Video Games Ate My Soul: Episode One: Thieves, Cyborgs and PS4's

Episode 1: Thieves, Cyborgs and PS4’s !

Introduction to Blog:

Hello everyone and welcome to my blog! This blog will have notable news, a feature article, what have I been playing, one new awesome game release covered and questions every week! I also plan to have reviews, demo previews, a section on shows to watch and much more every so often so please keep coming back each week and enjoy!

Notable News:

On to news this week’s big news was the reveal of the Playstation 4. There was a lot of hype coming up to this event and from my perspective I thought the event delivered for the most part. It has been a long time since a new console system has been announced and on Wednesday night it felt like everyone was hungry to find out what the next generation would bring to the table myself included. Sony and many gaming sites live streamed the event Wednesday night that ultimately revealed the Playstation 4. Sony spent a lot of time talking about how its making a system that will be much easier for developers to make games for unlike the PS3. They also showed the specs of the system which were impressive to say the least. Then came the games. Knack, Killzone Shadow Fall, Drive Club, Infamous Second Son (I am personally most excited for this one), Deep Down and Watch Dogs were all shown off. While it's good to keep in mind these are all launch titles/launch window games they looked impressive. Especially Deep Down it looked so great do yourself a favor and check out that trailer if you have not yet! They did not show off the box and did not have a price but Sony has come out and said the box is not finished yet and they are open to several price points, probably waiting to see what Microsoft will do first. Regardless Sony showed off a lot more than I was expecting and I was impressed I really like a lot of the features they are adding the PS4 like the Live Streaming and the ability to have friends watch you play! Overall it's going to be a really exciting year leading up to Holiday 2013!

Weekly Feature:

What should Microsoft have at the Next Xbox Reveal to win over Gamers?

So we know what Sony has in its bag now with the PS4. So what will Microsoft bring to its reveal party? I am betting it will be very similar to Microsoft's previous E3 showings the last few years. But how can they win over gamers who are excited for the PS4? Here is one way they could take Gamers everywhere by storm.

They will speak for a bit about how successful the 360 was. Then they will introduce the next Xbox SHOWING the box! They will also make the announcement right there that there WILL be backwards compatibility sticking it to Sony real early. Then they will talk about the power and specs of the next Xbox. My guess is the next Xbox will be slightly less powerful than the PS4 but not by enough to matter. They will then talk about social features on the next Xbox and exclusive gold live features that go past your games and into things like Netflix and other enhancements (like bringing back watching movies on live together with your friends). The games they will NEED to show is a huge question mark. They can't have a Halo at launch 4 just came out in 2012, they won't have a Gears of War since Judgment is coming out late March. So what will they have? I think 343 will have a Halo 2 Remake for launch in the vain of Halo Anniversary. That Kinect only Gears of War strategy game we heard a rumor about? That will be a game for the next gen to show off the new Kinect (but it won't be Kinect only). Then while they are at it they will talk about the ways they have improved Kinect and announce that a free Kinect 2.0 will be included with the new Xbox until Summer 2014. They will have Forza 5 there and as a surprise Crackdown 3 will be shown off. They then have a list similar to Sony's of 3rd party developers currently working on the next Xbox. They will then have a few 3rd party developers there to show off their games. I would probably guess something from Ubisoft, Activision (next gen Call of Duty?) and EA. To end the show I am going to say a tease for the next Fable game. It will then end, no price point will be announced yet.

Yes this is very much based in a dream world but this would also knock Gamers on the floor and get them excited about Microsoft's new system. Xbox does not have a lot of IPs so I would also like to see some exclusive new IPs shown. But showing off new games for established IPs would be impressive including having some neat new social features and a new working Kinect and huge 3rd party support. This will all lead to getting people excited for the next Xbox. Regardless the next year is going to be full of Sony and Microsoft one upping each other and this is only the beginning strap in for the ride and enjoy I know I will!

What have I been Playing?

Sly 3 HD:

So I have been playing through the HD Sly collection and I have finally finished Sly 3. I really liked Sly 3 but I still think the 2nd Sly is the best by far. This one focuses too much on other characters besides Sly. Most missions take 2 characters instead of the traditional 1. The best character to play is of course Sly the other two main characters of the series Bentley and Murray are pretty fun. It's the other characters that were added to this game that are unoriginal and kind of boring to play as. One you take over enemies minds, another controls a RC Copter or RC Car and the last shoots fireworks. The game was all about gathering a team to get into the Cooper Vault. The gameplay was pretty typical for a Sly game which is a mix of stealth, climbing, fighting, mini games and coin collecting. I did find Chapter 5 to be one of the best game levels of any Sly it was pretty awesome! Chapter 4 however was terrible and almost so it felt really disconnected from most of the game due to janky design. However if you like the PS2 era platformers I would highly recommend playing through the Sly games. I still like the Jak Series and the Ratchet series better but Sly is a very close 3rd compared to the big 3 platformers of the PS2 era. Sometime in the near future I plan on checking out Sly 4 it should be interesting and I am quite excited to see how it turned out.

Metal Gear Rising Revengence:

I have started playing Metal Gear Rising and man that game is AWESOME! I can't say enough good things about this game! Story is about Raiden who's a cyborg trying to take care of Terrorists who are kidnapping children and harvesting their organs for their cyborgs. These guys are EVIL!!!!! The story is pretty cool but the gameplay is the best part about the game! I love Platinum Games and I have to say this is probably my favorite game by those guys. You have complete control of your sword all the time! You can chop things up into as many tiny pieces as you want. You also have a sub weapon like a rocket launcher or grenade. However I have been playing the game purely using the sword and it is so much fun. If you like action games especially over the top action you will LOVE this game! In the first level I chopped up a Metal Gear like unit in probably one of the most exciting boss battles I have played in a long time! All the boss battles are fantastic and the game almost gives off an old Capcom vibe. I cannot recommend this game enough and in fact I won't reveal more because this game is an experience and one you need to experience yourself.

Notable Game Release of the Week

Etrian Odyssey 4 Legends of the Titan:

Atlus Games is releasing Etrian Odyssey 4 for the 3DS this week. Etrain Odyssey 4 is a hardcore first person dungeon crawler RPG. You make your own squad from several classes, accept quests in town and go out into the worlds many dungeon maps. You form your map as you walk so unlike other RPGs you don't get a map and then have the whole thing automatically filled in. The battle system is a traditional turn based battle system in the first person perspective. They have a demo on the E-Shop store if you want to check it out. I really recommend this game for people who love RPGs. This entry seems to be just as hard as the previous 3 except this time they have added a causal mode to make the game a bit easier for those just getting into games like this. They just don't make games like this anymore (though there has been a small resurgence lately) and that's why it's this week's notable release.

Question of the Week

What excites you the most for the Next Generation Consoles?

Signing Off

You can follow me on Twitter @Chaoskiller2000

Thanks Guys and Girls! See you next week stay classy!