Arcade Infinity Closing Its Doors: The End of an Era

I've probably been to Arcade Infinity five times in my entire life. Once was with my girlfriend, the next was with a close friend of mine and her friend, then I went there with an idea for a feature story, then I was with a group of friends who were all into the culture of the fighting game scene, and lastly I went by myself just to take in the sights and sounds.

AI is a good 45 minute drive away from my home. This is the main reason I don't go too often. But come this January 15, I will go for my sixth and final time. AI has had it's fair share of skilled players, celebrities, and crowds walk through its doors, but after the 15th those doors will close forever. A long history of rent hikes and waning business has finally driven AI's health bar down to zero and it was down to its last round.

A New PVR, A New Light

Finally, after hours of troubleshooting my new HD-PVR (how was I supposed to know the cables were defunct?) I finally made a test run with my new PVR with one of my favorite indie games, Tempura of the Dead.

Black Ops War Journal: No, Ghost Doesn't Beat Motion Sensor

So it's been awhile since I last checked in on my blog. I need to come back more often I guess, so I'll come back with more casual updates such as what I'm playing recent games, and maybe an experiment in Indie Gaming Tonight!

Oh yeah, speaking of Indie Gaming Tonight! Christmas is coming up and I'm very interesting in investing in a HD PVR for myself. Then I can really make my YouTube account shine! Like real good commentaries, a revisit of my Street Fighter IV stuff but in HD and maybe commentaries as well. And to really make something special and regular, the concept of Indie Gaming Tonight! is to download a different indie game demo every week and go through the demo blind for as long as I can. Thinking about the set up, it'd probably benefit from a live commentary format.

Not Gonna Use That Ammo Box? I'll Take It.

If you're playing Black Ops as much as me, you've probably used the perk, Hardline. Hardline reduces the kill requirement for your killstreak reward by one. However, complete three perk specific challenges and you can use you CoD points to purchase the pro version, which adds the benefit of giving you the option to shuffle care package contents once.

Needless to say, it's always hilarious for me when I turn a mediocre spy plane or ammo box into an attack chopper, rolling thunder, or sometimes as you can see, the hefty 11 killstreak gunship.

Minecraft's Boo! Update Explored: The First 5 Minutes

My first clue that Minecraft's Boo! update had dropped is when I decided to hop on to harvest more obsidian only to find my .exe launcher failing to connect. Chances are, when new stuff is happening, people are flooding the servers.

So when I finally got Minecraft loaded up and found my launcher downloading updates, I got excited.

Yup. I built this before the update was even out in preparation.

From 4chan: Big Bombshell or Big Joke?

Straight up copypasta from the poster.

Casual Games Vs. Hardcore Games, Brought To You By 4chan

Leave it /v/ to figure things out in such a way that it's both informative and funny.

Reinvigorating Capcom's Music Through Marvel Vs. Capcom 3

There are plenty of reasons to really dig Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 over its predecessor. The shaded art style, the tightened character balance as a result of the more selective roster, the promise that it'll be a blend of Tatsunoko vs. Capcom and Marvel vs. Capcom 2.

My number one reason to not look back on MvC2 is the music.

The Best Video Game Memes Ever

Spy Crabs

Spy crabs are both a blessing and a curse. If you have them on your team, then you have people who aren't helping you win. On the other hand, it's an honor to protect these potentially endangered species from those who wish them harm. Also, you should probably get yourself checked.





It's an unintended oversight in how the spy model acts when you use the disguise kit while crouch walking and looking up.

Remember to do your part. Save the endangered spy crab!


Guile's Theme Goes With Everything
Want to add some flair to your video clip? Guilesthemefitsall proves that anything occasion can be made more epic with the addition of Guile's theme song from Street Fighter.
From Mario, Lion King, and even Metal Gear Solid, Guile's theme is like a tv infomercial product that seemingly does everything for everyone, especially the lazy and inept! Can't work a blanket? Buy a snuggie! Can't make a marriage meaningful? Add Guile's theme!


Ramirez Do Everything!

Representing the best and worst the U.S. military has to offer, Modern Warfare 2 shows us that U.S. Army Rangers can do anything provided they aren't hilariously lazy.

Playing as Ramirez, you're told to do everything by your commanding officer. Neutralize enemy combatants, defend fast food restaurants, destroy helicopters, stop nukes, solve world hunger, strain Chinese noodles, and picking up my kids after soccer practice.

And be sure not to mix the whites with the colors! I don't want to find pink shirts in the dryer when I come back!


Grabbin Pills
It's good to know that even with the world ending in a global apocalypse resulting in an outbreak of zombies, prescription drug abuse can help you survive even the deadliest of encounters.

And what better way to get addicted to pills then by making the phrase into a snappy little song. Also, don't get between Louis and his pills. Tanks be damned, Louis wants his pills.


F*ck Yeah! Seaking!
An example of how you can success at anything, as long as you do it long enough that people will listen to you just to get you to stop. Kind of like going clothing shopping with your girlfriend but sighing enough to get your point across that you don't want.

Big explosion? Need a segway? Loved ones passed away? Have a research paper due? Just introduce a shot of Seaking and everything will be better! Remember when Terminator said, “I'll be back?” How about “F*ck yeah! Seaking!” Just as good right? Wrong! It's better!

Za Warudo... WRYYYY
So you can tear out someone's spine in Mortal Kombat. Violent sure, but nearly as shocking.
How about stopping time and laying down some smack down while they're frozen. Still not enough if you ask Dio Brando. Throw some knives which will hit them when you unfreeze time.

Nah, not enough. How about a steamroller dropped on their friggin head?




Nobody's gonna mess with the guy who does all that in a single combo. Death itself will run a tab on the guy who does that just so it doesn't have to meet him.


Slowpoke
Memes are internet jokes that surpass even viral ads. Memes are born of the internet, pop culture, and a certain amount of lovable repetition. They can be used to troll people, as a reaction to something to make it amusing, and as a way to defuse a situation.
So here's the first meme, spy crabs.

Can't Let You Do That Starfox

Starwolf proves that even hired mercenaries love to troll people.

Where ever there's something to be done, you can bet that Starwolf will show up to tell you that you can't do that. He's probably not even armed to threaten you. He's just going to show up with his hands condescendingly on his hips and declare what you are about to do is something he cannot allow.
He's probably not the life of the party.

Also note Starfox has spawned Do a Barrel Roll, but Ramirez, Do Everything has already covered that base.


Leeroy Jenkins
No talk of memes can be complete without Leeroy. This charmingly ignorant warrior is a role model for everyone who wants to throw all the rules to the side and just charge in guns blazing.

Next time you do something without thinking about it, just remember Leeroy Jenkins. Sh*ts not gonna get done with you just sitting back and talking about stuff. It's time to take chances, make mistakes, and get messy!


The Cake Is A Lie

Probably one of the most abused memes ever. When Portal came out with this snappy phrase, everyone wanted to be cool by saying it. There were even instances of people using the phrase with no prior knowledge of the context of its original usage.

So help me God, if this phrase comes back in Portal 2, I will walk around with cake in my pockets ready to shove it down the throat of anyone who thinks they're so goddamn clever.

Also, who works for cake? We have minimum wage laws for a reason you know.

What To Play In Halo: Reach If You Hate Shooters

The combat style in Halo was never my favorite thing about the game. With large health pools because of shields and a dependance on head shots for other game types, I personally find it hard to savor a kill even when it's in my favor when it takes 5 seconds to get it.

That why my favorite game types don't necessarily depend on traditional deathmatch tropes. Take a tip from me, if you want to try Halo even though you hate Halo, stay away from playlists like team slayer and game variants like team SWAT. Try these and you may grow to love Halo for what I like it for: the unpredictable carnage and not the kills.

Serebii.net and They're Amazing Dream World Pokemon List.

Here. Go here.

It seems no matter how old I get, I'll always like Pokemon. Not like my sporadic interest in Halo or my wavering personality on SSFIV. There's always something I want to train, level, and create to be my next great contender, in theory anyways.

I thrive on theory craft and meta-game rules. I love seeing how the game-before-the-game pans out and seeing how it works in actual gameplay. Not everything has been translated since Black and White released in Japan, but Serebii amazingly has a seemingly fully compiled list of all the Dream World abilities the previous Pokemon of generation IV can get, and boy are there some interesting things that'll shake up the tiers. Here are my favorites.

The Most Aggravating Thing in Monday Night Combat

So I just got off a game of the Summer of Arcade's smash hit, Monday Night Combat, when I just had one of the more annoying kind of games. Even though we one in overtime, we might've won sooner had something had not occurred. Don't get me wrong, MNC is a great game and I'd recommend it over any current FPS, but that doesn't mean the rest of Xbox Live isn't capable of ruining the experience sometimes, and this is my biggest annoyance.

Hitler Creates a Time-Paradox

Click for the original unless you want to be ironic or something.

My new favorite web comic: if Hitler were one of those goddamn hipsters. The Allies never stood a chance and neither did the Axis powers!

Hitler is totally into Pac-man and breaking the space-time continuum. Though somehow everyone knows what Pac-man is even though it's not supposed to exist for another 40 years. Who cares? It's vintage.

7 Awesome Things You Can Build in Minecraft

There is nothing quite like the satisfaction of building something. This object, which you have constructed, stands for all the effort, planning, and careful dexterity you mustered. There's nothing the wild creatures of Minecraft can do to destroy your precious architecture (except for maybe those goddamn exploding creepers).

Welcome to Minecraft: 6 Great Things About Getting Started

So you've seen people rave about this mysterious indie game and decided to take the $12 plunge. What is there to do and enjoy? Here are six things you'll eventually encounter that'll really get you to stick with the Minecraft experience.

Monday Night Combat Review: Monday! Monday! Monday!

Class based shooters are a dime a dozen these days. You get some characters who specialize in offense, defense, and support (which usually means they can heal). It doesn't help that the shooter market is saturated with competitors. But Uber Entertainment manages to stick out from the crowd by throwing in something almost everyone has played at some point or another: tower defense games.

RSS Round Up: Rick Astley and the Norwegian King of Names

Here's what I've been clicking on in my Google Reader, just to prove that I'm not illiterate.

4Chan Founder Explains Internet Jargon to Court via Gamepolitics
Depending on how you read the context of the court's questions, even the U.S. District Court of Knoxville, Tennessee thinks Rick Astley is a joke.

Guard Crush 5 Grand Finals: Zidane (Hazama) vs. SKD (Ragna) via iPlaywinner
Hazama uses a pair of knives. Ragna uses a broadsword the size of St. Benard. And yet Zidane proves it's not the size that matters, it's how you use it. For context, Ragna is capable or doing 4k damage in one combo easily in a bread and butter combo. Hazama's bread and butters barely top 3k and yet Zidane is capable of pulling off so much more.

Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light shipping despite being unfinished via Gamesradar
Isn't this the equivalent of turning in your research paper and promising the thesis portion next week?

TalkRadar Clip 'o the Week: The Norwegian King of Names via Gamesradar
A flashback clip of TalkRadar's news of the day. Norwegian King refuses boy's request to change his name to Sonic X. Spawns TalkRadar's most beloved in-joke, a Norwegian King with the power to change anything's name.

Arc System Works explains their netcode via Siliconera
Blazblue's smooth online gameplay is a mystery no more (sort of)!

I'm Missing Out on the Xbox Summer of Arcade

By itself, $15 doesn't  bother me too much. One Xbox arcade game is fine and dandy. But three games?

I know Limbo is good. The trial already told me that the atmosphere accomplished so much with only two shades and a lack of BGM. But I have to make economic decisions. I'm not interested at all in Tomb Raider and the last three seem to offer me a lot of bang for my buck. Hydro Thunder Hurricane, Castlevania: Harmony of Despair, and Monday Night Combat.

Ok, so Hydro Thunder and Harmony of Despair have received sketchy reviews, but I am the target demographic those games cater to. I loved Hydro Thunder when it was a sit down arcade cabinet, complete with wheel and throttle with light up red button. I was proud of the fact that I knew how to select the secret boat, Tinytanic. I've loved pretty much every Castlevania since Symphony of the Night. Dawn of Sorrow, Portrait of Ruin, Order of Ecclesia, all Castlevnia games I loved that weren't exactly very different from one another. And Monday Night Combat? Please, I've been following that since it's announcement. What was that? Two years ago? Finally, Team Fortress 2 but on a console and supported for by the developer post-launch (those guys on the Orange Box still don't have the Backburner I hear).

But $45? I'm struggling with this price tag. Even after receiving a solution, promised credit to Gamestop and Amazon, this credit has yet to appear before me to actually use (they're still enroute from shipping).

Until then, I'm either going to keep going back again and again to their trial demos or will stick with Blazblue: Continuum Shift.

Makoto DLC First Impressions: "Nuts to this!"

Blazblue has finally gone where no other fighting game has gone before. Actually adding new characters as paid content during the game's lifetime. It's a small secret that there are three in total planned, but one has already been released.

Fans may remember Makoto Nanaya as Noel and Tsubaki's half-squirrel classmate during their academy days. Hyperactive and full of energy, she was the active one of the trio while Noel played the sympathetic sad one and Tsubaki reeled everyone in as the straightman. She was promised as a rushdown character to satisfy the fast and foolhardy who just don't get a rise out of the stronger characters in the cast who simply have rushdown options.

A Week of Bad Company 2

About 4 months after Modern Warfare 2 released, I sold it to a friend of mine. This was about half the time I owned Call of Duty 4, and I simply sold that game for its age. I was sick and tired of the constant killstreaks in the air. Sure I can shoot them down with stinger missiles, but playing pick up with strangers and watching them act as kill fodder doesn't help things.

I was tired of chopper gunners, noob tubers, knife monkeys, and quick scopers.

Then I got Bad Company 2 as a reward for taking part in a play test for an EA game.

Play Testing Today

I'm eligible for select play testing of a game in it's beta stages and apparently I'll discuss games I've already played in a focus group as well. I think that's as far I can go in describing this. Why? Because I have to sign a confidentiality waiver before taking part in the testing.

I've taken media law as an undergraduate and understand most of these legal ramifications involved. As a journalist, we have certain freedoms to further our job of news and yet at the same time there are legal boundaries in place that keep journalistic integrity separate from things such as trade secrets, copyright, as well as press embargoes.

I guess I'll figure out what I can and can't talk about later tonight after my play testing finishes and I get a good look at what my contract entails.

Blazblue: Continuum Shift at Anime Expo

I had the pleasure of playing the final build of Blazblue: Continuum Shift at Anime Expo on July 3^rd since Aksys returned to set up its exhibit booth like prior years. CS has already been out since November for Japanese arcades and popular stateside arcades have imported it for their loyal fans.

If you've played CS at an arcade, you'll know what to expect. Hell, even if you've played Blazblue: Calamity Trigger for the consoles last year you'll know what to expect. A relatively small roster of unique characters fighting against a beautiful backdrop of stages in HD with the masterful music of Guilty Gear's Daisuke Ishiwatari. So what was different for the console release of CS?

Know Your Role: Wrex, Battlemaster and Ambassador

Urdnot Wrex of Mass Effect is a fan favorite squadmate Sheperd can recruit for his team. He fills the archetype of Bioware's typical battle hungry warrior. When not on the front lines absorbing punishment with his heavy armor, redundant organs, and blasting enemies with his shotgun, he keeps to himself in the hold of the Normandy while usually answering with dry wit and blunt manners. Only after getting to know the krogan behind the gun do you realize that Wrex is not just a mercenary but a cultural savior of his dying species.

My Unenviable Position Defending Gamestop

Walking quickly into my local Gamestop, I nervously ask the clerk if they had any of the “new Xboxes” in stock. He tells me no, and disappointed but determined, I decide to preorder one in an effort to get one. I manage to get one from Best Buy, but I decide to follow Gamestop on Facebook in order to get a drop on their promotions and deals.

Of course, this means declaring that I officially like them on Facebook.

My 9 Favorite Things from E3

9 is the magic, arbitrary number to the things I liked out of E3!

Finally it's over

Know why I haven't posted in a while? Because of E3 of course! I was busy taking in those beautiful press conferences. Also, anything I might write would be swept away by the news pouring out of E3, so better to wait for the elephant to leave the room than to try to start a conversation while he's still in it. Because everyone will want to talk about that damn elephant.

But I think I'll get a round up post up later for my favorite news from E3 this year.

"Oh! E3! Suh-weeeeet!"

Accounts of the new Xbox 360 Slim

The following is my account of owning the new Xbox for a few days and how it's different and changed my habits that were made with the old Xbox.

Red Dead Has Set Me Down a Dark Path

Red Dead Redemption lets me hunt. I can tie up women and put them in the path of speeding locomotives. I can rob innocents and gun down people at random. Out of all the darker themes I could emulate, gambling has taken a hold of me.

Official game of outlaws and marauders the world over!

John Marston: the New Silent Hero?

Wild west, open world fantasy? Check. Interesting period firearms? Check. Interesting character and story? Uhhhhh.

"My tale begins in the 19th century."

Afterthoughts on the Prince of Persia movie from a gamer

The movie is winding down and lights come back on. My friend, Irene, is still gushing about Jake Gyllenhaal's chest. I, on the other hand, am still drooling about Gemma Aterton. But more importantly, as I leave the theater, the last thought in my head about the Prince of Persia film was, “I remember that thing from the game!” followed by, “and it didn't suck!”

Red Dead Redemption Review: Busy in the Wild West

By now Rockstar is synonymous with open-world, sandbox games. They're great at giving us a huge story, with a huge environment littered with tools, then standing back with their arms crossed with an expecting expression on their face. With GTA, they've worked with big cities and a variety of firearms. This time in Red Dead Redemption, we get a large, rolling ecosystem, populated with all manner of lawmen, banditos, and outlaws with turn of the century weaponry.

Lost Planet 2 review: A fun mess

Lost Planet 2 feels very similar to the original. This is mostly a bad thing, but returning players can find some relief in it. Many can fault LP2 for it's problems such as disconnecting controls scheme, frustrating difficulty, and imprecision, but a few will find the scale, set pieces, and co-op to be as largely enjoyable as the biggest bosses you'll slay.

Why I play who: Rufus

Anyone playing a fighting game to win comes to the point where they decide to stick with on particular character. Learning the intricacies of their main allows them the fun of one play style while also learning how to deal with unfavorable match ups. Instead of spreading your focus across several, hoping to counter pick, you focus on one to be proficient with and readily know how to play bad match ups.

Right now, I'm going to describe the reason for my choice in playing Rufus, one of the newer characters introduced in the Street Fighter IV saga, but has been around for a few years since arcade launch.

Super Street Fighter IV: relearning everything from scratch

I'm amazed at how my view of Street Fighter has become refreshed with Super Street Fighter IV. Nothing overly major was changed. What has changed are only smaller tweaks to the overall game, but it's amazing how different a character like Rufus, my main pick from the previous game, can be so different with just a different ultra move.

Fist bumps in the dark: A week with Splinter Cell Conviction

Playing through Conviction alone isn't enough to really get the experience. Since Pandora Tomorrow, the first sequel following Splinter Cell, Ubisoft has made multiplayer a blast in Splinter Cell. People expect the Tom Clancy, convoluted conspiracy theory-laden story at first, but multiplayer has always kept them coming back.

Enjoying Splinter Cell Conviction; got Super Street Fighter IV early

So I finally got back from watching Kick-Ass and it was pretty kick ass (yeah, cheap). Anyways, I find myself with peace of mind to actually post something substantial.

• Splinter Cell Conviction: skulking around the shadows as Sam Fisher is fun and all, but it's twice as fun with a buddy.
• It's amazing what ten new characters, rebalanced attack properties, and a new online mode structure will do with a game that's a year old.

Picture of Splinter Cell Conviction from Ubisoft. Picture credit to Konsole Kingz.

Blammo! Custom Combos!

Just a quick note, in case you haven't noticed, I've changed the layout using Blogger's handy Blogger In Draft template customizer. I didn't feel comfortable designing my own code because a lot of what makes the default templates work were CSS files relative to Blogger it looks like (plus I hate, hate, hate to deal with CSS).

Most importantly, I finally have to freedom to widen my margins. Finally, most youtube videos will actually fit here! Like this one!




And yes, I've downloaded Kasumi's Stolen Memory for my copy of Mass Effect 2. I'll get around to talking about it later, so chill.

Back on the Street Fighting Bandwagon

It's been a long time, especially longer since my friend Kelvin borrowed it from me, but I'm back on Street Fighter IV in preparation of Super Street Fighter IV. This of course means going back to play the character I've learned to play: Rufus.

From Final Fantasy to Pokemon

A game that takes a decidedly different approach to its franchise and a game that doesn't stray very far at all from the formula. The firestorm of a debate that was created in FFXIII's wake was simply astounding and created a lot of genuinely important discussion when it came to Western and Japanese game design. It really opened my eyes as to just how different us bumbling Americans are from the Japanese forefathers of gaming.

I find it interesting that both games are of established franchises with enormous expectations set upon them and yet the initial response to both is essentially two sides of a coin. FFXIII has divided players on their opinion while Soulsilver and Heartgold has begrudgingly united people. I wanted to run through the differences and similarities between these two rpgs and see if there's anything that can be distinguished from the two.

Two men, one tournament, and a pile driver

The light of fifty arcade screens brings a dim low light setting as the sound of a heavy metal causes my head to pulsate in pain. The noise of one hundred different sounds from gun shots to techno beats to grunting and death throes permeates the stagnant air. Time has no place in this reality as the lights and sounds remain constant even as the sun rises to high noon and sets to dawn.

 Spend an hour or two here and you lose track of what the outside world looks like.

A Tale of Two Sheperds

Mass Effect 2 really is something else. If you look at the story from across the room, it looks fairly linear if not excitingly grand. An old race of sentient machines are bent on repeating an age old cycle of leaving behind advanced technology only to destroy the civilizations who benefit from it. Commander Sheperd is a man of remarkable achievement in his military who finds himself the only one capable of stopping them.

When you take a closer look though, the story can vary greatly depending on who you talk to, offering a very different image of Commander Sheperd and his beliefs.

Just who is your Commander Sheperd?

Brawl, stop diluting my genre

Smash Brothers Brawl, the hundred pound gorilla is just everyone's favorite, isn't it?

The other day, I walk into a classroom to join my friends in some video games. Of course, Smash Brothers Brawl is on the screen right now and I see four excited/dumbfounded/pained expressions looking at a projected screen as four mascot characters from the Nintendo franchise beat the living snot out of each on board a spaceship every which way. I can sense a feeling of controlled chaos as the players know what they're doing yet don't know what will happen next considering it is a four person free for all with no allegiances. Projectiles are thrown, bodies are ringed out, and special attacks are executed. But after a few more games of this, I want to play Tatsunoko vs.Capcom. I'd just gotten off class after all and I wanted to play this new game starring the most obscure characters from the Capcom video game franchise and the Tatsunoko anime production company.

As soon as we start on that, all I can feel is confusion.

A comparison between Jack and Subject Delta [Bioshock]

Anybody who plays Bioshock does so for the narrative. Yes, Bioshock 2 made the combat and controls much better in comparison to the first one. But when they first announced it, the gut reaction was pretty much, "What do you mean? The story ended so well in Bioshock 1." Everyone cared about the story and combat was at least secondary to this.

Compare the protagonists Jack from Bioshock 1 and Subject Delta from Bioshock 2. Both are completely different but their role in the story is integral. People thought Bioshock 2 would be lacking a good story at first and people even contend that there are gaping flaws in it, but I don't think so. Actually, I like Delta much more then Jack, and this can be crucial since we're playing a first-person shooter game. Since you essentially play from their view and can see their hands and legs, how you relate to your medium in the story is just as important as how good the actual story is. So consider why Bioshock 2 is just as good as Bioshock 1, if not better, because of Subject Delta.

Warning: In order to go in depth with this analysis, some amount of spoilers is necessary. Stop reading now if you don't want to spoil the story of either game. Especially considering that I've already established that Bioshock hinges on the story.

Return to Rapture: Bioshock 2 [impressions]

You wake up dazed and confused in a puddle of water in a dilapidated room. Ten years ago, you were charged with protecting a little girl from harm. As she runs on ahead looking for corpses, you hear her scream. You rush on ahead to find her only to be hit by a strange blob seconds later. A woman walks in holding a pistol and you feel compelled to obey her commands. She orders you to remove your dive helmet, place her pistol to your head, and pull the trigger. You should be dead but you've somehow reawakened in the same leaky dystopia that is Rapture. Only one thing is on your mind that drives you to move forward: what happened to the little girl you were protecting? What happened to your little sister?

Review: Mass Effect 2

The first Mass Effect was a major turn off to me. Why was there so much hype around the sequel? In fact, the hype was so big, I decided to borrow my friend's copy of ME1 in order to have a save file ready to import to Mass Effect 2.

Mass Effect 2 continues the story of Alliance space marine, Commander Sheperd. In the first Mass Effect, he finds out that a race of hyper advance, sentient machines, The Reapers, will someday return from the void beyond the galaxy to wipe out all life as we know it. I steer away from mentioning story elements to spoil the game, but as soon as you boot the game up, Sheperd is killed in action five minutes into the opening cinematic. He's brought back to life however by the mysterious Cerberus group, a pro-human radical organization who truly believes in the threat of the Reapers unlike the majority of the population who dismiss them as a myth. Sheperd continues his quest under a tense truce with Cerberus knowing something bad is going down in the galaxy.

Let's talk - Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks

Spirit Tracks now stands as one of my favorite DS games with genuine integration of it's technology. Look at Pokemon and how it's popular. Yes, it is, but because the game itself is good. It doesn't really do anything to take advantage of the the hardware. It uses it for convenience, like selecting attacks, but that's about it.

2010: A new year to spend money on

A month into 2010 and it finally dawned on me that there are some very interesting games to look forward to. I don't really get this feeling halfway into the year. Sure I got Blazblue halfway, but that's a special case of the revival of the 2D fighter. Now moving completely into 2010 (along with an intimidating Mass Media Law class) I've realized all those demos I've played and previews I've read are about to come to fruition. These are the games I'm putting money down.

The excitement of HD, now on your classic memories!

via: iPlaywinner, SNK's Battle Coliseum for Xbox Live Arcade Gets HD Upgrade

The sprite on the left is the original one from one of SNK's older, swan song fighting crossover games, Battle Coliseum. On the right is the improvement we'll be seeing when it hits the digital distribution market. A very noticeable improvement, especially considering how popular Marvel Vs. Capcom 2 is and it didn't get any significant HD improvement (though it got additional filter options to customize how noticeable its age was).

In case you didn't know, I just got an HD capable tv for Christmas, so all these HD improvements to older games is a great thing to look forward to.