Most of you probably know what I’m talking about.  Every year a slew of big BIG titles release each week as we near the madness of the holiday shopping season.  A lot of the gaming companies plan their entire year around the release they throw on the shelf between now and mid-December, and it’s hard to blame them.  This is the biggest shopping time of the year, and it’s also very near the end of their fiscal year.  Plus, it’s just in time to get the most possible attention for one of the 500 coveted “Game of the Year” titles… so they can repackage and re-release the game later next summer.

So, with all that in mind, let’s look at the list of future smash hits sure to tempt you this winter.

We’ll start with Batman, since it came out yesterday.  Yes, Forza was a week ago but let’s be honest:  we’re only interested in the mega-hits.  So Batman it is.   The original was one of the Games of the Year and still costs more now, used, than most games that came out in March this year.  Everyone expects the sequel to be bigger, better, and more Batman-y.  I expect it to be mostly the same game but now with Catwoman providing unwanted sass and absurd amounts of cleavage.  I’m sure the game will be greatish, especially if you like comics, bats, punching people, or Catwoman… and for everyone else it’ll be a good waste of 18-22 hours, cause these games short.  In the end, I think it’s just going to be an action-packed game with a story that makes me cringe.

Batman is my nominee for “Most Like God of War 2″ Game of the Year.

October 25th will bring us Battlefield 3.  This game is going to be Call of Duty, but now with tanks, larger maps, and something nerds like to call “realism.”   The real question is can it BEAT Call of Duty?  Modern Warfare 3 is slated for November 8th, and it hosts a long track record of max holiday sales since, well, forever.  My guess is a split vote.  Console gamers will blitz the trigger happy Call of Duty and PC Games will fall in line for Battlefield 3.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is my nominee for “Would You Like to Pre-Order Next Year’s Call of Duty Now?” Game of the Year.

Battlefield 3 will get the “I Spent 1200 Bucks To Upgrade My Computer For This?” Award.

In between those two games is a little gem I like to call Uncharted 3.  Wait a moment, I just got that shiver of excitement.  Okay, it passed.  The first game was really good.  The second was even better.  Any concerns about the third were washed away when I saw the gameplay demo of Drake escaping a sinking ship.  I have nothing bad to say about this game.  Nothing.

So, for that reason, Uncharted 3 wins my “Why Isn’t This A Bad Movie Yet” Game of the Year Award.

So that drops us into the middle of November.  Only a couple of big hits left, and one of them is on a date we’ve had drilled into our head since last year.  11-11-11.  Of course I’m referring to Skyrim.  The newest Elder Scrolls game, this one is based on Norse mythology and topography, adds a ton of new gameplay features, tweaks the style to be a little more engaging, and gives us massive dragons with involved AI.  My biggest complaint with the Elder Scrolls games has always been how long and arduous they are.  Tedious is also a good word.  Everything I’ve read about Skyrim promises that Bethesda has gone out of their way to change this.  Faster, more eventful, and aimed to really draw the player in and keep them moving.  If that’s all true I am gonna spend a LOT of time on this game.

…after it’s repackaged with all the expansions in two years.

Yep, Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim wins my “I’ll Buy the Game of the Year Version” Game of the Year.  Again.

That covers MOST of the big games this holiday season, but there’s a few candidates left I feel obligated to mention.  So here’s a quick list for you:

• Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword (11-20) – “No One Plays Wii” GotY
• Assassin’s Creed Revelations (11-15) – “Can These Games Get Any Shorter” GotY
• WWE ’12 (11-22) – “Still Enjoying 11, Thanks” GotY

Whatever the newest Need for Speed is called, Saint’s Row 3, and the remakes of the first Halo  also come out on November 15th but I’m not even going to waste a nomination on them.  Even they know they’re not good enough.

...okay... I guess ONE person still plays Wii

Here’s the odd thing:  where did December go?  There is only ONE game worth noting that comes out in December.  It’s like everyone surrendered the month to JC Penny and TJ Maxx.  Really disappointing?  I noticed a lot more games got pushed back to late February and early March.  That is the fiscal end of the year, but those months don’t hold the same shopping power of November and December.

Now, honestly, I’m not worried about games like Mass Effect 3, Final Fantasy Roman Numerals-2, and Ghost Recon making money.  They’ll probably be fine.  What intrigues me about the scheduling is that it suggests some games are either really far behind schedule, or a few games have decided they’re not going to fight over the holiday blitz.  Interesting question but one I honestly can’t answer now.

So, there you go:  a whole slew of games for you to pick from this winter.  My favorite right now is Uncharted 3.  What about you guys?

And of course, here is the second episode (which JUST released this morning! … breaking news!)

Looks like this series is off to a fantastic start!  Now, if only there were some way to get MORE Felicia Day involved in my Dragon Age adventures.  Like, maybe a DLC or something?  Wait, no, that’s actually perfect!  Why not just take her Tallis character from this webseries and put her in the game – with like, a cool new adventure?  And of course you need Felicia to do the voice.  Yeah, that sounds like an awesome DLC!

Whoa, no way?  Bioware already did it?  They released it last week to coincide with the new webseries?   A new DLC called Mark of the Assassin?

…man… they are crafty!

Well played, Bioware…. well played.

Planning to play Star Wars: The Old Republic?  Wanna game with other fans of the comic?  Good news!  I decided to take advantage of the Guild Creation tool on the official Bioware site for the game, and created a BlueStar Blues based guild.  Order of the BlueStar will be a Republic (Light Side), casual / socail guild on a PvE (normal) server.  I will be making a Jedi Knight (I think) and a few of my friends are going to join us, and I’d like to offer anyone planning to play the game a guild to call home.

Back when Final Fantasy XI came out I was a part of the Real Life Comics Linkshell and it was a lot of fun.  I’d like to offer that same opportunity and community to you guys, and I can’t think of a better game to play then Star Wars.  (Yes, a huge part of that is because I’ve been going crazy over this game since it was first announced like four years ago.)  I realize not everyone is going to play, but if you are playing and you want to join us (even just an alt you play once in a blue moon) you are more than welcome.  I think this will be a lot of fun.

When I get more information about the server name or anything info wise I’ll be sure to pass it along.  But, for now, if you’ve got an account on the SWTOR site all you need to do is go to the guild’s page and apply to join.  Pretty much that easy.

May the Force be with you.

Today, I will remedy that!  Because that is injustice.  Or just justice.  Or just ice.

BAM! Dino Andrade!   (dramatic pause of fireworks and horn section)   Voice actor!  Grand Poobah of Soul Geek!  Generally Awesome Dude!  Not a F1 Indy car driver.  But I bet he could be.  Maybe.   But if not, he could voice that race car in Pixar’s Cars 3.  For sure on that.  DINO ANDRADE!!

Now those of you who have been here a while will probably remember Dino from his most excellent interview on an earlier Chug-A-Freeze episode!  I have provided said podcast for you here, so that you might once more enjoy the Dino in all it’s glory.  Warning:  it’s a lot of glory and you probably shouldn’t swim for at least 20 minutes after enjoyment.  Just to be safe.

To slightly, somewhat wrap-up all that discussion:  Dino is a successful voice actor who has done voicework in a ton of video games, commercials, anime and such.   Some of his work includes voicing characters (mostly gnomes) in World of Warcraft, the Scarecrow in Batman: Arkham Asylum, Skull in PvP: The Series, various voices in Ghost in the Shell and Wolf’s Rain, as well as the voice of Pop from Rice Krispies cereal commercials.

On top of that, Dino went and made an amazing site called Soul Geek (see link on the right) to allow geeks and nerds of all walks of life to meet, greet, makes friends and hopefully find their own “soul geek.”  I’ve been praising Soul Geek since I first heard of it, because I think that the idea itself is great – but beyond that the people who work on it are amazing.  The best part is that Soul Geek isn’t just working, but it’s growing and getting noticed!  They got a mention on G4′s Attack of the Show as well as a ton of reviews on many geek blogs and magazines.  It’s the real deal folks, and I love to see it happen!

Okay, so, that gives you a great idea on who is the Dino and what the Dino is all about, but I hear a couple of you skeptics asking “But Joshua, why should I give up one of my rare and coveted follows to this Mr. Dino?”  A good question, and of course one that I am ready to answer!

BECAUSE I SAID SO!!

…did that work?  No? Never does.  Okay, let’s try this instead.  When you follow Dino you get some high-quality geeky tweets, also known as tweeks.  You will hear behind the scenes stories about Dino’s auditions and voice work projects.  You’ll get info about what’s going on at Soul Geek like their local Ladies Nights.  You’ll get links to hilarious videos of Dino being “interviewed” by a puppet at Comic Con this year.   Wait?  What?  Really?  Hmm… you know what, I’ll go ahead and share that one cause it’s to unique and goofy to just tease.  Dino get’s interviewed by a member of Fliptoppers.

… you know, I feel like I just wrote a whole lot of blog for no reason.  People, if you watched that video of Dino singing with a puppet and you DON’T think the man is follow-worthy I challenge you to question whether you even have a soul.

But, since you do have a soul, hit a follow on @dinoandrade and then head over to Soul Geek. (see what I did there?)

Anyway, let’s start where everything ended last: the big press conferences.  The only conference left was Nintendo.  It’s the 25th Anniversary of Zelda, so they started off with that.  There’s a new Wii game coming out – but I’m almost willing to guarantee it won’t make it out this year.  Still, if you wanted a re-release of any other old Zelda games it’ll be a good year for you.

The other big part of Nintendo was the new system.  It’s a HD system with a controller that has a large monitor slash touchpad built into the controller.  You can play your games on a big screen or on the controller.  It is NOT a tablet.  All the stuff that you can do in the controller’s monitor is powered by the system.  You can’t pick up the controller, fly to Europe and then play your game on the controller screen.  Not possible.  It’s a monitor.  Just to clarify, because it’s really REALLY apparent people at the press conference (aka G4) didn’t get that.

I don’t know much about the WiiWuu, but here’s what I think.  It’s another casual system with the power to be a hardcore system.  It’s gimmicky just like everything else Nintendo has made.  I will not buy one, just as I did not buy a Wii.  If you love Nintendo first party games (Mario, Kirby, Donkey Kong, Zelda, etc) then you have to buy it.  I don’t know when it comes out, how much it’ll cost, or very many specs.  I just know I don’t want it.

That’s a running theme at E3 this year.  I don’t want it.

I’ll be honest:  I went in only wanting a few games.  That is normal.  Typically I find five to ten more games at E3 that I get interested in and eventually want by the end of the year.  This year, I actually LOST interest in games.  The whole week was like a sponge that had a little water in it.  I wanted it to soak up more water and fill up and get fat like it normally does.  Instead, gaming took my sponge and wrung it out dry.   At the end of this week I feel hollow.

I have lost a hobby.

So, lets start with what I was interested in.

Star Wars: The Old Republic.  It looks great, it sounds great, and it always does.  It’s never going to come out.  Ever.  Every year they have a trailer and a new area to demo.  Every year I hope more and more for a release date and they vehemently refuse to tell me as little as what year it’ll release.  Or expect to release.  My only reasonable option is to think it’ll never release.  So I’ve given in to my fear and the darkside and I’ve decided that this game will never release.

Mass Effect 3.  I didn’t get a 360 until ME2 was already out, so I played the two back to back.  Waiting for three has been tough (not as tough as SWTOR) but I managed because I believed in my core that it would be great.  Then the demo showed Shepard behind a gatling gun on a rail style mini-game.  Then I heard a producer say something that made me think all the amazing decisions you made in the first two games will amount to little more then a few cut scenes at the start of the game.  Suddenly, all my faith in this game is gone.  It just doesn’t matter now.  Sure, I’m going to play it… but, honestly?  What’s the point.  I guess just to finish off the story.  I don’t know now.

Uncharted 3 and Batman are the only games that I went in excited about and then left feeling good about still.  Yay.

The newest Elder Scrolls game Skyrim looks amazing, but to be honest I always buy that series and play it for a day and think “Whoa… to much, to big, to intense, to slow, to lost.  Whew.”  And let out a long sigh and put the game down forever.  I’m sure this one will be the same.

The surprise game is Space Marine.  Based on the Warhammer 40k world, it’s a mix of shooter and melee combat that looks intense and feels powerful and for whatever reason got my blood boiling.  I watched a play demo, looked at Rob and said “Hell yeah.”  We’ll see if that sticks when I get around to reading some early reviews.

Final Fantasy 13-2, Tomb Raider, and Gears of War 3 are all interesting looking but I don’t care one way or the other.  Dead Island had an amazing trailer but the game itself looks awful.  Saint’s Row is not my game so I’ll just say “meh.”

Sorry if this is a bit of a downer, but I really didn’t find much to appreciate this year.  In fact, I’m pretty certain this will be the last year I even take time from work to watch E3.  From now on I’ll just watch online so I can skip all the junk I can’t stand.  No Kinect, no WiiWuu, no Vista.  So, basically, a week of video games news will become a half hour trailer.  Yay!

Final score for E3?  D minus.  Woot.

That might sound harsh, but I’m just relating to you what I saw today after watching all that trite filibustering.  Video games (as we currently know them) are dead.  Well, more accurately, they’re on a life support system because no one (else) is willing to admit they’re dead.

Now, before I get to far ahead of myself – let’s recap the day for you.

XBox 360:  The highlight of the show was a little kid saying “fiiiiiiiist buuuuump” after demoing a Kinect game.  In fact, the entire show was about Kinect.  Guess what?  Every single game you think you’d want to play is now designed for Kinect.  There’s now Kinect Recon, Forza Kinect 4, Mass Kinect 3, and every EA sports game in Kinect 12 version.  There will also be some new games, Disneyland Kinect, Minecraft Kinect, and Rome of War Kinect.  Oh!  And Kinect is glad to destroy solid, beloved franchises too!  Namely Star Wars Kinect and Fable Kinect.  Trust me, they both look indescribably horrid.  The best part is that every single Kinect game is essentially Sonic the Hedgehog or Super Monkey Ball except YOU run around the room flailing your arms and crying like a four year old with a dirty diaper on a sugar rush.  It’s not really gaming.  It’s acting stupid while trying to collect coins or mouse ears or not crash your car – all while the game takes pictures of you in all your stupid looking glory and then automatically loads them to Facebook for you, where your friend’s Sims can mock you.

Oh, that brings us to the EA press conference.

Their big announcements were the Sims on Facebook (complete with a disturbing trailer) and a very long demo of Call of Duty: Tank Field 3.  Of course they also had a thirty minute showing of FIFA and their very new “foobowl club” system.  Yes, the guy said it like that.  “Foobowl Club” about fifteen times.  I guess since the NFL is on lockout and probably won’t play this year they had to settle for soccer.  They also took a little time to completely destroy their Need for Speed franchise – but don’t worry, there’s about sixty other, better racing games out there.

And, no, Driver isn’t one of those.  In fact, Driver is one of the worst driving games of all – which is no surprise since it comes from Ubisoft where they solidly believe in killing every good game they ever make with one hundred and twenty sequels within a three year time span.  Their newest dead series is Assassin’s Creed.  Any time you have to add a gatling-gun flamethrower to your stealth game you should know you’re headed in the wrong direction.

Speaking of the wrong direction: good job Sony!!  What in the world will it take to make you guys realize your handheld system isn’t going to sell?  It’s not enough that the PSP fails, and the PSP Go fails, but now you need to waste time and effort on a third installment that is just barely an upgrade?  Ooooh, it has a creepy touchpad and two thumbsticks.  Neato!  Talk about stubborn.  Well, at least you didn’t do something stupid like give exclusive 3G internet rights to AT&T.  Oh… wait, you DID do that?  Brilliant.  No, really, I can’t tell you how proud I was of the audience for booing you when you announced that, you morons.

Why am I so certain that the Playstation Vista or whatever will fail?  Because it’s not a phone.  Yes, a PHONE.  Or a Tablet, though I’m not sure that’ll be able to kill a phone either.  Bottom line:  people already spend hundreds a month on a handheld computer they can’t live without.  A computer that has a phone, texting, the internet, and dozens and dozens of addictive games that only cost like a buck each.  Why does anyone need your stupid ModRacers port when they can play Angry Birds all day?  Answer:  they don’t.  Your PSV is going to fail just like it’s older brothers did.  Face it, Sony, you blew it.

(PS- the reason the DS works is two fold:  unique games only on DS for a reasonable price and because typical DS players are kids.  Sony is trying to capture teens and adults who are already attached to their phones.  Fail.)

So, in summary, after day one we found out that Microsoft just wants you to bounce around your room and not actually play any games.  Sony has no clue where video games are headed and thus have no intention to make any video games  – but they are happy to repackage old games in HD and 3D for you who like to burn money.  Ubisoft is strangling their games into a slow, steady death and EA has decided that their best games (basically anything made by Bioware) should never be released to see the sunlight.

Well, that’s not fair.  It is true that yet another E3 has gone by without any news on my beloved Star Wars: The Old Republic, but I’m no longer surprised as I’ve now retired this game into the category of games like Beyond Good And Evil 2 and The Last Guardian.  You know, games that will never actually exist.  Ever.  Because their creators know those games are too good for our feeble souls to appreciate.

Still, there are lots of games that will be coming out soon enough.  Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, Call of Duty: Tank Field 3, Call of Duty: Space Effect 3, Call of Duty: Future Wasteland 3, Call of Duty: Gears of Warfare 3, Call of Duty: Ghost Squad, Call of Duty: EVE Online Shooter, and the most anticipated Call of Duty: Master Chief.

Oh, and also a Catwoman game.

So, there you have it.  The end of video games.  Unless you like Kinect or Call of Duty or the third game of a series.  Then it’s a great year or two for you.  Meh.  Maybe there will be good news tomorrow with Nintendo?  I’m not really holding out hope.  Just saying.

One of the best parts of the game was telling our own story- and back then I mean we literally told our own story.  There was no story mode, no “Road to Wrestlemania,” and no career system.  There wasn’t even a system for who was ‘heel’ or ‘face’ (aka bad and good in that order).  There was a really poor create-a-wrestler feature where you put Chris Jericho’s head on Kane’s body and gave him Triple H’s moves.  Then you took that abomination and threw him into the ring, and if you won you went up the rankings, and if you lost you went down.  Win enough times against the right people and you might get a belt shot.

It was the most basic, simplistic, underdeveloped system EVER… but it was good enough.

We didn’t need the game to give us stories, we made them up on the fly.  Blaine’s character kept getting put in matches against Chyna, so obviously he had a feud with her.   I lost the belt to Rob in a match, and the next thing you know we’re hated rivals.  During a tag match, Blaine hits me with a chair by accident and then gets pinned when he meant to tag out becomes “betrayal and the end of a stable.”  Those were our stories, and we lived by them!

Later, when the game series moved to PS2, the series began to add story and career modes.  They took away rankings, and instead made a system where you played a set storyline and won a belt.  No multiple players, no rankings.  It was all really cut and paste and it SUCKED!

True: my character could look ten times cooler then ever with facepaint and jackets and cool logos on the tights.  But in the end, Rob had to play Rob’s story and Blaine played Blaine’s and there was no chance for us to really create our own stories or play out or stories together.  Evolution had killed the wrestling genre (for us) forever.

Until 2011.  You see, WWE Smackdown vs Raw 2011 has made the wrestling game awesome again.  Did I say awesome?  Yes I did.

He's The Miz... and he's AWESOME.

To really understand how awesome this game is, all you really need to know is the WWE Universe mode.  That’s where EVERYTHING is.  It’s true that there’s an online mode, and another batch of “Road to Wrestlemania” stories, and even a very VERY robust create mode.  But none of that is what makes 2011 so great.

It’s ALL about the Universe mode.

Since the rosters were already wrong, the first thing Rob and I did was a draft. The game allows us to move any and all the playable roster from one show to the other as often as we like.  The game then adjusts the rankings, and the matches, depending on who is on which show.  Then we downloaded a bunch of people we wanted – Sting, Kurt Angle, Diamond Dallas Page, Albert Del Rio, Booker T, etc.  Again, because of the awesome create mode it was very easy to find just about anyone we wanted.  We actually found more people then we planned for, but that’s alright cause it’s worth having a big roster!

From there we made our own characters and threw them in.  Once all our outfits, and entrances, and theme songs, and titantron videos were done – and trust me that all takes a lot of time to perfect – we threw our characters on our respective shows and started off.

Universe mode is pretty simple.  The game has a calendar, and then it makes events based on your roster and rankings and the show.  So, Monday you get 4 matches for RAW and Friday you get 4 for Smackdown.  At the end of the month you get a Pay Per View.  It’s pretty cool, but not perfect.  For example:  over the course of a year we never had a single title match for Melina’s Diva belt.  While you have the option to change any match you don’t like, there is one small hang-up.  You can’t change any title matches or the belt won’t be on the line.  We found a workaround for that later, but it still become annoying that you’re not allowed to adjust those key matches.  Another thing is that the Pay Per View’s don’t really follow their gimmicks correctly.  You don’t always get a Hell in a Cell match at Hell in a Cell or a TLC match at TLC.  That did/does irk me a little, but it’s a small complaint about a really solid system.

Finishers off the top of ladders? Yes, sir!

When Rob and I started, we only got a couple of matches a month and always on Superstars (the show for no-names) and it took a while and a lot of wins to finally start getting some real matches on real shows.  That might seem dull, but it’s not cause you can skip straight to your matches if you want, and it’s much more realistic to work your way up to the real shows, then the main events, and the title shots and the Pay-Per-Views- not to mention you’ll need those early matches to learn the game mechanics.  All the while, the game creates feuds and rivals for you.  Once I finally earned my way to Smackdown my superstar was feuding the Undertaker (and trust me that was not easy!)  At one point, in the middle of a match the lights go out and then flicker and then Taker is in the ring and chokeslams my character and the lights go out and he’s gone.  IN THE MIDDLE OF THE MATCH!!  Absolutely frickin’ awesome!

It’s those kinds of story events that really takes Universe to the next level.  In the course of a year, Rob and I saw some awesome story events.  Taker and Kane team up and then Taker turn on Kane during a tag team title match.  After moving to RAW, Jack Swagger used a sneak attack on John Cena pre-match to win a number one contender’s spot.  The Miz turned face by saving my character from an attack by the Undertaker.  John Cena and R-Truth became tag partners and then turned heel together by attacking another team before their title match.  And those are just some of the events I remember.  There’s a TON of other stuff that happens and really makes the game feel like the actual WWE with all it’s plot twists.

Another thing to note, not every story event involves your characters.  A lot of the events we saw actually had nothing to do with either of our toons.  While you can skip any and all matches on a show’s card, there’s a lot of fun to be had in watching some of the matches and so Rob and I typically would watch the title matches at the pay-per-views.  That is where we saw a lot of these events (but don’t worry because they’ll pop up on their own for your character too).  My only complaint about the story events is that, while there is supposedly over a hundred events, it seems like the same fifteen are used over and over again.  I’d like to see more events added in DLCs and a more randomness to their use.  Seeing someone refuse to shake hands after a match gets old when it’s happened eight times already.

Universe mode creates real show cards with realistic matches based on real rankings and even the feuds and alliances made through the story events.  While the system isn’t perfect it is a VAST advancement over the years before.  It’s easy to get wrapped up in the game and feel really invested in your character while all of this is going on.  But, if you’re like Rob and I, even that isn’t enough.  That’s where the Create-A-Story mode comes in!

Rob and I had formed a tag team early on, and captured those belts long before we’d earned the right to challenge for some of the individual belts.  Once we started winning seperate belts, and gone to seperate shows it became less and less realistic for us to keep holding the Tag Team Titles.  On top of that, Rob wanted to push his character towards a heel turn while I was still involved with being the face portion of a fued with the Undertaker.  So, using the Create-A-Story mode we actually made an entire month of events complete with our own written dialogue and selected matches that told the story of how Rob’s character turned on mine and cost us the belts, and then my character got himself traded to RAW so we could start our own feud.

Now, you might think that writing your own story and then playing it would be dull – but hold on!  One of the BEST parts of the story mode is that you can make multiple paths.  In some of the events you offer a choice “Who does X hit with a chair?” or maybe in a match you planned to win something goes wrong and you lose.  When these things happen, you can create off-shoots for every scenario.  Branching trees that change depending on what happens.  Maybe your intent was for Booker T to beat Edge in a table match and earn the right to face Randy Orton at Backlash, but (oops!) Edge wins instead?  Well, with a branching tree you can fix it!  Maybe now Booker T attacks Edge backstage and injures him.  Since Edge can’t compete at the Pay Per View Stephanie McMahon comes out and says Booker T will be in the match instead.  Ta-da!  Of course, that’s one path.  You could also just let Edge feud Randy instead of Booker T.  Or, what if you make it a triple-threat match now?  Perhaps Randy Orton comes out and attacks Edge and Booker both after the match causing even more trouble.  The options you can make go on and on thanks to the branching story feature.

Create-A-Story is really REALLY cool.  In fact, it’s so cool you can easily burn hours and hours on making storylines without realizing it.  It’s almost as much fun as just playing the game.  The only real problem with that mode is that there’s just not enough options.  There are somewhere around 50 scenes for you to use and create events with, but in all truth you need a few hundred scenes.  There are just not enough options to do everything you want.  Another small problem is that you’re limited how many created wrestlers can be involved.  That means both yours as well as any you downloaded into your roster.  Still, compared to preveious years this mode is just far-and-away a major selling point for SvR 2011.

There are other features in the game as well.  You can still play Road to Wresltemania… if you want… but other then to unlock stuff there’s no reason.  It’s alright but the whole thing is just outdated and silly now.  Why waste time on some short, scripted, and limited story when you could play Universe or make your own storyline?  Road to Wrestlemania is just a waste of time in my opinion.  There’s also an online mode, as well as a survival mode, but none of that stuff really matters.  The key to this game is Universe and creating modes.  And in all truth, this game did an amazing job at both.  Not perfect, but so close you’ll forgive them in a heartbeat.

Oh, and while this was one of the major selling points of the game I completely forgot about it once I got to playing – which is actually a compliment.  There’s a whole new physics engine in the game this year.  What this offers is more realism when wrestlers use weapons, ladders, hit tables or the ropes.  Just because you get dropped on a table you may not go through it.  If a chair hits your knee instead of your head, that’s the part of the character that actually takes damage.  Do you want to set a ladder onto a table and then drop someone off that ladder onto a stack of chairs.  Okay!  Go for it!  Totally possible now… assuming you can get it all set up during a match.  It’s really amazing, but, I always forget about it because – quite simply – it’s so well done now that it feels ‘right.’  Trust me, at first you’ll be in awe, but after a few matches you’ll be used to it because you WON’T be complaining about game glitches costing you matches when the table isn’t even in the ring.  It’s not a bad thing- it’s a good thing!

So, it’s time for the count.  Shoulders are pinned and the ref’s starting the count.  When the final bell hits, how does WWE Smackdown vs Raw 2011 fare?  They win the belt!  In fact, they win four of them!  That’s right, 4 out of 5 title belts!!

So, as we’re now a week out from Wrestlemania I’d like to suggest a quick trip to the store to grab a copy of Smackdown vs Raw 2011 and start your own road to Wrestlemania.  Just, do yourself a favor and take that path in Universe not the actual (stupid) Road to mode.  When you’re getting chokeslammed off a ladder by Undertaker you’ll thank me.

…right after you gain conciousness again.

But this could be the year.

With games like Mass Effect 3, Star Wars: The Old Republic, and Dragon Age 2 all in the queue, Bioware was ready to steal the show (and my heart).  So, when Dragon Age 2 came out it was with a rabid excitement I dove headlong into Bioware’s comforting arms once more.

Dragon Age: Origins created a world and then let you create a legend.  Leading the tattered remains of the once glorious Grey Wardens, you managed to rally a kingdom in disarray to destroy a demonic invasion known as the Blight and save untold millions.  Dragon Age 2 is a cluster of sidequests from that first game that your original hero wasn’t able to get around to while saving the world.

The hero of DA2 – Hawke – ran from the Blight with his or her family to a port town called Kirkwall.  Over the course of the game you progress from an evacuee and indentured servant to the “Champion of Kirkwall.”  While your Origins hero stops an army of demons, you save a port town from a few minor disasters over the course of a decade.  I would, in fact, suggest that when the game ends you create more problems for the whole of the Dragon Age realms then you solved for Kirkwall.  While that leads to more games in the Dragon Age series, it leaves Dragon Age 2 in an uncomfortable “waste of time” zone.

What makes it worse, and yes it’s worse, is that you’re stuck in Kirkwall.  The story locks you in the city all the way through.  Hawke’s rise to Champion of Kirkwall means he or she must actually stay in Kirkwall.  Still, that might no be so bad except for one painfully glaring issue:  ten hours into the game you’ve seen all Kirkwall has to offer.  Every street.  Every tunnel.  Every house, cave, sewer, beach, alley, and warehouse.  You’ve seen it.  ALL of it.  Many times.  Many MANY times.  Too many times.

There are about ten zones in the city and the outskirt of Kirkwall.  When you’re sent on a mission, for example take out a gang of thugs, you’ll go into a small ‘instance’ zone – maybe a cave.  You’ll kill the thugs and leave.  Ten quests later, you’ll be on an unrelated mission to find a blood mage and go into the exact same cave.   Oh, and to go along with it you’ll probably be fighting the same ten enemies (thugs, mages, skeletons, spiders, qunari, darkspawn, shades/wraths, and drakes) on every single quest.  There are, at best, twenty zones and they are used, at least, forty times each.  You will have these maps memorized better then the most twitchy first person shooters by the time  you’re level twelve.  I suggest giving each map a pet name and pretending like it’s a person and having a fake conversation with “Goobers” every time you raid that map.  That is about the only way you don’t lose your mind.  Or, maybe I did lose it and what I just wrote is proof?

Lack of epic-level substance and the mind-numbing re-zoning are the major complaints about Dragon Age 2, but I do have a couple of minor complaints to tack on as well.  Why is there only one healer in a game that requires a healer?  Companions get no new armor during the game, but instead get small upgrade packets.  That really limits the use of gear in the game as well as hurting the general visual appeal.  While I understand the idea behind the conversation icons (gold heart for flirt, fist for angry, swords for violence, etc.) I really think it takes away from the thought process of conversations.  It’s to easy to flirt or be mean or start fights.  By the end of the game I wasn’t even looking at what I was saying anymore.  It’s a good idea that ends up hurting one of the games most appealing features.

Phew!

Okay, so, if you’re still with me you might think “Wow, this game sucks.”  Well, hold on a moment!  Despite the issues I just mentioned Dragon Age 2 is a solid and powerful game that will draw you in and hold you tight as you barrel through the game.  Every day at work, Brian Sparks and myself would talk about the game and very VERY rarely did we talk about what was wrong with the game.  Glaring issues?  Sure, but only if you can see past the pure AWESOME on the screen.

Visually, the game is amazing.  One of my major complaints in Dragon Age: Origins was how bland and unoriginal the game design was.  Dragon Age 2 has no such problem.  You can tell the staff spent a lot of time on design.  The characters look great, the armor and weapons are bounds above Origins designs, and the city of Kirkwall has the genuine feel of a fantasy world port town.  Along with that, the battle animations and the spells are brilliant – and you’ll never get tired of blowing enemies into tiny bloody chunks.

The gameplay itself, in my opinion, is smoother and faster.  It feels like Diablo to some, but while playing my rogue I honestly kept thinking God of War.  Either way, it’s fast and furious and massive.  Your party doesn’t take on one big enemy very often.  Most of the time you’ll be dealing with swarms of mobs, and as you clear a wave you’ll likely have another group pop out of the ground or drop from the rooftops or run around a corner.  There’s something raw and invigorating about tearing through waves of enemies at high speeds that makes you feel epic.  That said, you’ll still encounter a few ‘boss’ fights where you’ll need to take your time and direct your team – but it’s easy to pause the game with the radial menu, issue a few commands, and jump right back into the fray.

As for the story itself, I’m not going to lie and say it was inspired or even gripping.  It was good.  It had some strong points, and there were a few emotionally moving parts of the game.  However, before I’d gotten very far in the game, I already was able to figure out exactly what was going to eventually happen.  Nothing surprised me, and that might be because I’m a critical thinker but I got the feeling it’s just cause I was paying attention as I played the game.  It certainly kept me entertained, but overall I’d just say it was “alright.”  What I found most interesting was the way Varric relates your tale during the game, and if anything I’d have liked to see that played up more.  It’d be nice if some of your major choices caused a short discussion between Varric and the Inquisitor rather then limited to (mostly) chapter recaps.  Still, the style itself had a nice effect that was unique and fun.

So, what kind of score does DA2 get?  That’s the tricky part.  There are some rather large flaws in the game, and even overlooking those flaws I just didn’t feel Dragon Age 2 was as on the same level as previous Bioware games.  I’ve heard reviews that tore the game apart.  I’ve read a couple that suggested it was an early favorite for Game of the Year.  I don’t know that I agree with either.  While I can’t just overlook the problems I also can’t deny that I was really into the game and it was rare that I didn’t play for several hours at a time and enjoy that time.  That said, it might be the first Bioware game I really have no desire to play through a second time.

Final verdict?  3.5 Dragons.

If you like the RPG genre or need a good action game with a decent story then you really should give Dragon Age 2 a chance, flaws and all.  I think in the end you’ll enjoy it, but you probably won’t fall in love.

Still, those are just two concerns on a large table of questions.  When is it coming out, what are the playable races, will there be any reason to play in a party or is it all solo play, is there PVP, why are there so few classes, and on and on and on…

Last year we got a taste of the awesome ideas Bioware had cooking for Star Wars: The Old Republic.  We got a wicked trailer, we found out that every line would have voice acting and that the scope of the project was roughly equal to ten full games worth of story content.  That’s pretty intense.

Over the year we learned about the playable classes (Jedi Knight and Consular, Smuggler and Mercenary, Trooper and Imperial Agent, and Sith Warrior and Inquisitor) and that each class will have multiple companions available depending on the choices you make in the story path.  Plus there are a TON of planets to play on too.  All very, very cool.

Yet, with the game nearing it’s intended release date of Spring 2011, a lot of fans were hoping for a force-load of information and some serious gameplay footage.  Instead we found out that there will be PVP zones and everyone gets a ship that will serve as a house type unit.  A few 3-4 minute videos of gameplay surfaced, and an interview or two with developers happened, but that was about it really.

Oh, and a trailer.  A very sweet, but not really informative trailer.

I say this with a lot of love:  Bioware let me down.  I really wanted more information and unlike a year ago when a trailer was enough to send me into throngs of joy this year it left a sour taste in my mouth.

…well, to be fair I still freaked out for like 2 days straight on the trailer alone.  It was after I’d had a chance to process the lack of information that the sourness formed.

HOWEVER- there is still hope.  News has begun to surface that has got me a bit more excited.  A few magazines and blogs have begun sneaking out tidbits of info from their limited hands-on with the game.  Along with that there’s been some cool additions to the official site regarding things like playable races.  So, what have we learned?

Everything I’ve seen and read has suggested that if you like World of Warcraft there’s a very good chance you’ll like Star Wars.  If you thought WoW needed some work, you’ll still probably  like Star Wars.

While there are only a few basic classes, there’s a prestige class system intended to add depth to each class.  For example a Sith Warrior can become a DPS specialist or a tank depending on how you build.  This is done through talent builds or talent trees or whatever they call them in Star Wars lingo.  But, don’t worry about typecasting for a party role too much and losing solo play!  Bioware has made it a point to make every class a viable solo option through class abilities and the use of companions to help cover your weakness.  If you want to make a healer, you can still solo with the help of a few sidekicks willing to take and deal damage for you.  Cool idea huh??

Actual gameplay is real similar to WoW from what I’ve read.  For example: every class has their standard action bar, but Smugglers have the ability to take cover.  When they do a second unique action bar replaces the first.  Think of it like a rogue going in stealth.  Actions have cooldowns, different classes have unique action bars, etc etc.  I’m sure there are a lot of tweaks but I get the feeling Bioware is planning to keep the feel of the established success behind World of Warcraft.

Don’t worry though: it’s not all a new paint job on an old game.  The key difference is Bioware offers a huge story with choices that change your path as you go.  Friends become enemies, quests are gained or lost by choices, they’re promising romance and betrayals, and of course you can count on a ton of plot twists.  Another nice difference is they’re trying to avoid the ‘go get 7 of these’ quests.  I don’t know yet how successful that endeavor will be, but I’m glad they’re going to try.

Rumor has it that the first closed beta for the game will be happening in July.   That’s a good sign.  With some luck more news will trickle along the airwaves, and as I hear significant information I’ll gladly share it with you guys!   There are still a lot of questions.  A -LOT- of questions.  But, right now I’m keeping a high amount of faith in Bioware’s track record and the fact that what I have heard and seen so far has been great.

Here’s hoping.

So, with all that media I imagine most of you have seen, read, or heard about everything E3 by now.  Still, I’d be remiss if I didn’t add my own spin to the event – especially since I took all these awesome notes while I watched the coverage live.  So, let’s get right down to the BlueReview of E3:

First thing you need to know is that I don’t like, enjoy, want, or anticipate either 3-D or motion control.  I hope desperately that they’re both fads and they go away quickly.  Wearing glasses and dancing around like a buffoon takes me OUT of gaming.  Call me old-fashioned but I just want a controller and a chair and the chance to kick off my shoes, recline a bit and enjoy a good story or an explosive throwdown.  That said, I’m not going to talk about the Move, Project Natal, Kinect, 3DS, or any of that junk.  Yes, I realize I’m in the minority on that, but that means there’s plenty of other places to read all about how you can dance infront of your TV and go “boop boop” with a toy gun.  Just not here.

Now that I’ve got that off my chest, let’s talk about some of the cool stuff at E3.  If you’re a Nintendo fanboy (like Rob) then you might think you died and went to heaven.  New Zelda.  New Donkey Kong Country.  New Kirby.  Remake of GoldenEye.  New Metroid.  New Mario Sports.   And, yes, a new Kid Icarus too.   On top of that, there’s a new Epic Mickey game which looks like a classic Nintendo ‘simple style/deep gameplay’ action-platform game with a big name character.  In a nutshell, Nintendo made every one of their fans remember those fond days of acne and cooties and playing video games all summer break long while hoping Lisa Nelson would finally look at you without making ‘that face‘ when you told her how her hair reminds you of Princess Peach.  Aww yeah, the good old days.

So if Nintendo won the show, who lost?  Same exact group that lost last year:  Ubisoft.  Look, I’m gonna be brutally honest here.  EVERYONE likes some Ubisoft game(s).  Why?  Cause any time Ubisoft makes a game that includes stealth or killing people they rock.  They rock hard.  The problem is that Ubisoft is actually a company of dream-addicts and heart-huggers who only make (awesome) ‘war’ games to pay for their very failtastic games.  Games like “breath in and out” or Laser Tag.   Yes, Laser Tag.  They called it Laser Tag in the press conference.  Ubisoft is trying to resell Laser Tag.

Joel McHale at Ubisoft

What makes the whole Ubisoft press conference experience even more painful is that this year and last they brought Joel McHale (Talk Soup and Community) out to host the event.  I don’t know how much they pay him to make fun of their games infront of an audience they want to sell their properties to, but it’s gotta be to much.  Don’t get me wrong – Joel is funny, and that is the problem.  He’s supposed to be the face of their company but all he does for 2 hours is deface them.  It’s almost painful when he makes snide comments about how lucky the main character of their new Driver game is to suffer a coma.   Funny but sad.

On the flip side, let’s talk about a paid face of the company that rocks.  KEVIN BUTLER.  Sony’s Vice President of Motivational Speeches made an appearance during the company’s press conference and easily stole the show.  In fact, for my money, Kevin Butler’s speech was the best moment of E3 this year.

Let’s talk about games.   After all, that’s what E3 is really all about right?  Overall, I give the games this year a score of ‘meh’ and I’ll tell you exactly why.  Almost every game we saw in detail this year was more exciting when I didn’t know anything about it last year.  Stuff like Metal Gear Rising, Castlevania, Final Fantasy 14, Dead Space 2, Dead Rising 2, FEAR 3, Dragon Quest 9, Spiderman in Time, Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood, Medal of Honor, and Force Unleashed 2 all looked a lot better when it was just a teaser trailer or a name drop last year.  When I saw video of them this year I just thought ‘meh‘ and moved on.  To be honest, most look like another shooter or another God of War ripoff.

To make it worse, nothing new came out that was that impressive.  In fact most of the ‘new’ stuff was worse.  Hunted is some new dark fantasy 3rd person hack game that looks bulky and boring.  Rage looks pretty, but it’s just Quake with a paintjob.  There are always a bunch of no-name lame shooters that add nothing to the gameplay like Brink and Bodycount.  Vanquished actually might be good, but it looked like a game built on a couple of gimmicks.  Enslaved might be good but I wasn’t impressed with just a little combat demo.

The worst though – BY FAR – is the new surprise announcement of Twisted Metal.  I think people were so shocked by it’s announcement they didn’t have a chance to process how very, VERY bad the game looks.  I mean, for a PS2 game it’s okay I guess.  I like when you shoot a building it falls like a stack of cards, and that the controls look slippery and the animations are as smooth as comic-book nerd trying to hit on a booth babe.  I know this game has a pre-packaged fandom and people will buy it despite any warnings but I’m pretty certain it will be a massive letdown.  Just saying.

Okay, so lets end this on a high note!  What games did I like?  Let’s start with Star Wars: The Old Republic.  I’ll talk more about it later, but for now I’ll say this:  “Goodbye Warcraft.”

Also on my list was new title Bulletstorm.  I think this first person shooter actually added something to the genre, and could be entertaining in ways beyond “neat, look at this cool gun.”  Kicking people so they impale on giant cacti or throwing them in the air then slow motion sniping them with a rocket launcher appeals to me in a very visceral way.

There were a few other titles that caught my eye.  Crysis 2 is pretty and now that it’s on a system I can actually play it.  Gears of War 3 looks like another decent Gears of War game.  Okami has a new DS title that isn’t a direct remake and still looks amazing (and yes, cute).   Parasite Eve is back with 3rd Birthday for PSP, and who isn’t excited by another Portal title?

Overall I’d give E3 a couple of stars, or a C plus, or one thumb up.  It wasn’t fantastic.  Not a lot of stuff really caught my eye.  There were a few games totally missing from the show (Last Guardian, Kingdom Hearts, that ‘other Metal Gear Solid game’, Beyond Good and Evil 2, and Final Fantasy Versus XIII all come to mind).  And, to be fair, last years E3 was filled with some top tier games and announcements which make this year look a lot more meager in comparison.

By the way, did I mention that Ubisoft is gonna remake Laser Tag?  UGH.