Passing on the Season Pass

It's surprising that the concept of downloadable content (DLC) has been around for 10 years now. Starting with the launch titles for the Xbox 360, DLC has become a major part of the industry as it gives the player more things to do in the game and keeps them from trading it in for something else. This need to keep gamers from trading in their old games has forced every major AAA title nowadays to have a plan for DLC or risk fading away into obscurity. With the industry's dependence on DLC, packaging all the DLC together in one purchase called a season pass has become a standard practice for every game big and small. What first started as a great deal has more commonly become a money gouging strategy by publishers.

The two most recent season pass offenders are Star Wars: Battlefront and Rainbow Six: Siege.

It has become common knowledge that Battlefront has great gameplay, but DICE clearly skimped out when it came to the content. Looking to make up for the short-sight, or what I like to call, "We need to get this game out now, better add this stuff later," DICE has provided 20 weapons, 16 maps, four playable heroes and villains, four new game modes, and an exclusive emote that players can buy in a season pass. The content seems reasonable until you look at its 70 dollar price tag. Seriously, 70 dollars! What does EA think they will achieve? They're scaring people away, rather than enticing them to pay for extra content. EA may be arrogant enough to believe severely overpricing their season passes is an acceptable practice, but it will come back to haunt them when gamers skip on the initial release of their games to wait for the inevitable Game of the Year version.

If you though Battlefront's season pass is bad, well the season pass for Rainbow Six: Siege is on a new level of exploitation. Spending 30 dollars on this season pass nets you seven day early access and instant unlock of eight new operators (which you can unlock free of charge by playing the game), weapon skins, 600 credits for additional in-game purchases, five per cent Renown boost, and two more challenges a day. I can't think of a worse way to spend 30 dollars. Outside of the minor boosts and cosmetic additions, everything contained in this season pass can be unlocked through regular play, meaning this pass only exists to gouge money out of Rainbow Six fans. Is Siege a AAA title or a freemium game, Ubisoft? Because how you treating it with this abomination of a season pass and the addition of unnecessary microtransactions are telling me otherwise.

Not all season passes are bad. Witcher III's expansion pass and the Mario Kart 8 DLC bundle price are two examples of great season passes. Just most of the recent offerings have been giving this option to buying DLC in bulk a bad name. Making new content for a game, no matter its size, can be costly especially with the ever-rising price of video game development, but that doesn't give publishers justification to gouge money out of the consumer that already pays close to 100 dollars for one title. Instead of enticing more people to buy more content for their games, these underhanded practices are good ways to keep people from buying DLC altogether.

Bit by Bit: E3 2015 Wrap-up

E3 is over for another year and I got to say: what a wonderful show.  While there some bumps along the way, E3 2015 was one of the best in a long time.  During this nearly week long expo, we saw incredible feats of game mastery, pipe dreams become reality and the next generation of gaming finally live up to all the hype.

Although there are some issues the video game industry still faces such as the ever-rising cost of AAA development or the instability of jobs, E3 2015 made us forget about all the negativity and focus on the fundamentals of this art form: fun, imagination and community.  All the silly Muppet skits, excessive gum flapping and surreal moments of celebrity interjection cannot compare to the excitement of the Nintendo World Championships, the tears brought on from the Final Fantasy VII Remake and Shenmue III reveals, and the blood-pumping gameplay trailers for highly anticipated titles like Star Wars Battlefront, Kingdom Hearts III and The Last Guardian.  

E3 2015 was a show that will reverberate throughout the annals of video game history.  To wrap-up this great event, Silver Bit presents a special E3 2015 edition of Bit by Bit.

Winner of E3 2015

With all the stiff competition, I thought it would be a hard decision to pick the winner of E3 2015.  Nintendo blew things out of the park with their World Championships and constant Treehouse Live coverage only to falter in the most important area: the Digital Event.  Microsoft came out swinging with the announcement of Xbox One backwards compatibility and showing live demos for their biggest titles, but seemed to undermine their momentum by announcing a good number of their Xbox One "exclusives" for PC as well.  Both Bethesda and Ubisoft took a step back to let the games do the talking for them yet did little in terms of delivering truly shocking surprises.  At the end of the day, all these great performances could not stand up to the unstoppable force that is Sony.

Sony may not have delivered much in terms of bolstering their lineup for 2015, but they did make us forget about it with all the bombshells they dropped.  For a solid hour-and-a-half, Sony delivered a steady stream of the most exciting and enticing gameplay trailers and demos at the show.  Out of all the great games shown off at Sony's presser, there were three that took it from great to legendary: The Last Guardian, Final Fantasy VII Remake and Shenmue III.  Sony literally made dreams come true by showing them off that fateful Monday night.  They also serviced both the old and the new by announcing three of the most wanted games in the past decade and showing off brand new IPs like Horizon: Zero Dawn, No Man's Sky and Dreams.

For the third year in a row, Sony showed that the PS4 is THE system to own this generation.  Even though Sony's lineup for 2015 is rather sparse, the incredible wave of good will coming off of their performance at E3 2015 along with some smart partnerships with Activision, EA and Warner Bros. might be enough to solidify the PS4s huge lead on the competition.

Surprise of E3 2015

There isn't much else to say about my pick for the Surprise of E3 2015.  In fact, arguments can be made for any of the big three surprises from the Sony press conference.  Personally, my pick is Shenmue III because it came out of nowhere.  With how much Sega has been suffering in recent years, never in my wildest dreams did I expect Shenmue III to get the funding needed for development.  To see Shenmue III caught me off-guard, which left me stunned and a little choked up.  The last surprise to affect me that much was the Kid Icarus: Uprising reveal back in 2010.

Trailer of E3 2015

Funny enough, this year's E3 wrap-up has turned into the Sony show.  In all honesty, there was great stuff from everybody at the show and I would love to highlight it all, but this wrap-up isn't the place for that.  I'm here to highlight the best from E3 2015 and the truth is Sony had the best stuff this year.

Out of everything Sony showed at E3, one title blew me away.  That game was Horizon: Zero Dawn.  Horizon is Guerrilla Games' brand new property that switches out the first-person shooting of Killzone for a third-person adventure game set in a pre-historic/post-apocalyptic mishmash.  Hearing the premise is compelling in of itself, but watching the game in motion is breathtaking.  Seeing the female lead move between stalking mechanical dinosaurs and hiding in bushes along with the fluid fight with the robot T-Rex gives the impression that there are many ways to tackle enemies.  Watching the trailer over again, Horizon looks like a next generation version of Monster Hunter with fluid combat and mechanical monsters to slay, which has me even more intrigued.

If it was playable on the show floor, Horizon would easily nab the number one spot on my Top Games of E3 2015 list.  Unfortunately, all Sony brought to E3 was this awe-inspiring trailer that has me craving for more.

E3 2015: Ubisoft Press Conference Impressions

2014 was a less than stellar year for Ubisoft's reputation as Watch Dogs fell far short of its hype and Assassin's Creed: Unity was shipped as a broken mess.  Despite Ubisoft's best efforts to fix the situation, many felt betrayed by Ubisoft's transgressions.  So the French publisher had something to prove coming into E3 2015.  The question was: could they deliver?

For how many games Ubisoft crammed into a 60 minutes, the conference moved at an incredible pace.  The hour flew by before you knew it as Ubisoft. much like Bethesda, let the games do the talking for them.  For every minute spent talking, three or more was spent showing live gameplay or pre-rendered trailers.  While I do prefer gameplay over trailers any day, the trailers that Ubisoft showed at their conference were short, sweet and incredibly produced.  My personal favourite was Trials Fusion Awesome Level Max's trailer, which saw a gun-toting cat riding a fire-breathing unicorn.  No, I'm not on crack!  It really happened!

The biggest plus from Ubisoft's conference was most certainly the live demos.  Seeing all those titles played live, including the newly announced For Honor, The Division, Rainbow Six: Siege and TrackMania Turbo, gave me a much better impression on all of them.  I'm actually excited to play all of them.  From a medieval melee combat to a tactical shooter to an arcade racer, there was incredible amount of diversity between the titles demoed and on the show as a whole.

Also, I have to praise Ubisoft for being the only publisher in the video game industry that can actually keep a secret.  There were no leaks or rumours about South Park: The Fractured But Whole, Ghost Recon Wildlands or a new IP in For Honor being set for Ubisoft's press conference.  Not having any prior knowledge on those games made all the surprises feel special, something that rarely happens nowadays.

It wasn't all sunshine and rainbows at Ubisoft's press conference.  There were some problems when it came to presentation.  It has become par for the course that Ubisoft brings in some celebrities to host, make appearances or even sing, but it never usually ends well.  The same can be said for this year's show.  Aisha Tyler tirelessly tried to inject some humour into the conference, but seemed to make things awkward ever single time.  Angela Bassett talking about her role as Six in Rainbow Six: Siege was completely worthless.  And to top it all off, Jason Derulo showed the world that he cannot sing—or he might of just hit puberty—in a moment that was so gloriously awful that it came off as being incredibly funny.  Like watching a train wreck, you couldn't turn your attention away from it.

Despite the problems with the conference's presentation, Ubisoft's press conference was a highly entertaining show.  It let the games stand as the sole focus and kept Aisha Tyler's on-stage shenanigans to a minimum.  You know it's going to be a good show from Ubisoft when the only reference to Tyler's girlwood is her necklace.

Grade:  A-

Early Reveals Killed the E3 Surprise

We are less than two weeks away from E3 2015.  It is an exciting time as everyone from video game aficionados to casual fans speculate on what's in store for the show.  During these two weeks, rumours, predictions and even leaks spread across the web like wildfire due to increased levels of interest in E3.  To combat third-parties from leaking their lineups for E3, some game companies adopted the practice of revealing some of their titles in the weeks leading up to the show.  Some people love getting these reveals early because it keeps the games from getting lost in all the hustle and bustle of E3.  On the other hand, these early reveals kill the element of surprise that is a key part of the show's success.

Let's take a trip down memory lane.  What E3 moment made you fall in love with following the event from beginning to end each year?  It certainly wasn't for leaked/revealed games like Titanfall, Gears of War: Judgment, Beyond: Two Souls or Call of Duty: Black Ops 2.  It was surprises that made your jaw drop, got you to sit back in disbelief and possibly left your crying tears of joy.  Some moments that come to mind include Shigeru Miyamoto appearing onstage wielding both the Master Sword and Hylian Shield at the Twilight Princess reveal, the legendary Metal Gear Solid 4 trailers, the return of Kid Icarus and Sony's PS4 reveal.  Everyone has a moment that stands out in their mind, but they all have one thing in common: the element of surprise.

By revealing games early or making these secrets vulnerable to leaks, these companies are hurting the show that serves as a massive marketing push for their products.  Seriously, a product's showing at E3 can make or break it.  Case in point, look at the success of Watch Dogs and Destiny or even the continued struggles Microsoft faces with the lagging sales of the Xbox One.

Speaking of Watch Dogs, nobody knew anything about the game or even the fact that Ubisoft would unveil a brand new property at the end of their E3 2012 press conference.  The surprise of the game's reveal coupled with the scarcity of information about it started a frenzy surrounding Watch Dogs.  In the end, it lead to one of the biggest disappointments of 2014, but not before selling millions upon millions of copies.

Now look at Fallout 4.  Yes, the game's existence has been one of the worst kept secrets in gaming history, but that is beside the point.  Fallout 4 was all but confirmed before Bethesda dropped the trailer earlier this week.

Now, just imagine if Bethesda waited until their E3 press conference this coming July 14th, where hundreds of journalists and millions eyes around the world would be focused on this one event, to reveal the Fallout 4 trailer.  It's not hard to image the audience, both live and at home, would have lost it and Bethesda would have seen a dramatic spike in interest for the game.  By trying to get ahead of third-parties, Bethesda has missed out on a golden opportunity and took a great surprise away from the biggest event of the year for the video game industry.

As much as E3 is about impressing investors and marketing products to a worldwide audience, it is about the gamers.  We are the audience that tunes in every year hoping to be surprised, entertained and ultimately excited for the future of this industry.  Taking the surprises out of E3 only leaves people feeling disappointed.  My advice to game developers and publishers: resist the urge, keep your secrets close to your chest and make E3 2015 an event we will never forget.

Year in Review 2014: Games I Missed

Compared to previous years, the video game industry seemed much more concerned with the future than the present in 2014.  There were a lot of games released over the course of the past twelve months, but not to the extent of being overwhelming like past years.  2014 was suppose to be the coming out party for the next generation of consoles.  With an onslaught of delays, re-releases, unfulfilled hype and buggy launches, 2014 felt more like a transitional year for developers to ramp up production for their true next gen titles.

Although there were less games released in 2014, no one person can play through them all.  There were quite a few games that I personally wanted to make time for, but never got around to with my constantly busy schedule.  Hopefully, a new year will bring plenty of chances to play these missed titles.

The Wolf Among Us
Some may debate the position of The Wolf Among Us on this list due to the first episode releasing late 2013.  Considering the majority of the game released during this past calendar year, I believe it is safe to say The Wolf Among Us is a 2014 release.  Ever since I saw the preview for it in an issue of Game Informer, The Wolf Among Us has ranked high among the games I want to play especially after experiencing Telltale's exceptional work on The Walking Dead.  I almost got the chance to put some time into Wolf Among Us when I purchased the game during the Steam Summer Sale and installed it on my Mac.  Funny enough, the fall semester of university came, I got a brand new laptop and completely forgot about The Wolf Among Us.  It has been in the back of my mind for months now, but I never made the time.  A lot of good things have been said about the game's take on the Fables universe and highly interactive action scenes that I look forward to making time for The Wolf Among Us in the near future.

Child of Light and Valiant Hearts: The Great War
2014 hasn't been the best year for Ubisoft.  Most of their major titles, including Assassin's Creed Unity, The Crew and Watch Dogs, suffered from being over hyped, extremely buggy and rushed to market.  While these titles hurt the French publisher, there were two downloadable games that brought some much needed good faith Ubisoft's way.  I'm speaking of Child of Light and Valiant Hearts.  As the first two games to use the incredible UbiArt engine outside of the recent Rayman titles, they both show how flexible the engine is in crafting games of different genres.  While the presentation of each game is second-to-none, both feature compelling and creative gameplay to complement the beautiful art.  Due to their unique premises and gameplay, both games are deserving of being on anyone's must play lists.

Destiny
Everybody seems to have an opinion about Bungie's newest title, except me.  While I have seen tons of coverage for the game and watched my brothers play it multiple times, I never had the motivation to sit down and play Destiny since the beta.  Considering Destiny is such a massive game that one can lose hours in, it doesn't work well with my extremely hectic schedule during the school year.  It is no fault of the game; I just prefer playing in smaller chucks during the term.  Despite the polarizing opinions people have on Destiny, I really want to play the game for myself to form my own opinion instead of being swayed by the masses.  While I am a little afraid of being outclassed by those playing since launch, it will be exciting to see how Destiny has changed since the beta.

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.

Silver Bit @ Fan Expo 2014

On Friday, August 29th, yours truly made the trek down to the Metro Toronto Convention Centre in the heart of Canada's largest city for this year's Fan Expo Canada.  Fan Expo Canada is a multi-day event annually held at the very August.  Originally the convention was made to bring together fans of multiple genres, mainly comic books, science fiction, fantasy and film, Fan Expo has gone on to include a vast range of popular media such as video games, anime, manga and horror.  Over the years, the convention has grown to fill four whole days with panels, workshops, special screenings, tournaments, meet and greets, after parties, signings and photo ops among a plethora of other attractions.  Fan Expo Canada is easily the largest convention in all of Canada as it fills both buildings of the Toronto Convention Centre to capacity.

It has been four long years since I last went to Fan Expo Canada and a whole lot has changed since then.  I was astounded on how the convention has grown in size especially video game portion of the convention.  Back in 2010, the entire convention was held in the North Building of the Toronto Convention Centre with less than five percent of that space being dedicated to video games.  This year, the video game portion of the convention took up a whole quarter of the South Building and a large area of the North Building.  The video game industry was more than well represented at Fan Expo 2014 and a lot of the thanks has to go to EB Games Canada and their Gamer Zone.  EB Games Canada brought in the likes of Ubisoft, Sony, Microsoft, Bethesda, Disney, WB Games and 2K Games to demo some of the most anticipated games coming out in the next year.  There were well over 30 games on the show floor to demo including Evolve, Destiny, Far Cry 4, Sunset Overdrive, The Evil Within, Mortal Kombat X and Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare.  Personally, I spent the majority of my time in this section playing all the upcoming games I could get my hands on.  Considering I went for the one day, I only got to play about a third of the games available, but it was well worth all the kilometres traveled and the time spent waiting in lines.  I look forward to sharing my impressions on the demos I played in the coming weeks.  So stay tuned.

I did not spend my entire Friday in the video game section of Fan Expo.  There were tons of vendors selling video games, comics, art books, t-shirts, framed artwork, action figures, plush toys and anything you can think of.  Out of thousands of items available to buy, I picked up two Official Nintendo Legend of Zelda shirts for 40 dollars.  A lot of time outside of the games section was spent taking pictures of all the incredible statues set up on the floor such as giant Lego statues of the Shedder and Lord Business, and life-sized models of Prowl from Transfromers G1 and the Batmobile from Batman: Arkham Knight.  I also got to watch the very first episode of Star Wars: Rebels, the new Star Wars animated TV show set between Episodes III and IV, in the John Bassett Theatre with tons of excited fans both young and old.  It was a completely different experience watching a show with hundreds of other people as you got to hear live reactions from everybody in the audience, not just yourself.  While Rebels is geared towards a young audience, I found it to be very enjoyable for Star Wars fans of all ages.  It will definitely worth a viewing when it premieres on Disney XD this October.

Last but not least, I got to meet the cast of Reviews on the Run and Electric Playground along with famous video game composer and founder of Video Games Live, Tommy Tallarico.  Even though I met most of these gaming celebrities before, I was incredibly starstruck in front of all of them.  Some people idolize athletes, film stars or musicians, I idolize people in the video games industry including the developers, journalists and game analysts.  While I may have awkwardly stumbled over my words while talking to them, they all made me feel welcomed and appreciated.  I would like to thank Victor Lucas, Ben Silverman, Jose Sanchez, Marissa Roberto, Steve Tilley, Raju Mudhar and Tommy Tallarico for making a great Fan Expo even more special for me.  It was an excellent day and I cannot wait to go again next year.

Top 10 Games of E3 2014 Part 1

Silver Bit's month long coverage of E3 2014 comes to an end with the annual Top Games of E3 list.  This year yours truly is going to switch things up as this list will be a Top 10 list instead of the Top 5 lists from previous years.  Due to the change, it will be hard to contain all these games in one article.  To solve the problem, I will be splitting the list into two parts with part one covering numbers 10 through 6 while part two covers numbers 5 through 1.  As I could not physically go to Los Angeles to experience E3 in person, efforts have been made to watch as much gameplay footage available online to narrow down the best games for this list.  Like in years past, the only games eligible for this list are those available to play on E3's show floor.  Without any further stipulations, let us count down the first five games in Silver Bit's Top 10 Games of E3 2014.

10.  Mario Maker - Wii U
If there is one Nintendo property that people have grown tired of over the years, it is Mario.  Mario releases may come at an accelerated rate these days, but you cannot blame Nintendo for sticking with what sells especially when they need it the most.  I will admit that Mario's 2D platformers have not added much to the formula since New Super Mario Bros. for the DS.  Mario's recent stagnation in two dimensions makes Mario Maker such a breath of fresh air.  Giving the player full freedom to create whatever 2D Mario level their heart desires in such an official form is a dream come true.  Mario Maker allows players to build levels using classic Mario assets such as blocks, warp pipes, goombas and koopas, two different styles of graphics (original NES graphics and the New Super Mario Bros. graphics) and the ability to instantly switch between editing and playing levels at any time.  Mario Maker is the next logical step in taking 2D Mario games to a whole new level.  There is an incredible amount of potential in placing the creation of new Mario levels in the hands of the players and this writer is excited to see what crazy contraptions come from it.

9.  Evolve - PS4, XBONE, PC
Coming from the minds that brought us classic cooperative shooter Left 4 Dead, Evolve looks to take competitive and cooperative shooters in a brand new direction.  Evolve is a four vs. one multiplayer shooter where the team of four has to work together to beat the one.  It might seem very unfair if the one was not a gigantic monster.  With this unique dynamic, matches involve much more than straight-up firefights.  Playing as the monster involves taking advantage of the moment-to-moment action to decide between striking the opposing team or avoiding combat in order to eat roaming creatures needed to evolve into more powerful stages.  On the other hand, the hunters need to work effectively as a team in order to track down and kill the monster before it becomes too much for the team to handle.  Matches in Evolve become hectic games of cat-and-mouse as both sides wrestle for control of territory and resources while contending with the unpredictable computer-controlled creatures that inhabit each map.  Since Turtle Rock Studios announced the game this past January, Evolve has been nothing but impressive especially with its showings at this year's E3.

8.  CounterSpy - PS3, PS4, PSV
Not much has been seen of Dynamighty's PlayStation exclusive outside the trailer found on PS4 demo kiosks across North America.  Considering CounterSpy is being published by Sony, one would have thought the gaming giant would make mention of it at their press conference.  In fact, the only footage available of CounterSpy at E3 is from the demo on the show floor.  It is a shame because of how great CounterSpy plays.  CounterSpy is a side-scrolling stealth game that has players sneaking through enemy bases in order to prevent nuclear war between the United States and Russia.  Trusted with a silenced pistol and stealth know-how, the player jumps between cover, shooting and taking out enemies on the fly.  In particular, the cover mechanics for the game are very interesting as the camera changes from a side view of the stage to slightly tilted view of the player and their sight from cover.  Overall, CounterSpy looks like a delightful downloadable that deserves a lot more attention than it is currently getting.  Watch some gameplay for it, CounterSpy might just surprise you.

7.  Mortal Kombat X - PS3, PS4, XBONE, XB360, PC
Mortal Kombat has seen its fair share of ups and downs over the years especially during the PS2, Xbox and Gamecube years.  With the success of Mortal Kombat 9, things have gotten back on track for the franchise.  Not to rest on their laurels, Ed Boon and NetherRealm Studios are making big changes to series while expanding on successful mechanics introduced in Mortal Kombat 9 and Injustice: Gods Among Us.  Mortal Kombat X's biggest departure comes in its roster and story as the game takes place 25 years after the events of the previous game.  Since 25 years have passed, the roster will consist of brand new characters such as Cassie Cage (daughter of Johnny Cage and Sonya Blade), Kotal Khan (a blood god) and D'Vorah (a human/insect hybrid) along with some returning favourites like Scorpion and Sub-Zero.  Although gameplay remains very similar to past Mortal Kombats with the return of fatalities, special moves and x-ray moves, there are some interesting additions in the form of fully interactable environments and combat variations.  Much like Injustice, combatants can use parts of the environment to launch themselves into the air, set traps for opponents or use as additional weapons.  Speaking of combat variations, each fighter has three different variations to choose from which changes their move sets, strengths, weaknesses and weapons.  With all the new additions and refinements to Mortal Kombat X, gamers all around should be excited to dive back into this fighting game franchise come 2015.

6.  Far Cry 4 - PS3, PS4, XBONE, XB360, PC
Far Cry 3 surprised everybody back in 2012 with its excellent gameplay and vibrant open world.  Two years later, Ubisoft is at it once again with Far Cry 4.  To sum up Far Cry 4's showing at E3 in one word, it would be jaw-dropping.  Instead of having an entire island at your disposal, you now have an entire country in Kyrat.  On foot, in car and through the air, Far Cry 4 gives the player an incredible amount of choice to explore Kyrat however they want.  Gameplay gives the player the same amount of freedom as you can play solo or with a friend, use items and animals found in the environment to your advantage and freely move between modes of travel at any time.  It is hard to describe everything that makes Far Cry 4 such a standout among the sea of shooters releasing this year.  It is best to watch some gameplay footage of Far Cry 4 and see the awesomeness for yourself.

Well, this marks the end of part one.  Hope you enjoyed the list up to this point and feel free to share your favourite games of E3 in the comments.  If you want to continue reading, click this link to see the conclusion to Silver Bit's Top 10 Games of E3 2014

E3 2014: Ubisoft Press Conference Impressions

Ubisoft has never been overly consistent when they came to their press conferences.  Ubisoft tries to capture such a broad audience with their conferences that they are either very good or very bad.  Leading into this year's show, Ubisoft just launched their newest IP Watch Dogs to record setting sales.  Hopefully, the French publisher can use that momentum to put together an impressive E3 conference.

Like has been the case for three years now, Ubisoft knows how to end a press conference.  The gameplay footage and subsequent announcement of Rainbow Six: Siege was the highlight of Ubisoft's conference.  Seeing the game in action and all the players working together in unison was a sight to behold.  Personally, this writer is still a little sad that the greatness of the single-player focused Rainbow Six: Patriots is no more, but Siege looks fun nonetheless.  Aside from Aisha Tyler's flat jokes, nothing at the Ubisoft conference was absolutely horrible.  Even the more casual titles like Just Dance 2015 and Shape Up were at least entertaining to watch.  While entertaining to watch, the conference felt too safe.  Ubisoft is usually one of the few large publishers to try and push the envelope, but everything they showed off at their conference except the new Rainbow Six and Shape Up was already announced or just another entry in a yearly franchise.  The content of the conference was interesting yet this writer left the conference feeling underwhelmed.  Far Cry 4 started off the show in style as Ubisoft showed off the first five minutes which highlighted the craziness of the new villain.  The middle of the show lagged as Ubisoft showed more trailers than actual gameplay.  The Assassin's Creed Unity demo was interesting as the traversal system looks to be more fluid than other games in the series despite that many are getting fatigued over Assassin's Creed yearly release schedule.  The only other noteworthy game at Ubisoft's conference was Valiant Hearts, an adventure game where you play a dog as he interacts with four heroes during the events of World War I.  The trailer showed off the beautiful hand drawn graphics along with the incredibly touching story of the game.  With the great use of video and audio, Valiant Hearts' trailer can easily get the waterworks going.  Out of all the games Ubisoft showcased at their conference, Valiant Hearts, no matter its small scale, was the game that got this writer the most excited.

Ubisoft's 2014 Press Conference was a middling effort from the French publisher.  Much like the other conferences we have seen today, their press conference left this writer wanting more and not in a good way.  Giving us updates on titles already announced and announcing new entries in yearly franchise is not enough to get people excited anymore.  The video game industry has moved onto a brand new console generation and everybody expects a lot more from Ubisoft  this time around to justify the purchase of new hardware to play their future releases.

Grade:  C+

A Link to the Wrong: Nintendo's Problems

Nintendo's current situation has been well documented for months now.  The Wii U is currently the worst selling console on the market and despite incredible sales, the 3DS is not selling enough to make up for the Wii U's dismal sales.  A part from those points, third-party publishers this side of the Pacific are abandoning Nintendo and their systems like they are a sinking ship.  The talk surrounding Nintendo is in such an ugly place that an article that either praises or dismisses the Wii U is front page news on any video game website every week.  As an avid fan of Nintendo, I personally do not like the battle between positive and negative press flying around all mediums of communication.  Even if the Wii U does not pan out, Nintendo has an enormous amount of money saved from their successes like the Game Boy, DS and Wii to support themselves into the future.  Another point, the Wii U is only in its second year on the market.  There is still time for Nintendo to turn things around with the system.  The 3DS is a prime example of the possible turnaround that could happen with the Wii U.  With all that said, Nintendo's current situation is entirely their fault.  While the marketing for the Wii U has been a mess since the very beginning, it is not the main cause of their situation.  There are a good number of issues that Nintendo as a company has not been aggressive in tackling or have avoided altogether which have created this perfect storm.  These issues are not independent to one of Nintendo's systems; they involve Nintendo as a whole.

1)  No Party for Third-Parties

Nintendo's problems with securing third-party support has been an ever-present issue with their systems since the days of the Nintendo 64.  One would expect this issue to be solved sometime between the three console generations since the N64.  Funny enough, it has only gotten worse.  Third-party support outside of Japanese publishers and Activision is nearly non-existent.  Even Ubisoft, which has been a big supporter of Nintendo products the past couple generations, is severely cutting back their support aside from downloadable titles and yearly Just Dance installments.  Third-party publishers seem to be moving away from Nintendo products because they believe they cannot make a profit on them.  That impression is not one Nintendo should continue to let foster.  The Big N has shown off some of the partnerships they have forged with Japanese companies like Sega, Atlus and Tecmo Koei, but Nintendo needs to make strides with the publishers in which they have had problems enticing in the past.  First-party games, no matter their great quality, can only take you so far.  Third-party games are needed to pad out the times where there are a lack of first-party titles.  Better for Nintendo to aggressively seek fixing this issue now rather than let it fester any longer as it will be hard repairing these relationships later.

2)  Stalling with Online Multiplayer

Nintendo has dabbled in online multiplayer with games like Super Smash Bros. and Mario Kart.  Compared to the efforts of their competitors, Nintendo's efforts have been lacking.  More games in their portable lineup have received online multiplayer to great success.  These portable games show the great potential of Nintendo-crafted online multiplayer.  Now Nintendo just needs to start adding an online component to games that should have it.  The lack of online multiplayer in games like Nintendo Land, New Super Mario Bros. U, Super Mario 3D World and Pikmin 3 is a missed opportunity in this writer's honest opinion.  Personally, I am a huge advocate for local multiplayer, but those days have been replaced by playing with others without leaving the comforts of your home.  Nowadays, online multiplayer is expected to be included in most games.  Nintendo does not need to add online multiplayer to all their games, but they need to start adding some sort of online component to those which already include local multiplayer.  I have had great times playing games like Nintendo Land, New Super Mario Bros. U and Super Mario 3D World with my friends locally.  Just imagine being able to recreate that fun at anytime without the hassle of trying to gather a group of people every single time you wanted to play some multiplayer.

3)  Stuck on Gimmicks

Nintendo has never been a powerhouse when it comes to graphics.  Their strength has always been gameplay, but sadly the world has become obsessed with the amount of polygons you can cram on a screen.  It is hard to communicate gameplay without giving people the game to actually play.  Case and point, Super Mario 3D World.  Upon first impressions, everybody thought 3D World would just be a up-scaled port of 3D Land.  Once people got their hands on the game, their opinions completely changed for the better.  Nintendo combated this superficial obsession with cutting-edge graphics by introducing unique gimmicks to their consoles and games from the two screens of the Nintendo DS to the motion controls of the Wii.  Nintendo's focus on gimmicks did pan out with the DS and Wii, but they have become a little too reliant on gimmicks to push their games and consoles.  Gimmicks work only when you design games that take advantage of those gimmicks in new and creative ways.  In the Wii U's case, Nintendo has not made any games that truly take advantage of the hardware within the Wii U Gamepad which has caused it to backfire on them.  Gimmicks are not a bad thing, they just become tiresome when you rely on them far too much.  If Nintendo is going to stick with using gimmicks to separate themselves from the competition, they need to be more careful in adding gimmicks that truly institute creativity and innovation rather than just adding gimmicks for the sake of having them.

4)  Wanted:  New Blood

It is hard to think of the last new franchise Nintendo introduced on such a large scale.  You would have to go back to 2006 with the introduction of Wii Sports.  In all honesty, nobody thought Wii Sports would spawn into a franchise which would include Wii Play, Wii Fit, Wii Music and Wii Party.  Looking at that fact, it has been eight years since Nintendo last introduced a major franchise.  Nintendo has introduced new IPs such as Rhythm Heaven, Professor Layton, Pushmo/Crashmo and HarmoKnight, but they all have been confined to handheld or downloadable space instead of major releases on their consoles.  Although it is only one game, there is hope in the mysterious new IP Shigeru Miyamoto is currently working on.  Hopefully, the possible success of this unknown game could spur Nintendo into taking more risks in developing games outside their comfort zone of Mario, Zelda and Pokemon.  Nintendo can even dive into their back catalogue and make new entries in series such as Star Fox, F-Zero, Earthbound or Metroid to alleviate some of the franchise fatigue affecting their most relied upon series.

Year in Review 2013: The Games Part 2

Welcome to the second part of Silver Bit's best games of 2013.  Last time, I listed my favourite games from the first eight months of the year.  Now, it is time to look at the last six months of 2013.  The last half of 2013 had me glued to my 3DS and Wii U with great games mostly from Nintendo, but one also from Ubisoft.  These games easily stood above the yearly sequels which dominate the holiday season.  Again enjoy this conclusion to the best games of 2013 and if there is any game that I may have overlooked do not be afraid to share in the comments.

Rayman Legends
Delays could not hold back the quality of Ubisoft Montpellier's masterpiece, Rayman Legends.  This game was the reason I bought a Wii U and it lived up to my expectations and more.  Rayman Legends is platforming fans dream come true.  The pacing is excellent, the speed and responsiveness of the controls is spot-on and the level design is genius.  While all versions of Legends are great, the Wii U version stands as the definitive edition of the game.  Legends for the Wii U is built from the ground-up with Nintendo's system in mind.  The Wii U game pad is integrated perfectly as it is used to easily zip around the game's interactive menus and for special Murphy levels.  In these Murphy levels, the player with the game pad controls the fairy-like Murphy while another player or the computer controls another character.  As Murphy, the player creates a safe path for the other character by interacting with the environment through tilting the game pad or swiping the screen.  I cannot talk about Rayman Legends without mentioning the superb music levels.  These levels will push your platforming skills to their limits as you run, jump and bash enemies to the beat of remixed versions of Eye of the Tiger and Black Betty.  Legends is so amazing that it even trumps Mario's recent efforts in the 2D platforming space.  Nintendo's mascot could learn a thing or two from Ubisoft's limbless hero and this must-own title.

Pokemon X & Y
People have been clamouring to see Pokemon make the true jump to 3D for ages.  With Pokemon X and Y, those prayers have been answered.  A fully 3D world has brought on the biggest changes for the series in years.  The 3D models bring new life to world of Pokemon as they make battles much more dramatic with new camera angles and attack animations.  Seeing an actual Flamethrower or Bubblebeam come out of a Pokemon's mouth is an incredible sight especially when compared to the limited attack animations of past entries.  Aside from choosing your gender, Pokemon X and Y offers a whole suite of customization to your avatar.  You can buy new clothes, accessories and even change your haircut.  This freedom allows players create an avatar that truly reflects their personal tastes.  The major changes come with the addition of Mega Evolutions and the online offerings.  Mega Evolutions are temporary forms that can only be used in battle.  Once you have a Mega Stone for a certain Pokemon and the Mega Ring, you can unleash these powerful new forms on your foes.  These new evolutions add an interesting new strategy to battle, but are limited to one Mega Evolution per battle.  The online offerings for X and Y are incredible as you no longer have to go to certain locations to connect with Pokemon fans across the globe.  Just enable the 3DS's wireless connection and you can connect with anybody at anytime.  Trading and battling online is the same as before but the addition of Wonder Trade is just amazing.  Wonder Trade may scare a few because it is anonymous trading with anybody in the world, but it is incredibly addicting and thrilling.  While I can easily go on for days about the greatness of Pokemon X and Y, there are some shortcomings in the story and post-game content.  Aside from those shortcomings, these games are the next big evolution for Nintendo's venerable monster hunting series.

The Legend of Zelda:  A Link Between Worlds
As a sequel to arguably one of the greatest games in Legend of Zelda history, A Link to the Past, A Link Between Worlds had a lot to live up to.  Funny enough, Link's first original adventure on the 3DS easily surpassed these titanic expectations by usurping tradition.  For the longest time, The Legend of Zelda has been a rather linear affair.  Find dungeon, collect item from dungeon, use item to beat boss, rinse and repeat.  There is more to this franchise than my over-simplified explanation of its linear nature, but you get the gist of it.  The first few entries in the series allowed the player to explore and complete dungeons in any order; a design choice that A Link Between Worlds fully embraces.  After the first dungeon, you gain access to Rovio's shop.  Through this shop, the player can buy or rent any item they need to complete whatever dungeon they want.  Outright purchasing items is not available right away so you are forced to rent items.  The risk of renting items comes with death as you lose all those items.  It is a risk-reward system that makes the game much more intense.  Early on in A Link Between Worlds, you get a bracelet that allows Link to merge with any flat surface.  This bracelet opens up the game to tons of mind-bending puzzles which forces you to think in a whole different way.  All-in-all, The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds is a worthy successor to A Link to the Past, an outstanding entry in this series and easily this writer's runner-up for best game of 2013.

Super Mario 3D World
While gaming's favourite plumber may have stiff competition on the 2D platforming front, Mario is the king and ruler of the 3D platformer.  Super Mario 3D World had a horrible first showing as many were expecting the next evolution of Super Mario Galaxy rather than a console sequel to Super Mario 3D Land for the 3DS.  While the later trailers and gameplay footage did a better job of showing off the greatness of 3D World's gameplay, once people got their hands on this game the rest was history.  Super Mario 3D World takes the excellent blend of 2D and 3D Mario gameplay introduced in 3D Land and expands on it in new and creative ways.  There are a plethora of power-ups both new and old, but the one that stands head and shoulders above them all is the Cat Suit.  Although this new suit makes Mario and company look all cute and cuddly, it adds the integral ability to climb walls for a set period of time and the lunge attack, which serves both as an extended jump and an offensive move.  3D World's other main feature is the four-player multiplayer.  While I personally played 3D World as single player experience, the time I did spend playing multiplayer was a blast.  Super Mario 3D World perfectly balances working cooperatively and competing for top honours (and that damn crown!) as players have more room in a 3D space to avoid constantly running into one another like in Super Mario Bros. Wii and U.  It is incredibly hard to summarize everything that Super Mario 3D World has to offer from the brand new overworld map to the great amount of challenging bonus levels.  Hands down, Super Mario 3D World is THE reason to own a Wii U.

Launch Station: Rayman Legends

The time has come.  After close to a year of waiting, Rayman Legends is finally on store shelves.  It has been a long and tumultuous road of delays, loss of exclusivity and many other crazy circumstances.  While this writer is baffled about how horrible Ubisoft handles one of their premier franchises, it is relieving to finally get our hands on a game that should have been out six months ago.  Rayman may not be a sales powerhouse like Assassin's Creed; this limbless hero is easily taking the platforming world by storm thanks to polished gameplay, excellent controls and beautiful hand-drawn graphics.

After sleeping for a century, Rayman and friends are awoken to world far less pleasant than they left it at the end of Rayman Origins.  The Bubble Dreamer's nightmares along with the dark teensies have grown in strength and kidnapped the princesses of the land and the peaceful teensie people.  It is up to Rayman and friends to stop the nightmares and dark teensies from corrupting the Glade of Dreams.  Rayman Legends improves on the platforming gameplay of Rayman Origins as running, jumping, collecting lums and saving teensies are the name of the game.  Just like its predecessor, Legends allows up to four players to participate in these levels.  Note that this co-operative multiplayer is only available locally.  Apart from the standard platforming fair, Legends offers brand new levels where you take control of Murfy the fairy.  As Murfy, players interact with the environment to assist Rayman and friends such as cutting ropes, activating switches or distracting enemies.  On the Vita and Wii U, players control Murfy with the touch controls on the Wii U's Gamepad or the Vita's touch screen.  While on PS3, Xbox 360 and PC, Murfy is controlled by a button press.  Rayman Legends includes 80 brand new levels and 40 remastered levels from Rayman Origins along with remixed versions of each level available upon completion of the game.  While Rayman Legends offers a ton of content for its single-player component, it offers a robust online component as well.  The online Challenge mode offers challenges for players to complete in order to earn trophies and rise through the leaderboards.  There are new challenges offered everyday to keep gamers coming back each day to post their best times and distances.

Rayman Legends has been a high anticipated game for yours truly.  It was the game this writer bought a Wii U just to play.  While the delays and other obstacles Ubisoft threw at us were disheartening, those actions will not deter my enjoyment of Rayman Legends.  The men and women at Ubisoft's Montpellier studio put their hearts and souls into this game and for them this writer puts down his money in support.  While Diablo III and Grand Theft Auto V may suck up a ton of money this September, let us show Ubisoft that Rayman and Ubsioft Montpellier deserve a lot more respect than they give them.  The only way to make this change is to talk with your money and pick up Rayman Legends for your console or handheld of choice.

First Byte: Splinter Cell: Blacklist

Back when my brothers and I first bought a Xbox 360, Splinter Cell: Conviction was among the titles we specifically bought the 360 just to play.  After watching demos and reading reviews, we finally got a chance to pick up Conviction a few months after its April 2010 release.  For the first Splinter Cell game that we ever got our hands on, Conviction blew us away.  The smoothness of the controls, the stylishness of the executions and the slickness of the stealth all combined with the phenomenal story of a burned CIA agent pulled back into the game in order to correct past wrongs and get revenge on those who betrayed him.  This writer's fond experiences with Splinter Cell: Conviction has put a huge amount of expectations on Ubisoft's newest entry, Blacklist.  Developed by their newest studio, Ubisoft Toronto, Splinter Cell: Blacklist looks to combine Conviction's action-pack Mark and Execute system with the hardcore stealth found in the earlier Splinter Cell games (Splinter Cell, Pandora Tomorrow and Chaos Theory).  There have been quite a few posts on Blacklist already up on Silver Bit.  Instead of regurgitating the same points mentioned in earlier articles, I will share my first impressions on Splinter Cell: Blacklist in this edition of First Byte.

Due to many commitments and an ever-growing backlog of games, this writer has not been able to spend as much time as he has wanted to on Splinter Cell: Blacklist.  Even though I have not spent most of my free time playing Blacklist, I have put in just under ten hours into the game.  Funny enough, I have only finished two story missions outside of the intro mission in those ten hours.  A ton of my time has been spent on playing the optional side missions, trying out the co-op missions with my brothers and dying multiple times.  It has been well over three years since yours truly has played Conviction.  Due to the long time away from this series, it is taking some time to get back into the intricacies of Splinter Cell's mechanics.  Blacklist does an admirable of making the tutorials scattered throughout the first few hours as unobtrusive as possible.  Every mission in Blacklist supports three types of play styles: Ghost (stealth approach by using non-lethal takedowns), Panther (stealth approach by using lethal takedowns) and Assault (guns-blazing approach).  After each mission, you are shown the amount of points gained in each play style to see which one you lean towards and to post to leaderboards for bragging rights.  During my time with Blacklist, I have personally leaned towards Ghost with a little Panther mixed in every once and a while.  There are so many options to dispatch enemies from plain takedowns to guns to gadgets to the Killing in Motion system, Blacklist's version of Mark and Execute.  Speaking of Killing in Motion, it is the natural evolution of the Mark and Execute system.  While I have not pulled off anything as smooth and slick as what Ubisoft has shown off, it is a lot of fun to take out one enemy with a takedown and in a few quick button presses mark and execute a few other enemies in the immediate vicinity.  It is very smooth and incredibly empowering.  Apart from the sonar googles, there were not many gadgets to use to dispatch foes in Conviction.  Things are much different in Blacklist with Sam Fisher's new placement as the leader of Fourth Echelon.  There are tons of gadgets for you to use against the foes that guard your mission objective.  My personal favourites are the shock mines, sleeping gas and Tri-Rotor, but each gadget offers tons of options to tackle missions.  Aside from the story missions, which are all great so far, there are a number of side missions to complete.  Each of these side missions can be opened up from the SMI, Blacklist's centralized mission select screen, or by individually talking to each character on the Paladin, Fourth Echelon's mobile base and Blacklist's hub.  Grimm's missions focus on infiltration, Charlie's missions focus on wave-defense, Kobin's missions focus on taking out all enemies and Briggs' missions are a combination of all of the above.  These missions can be played solo or cooperatively both on and offline.  The side missions serve as great diversions from the main missions and allows the player to sharpen their skills solo or with a friend.  The Briggs and Kobin missions are the ones I have been spending the most time playing as I have not tried a Charlie mission yet and the only Grimm mission my brother and I tried was a two hour disaster.

Personally, I can dissect every little piece of Splinter Cell: Blacklist, but this post would go on for far too long.  In conclusion, Splinter Cell: Blacklist is a great game so far.  The pacing of the story is not the greatest especially compared to Conviction's campaign, the Grimm side missions can be unnecessarily unforgiving and Sam's new voice is quite jarring.  I have not run into any glitches or problems that hinder Blacklist in any way, but I have only played a little slice of the entire game.  I am hoping to put up a full review of Splinter Cell: Blacklist in the near future.

Rent, borrow or buy it.  Splinter Cell: Blacklist is a game that deserves some of your attention especially before the holiday flood of games sweeps it under the rug.

Most Anticipated Games of the Next Half

Just last week, this writer reflected upon his favourite games from the first half of 2013.  While there were some great games already available to play, there are some stellar ones coming out in the next six months.  The summer is definitely slow on releases, but the holiday season sure makes up for the slack.  There are the regulars like Call of Duty and Assassin’s Creed that rake in the big bucks yet are losing traction with more gamers with each yearly release.  The most exciting new releases of the upcoming months are sequels that have not been diluted by a yearly release schedule or brand new experiences that uses new interesting ideas to grasp our attention and money.  Here is this writer’s list of his most anticipated games of this Summer and Fall.  

Splinter Cell:  Blacklist

Splinter Cell: Conviction was one of the games that this writer bought an Xbox 360 just to play.  While some of the Splinter Cell hardcore were not fond with Sam Fisher’s new direction, yours truly found Conviction unbelievably fun.  The stealth was smooth, the guns felt great and the Mark and Execute system made clearing a room of enemies such an adrenaline pumping experience.  With Blacklist, Ubisoft Toronto looks to expand on what made Conviction so much fun with the Killing in Motion system.  Killing in Motion allows Sam to string together stealth kills with the Mark and Execute moves in one fluid motion.  Along with an interconnected campaign that allows you to access both single and multiplayer levels from the same mobile base and the return of the Mercs vs. Spies multiplayer mode, Blacklist is shaping up to be one of the standout games of the Summer.

Rayman Legends

Ubisoft broke many hearts with the seven-month delay of Rayman Legends and the loss of Wii U exclusivity.  The thought of Ubisoft’s betrayal still stings, but this French publisher has at least made an effort to mend the bridges they burnt with the free Challenge App on Wii , which gives early access to Legend’s multiplayer Challenge mode.  There are both weekly and daily challenges in various difficulty levels to complete and earn trophies in order to increase your Awesomeness level.  Having this leaderboard-focused multiplayer mode along with an incredible single-player should easily keep Legends stuck in many disc drives for months after release.

The Wonderful 101

Put the vast number of controllable units from a game like Pikmin with the B-movie superhero hijacks of Viewtiful Joe and the result would be Platinum’s Wonderful 101.  The first game in Nintendo’s exclusive deal with this extraordinary Japanese developer, The Wonderful 101 has the player taking control of one hundred different superheroes much like Captain Olimar controls Pikmin.  While it is neat to control the entire horde of little heroes, Wonderful 101’s hook comes from all the various ways you can use these heroes' Unite powers, which are activated these by drawing a different symbols on the Gamepad’s touch screen.  These Unite powers allow these heroes to form into either a ladder, a sword or even a giant fist.  Each of these Unite powers can be used to interact with the environment or fight off all the enemies that stand in your way.  The Wonderful 101 looks to be the beginning of a beautiful partnership that this writer hopes to see continue in the years to come.

Watch Dogs

Chicago is your playground and weapon.  In the world of Watch Dogs, the Windy City is in the palm of your hands and you are free to do whatever you want with it.  Hacking into the city’s systems to spy on strangers, evade the law, complete your agenda and cause as much chaos as humanly possible are some of the activities you can get up to in Watch Dogs.  Funny enough those activities are only the tip of the iceberg in this open-world.  Watch Dogs immerses the player with multiplayer that seamlessly integrates with the single-player campaign.  No need to log into a separate lobby to play with others, just have to be connected to the internet or playing on the companion app for iOS and Android platforms.  The potential of Ubisoft Montreal’s newest venture is limitless, which has this writer and many others excited.

The Legend of Zelda:  A Link Between Worlds

It has been ages since Nintendo has delivered a proper top-down Zelda adventure to gamers.  The announcement of true return to the top down format with A Link Between Worlds left many including yours truly weeping tears of joy.  On top of the return of the top-down perspective, A Link Between Worlds is a direct sequel to A Link to the Past, a game among the top echelon of the Legend of Zelda series.  The brand new mechanic in A Link Between Worlds is Link’s ability to merge with the wall as a painting.  This mechanic opens up the door for some unique platforming-like puzzles for the developers at Nintendo to test gamers with.  Much of the game is still under wraps by the Big N, but what has been shown so far looks very promising.  No matter what, A Link Between Worlds should be a stellar game to wrap up the 3DS’s phenomenal year.

Top 5 Games of E3 2013

E3 2013 has been in the books for two weeks now.  The fallout from this year's show has been big with the incredibly positive buzz surrounding the PS4 and the immense animosity towards the Xbox One- even following Microsoft's change of heart.  E3 2013 saw the first real shots fired in the next round of the console wars.  The frontrunner following E3 looks to be Sony with Nintendo in second and Microsoft in a distant third.  E3 did garner some excitement for the next generation of consoles yet this writer does not see a game that provides a reason for gamers to drop their cash to pick up these new systems at launch.  Those games may be a couple of years down the road, which makes waiting possibly the best choice for most unless you are among the most hardcore.  Most of the games showed off for the next generation of consoles were a lot in line with the games that have dominated the last half of the current generation- shooters and sequels.  It is a new generation; time for Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft to start taking more risks rather than solely resting on their laurels.  Most of these companies are making moves to secure exclusives on their console and ramp up their support for independent developers, one of the few sources of originality in the industry nowadays, but those things alone will not secure victory this time around.  The dawn of the last console generation saw the birth of franchises like Gears of War, Uncharted and Wii Sports to name of few.  Creative risks of that ilk seem to coming from downloadable games or a select few games available for both current and next generation consoles.  The console manufacturers need to start leading by example and move this industry out of the sequel-driven slump it has fallen into.  Do not get this writer wrong, sequels are fine and healthy parts of this industry, but too many unnecessary sequels (Call of Duty, Assassin's Creed, Need for Speed) cause stagnation in creativity and disinterest from gamers.  Once the initial wave of games for the next generation release, hopefully we will see some new ideas emerge from the triple A publishers.

No E3 is complete here at Silver Bit without the annual Top Games of E3 list.  Throughout the hectic week that is E3, yours truly makes a tireless effort to watch as much gameplay footage shown at the show.  Without physically being in LA to experience the event, it is hard to find footage for every single game at the show.  Like last year, the only games that qualify for this list are those that had demos on the show floor.  Now let us get on to the Top Games of E3 2013.

Honourable Mention

Batman:  Arkham Origins- PS3, XB360, Wii U, PC

The reveal of Arkham Origins just about two months ago was not well received by this writer.  Arkham City is easily one of the best games of this generation, but Origins seemed to be a quick cash-in by Warner Bros.  After watching the demo showed off at E3, Arkham Origins looks to be more of the same Arkham City greatness with some improvements and that is totally fine.  The combat and open world traversal looks the same as usual, but it is the new investigation mode that should get gamers excited to venture into Gotham City.  Instead of the forced investigation segments from the previous entries in the Arkham series, Origins allows gamers to become the World's Greatest Detective by being able to reconstruct an entire crime scene using evidence collected throughout the investigation and exploration. Seeing the new investigation mode in motion has got this writer excited to lace up the Dark Knight's boots once again.

5.  Murdered:  Soul Suspect- PS3, XB360, PC
Last year, Airtight Games was gathering a lot of attention for Quantum Conundrum, a first-person puzzler similar to Valve's Portal.  Now come E3 this year, Airtight has got gamers intrigued with their newest game Murdered: Soul Suspect.  Murdered places you in the ghostly shoes of the recently deceased detective, Ronan O'Connor.  Caught in limbo, Ronan is tasked in solving his own murder using his new found supernatural powers.  Powers like possession let Ronan interact with the environment around him to find evidence unbeknownst to the other NPCs in the game.  With the evidence collected, Ronan can piece together key information used to open up new areas to investigate.  Ronan is not the only one stuck in limbo.  From time to time, Ronan will run into demons that threaten the ghostly detective.  To dispatch these enemies, Ronan must use stealth and possession powers.  At E3, Murdered: Soul Suspect seemed to get swept up under all the hype produced by the next gen consoles and huge Triple A games.  It is sad considering how unique and intriguing this game is.  Murdered: Soul Suspect will definitely be one to watch come 2014.

4.  Bayonetta 2- Wii U
Nintendo showed off some great games at E3, but none really blew this writer away much like Bayonetta 2.  The Masters of the Insane, also known as Platinum Games, have brought some of the most unapologetically crazy games this last generation and they look to continue that drive into the future with Bayonetta 2.  It is really hard to describe the demo showed off at E3, but did it ever make this writer's jaw drop on multiple occasions.  Watch the demo and you will see what is trying to be conveyed in this paragraph.  You play as a witch covered in clothes made of her own hair as you fight angels, demons or whatever enemy Platinum throws your way with magic produced by using your hair.  It does not make much sense, but sure does it look fun.  While Bayonetta 2 will not be a system seller for the Wii U, it could push some hardcore gamers to pick up Nintendo's newest console.

3.  Transistor- PS4, PC
When Transistor was first announced at PAX East, many were comparing it to Supergiant Games' freshman effort, Bastion.  Transistor does have a couple similarities to Bastion like the isometric perspective and the use of a narrator to describe the action, but that is where the similarities end.  Transistor is primarily a turned-based strategy game, but it does allow you play it like any other action game if you choose.  Choosing to play Transistor like any other action game will be a mistake as you are missing out at Transistor's greatest strength, its planning mode.  In planning mode, time stops and you are able to plan out your moves and attacks on the action bar.  You are given all the time in the world to plan out your battles as you can scrub up and down the action bar and edit it as you want.  You cannot abuse the planning mode as it will need to recharge after every use.  The interplay between fighting in real-time and using planning mode is very intriguing and will easily make one of the standout downloadable experiences on PS4 and PC next year.

2.  Plants vs. Zombies:  Garden Warfare- XBOne, XB360, PC
Nobody thought turning Plants vs. Zombies from a tower defense game to a third-person shooter would be a good idea.  Many thought this change in genre would destroy all the fun and charm that makes Plants vs. Zombies so endearing to gamers and non-gamers alike.  Well PopCap proved us all wrong then because Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare looks flipping awesome!  Easily one of this writer's biggest surprise from E3, Garden Warfare did not look like anything exceptional from the trailer showed off at the EA Press Conference, but the gameplay changed the entire story.  Allowing gamers to jump into any one of the plants from the Plants vs. Zombies games, you fight off hordes upon hordes of zombies with your own weapons and other traps and defences you set up throughout the level. Garden Warfare looks like a team-based shooter that should be a lot of fun to play with others hopefully both on and offline.

1.  Watch Dogs- PS4, PS3, XBOne, XB360, Wii U, PC
Watch Dogs shocked the world when it was revealed back at E3 2012.  The more Ubisoft has shown of their newest IP, the more gamers have been impressed.  Watch Dogs keeps on looking better and better to the point that it has easily become one of the most anticipated titles of 2013.  For a brand new IP to have such huge amount of anticipation is very hard to come by in the sequel-driven environment that the video game industry currently is.  Watch Dogs looks to blend a straight-forward action game with the freedom of a open world Chicago to explore, but this blend is not the reason people are excited for Ubisoft's newest venture.  The reason people are excited to play Watch Dogs is due to the amount of freedom you have to manipulate the world around you.  Playing as master hacker Aiden Pearce, Chicago is your playground and also your weapon.  Hacking into the city to escape the pursuits of the police, cause chaos and listen in on phone conversations are just the tip of what you can do in Watch Dogs.  Couple all that control with the ability to have a friend play co-operatively or competitvely using a tablet, which this writer hopes Ubisoft integrates natively in the Wii U version, Watch Dogs is the game to watch this holiday season.  Ubisoft could have another hit on their hands with Watch Dogs.  Just hopefully Ubisoft does not run this potential series into the ground like they did with Assassin's Creed.