Things Are a Changin' in the Land of Nintendo

Yesterday saw the "announcement" (I believe it was leaked magazines scans that tipped everyone off) of the expansion "boat" for the 3DS. The boat will add on a second circle pad to the 3DS. While the attachment is damn ugly, it does give off the sense that Nintendo is listening at least a little to feedback. I have no doubt that this makes many developers sigh with relief. Now they don't have to worry about camera constraints and first person shooters will work just as well as they would on the Vita.

My only question is what happens to those who don't buy the expansion. Will some games only be playable with the boat plugged in? Also, as Rich mentioned in his editorial on the second circle pad, will this allow Nintendo to port Gamecube games to the system? Personally, I'm hoping this isn't the reason for the expansion. We're two N64 ports in and I'm already tired of it. How about we get some real games on the system?

There's also been some talk about problems with the Wii U development. While what Rich says in his article is true - there are always going to be problems in hardware development - pushing the Wii U back may give rise to bigger problems. For example, what is Nintendo going to do about the Wii? As it is their last big game is coming out in November. How does Nintendo keep the momentum going until the launch of the Wii U? Will Nintendo fully transition over to the 3DS until the Wii U's launch? Is that even a feasible option?

Nintendo is an interesting position at the moment. They have a dying console - and by that I mean there is only one last big title for the system, then nothing - and a faltering handheld that they're rushing to keep afloat. I have no doubt that eventually the 3DS will find its footing, but how long until then? This expansion boat is probably one way of making sure that happens, I simply question how well it will work. System add-ons are a weird thing that could wind up splitting your audience.

Another point in Rich's article on the Wii U was the possibility of Sony and MS announcing their new consoles. While it might still seem too early by June 2012, it's certainly a possibility. What does Nintendo do then? All of a sudden they're back in the same position they were with the Wii. They're at a graphics disadvantage with a weird control scheme that will only result in poorly made ports from the higher end systems.

Of course this is all speculation, but I think there are some valid points to be discussed here. What do you guys think Nintendo will do to keep the Wii going until the Wii U launches? What happens if Sony or MS (or both) announce new systems before the Wii U is even launched? What about this expansion "boat... thing" for the 3DS?

Comfort Gaming

And now it's time to return you to your regularly scheduled posts. Hope you all had a great three day weekend and Tuesday (I totally forgot to post yesterday, my apologies).

Have you guys ever had a really stressful day and just wanted to bury yourself in a game? Of course you have, who hasn't? Escapism is one of the biggest reasons I play games in general. I love disappearing off the face of the earth and not even bothering to think of my friends, facebook, twitter, etc. Usually when I've had a bad day (such as Tuesday was), I'm able to deal with it fairly well (see my post on how I deal with stress). Occasionally though there are times when something slips by and it actually winds up affecting me. To deal with that, I game.

When such a thing happens, I migrate to the newest game I've bought. Two weeks ago, that game was Deus Ex. I managed to finish that one in three days. So then I turn to StarCraft 2, the game I keep gaming after it's already been gamed (wtf?). StarCraft 2 is a multiplayer game though and some days I don't want to deal with people. The question then becomes: which game to I go to? I turn to one of my favorites.

I tend to choose between one or two games. Silent Hill 3 and Resident Evil 4 are usually those games. I've beaten RE 4 more times than I can remember. I know the game like the back of my hand and it's fun to rip through some zealots and kill some crazy bosses in two hits with a broken rocket launcher. I love that game pieces (and am eagerly awaiting the HD rerelease on PSN).

Silent Hill 3 is one of my favorite games of all time. It was the first of the series I ever played and for that it holds a special place in my heart. It's also a game I know really, really well. I haven't beaten it as many times as RE 4, but it's also a much longer game. Silent Hill also makes me think. The puzzles are challenging in the best way possible. They take my mind off of everything else so I can focus on the task at hand.

Do you guys have a game you immediately go for when feeling stress out?

The Complicated Relationship Between Halo and I

HaloFest was a few weeks ago (or maybe just a week, I'm not sure anymore) and during HaloFest 343 Industries gave out some details on the new Halo games. The "biggest" of which was that Halo 4 was the beginning of a new trilogy of games. Are we honestly surprised though that this was the beginning of three more Halo games? It seemed like a no-brainer considering the series keeps making money. It's also one of the few major exclusive series Microsoft has left.

Oh, and they gave it a name too. It'll be called the "Reclaimer" trilogy. As far as most people can remember, the only tie to the lore this has so far is that Guilty Spark referred to Master Chief as the Reclaimer. Otherwise no one knows what the hell it means. The name of the trilogy doesn't really mean much to be though.

My life with the Halo games is a complicated relationship. It dates all the way back to the original Xbox. I had bought an Xbox to play Halo, Halo 2, and KOTOR. I'd heard a lot about Halo from friend and wanted to check it out. Plus, I really wanted to own all three major systems. As it turned out, Halo was only okay and I sold my Xbox to pay for a new PS2 when the laser died (it was old). KOTOR was amazing though, as you should all know by now.

A few months down the road another friend of mine (who didn't have an Xbox) wanted to try Halo. So he bought the PC version. He thought the campaign was alright, but that the multiplayer was where it was at. This friend and I were big into PC multiplayer games so I picked up a PC copy for cheap. I installed it and never looked back.

Halo 1 had amazing multiplayer. Not only was the pistol the greatest thing of all time, there were so many mods. Low gravity, flying vehicles, teleportation points, and so on. It was a fantastic time. My favorite thing was to go into a flying vehicle server, grab a warthog with my friend, and take to the sky. I'd be the driver ('cause I was the craziest of my time) while my friend would be the gunner. Together we'd rain bullets down on the poor helpless noobs on the ground below. This would continue until one of two things happened: 1. we get shot down by a rocket launcher, or 2. we get cut in half by a flying ghost. Both of which have happened before!

Halo 1 was also a time for great gaming stories. There were so many random moments that happened during my time with the original Halo. My favorite of which was a CTF game we were playing on Blood Gulch (the best Halo map). I had the enemy's flag, but was being chased and our base was being assaulted. To prevent myself from getting killed, I hid in a little pocket in the corner of the map (both sides have this). When I crouched behind this, I couldn't get hit. So my friend and I (who were communicating via phone) were trying to clear a path long enough for me to reach our base and we could score. A problem has arisen though: the enemy had our flag.

It was a long wait and see game with my friend constantly moving from cover to a warthog, killing some people, then getting killed. This went on for a little bit. Finally, a path had been cleared and our flag reclaimed. I was ready to move and my team was ready to score. I don't remember the score or how close we were to timing out, but either way it was time. I stand up, take one step forward... and get shot in the head by a sniper across the map. . . . Thankfully my friend was able to pick up the flag and score so all was well.

After Halo 1 was phased out by most people due to the fact that Halo 2 had come out, my interest in Halo began to decline. I played Halo 2 on Xbox and while its campaign was fun, it was short and I didn't play online. After that I stopped caring about Halo in general. Until recently, I've never owned a 360 so I never bought Halo 3 when it came out and I still haven't. The closest I've come to continuing to play Halo is ODST. ODST actually had a really good story (I thought at least) up until the end where I just forgot about it and stopped playing!

You guys may be reading this wondering why I'm not in love with its multiplayer. Considering all I said above, I can't blame you. The problem basically stems from two things. The first is the lack of mods. The biggest draw of Halo 1 on PC was all the modding. There's none of that in the other Halo games (there may be in the Forge mode, but I think those are for custom games only right?). The second is the lack of LIVE. I refuse to pay for it and I know if I did I would barely use it. I know there are tons of Xbox users here on the blogs that I could play with, but I'm just not that interested in playing Halo multiplayer on a console. I'll definitely play with a few friends who are all int he same place (loser passes the controller style). That's also great for some laughs.

While I'm a fan of the split-screen experience Halo gives me and my friends, my interest stops there. The announcement of Halo 4 only garnered a sigh from me. It was the most predictable announcement from MS's E3 conference, along with that of the Halo 1 remake. Which, by the way, still seems utterly pointless. It's only been ten years guys. It's not as if you can't find the game any more in used bins or on the internet for cheap. Another ten years and I could see it. My video game cyniscm is staring to creep in so I think I'll bring this post to a close.

I hope you all enjoyed reading this one. I don't know if all my posts will somehow wind up being as long as this one (it wasn't planned to be, let me tell ya). I would like to read your thought on Halo as a series, and any great multiplayer stories you'd like to share (or even videos if you have any).

Dealing with Stress

Everyone deals with stress in different ways. This is a rather obvious fact, right? Right. I thought that today I would share my way of dealing with stress. This doesn't stem from being particularly stressed today or anything like that. In fact was watching Day[9] do his daily about fifteen minutes ago and he was talking about how he dealt with stress. I figured it would make for a good topic for tonight's post.

So when I get stressed, it usually causes a type of meltdown in my brain. I don't mean like tearing my room apart or breaking things (though God knows I've wanted to). I simply mean I withdraw into my brain and become very quiet and depressed. It's a weird shell I used to get my mind trapped in, and still do on occasion. Despite that, I've learned that stress is pointless. At least mine is. Nine out of ten times I'm freaking out over nothing. I was a social hypochondriac. I'd say something to someone, think about that thing afterwards, and then wonder if it was taken the right way or not. This used to happen to me all the time. I swear there's probably a hole burned in my stomach somewhere that I haven't found out about yet from all the times I've worried over the most pointless of conversations.

Nowadays, I've learned a few ways to deal with that type of stress. One way I've learned is to just stop caring in general. I realized that if something I said was misconstrued and the person I said it to was offended, I'd learn about it eventually and deal with it then. Until that moment in time, I wouldn't care at all if I happened to accidentally offend that person. I could even interact with this person again and not even think about what I may/may not have said to that person.  This may sound crass and make me out to be a jerk, but the truth is I was overreacting almost every time. As for the times I wasn't, it was dealt with rather easily and the person realized it was a misunderstanding and we moved on.

This is just one example obviously. There are many things in life that deserved to be stressed over, such as "legitimate" drama with friends (I use quotes because most drama with friends is never legitimate). Again, I stop caring. Such little things usually happen with people I'm not too close to, so I don't fret over it too much. If it was someone close to me, that I actually wanted as my friend, I would definitely do my best to fix it. Trust me.

This approach of "not caring" works for many emotions, not only "worry". I've adapted this strategy to fit most negative emotions. Fear, worry, sadness, boredom, and for the most part: anger (although sometimes I find myself seething and need to nip that in the ass as quickly as possible). I have for the most part - taught myself to close my mind off from feeling this way. It doesn't work all the time unfortunately as I do wind up feeling these things sometimes. These types of emotions are a natural part of life though so I suppose I'll never be able to fully cut them off. Either way this form of coping has worked out rather well for me overall.

Such a feeling of not caring has also helped me along with other parts of my life. Instead of fearing the people's reaction to something I want to do, or worrying about whether I'll do it correctly etc etc, I just go for it. I put my foot forward and go full steam ahead. It doesn't always work out in the end, but what in life does? At least I won't be wondering "well what if I had?".

The reason I taught myself to cope like this was because I was becoming emotionally exhausted. I was tired of being stress over things. I would wake up certain days and just not want to do anything, ever. You ever get that feeling in your brain like something like broken inside? Not like you're going crazy or anything like that. It's just a little warning bell telling you that you need a break. Fast.

And here ends my story. What about you guys? How do you cope with stress? Whether it be something you should be stressed over or something completely insignificant in the great scheme of things. Do you shut yourself off like I do? Share your stories, I'm curious. I hope you've enjoy my rather long tale.

P.S. I wanted most of these posts to be gaming-related, but there was nothing worth talking about today. Maybe tomorrow?

I'm Excited for the Release of a Game in a Series I've Never Played

I've made a small goal for myself. That goal is to blog about something every day for at least a month. There's always stuff I want to say about something so putting it down in a post should be no tough feat. Right? Well here we go.

Yesterday saw the announcement of Persona 4 Golden Edition for the PS Vita and a Persona Fighter for PS3/360. I'm a big fighting game fan so the Persona Fighter intrigues me. It's being developed by Arc System Works, the guys who made the Blaz Blue games (fighters I enjoy but am terrible at). This rerelease will include tons of new content and features such as new voice work, a new intro and theme song, and utilization of the Vita communication abilities.

Persona is a series I've always been curious about. The gameplay sounds interesting and I'm a sucker for anime cutscenes in a game. I also enjoy the visual style of the characters and That said, I've never tried any of the Persona games. It's always been in the back of mind to buy one and finally try it out, but I tend to forget these kind of things.

I have learned though that all the previous Persona games are already on the PSN, and Innocent Sin (the rerelease of P2) will be coming out in September. So now when I buy my Vita (and oh, I will) I will already have some games to play on it besides whatever I decide to buy on launch. From what I've heard, these Persona games aren't exactly short. It'll be nice to have a large series to sink my teeth into, considering I managed to finish Deus Ex: Human Revolution within three days.
So what do you guys think? Are you excited for the rerelease of Persona 4? What are your thoughts on the series in general?

Tales from Comic-Con 2011: Silent Hill Downpour Impressions

Alright. Ladies and gentlemen, this is my final Comic-Con 2011 post. After this, I have nothing to post about... Okay that isn't true, but I won't have anything more to post on Comic-Con. With that said, let's dive right now.

There are few disclaimers I need to make before I begin though. The first was that the game was in 3D, so the graphics looked slightly stretched and pixelated. The second is that this is the same demo Konami had brought to E3 which I'd watched a few times over. Therefore, I knew (for the most part) all the puzzles and where to go, so I can't speak to the riddle difficulty.

What I can talk about is the combat, controls, and overall atmoshpere of the game. The demo starts with Murphy (the main character) just outside of Silent Hill. I'm assuming this is near the very beginning of the game because Murphy's goal is find different clothes to change into. For those who don't know you play as Murphy Pendleton, a prisoner on transport to death row. Like the Fugitive, your transport crashes and you escape. Unlike the Fugitive, Tommy Lee Jones is not chasing you, and you've landed your ass in Silent Hill.

Vatra Games (the development studio) has certainly nailed the look of the town. Everything looks like Silent Hill and for someone who hasn't played a Silent Hill game since '09s Shattered Memories, it felt so good to be back. The controls are much more consistent with the older Silent Hill games. Instead of being able to strafe and run all the time, you have to turn Murphy and then push forward on the analog stick in order to make him go forward. You also have to hold a separate button to run. These are all welcome changes from the last two games as it increases the difficulty and certain adds to the fear when you're being chased by something.

One thing I particularly liked about Downpour was the real time transformation from regular Silent Hill to the nightmare world. This was in Homecoming but it only happened once in the entire game (before you fought the first boss in the greenhouse). I'm hoping in Downpour it will be a more regular occurrence.

The combat in Silent Hill Downpour is a combination of the combat in Silent Hill: Origins and Shattered Memories. There are chase sequences like the ones from Shattered Memories, but there are also regular combat situations. The chase sequence also took place while Murphy has no weapons, so I'm wondering if there will be times when Murphy is unarmed or he's being chased by something too big to fight (or intangible, as the first thing chasing you was a red light.... sound familiar?).

The combat controls play out similar to the older games. You swing and hope you hit. From what I could tell, there wasn't a light swing or a heavy swing. Another thing I noticed was that the monsters I was facing were damn hard to kill. I don't know if at that point in the game I wasn't actually supposed to kill them, but I'll be damned if I could find a way out of the area I was in. After a long ten minute battle that mostly involved me running and healing, I finally died. It's worth noting that these particular enemies has a screeching ability that stunned Murphy whenever it hit. Very frustrating, but the difficulty is welcome as the last two Silent Hill games were way too easy.

Unfortunately I never found out what was past those enemies. There was a line behind me and it was continue until you die or finish. Even so, we all continued to make fun of Homecoming and how much better this demo was than that entire game. Good times.


Silent Hill Downpour is set to release (currently) on October 25, 2011.

Tales from Comic-Con 2011: Street Fighter X Tekken, Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, and Street Fighter Third Strike Online Impressions

Though the title may be long, the fact of the matter is that I didn't get a lot of hands-on time with UMvC3 and 3SO. I spent most of my Comic-Con game time playing Street Fighter X Tekken. Therefore, the impressions of the last two games will be short, and not worth their own post.

Third Strike Online is... Third Strike plus an online mode. It's literally a perfect arcade port with online functionality and replays. There are additional challenges as well that earn you points that I believe you can spend on "things". Not too sure what they mean. They could just be for bragging rights or maybe to unlock costumes/stages. The game itself is a bit of a bore. Everyone uses the same four characters because they're considered top tier. That gives little variety to the game. The art style is bland looking and the graphics options only help it a little. I'm going to pass on this one, but for those interested the game is supposed to launch at the end of August.

Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 only had four of the twelve new characters. At the time those four were the only ones revealed, but the other twelve leaked later on. The four available were Ghost Rider, Strider, Firebrand, and Hawkeye. I only got the play the game twice - the line was huge - and the only new character I got to try in that time was Ghost Rider. I believe he has the farthest reach in the game now (over Super Skrull), but this chain counts as a hitbox, meaning if someone strikes the chain Ghost Rider will take damage (kind of like Dahlsim from Street Fighter). There are a ton of balance changes coming with it as well. From what I've heard, Phoenix is now the most useless character ever. She has even less health and does less damage. Plus, lvl 3 x-factor doesn't last as long. Ultimate MvC3 will be available in November.

The game I got the most hands on time with was Street Fighter X Tekken. At first I didn't like the game all that much. I think this was because I wasn't used to playing on a fight stick. I eventually got the hang of it though and the game because rather enjoyable. The game is super dependent on not over extending yourself. If you combo too fast and your opponent blocks it, you've opened yourself to a juggle between both your opponents characters. It's a frustrating balance that's tough to learn quickly. SFxT is definitely a game that requires precision timing in order to "work properly" for the player.

So that's all I can think of to say about these games. If you guys have any questions for me, please feel free to ask them in the comments and I'll do my best to answer them!