The 'Fighter Arcade' Genre

So, where have I gone to for these past few weeks? Among other things, I've been playing videogames until my thumbs are sore. Beating the main plot of Assassins Creed III, seeing how long I can stand the cutesyness of Mario Galaxy, putting my pokemon through their daily training regime, and, last but never least, busting out my repertoire of fighting games in honor of this year's fighting genre lineup.

Though I don't have the funds, (or, to be honest, the want) to pop pout and buy Infinite: Gods Among Us, I am perfectly happy with my collection of fighters at home. While many gamers are not particularly close to this genre of gaming, mostly due to it's lacking ability to pull of anything more unique than an 'I punch you, you punch me' scheme, I often find myself wrapped up so tightly in the vs. and vs. idea that I'll lose several hours a day when I go and pick up the games. I believe it's because I enjoy the simplicity of the gameplay. Where as some games and their mechanics can boggle a players mind in no less than fifteen minutes, fighters have the amazing ability to do just the opposite. Sure, many people say that the repetitive motions and button smashing can get boring, but fighters are practically where the original idea of 'button mashing' even came from, and to this day rubbing your face across the controller is almost guaranteed to win you the fight more often than accurately executing your own final move will. Speaking of such smashing, I can guarantee that such a technique will only work against your friends, and not the game CPU, which is one of the only reason fighters still exist, for the multiplayer.

Unlike MMO's and modern shooters, the fighting genre often requires your friend to be sitting beside you in the room to play the game, which I much prefer to the babble and confusion to online multilayer. There's just something special about being able to see your friend's face after you super-smash them to victory. Sure, you can only have two or four players for the majority of fighters, but you know what they say about three being a crowd. Still, it can be a drag playing in a party if one person has never held a gaming controller in their life, or even yet, if they can't figure out how to chain together the first in a string of light punches. But, remember what I said earlier, about button mashing actually being effective? Truth is, while some fighters do require a certain degree of skill to play, some people hold just the right amount of natural skill to pull out a victory and surprise everyone in a room.

All of that being said, if you've never gotten into fighters, but for some strange reason want to pick one up either for a party's sake, or just for the S and G, then try your best to seek out the more foreign branches of the games, such as Guilty Gear or Blaze Blue. If you can't find anything of the sort, seek out the oldest titles you can of the more popular series, such as Mortal Kombat or Soul Calibur (as, there is a reason they have been around for so long). And, last but probably my best piece of advise, if you're just learning how the fighting genre works, or looking for a simplistic, but fun game, head out and get my favorite game that falls under this genre: Super Smash Bros., from Nintendo. Whatever you may end up with, good luck, and may the best fighter win!

Batman, The Origin Game

People like new things, though aside from the announcement of one more new pokemon to a generation that will be largely ignored till this October, and an award given to an American video game company well deserving of the title 'The Worst', there hasn't been too much new to talk about. That was, until I spotted, on the Horizon, a new shiny Batman game which has already been announced and Dated, currently in development for all gaming systems available thus far (even with separate, similar titles released for the 3DS and PSVita.)

Scheduled for late October the new game, titled Batman: Arkham Origins is going to be a prequel to the other two existing games, taking place a year before the events in Arkham Asylum. Though, I myself am not the biggest fan of prequels, or even sequels to good games, the second Batman game released on the PS3 was one of the best games released that year (and it might have been the best, had it not been for other sequels like Elder Scrolls V and Portal 2, but I digress). That being said, it has also been announced that the previous team working on the game, Rocksteady Studios, will no longer be developing the game. Instead, it's Warner Bros. Games Montreal that will be working on the game, with a new team headed by the lead designer of Prototype, Eric Holmes, taking the reins.

While jokes abound about how glad fans are that EA wasn't the company to take over the project, many still worry these new developers will leave the Batman franchise lacking, as what seems to happen when games get tossed around from developer to developer. While there should be no cause for concern about the actual look of the game, as Games Montreal will be using the same engine as Rocksteady, many are skeptical that Origins will not live up to it's predecessors. My own opinion on the matter? While the new team appears to have little previous experience, I think there is still hope for the series. After all, before it was a game, Batman was a comic-book character. So sending the game to DC for it's next installment can't be that bad an idea, right?

Perhaps I'm a little skeptical, too. But, I won't write Arkham Origins off, yet. Not even a trailer has been released, and until Fallout 4 or Half-Life 3 make their debut, the new Batman game is going to be on my list of games I need to get, before the year's over.

Minecraft, Terraria, and a New Breed of (Literal) Sandboxes

With a lack of new releases on the horizon, beside expensive games that I cannot yet afford, I'm turning my tail to a classic game that I hope everyone will recognize instantly. Or, to a new genre that was brought about by the indi-classic game, Minecraft. Lovers of Minecraft and all things related to it will know how time-consuming, and addicting, the game can be. Often times I find myself staring at my PC for hours without knowing how much time has gone by, once I open the silly little window. Being consumed by a game is nothing new to most gamers, though, and certainly, the famous Minecraft shouldn't be anything new, either. However, it might be news to some people that Minecraft has practically spawned a new genre of gaming all on it's lonesome. Que in Terraria, the two-dimensional sister of the well-popular Minecraft, and the game that I actually got hooked on well before I even got my hands on the other sandbox.

A screenshot from my own Terraria home-world.

The concept behind Terraria is simple. You're a person who has spawned in a world with plentiful resources, and you must use those resources to survive, or better yet, to become the king (or Queen!) of that little space of the world you inhabit. You start off much the same way you would in a Minecraft world, punching trees until your knuckles bleed to build your first little wooden hut to avoid getting eaten by Zombies as night falls. Once you've established yourself, though, the world presents a multitude of opportunities to build, create, and function in this little slice of Earth you call yours.

Because Terraria is set on two dimensions instead of three, there are several pluses, and even some minuses, that make it a worthwhile game to buy. First of all, since the worlds are not absolutely massive, or rendered in a 3-D environment, the game itself is much easier on PC's, loads quicker, and has a smoother multiplayer. The maps are easier to explore, considering it's hard to get lost in a 2-D plane, and this often makes the game move faster, as one will not find themselves trekking all the way to kingdom come just to find the first boss battle. Speaking of bosses, Terraria has no shortage of them, and the majority of the monsters can be summoned more than once. On top of that, the number of items, and the uses those items hold far outnumber the few items that Minecraft can produce, making room for more than just four tiers of weapons, armor, and crafting materials. Even useful NPC have a chance of spawning in your Terraria world, which will sell you various items you could not otherwise obtain. Still, many prefer the world of Minecraft because of it's creative function, cheats, free flying, and harder difficulty, which Terraria does not produce as well. However, from my point of view, both games are simply the root and stem of an entirely new genre of sandbox that could be introduced sometime in the next few years, and survival games should never be viewed in the same light, again.

Rumors on the Xbox Next

With a lack of 'exciting' new games being released lately, (I personally, do not have a soft-spot for shooters, so I'm afraid Gears of War and Bioshock will have to take a backseat for a while) I've decided to turn from specific games, to other new stuff, and hit on something I've known as 'Durango' since it's announcement in an issue of Game Informer sometime last year. You, the fans, though, might be more familiar with the name 'Xbox 720'.

Rumors abound, when it comes to the two next generation consoles still to be released, though a few things have been confirmed, through Microsoft, about the xbox next. Although an exact date has not yet been scheduled, it's been confirmed that Durango will be released in time for the Holiday season this 2013, meaning it'll put up plenty of competition for the other systems. It's also been confirmed that this next xbox will read Blu-ray discs, though it would be silly to imagine that it would do anything less, considering both WiiU and the PS3 can already do just that.

One of the most sickening rumors to be circulating, (about any of the next generation systems), is the rumor that Durango will no longer allow gamers to reuse used games. Rather, the idea is that the xbox will simply store game data and retrieve it from memory when one wants to play the game, using the disc as a one-time-only download, which will not be read during gameplay. There are also rumors that the next xbox will have an always-on, always-connected online connectivity, but some think this, too, sounds like a terrible idea. However, hopes are still high that this new system will not disappoint us, and that Microsoft will not be thick-headed enough to put places like Gamestop out of business with a one-time download disc.

Other rumors go on to suggest that little old Durango will have more 3D capabilities than ever, with the possibility of an improved xbox connect system, and what has been described as 'projections' onto the wall's beside the TV or system. Though the market of motion-sensor gaming is down, and the idea of further immersion into a game via use of projections sounds a bit goofy, video-game fans every are still highly anticipating the arrival of the next console's this year. Is it possible that the next xbox will be the console to revolutionize the industry? Only time will tell.

Sylvion: The Eight Eeveelution

If any fan has been paying attention to the updates made on the Pokemon franchise, then they should be aware that, in about seven months, the next installment of games, Pokemon X and Y, are due to be announced this October. Until that time comes, Nintendo has slowly been releasing tidbits of information on some of the sixth generation of these little creatures, just to keep us fans on our toes. The latest Pokemon to have been released to the public is known (in America) as Sylvion, though much information about this monster still has to be disclosed. However, some people have made many a prediction about what this little pink thing could possibly do.

(GamingBlastBros, Gaming news: Pokemon X and Y footage:Sylvion)

Because the original video that Nintendo released, we know that there are three moves that this pokemon can use: Swift, Trump Card (a move previously exclusive to Slowking) and, Focus Blast (a fighting move). These moves have lead many to believe that Sylvion is a fighting type, though at this rate, that prediction could go either way. Many others have made speculations about this new Eeveelution being a normal type, however, some seem to think this go against everything that Eevee and its evolutionary tree stands for. Many other's hope that Sylvion's typing will be anything from psychic to even steel or bug, with one of the most intriguing predictions being a flying type Eeveelution. Could it be that Nintendo is officially going to release it's first ever strictly Flying-type pokemon? Unfortunately, until more information is released, we the fans will be left waiting with bated breath for our answers.

Idle Thumbs - Podcast, Community, and More

I do not know about you, but I love to listen to podcasts while I am exercising or driving long distances.  One of my favorite weekly podcast is Idle Thumbs.

In 2008, a group of friends who worked in the game industry decided to record their regular conversations and release them into the internet.  Maybe it is because I lack real life friends to talk about video games or maybe it is just because these guys are entertaining.  I'm not entirely sure.  Irregardless, I enjoy listening to these friends sit around and talk about all things games. If I had a bucket list, it would be to be able to sit in the same room with these guys and discuss video games.

I highly recommend that you give them a try.

http://www.idlethumbs.net/   

Christmas Gifts for the gamer in your life.

I was reading an article in Rock Paper Shotgun about Linux being available now in beta on Steam

I am a big Steam fan girl and so is nearly everyone in my family.  The absolute perfect gift for any of my children is Steam points.  However gift points are not that fun to open, so what I do is I come up with something to make the gift more fun.  

There is the classic box, inside a box ,inside a box method or the box wrapped in duck tape which can lead to hilarity as they try to get past the tape.  Inside a puzzle box is always a good option but they can be expensive.  Sometimes to mix things up, I go to a favorite geek website and shop in the under $10 section and attach the Steam points code to the item.  This year someone might be getting a 8-Bit Christmas Stocking from Think Geek with a Steam code attached.  Website shopping takes a little advance preparation so a favorite candy bar, bag of Cheetos or 12 pack of soda usually gets a good giggle.

The best part is if you can make them laugh while opening, your gift receiver will remember that gift for the rest of their life.  

Happy Holidays,  Please feel free to comment with your favorite gift opening experience.

GameTimeZone.com is great place to get those last minute gifts for the gamers in your life