Vanguard Bandits - PlayStation Network Review

It is only fairly recently I came to discover MonkeyPaw Games and their dedication to bringing fun games to the gaming community - often in the form of a retro title like Arc The Lad or Alundra.  Sometimes they accomplish something more than just helping us revisit an old classic though, because they allow us to play a game like Vanguard Bandits that I would never have otherwise gotten to experience.

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Turtle Beach Ear Force X31 Headset for Xbox 360 Review

I recently found the Turtle Beach Ear Force X31 Headset for Xbox 360 refurbished through Best Buy.  These headphones are often touted for use in multiplayer titles like Call of Duty or Battlefield for their combination of stereo sound direct to your ears as well as offering a microphone.  I've been eying one of these headsets for quite awhile, and when I was able to pick them up for about $30 online, I decided to give them a shot.  I've been using them for a couple of weeks now, and while there was plenty of good here, there was an overwhelming drawback that I can't get past.

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Warlock: Master of the Arcane Demo

I'm a bit of a sucker for strategy titles and I have had more positive experience with Paradox than negative.  I've been curious about Warlock: Master of the Arcane for a bit now.  Well, now that a demo is available to play, it may be worth a peek.

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Wii U? Mass Effect 3? Madden 13? All-Stars Battle Royale? Lots of Friday gaming thoughts!

Lots of gaming points I want to post about before this weekend, and I plan to get a review up of the Turtle Beach headset up at the end of the day for all of you to peruse of the weekend so you can see why that headset fizzled for me.

First up, I've been a big fan of Mass Effect 3's bonus weekend content, and after Bioware announced that these events would now be bi-weekly (as opposed to weekly like they were the month after release) in hopes of establishing better objectives, I'm very curious to see what direction these go from here on out.  This weekend is Operation Exorcist and here's the breakdown:

Operation EXORCIST April 27-29

When it comes to retrieving classified data, Cerberus has been beating the allied forces to the punch. New intelligence has tipped us off to one of their offensives, and it is time to give the N7 teams the payback they want.

Allied Goal: Kill 1,000,000 Cerberus Phantoms
Squad Goal: Survive until extraction on any map and any enemy on Gold difficulty.

Successful completion of the Allied Goal will grant all players a Victory Pack.
Successful completion of the squad goal awards a Commendation Pack to all squadmates.


Operation Exorcist will run from 6:00PM PST, Friday April 27th until 5:00AM PST, Monday April 30th. Exorcist will be available on PC and Xbox 360 only. Please remember to set “Upload Gameplay Feedback” to “on” in the online options to be able to participate in Operation Exorcist.

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Has anyone had a chance to play Spirit Camera: The Cursed Memoir?

I'm a huge fan of the Fatal Frame series, easily my favorite of the horror genre when I got a chance to play the trilogy on the PlayStation 2.  I was always disappointed that the Wii version never released outside of Japan.  I have been reading some mixed reviews on Spirit Camera: The Cursed Memoir for the Nintendo 3DS.

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A free iPhone App - Sketch Nation Studio - for building games for the App Store?

I found this slightly interesting the other day.  I haven't tried it yet - and I don't know anything about the company or the product.  As someone who enjoys fiddling around with game-making (as evidenced by my RPG Maker posts and MUD) - I have to say this is at least intriguing.  Has anyone else heard of or tried this?

I know Gamez did and gave us a good review here.  Just curious if anyone else has tried it yet or not?

Free iPhone App Sketch Nation Studio Lets You Build Games and Sell Them on the App Store

Become a game designer without writing a single line of code!

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA - Apr. 18, 2012 - Sketch Nation Studio, released today from Engineous Games, is a free game creation tool for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad that lets you create your own game in mere minutes. At launch, there are five styles of game, with more coming soon. Players can submit their games as a bona fide Stand Alone App, which is packaged and sold on the App Store for $0.99.This game is the only app that lets users create and release their own apps for fun and profit. Sketch Nation Studio is the fastest, easiest way to create mobile games, and no technical background is required.

In Sketch Nation Studio, you can draw directly on the device using the in-app drawing tools, or sketch out your heroes and villains on paper and import them using the camera. Your original art and games can be shared with other players within the game; try collaborating with a friend to make a game about your gym teacher or your boss! Downloading user-generated games and art costs virtual currency (Sketch Bucks). You start off with plenty, and earn more Sketch Bucks every time your game or art is downloaded. This encourages players to create a rich library of content for the Sketch Nation community. Those who do not wish to create content can also earn Sketch Bucks by playing games or through in-app purchase.

Sketch Nation Studio Features:

• 100% Free – There’s no reason not to try this universal app and make your own games!
• Make Real Money– The user earns $0.35 (half the revenue after Apple's cut) for each copy sold; it may not seem like much, but it adds up quickly.
• Customizable Fun – Mailman versus family dog, miner gnome down the well, flatulent flying fox – the options are limitless!
• 5 Different Game Genres, More on the Way – Up-Jumping, Down-Jumping, Horizontal Jumping, Horizontal Running, and Horizontal Flying games. New genres coming in future updates
• 3 Games Modes – Simple mode lets new designers play their first game within minutes. Advanced mode allows users to control and customize every aspect of the gameplay. Stand Alone mode gives users the chance to sell their game on the app store for a revenue share, no guesswork or experience required!

Sketch Nation Studio lets you design your own unique game from your drawings. Inthis free download, you will have access to an endless stream of games hand-made by you, your friends and the rest of the world.

With Sketch Nation Studio, you can be a game designer without writing a single line of code.

Check out Sketch Nation Studio today! http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/sketch-nation-studio/id506337826?mt=8

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Some morning odds and ends.

Yuck.  I was sick all Monday night and yesterday, so now I'm well and behind on things at work.  Hate, HATE using paid time off for being sick.  Just sucks away future vacation time.  I slept from like 10pm 2 nights ago, until almost 1:30 in the afternoon yesterday, and again crashed by like 10 last night.  So, here I am at work, getting some writing in before I actually start my day (I have a tendency to get to work about 50 minutes early so I can drink my coffee (Coffee With Games would probably approve), check my email and do things like write this post.

Where to start... how about a quick note from NBA Jam: On Fire Edition?

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Dialbo III, Agarest War, Final Fantasy, Kid Icarus, RPG Maker... my weekend in gaming!

That's a pretty long subject line for this post, isn't it?  Well, I kept pretty busy this weekend in general.  I guess I'll start with the topic I've already conversed about a dozen times at work this morning, but there was a beta run of a little title called Diablo III.  Maybe you're heard of it?

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The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - PC Review

I started this game about a week after it released, when a friend got me a copy for my PC.  He knew what a fan I was of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion - which was one of my first games for the Xbox 360 and opened me up to a whole new approach to RPG games.  I have not been a long-time fan of the series, however.  I have never played the earlier games in the series, but even then I knew that the introduction of dragons to the series was a huge move for Bethesda.

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The Humble Botanicula Debut

Another humble bundle has made its way out of the gates.  Here's the link to their page if you are interested in some pay-what-you-want PC games that also help support a good cause.

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What have I been up to on Otaku Gaming?

I had quite a few articles go up on Otaku Gaming over the last week or so, with several more on the way.  One that was particularly interesting to me was the the email from Atlus talking about the end of Demon's Souls receiving online support.

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Smackdown vs Raw 2010 - PlayStation 3 Review

For a sports title this old, I figure there is little reason to go ahead and do a full on review of it.  Still, I picked it up basically for free awhile back and gave it a try.  I will come right out and say I am not the designated market for this game.  I haven't watched wrestling since I was a kid and Randy Macho Man Savage was a big deal.  I always was a sucker for the actual wrestling titles on older systems like the NES then - like Pro Wrestling or Tecmo Wrestling.  I also plunked a ton of quarters into an arcade cabinet and performed more than my share of DDT's with Jake the Snake.

Still, I believe my last wrestling game was probably 2005 or 2006 - so it had been awhile.  The graphics on here were decent.  Animations looked pretty well, and I was able to recognize quite a few of the wrestlers based on their appearances, so that was good.  I did notice a ton of clipping though, where movement around the edges of the ring or with other wrestlers where things just did not look right in the middle of the action.  Also the fans were pretty bland in the background.

There is a lot of voice work to be had here, though none of it struck me as particularly bad or good.  It lent context to the action for the most part, whether it was coming from an announcer or a wrestler, but it never struck me as particularly moving either.  It was interesting that I had not played a wrestling game in ages, but it took me a few minutes was all to familirize myself with the basics.  That said, there is definitely some nuance to be had here and I got considerably better as I figured out how to best manipulate the controls and situation.  That said?  My hands were pretty tired from button mashing at times, which has long been a staple of wrestling games to help determine if you are going to pull off your grapple instead of your opponent.  I usually won those moments, but I had some cramped hands at times too.

The best thing this game has going for it is a variety of modes.  I had fun creating characters, uploading content, customizing your appearance, creating stories and plenty more.  My favorite mode was probably taking my created character through the story mode, but i got frustrated with it as well.  There were sometimes criteria to be met before moving on that was just frustrating in its difficulty, and I finally quit because I reached a part where I needed to KO an opponent using my special move.  Problem is, I had a couple, and it had to be a particular special move, which would just never trigger.

All in all, the game can be had pretty cheaply now, and if you enjoy wrestling titles this one is pretty good, though it is a few years out and there are probably better, newer versions to try.

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Double Dragon: Neon - screens and thoughts

So as a kid?  Huuuuge fan of all things Double Dragon.  Probably one of the first arcade games I played and actually beat - no easy feat when you're playing cabinets meant to eat your quarters as quickly as possible.  Now there has been an announcement that Double Dragon Neon will be coming out later this year.

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Just a couple of RPG games - Kingdoms of Amular and Game of Thrones

I saw a couple of press release items from a couple of days ago.  I thought they made for interesting reads, so I figured with it being a slow weekend for me personally, I'd share with the rest of the class.  One is talk about Kingdoms of Amular: Reckoning expansion and the other about Game of Thrones (which I just watched season 1 of on Bluray and loved).

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What games are you looking forward to right now?

My son likes to ask what games are on my radar coming up, and usually I have a slew of them.  Well, on Facebook Gamersgate had a poll up that asked which of the following titles are you most excited by?  The list?

Max Payne 3
Risen 2: Dark Waters
Binary domain
Sniper Elite V2
Port Royal 3
Darksiders 2
Medal of Honor Warfighter
Assisn's Creed 3
Botanicula
The Secret World

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Reflecting back - way... WAY back

This is a somewhat odd post for me.  I play games, I share my thoughts - that's pretty much what this blog has become.  It's like a diary with video game pictures that other people get to come and see.  I write reviews, I talk about current gaming events and sometimes I touch on older games.  And let's face it - I've played a lot of older games.  I've talked about my TI 99/4a - the first system I owned.  It was not the first system I played.  That would be an Atari 2600.

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The Splatters - Xbox 360 Review

The title at first glance does not sound like it is really telling you much about the game.  What is The Splatters?  It is a physics-based puzzle title.  There are small bombs on the screen and you fling little guys of good onto them to disarm them.  You splatter them - hence the unusual yet appropriate title.

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Wii U price rumor, hope you had a nice Easter weekend!

A handful of general thoughts coming out of the Easter weekend.  For starters, I hope you had an excellent weekend, whether you celebrated the holiday or not.  My kids?  Properly showered with sugar after participating in a plastic egg hunt.

Next up - I've seen a couple of sites now stating that the Wii U will release at a $300 price point.  Opinions on that price point have been all over the map, with references to the Wii and 3DS being at $250 initially. 

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Nightfall for the iOS

I haven't heard much about Playdek's Nightfall game until just recently, but the idea appeals to me as a big fan off collectible card games.  I got my start with real ones like Magic: The Gathering, Legend of the Five Rings and Marvel: Overpower but have enjoyed many of the video game iterations as well. 

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Indie Gala - similar to Humble Bundle - cheap PC games

I just stumbled onto this deal a little bit ago, but very similar to the Humble Bundle, I found the Indie Gala advertised.  The deal's only got about a day left on it, but includes games like Future Wars and Trapped Dead, and if you pay more than the average, you get additional titles as well such as Grotesque Tactcis and Twin Sector - all but Gear Grinder is redeemable on Steam.  IndieGala3 can be found here.

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Mass Effect 3: Resurgence Pack

Yup, going to continue going strong on this whole Mass Effect theme.  Any why not?  On the heels of the announcement for extended ending DLC (for free, despite much of the cynacism out there that EA would charge for it) - well apparently there will now be another free DLC out there.  Here is the press release information for it.

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Mass Effect 3 Collector's Edition - Xbox 360 Review

Mass Effect 3 is probably one of the most anticipated titles to come out in some time.  Like Diablo III will be in a couple of months, Mass Effect 3 has certain expectations that will be almost impossible to meet for some people.  In truth, I feel the expectations are higher here then for Diablo 3.  Certainly the wait has been shorter, but Bioware did something incredible when they brought choices made from the first Mass Effect into Mass Effect 2, changing certain parts of the storyline to add continuity to the storyline you crafted.

As a result, Mass Effect 3 has become a title that not only has expectations due to being part of a popular series, but because players have already become greatly invested in the storyline to date.  Along the way there have been books and iPhone games to help tide gamers over, but none of those things compare to the primary three games in the series.  There were a lot of design choices that people questioned along the way such as the addition of multiplayer and the ending of the game.  I would have loved to have rushed out a rapid review on this game so it could be just a bit more timely, but my personal policy of playing through a game until I am done with it/beaten it once would not allow me to do so.  Here are my thoughts on it.

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Gaming Thoughts... A couple of last Mass Effect 3 tidbits

I'm planning to post my Mass Effect 3 full review tomorrow.  It's lengthy, but I hope you enjoy it.

Moving on - I find that the number of EA crossovers over the last few years sort of odd, but generally I have liked them.  Bonuses for playing Dragon Age on Facebook that show up in Dragon Age II?  That works.  The odd Dead Space armor swaps?  Odd, but it generally looks cool.  Tying in Blood Dragon Armor from Dragon Age into Mass Effect?  Sure, why not - that was my primary armor used in ME 3 truth be told.  They're all under the EA wheelhouse though, so I found the Mass Effect 3 armor showing up in Final Fantasy XIII-2 a bit odd.  I don't plan to pick it up, but maybe others will?  It seems like Square Enix has Final Fantasy XIII characters crossing over quite a bit more as they explore the DLC world.  I saw a rather odd article on IGN yesterday about them modeling Prada clothing too. 

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Fallout Free on Good Old Games for the next 48ish hours

I really enjoy Good Old Games, as they bring a lot of older titles to the PC in a way that newer machines can generally run them easily enough.  Well, GoG has a nice freebie for the next couple of days - the original Fallout is free.  You can find it here if you are interested.

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Gaming Thoughts... Mass Effect 3 - Favorite Scenes

And now, to talk about my favorite scenes from Mass Effect 3 before making the review live tomorrow.  For starters, I enjoyed this game a great deal and for several reasons.  Seeing so many places where prior choices made could impact the final story makes me want to play it again, though I am going to give it a bit of time to breathe first I think.

In case you are interest, I visited my top 5 from Mass Effect 1 here.  I did the same sort of top 5 list for Mass Effect 2 as well.

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Gaming Thoughts... Mass Effect 2 - most memorable moments

Mass Effect completely surprised me when it came out.  At first I was not a huge fan of it, but then it quickly became one of my favorite games ever.  Here I listed my top 5 moments from the first Mass Effect.  This time I was much better prepared - and much more anxious - for Mass Effect 2 when it came out.  I did a top five from the original Mass Effect, and I plan to do the same here.  This is a quick list of my five favorite scenes and features from Mass Effect 2.  Spoilers aplenty for this game follow.

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This weeks gaming deals at a glance

Another week, another Wednesday and another slew of deals out there.  I will post my top five moments form Mass Effect 2 a bit later in the day as well today, so if you're interested in those, keep an eye out for that. 

So this week in Xbox Live Gold land we have a shooter and fighter mix.  All games are half off their normal prices.  We have some fighters and shooters in this mix with:

- King of Fighters 98 Ultimate Match
- King of Fighters 2002 Ultimate Match
- King of Fighters Sky Stage
- Metal Slug 3
- Metal Slug XX
- Trouble Witches Neo.

All of these are usually 800, now at 400 Microsoft Points except Metal Slug XX, which is normally 1200 and is currently 600 for this week.

Steam's Midweek Madness is the entire X series for 50% off.  Their current daily deal is Capsized for 75% off.  That will be good for about five more hours.

Over at Gamersgate they have Supreme Ruler Cold War for 75% off, Serious Sam 3: BFE for 60% off and Patrician IV Gold Edition for 75% off.  They are also flying a banner for Serious Sam games in general as being 60% off this week. 

Amazon's got a smattering of deals.  Their daily game one is Jewel Link Chronicles: Mountains of Madness for the DS for $14.99, and their deals of the eek range from $10 off on Mass Effect 3, to $20 off for the Syndicate and Soul Calibur V, $40 off the HORI Soul Calibur V Arcade Stick, $20 off of King of Fighters XIII, $70 off the Call of Duty: Black Ops Prestige Edition for the 360, $10 off of Twisted Metal and up to 75% off of THQ game downloads.

Lastly, the PlayStation stuff.  It's a pretty solid week to be a PlayStation Plus user:

• Canabalt (Mini, Free)
• Farm Frenzy 2 (Mini, Free)
• Mortal Kombat (DLC, Discount)
• Mortal Kombat Arcade Kollection (PSN, Discount)
• Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe (Retail, Discount)
• Shank 2 (PSN, Free)
• Shift 2 Unleashed (Retail, Free)
• Silent Hill (PSone, Free)
• Wheels of Destruction: World Tour (PSN, Discount)

And here's the general discounts this week as well:

• Mortal Kombat (DLC)
• Mortal Kombat Arcade Kollection (PSN)
• Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe (Retail)
• MotorStorm RC (DLC)
• Prototype (Retail)

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Gaming Thoughts ...Favorite Mass Effect Moments

Obviously there is no single video game out there that is 'for everyone' - but it is impossible to deny the large critical and commercial appeal of the Mass Effect series.  Say what you will about the changes in combat, the addition of multiplayer, whether the characters got worse or better with each release and the ending - but what got players excited about the journey were the 'moments' along the way. 

I don't usually do lists or countdowns on here, but after investing so many hours into these three titles (I'm excluding the iPad ones because quite frankly, they were not very good in my opinion and did not spark anywhere near the response from me than the primary three titles did).  Huge spoilers ahead (something else I don't know if I've done before on here) - so read at your own risk! (though the titles have been out long enough that odds are if you have played the games, you have encountered these for yourself).

Five favorite moments from the original Mass Effect.

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Mass Effect Infiltrator - iPad Review

Just as Mass Effect Galaxy tried to tell a non-Shepard story wedged between the primary console releases of Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2, Electronic Arts brings us Mass Effect Infiltrator just before the Mass Effect 3 release. 

As I noted in my earlier review, I was not very happy with Mass Effect Galaxy.  It was a major departure from the series both in form and function.  With this in mind, I went into Mass Effect Infiltrator hopeful, but wary.  It turns out that both of those feelings had merit to them.

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What have I been up to on Otaku Gaming?

I'm so glad you asked! (even though I know you really didn't!)

I think one of the more interesting finds I had was about Guardian Cross, an iOS (and according to the Facebook page dedicated to the game - Android soon as well) collectible card game that is both free, and by Sqaure Enix.

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Release information for The Dark Eye: Chains of Satinav

The Dark Eye: Chains of Satinav is a title I have been following for a while now.  The visual style caught my attention and it will be a Steam release when it comes out.  The new release date is set for June 22, 2012.

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