's release date of November 6th this year.  My little brother is going to love me for this one, seeing his a huge fan of the original Halo trilogy.  This week on Hump Day Music, I share with you my favourite thing about Halo, One Final Effort.

Personally, I have never been a huge fan of first-person perspective in games other than for Metroid Prime and Half-Life, a lot due to those games' amazing atmospheres and the fact you are rarely taken out of that first-person perspective.  I have always enjoyed playing Halo with friends from time to time as it is actually a pretty fun party game, but nothing more than that.  I have played a bit of Halo 2, ODST and Reach, but the only one I have completed is Halo 3.  Funny enough, my favourite version of One Final Effort comes from Halo 3.  This amazing orchestrated piece of video game music really accentuates Halo's gameplay.  One Final Effort makes you feel like you are in a superhero that nothing can stand in your way.  Every moment you hear it play throughout Halo 3, especially in the final mission, you feel like a champ.  This piece of music is an example why Halo's music is held in such high regard by both the gaming industry and gaming community.  It will be nice to hear how Halo's new audio director, Sotora Tojima, interprets this Marty O'Donnell's classic gaming theme for Halo 4.