Category Archives: Games

I’m Commander Shepard and This is My Favourite Cosplay at Dragon Con

I saw some pretty good Mass Effect cosplay at Fan Expo (including FemShep, Zaeed, Kaiden and Ashley grabbing dinner at Chipotle) but it was nothing compared to the scores of folks in amazing Mass Effect cosplay at Dragon Con.

This gathering of Mass Effect fans included a volus and Blasto the hanar Spectre on the right side of the picture, Dr. Chakwas on the far left and Mark Meer and Rana McAnear up front as Shepard and Morinth. That doesn’t mention the scads of other Shepards, Talis, Liaras, EDIs, Mirandas and more who dressed up for Dragon Con.

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Posted on September 6, 2013 | Image

Building (Critical) Consensus: Diablo III (PS3/Xbox 360)

Sep 6

Posted by Steve Murray

I nearly forgot that Diablo III was released this week. Okay, it’s already been out for PC for almost a year-and-a-half but it’s now out for the current generation of consoles with a PS4 version planned for release next year.

What’s interesting about the console port is that many critics prefer it to the PC original. Noted improvements were the addition of offline play and the removal of the auction house (which was blamed for the necessity of always-online DRM in the PC version Diablo III). Critics also liked the addition of local co-op and the new control scheme which I would have thought would be the thing Blizzard would be most likely to struggle with given their PC development background. It’s good to hear this is a well done port and not a blatant cash grab.

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Tags: Blizzard, Diablo III, PS3, Xbox 360

Divekick (PC) Review: Kick It

Sep 6

Posted by Steve Murray

Can a fighting game only have two buttons? It doesn’t seem to be a necessary question. Any game can use any control scheme the developer chooses so long as it works.

Don’t tell that to some vocal members of the fighting game community who consider Divekick to be a joke. How can a fighting game only have two buttons, no combos and only one-hit kills via jump kicks? It clearly doesn’t belong in the same category as multi-button, combo-laden games like the Street Fighters, Tekkens, Soul Calibers and Mortal Kombats of the world.

So does having only two buttons make Divekick a sick joke or is it so well put together that it actually pulls off the adrenaline rush of a fight game with a simple facade?

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Tags: Divekick, Iron Galaxy Studios, One True Game Studios, PC, Review

Why are Let’s Play Videos So Popular?

If you read et geekera with any degree of regularity, you probably heard through the grapevine that the most subscribed channel on YouTube, for better or worse, belongs to Pewdiepie. While Justin Bieber might be the king of Twitter, a twenty-something Swedish gamer is the king of YouTube.

But why are let’s play videos so big that Pewdiepie is the most subscribed to man on YouTube? Is it because people are too cheap to buy games, that many people need help with game or some other reason? PBS’ Game/Show examines the popularity of let’s plays.

Posted on September 5, 2013 | Video

Xbox One Sets a November 22nd Launch Date

Sep 5

Posted by Steve Murray

A couple of weeks after Sony announced the PlayStation 4’s launch date at Gamescom, Microsoft took to YouTube to announce when the Xbox One would be hitting store shelves.

While Sony is having staggered North American and European launches, the Xbox One will be available in all of its worldwide launch countries on the same date. The Xbox One comes out on November 22, 2013.

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Tags: Microsoft, Xbox One

Blue, Green or Red with the Shepard Twins

It’s been a while since I’ve posted some fan art so here we go. Jennifer Hale starred in both Mass Effect 3 and BioShock Infinite so you knew it was only a matter of time before we saw some cross-over art between the two games. That’s where DeviantArt user Charles Wilcher comes in with this Shepard and Lutece Twins crossover art.

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Posted on September 4, 2013 | Image

Building (Critical) Consensus: Rayman Legends

Sep 3

Posted by Steve Murray

When you think of side-scrolling platformer games, the conversation tends to begin and end with Mario. However, Ubisoft has quietly turned the Rayman franchise into the standard-bearer for the genre while Nintendo stagnates with Mario (and their other first-party franchises).

The latest entry in the franchise, Rayman Legends, has racked up massive critical acclaim. While Rayman Origins was considered a very good game, most critics find Legends to be an improvement over Rayman Origins. Perhaps more exciting is that the game has new ideas which is pretty impressive considering that the genre is one of the oldest in gaming.

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Tags: Rayman Legends, Ubisoft, Ubisoft Montpellier

Hype Train: Dragon Age: Inquisition

Sep 3

Posted by Steve Murray

I generally don’t preview games based off of PR snippets, trailers and hands-off demos but I think I’ve come up with a way to do it. So, welcome to the Hype Train in which I sift through all the hype behind a game to give an early preview of what is being promised and what to expect.

After the disappointment with their last three products, Dragon Age II, Star Wars: The Old Republic and Mass Effect 3, BioWare was suffering from a lack of consumer confidence. With the move to next-gen BioWare is hoping to regain its crown as the king of Western RPGs, starting with the next Dragon Age game, Dragon Age: Inquisition.

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Tags: BioWare, Dragon Age, Dragon Age: Inquisition, EA, Hype Train, Preview

Video Game Violence, Ratings and Your Children

Sep 2

Posted by Steve Murray

It’s just one of those things that we gamers have come to expect. Any time that video games are even tangentially related to a violent crime, the mainstream media will jump on that as a reason for the commission of that crime, regardless of the numerous studies that show no causative relationship between video game violence and real violence.

The latest case of the persecution of video games and gamers comes from Louisiana where an 8-year-old boy shot his grandmother in the head. The East Feliciana Parish Sheriff’s Department have strongly implied that the boy playing Grand Theft Auto IV led to the shooting.

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Posted in Games, Long Read

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Tags: Censorship, ESRB, Parental Controls, Ratings, Violence, WPLongForm

SimCity for Macs Doesn’t Work Either

Aug 30

Posted by Steve Murray

We’ll it’s only been about five-and-a-half months since the launch of SimCity for Windows but it doesn’t look like the teams at EA or Maxis have learned their lessons.

There are widespread reports online that SimCity for Mac is plagued with a number of issues that has rendered it unplayable for a large number of users despite being delayed from a March launch alongside the Windows version to August 29th.

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