The guns that never tire...

There's a reason Killzone is my favorite FPS franchise. Its not just the awesome art style, the interesting (usually subtle) lore, or even the awesome aesthetics I constantly gush over. Its because it keeps doing awesome little things that impress me, and feel like it really know what I want despite also contradicting that a bit (regenerating health, yuk!). It keeps doing things to raise the bar on what I love in military shooters, and it beats the competition at its own game for me. Well last night when I signed on for a quick match I was surprised to be hit with an update I should have been involved with before, because the game 1-up'd itself and I don't even remember installing an update to get it that way.

I still remember that incredible news one day when I was anxious to hear more from Shadow Fall before its release (or before I had my very own PS4). The news was No XP based progression system. They wanted challenges instead, which in turn mostly just meant completing optional achievements for fun. There was minor progression on abilities and attachments, but nothing major and not once did it get in the way of fun or screw with my mind. Finally, someone was speaking on my terms and of course it was going to be Killzone. However I've got to face the music and accept that with all its serious competition still using that terrible Skinner box mind trick, in theory the fanbase for Killzone would dwindle because people would rather run hamster wheels than waste their time with a game that was only worth playing for fun. I've also got to be honest and say that I myself am not some dedicated multiplayer warrior for the Killzone series. I don't go running to Battlefield because of grinding, but I sure as hell will run to my R&C games, bot matches in unreal, or that new release I was looking forward to. Basically, I just have other games I'll jump between, and maybe something will bore me if nothing new is there. Gimmicky grinds don't solve that (it makes it worse actually, I quit other games early because I'm sick of not getting the fun content), but there could be some other tricks. Honestly if a game is clever, it can deploy a trick that catches me in an extra layer of addiction, and holy crap Killzone surprised me with a big one today, and I'm still not sure I entirely believe it to be real. That pile of cosmetic DLC that I've been avoiding just became incorporated into a F2P system in Shadow Fall, and I can earn that stuff for free by grinding XP. Bravo!

Well for starters despite being hard to believe, I can see its really as good as it seems. I can actually enjoy the customizable cosmetics for free, though with grinding as a price of course. This is not only pretty generous, but it adds an incentivizing grind that doesn't truly screw with my gameplay. The game didn't get any worse or anything, nor does it mess with my head other than "you can get new stuff". I've still got the same normal challenges for playing the game, like say winning 10 missions of S&D, but the difference is I can actually unlock something that would otherwise cost me money. Something extra the game never needed, and something that was added after the launch, so nobody can play the "evil microtransactions" card. So free maps, free cosmetics, and they turn it into a way to keep population up by always telling you that you can unlock more. I was actually about to sarcastically say that the next thing they'd do is throw in the insurgeant pack weapons, but it turns out they actually did when I researched it... I literally then gave the mystery box a test and immediately got a Sta-14 to keep for my sniper class, and that was the cheaper mystery box option. Did I ever mention that I love this game? Because its really awesome!

Best hamster wheel ever!

What if you've already bought all that stuff though? Well, light perks and valor boosts can be obtained. Yeah that's not much of a big deal, but its still something there that is worth getting and testing out. Either way GG took a brilliant game that was good enough to play on its own without gimmicks, supported it with free content and optional cosmetics for a year, and now well beyond that year of support we've got essentially a slot machine give-away AND new perk system in place. Yes on the surface that contradicts itself a bit as that's adding a gimmick to keep players in, but its not exploitative or harmful in the slightest. It actually taking a good page out of F2P, and properly applying it to the triple A market rather than making it an addition revenue source because "give me money" like EA, ubisoft, and capcom are doing.

On top of that, its just brilliant how well this game still holds up on its own and to think of how far its come in support. No its still not perfect and I'll gladly moan about how better Killzone 2 was in some aspects, but the game has been monstrously improved since its launch, and I think I already gave the multiplayer a 10 out of 10 to begin with (back when I did numbered scores). New features, more maps, more customization, better matchmaking features (extended warzone, my personal favorite, was saved from near death by becoming a staple front page mode), and a control layout that fixed the dumb crouch/explosive issue. Oh yeah and of course there's now clans and voice chat like there honestly should have been at launch. Either way there's a small group of people out there declaring Killzone the best current generation multiplayer shooter, and I think they're spot on with that... of course I am really biased in Killzone's favor, but this all just reminds me of why. The developer team has been very generous, the game was very good, and the long lasting support make it a better investment as it goes on. Oh and I'm not so worried about the community leaving. The number per server bit is actually gone, but there's still an indicator showing strong populations in every home page server except the random picked one. As visari says in one of his speeches... "our guns never tire" and Guerrilla games has put that into their own work, keeping the spirit of its fans alive and happy. I can't wait to see what they're doing next for either Shadow Fall, or that mysterious new IP.

Enough of the dudebro strawman

Dudebros suck don't they? They run around spouting out terrible stereotypes, support bad products, and criticize the good ones with immature slander. At least I think that's what they are. These are one of those articles where I really wish I had an audience. I really wish I could actually ask the serious question of a show of hands; Who has actually met this supposedly massive dudebro demographic, and if so how many of them have you seen? I'm sure its something that is real and is out there, as are the ignorant folks that dismiss animation as childish, and idiotic fanboys. However like these radical opinions, I don't think dudebros are to be taken seriously and there probably aren't enough of them to actually hurt anyone. Yet comment section after comment section it sounds like they're to blame for all of the world's nerd culture, political, or social problems. This especially applies to game culture as it would seem, political and social fields have plenty of other guys to blame, but for gamers to point fingers as to why their most amazing game ever didn't sell we have 3 common options: Blame poorly handled development or market conditions and all the variables that may come with that. The other two are blaming dudebros, or blaming a popular trend/genre like FPS. I already covered why the FPS scapegoat is ridiculously stupid, so I guess this is sort of a follow up for the dudebros.

So for starters dudebro has no solid definition. Its a label used to roughly describe a fratboy-like dude that you hated in college. Notice how the music and some brief descriptions change up, and yet stays oddly specific in the creepy grudge sort of way throughout the loose dictionary of the internet. It gets worse. Just look at that list! Mitt romney is on there for whatever reason, and the list sets unrealistic inhumane portrayals like the very first list bit asking if all you do is talk sports and sex. There is not a single person that can sanely answer that list right, because the entire thing is a juvenile strawman label the author is venting on with not so subtle gender politics involved. The person being described is pretty much an extreme fratboy who has turned criminal (remember the article is practically defining them as rapists). There is not a full sub-culture of that out there, and if there was then the last thing you'd be worried over is them calling Nintendo or Double Fine games childish. Its an unrealistic label being created to beat up on. What people out there that inspire such caricatures (likely frat boys in a small young adult phase of ignorance and insecurity) are in fact a pretty small minority compared to the more level-headed folks.

Bringing this back around to exclusively games though, I feel things don't change too much. You have this seemingly mythical group that goes around refusing to buy anything good, calling your games kiddie, and any time something a cult following likes isn't successful they get blamed. These are the guys that supposedly "hardcore" game their way around every AAA M rated action title but are too good to touch anything lesser. Yet the term simultaneously applies to guys that only play annualized games, except pokemon because that's totally an exception that would make this whole thing seem weird. This blame game can happen any time, unless your game in question is an FPS or open world action game in which case you don't have easy access to this label. That's actually the big kicker that sets off a small avalanche of issues with this strawman concept: Plenty of games fumble and fail under this loose dudebro stereotype. Look at bulletstorm! Big gruff dudebro protagonist with bulky muscles, empowering gameplay, tons of creative swears, gritty gore, and of course its an FPS. Didn't sell even close to EA's inflated success standards (remember this, I'll refer back to it later). Look at Space Marine, a game that is even named after a supposedly stale dudebro trait that has big bald men running around with chainsaw swords and guns that fire miniature exploding bullets. How much more bro-ness do you need for that to get your attention dude!? Oh but not only did the game not sell any special record amount, but the publisher sank because their games (another recent one of which was "GO USA!" military shooter HomeFront, so the publisher was double dudebro-ing when they faded) sold that poorly. So who are the dudebros going to blame for this mess?

"Where are my dude brethren?" cried the dying space marine

Want to take this even further? What if I told you an entire sub-genre capable of pandering to that stereotype has been gone in this supposed rise of the dudebro? Well it has, I call it Arena Shooters. You know a genre where their iconic aesthetic was buff gruff heavily armored bulky space marines splattering each others blood with state of the art graphics, built-in trash talk, online play, and big manly guns. The genres last major innovation was big manly death vehicles, and in UT's case they had hoverboards. Even Halo, one of the last games to truly run on somewhat of an arena shooter vibe, has declined across last generation where dudebros were supposedly running rampant and ruining our quality stuff. These were high quality games that were injected with aesthetics that were over the top masculine to the point of hilarious fun, yet there were no dudebros rescuing them because this supposed demographic doesn't even exist in such a large supply like people would expect. Heck even with the help of the old school FPS fans like myself aren't enough to combine with the dudebros and have these games make waves. Meanwhile Last of Us has sold well over 6 million at this point. Dudebros, right? Umm.... no, that's just where the audience is for a lot of the modern day "hardcore" gamers. Cinematic adventure games, survival infused gameplay, zombies, and dramatic story telling.

Look, there are problems out there but if we're building our own dumb little scapegoat that's less likely to fix anything. These "dudebro" things manage to magically pop up as a solution that doesn't quite make sense for why point & click, some set of indie games, Nintendo, that platformer you loved, horror, and others don't sell but honestly they all have other problems attached to them in some way or another. You want to know why Point & click isn't a major genre in the AAA market? Well for one thing its not exactly AAA stuff anymore (what would you dump the budgeting into outside of graphics and voice actors!?), and because its not a high stakes high sales game the publishers and developers aren't very interested. That's an industry problem, and one I, and more important critics that actually have an audience like Jim Sterling have been calling out for a long time. Now you might blame dudebros for not letting it sky rocket into the mainstream again, but to put it bluntly you've got very niche tastes in that kind of thing. Your best element was story driven adventures, and that's been taken over by practically everyone outside (not within) the sports and military shooter genres. A large audience would rather do more than just point & click while being stopped by logic redefining puzzles. What's that, indie game #729 is your favorite game ever and you're upset its not selling more because "dudebros"? Well maybe if someone of importance had actually covered it better it might have gotten the attention of dudebros and beyond. There's also that fact that its gameplay probably wasn't a trustable source of fun because indies usually have weird short lived twists over mechanics that many people aren't sure they'll enjoy. Its not because they were off punching in mountain dew codes for double XP in call of duty, instead they might be testing themselves in Dark Souls, replaying Shadows of the Colossus, supporting another niche game that barely gets seen, or they could be making their Skyrim lets plays on youtube, or just having some lazy week playing retro games with their nostalgic friends. Its almost like there's a ton of better places to be and do than risk your money within gaming. While we're at logical answer, we've found a way to explain why the magical dudebro strawman army wasn't there to save Bulletstorm. It was because the concept was interesting but a little strange with its arcadey points & stylized kills making some people (not just dudebros) wait, and EA's budgeting and sale standards were far too high for what the product was. On top of all that even some of the people that wanted it were disappointed with it because the direction of the game was tugged around a bit to be a psudo-old school shooter marketing as a more pure shooter. Oh yeah and its general marketing wasn't exactly spectacular (not terrible, but it wasn't great either). See real problems have real answers, where as the strawman only has holes and more questions in place. When we put a real solution up, things start to make sense of themselves.

The real final example I give you is for Nintendo, which deserves its own paragraph here. Now I understand a bit of the defensive-ness because there actually is a legit population that is ignorant enough to say "Nintendo is kiddie". However they still aren't the core problem that would fix everything if they disappeared. Heck look at the 3DS, tons of sales for that thing, so again the dudebro strawman is leaving questions because its not a clear answer. Millions of 3DS fans didn't just wake up and boycott the wii U because it was kiddie and they were too dudebro for it. There aren't 10 million people buying PS4s just to be a trash talking jerk on COD and madden all day long. No, there are 10 million+ people looking into a wide variety, seeing many 3rd party companies, taking interest in new IPs being made, etc. Nintendo by comparison is selling you a console on practically one publisher's catalog. They lack the open-ness of a PC or mobile library, the 3rd party support of competing consoles and PC, and they even lack the good prices that they try to welcome you in on with their lower barrier to entry sales because their games never go down in price and even stay up in the 2nd hand market. So where will the smart consumers go if Nintendo's catalog doesn't cover their preferences? Oh but those are only dudebros that don't have nintendo preferences right? I mean everyone else can appreciate Nintendo because they cover everything outside of M rated titles, right? Actually no, they're missing a few good niches and even some large ones. Nintendo's Wii U library doesn't have much of cinematic story driven games, strategy games, those niche japanese games, horror titles, MMOs, open world games, and a few others. Oh but it does have COD ghosts and COD black ops 2, but once again dudebro and the Dorito dude army were not at Nintendo's aid because that isn't an actual problem to solve. The actual problem is they have no long lasting 3rd party support to properly compete with the other consoles, it doesn't have the same open library as a PC, and Nintendo alone can't cover every niche enough to warrant everyone to buy their system. Even if they get a big strategy player interested in Pikmin, its ridiculously impractical to ask that they buy an entire console for that when they could buy their entire wishlist in a steam sale for less. Meanwhile if they were to look at say the already successful 3DS they see multiple games, and a bigger supporting library surrounding it, and more discounts towards its entry. Its more practical and smarter on every level. Meanwhile the MMO gamer wont touch either console with a 10 foot pole while the PS4 might interest them for couch gaming now that its getting some F2P ports and Destiny in addition to a wide supporting familiar but diverse library they can fall back on if they want a break from their norm. Nintendo is an excellent company and they really do deserve more sales, but there's an actual reason as to why they aren't getting them and its got more to do than frat boys that likely barely even play games at all.

It could be story driven RPG gamers.... nah, totally duebros that don't like big N

Ok so on a final note, maybe we can go back and look at a very focused point of the label dudebro. Its the one that I know for a fact exists and have spoken with: COD & madden exclusive gamers. That's a bit overgeneralized really, but these people kind of do exist. However what is their problem amd crime? Well none really. Look if you really need to blame these trends and habits of chasing some popular mainstream game, by all means go ahead there is a piece in there somewhere to be angry at. I've raged against COD and COD trends plenty myself (though looking back as I've said before, I've taken it too far as well), and the ironic bit is that the arena shooter sub-genre I mentioned before is dead because its habits contradict those of the trendy COD types. However the problem is almost never with the guys that want to just enjoy themselves. You can be mad that COD has dumbed down gunplay, reflex based combat, and popularized an unnecessary amount of gimmicks that ruin the fun, all exploitative to grab a big careless broad audience, but let me ask you this: Who actually did that? Who actually thought of doing this format? Who thought of lowering the skill level, and who decided to popularize it? If you're blaming it on the guys playing the game, I'm genuinely worried you're the type of person they like to weaponize in group discipline. The answer is you blame the guys creating and making the decisions to begin with. You need to get to the root. When Killzone 3 said "we can't do server lists because that breaks the game for some people" I didn't go and yell at the first person I saw. I didn't accuse my sister of ruining killzone because she doesn't like shooters or customized mechanics. I didn't fuss at my dad because all he played at one time was COD. What I did instead was join the community in protesting the developer's decision. We created over 90 pages of a fuss about how backwards, how stupid, and how insecure of a decision this was for them to make. Sure there was a bit of mudslinging at COD, but as a reference for what we did not want. We were angry at the actual creators of the game for exploiting a bad trend, and we were a bit upset that COD (or halo where it really started) continued to go that road and keep the standards low. The guy at college that just turns on their system for COD doesn't understand this, and that's not exactly something he needs to worry too much about. Worse case scenario is he's hurting himself by not exploring the "better quality" stuff, but he's not ruining games by missing out.

What am I getting at here? What's the point other then to overuse this funny sounding term in one article? Well for what its worth, I want people to stop trying to blame and overgeneralize and/or dehumanize parts of the gaming community. We have a ton of options, niches, and awesome gamers out there and just because what you like isn't selling doesn't mean the rest of gamers are a bunch of Doritos munching frat boys. Its actually an ironically toxic attitude to sit there and blame all our problems on some magically hateful overly masculine group that barely even exists in the real world. The ones that do border on the stereotype are either too harmless to matter (Madden/COD addicts who just... play those games) or they're not nearly as bad as they're made out to be (check out bro team on youtube for example. They play up to a certain trash talking male rage stereotype for humor and their youtube audience, and play a wide variety of games on PC as a canvas for their comedy. If you're taking them as a serious problem, you really need to get a grip on reality). Its dehumanizing, its elitist, and its avoiding the real problems we face in the gaming industry. Problems like irresponsible budgets, uneven coverage of genres and niche gamers, poor coverage, etc. On top of that it just implies a scary amount of pessimism that could spark its own ironic insecurities (because you think everyone is against your tastes). I can't imagine thinking that my favorite stories, games, and books are a failure as a result of some ruling society of prejudice going around. I don't blame Sly Cooper's lacking sales on people who are so shallow as to instantly dismiss cartoons based on some prejudice they have for it. That's not normal. Running into people that ignorant is a shocking surprise, and I generally feel confident in saying that Sly Cooper 4 is an amazing game to play on the PS3. If anything I'm closer to fearing an enjoyment of something like gears of war, because its dismissed as a beacon for this demonized label of "dudebro"-ness, and that's when this has really gotten to a ridiculous level. I feel good standing by enjoying my gritty industrial sci-fi shooter games or my cartoony 3D platformer games, because I love games like that. I also know that Sly was a very low seller, and I look to actual solutions like the fact that nobody really knew what to expect of its quality due to various conditions from the team behind it to its competing place on the market. "dudebros did it!" isn't an actual answer for me, and its not something I can fool myself into believing. So please... can we stop it? Much like blaming FPS on everything, I'm tired of seeing this as the catch-all easy blame thing. Its not that simple guys, and if you're  going to be taken seriously or even fun within the hobby its time to actually respect and acknowledge that its a diverse industry with many factors and bits going into the success, creation, and thrill of a good game. I'd rather have more intelligent and interesting discussions on the success or failures of a game instead of digging through these silly scapegoating comments.

Well since its all over I thought it was time for one of these...

Fun fact: I've said dudebro 30 times in the article.

Smash photography!

Smash bros is an awesome game. In my GOTY thing I listed off some disappointments, and yeah sure those are my genuine feelings, but I also can't deny its still smash bros and one of the best franchises to ever exist... ever. It has sky space high standards, so disappointment just means its super ultra amazing instead of super ultra supreme amazing. Basically its still a masterpiece I'm playing a lot, and its likely the best game on the Wii U (though there are plenty of other greats). So naturally I'm having a good time and getting some good pictures. As I looked through my gallery today I saw a great opportunity to post a nice little collection out of some of my favorite, or funny photos taken over time.

Fox is ready to take you on.

Priceless expression

Tremble before the power of cherry!!!

This just looked awesome. No other caption is needed.

Torpedo kong!

Poor Fox has been possessed.

Can they even play instruments?

Bowser has a new toy

Cloud gazing....

"Give me my pills!"

The look of anticipation!

Super pac-bros!

I don't know if this is more creepy than cute, or more cute than creepy

Dog & duck with a jetpack... your mind should be blown

Exorcism! (admittedly a little hard to see)

Dang it pikachu, you broke reality!

That's it for now. Might do more in the future when I have a bunch.

My thoughts on pre-ordering.

Nope, can't possibly go wrong, right?

A lot of people are going around now telling you to stop pre-ordering. I mostly agree, but that's not completely the way I want to talk about it. That topic has been done to death by now, even if only recently has media made a fuss about it, and if you want to hear pre-orders getting nagged go and enjoy that in the many other resources. I'm actually here to bring you something a little backwards... a small check list of when it might be ok to make an exception and pre-order. To some making an exception of anything is heresy, but I'm trying to be level headed here and give reasonable advice for normal hardcore gamers, so I'm not peddling this "ALL PRE-ORDERS ARE THE DEVIL" style thing. I've pre-ordered a good share of games, and I've been burned by some, and stand proudly by others, and I feel I still can confidently say that some games are just worth it. So I'd rather give aid to making smart pre-orders rather than running the usual pre-order shaming.

When to pre-order:

-Collector's edition for BIG fans

Ok despite my sarcastic caption and picture for a game that flopped, I actually will say that if you 100% felt a need for a game and its physical stuff, then fine take the risk... you clearly have a lot of money on you anyways to risk that sort of thing if you're looking at special stuff. Collector's edition versions are just that, they're for the major fans and collectors, and just maybe there wont be enough of them past launch day. They don't just sit around and magically appear at a good price, that stuff is expensive stuff that major big time fans put down big money on to enjoy with the normal game itself. Now if you're not a big fan you shouldn't even be considering this stuff, but if you are one then you should still be thinking really carefully. Even though I'm usually encouraging a lack of paying attention to hype now, I think if you're going to risk something this big you need to know about this game and you should not only be viewing trailers but analyzing them bit by bit to see if the HUD gives you a clue on hidden mechanics, to see what kind of level design might be expected, and to see if this truly is a game you need so much in your life that you need to got hat extra $20-$60 to secure some creepy statue with it. Don't spoil everything, but make sure you know what you're doing. Also as a rule of thumb, please don't add many if any new IPs to this area. Remember this if it helps. Unless the stuff is so unbelievable, so amazing, and so interesting that it makes its own value then I'd strongly suggest against ordering these things from a new IP. These things are for fans, and you don't become a fan of something that doesn't exist yet, so keep your cool and stay out of that stuff. Speaking of fans though....

-A major trusted release for fans

Can it be trusted?

Do you love assassins creed, or Battlefield, or sonic? That's great, but don't you dare pre-order that thing. No, its CE is not that important. No, that free skin wont be worth it. Stop looking at those questionable series as a pre-order. Be careful, look sharply at it, and let other people fall into that pittrap first. If you're still a die-hard fan that is ready for them, then go ahead and buy the stuff, just don't pre-order anything you can't trust... and be blunt fans of those games, YOU CAN'T TRUST THEM. Now on the other hand major fans of more niche or well polished series, I can't possibly question your judgement. You've choosen to put your faith in Naughty Dog's games after enjoying their work since Crash Bandicoot or at least Uncharted, or you're a major stealth fan who's been sticking to that long running hype train behind phantom pain, or of course there's Mario who never fails to bring some joy onto your TV screen. Go for that stuff if you're a major fan, and just need this next new game. I remember some of the most excited days have been going to the store, and picking up a pre-order on a game I just know will be good. I remember running into a store, and coming out anxious to play the new Sly Cooper game in my hands... something that would turn up to be far better than I could have originally planned, but still trusted anyways. I wasn't getting rewarded for it, the pre-order stuff was kind of pathetic. However its just that excitement in getting it that made it feel so worth it. I remember going to the store to pick up Killzone 3, so excited to try out the newest installment despite knowing a couple issues would arise, but I knew my enjoyment for the series outweighs all the doubt or grief over some changes. I remember walking out with the hulking CE set to Dark Souls 2, and being so excited to get into everything and it lived up pretty well to the wishes and excitement I had set for it. Going to go and grab these things is just exciting, and honestly if you're preordering a game you truly love and trust, then go ahead. The only time I ever hated my pre-order experience on a good game was with Wolfenstein, because Best Buy just has a really crappy system of pre-orders. So uh... don't go there for it. By contrast to what I also said with CE, don't exactly even look up everything either. If you really love a series, and its made by a trustable team, follow a bit of the news and impressions from insiders, but also leave a lot of room for surprises. There's probably almost nothing that will change your mind from a day 1 buy with or without that pre-order, so just let yourself experience it and enjoy things for yourself when you get the chance. Just make sure you're being honest with yourself about whether or not a game series is trustable.

-About those new IPs...

New IPs are they scarey unknowns

So... The Order, what the heck is it? Is it too cinematic? Is it the perfect steampunk themed shooter with a good story? Is it even balanced right, the enemies respond weird with being shot in one clip I saw? Is it one big dumb rail sequence? How open and diverse can battles get? Is the game at a decent length? Nobody wants to be stuck with a 5 hour single player only $60 medicore cinematic super linear shooter. So... don't freakin' pre-order! Remember Watch Dogs? Don't pre-order! Remember Colonial Marines? Don't pre-order! Remember Borderlan- oh hey, that went great. Look if the IP is claiming to be too new, or looks too familiar, you should be able to run off that. If you're really into 3rd person shooters and story telling, and love steampunk... fine maybe you can risk The Order. If you're really into Alien and horror, and don't remember colonial marines for some reason, then fine maybe you've been rewarded and feel right for grabbing Isolation in pre-order form. As a general rule of thumb I wouldn't recommend this though. Seriously, just double check and make sure with yourself if this thing is really worth it. You don't know this game as well as you think you might. Its brand new, and maybe made by an unheard of team or from guys that don't normally do what they're doing. Ready At Dawn is a studio that has practically lived off of porting, and made Daxter that forgotten PSP spin-off I heard was bad, so with such a confusing and questionable IP coming up I don't think they've earned your trust to rush out and buy the game before you know it... never the less buy its one or two Collector's Editions. I'll say similar about evolve, which looks nice but is so up in the air for whether or not it'll be what you want. Oh and dying light, while potentially great, has recently had a ton of people pointing and mocking the team behind it... and fine if you really felt burned by dead island and the rest of their mixed (and shovelware) history then stay back. I'm looking forward to hellraid from the same team, but yeah I don't 100% sell myself on their hype either and in no way am I pre-ordering it no matter how great I love First person melee.

Finally... lets recap on Brink shall we? I followed that idea stated right above that you know what you like, and if the game looks familiar or interesting enough then sure you can really get set on risking it. Oh and those Doom extras, how cool does that look? I knew this game. I studied it, watched its videos, the Killzone community was all strong about this idea that Brink would move us forward as Killzone 3 put itself a couple steps back. We were absolutely right about its idea of a shooter... but we totally didn't see that important detail about its general content. It had no campaign despite what the interface and "revolutionary" hype will try to say otherwise, and it had only 8 maps in the entire mode. The entire game was 8 maps, standard mode, and you were doing the same attack and defend focused objectives the whole time. There were 3 poorly designed challenge maps for leaderboard maniacs, but that's really all that's good for. The core gameplay in the objective multiplayer modes was perfect, but there was no room to flex it and go anywhere. The bots were also quickly predictable and dumb, making the decline on all platformers (even PC) really hurt it as its stands in the present. At least you could buy the game for $5 before it was even a year old. Things were bad enough that they felt they owed us temporarily free map pack DLC with all the issues and lack of levels the game had. When I go back and look on the trailers, I realized a big detail I missed: The levels never really changed. You saw the same look and feel to everything. There was a cleaner area, there was a garbage slum docking area, and there was talk of some underwater aquarium level, and that's most of what you saw in the footage. The campaign never looked like a campaign, we didn't hear about anything other than dynamic objective mode, the levels shown were kept to a few, and while I unconsciously dismissed it as them not giving away everything (or just not needing to say it, because team deathmatch is in all serious MP shooters... right?) the reality is that's because that's how the final game was. We saw the entire game in the trailers, and it wasn't enough to charge us $60 for. I was burned because I was too sure it would be what I wanted it to, and I was too sure that the free doom perk stuff was a nice little addition on top of what was in theory a multiplayer masterpiece. If I had waited, and saw this come out, I would see that this IP did not support staple modes and normal accessibility. If it was a sequel now, I would be able to look back on its older work and see what it did and didn't do for them, and they'd keep promises more level headed than to confuse a campaign with just a clone of MP with small cut-scenes. So please guys, I know there will be exceptions and games that work out well (like borderlands, where can easily tell its a loot RPG with guns and know if you like that), but 90% of the time you should just not go there with pre-ordering new IPs. The sad thing is they will push you for it, because they're worried and scared they wont see your $60 since they're not another safe Assassins Creed sequel, but you need to let them prove themselves and ignore the dumb pre-order bribes.

- Is a pre-order needed?

No. Probably not, and being blunt that's really where I should end it, but I'm terrible at being concise so I'll blabber on anyways. I guess running out of copies is a tiny concern that can just maybe happen sometimes... maybe. I just don't think there's any series out there that actually needs a pre-order to secure a copy from being soldout anymore though. COD is always there at launch, and needs to sustain a heavy print amount of copies (also its... y'know, one of those you shouldn't instantly trust because of their server instability). I usually see those obscure japanese games out there at their launch for at least the first month. Heck even Smash bros, a game I swore up and down would be missing for like its first 3 months, is still on store shelves wherever I go and always has been since launch. To top all of it off, there's digital distribution now. Yeah it pains me to say "go digital" but that's an option better than risking a rushed pre-order over the almost non-existent concern of selling out.

In conclusion...

Pre-orders are great for super fans. If you're a super fan of Far Cry 3 and FC4 is giving you more of that, I can see a real reason to grab that or its collector's edition. If you really trust Metal Gear Solid 5, a lot of people have your back on that decision to secure it and expect greatness from the (probably partially insane) mastermind behind the series. Same for Witcher 3, Uncharted 4, etc. If Jak & Daxter suddenly return tomorrow and you've just absolutely got to have it because that was the best thing ever to you, then go for it. What about that new IP though? Only if you're a fan of the type of content (since you don't know the game itself), and even then I would say try not to. Should you pre-order that generic shooter you might get because its got a cool bonus skin? No! Should you pre-order that weird spin-off because you get a free 4 year old dirt cheap game? No. Should you pre-order at best buy? No! Sorry, had to warn of that again. Should you pre-order from Ubisoft, Activision, EA, Deep Silver, or 2K? Unless its an exception to their usual standards (like how PopCaps stuff isn't as troubled as say Dice's stuff), no. Just for the general rule, unless you're a fan or have a serious reason to trust something, do not pre-order. That being said, if you do fit into either those (trust/fan) then I totally stand by and support your right to pre-order. I think a little bit of the optimism and fun is lost in this extreme buyer beware situation of demonizing pre-orders, which is why I've stayed out of it. Like I said with being a fan, or grabbing your first CE, there's a certain excitement that comes from that you just don't feel as a normal pick-up routine. You're not just getting a game, you're getting one of the games you've been anxiously waiting maybe over a year for. If you make pre-order an earned treat, rather than just you taking the bait, then it feels really good and it makes that day of getting a great game even greater. However a treat isn't a treat if you're messing it all up. Be responsible about it, and don't go pre-ordering and trusting anything. Really think about what you're getting into. Personally speaking though I imagine I'll end up pre-ordering Ratchet & clank, and Uncharted 4, and I'm thinking those are some good bets. I'm truly excited for those games, and I hope you all are putting your excitement in a good and fun place to.

Thanks for playing: Nintendo's 2014 rise

Well I already covered that I thought this was a great year for gaming. Unfortunately its not a point many agree on. Even for those that do agree on it, they're saying it from the perspective of the Wii U and still ignoring lots of amazing titles. However they're still right to praise the Wii U and hold that up as the iconic mark of this year's golden chance at having some fun. Nintendo hit hard with a lot of big titles. Mario Kart 8, Smash Bros, Bayonetta 2, and plenty of smaller or more niche gems like Toad's spin-off puzzler game, Donkey Kong tropical freeze, and Hyrule Warriors. Add that onto the stuff that people were already cheering about the Wii U for, like 3D world and pikmin 3, and you have some very happy Wii U owners. Oh yeah and I think Shovel Knight is currently console exclusive to it as well. Every single big profile game from Nintendo hit a happy mark, while the other consoles had shared games with high profile failures, broken games, microtransactions, and now at the end of the year we're hearing about how they both were taken down to screw up some folk's christmas. I wont hide the fact that they still got many incredible games, but I can sure see why people are praising Nintendo's efforts more.

I really think that a lot of it has to do with the fact that Nintendo is still "stuck in the past" in many ways. However as any common reader of this blog might be able to pick up on, I don't exactly see much wrong with that if the "past" was any good. When consoles just worked, games just worked, discs were pop-in and play, and games had an inherently "fun" presence about them, things were all pretty good. In all those ways and more, like couch co-op, Nintendo really is stuck in the past. For a while now people have said "gamers will get sick of buggy games" and I think that time is coming up sooner than ever before with the high profile disappointments and whatnot. Meanwhile Nintendo has been in the green this entire time, and they're releasing major high profile titles that are doing a grand job. Oh and if you're still on that bandwagon that they're weak in hardware, do yourself a favor and go buy Mario Kart 8 which may be my favorite visuals on any of the newer consoles. Yeah its not the best in raw tech power, but I can't stop thinking of how amazing and happy the well refined style feels on the Wii U hardware.

They're also producing diverse games, things different from one another and things that are going to grab your attention if you don't  already have it. Meanwhile if you have one high profile ubisoft game, it works on the ubisoft game formula where you've got towers, sidequests, money begging, and progression grinding. If you buy one activision game, its going to milk you to death. If you buy a bethesda game its probably going to feel like it derived off an older PC game. If you buy a sony or microsoft game you're going to be comparing it to some 3rd party equivalent for some reason or another, because almost all of them work off some iconic formula (even if a game doesn't turn out to stick too close, it'll still grab some sense of "feeling" like it). There isn't necessarily anything wrong with this by itself, but when almost everyone has a very specific style or is copying another, things get more predictable and stale. If so many big hyped games are just open world stuff running on a familiar grind, you have a game like WatchDogs that disappoints. If you have a high profile game that is yet another cinematic adventure, you're going to only stick around for as long as the trend. Personally I'm a guy that has bought quite a few ubisoft games despite their similarities, and they're still fun, but the thing is I think I'm really done with them now. I already dodged unity because its more of the same with even less user control (hidden blades are now automatic, no thanks). Now by contrast If you buy Toad's Treasure tracker you're getting the one and only toad's treasure tracker, a unique and light heated platformer puzzle adventure. If you run out and buy Bayonetta 2, you're buying a two pack game bundle of possibly the most critically acclaimed fighter ever that no other company wanted to publish. If you buy Smash Bros you'll have hundreds of hours of multiplayer brawling content from a cast that comes from around 40+ games. Even if you run out and buy the generic new super mario bros wii U copy, you're getting the one and only 2D Mario series that is tuned and done the way that only Nintendo would publish in the modern day. I guess there is rayman for an alternative to that one though, but even then that's yet another niche game from a genre people don't usually talk much about anymore. Nintendo has these things covered though, and has them delivered in an extremely gamey "fun" fashion that is just proud to be a fun game. Again I'm not saying the other more predictable styles are in any way bad on the whole, I love a lot of it, but I'm saying Nintendo covers more interesting ground.

In the past maybe I'd say nintendo has too many linear strict (and by that I mean usually precision based) experiences, as is the case with either most Japanese games or platformer type things. On top of that there's the obvious sight that most of their stuff has that family friendly type of format to it, so where is the coverage for people that want more cinematic or serious games? Going back to precision complaint first though, Zelda works by a very directed formula. Mario and DK go on one plane of field. Even Mario 3D world is more like a 2D style platformer done in 3D. However Nintendo proves to be more than that in recent times. In one year alone they've released their most iconic replayable series, Mario Kart and Smash Bros. On top of that, bayonetta also throws in a more easily accessible and replayable format of a game, though it still is lit on precision. However the biggest kick, is the Zelda franchise. Not only did they HD remake one of the more (supposedly) open entries of the franchise, but they put together a major spin-off where you can easily get a ton of replay and free experimentation with different characters and weapons and maps, and the next major game in the franchise is actually going to be an open world game. That all just blows my mind, and I'm proudly going to say that I am actually fascinated by this upcoming Zelda entry. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that its the very thing I've always wanted this series to be, but of course I'm prepared to still feel left out if it remains "not my thing". Still they're actually trying. They're stepping out of the box, doing new things, and bringing up so many replayable, different, and interesting games. You've also got splatoon (a multiplayer shooter.... yeah, from nintendo), mario level maker, and probably something else I'm forgetting that is coming up. Nintendo is now free of any chance of predictability, except for the fact that everything they're publishing in recent times is high quality, and complete stuff that you can just pop into your console and play (sometimes there are software updates, but its so few and far apart and not required to enjoy the games). That's the only thing predictable about them, and that's why they're getting a lot of praise right now in the face of some foul triple A practices, and disappointments.

A really good idea we never expected

I do believe that 2014 was still good outside of Nintendo stuff, but this article feels necessary as Nintendo has still been doing one amazing job holding up some great titles in 2014. I regret to say I've only grabbed MK8 and smash bros from them, but I really want some of the other stuff and what I've played on kiosks at stores is very promising. They've got the most games I still want out of last year, which is really weird seeing as I dodged many games from my favorite publishers (bethesda and sony, I only needed one from each), and watched as another burned themselves over and over again (ubisoft... which I'm really not sure if I want to do an article on their weird yet predictable situation). Meanwhile Nintendo has so many good titles, but their "we will never drop our prices, because we say so" mentality and their history keep me cautious about things. Still so many ones that on some impulse or another I want to buy, and there's so many reasons to support them. They're the only ones making consistently strong, well polished, unique games on a game console that actually feels like a game console. They deserve a lot of praise, and I may be looking at a generation where I focus more on them if they continue to impress. So Nintendo thank you for being here and doing what you do. Yes you may be "backwards", but this is a time when that's never been better.