Which Type of Gamer Are you?

The Video Game Blog recently posted a link to TechFresh Video Games that I had to click on.  With a picture like the one above, I really had no choice but to find out what was going on. The link takes you to the interesting photo above and that page has a link to an interesting quiz.  I can certainly say that the image was appropriate and the NES Power Glove never looked so good…

Do you like to take on the enemy with a massive blaster, or do you like to discover unexplored lands?  Do you like to stimulate your optic nerves or do you like to solve brain tickling puzzles, or meet hot virtual girls?  Take this quiz and find out.

written by Will Snizek \\ tags: games, gaming, NES, power glove, quiz, Video Games

No one really knows what the future of Assassin’s Creed holds. We heard it was the first part of a trilogy in the beginning, but it’s been pretty much silence from the publisher since. According to Ubisoft, they will bring out the sequel when there’s more anticipation for it (Forbes).

The original Assassin’s Creed didn’t quite turn out the way I had hoped, but I still feel there’s potential for the series to become epic. I’m not saying it was a terrible game, but it wasn’t the greatest of games either. AC was highly flawed in numerous areas, but was somehow still pretty close to being an awesome game. Here’s the things it would take to turn Assassin’s Creed 2 into a masterpiece we all deserve:

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written by Will Snizek \\ tags: assassin's creed, gaming, Ubisoft, wish list

Some people have always said that the video game industry was recession proof, but I’m not so sure about that anymore. Our current “recession” has the potential to become a full-blown depression by 2009 if some changes don’t start taking place. If our economy goes much further down the drain, I have to wonder if buying video games will still be a priority for even some of the hard-core gamers out there. The housing and banking industries are in shambles. We’re currently in the middle of the second most expensive war in American history (if you calculate World War II by today’s money value) and if McCain somehow gets elected, that war will not end during his days in office, or possibly during our lives.

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written by Will Snizek \\ tags: depression, economy, gaming, recession, suicide

Carlos pointed out an article to me last night on Daily Game (a site I had actually never visited prior to this) that was bashing Dan Hsu. Dan is actually a well respected writer in the game news business and someone who seems to always speak his mind. I guess when you speak your mind, you’ll get plenty of hate from writers like Jonas Allen (a blogger I’ve never heard of until now).

The title of the article is “Dan Hsu Needs to Hsut Up” which I find to be incredibly unprofessional. Was there really a need to make fun of his name?  I’m sure the author felt it was clever, but it seems childish in my opinion.  The article goes on to bash Dan for his articles about the problems with ethics in gaming. While some may feel this isn’t a problem, it certainly is.

Dan, do us all a favor. Shut up.

I hate to be rude, but that’s all that can be said at this point. Game journalists are tiring of your tirades. Gamers are growing bored with your bashing. And heck, I wouldn’t be surprised if EGM were getting annoyed by your angst, even after you’ve left. You’ve made your point, however fallible it may be, and it’s time to move on.

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written by Will Snizek \\ tags: Daily Game, Dan Hsu, gaming, journalism

R3match just released show 4 of the “R3match Radio,” podcast for you guys to take an ear to.

The official word from the site:

We see the return of Juan, “the kid,” Perez on the show this week and we dig into the latest gaming news. Carlos talks about some of the exploitin’ he’s been doing in Pub Games, Juan’s “The Last Guy” on PSN, and Jason flies high in the remake of 1943. News is a bit Gears of War 2-flavored with some Sony updates trickled in and we end the show with a some site pimpage.

Pictorial Discussion this week (Fail?):

Halo 3’s “Mythic“

Inside you’ll find a few details on how you can get to workin’ at Kezins.com and we exchanged a few fanboy-ish words.

Download it here: R3match Radio Podcast - Show 4

written by Carlos Macias \\ tags: Carlos, dig, ear, exploitin, gaming, guy, Jason, Juan, Kid, news, Perez, podcast, Pub, radio, return, show, site, Week, word

Gaming has been on the rise in Korea for a few years now, but it looks like their market is even stronger than initially expected. Pearl Research forecasts the online games market in South Korea will even exceed $1.7 billion by 2009. They believe this is driven by new releases and a “fervent” gaming culture.

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written by Will Snizek \\ tags: analysis, business, China, consulting, Content, culture, firm, game, gaming, intelligence, Internet, Korea, market, Online, Pearl Research, Report, Rise, San Francisco, September, South Korea, US

I’m sure many of you are fans of the ‘Girls of Gaming’ by Play Magazine. I was doing a little research on the magazine for a future article and was surprised that the top search result for “Girls of Gaming” in Google led to a pirated version of the magazine on Scribd. Since the actual paid version of the magazine does not allow sharing of the file, it looks like some noob took some fairly poor screen captures of the PDF and turned it into a version anyone can download on the internet. I suppose the title might suggest we support pirating, which we actually don’t. But…if you are going to be a pirate, at least be a good one. If you want quality, just go and download the real thing HERE, but you have to actually pay real money to see it.

written by Will Snizek \\ tags: article, Document, gaming, Girls, Google, magazine, Pirated, play, Poorly, Read, research, result, Scribd, search, version, Vol

Just saw the two-hour season premiere and couldn’t help but feel that gaming has infiltrated yet another show, “Prison Break,” and the influence clearly shows.

The following shouldn’t come off as too much of a spoiler, but today’s episode ended on another series’ signature cliffhanger. The players (pun intended) come to the realization that what they were looking for and found was actually just a piece of a bigger puzzle. A piece that represents 1 out of 6 items.

Sound familiar? It’s the same “fetch quest” mechanic found in plenty of games (i.e. Rare’s games, Assassin’s Creed, Super Mario Galaxy, as well as countless others) that artificially extends play time, but will it be effective in a show?

It seems like a cheap way to continue the show with the director, writer, whoever, giving themselves complete freedom to throw in unrelated events into the overarching story. Don’t be surprised to see a cross-country trek every episode to find the elusive “key cards.”

The series has been doing good so far, well into its fourth season with the same, expected twists that usually wind up entertaining and keeping you glued to the tube. We’ll see if its new gaming-focused approach measures up to its previous shows…might even be the template they use for the upcoming game.

written by Carlos Macias \\ tags: Break, couldn, doesn, gaming, help, influence, Mario Galaxy, piece, Premiere, Prison, Season, series, show, Spoiler, Today, Trends

Too cheap to buy the full retail version of SoulCalibur IV?  Well, this week’s FREE demo is a nice appetizer to the main dish.  Also, The Last Guy looks pretty cool, but stay here for review.  Other than that the two Warkhawk Add-on’s are the other updates worth noting.  Enjoy your last update in August!

Downloadable Games

• The Last Guy ($9.99)

Add-on Content:

• Rock Band DLC
  • “She Does” - Locksley ($0.99)
  • “Don’t Make Me Wait” - Locksley ($0.99)
  • “Don’t Make Me Wait” - Locksley ($0.99)
  • “All Over Again” - Locksley ($0.99)
  • Locksley Pack 1 ($2.99) - includes: “All Over Again,” “Don’t Make Me Wait,” and “She Does” by Locksley.
• Warhawk Fallen Star Pack ($7.99)
• Warhawk Booster Combo ($15.99)

Game Demos

• NHL 09
• Soulcalibur IV

Game Videos:

• SOCOM Confrontation Extraction trailer
• LittleBigPlanet Leipzig “Sackzilla” Trailer
• Motorstorm Pacific Rift Leipzig Trailer
• PAIN Trauma Mode Trailer
• GT5 Prologue Play the Pros with Tanner Foust!
• Brothers in Arms: Hell’s Highway Machine Gun & Bazooka Video
• Brothers in Arms: Hell’s Highway Squad Gameplay Video
• Facebreaker Audition Video #1
• Facebreaker Audition Video #2
• Facebreaker Audition Video #3
• Madden NFL 09 Gameplay Trailer
• Madden NFL 09 Madden Moments Trailer
• Madden NFL 09 Play Call Trailer
• Top Spin 3 Player Creator Trailer

Movie and Blu-ray Trailers:

• Quantum Of Solace
• Prom Night

PS3 Wallpaper:

• (2) The Last Guy
  

Via Blog.PlayStation

written by Juan Perez \\ tags: All, are, Ares, August, band, Blu-ray, Brother, buy, call, combo, Combos, Content, cool, Creator, Demo, DLC, download, Downloads, Edition, Enjoy, Facebreaker, Facebreakers, Fallen, free, game, game games, gaming, GUI, gun, guy, Hell, Highway, Include, Leipzig, LittleBigPlanet, look, Looks, machine, Machines, Madden, make, Makes, making, mode, MotorStorm, movie, Movies, NFL, NHL, night, Pacific, Pack, PAIN, play, Player, Playstation, PlayStations, Pretty, Prologue, Retail, retailer, Rift, Rock, Soulcalibur, Spin, Star, Stars, Stay, store, Than, Top, Tops, Trailer, update, Updated, Updates, version, Via, video, Videos, wait, Waiting, Wallpaper, Warhawk, Week, Weeks, WIth, worth

The new Acer ‘Predator’ gaming PC is here and it certainly looks badass.  The computer casing was inspired by Lamborghini and it shows.  Gameplayer recently had the fortunate chance to test Call of Duty 4 on the system and they say “it was hard not to be impressed”.  Is the system worth $4,000 - $8,000?  I’m not sure, but Gameplayer’s article makes it sound like it might be.

written by Will Snizek \\ tags: Acer, article, call, Chance, computer, Duty, fortunate, Gameplayer, gaming, Lamborghini, New, PC The, Predator, system