Can you smell it? It’s in the air, everywhere, all around us. Some may not notice it, but that’s because they aren’t looking for it. Some call it buzz, others say it’s hype. But deep down, in my bones, I know what it really is: a console reveal. And with console reveals, inevitably, come the obligatory press conference, which can make or break a company’s calendar year with a simple blunder or by exceeding expectations. Gamers everywhere can make gold out of fools gold with these press conferences, a trademark for our industry since I can remember. And with every “giant enemy crabs” and “599 US dollars”, there’s a Watch Dogs unveiling, or GTA IV tattoo, or Gabe Newell surprise. Essentially, these things are mixed bags of disappointment and genuine shock, so with great responsibility to give us the information we so desperately need comes great power to spoil that in a heartbeat (or a demo of Skittles the tiger). Sony already let their cats out of the proverbial bag, with a PS4 event that I rather enjoyed. How can Microsoft top them, can them even do that, and what the hell are they going to do to top Usher’s groundbreaking performance at E3 last year
So...it’s been about three weeks since Injustice came out, and I feel those three weeks really helped me to gauge this review. With most games, the initial release doesn’t matter too much, since the game is more or less the same from there on, minus the addition of some patches or whatnot. But, with MMOs and fighting games, it may behoove savvy fans to wait out a bit, to see whether or not the kinks are ironed out. I can’t speak too much to the MMO front, but fighting games have a long legacy of not getting it right the first time around. Game breaking glitches, ban worthy character gimmicks, horrible imbalance between the cast, bad online connections, and other factors may lead to a strong argument to wait out on buying a new fighter. For me, the biggest risk in buying day one is how the community will react. Like a new kid at school being bullied, the fighting game community (or FGC as we affectionately call it) will devour anything it displeases, as with the first few months of Street Fighter X Tekken’s release. Day one combos, cheap tactics, no developer support post-launch, and a lack of actual dedicated players may be enough to end a game’s life (vanilla Marvel vs Capcom 3 had some of these problems). But with Injustice: Gods Among Us, the first reactions have been overwhelmingly positive, enough for me to watch the game played in tournaments, and to pick it up myself. So here is my reaction to the new wildly successful addition to the FGC’s line-up
2013 has, and will continue to be, the year of next generation consoles. It feels like everyday I’m writing something up about the Playstation 4 or next Xbox, and I doubt that will seize as the consoles inch closer to hitting store shelves. But throughout this entire prelude period, I keep finding myself asking one question: why would I buy one of these? Last go around, the answer was obvious: the leap we made between the PS2 era and the PS3 era was huge in almost every department. But this time around? Well, the improvements are more superfluous than anything. But every next generation console needs its killer app, right? The kind of game that pushes players to invest in a new machine, to hop off of the train of the last generation and unto the badass hover car of the next. And for the Playstation 4 and next generation Xbox, could Ubisoft’s Watch Dogs be that game
This is it. The moment I finished up the campaign for Bioshock: Infiinte, I spoke those words aloud to myself. It's been a crazy generation of console gaming since the Xbox 360 first hit store shelves almost eight years ago, and in that time we've seen a lot of amazing accomplishments. Bioware revolutionized RPG gaming with their (mostly) fantastic Mass Effect series. Naughty Dog created a new type of video game hero with Nathan Drake in Uncharted. Rockstar revolutionized the open world genre not once, but twice with Grand Theft Auto IV and Red Dead Redemption. And Telltale Games crafted one of the best storylines to ever be featured in a video game with their genre defining The Walking Dead: The Video Game. Yeah, we've seen a lot of progression for the video game industry as a whole this generation. But, in a way, it was all leading up to this. It was all leading up to Bioshock Infinite. And the payoff was more than worth it...because Bioshock Infinite isn't just one of the best games of this year. Hell, it's not even just one of the best games of this generation. It's one of the best games ever made, period
Well guess what? Internet rumors were true again! We've been hearing for a while that Warner Bros. was preparing for a new Arkham game to come out late this year, and since WB purchased some very tantalizing domain names a few months back, signs pointed to it being an origin story of sorts for the caped crusader (yes, another one). And now we know that is indeed the case, as Batman: Arkham Origins has officially been announced. But one thing that rumors didn't point to was who would be developing the game—everyone just kind of assumed Rocksteady Studios would return following Arkham Asylum and Arkham City. But apparently, that doesn't seem to be the case any longer
Wait! Please don’t run, this is a spoiler free article! Don’t worry, it is my intention to make sure you know nothing more about this game than you already do. In fact, I really wish Irrational wouldn’t have shown us anything about Bioshock Infinite, because I felt like I knew too much going in. Not specifically story or spoiler wise, but I wanted to go in being as radio silenced as I could once I found out this game existed three years ago. If I lived in a vacuum, without marketing or commercials or previews or trailers or bias or expectations or hype, I’m sure I would enjoy more things. And since I was already sold on Infinite way back when they showed the first trailer, I really tried my hardest to stay away from it until it came out. I tried so hard to avoid any and all promotional materials, pre-order bonuses, achievement lists, and general information about the city of Columbia, and vigors, and Booker, and Elizabeth
The Call of Duty series is certainly a weird one. Despite being billed as the same series, there's at least three sub-branches of Call of Duty games: Modern Warfare, Black Ops, and just straight up Call of Duty (the first three games set in World War II). Even though all three sub series' feature completely different plots, settings and characters, they are all still housed under the same Call of Duty name. Branding at its finest, folks. Whatever the case, Call of Duty better prepare itself to be split up even further because, if a recent report is to believed, a new branch will be added to its repertoire—Call of Duty: Ghosts
Well, it’s been a whole month since Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time came out. So in reality, this isn’t really a timely review. Unless you’re a gamer who is still on the fence about purchasing certain titles, don’t use this as a buyer’s guide. We here at Geek Binge aren’t the top critics or journalists on the Internet; basically we’re regular folk like you, who get a game when it comes out on launch day and play between our everyday activities. Since life can get in the way of things, and not everyone blitzes through campaigns like I did when I was in middle school, I’d like to think this review is more of a retrospective, a continuation of the discussion after the game has hit the market and everyone has gotten a chance to get their hands on it, or decided to not play it entirely. This enables you, the reader, to get in on this conversation, since all current games media is about previewing games and figuring out if something will be worth purchasing. But the gaming population doesn’t get a behind the scenes look at upcoming games; they only play the ones that are out, and play them long after a review goes up. So with that philosophy in mind, here are my thoughts on Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time, thoughts I’ve had some time to think about, allotting you to be able to know what the hell I’m talking about. Nothing is worse in reviews than having to summarize stories, or recap, or explain elements, or spoil events, or even ruin new characters. So without further ado, here I go!
Can you smell it? It’s in the air, everywhere, all around us. Some may not notice it, but that’s because they aren’t looking for it. Some call it buzz, others say it’s hype. But deep down, in my bones, I know what it really is: a console reveal. And with console reveals, inevitably, come the obligatory press conference, which can make or break a company’s calendar year with a simple blunder or by exceeding expectations. Gamers everywhere can make gold out of fools gold with these press conferences, a trademark for our industry since I can remember. And with every “giant enemy crabs” and “599 US dollars”, there’s a Watch Dogs unveiling, or GTA IV tattoo, or Gabe Newell surprise. Essentially, these things are mixed bags of disappointment and genuine shock, so with great responsibility to give us the information we so desperately need comes great power to spoil that in a heartbeat (or a demo of Skittles the tiger). Sony already let their cats out of the proverbial bag, with a PS4 event that I rather enjoyed. How can Microsoft top them, can them even do that, and what the hell are they going to do to top Usher’s groundbreaking performance at E3 last year... Read More→
Published on May 15th, 2013 | by Matthew Legarreta
When it comes to screwing over gamers, no company is better than EA. There's a reason they were voted the most hated company on the planet—even though they make good games, they have been absolutely horrible when it comes to public relations and basic company policies. One of their most recent policies has probably gotten the most scorn from gamers—the much hated Online Pass system that requires users to pay an additional price for mutliplayer if they did not buy the game new. But apparently EA is trying to change their image, and the first step to that is getting rid of the Online Pass altogether. It's a start, right... Read More→
So...it’s been about three weeks since Injustice came out, and I feel those three weeks really helped me to gauge this review. With most games, the initial release doesn’t matter too much, since the game is more or less the same from there on, minus the addition of some patches or whatnot. But, with MMOs and fighting games, it may behoove savvy fans to wait out a bit, to see whether or not the kinks are ironed out. I can’t speak too much to the MMO front, but fighting games have a long legacy of not getting it right the first time around. Game breaking glitches, ban worthy character gimmicks, horrible imbalance between the cast, bad online connections, and other factors may lead to a strong argument to wait out on buying a new fighter. For me, the biggest risk in buying day one is how the community will react. Like a new kid at school being bullied, the fighting game community (or FGC as we affectionately call it) will devour anything it displeases, as with the first few months of Street Fighter X Tekken’s release. Day one combos, cheap tactics, no developer support post-launch, and a lack of actual dedicated players may be enough to end a game’s life (vanilla Marvel vs Capcom 3 had some of these problems). But with Injustice: Gods Among Us, the first reactions have been overwhelmingly positive, enough for me to watch the game played in tournaments, and to pick it up myself. So here is my reaction to the new wildly successful addition to the FGC’s line-up... Read More→
Ah yes, another day, another rumor about the next Xbox. It's gone from the point of me getting tired of all the rumors, to me getting frustrated at all of them, to me starting to ignore them, and finally paying attention to them once more as the big reveal even approaches in the next few weeks. And when it comes to sustainability this one isn't TOO important—it's just the name of the system after all, which ultimately means very little when you're dealing with software matters like always online DRM, Blu-Ray disc players, used game compatibility, Kinect integration and the like. Still though, it's fun to speculate, right... Read More→
Well it was only a matter of time I guess. The Sims is one of the most popular video game franchises of all time, selling hundreds of millions of copies since it first started way back in 2000. And with The Sims 3 out for about four years now and EA quickly running out of former expansions from previous iterations of the series to re-package, the inevitable has finally been announced: EA and Maxis are putting together The Sims 4 for a release sometime next year... Read More→
Every day the clock is ticking further and further towards the big reveal of Microsoft's next generation console. At this point we're only two weeks away from the event, yet rumors are as persistent as always. Leave it to the internet; they'll keep leaking information until the very last minute. But while there's been about a billion things in the past few days about names, software, and the like, this is probably one of the bigger ones. Despite rumors to the contrary, Microsoft's next generation console my not be always online. Or, you know, it still could be. Who has any idea really? Whatever the case, we have more evidence to the contrary. Check out the incriminating (or, in this case, probably exonerating) evidence after the break... Read More→
Well so far, the internet has been right on the money with the next Call of Duty game. It is called Ghosts. It is coming out next November. And, just like the rumors said, it would first be announced sometime in May. Surprisingly it didn't premiere during the NBA semifinals like usual but, hey, can't be write on everything. Either way, there's were safe bets from the get go about the next Call of Duty game. Was there anything surprising and/or revealing about the game now that it has been officially announced? Um...no, not at all really. The teaser trailer doesn't even show any of the game, for good sake's! Whatever the case, you can check it out after the break if you absolutely must... Read More→
2013 has, and will continue to be, the year of next generation consoles. It feels like everyday I’m writing something up about the Playstation 4 or next Xbox, and I doubt that will seize as the consoles inch closer to hitting store shelves. But throughout this entire prelude period, I keep finding myself asking one question: why would I buy one of these? Last go around, the answer was obvious: the leap we made between the PS2 era and the PS3 era was huge in almost every department. But this time around? Well, the improvements are more superfluous than anything. But every next generation console needs its killer app, right? The kind of game that pushes players to invest in a new machine, to hop off of the train of the last generation and unto the badass hover car of the next. And for the Playstation 4 and next generation Xbox, could Ubisoft’s Watch Dogs be that game... Read More→
Matthew Legarreta is the Editor-in-Chief of Geek Binge. A big ol' ball of movie, TV, and video game loving flesh, Matthew started up Geek Binge in the Fall of 2012 to convince himself that he's doing something with his life. He isn't. Matthew also loves writing about himself in the third person, because it makes him feel important or something.
Wednesday Lee Friday is a novelist and freelance writer currently living in Ann Arbor Michigan. Her fourth horror novel, The Finster Effect, is available now and features a plague of rats lending zombies the assist as they consume all life on the globe. Wednesday is a rabid fan of quality movies and TV, a horror enthusiast, kitchen witch, and internet get-about. She also writes reviews, produces audiobooks, and assembles a wacky serial-killer comic every month for Resilient Brainforest.
Jake Wilbanks is the News Editor for Geek Binge and co-host of the Screen Bites podcast. A 20-year-old Journalism major hailing from the southern recesses of Tennessee, Jake loves talking about movies and why he loves them, fancies meeting new people to laugh with, has a deep appreciation of breakfast food, and plans on becoming Batman in the near future. He’s also very proud of his beard.
Kristina "Krissie" Rettig is a staff writer for Geek Binge. She gets random Star Wars links regularly posted to her Facebook wall because she lets her geek flag fly with abandon. In front of everybody. She has covered Comic-Con for Variety.com in the past, and is not beyond sitting in line for 6 hours to get into a panel just so she can breathe the same air as the Game of Thrones cast. Even if she's about 1,000 feet away from them—but it's not a big deal. Her non-discriminate tastes even overflow into the dark realm of reality television, so expect to see her holier-than-thou rantings on that as well. May the force be with you!
Jared Russo is a staff writer for Geek Binge, a student at the University of Central Florida, and enjoys writing in his free time. He is an avid fan of fighting games, and is a tournament player for Street Fighter 4. When he is not writing or street fighting, he is podcasting about movies, developing screenplays he won't sell, and advocating The Wire using hyperbole.
Justin is a staff writer for Geek Binge and co-host of the Screen Bites podcast. Justin earned the nickname "Surly" when he worked as a video store clerk, but he's not surly, he's just misunderstood—stupid.
