Features: Video Games Channel
1-Up: Mass Effect 3 Demo Impressions
It's nice to see that somebody out there remembers what a demo is and why you release them... When I was younger, I had a subscription to PC Gamer. It was a decent magazine, but the best part was the bonus demo disc. Every month, I had approximately 12 to 15 different games to check out and decide to spend money on. Unfortunately, as I got older, games got bigger -- but CDs only had so much space. Fewer and fewer demos made their way via the old...
Random Drop Hits Us With Episode 4
After a long break between their third episode and the VGA special, Random Drop has given us a quick turnaround on their fourth episode (Does that mean the VGA special wasn't an episode? What does it all mean?!) In this installment, the crew talks about Batman: Arkham City, Dark Souls, RAGE and more. As always, the three Random Drop podcasters are Justin Huthmacher, Adam Nelson, and Rob Watkins. The podcast's home is http:/...
Random Drop's VGA 2011 Special Hits
Random Drop's fourth podcast made its way onto the web recently, after a long break from the last podcast, Oct. 24. If you're a big fan of the VGAs, then you may want to skip this podcast, as the group generally lampoons what the VGAs have become. As always, the three Random Drop podcasters are Justin Huthmacher, Adam Nelson, and Rob Watkins. The podcast's home is http://randomdrop.libsyn.com/. Episode 004's download location is...
Retrospective: Modern Warfare 3 versus Battlefield 3
Mario vs. Sonic. Metal Gear vs. Splinter Cell. Gran Turismo vs. Forza. You vs. everyone. The video game community has long been the grounds for spirited rivalries between similar franchises. Message boards become war zones, and comment sections transform into battlegrounds as devoted fans deliver their arguments and mud slinging vitriol, defending their favorite franchises with words delivered in machine gun staccato, as fast as their fingers...
The Best (And Worst) Video Games of 2011
It's that time of the year again, folks. The time when everybody starts making new years resolutions, only to break them in a matter of weeks. It also happens to be the time of the year when video game critics put out their awards for the industry. Fortunately for us, these edicts will withstand the test of time. From worst to best, find out here what we thought of 2011's offerings -- as well as those that shouldn't have seen the light of day. ...
One Man's Xbox Live Support Issues
Usually, customer service and support departments operate relatively smoothly. There may be glitches and hiccups sometimes, but in the end, customers get helped. This is especially true if you're talking about companies such as Amazon, which has such an exemplary track record with customer service that, well ... I can't even think of a time when it didn't go above and beyond to help me with issues. Unfortunately, sometimes issues can linger...
The Customer Is Always (Allowed to Be) Right
There’s a point at which a company’s actions come across backward and anti-consumer, even by modern-day corporate standards. But, beneath all the seemingly underhanded, shady business tactics, there have to be reasons. Whether those reasons are good is subjective, yet they will at least be understandable. Sony has made changes in various aspects of its business model since the PlayStation 3’s release, including (but not limited...
Is This the End of the World (Of Warcraft)?
Activision’s shares are sliding, membership is on the decline, and Mists of Pandaria has received a few quizzical glances from gamers and critics alike. Are we witnessing the beginning of the end for the big daddy of MMOs? Let me take you back to August 2005. Our story starts on a busy Tatooine. The game is Star Wars Galaxies. Sony Online Entertainment and its President John Smedley were very happy; the game had exceeded their target of 1...
Minecraft: How It Became Cool to Create
November is the month of the sequel. It’s the month of the mega-money uber-release. Christina Aguilera, Jonah Hill, and the rapper Example were a few of the celebrities who made appearances at the launches of The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim and the mammoth Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3. Games are big business, and the more they become lucrative and commercial, the greater the desire titanic publishers such as EA and Activision have to increase...
Want Better Scores? Make Better Games.
Last week, Eurogamer published an interview held with Gearbox co-founder Brian Martel at Gamescom in August. My first question here doesn't have much to do with Gearbox; it has to do with Eurogamer -- why the hell did you wait until November to publish that interview? Maybe they were holding it to, um ... Do research, or something. You know, standard journalistic stuff. In any case, Martel told Eurogamer that he thought the video game...
World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria is Coming
A few weeks ago, a good number of World of Warcraft players would never have heard of the words Pandaria or Pandaren. Now, though, you can't log on without hearing them. So what are they? Well, if you play World of Warcraft and have been living under a virtual rock for these past few days, you’ll want to head on over to the official World of Warcraft page where details of the next expansion...
Episode Three of Random Drop Available
The third Random Drop podcast hit the interwebs Oct. 24. Head over to listen, as we like to support Random Drop, and they like to support us as well. That, and the podcasts are compelling! As always, the three Random Drop podcasters are Justin Huthmacher, Adam Nelson, and Rob Watkins. The podcast's home is http://randomdrop.libsyn.com/. Episode 003's download location is here. Editor's Note: The three members of the...
Spoiler Alert: Kotaku Boldly Reveals Plot Twist in Batman: Arkham City
Imagine with me for a moment that it’s May 1980. Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back is about to be released, and you’ve been looking forward to seeing it since the previous film. While reading the newspaper that day, you see a story about the film. The headline reads “VADER IS LUKE’S FATHER.” Your reaction would likely be similar to mine when I saw a story on Kotaku.com, a video gaming blog that frequently...
Defenders of Ardania Preview
What originally started as a Starcraft mod, tower defense is a rare but enjoyable genre that focuses on the defensive side of RTS games. In other words, it’s a turtler’s dream. Games under this genre, such as Plants Vs. Zombies and Defense Grid: Awakening, tend to be more on the casual development side; you won’t see full-blown $60/$50 commercial games (yet) that focus heavily on this concept, but they are fun to play. Whether...
Random Drop 002, Well ... Drops
Random Drop's second podcast, "Random Drop 002," released to the public today. 002's subjects include Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Driver: San Francisco, Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade and plenty more, just to name a few. As always, the three Random Drop podcasters are Justin Huthmacher, Adam Nelson and Rob Watkins. The podcast's home is http://randomdrop.libsyn.com/. 002's download location is here. Editor's Note: The three members of...
RAGE Problems & Ease of Use in Video Games
Video games cater to a more technologically advanced crowd than virtually every other entertainment industry. The television and movie industries are the easiest to "use" as a consumer. Simply flip on your TV to watch a program at its prescribed time. Or just pop that Blu-ray in and watch. Sure, there's audio and video connections to make all of this to work. That's just part of having a home entertainment system. Most people can get by using...
Random Drop's Inaugural Podcast Hits The Web
Random Drop, a new podcast from three video game industry veterans, hit the web in early September. The podcast focuses on various aspects of the video game industry from ultimately failed video game franchises such as Guitar Hero to upcoming games such as Modern Warfare 3. The three podcasters for Random Drop are: Justin Huthmacher - Worked in quality assurance, community support and currently game design; has also taken a hand to video game...
Fox News and "Green" Games: Defining the Issue
If there's one step that should not be taken in this instance, it's to write-off Fox News as a bunch of idiots. Saying the corporation and its workers are dumb because of this broadcast (in which Clayton Morris of Fox News and online radio host T.J. McCormack talk about the liberal agenda behind environmental games) is similar to calling America an imperialist entity (stay with me for a bit; this will tie back into video games at...
Sengoku Preview: A Ninja-Hiring, Castle-Building Simulator
It's rare that you're ever given the chance to marry off your daughter to a neighboring region’s daimyo’s son. Click the image to view game screenshots Even more rare is being able to do so in a video game, yet historical strategy game-developer Paradox Interactive, makers of the Hearts of Iron and Crusader Kings series, decided to include that now morally ambiguous tactic in Sengoku, a game that provides a complete...
Mass Effect vs L.A. Noire
We all have games and game franchises that resonate with us more than others. When I was younger, Sonic the Hedgehog was my favorite intellectual property to play. I moved on to the NFL 2K series before Electronic Arts killed it by acquiring the NFL video games license exclusively. These days, however, my top-rated video game franchise is Mass Effect. Interestingly, I didn't play the first Mass Effect until March 2011. It had been out for more...
How 'Yakuza' Taught me to be a Man: Why Being Good is Good
I'm in the process of playing through the Ryu ga Gotoku series (Yakuza in the u.S.). I started earlier this year, tracking down each title. In it, the player controls Kiryu Kazuma, a member of the Dojima yakuza family who takes the fall for the murder of his boss (which is just the start of an exceptionally involved, complicated, multi-tiered storyline of intrigue spanning all four main titles). When Kiryu Kazuma's full-back...
Is Mega Man Dead?
A gaming icon might be gone for good. The week of July 17 could be one of the darkest in history for many gamers, as it might be the end one of the industry's founding fathers -- Mega Man (called Rock Man in Japan). Recently, Mega Man’s parent company, Capcom, decided to cancel the blue bomber’s latest planned adventure, Mega Man Legends 3. While this cancellation put a dagger in the hearts of thousands of gamers worldwide (many have...
Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception - Multi-Player Beta Overview & Impressions
My footsteps echoed through the alleyways of a nondescript city in Yemen. The old Arabian architecture encircled me, its brick archways and buildings casting long shadows across my path. I ran past quaint homes and vegetable stands which were deserted, yet they didn't look abandoned; it was as if the owners and residents had left in a hurry, perhaps because of the large-scale gun battles that were taking place. The gunfire sounded distant, so...
Opinions on Supreme Court's Violent Video Games Ruling
On June 27, the Supreme Court made a final decision on a topic under debate for the last few years as to whether video games are protected under the First Amendment and, thus, to be treated as free speech. Also under debate was whether video games belong in the same category as films, literature and music, and are therefore considered an expressive art form. We at OMGN are passionate about video games and the industry that surrounds them. The...
E3 2011: Prey 2 First Impressions
This year at E3, Bethesda showed a live presentation of Prey 2 at its booth. The first Prey game was your standard linear campaign shooter, but the sequel does a complete 180. The new protagonist this time around is U.S. Marshal Killian Samuels, and the game takes place right after the ending of the first one. After waking up in a destroyed ship, the player finds a gun and attempts to escape. Combat has been revamped to include a cover...