What The Old Republic Needs to Do to Survive

As GamerSushi’s resident MMO player (that is to say, the person with the most experience), I believe it is my duty to try out BioWare’s upcoming Star Wars flavored offering, The Old Republic. While I don’t currently play any MMOs, I’ve made my history with that genre well known on this site, starting with Sony’s Star Wars Galaxies, then moving to World of Warcraft and trying City of Heroes and Champions Online in between.

Since I have such a breadth of knowledge about MMOs and what makes them tick, that means I’m well positioned to know that there are certain check-boxes that The Old Republic needs to cross off to be considered a “success” in this most competitive of arenas. While it isn’t going to unseat World of Warcraft, there are some very important features it needs to launch with in order to ensure that it lives past its first year. What are those things, you might be asking? Read on, and you’ll find out just what The Old Republic needs to do to stay afloat.
Continue reading What The Old Republic Needs to Do to Survive

Fight Night Champion Breaks Spam With Stamina

I’m not a big sports game guy buy any means, but Fight Night Round 4 is something of an obsession amongst my friends and I. Before a big night, we like to kick back with a few brews and a couple rounds of boxing that somehow end up taking half the night away. We even created near perfect facsimiles of ourselves in the game, and there’s something cathartic about beating your friends into submission (I imagine the same is true for them walloping me). Since Fight Night is a such a big hit with us, it wouldn’t be too much of a leap to imagine that we’re eagerly anticipating Fight Night Champion which releases March 1. There’s a new trailer out explaining the new Stamina system and the streamlined Corner Game. Check it!

Fight Night Round 4 was suprisingly addictive, and I imagine Champion will absorb many a night when it gets released. Anyone picking this up?

GamerSushi Asks: Would You Rather, 2011 Edition

It’s a brand new year, so it’s time for a brand new edition of Would You Rather, that game where you answer questions and give us awesome rants and diatribes about life, gaming and what you had for dinner.

It’s been some time since our last WYR (November), so I think everyone should be recharged and ready to give us some good responses. Since we’re in a bright shiny new year, I thought it would be pertinent to come at you, bros, with a salvo of 2011 gaming-related queries. I know, I know, the 2011 thing is already getting old, but you’ll probably stop being told that it’s a new year on every site in the world sometime within the next week. That’s just how bloggers roll, I guess.

For the Would You Rather virgins out there, the game is simple: I ask questions, and you follow up with your answers. Give as much or as little explanation as you want for your choices, but we all know that we like to see the reasoning behind the madness.

But don’t let your answers suck. In previous years, we’ve threatened violence and humiliation for having bad bouts of WYR responses. This year, we are going to be more civilized, and instead threaten verbal assaults on your immediate family. After all, you can’t come back to the site if we’ve broken your hands. Anyway, answer away, gents.

Continue reading GamerSushi Asks: Would You Rather, 2011 Edition

Dead Space 2’s Excavations Trailer Digs Up the Plot

I think it’s almost a given that in most sci-fi settings, humanity is represented as a collection of greedy jerks, spoiling planets for our own personal gain. That’s how the original Dead Space came about in a way, as the Marker, the terrifying alien obelisk that created the Necromorphs, was found during “planet-cracking”, the method of stripping a world for resources. Since Dead Space 2 is inbound for a January 25 release (28 in Europe), the new, extended Excavations trailer catches us up on the background information series, complete with the requisite horror and gore that the series is known for.

As the first big release of 2011, Dead Space 2 will go a long way in setting the tone for what will be an excellent year for us gamers. With a new spine-chilling single player campaign and an added multiplayer mode, Dead Space 2 might just cause us to shout with joy…if anyone could hear you scream in space, that is. Is Dead Space 2 a must have for you, or a rental? Go!

GamerSushi Asks: Resurgent Games

Halo: Reach

I’m sure it’s happened to all of us: we beat a game, put the disc back in the box and set it back on our shelf, sure that it’s going to gather dust or end up as trade in fodder at GameStop. Yet something stops us from trading it in, and a while later, be it a few weeks or even a couple months, that game is back in your console or on Steam, once again sucking up your time.

Lately for me this game has been Halo: Reach. I started playing it on a whim about a week ago, and I’ve ranked a couple of times and have been investing more now in the Theater mode than ever before. I’ve even come to appreciate the Challenge system more, even after whining about it when I was stuck in the Warrant Officer hump a few months ago.

Has this phenomenon ever happened to you, and for which game? Go!

Call of Duty Looks Strange in Real Life

How’s your lead-up to the holidays going, GamerSushi-ans? I hope that you’ve bought all the presents you need because things get a little crazy out there come tomorrow. Anyways, the staff here is taking a little break as Eddy mentioned, but I thought that I would pop in and give you a little gift in the form of a new Freddie Wong video, who in the past has explored gaming conventions like how aimbot would work in real life. This time, he’s poking fun at Call of Duty, similar to his Time Crisis spoof but without the guy from Spartacus. Watch and enjoy:

Bungie Serves Up Crazy Halo: Reach Stats

As a gaming nerd, I’m a big fan of statistics (though not nearly as much as Eddy), so looking at the accumulated kills of Grunts in Halo: Reach is a nice Christmas present from the folks at Bungie. Ever since Halo: Reach dropped back on September 14, the Noble Sixes of the world have been investing a lot of time in the sci-fi shooter, spending about twenty-four thousand years in game and earning nine hundred trillion credits in the process.

Of course, reading stats dry off a page is kind of boring, which is why Bungie whipped up a handy infographic detailing the genocidal, time-wasting nature of Halo players. I’ve posted the whole thing after the jump, so go take a look!

Continue reading Bungie Serves Up Crazy Halo: Reach Stats

Battlefield: Bad Company 2: Vietnam Trailer is a Fortunate Son

I’ve made no secret about my love for Battlefield: Bad Company 2, and on more than one occasion I’ve referred to the multiplayer as the best I’ve ever played. How fortunate for me, then, that after months and months of free maps (hey, most weren’t that great, but they didn’t cost me a dime), Battlefield: Bad Company 2 is a getting a full-fledged expansion with Vietnam. Since I’m a total sucker for anything CCR, this trailer is right up my alley, and maybe it will be for you too.

Apparently this multiplayer add-on is blowing critics out of the water because IGN gave it a 9.5. PC players are getting access to Vietnam on Saturday, three days in advance of the console players. I’m picking this up for sure, but what about you guys? Are you going to run through the jungle?

Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception Revealed for 2011

uncharted 3

In the grand Internet tradition of revealing things days in advance of when we’re supposed to find out, Sony and Naughty Dog have popped the cork on the official reveal of Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception before the first legitimate trailer goes up Saturday on Spike’s Video Game Awards show.

In a post on the Official PlayStation blog, Arne Meyer, Naughty Dog’s Community Strategist, dropped some knowledge about the upcoming Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception. Like the previous game, globe hopping will be a main attraction but most of the plot centers around the search for a so-called “Atlantis of the Sands”. The game will pull inspiration from many sources, but Lawrence of Arabia is once that’s getting touted a lot. Players will also get to explore the relationship between Drake and his long-time partner and mentor Victor Sullivan, which is good news if you’re into some potential stubble-on-mustache action.

Also returning are the co-op and multiplayer modes that made their debut in Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, but this time around they’ll be a bit more robust. Single player also includes some new gameplay mechanics like being able to go toe-to-toe with multiple enemies. Naughty Dog also mentioned that Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception will be available in high-definition stereoscopic 3D so you can have a little motion sickness with your platforming.

Not much else has been revealed aside from the potential release date of late 2011, but I expect that Saturday will uncover more about Drake’s third adventure. So, are you guys excited about the return of Nathan Drake? What do you want from Uncharted 3? Go!

Source and image – Official PlayStation blog

Rooster Teeth Plays Horse With Halo: Reach

Rooster Teeth is back once again, this time showing us the amazing versatility of Halo: Reach. Forge mode, for those of you unfamiliar with the game, is a level editor of sorts, allowing you to tweak weapon layouts and add pieces of geometry to maps. While you can’t change the base layout of the level, you can add little additions to it, like ramps off of cliffs and floating platforms in the middle of nowhere. This functionality forms the basis of the video that RT put together, which combines Halo: Reach’s malleability with the old fashioned game Horse.

The hosts say it a couple of times in the video, but this just shows the amazing versatility of a game that ostensibly shipped as just a First-Person-Shooter. The fact that you can put away your guns and play home-made games of your own devising within minutes speaks volumes for Bungie’s design.

Dorkly Celebrates Health Item Brawls

One gaming related thing that I miss are the side-scrolling beat-em-up arcade games of my youth, the ones based off my favorite cartoons like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The one aspect of that that I don’t miss, however, is the inevitable fight that would ensue whenever a healing item popped up on screen. Even if I was only playing with one other person, we would eventually come to blows. Etiquette is the person with the lowest health gets the item, but we all know it’s survival of the fittest. Dorkly brings back our four favorite Turtles for a trip down memory lane.

Rooster Teeth’s Immersion Episode 2 Shows the Effects of Online Gaming Distractions

Way, way back in the Before-Times (April, to be precise), we posted a video depicting the folks over at Rooster Teeth making a car with a camera rig to simulate the driving in Grant Theft Auto. As it happens, this video was the pilot episode for Immersion, a series where the RT crew explores various video game tropes in real life. The second episode of Immersion just came out, and it features some guest stars doing what online gamers do best: life-destroying trash talk. But when the target is a real solider, what’s the effect? Have a watch and be advised: this is NSFW due to the massive amounts of potty-mouth.

Pretty funny, no? I think this is a really cool idea for an ongoing series, and I’m looking forward to what they’ll have in the future. What do you guys want to see them cover?

Xbox LIVE November Activity Shows Call of Duty Domination

xbl activity list cod4

We all know that most Xbox LIVE users are all about Call of Duty, but I don’t think any of us could have fathomed how deep their collective addiction goes. Since 2007, we have had four, count them four, Call of Duty titles, and they all are being played enough over LIVE to take up a spot each on the Xbox LIVE activity list for the week of November 22.

The Call of Duty game with the lowest placing is the original Modern Warfare at number thirteen. Holding the top two spots are Modern Warfare 2 and the recently released Black Ops. Halo: Reach stays steady at number three, while its predecessor, Halo 3, amazingly comes in above Call of Duty 4 in seventh place. Hit the jump for the full list: Continue reading Xbox LIVE November Activity Shows Call of Duty Domination

Dead Rising 2: Case: West Trailer Knows Its Way Around a Zombie or Two

I love me some Dead Rising 2, so I’m looking forward to the game’s upcoming downloadable epilogue Case: West starring the man, the myth, the legend, Frank West of the original Dead Rising. While Dead Rising 2 focused on Chuck Greene’s prodigious skills with duct tape, Case: West will see the return of the photography element that was so important in the first game. The DLC will be co-op enabled, so you and a buddy can pile-drive zombies to your heart’s content. Capcom just released the gameplay trailer for this bad boy, so have a watch:

This Xbox 360 exclusive will hit sometime in December, so keep that wallet ready. Who here is going back into Dead Rising 2 for some zombie slaying action?

Rumor: Halo: Combat Evolved Remake in 2011?

halo combat evolved remakeDespite the fact that Microsoft has said that they’re not looking at HD remakes, it’s hard to deny the fact that a Halo: Combat Evolved re-release with updated graphics would move a crazy amount of copies.

According to CVG, who pulled the information from UK magazine Games Master, 343 Industries is hard at work on a revival of Halo: Combat Evolved using the Halo: Reach engine. According to “industry chatter” cited by the magazine, the game would hit on Halo: CE’s tenth anniversary in November of 2011 with a true sequel to Halo 3 following up in 2012.

While this is all speculation, CVG points out that this release schedule would fit with 343’s plan to release a new Halo game every year a la Call of Duty or Assassin’s Creed.

Tag this as the most vaguest of rumors for now, faithful readers, because the only actual Microsoft big-wig quoted is UK Xbox manager Stephen McGill who thinks a current-generation Combat Evolved would be a “good idea”.

What do you guys think of this possibility? Will it happen, or is a Halo: CE remake just a pipe dream?

Source – CVG

Mythbusting Call of Duty: Black Ops

In the past, we’ve seen a series of Mythbusters videos for popular online shooters Modern Warfare 2 and even Halo 3. Thus, it was only natural that Defend The House continued their popular series of multiplayer Mythbusters with a brand-spanking-new entry for Call of Duty: Black Ops.

This edition of the informative yet hilarious videos tackles a few key questions, such as whether or not care package helicopters can be shot down, or how to shoot down Valkyrie missiles. The most important issue it tackles, though, is this: can a man dive over a rocket? Really, it’s a question that needs answering, not just in Black Ops, but every day life. Lord knows it’s kept me up at night.

Have you run into any of these issues in your own online escapades? In general, how do you guys feel about Black Ops multiplayer so far?

Is a Grief-Free Online Environment Really Possible?

Counter StrikeGrowing up surrounded by my brother and a mess of loud and sometimes obnoxious friends, I was no stranger when it came to gaming and trash talking. Whether we were swapping one-shot kills in Goldeneye, making fun of each others’ created characters in Wrestlemania 2000 or swapping insults during bouts of Bushido Blade, the smack we talked ran freely like milk and honey in the Promised Land. In my mind, this was just the way gaming was: friendly, fun and all in good sport. We dished out only what we could take, and only occasionally did the bad blood spill over into the real world, and usually it was the other way around.

My first extended stint into online gaming came with my late discovery of Counter-Strike my freshman year of college. What started as something just for pure fun soon grew into a relatively serious hobby. It was only when I dived in more deeply that I saw the gritty underbelly of the online world: griefing, racism, verbal threats and rage. Continue reading Is a Grief-Free Online Environment Really Possible?

StarCraft 2 UMS: Star Battle

As most of us know around here know, one of the biggest advantages of PC games is customization and modding, and StarCraft 2 is no exception. Right now the number one UMS (Use Map Settings) custom game on the EU Battle.net Server is an awesome space battle map called Star Battle. It’s almost like DotA meets Star Trek. Basically, you farm small fighters to gain income to upgrade the weapons/armor/shields/engines on your giant war ship so you can destroy the other players’ giant war ships. A note for our North American users: while the custom map is now live on the US Server, not many people know about it, so nobody is playing yet.

Here is a more in depth explanation by TotalBiscuit. The video is a little long, but you get the basic idea pretty quick.

[youtube width=”500″ height=”331″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBbVqR3Euf4[/youtube]

GamerSushi Asks: What Are You Playing?

Assassin's Creed Brotherhood

Since many of us in the good ol’ States have just had a weekend of revelry, merriment and turkey eating, that means we’ve all had several days for an abnormal amount of video game playing. Or at least, for me it’s been an abnormal amount.

If you listened to the most recent podcast, you heard us chatting about winter gaming and how for some reason, when it gets cold outside, some of just die to start playing more games. Because of that, I finally decided to grab Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood earlier this week so I would have something to play over the holidays. So far, I’m loving the game, and I’m really surprised by the amount of content in it. What’s more surprising to me, though, is just how much I love the multiplayer. What I viewed as some tacked on mode is actually quite a bit of fun, and a great change of pace from typical deathmatch fair.

In addition to that, I’ve been playing Prince of Persia: Sands of Time on PSN, and I’m also looking forward to grabbing Gran Turismo 5 in the next couple of weeks. What about you guys? What are you playing this weekend? Go!

Review: Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood

assassins creed brotherhood review

There’s a special spot in gamer hell reserved for sequels with a quick turnaround. Left 4 Dead 2, Halo 3: ODST and in some cases, Call of Duty, have all received stick for coming out “too soon”, according to the Internet. So it is with Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood, which was announced before the dust on Assassin’s Creed 2 had even settled.

Coming out such a short time after its predecessor, and tacking on a seemingly unnecessary multiplayer mode, Brotherhood fit the bill for the quick “cash-in” built to capitalize on the good will of AC2. Slowly, though, perception of the title began turning around as media came out revealing that the multiplayer wasn’t a shoddy tack-on and the single player campaign was going to add interesting new mechanics. Critical reception is very, very positive, but what’s the GamerSushi stance?
Continue reading Review: Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood