As we all know, the Spike VGAs hit last night, with a spattering of announcements and trailers, many of which we’ll have the time to get excited about over the next week. However, the post-show buzz seems to hover directly around one game: The Last of Us.

While The Last of Us was teased just a bit over the last few days, nobody had any idea what it was, save for the fact that it was a PS3 exclusive. All that changed last night when gamers were treated to the world premiere trailer, which happens to be all stunning in-engine footage.

I do have to say, I’m a fan. Seems to be a cross between I Am Legend and Enslaved, although we’ll see how the gameplay shakes out eventually. Many props to Naughty Dog for keeping development of this title secret for so long. Yet another reason why I’m glad to be a PS3 owner.

What did you guys think? Go!

Metal Gear Rising disappeared from the scene for a while, dropping only a brief trailer of the game’s protagonist Raiden chopping up dudes and watermelons with motion-gaming like movements. With nothing about the game being released since then people began wondering if we were ever going to see the game again. Well, the new trailer for Rising has leaked just a couple of hours before its appearance at the SPIKE Video Game Awards tonight and all I have to say is “wow”. You can judge what kind of “wow” that is for yourself after you view the trailer.

So yeah, that happened. The Metal Gear games were always a little crazy, but Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance (yes, that’s the real title) is down-right bat-shit insane. Revengeance is now being handled by Platinum Games, the studio behind Bayonetta and Vanquish, so you can see where it gets the heritage of over the top action from. What do you guys think of Rising’s new direction?

In 2009, the release of Uncharted 2: Among Thieves not only solidified the series as a noteworthy entry into the current generation — it also gave the PlayStation 3 its first must-have franchise. On top of winning numerous game of the year awards, Uncharted 2 became the standard that other modern action games are judged against, most notably in terms of its voice acting, writing and unbelievable set pieces.

For two long years, gamers have waited for the follow-up to Naughty Dog’s smash hit, and in a year of other contenders, a question mark has hung over Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception. Could it live up to the earth-shattering release of its predecessor? And even more unthinkable: could it surpass it? In this unique GamerSushi review, a number of the GS staff weighs in for a consolidated effort to analyze one of the year’s most anticipated titles.

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SPIKE TV’s annual half-celebration half-”see I told you this is what them video games is like” Video Game Awards show airs tomorrow and in-between all of the trailers for upcoming games there’s a chance for developers and individual games to walk away with trophies.

2011 has been an exceptional year for games and the VGAs are chock full of titles that I’d be hard pressed to choose over one another. Some are obvious winners for me (like picking Battlefield 3 as the best multiplayer game over Modern Warfare 3 and Gears of War 3), but a few I had a hard time deciding on. Do I really like Skyrim better than Batman? That may seem like an obvious choice at first, but then I start thinking about it and maybe I break out into sweat. Who’s to say?

I’m also a little disappointed by the lack of a GotY nomination for Deus Ex: Human Revolution but I’m just one man. Take a look at the nominees for the various categories of the 2011 Video Game Awards and tell us what you think. What’s your pick for Game of the Year? Any write-in votes?

I’ve got a problem. It’s been well documented on this site and in our podcasts, but I should reiterate: I’m an RPG completionist. I’m OCD in a way that is truly tough to convey to people who can’t open up my head and take a peek inside. From the largest weapon to the smallest task, I’m trying to do everything, see every nook and cranny of even the hugest open RPG world until its boundaries feel like shackles and I’ve got nowhere left to go.

Such is the case with Skyrim. You see, I’ve put about 50 hours into the game so far, and I’m sitting pretty at about Level 43. And I’ve only recently just gone to High Hrothgar for the first time. If you’ve been playing the game, you know that most people go do this just south of Level 10, but not me. I’m an overpowered badass that’s been running all over the place doing the bidding of every peasant and lowlife that needed ferrying or dungeoneering.

It’s really hard to pinpoint the root cause of this obsession, and even harder to curtail it once it sets in. Something about the way my personality works just causes me to get lost in side quests.

I thought I’d take this opportunity to ask how you guys handle side quests versus main quests. While side quests are really meant to help you level between the main or perhaps give you something to do once you’ve beaten the game, I tend to use them to make the main ludicrously easy for myself. How do you guys approach them? Go!

For every gameplay mechanic that sets a standard in the industry, there are always a few that manage to slip out of vogue no matter how interesting they are. Back in the days when gaming was just getting started, developers felt like they could take a few more risks with their designs and some really cool stuff came out of that era. There are some neat ideas being presented today, but the fresh stuff is few and far between.

IGN’s newest appendage 1up put out an article on four gameplay mechanics that should have caught on and it’s an interesting look at some big ideas that have faded away into obscurity. While Demon’s Souls (and Dark Souls) are new, things like Rainbow Six’s mission planner or Blade Runner’s randomized story elements are kind of relics now, lost to the ages.

I remember trying to figure out Rainbow Six’s planner back in the day and I recall it being beyond the scope of my young mind. My missions frequently boiled down to giving everyone a shotgun and hoping for the best, but I bet if I went back and tried that game today I would find a layer of strategy that is so painfully absent from modern shooters.

The social single-player elements of Demon’s Souls is one of the most intriguing aspects of that game to me and I would be really pleased if that caught on in other games, especially sandbox titles. How awesome would it be if you were playing Grand Theft Auto V and saw some graffiti on the ground left by another player, pointing you towards a secret area with a special vehicle? This is a masterful way of bringing players together inside their own separate worlds and I’d like other developers to take a stab at it.

Do you guys have any gameplay mechanics that you used to love that have fallen by the wayside? I seem to recall squad commands being quite the big ticket item last generation but I don’t see that too much these days. Personally, I’d love to be able to give my AI teammates commands because they can’t seem to think for themselves that well. Sound off!

Source – 1up

If there’s anything we can say about 2011 – in addition to the fact that it’s been one of the best years for gaming that we can remember – it’s that it has been the year of the HD remake. In the fall season alone, we’ve seen Halo CE: Anniversary, Ico/Shadow of the Colossus and Metal Gear Solid: HD Collection all release to rave reviews from fanboys that have longed to see their old favorites restored with loving detail. Naturally, this opens up the conversation to other classics, and there are none more sought after than the dreaded Final Fantasy VII remake.

In a recent interview with Official XBox Magazine, Final Fantasy XIII-2 producer Yoshinori Kitase gave some of his thoughts about how he’d tackle a remake of one of the most famed entries in the beloved series:

“If I may speak as a game creator, if we were to produce a remake of VII, for example, I would be really tempted to delete things and add new elements, new systems or whatever because if we were to make exactly the same thing now, it’d be like a repeat… But if we did that, the fans might be disappointed or ‘this is not what I was expecting’ so in that sense maybe some might say that it’s better to let memory be memory.”

I have to say that I understand the impulse to want to approach the remake creatively. I mean, where would the appeal be to just slap a new coat of paint on something if you’re part of the team involved? But on the other hand, a part of me would also want the game that I loved exactly as it was. It would be interesting if developers could find a way to include both things in the final product, although I understand it’s not entirely feasible.

So what do you guys think? What kind of remakes do you prefer? Fresh new takes on old favorites, or a new coat of paint on the classics? What would you change in HD remakes of your favorite games? Go!

Source – OXM

As the end of this generation draws near we’re seeing an increase in the amount of franchises that are taking a stab at faster release cycles. Call of Duty has been pulling this trick for a while but even titles with a bigger scope like Assassin’s Creed and Dead Rising are trying to give us a new game every year.

The term “new game” may be a bit of a stretch because in the rush to meet the deadlines a lot of these titles are getting flak for not adding enough to previous iterations. While waiting years for a game may be painful, is it preferable to basically buying what equates to an expansion pack?

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Few things compare to the joys I’ve gotten from the Super Smash Bros. franchise. Whether it was after school on the Nintendo 64, skipping class in college with the GameCube or taking a break on the Wii, the Nintendo branded brawler is the perfect mix of insanity and trashtalk-inducing competition. If I were one of the other big console companies, I guess I’d be eying something similar for my own franchises.

And according to rumors, that’s just what Sony is doing. For a while now, there have been whispers that one SuperBot Entertainment has been hard at work crafting the PlayStation’s own take on the Smash Bros. style of mayhem. Until the last couple of weeks, these rumors didn’t have much substance to them. However, SuperBot employee Chris Molina’s twitter account recently outed not only the game’s existence, but also a few details like the inclusion of characters Kratos, Sweet Tooth and Parappa.

So what do you guys think of this idea? Would you play a Sony version of Super Smash Bros.? What characters would you like to see? What about a Microsoft version? Go!

Source – Gaming Everything

Image via Play Tribune

Speaking from extremely limited personal experience, I can say that the tug-of-war between fans and creators is often a tricky thing. While content producers don’t want to lose their audience through unpopular choices, they want the creative fulfillment of making their own way. Likewise, fans have certain expectations, yet need the creator to do what originally drew the fans to the creator’s work to begin with.

Enter Hideo Kojima. To say that this guy has been all over the map creatively is an understatement. From entry to entry in the Metal Gear Solid series, the games tones and even main characters have shifted wildly. On top of that, the guy seems to second guess himself after each new title, saying he’ll never make another one.

While this was the full intent with Metal Gear Solid 4, he’s already saying that Metal Gear Solid 5 will probably happen. In a recent interview with the Official Playstation Magazine, he talks about his original vision for Snake and how other voices changed that:

“Actually, I wanted to end it at every step along the way… In Guns Of The Patriots he was supposed to die. Everyone on the staff really wanted to keep him alive, so I caved a little. I’m a creator at heart, but at the same time I also have to manage the business aspect of it, figure out how to sell the game. I’m still trying to find that balance – it’s very delicate. How do you put in enough to make sure it sells, while remaining true to your vision?”

I’m sure this is the struggle that filmmakers and game producers constantly deal with. As much as these entertainment mediums qualify as art, there is an aspect to them that requires them to be a product as well. So what do you guys think of this idea? Do you think that more creators like this need to stick to their vision, or are you OK with them tweaking it in order to keep pumping out new iterations? Go!

Source – Official Playstation Magazine

This year is swiftly coming to a close and we’ve seen almost all of the major releases come and go with the exception of Star Wars: The Old Republic which drops on December 20. As this year was more jam packed than others, I thought I’d do a quick survey and see which giant games of 2011 you might have missed.

I’m not really one to talk here because I seem to be swimming in games (some still un-played like The Witcher 2 and Assassin’s Creed: Revelations), but I did manage to miss Forza 4, Killzone 3 and Skyward Sword, although I might make time for that last one. Rayman Origin is another game that might get overlooked this year, but I’m going to make an effort to try it out. It’s a gorgeous looking 2D platformer with couch co-op and it’s being reviewed pretty well right now.

In terms of games that I could have passed up, given hindsight, I’d say Modern Warfare 3 and Battlefield 3. Modern Warfare 3 is pretty much the same old Call of Duty we’ve come to expect and I haven’t even touched Battlefield 3 since Skyrim hit, which is kind of surprising given the nerd boner I was rocking for that game.

What about you guys? Any big games that you missed this year just because you didn’t have enough time? Any smaller, indie titles that grabbed your attention that may go unnoticed by others? Sound off!

Oh man. As cliche as it is to make a post on Thanksgiving about how much food you’ve eaten, I can’t help but do just that. I feel like I’m at least partially absolved of this crime because I ran a 10K this morning, but even then, I know I’ll still have to beg your forgiveness just a little bit.

All that to say: Happy Thanksgiving, dudes. I know not all of you are from our fat states, but I want to wish you all a good one either way. Maybe it’s because I’m food drunk, but I do want to say that I’m thankful for this community and for all of you. Shucks and stuff.

Now that that’s out of the way, it’s time to the good stuff. Naturally, holidays means video games for many of us. As for me, I’ve been playing lots of Skyrim (of course), but now that the holidays are underway, I’ve been struck by the nostalgia bug, as I knew I would be. This means I’ve got a sudden and intense hankering to play not only Ico and Shadow of the Colossus HD, but also Halo: CE Anniversary and the MGS HD Collection. Christmas really can’t come soon enough.

So what about you guys? What are you playing this fine holiday weekend? Go!

I’ve been trying to save some of my opinions about Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception (or Decepticons if you’re feeling especially nerdy) for our upcoming review of the game, but I couldn’t help myself on this one. As fun as the game can be, I had major problems with it’s shooting mechanics, which felt a bit spastic and dare I say broken in comparison to Uncharted 2′s excellent gunplay. When I first started playing the game, I couldn’t tell if my skills had diminished, or if I was just a crazy person, but something felt… off. This became even more apparent when Anthony tried a run of some multiplayer, where the shooting mechanics felt much better, and vastly different from their singleplayer counterpart.

Apparently I’m not the only one. It seems that quite a few Uncharted fans, both on Naughty Dog’s website and NeoGAF, have taken to drafting charts, filming comparison videos and dissecting the difference between Uncharted 2 and Uncharted 3′s gunplay. The main offender is a strange bit of input lag, plus a snap-to grid for diagonal aiming that isn’t present in Uncharted 2.

While all of that is typical for the Internet, the interesting part of the story is that Naughty Dog listened and tried to figure out the difference themselves… but couldn’t. So they then asked several of the outspoken NeoGAF posters to come into the studio to present their case firsthand. As a result, Naughty Dog is working on a patch that allows players to choose between the mechanics of each game for the singleplayer campaign.

How about that for listening to your community? I really have to commend Naughty Dog for hearing the complaints and addressing them, although I don’t understand how they couldn’t figure out the difference between two of their own games. Have any of you played Uncharted 3? Any issues with the aiming? And what do you think of this move by Naughty Dog? Go!

Source – GiantBomb

You guys, Skyrim. Skyrim, guys.

I’m sorry that there are so many mentions of Skyrim happening on the ol’ Sushi, but it can’t be helped. I’m fully vested in this game and its world, and I don’t know if I’ll be able to get away from it any time soon. It’s just one of those games that hits me in the right way (or the wrong way depending on how you look at it).

For anyone that has experienced it, you’ll understand when I say that Skyrim is a truly engaging world. In fact, I’d venture to say it’s one of video games most real-feeling worlds that I’ve ever played.

To prove it, I’m posting this gorgeous Skyrim time lapse video. Watch. And be amazed and stuff.

One of the many games I bought last Tuesday was Saint’s Row the Third, Volition’s newest entry in the kill-crazy crime series. I’ve put a fair number of hours into it (not as much as Skyrim or even Sonic Generations), and I think I’ve come to a shocking conclusion based on how some of the game is making me feel: I’m growing up.

This post isn’t a knock against Saint’s Row’s content; I know it’s full of juvenile humor, diving nut punches and mind-controlling octopus cannons and it does that all very well and even manages to pull off some insane gameplay without it being contrived. Besides, I’d have to be a pretty big troll to call out Saint’s Row for being immature. No, I’m just finding that some of the ancillary quests feel kind of silly and I’m started to get repulsed by the idea of shooting cops and civilians.

Yes, the old tried-and-true stand-by of the GTA-style sandbox game, descending into unbridled mayhem, no longer holds the appeal for me that it once did. I was showing the game off to my roommate and after shooting a mascot dressed as an energy drink and doing the same to a couple cops, I got a funny feeling in my stomach. I know these cops are just pixles and animated rigs moving on my screen, but busting a cap in them doesn’t hold the same thrill it once used to.

Saint’s Row the Third is still fun and I heartily recommend it to anyone who played the second one and loved it, but I’m kind of moving past the “see how long you can kill cops for” type of sandbox play and coming to appreciate structure more. What about you guys? Do you sort of feel the same, or do you think I’m just an old man yelling at Saint’s Row from his porch? Has any other game made you feel this way?

Wow. I think out of all the days that could have decked us in the Fall, it was today that I was most worried about. As Mitch has lovingly dubbed it, Doomsday Tuesday happened today, and with it came a veritable salvo of gaming entertainment. Or horrors, if you’re concerned about what this means for your wallet.

While I’m no doubt going to leave somebody out, the big games that dropped today include Saint’s Row: The Third, Halo: CE Anniversary and Assassin’s Creed: Revelations. So, yeah. Lots of stuff to play, I guess.

Rather than doing a slew of posts roll call-ing for each of these gems, I thought I’d put it all together in one post and just ask you straight up: which of these are you getting today? Are you getting any of them at all? As for me, I received Halo: CE Anniversary in the mail, and hope to add Saint’s Row: The Third and Assassin’s Creed: Revelations over time. But for now, Skyrim rules all.

So what about you dudes? Time to weight in on the roll call. Go!

At 10 hours into Skyrim, you’d think that I would be a walking bad ass by now. Townspeople would weep or cry out in joy at my passing. Animals would steer clear of my manly musk. Dragons would swoop down to bow before me in reverent awe. My weapons would sing with the crackle of lightning and the sharp hiss of steel and silver. In short, you would think that I’ve already started bending the world of Skyrim to my digital will.

Actually, I’m picking flowers just outside of Whiterun. You see, I’m trying to learn some new recipes and the properties of various ingredients for alchemy, just so I can sell some potions and make enough money on the side to buy a house. You know the type: a starter home, with a nice view of the Jarl’s place up on the hill. It’s quaint, but it’ll get me by long enough to stow all of my stolen items until I can contact someone in the Thieves’ Guild to purchase them for me. I might get around to that once I’ve searched the nearby brewery or taken a few more Smithing lessons up at the Skyforge. That’s just how I roll.

While none of those things sounds particularly exciting, they’ve somehow gotten me totally snared by Elder Scrolls V’s dark and fantastical clutches. Every preview of the game showed spellcasting, shield bashing, dragon shouting and dragon fighting. Yet all I’m doing is the mundane, the ordinary, the stuff that nobody in their right mind would do.

And I love it.

You see, I’ve got certain triggers when it comes to video games. Certain things that scratch just the right spot or catch me at just the right moment. This happens from time to time, and even though it shouldn’t surprise me, it still totally does. I wrote just a few weeks back about how Batman: Arkham City made me feel like a kid again. Skyrim is sort of similar, but there’s something more to it: it just has my attention.

I can’t really describe what it means when I say that a game has gotten my attention. The only mental image I have is of a small child, with a street performer snapping in front of him to hold his gaze while he does a sleight of hand routine. And I guess that’s what video games do to us. The best ones leave us transfixed, totally beholden to whatever spectacles are playing themselves out on the screen. I won’t declare Skyrim game of the year or say that it’s one of my favorites. But I will say that it’s already put me under its spell.

So my question to you guys is this: what does a game have to do to get your attention? What kinds of things tend to really suck you into a game and keep you from doing anything else? Does it have to have a good intro? A great story? Great mechanics? A combination of those things? What types of games tend to leave you obsessed? Go!

Goodbye, cruel world.

I am leaving you for better, greener pastures. Well, sometimes they’re greener. Sometimes they’re frozen tundras swarming with dragons. Other times they’re cavernous holds for bandits. It doesn’t really matter what they look like, all I know is that I’m going to the world of The Elder Scrolls, and I don’t know if I’ll ever return from those fair peaks and dark dungeons.

This could last awhile.

As you know, Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is out tomorrow (or in just a few moments on the East Coast), and the world will never be the same. I for one plan on playing this game through the end of the year, forsaking all other suitors that plead for my time. With a ton of great, mostly perfect reviews out for the game, along with the reports that it will have never-ending sidequests, it almost seems like a no-brainer to pick this one up.

So I guess my question to you guys is this: who’s getting Skyrim? Roll call! Go!

When I was a kid, I was a really big fan of Sonic the Hedgehog. I didn’t have a Nintendo system in my house until the 64, so that meant that I played the heck out of the old Sonic games all the way from the original to Sonic 3D Blast on the Saturn. It’s kind of a tired meme in our hobby that Sonic games have by and large been pretty terrible since the Dreamcast days, although some would argue that Sonic Adventure was decent. In the transition to 3D gameplay Sonic kind of lost his spark and SEGA has been trying desperately to get it back.

Sonic the Hedgehog 4 seemed poised to redeem the blue blur but after that tanked and we got that terrible Werehog abomination, I had kind of given up hope of seeing a good Sonic title in my time with gaming. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that Sonic Generations, the newest title in the series, is quite fun and brings back a lot of the old conventions that made Sonic great.

You now play only as Sonic and not as any of his ridiculous anthropomorphic friends (although they can be accessed in challenges if you desire) and the game splits itself between the old 2D platforming of Classic Sonic and the crazy speed-runs of Modern Sonic. Gamer laureate TotalBiscut has a “WTF is” video up for Sonic Generations and if you’ve been on the fence about this game I recommend checking it out. He takes a look at the PC version (madness!) but I imagine the Xbox and PS3 SKUs are largely the same.

I think I’m going to pick this game up next week which brings the number of games I’m buying next Tuesday to an insane five. What about you guys? Any interest in picking this up? Did TotalBiscut’s video intrigue you?

As sure as the Fall brings cold weather, it also brings us a new Call of Duty game, this time from the all-star collaboration of Infinity Ward and Sledgehammer Games. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 finally released today and as you might expect the reviews are generally favorable, although the Metacritic User Reviews currently sit at a hilarious 2.8.

I’m not able to pick up the game today, but that hasn’t stopped me from wanting it, which is kind of an odd phenomenon with Call of Duty. Every year since Modern Warfare 2 I’ve told myself that I’m not buying this version, but I always buckle under. This time around it’s more to see if Infinity Ward can repair the story after what happened in MW2, but I’m also interested in trying out the multiplayer and Spec Ops modes.

So what about you guys? Did any of you pick up Modern Warfare 3? What are your thoughts so far?