Now, I was reminded of Flower yet again by this review. I went back and watched a couple of Youtube videos, and realized that this game is freaking awesome.

Basically, for those who’ve been living under a rock, Flower is a game where you are the wind, restoring the beauty to the environments and making everything look awesome in general. And BTW, this game looks FREAKING awesome, even for a PSN title.

The general consensus is that this game is a fresh break from more tense games. Everything from the ‘plot’ to the graphics to the environment to just the game itself is just… relaxing. Considering the stress that fills all of our lives, it’s sounds like a hit already. The game comes out the day after tomorrow, and IGN says it’s a ‘must play’, so go play it if you have a PS3, and if you know someone who has a PS3. I know I will

~Chronoslayer

Not exactly gaming related, but Mozilla, going to go help European Comission sue the pants off of Microsoft concerning anti-trust issues and Microsoft’s browser, Internet Explorer. If they win, then Microsoft might not be allowed to bundle IE with new versions of Windows.

Personally, I don’t care. I only use that piece of crap to download Firefox and Chrome. IE has been loosing market share for years ever since Firefox became awesome, and Chrome is gaining more ground, too. Besides, if they didn’t put IE in PCs, then how would you download said better pieces of software?

I leave you with that thought. *scurries off to NBC*

Source: PCWorld.com

First off, sorry for the lack of updates in the later half of last week. I blame it on laziness. Moving on.

So, basically, after about a moth of relative peace, during with much was accomplished, the dreaded School has decided to resurrect itself and bite me in the butt. Many projects trials await completion defeat before things will become something close to normal, but until then, updates for this week will should hold, but anything goes for the next two after than, as said trials seem to thrive at the end of the month.

In other news, I may (still tentative at the moment) start writing my thoughts about the most recent episode of Heroes and Lost. As these air on Monday and Wednesday, respectively, I’m going to try to have said articles up by Tuesday and Thursday, also respectively. I tried doing this last week, but I kept debating what I actually wanted to talk about, so I ended up just scrapping it.

Other than that, not much else, so I shall leave you all to your mundane lives for now. DiG will continue as long as my sanity will hold.

~Chronoslayer

Co-op is something that most games should have by now, IMHO. Sure, multiplayer is fun and all, and the variety of online modes add to the replay value immensely, but sometimes I don’t feel like that. Sometimes, I just want to plop down in front of the TV, hand a controller to my friend, and rock away at the single player campaign.

Shooters, in particular, should always have some form of co-op, whether it’s online of off. With voice chat, the only difference between to two is your buddy’s wither sitting on your couch, or theirs. Also, the fact that single player campaign’s are getting shorter (CoD4’s is about 10 hours total) means that all the dedication to the story the developers put is only looked at once. With co-op, you’ve got multiple (as many friends you have) reasons to go back to it, see things that you didn’t see before, and take a break from all of those Horde sessions.

Fighters (see: TMNT) could also use the co-op treatment. Using the TMNT example again, there are four Turtles, always. And giving me only single player and multiplayer, when I’ve got three other guys just hopping around acting cool, is a little stupid, if you ask me. TMNT party, anyone?

So, when making a game, developers should give a little more attention to co-op, as it adds to the overall value of the game per dollar. Which is a definite plus in these times.

Source: Gamesradar.com

Tomorrow’s going to be my thoughts on Heroes, and Thursday’s going to have my thoughts on Lost. Just thought I’d give you guys a heads-up!

~Chronoslayer

Two words: Completely. Unnecessary.

Apparently, yesterday Nintendo dropped their estimated profits by 12% (Let’s just say that that’s a lotta DS’s, ‘specially to a company that seemed invincible against the global recession). However, part of this was because price cuts for the other two big gurus in the console manufacturing market – you know who you are – were predicted around the same time. Due to this and the recession going on right now, some analysts have said that, yep, the Wii may enjoy a ‘small’ price cut in the not-so-far away future.

Why?

The Wii has been selling like hotcakes for the past two years, and shows no signs of slowing down, if the NPD numbers are to be believed. I doubt that Nintendo would forfeit potential big bucks by cutting the price (They make $6 per console at  $250 a Wii), so could you blame this on the economy? Perhaps, but 12% is a big number. If push came to shove, and Nintendo started to get in trouble, then I could see a price drop a-comin’.

Maybe the loss is coming from all the potential cash being spent on development for the next Mario, or Zelda. Hell, we haven’t heard from Samus in a while, either. If that’s not the case, then could the money be from the development the Wii 2? Nah, I didn’t think so, either. 

Whatever the case, Nintendo probably has a good reason, even if it’s the global economy being flushed down the toilet.

Source: Gamingfront.net

Leipzig, Germany’s and thus Europe’s version of E3 has been cancelled this year. A moment of silence…

Okay, that’s over! Taking it’s place will be Gamescom, a convention that’s says it’s going to focus on more online and mobile gaming. Gameforge 4D and Bigpoint, both industry leaders in handheld & mobile gaming, will be supporting this event.

I personally believe this is a good thing. Last year, both Nintendo and Microsoft didn’t show up, which severely hurt the convention’s credence in Europe. This showed that Leipzig needed to be retired, or at least reimagined. Plus, both E3 and TGS seem to focus more on console games. With a convention focusing on their handheld counterparts, this will give a better chance for the not-quite AAA titles that would’ve otherwise gone under the radar.

Now, this begs the questions if E3 needs a revamp as well. Me thinks so, but do you? Comment away!

~Chronoslayer

And so, I give you Paper, a Ray Bradbury-inspired short story, by me. Enjoy!

Paper

I

Seth Ritter looked up at the blank wall in the room, waiting. Finally, the list came up. There were thirty or so items on the projected image, a list of books sorted by author. He looked at the bottom of the list: Dante’s Inferno, 2006 edition. He glanced at Grandpa, who in turn scanned at the list, then pointed at a bookcase on the west side of the room. Searching, he found the book near the bottom of the case. Seth pulled it out and examined it; it looked a little newer than the Foundation book he had been reading prior to all of the chaos, but didn’t look as interesting. He shrugged, put the book at the bottom of the bag he was holding, and went back to the list.

***

“Seth, wake up, we’re here.”

Yawning, Seth Ritter stepped out of the car, pocketing his Omni-Viewer, and looked around. In front of him, an ugly, brown-as-dirt two-story house sat in front of him. Like all houses, it was small, with a driveway for a car in the front, and a porch with a wooden rocking chair that looked like it hadn’t seen a fresh coat of paint this side of the century. Seth, along with his mother and father, walked up the driveway. The driveway was the same width as the house, another sign that this world was running out of space to fit everybody. Well, there always were the forests outside the nameless Denver suburb where Seth’s grandpa lived, but of course Environmentalists, with their crazy protesting and blocking of the wishes of Congress, had deemed it ‘harmful to the planet’ if those forests were to be cut down. Now they were just sitting there, wasting precious space in Seth’s opinion.

His thoughts were derailed when Grandma opened the door. Smiling, she entangled Seth in a bear hug that even its namesake would have a hard time getting out of. “Oh Seth,” she said, “It’s so good to see you again! How have you been?”

“I’m fine, Grandma.” Seth said into her clothes, slightly muffled. “How are you?”

Grandma held Seth out at arm’s length. “I’m just fine,” she said, “but come in, come in! How was the trip over here? Oh, Detroit is so far away, you all must be so worn out.”

“The trip was fine, Mom.” Seth’s dad said as they stepped into the house. “It didn’t take very long; we took the Hyperway.”

“Oh, the Hyperway.” Grandma rolled her eyes. Smiling, Seth walked to the kitchen; Grandma would, as it was the fashion of many people her age, now begin a long rant that would turn into an argument between herself and her son. These arguments usually were pointless, were always about modern issues/technology, and Grandma usually won, even if you didn’t realize that at first.

Thirsty, Seth pulled out a glass from the cupboard above the sink, and filled it with water.

“What, no ‘hello hug’ for me?” a gruff voice said from behind Seth.

He turned around. A tall, Caucasian man with a ring of white hair on his head, deep blue eyes, and a lopsided grin that was impossible to forgot if you’ve seen it once, was leaning in the kitchen doorway.

“Grandpa!” Seth exclaimed. He hugged him tightly, and Grandpa jumped back a little bit. “Whoa there, Seth!” he exclaimed, “I’m not as nimble as I once was.”

“Sorry, Grandpa.” Seth stepped back and looked at him. Grinning again, Grandpa looked back at his grandson. Both did seem a little older than they remembered, Seth looked more like an adult, but Grandpa looking a little older, a little more tired. Seth sighed inwardly; he always did seem more tired every time they saw him, but he seemed to have even more energy, a desire to keep kicking, to keep doing as much as possible, as long as possible that got stronger as the years went by. This was one of the reasons why Seth liked Grandpa so much; he was a cool Grandpa.

“So,” Grandpa said, “How have you been?”

***

II

“Hurry up, Seth.” Grandpa said as he grabbed another book from a shelf and put it in his own bag. Seth looked over at the metal door. A hissing sound had been coming from the other side, and had been getting louder. Suddenly, a blue flame shot through the upper right-hand corner of the door, and slowly began to inch its way down the outline. They were cutting their way in! Seth looked at Grandpa, who was also staring at the door, and motioned at the two of them to get back to work.

***

On the last day of the visit, Seth, his dad, Chuck, and Eugene, his Grandpa, decided to have a ‘guy’s day’ by sending the ladies out on a final day of shopping. They had spent the day playing board games, surfing the Net, and simply sharing stories over glasses of beer for the adults, and soda for Seth. Seth was having a wonderful time; he had learned a lot about his dad and grandpa when they were younger, and it was interesting to see how Dad dealt with the problems that most kids face then and now.

Then, suddenly, the atmosphere in the room changed. Specifically, Grandpa became a lot more anxious, as if he knew something bad was going to happen, but couldn’t tell anyone. Chuck, Seth’s dad, sensed this change as well. “What’s up, dad?”

Grandpa looked at him, hands folded, staring at the television hanging on the wall. After a pause, he stood up and walked up to it. He slid his fingers under the bottom, and flipped it up, so the three of them were staring at the back of the television, upside down. Placing his hands on the now-unobscured wall, he seemed to be feeling around for something. Suddenly, a green square appeared in the center. Grandpa placed his hand on it, and the square flashed. An affirmative ‘ping’ sounded, and Grandpa stepped back as the wall slid back. Seth watched in amazement as the wall slid back about a foot, then soundlessly shifted to the left. The result was a rectangular opening about six feet high by four feet wide, that led to a dark stairway. Grandpa walked inside and began to step carefully down a staircase. He turned around. “Coming?” he asked.

Seth and Chuck looked at each other, then Seth shrugged and followed after his grandpa. Chuck, after a moment’s hesitation, followed after the two. Together, the three of them made it to the bottom of the stairwell, and arrived at a metal door with a keypad embedded in the wall to the right. Grandpa punched in a combination, and the metal door slid up soundlessly. Walking inside, the three generations of Ritter stepped into a pitch black room. A ‘click’ came from near the doorway, and the lights came on, revealing a room with walls almost completely covered with mismatched bookcases filled with books, save for a computer terminal in the corner and a couple patches of bare wall where the pieces of furniture failed to obscure the gray walls of the room.

Seth looked around in amazement. He turned to his dad, and was surprised to find Dad looked… angry? Cautiously, he asked, “Dad, what is this?”

His dad was going to answer, but Grandpa cut it. “This is my private collection of papers books, Seth.”

Seth had a confused look. “Paper books?” he asked, “They make those?”

***

III

The flame had cut through almost the entire outline of the door, and the door was starting to fall over under its own weight. Seth scanned the list. They still needed to collect about a third of the books on the list, but they didn’t have that much time! Seth looked at Grandpa. Scanning the shelves, he expertly picked out a book and put it in the bag with one movement. He walked back to the computer to see Seth staring at the door. “Look,” he said, pointing at the door. Grandpa did; the door fell over, and the outline of five men could be seen.

Suddenly, a second door came down right at the entrance of the Book Room. There was a ‘thud’ as one or two of the five men smashed into the door. There was a commotion, and then a muffled “You can’t hide in there forever, Eugene!”

“Watch me,” Grandpa muttered as he turned back to the computer. “Seth, hurry up! The second door’s not going to last as long as the first one.”

Seth nodded, and scanned at the list for the next item to get.

***

The three of them were seated in various chairs near the computer. Grandpa had one leg resting on the other, and was looking quite content. Grandpa broke the silence. “So, I guess you guys need an explanation?

He sighed. “I suppose it all started about forty years ago, shortly before your father was born, Seth. The Internet was still in its infancy, and computers were well on their way to becoming mainstream. So, most information was stored on paper. Needed to write something down? You took out a pen, grabbed some scrap of paper, wrote it down, and put the info away until it was needed. Nothing fancy, just good old paper.

“Of course, you didn’t just scribble notes on paper. You wrote full words. Sentences. Paragraphs. As I said, nearly all information mankind was on paper in some form or another. Books for school, books for jobs, and anything else you can think of. It was pretty sweet, while it lasted.”

“What happened?” Seth said.

“Well, a problem arose; can you see it? What’s the problem with being able to create anything you want with nothing more than a pencil and your imagination?”

Seth thought about it. “You could offend someone.”

Grandpa smiled grimly. “Yes, you could. Religion, politics, always there was someone suing someone else because they thought they were being misrepresented, or being publically offended. So what did they do? Did they just suck it up, or try to reason whether or not they had a legitimate reason to be angry? No, they tried to change things with stupid work-arounds and methods.

“You know what the President says when he is inaugurated? Well, he had the option to say ‘so help me God’ at the end. Most did, but some atheists – people who didn’t believe in a God – believed that, by saying ‘So help me God’, you are promoting the fact that God exists. It took a few tries, but they succeeded in changing the Constitution, and now the President cannot reference any religion in any way during any official ceremonies. This was later extended to all government ceremonies.”

A lengthily silence followed, and was broke by Seth, “But that doesn’t make any sense. When you say ‘so help me God’, you aren’t promoting anything; you’re just saying that you believe in a God, and are asking him for help.”

“Exactly!” Grandpa exclaimed, “But it only got worse from there. Y’see, fantasies – made-up stories – became a hot debate topic. Some people believed that they were keeping America from progressing as it should. The phrase that caught on, I think, was “We need to get our heads out of the ground and stop living in a fantasy world.” This idea, to the surprise of everyone, began to gather steam. This culminated in a ‘government experiment’; dealing, using, or transporting non-fiction in any form was made illegal. This included everything related to religion, video games, and anything else that was made up to some degree.

“This had two effects. The first was that America actually improved overall. Surprising, right? But the other effect was a black market for fantasy that popped up and thrived for a while. It thrived for a while, but then the feds started to get creative.

“It took a while to start and finished up quickly, but the black market for fantasy was successfully shut down. Of course, there were some occasional spates, and not all writing stopped; pretty much all non-fiction works still existed in print or electronic form. But fiction was, for all purposes, gone from America, and – once the rest of the world’s governments caught on – the entire world.”

***

IV

“There. We’ve got all of them.”

Grandpa and Seth were looking thought their bags, double-checking against the list one last time. The blue flame had just begun to cut through the second door, but it didn’t matter; the two of them were done.

Grandpa sighed, then grabbed both of the bags. He pressed a third hidden button, and one of the bookcases swiveled around to reveal a secret door, presumably heading to safety/outside.

Almost into the passageway, he stopped and turned to Seth. Slowly, he said, “Seth, you have a choice. You can stay here, with your family, and forget about me and this forever,” he waved his hands around the room. “I will never step in your life again.”

“Or, you could let me visit occasionally. It would be secret, and we might get caught, but you could come and learn about all that has been taken away from the world. Who knows, maybe you could come and work at HQ someday. Anyway, it’s your call.”

Thinking, Seth looked around the room. At the books, which contained vast oceans of knowledge and culture that had been almost forgotten. At the door, and the men who would protect the world from the past the books represented, and who would apparently do anything to keep it that way. At his dad, whom he loved very much. Finally, he looked at his Grandpa, whom he also loved.

Seth made his decision, and Grandpa nodded.

***

Seth thought about all that his grandfather had said. Finally, he asked, “But what about all the stories in those old paper books. If you collected books, you didn’t get any new ones, but you still had the old ones. Did the government let you keep them?”

Grandpa smiled. “No, they didn’t. In fact, they were made illegal, too. The Burnings, which took place after they did their rounds on the Internet, were simpler: all fiction books were to be burned either in your home with a witness, or in public Burnings, which took place publically, obviously, and in groups.

“So, it was either do that or go to jail. I, reluctantly and after much pestering from Grandma, opted to burn my wonderful collection, then thirty years in the making. Of course, we needed a witness, so I called over a buddy of mine from work. We had been friends since high school, and we had shared many interests, including the books we read. I sent Grandma on a trip, because I had to burn most of her books too and didn’t want her to see it, and invited my friend over.

“It was my surprise, however, when I lit the match for the first stack, he grabbed my hand and said, ‘Wait, there’s another way.’ That’s how I found out about the… group I’m now a part of. They helped me build this,” he swept his arms around the secret room, “and now I have become part of a group dedicated to preserving the past for the future.”

Seth’s Dad spoke for the first time since they entered the room. “Why did you do this, Dad? You could get in a lot of trouble if the Feds found out.”

Grandpa looked at him tiredly, as if this conversation had taken place many times in the long-forgotten past. “Son, I made that choice thirty years ago. I did it because I believed that that choice was right, nothing more. It makes sense to preserve the past for the future, so we don’t make the same mistakes, which is why I’m showing you two this.

“I’m getting old. You both know that. And once I die, I’m going to leave all of my earthly stuff behind, unfortunately. That includes my secret book collection. Of course, I’m going to give it to the group, but I wanted you two to see it, to show you a part of who I am. I hope you understand why I did this, and… that’s it.” He looked at his watch. “I’ve decided to move the stuff tonight, and they aren’t coming in a couple hours, so… you guys want to read something?”

Seth and Chuck looked at him, then at each other, then at Grandpa again. “Really?” Seth asked. Reading a paper book sounded pretty cool, and if it was illegal, then all the more reason!

Grandpa smiled, and he looked at the shelves, finally picking out a book from the shelf. “Here, I think you might like this.” Reading the title, Foundation, he stared at the cover. It had a picture of an old guy on a wheelchair, and was written by a dude named Asimov. Weird. He opened the book; it crackled, the spine groaning after years of not being used. Looking at the dedication on the first page, he began to read, but stopped when his eyes began to water. It took him a second, but he realized it was because the words were still on the page, and not scrolling upward at a controllable pace like they normally did on his Omni-Viewer. He blinked and tried again.

Eventually, he got the hang of it, and began to read. He was a fast reader, a talent that got him into trouble more than once in his younger days. Apparently, this book was about a dude who lived really far in the future, when the Galaxy was inhabited by people in the same manner of Earth today; they were everywhere, and lived under one rule: the Emperor’s.

So, this dude, Hari Seldon – what a weird name – invented this new kind of math called ‘Psychohistory’, and if you used it right, you could predict how a group of people would react to certain events, both in the present, and the future to a certain extent. He used this on the whole Galaxy, and apparently found out that the current Galactic Empire was heading downhill. The impending crash was too far along, and both happening within the next three hundred years and inevitable. However, a 30,000 year refresh period would happen after the crash, but before the next Empire was firmly established. So, to solve the problem, he set up a colony an uninhabited planet – called Terminus – and the people there were compiling a huge Galactic Encyclopedia that would help to squeeze the ‘Dark Ages’ into a single millennium.

This dude was protecting the past to help the future, just like Grandpa, Seth thought. Cool.

He was getting to the end of the first section when there was a clanking sound outside of the bunker. All three of them looked up. “What was that?” Grandpa whispered.

Seth shrugged and looked at his dad. He had sat down in front of the computer when Grandpa had finished talking. Looking up from it, he stared at Grandpa for a few seconds before saying, “I’m sorry, dad; I can’t let you do this.”

Grandpa stared back at him. “Do what?”

“Let you keep this.” He motioned around the room. “All of this. I’m sorry, but I just can’t stand to see you throw the rest of your life away.”

Grandpa scowled. “Throw it away? The Feds threw away a part of who we as humanity were, all for ‘progress’! After the Purge, the world accepted what had happened, and grew to hate the imagination. The world eventually became like you, Chuck: haters of the past, and haters of the imagination, even if they didn’t – and still haven’t – realized it.

“But what does it matter? Who cares who’s behind the door; anyone would do the same thing you did; call the people who would kill this piece of the past, and me, if they were able to catch me. Which they aren’t.” He said the last few words with steely determination, and clapped his hands twice.

Several things happened at the same time. Something made a whoosh sound as it whizzed past Seth’s head and hit Dad in the neck. He grabbed for it, but too late; the tranquilizer seeped into his bloodstream and he fell unconscious next to the terminal. Also, a ‘click’ came from the door, and Seth knew that it had been locked further than it had already been. At the same time, Grandpa began to run around with a bag, looking at the shelves and grabbing books. “No time,” he muttered to himself, then ran to the terminal, typing and clicking until he pulled up a list. Seth looked at it as Grandpa ran to go do whatever the computer had told him to do.

Apparently, the computer had compiled a list of ‘Unique books to Member #6345’s collection.’ So Grandpa was only grabbing the books that no one else had. Genius. Seth spun around as Grandpa said. “Well, don’t just stand there; help me!” He then said, “Project List,” and the overhead projector came down from the ceiling and began to boot up.

***

V

When they finally got inside, then found one body, a trashed room filled with Illegal Material, and a smoldering computer terminal, probably having self-destructed after the dealer had left. No matter; at least they left most of it. A couple men also grabbed the terminal, and the rest began to take account of everything.

Presently, the body stirred. Another man helped him up and out of the room . After the man was brought outside, he slowly realized where he was and remembered what happened. Quickly regained his senses, he began to explain to the fireman what had happened. As he talked, he half-watched as the firemen carried the books, outside in stacks, while others were taking account of everything, and still others began to turn the place into a crime scene. Once they made sure they had all of them, they brought out flamethrowers, and burned all of the books. He looked up, and thought he saw and old man with a boy crossing the street a few hundred yards down the road, but closed and rubbed his eyes, and saw that they weren’t there. Hmm, the stress must be getting to me, he thought as he watched the pages crinkle and turn black, and become nothing but ashes. Another two men swept them up, and put them into black trash bags to be thrown away. Chuck got up and put the bags on the curb. Better, he thought, much better.

***

And that’s it! Hope you enjoyed it, kudos if you’ve read the book Seth’s read, shame on you if you haven’t.

The main thing I focused on in this story is the quality. How do you make a story better, you ask? Well, you write it out; then you chop that up, put it in the order you want, edit the hell out of it so it sounds how you want it to sound, and finally have a friend go over it again. Originally, this was going to be all in chronological order, but I thought this suited it a little better. I probably won’t be doing this too often, ‘cause then that gets repetitive, but I liked this overall.

Sunday Specials is something I’m going to start. It’s basically a bigger article every Sunday, like a new story, or something on a current event. I’m going to use this to work on making stronger, longer articles about more than video games. …Yes, I know it’s Tuesday. Stuff came up, and I didn’t finish this until about noon on Tuesday (yay snow day!).

So, did you like it? Did you hate it? Criticism? Flames? Then sound off in the comments! Day in Gaming will resume Wednesday, see you then!

~Chronoslayer

Bethesda told MTV’s Multiplayer Blog recently that there aren’t any plans to carry over the ability to continue enjoying Fallout 3 via fan-demanded post-game DLC, which provides additional side-quests/expansions, to the PS3. Quoting the original article:

We got in touch with “Fallout 3″ executive producer Todd Howard for an answer. So, is post-ending adventuring something Bethesda is considering for PS3 players?

“Not at this time, no,” said Howard.

…Why? It doesn’t make sense to show preference to the 360, while shunning the PS3, and vice versa. Both sides have money, and are willing to give it to you if you give them a reason to. This is alienating part of the gaming community, and they are going to remember that in the future. Also, it doesn’t make sense to only partially support one platform, and fully support the others. It makes sense to go at this with an ‘all-or-nothing’ case. Financially, and from the public’s perspective, this is a very illogical move. Sorry, Bethesda, but you better right yourself before this blows up in your face.

Source: MTV’s Multiplayer Blog

Also, Ubisoft’s promising seven new games by April 2010, including Assassin Creed 2. Mario and Sonic at the Winter Olympics has been confirmed by IGN, and have also said that the DSi’s coming to North America by April. Finally, a Wii version of Spore’s been announced.

So, first off, Killzone 2 is fast approaching, and PS3 owners are eagerly hitting the ‘Refresh’ button at Metacritic.com, waiting for all of the official reviews to pour in. As of today, about a month from release, only a couple previously-spoken about reviews have surfaces, and they are looking pretty darn good; a 10/10 from Playstation Official Magazine U.S., and a 9/10 from its U.K counterpart. Many other’s have said little more than “Wow” about the game, but that’s good enough for most.

However, some people are becoming tired of Killzone 2 hype, and hype in general. Rothbart from the SarcasticGamer asks a question that many haven’t: Why does the video game industry hype up stuff months, and even years, before the products are released? If you don’t talk about your game enough, then it runs the risk of falling under the radar. On the other side, overhype always ends up in disappointment (See: Halo 3); if the publisher/developer/journalist says “This game is going to be freaking awesome!”, and it has any flaws, everyone except the fanboys are going to say “…they lied to me… *sniffle*”

In other news, Sony lost a LOT of money this year. They’re expected to post a loss of 150 billion Yen, their first loss in 14 years. Many are blaming this on the lack of PS3 sales and the ~$40 (down from ~$200) loss on the PS3. While this is relatively non-recent news, Sony revised their forecast for fiscal 2008, and said they’re going to lose another 30 billion yen, blaming it on the recent global economic downturn. Ouch.

Finally, IGN interviewed Ted Newman about the Wii’s forgotten survival horror game, Winter. The game, from what the interview says, sounds pretty awesome, and I wish a publisher would hurry up and pick up the game! Go and read the article for yourself, and give you opinion in the comments.

Sources (In Order) : Gamepro.com,  SarcasticGamer.com, Gamezine.co.uk, IGN.com

Oh, and here’s a list of games to watch out for in 2009, and NOT a review of Prince of Persia for the 360. <— I want that game now…

~Chronoslayer

First off, I’m almost done with the story that I’ve been writing off and on for the past three weeks. Expect that soon; I’m feeling pretty good about this one.

Second, you may have noticed a new button on the top bar on the blog, called ‘A Gamer’s Corner”. I’ve been wanting to post new content more often than I have since the year started, and since I have the next four days off, I’ve decided to start blogging about gaming news. I may’ve said something about it in the Resolution post, but I guess that sort of fell off of my ‘To-Do’ List. So, starting tomorrow (maybe tonight?) I’ll be writing little blurbs on stuff that’s caught my attention. It may be a little Nintendo-centered at times, but I’ll talk about the inferior other consoles as well. I should be able to do these things routinely every other day starting Monday, and will also start reviewing games.  Even more reason to check back often, right?

I guess that’s it, I might add an ‘About’, or a “Links’ page if I feel the site needs it, and I may give my thoughts on stuff that needs my thought-giving,  but other than that expect more content to hit the site regularly. Happy March for Life/New Presidency/2009!

~Chronoslayer

“You cannot kill what you did not create”

-Slipknot, Duality

EDIT: Comment, guys!  Thanks for the ones so far, but I need to hear from you guys now and in the future in order to give you better content!