The Big Three: The Evolution of StarCraft's Zerg, Terran, and Protoss

If you want proof that games are living art, always shifting, changing, and taking on new forms, look no further than StarCraft's Terrans, Protoss, and Zerg.
Today we know them as the avatars of balance in real-time strategy; three unique but equally matched races, each with their own style of play. But fans who have been around since StarCraft's original release will likely remember the Reaver Drops; the persistent turtling on the part of Terran players; and the many, many Zergling rushes. I was there with them, and I remember.

All three have their roots in what was arguably Warcraft II's biggest failing -- its race parity. So long as the Orcs and Humans were relatively simple mirrors of one another, Command & Conquer fans would be able to claim that their favored strategy game was better, because the factions were more diverse (if not really balanced in the least). So came the three factions that ultimately defined StarCraft, and even real-time strategy.
On the face of it, they actually aren't that unique, as each represents science fiction archetypes that have been around since at least the 1950s. The Terrans and the Zerg, for instance, would not be out of place in Robert Heinlein's seminal Starship Troopers, or possibly Alien (there are certainly no shortage of Aliens references). The Terrans are power armor wearing space marines, while the Zerg are essentially bugs or Xenomorphs, with a dash of the Civil War and a bit of Locutus of Borg added for good measure.
The Protoss, meanwhile, are essentially space elves. Haughty and aloof, they are highly-advanced, practically immortal, and ready to wipe humans from the face of the galaxy to get rid of the swarm. They could be Tolkien's elves, or if you prefer, the Minbari.
Their main strength, at least at first, was that they looked cool. Right from the beginning, Blizzard encouraged you to take sides by producing three separate variants of the StarCraft box art, each one featuring a unique unit from one of the three races. For the most part, it worked. I immediately adopted the Terrans as my race and my friend went for the Zerg. They were so distinct that it was hard not to pick a favorite. But even early on, picking a faction meant more than siding with your favorite art style. In a way, it was representation of who you were as a gamer, and how you approach your strategy.

From the beginning, each faction was tailored to encourage certain play-styles. The Terrans leaned toward defense; the Zerg swarmed and overwhelmed opponents; and the Protoss had expensive but powerful units. If there was a problem, it was that the races weren't what you would call fully-developed, even then. Right from the beginning, the Terrans seemed to be at a disadvantage, at least in part because they were the most "newbie friendly" race. To wit, an industry colleague and I were talking about our first experiences with StarCraft not too long ago. Like me, he had chosen the Terrans, since they were the most familiar race. Being a Command & Conquer nut, his first instinct was to build up to the top of the tech tree behind an elaborate series of fortifications. His opponent, meanwhile, responded by capturing every mineral field on the map and smashing him to pieces. This happened a lot.
It wasn't just sheer incompetence holding the Terrans back though. Marines, which were meant to form the backbone of the Terran army, were relatively weak. Missile turrets did negligible damage against Zerg flyers. But more importantly, no one really knew how to play the Terrans. It would be years before viable Terran strategies began to crop up, not the least because they were dismissed almost from the start as the weakest faction.
Of the three, the Zerg were probably in the best position to dominate early. Units like the flying Mutalisk and the Hydralisk were both cheap and powerful, and they could rapidly overwhelm even a well-prepared Terran player. Inevitably, they would start raiding my mineral line, and I would have no response. Even a bunker wasn't really enough to stop them. Meanwhile, the Zerg would expand and grab up all of the mineral patches; and once they were impossibly rich, they would crush me with Guardians that could out-range every weapon in my arsenal.
Even the mighty Zerg weren't all the way there though. The basic unit -- the Zergling -- could be quite powerful in packs, but the adrenal gland upgrade that made them exceptionally fast and vicious was bugged and didn't work properly. And anyway, most people weren't really thinking in terms of "strategy." They were thinking about how to produce a handful of Zerglings and blitz their opponent into submission.

Those were the dominant strategies in those early days; Protoss players relied on the Reaver Drop, and Zerg players loved the Zergling Rush. If those didn't work out, you would see more advanced units like the High Templar and Guardians. But the Protoss in particular loved their Reaver Drops. All it took to succeed was one shuttle, a Reaver, and a lot of clicking. The reason it worked so well was that the Reaver would launch one of its devastating shots as soon as it hit the ground, after which it could be pulled back into the shuttle before the enemy could retaliate. I remember one player bragging that he had gotten it to the point that you couldn't even see the Reaver. All you would see would be a single energy shot obliterating your Marines, Hydralisks, or workers.
This dynamic persisted for the first several months of gameplay. Advanced strategies were relatively rare; cheating was extremely common, and a lot of the units were flat out useless, among them the Protoss Dragoon (wrong damage type), the Carrier (not enough damage), Photon Cannons (wrong damage type again), and Vulture bike (damage type, you're probably sensing a theme here). It wasn't until Brood War arrived that the races evolved into something like the form that we recognize today, which may qualify it as the most successful expansion of all time.
With Brood War, each race received at least one crucial upgrade. Medics made Marines more durable, and missile upgrades enabled Goliaths to take down Guardians at range. The Protoss received the permanently cloaked Dark Templar, and the Zerg likewise received a stealth unit of their own in the Lurker, which could attack while buried. It was around this time that StarCraft began to explode in PC Bangs throughout South Korea, and with the influx of new players came new strategies.
Zergling Rushes would remain in force for pretty much the duration of the game's lifespan; but as players became more sophisticated, so did their strategies. By 2000, the Terrans had a champion of their own in Lim Yo Hwan, known as the "Terran Emperor" for being the foremost Terran progamer, and for his heavy role in developing early strategies such as the Tank Drop. The Zerg and the Protoss similarly gained their own representatives, and their clashes would become legendary in the eSports community.
After that, it became an arms race of sorts between the different races. The Zerg were better than the Terrans for a while, but then Choi Yun Sung, better known as iloveoov, invented "The Fantasy Build," which allowed the humans to bring their armor to bear on maps where it wouldn't normally be feasible. The Protoss likewise developed their own techniques for defeating the other two races, many of which exploit their powerful opening units -- the Zealot and the Dragoon.

  They're like the fighters in Street Fighter; their individual quirks defining who they are and how they relate to their foes. 

With StarCraft II, all three races gained new units and new looks, with the Terran and Protoss rushing out to an early advantage over the once-powerful Zerg. Things have leveled out a bit since then though, especially with high-level players constantly developing new strategies for money tournaments. Even with the new units though, their identities have remained largely the same. It's just that they've come more into focus over the years.
It's for that reason that the Protoss, Zerg, and Terrans are some of the richest, most interesting factions ever developed for a video game. They're like the fighters in Street Fighter; their individual quirks defining who they are and how they relate to their foes. By extension, these races have had a measurable impact on their players, both defining them and being defined by them.
True, it wasn't always clear what they would become in the early going, not the least because neither Blizzard nor its fanbase had any idea what StarCraft would ultimately become. But as these races matured within the context of StarCraft's strategy, so did real-time strategy as a whole. As such, their story has almost nothing to do with the Xel'naga and space rednecks and everything else in their respective histories, and everything to do with how they've come to defined strategy gaming.
The next chapter of that story will be in Heart of the Swarm, which aims to follow in the footsteps of Brood War and possibly revive competitive StarCraft II play in the face of strong competition from League of Legends. As always, the root of StarCraft II's appeal will be in the relationships between its respective races. I look forward to seeing what's next for them.

The Cinematic Nature of Parasite Eve

Square's theatrical RPG was a bizarre evolutionary dead end in video game storytelling.

Parasite Eve is, after fifteen years, a forgotten footnote in the great video game canon. Yoko Shimomura's soundtrack endures lo these many years later, but otherwise it's just another of those wacky experiments from Squaresoft's golden age; a piece of trivia for RPG fetishists and PS1 buffs. Failure is the game's greatest legacy. Not as a game -- it's actually pretty great to play, even now -- but as a model for telling stories in games. Director Takashi Tokita and his team called their game a "cinematic RPG," an explicit attempt to meld the flash of film with what was at the time video game's best storytelling tools. It didn't work, but it was a necessary evolutionary step, fitting for a game that is itself all about evolution.

The common complaint about most story-based video games goes like this: I'd like the game if it wasn't for all the cut-scenes. As video games scrambled tooth and nail to tell stories, they naturally turned to the language of film for creating human drama. How else would you get two people in the game to talk to each other naturally? If you leave the player in control while the characters around them speak naturally, the scene loses its dramatic impact. Think about poor Alyx Vance in Half-Life 2 trying to have a serious chat about the miseries of life under the combine as Gordon Freeman spastically spins in circles, crowbarring everything in sight as he roots around for ammo like a pig for truffles. So the formula has gone like this: play a little game, stop for a brief cinema while the characters talk or there's a big action set piece impossible within the parameters of the game, play some more, watch a long cinema at the end. Technology has improved the formula, smoothing the transition by keeping the game's characters and models consistent across cut-scenes and play, but it's been largely the same since 1998 benchmarks like Metal Gear Solid.
Parasite Eve, another alumni of 1998, saw a different path. The story: On Christmas Eve in 1997, the mitochondria in the cells of New York City's citizens revolt, possessing an opera singer, taking the name Eve, and mutating people into freaky monsters or orange goo. The mysterious cop Aya Brea is the only one who can stop her from ending civilization/ruining Christmas.

Square's other games, particularly director Tokita's previous works like Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy IV, had proven that movie-style scenes complete with spoken dialogue and dramatic staging weren't necessary to make a great game story. Simple, static backgrounds, text dialogue, music, and simple blocking were enough to hook players. Consider scenes from Chrono Trigger like when hero Crono is placed on trial. It's an impressionistic sequence, with slower pacing and simpler dialogue than you'd find in a movie or television, but it works marvelously.
Rather than throw out that storytelling style, Squaresoft kept the format in Parasite Eve. Most scenes with NYPD Detective Aya Brea, her partner Daniel Dollis, and the sinister Eve show characters moving in simple, exaggerated gestures with text dialogue. Instead of using the PlayStation technology to do voiced dialogue sequences, Square added drama to these scenes by adding small touches of animation and flare to highly detailed static backgrounds. These were the same sort of pre-rendered backgrounds seen in Square's recent hit Final Fantasy VII, but rather than massive vistas, these were smaller, more intimate places. One early scene has Brea and Dollis driving in a police cruiser to a crime scene, and the flashing police lights and blurred background mimicking a city streets rushing by add a dramatic flare while maintaining the slower pace of RPG stories.
Eve borrows the scenery activity of film, but not the human element. When Aya is exploring the New York on foot, fighting genetic mutations, most of the backgrounds are completely static. Chinatown, the Brooklyn Bridge, all of them look like frozen paintings with Aya running over them. Had Square kept a consistent presentation, throughout, Eve's silent story might have been more effective.
Consistent presentation wasn't really the point, though, as the other half of Eve's storytelling style demonstrates. Also borrowed from Final Fantasy VII are Eve's approximately 20 minutes of pre-rendered cut-scenes, action sequences drawn in a more advanced graphical style than the in-game characters and locales. Unlike Final Fantasy, Parasite Eve tried peppered these big payoff moments more liberally throughout the game. The intended effect was to have more dramatic peaks and valleys more often, over the course of the game's roughly seven-hour run time. Even with text-based dialogue and mostly still sets, the effect would be a film-like pace filtered through the lens of a familiar role-playing game.
Parasite Eve's little movies don't wow like they did fifteen years ago, but there is a strange beauty about them now. Something about the smooth-lined characters and jerky, rubbery monsters has an otherworldly effect that brings out the personality of the rough polygonal characters you see while you're playing, not unlike Yoshitaka Amano's delicate concept art did for the original Final Fantasy games. No matter how appealing they are, though, they ultimately don't fit in with the actual pace of the game. In the field, Aya, the game's strategic fights, and the pace through would-be "dungeons" like central park and the subway system are all simply too slow to be relied on to keep up a dramatic pace. The game's most cinematic elements, its CG movies, take away from the more subtle cinematic qualities of the animation in dialogue scenes.
So Parasite Eve was an evolutionary dead end as far as storytelling methods go, and Square seemed to realize it quickly as Parasite Eve 2 was paced more like the old Resident Evil games than its predecessor. The game shouldn't stay forgotten, though. Freed of technological restrictions, there's something to be said for a style of game that switches wildly between presentations like Parasite Eve does between its CG cut-scenes, slightly-animated story scenes, and its slow play. Games, after all, aren't movies. Tools that aren't effective when trying to mimic movies could be used to tell stories unique to video games if used correctly. Why else do people still love the way Blizzard builds CG cinemas into games like Diablo III? Square may never revisit these ideas, but today's game makers would do well to re-examine the peculiar failure that was Parasite Eve.

Humble Bundle Loses What Makes Itself Special With THQ Bundle

The launch of the latest Humble Indie Bundle yesterday was an unusual one. Rather than being met with the usual reaction -- people spreading the word, maybe some praise being bestowed for a strong selection of games -- this particular one instead prompted complaints that the Humble Bundle has lost its way. That's because it consists of games published by THQ, a company which, despite its ongoing financial troubles, is far larger than those we normally see featured in these bundles. While I don't find the situation quite as egregious as others do, I do think this is a step in the wrong direction.
The first Humble Indie Bundle was launched in early 2010, and it's still easy to see why it was so appealing: Buyers could get five great indie games for Windows, Mac, or Linux without any DRM, and at any price they deemed appropriate, be it hundreds of dollars, a few pennies, or, in the case of that particular bundle, nothing at all. To sweeten the deal, purchasers could freely decide how their money was divided up between the developers of these games, the organizers of the bundle, and a pair of charitable organizations, the latter of which made it so five games could be had in return for nothing more than a donation to charity.
Subsequent bundles continued these practices, offering multiplatform, DRM-free indie games at any price. Some have offered soundtracks to go along with the games, and others have offered additional incentives for those who exceed the average purchase price. Outside of concerns that these bundles, along with things like Steam sales, are devaluing games, it's difficult to find any source of complaints about Humble Indie Bundles.
More recently, the Humble Bundle has begun to experiment with different ideas. This year has seen four different bundles centered around Android games, one dedicated to music from the likes of MC Frontalot and Jonathan Coulton, one for eBooks, and one for Double Fine's Amnesia Fortnight game jam. The Humble THQ Bundle, as it's called, is also undoubtedly viewed as an experiment, but it's one that strays too far from the basic tenets that define the Humble Indie Bundle.
One of the major problems with the THQ bundle is the fact that it doesn't benefit developers. Whereas the money allocated to developers in previous bundles actually went to the people responsible for making the games, that is not the case here. THQ is a publisher, not a developer. While its money allowed the games included in the bundle -- Darksiders, Metro 2033, Red Faction: Armageddon, Company of Heroes (along with expansions Tales of Valor and Opposing Fronts), and, for those who pay more than the average, Saints Row: The Third -- to be made, the developers themselves won't see a dime of the money generated by this bundle. It could be argued that money that ends up in THQ's pockets will go on to fund future games (well, maybe not any Red Faction games) developed by Volition, Vigil Games, 4A Games, or Relic, but it doesn't change that the people responsible for creating these games won't get any money. Buyers could always direct their money to charity, though the default split heavily favors THQ.
Also conflicting with what we've seen from most bundles in the past are operating system requirements and DRM. A number of times games have introduced Mac and/or Linux support as part of their inclusion in the Humble Bundle, and it's become something of a reliable way for getting games for Mac or Linux gamers. All of THQ's games here are Windows-only. This was also true of the Amnesia Fortnight bundle, but that was a much different set of circumstances.
In addition to codes to redeem on Steam, Humble games for computer can always be downloaded right from the Humble website, DRM-free. That's not the case with the THQ games, and the decision is perplexing -- maybe THQ doesn't want to release DRM-free versions of its games, but it's been noted more than once that those willing to pirate it can easily do so. Giving legitimate Humble customers a DRM-free option would not impact that. Double Fine distributing those prototypes exclusively through Steam is understandable, but restricting the THQ games to Steam-only is much less acceptable. As a heavy Steam user, I'm happy to get Steam codes, myself, but there are people who don't want to be bothered with any form of DRM, no matter how widely accepted it may be.
As an aside to all of this, it's hard not to consider THQ's financial position when thinking about why it did this. It's in a dire situation and could potentially run out of cash, so maybe it's looking to looking to bring some money in by capitalizing on older titles not producing much revenue otherwise. The amount it's likely to make from this (it has surpassed $2 million in only 16 hours, and is fast approaching $2.5 million with 13 days to go) won't be what makes the difference in THQ's future, though a few million dollars certainly can't hurt. Assuming THQ digs itself out of its current hole, it may also see a sales boost for sequels to some of the included games, like Company of Heroes 2, Metro: Last Light, and Saints Row 4.
There's nothing wrong with experimentation. GOG.com tested the waters with selling newer games and ultimately dropped its classic game-only focus, but it maintained its other pillars: DRM-free games, bonus goodies, worldwide releases with fair pricing, compatibility with modern operating systems, and solid customer service. The Humble THQ Bundle seems to abandon the very spirit that the Humble Indie Bundle was founded on -- including, most importantly, the whole 'indie' aspect. Although this doesn't signal an end to the sort of indie game bundles we've come to expect, the THQ bundle could have a detrimental effect on Humble's reputation, perhaps by sending new customers to alternatives like Indie Royale or IndieBundle.org. A lot of people may not care, and it is an admittedly good bundle, especially for the cost. But whatever the case, beyond the immediate financial gain, this bundle doesn't do Humble any good.

Batman: Arkham Origins

Batman: Arkham Origins is an upcoming video game being developed by Warner Bros. Games Montreal and released by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment for the PlayStation 3, Wii U and Xbox 360 video game consoles, and Microsoft Windows. Based on the DC Comics superhero Batman, it is the successor to the 2011 video game Batman: Arkham City, and the third installment in the Batman: Arkham series. The game's main storyline is set several years before that of 2009's Batman: Arkham Asylum and follows a younger and less refined Batman who becomes the target of assassins on Christmas Eve. It is scheduled for release on October 25, 2013.
A spin-off game, Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate, is scheduled for release alongside Arkham Origins for Nintendo 3DS and PlayStation Vita.

Gameplay

Arkham Origins will feature similar gameplay to its predecessors. The Remote Claw is a new gadget which allows Batman to target two objects and pull them together allowing him to knock enemies together or hit them with objects. Tethering two walled-points together creates a tightrope that Batman can traverse. Some gadgets present in Batman: Arkham City return in Arkham Origins, including: the Cryptographic Sequencer, which is used for hacking security consoles; the batarang, a throwing weapon; and Explosive Gel.
The game introduces a fast travel system, allowing Batman to remotely summon his plane, the Batwing, to transport him to other areas of the game world quicker than gliding or grappling can allow. Enemy tower installations prevent Batman summoning the craft in some areas and must be first disabled using various gadgets and abilities to make the Batwing available; the Batwing is not player controlled. Some towers can only be disabled when the player has obtained the necessary equipment. Combat introduces a tracking system which assesses the players' efficiency, highlighting various achievements in battle such as avoiding damage and using gadgets. Combined with chaining attacks together, the performance is rewarded with experience points. These points can be used in a branching upgrade system to enhance Batman's abilities and gadgets, allowing players to upgrade multiple paths or specialize in one. The martial-artist is a new enemy type who is capable of countering Batman's own counters.

Development

In July 2012, it was reported that Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment (WBIE) was looking to make Rocksteady Studios's next Batman game a prequel based on the Silver Age of Comic Books, and featuring the characters Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, and the Flash. The report suggested that the game would explore Batman's first confrontation with the Joker, and that it would have a release date of no earlier than 2014. In August 2012, Paul Dini stated that he would not be involved in writing a sequel to Arkham City. He had not been included in writing for any of that game's downloadable content (DLC), including the story-based "Harley Quinn's Revenge" DLC, and said that Warner Bros. and Rocksteady suggested that he take work elsewhere if offered. He added that he had taken on other projects that would prevent his involvement until 2013. In February 2013, it was reported that a new game in the Batman Arkham franchise would be released in 2013, and that Rocksteady would not be acting as the developer.
Batman: Arkham Origins was announced on April 9, 2013 with Canadian studio Warner Bros. Games Montreal (WB Montreal) serving as the developer. The studio previously worked on the Wii U adaptation of Batman: Arkham City, which allowed them to familiarise themselves with the modified Unreal Engine 3 development engine utilized Rocksteady, developer of the first two Arkham games. WB Montreal opted not to heavily modify the established combat system, believing it already worked well, but are introducing new enemy types to provide opportunities to use new tactics and combat moves to defeat opponents. Rocksteady provided advice on the technology, game mechanics and engine, but WB Montreal was allowed to develop the story independently. The plot was partly inspired by the comic book series Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight, and the graphic novel Batman: Year One detailing the first year of Batman's career, with Arkham Origins being described as a "Year Two" story.^[23] The story is written by Dooma Wendschuh and Corey May with input from DC Comics and comic book writer Geoff Johns. Eric Holmes serves as Arkham Origins creative director.

Design

Holmes described the choice of a Christmas setting as a purposeful juxtaposition between the joyful time of year and the grim world of Gotham City, such as decorative Santas by gothic gargoyles, and Christmas lights offering dim lighting in dark alleyways. The city itself was described as a place dislodged from time and space, featuring 1930's stylized and older buildings contrasted with Batman's futuristic technology beyond even modern gadgets. The New Gotham area of the game was designed for vertical movement, allowing the placement of enemies at different heights above and below Batman to create areas dense with activity. A dynamic weather system was implemented during development that could alter gameplay, such as wind and snow combining to reduce visibility and render sniper enemies more vulnerable to Batman's stealth. The idea was discarded when it was decided that the feature could not be completed within the development time the team had available. The game world features a high-contrast of darks and lights with few balancing colors, and exaggerated shadows. The city was broken down into assorted neighborhood zones like residential, industrial and commercial. To fit the Christmas theme, the zones were then decorated according to their type, so the industrial setting features little reference to Christmas, the commercial area has corporate decorations, and residential areas have lights in the windows.
In designing the less-experienced Batman's outfit, the designers aimed to make it look "assembled versus manufactured" as if pieced together from various individual parts. Holmes said, "[Batman's suit is] not something that was made in a factory. He's taken pieces of tech either he's invented, he's fabricated or things from the Wayne facilities, and he has make this costume out of these pieces." To emphasize the mystery and fear instilled by Batman in the early stage of his career, art director Jeremy Price and the design team made greater use of silhouettes and film noir-style low-key lighting to make the character more imposing. Holmes acknowledged that Black Mask is not as well known as some of Batman's other rogues such as the Joker and Penguin, and said that extra work was required to provide enough characterization to make him interesting and scary.
It was initially reported that veteran Batman voice actor Kevin Conroy would not return to voice the character, with the developers opting for a younger voice to correlate with the early career of Batman. In May 2013, Roger Craig Smith was announced as the voice of Batman, and Troy Baker as the Joker. Conroy stated at the 2013 Dallas Comic Con that he had been working on "the next Arkham", leading to rampant speculation that he would reprise his role as Batman in Arkham Origins. As Conroy was unclear, it is unknown if he will have another role in Origins, portray an older Batman in the game or was referring to an unannounced game.

Batman: Arkham Origins is scheduled to be released worldwide on October 25, 2013 for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii U, and PC platforms. In addition, the spin-off game, Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate will be released along side Arkham Origins for the Nintendo 3DS and PlayStation Vita. A digital comic book of the same name will be released alongside the game. The comic will be the first of DC Comics' DC² Multiverse initiative, featuring dynamic artwork and sound, and the ability to make choices while reading that modify how the story progresses, with multiple outcomes possible.

Pre-order bonuses

Deathstroke will be made available as a playable character usable in all of the game's challenge maps, and featuring his own unique weapons and abilities. The Deathstroke pack includes two alternate outfits for the character and two additional challenge maps.

Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag Bedtime Story or Legend?

Now, those of you who have found your way to this article are quite likely Assassin’s Creed fans. And it’s safe to assume that the prospective Assassin’s Creed IV storylines and gameplay enhancements are eating away at your soul. Many would say that Assassin’s Creed 3 was a disappointment. Then again, others wouldn’t. Likewise, it would be wrong to expect everybody to hold high hopes for AC 4. But those of you who have watched the trailers and after the news have definitely formed opinions about how you would like the story to progress. And if so, you most definitely harbor great expectations from the game.

The ending of AC 3 was unprecedented to say in the least. Juno always looked like the wicked witch of the west, but then again, anybody who uses excess eyeliner and garbs themselves in flimsy translucent curtain sheets wouldn’t be entirely palatable to the eyes. Desmond gets knocked out cold (or so I hope is the extent of the damage that has been done to him), Minerva chickens away, and Juno is out to make Prada designers weep. So, planetary destruction has been averted, (though whether planetary dominion at the hands of a deranged futuristic yet ironically ancient psychopath is a debatable price to pay,) we don’t know who our new protagonist in the present is going to be (more about Edward Kenway in a minute), and Abstergo’s lead scientist was shot in the head by underpaid security ( they need to upscale the graphics this time, the guards really looked quite happy when they shot the old man in cold blood under the apple’s influence).

Have the other “Gods” truly died out? Or is it another ruse fabricated by the cunning Juno? Will the assassins (or what remains of them) unite with Abstergo to battle a greater evil (evil is a strong word to use, but that‘ll have to suffice until stronger motives behind Juno’s actions are disclosed)? Will we be seeing more of Connor (Like we played Altair in flashback sequences in the previous installments or in any way possible since I really want to see more of Connor and I’m certain a fair deal of you guys want to too) ? If a much segment of the game is going to be based in the present (which it has to be unless they want to end up making 5 more parts), will the game still stick to classic AC third person action or will the studio resort to an FPS style HUD (switchable perspectives like in Star Wars Battlefield would be mind blowing)? Or will our new Sea Scoundrel be enough a treat to avoid making the present sequences very immersive? A lot of unanswered questions, but we’ll have to wait for the game to answer them.  Right now though, I am excited about just the one new toy we’ll be given: Edward Kenway.


“A pirate trained by Assassins” is what he allegedly is. According to what the trailers show, he is much like Ezio, only without the restraint and the honor. I suppose that makes him all the more classy. Ed’s (if I may be permitted to discuss him so,) outright disregard for his opposition and undeterred resolve are blatantly clear by the way he swings over to his victim vessels and mercilessly executes enemies with his duals (tomb raider inspired?).  He has Black Beard’s respect (so much for having to build a reputation in the game). He guts templars in plain sight and walks away with their women (I won’t use the politically correct designation to be given to their female companions since this is public). He does a threesome and keeps the women waiting for a minute or two until he boards another ship and slaughters every living thing he sees under his hood, and then he goes back to amusing himself. There is no confirmation of him being an assassin himself, though he has clearly been trained by the creed.  So, here are a few words to describe Edward Kenway: killer, idol, scoundrel, playboy, kleptomaniac, pirate, stud and most importantly (I really want to term him this, though I have little credible information to back my assumption), Assassin. This guy’s going to drive fans nuts (Even newcomers to AC for that matter).

But is the stud act just a veil to hide a dark and tormented past? We know that Edward’s son is Haytham. But who were his parents? Were they assassins too, or just innocents caught in the crossfire, slain at the hands of the templars… or perhaps the assassins themselves? Edward is evidently against the templars, though it is still unclear whether he gives a bilge-rat’s fart about the assassins’ motives. Perhaps he is simply pursuing a personal vendetta of some sort against the templars. Or he simply knows the joys of freedom being a pirate and so wants everybody else not to be deprived of it at the hands of the templars either. But if so, how did his son end up as the leader of the templars? I must agree with the templars’ notion of “order through control”, it’s promisingly much more efficacious than “prosperity through freedom” (if only the templars consisted of fewer murderous bastards). But liberty, as said by George Washington, is a plant that once takes root, grows faster than a weed. Which is ironic since that should rally many to the cause of the assassins, though we discover in AC3 that the brotherhood is nearly gone. In the very least, one could hope for Ed to be hopelessly love-struck by  a woman, in spite of his affinity for magnetizing women (It’s been too long since AC last saw real romance, not bed activity). Well, I hope for the sake of the folks up at Montreal that they manage to answer these questions and plug in all the holes in the plot. Or they’ll have another “revelations” to answer for.

The Last of Us multiplayer detailed

With just a week and a half to go before The Last of Us hits store shelves, Naughty Dog has provided details on the game's multiplayer mode, described as the "best ever conceived."
The Last of Us' multiplayer mode is called Factions and, according to Naughty Dog, will represent an extension of the themes found in single-player.
"The moment-to-moment survival present in the single-player campaign is integral to the multiplayer," the developer said. "You'll feel tension and need to be intensely alert at all times."
In Factions, gamers must pick a side: hunters or fireflies. Each player begins with a small number of survivors that must be kept alive and grown over time.
Gamers can accomplish this in two modes, the first of which is Supply Raid. In this mode, a player's team has 20 reinforcements. Once they're exhausted, the match will go to sudden death.
In the Survivors mode, there are respawns. Once players die, they are finished until the next round begins. Matches are best of seven, meaning the first team to win four wins the match.
Naughty Dog described Factions gameplay as "very tactical," also featuring the same crafting system found in single-player. A Listen mode will allow players to locate enemies with silenced weapons, and teamwork is described as "essential."
Similar to how it works in the Gears of War franchise, a fallen teammate can crawl to allies to be revived, placing greater emphasis on teams sticking together. In addition, the Last of Us' Factions mode includes melee combat, allowing players to perform an execution on a downed player.
Gamers who preorder The Last of Us at GameStop will receive the Survival Pack, a multiplayer expansion that includes bonus experience points, a melee attack booster, extra in-game cash, customizable items, and two bonus skins that can be unlocked after the single-player game is completed.
In addition, The Last of Us will feature a $20 downloadable content season pass that includes day-one perks like increased in-game crafting speed, faster healing, a 9mm pistol reload speed upgrade, and a rifle clip capacity upgrade.

Brilliance in Gaming – Persona 3 and 4

Persona 3 and 4

When creating a story, one of the most important aspects to consider is how to get the reader involved in the world and care about its characters. A writer could craft a world of intricate design and depth, filled with multi-dimensional characters with fantastic developments over the course of the story. However, none of that would matter one bit if the reader never makes a connection with the characters, and ultimately never ends up caring what happens to them.
While the concept is simple and easily recognized, the solution to the problem is not so readily apparent. In the medium of books and movies, the methods to do so are quite limited. The easiest and most common way is to make the characters relatable and likeable. That’s why an archetype such as the underdog is so prevalent in entertainment media. We often consider ourselves as underdogs going through the trials and tribulations of day to day life, so when we encounter one in a story, we end up rooting for them. Given books and movies are purely a non-interactive medium, the creator gets to choose everything the reader/moviegoer sees- nothing more and nothing less.
In the medium of gaming, the avenue in which the developer can help the player feel more invested becomes larger, but also more convoluted as well, due to the introduction of the all-important interactivity that makes games what they are. After all, when the player is free to choose to go around the world spending the minimal amount of time interacting with its characters, how can the creator have the player even begin to care about the world that they’re in? Many games would go with the route of unskippable events and cutscenes to deliver the necessary information and personality to try and grab some attention from the players, but that’s no different from what they do in movies. Isn’t it a missed opportunity when they have the almighty tools of choice and interactivity but end up falling back on what other mediums are forced to use because they lack creativity? Wouldn’t it be better if they could somehow use a mechanic in the game play itself to encourage the players to learn more about the world and its characters?
That is exactly what Persona 3 and 4 managed to do with the introduction of the system, “Social Links”.

Social links, go!

The premise of Social Links is rather simple, but its effectiveness resonates throughout the entirety of the experience. Each significant character the player runs into is assigned an “Arcana” such as Strength, Devil, Tower, Lovers, Chariot, Fortune and many more. As the player spends more time with the character associated with a certain arcana, the ability to fuse personas of the same arcana type increases substantially. When the Social Link is maxed, the player is given access to fuse a new high-level persona, which ends up being some of the best personas in the game. Given the personas the player brings to battle dictate their combat potential outside of standard equipment, it’s not an understatement to say that fusing powerful personas is essential to success.

Fusing powerful personas is rewarding and essential to success.

Outside of NPCs, spending time with the main characters of the game, that will all play a major role in the story as party members, has additional rewards on top of what’s offered normally. As the Social Link ranks are leveled up, they gain access to new great passive and active skills. The ability to help up a knocked down ally or even a skill to guard a blow for the player that otherwise would’ve been fatal are a few of the many rewards to entice one to spend more time with the main characters and learn more about them. Considering they’ll be the ones to see the most screen time, it makes sense to prioritize learning more about them first. It behooves the player to spend time with the characters in the game for the game play related rewards, but essentially that’s just a catalyst of encouragement for the much greater intrinsic reward. Each and every character in the game has a unique personality, many of which might not seem so obvious until the player gets to know them better. Social Link ranks are divided by numbers from one to ten, and while the early levels will have the player simply shooting the breeze and hanging out, by the end it’s not uncommon to have helped in a life-changing event for the character. Giving advice and seeing each character make mistakes and grow over time is its own reward. While the player is unlikely to enjoy the stories that every single character has to tell, I would be rather shocked if at least a handful doesn’t feel compelling, hitting close to home to many relationships we’ve held in the past.
Persona 3/4 are games with strong emphasis on time management. The players are allotted a limited number of days to accomplish their goals, and the game will eventually end when enough days has passed whether the player wants it to or not. That means every action that the player takes has a consequence to a degree, and the choice to spend time with someone when there’s much else to do in the world has significant weight associated to it. This will mean that the players are able to pick for themselves who the interesting characters are and enjoy spending time with them, while ignoring the ones that do not appeal to them, essentially tailoring the overall experience to their own personal tastes.

The characters you interact with are all charming with their own little perks.

Also, the idea of how we are connected with each other and strengthened by the bonds that we share is a central theme in Persona. It’s something that can resonate with just about anyone in the world because it rings to true to reality. After all, just who are we really without our family and friends to support us? Just as we count on them, we yearn to be needed by others and take solace in a sense of interdependence that makes the world go around. The Social Links highlight this fact, and emphasizes its necessity both in game play and story. You could be wondering, “how effective is this system really?” If that’s the question you’re asking, I challenge you to name five characters from a recent, more prolific RPG. Go ahead, name me five memorable characters from Skyrim, and no, the guard that took an arrow to his knee doesn’t count. I’ll bet that you most likely can’t. However, a game that I bet most people will be able to name five characters from is the Mass Effect series. You might be wondering what Mass Effect has to do with Persona, but did you know that there were rewards for talking to your crew in the form of bonus powers, equipment and paragon/renegade opportunities? The same thing applies to the vast majority of Bioware games, with Dragon Age games also having a similar system in place even though their scope and effectiveness is decidedly smaller than in the Persona games.

Mass Effect games also use game play mechanics to encourage character interactions.

It’s no coincidence that all the Persona games that came before 3 and 4 didn’t have Social Links, and never quite received the critical acclaim and fans that the recent titles enjoy. While most other developers were busy making games be more like movies with high budgeted cut scenes to tell their stories, hoping that the players will give a damn, Atlus decided to take matters in their own hands to craft a system that encouraged the players to care. It single handedly tied together the central themes of the game while allowing the players a great deal of freedom in who they could interact with, essentially tailoring the experience to their own personal tastes. Then, they complemented the system by giving the players a limited amount of time, which gave weight and greater meaning to all the choices they could make. Ultimately, we would laugh and cry along with the characters, and feel compelled to see the journey to its end. When it’s all said and done we would put the game away, feeling as though we were saying farewell to a dear friend.
All of that facilitated by the introduction of one single system.
Brilliant.

Top 10 Zelda Games

As we all know, Skyward Sword’s release is just around the corner. The more we learn about Skyward Sword, the more we see that it is deviating from the traditional Zelda formula just enough to keep it fresh and innovative. Many are already saying Skyward Sword might be the greatest Zelda game ever made. I have never played a Zelda game that is less than awesome, so saying Skyward Sword might be the best is a very exciting notion.
Skyward Sword isn’t out yet though, so let’s recap the top 10 Zelda games (in my order of preference) that have been released so far.

10. Phantom Hourglass


Phantom Hourglass is by far one of the best games of the huge library of DS games. It refined the sailing system that was introduced in Wind Waker, and traversing through a small map is more accessible than Wind Waker’s. This game has some extremely clever dungeons, a ton of extras to do at sea, and some of the most innovative boss battle’s in any Zelda title – using extremely good use of the stylus during bosses.
The low point of Phantom Hourglass is the temple you have to revisit and tread through multiple times – after every regular dungeon to be exact. By the end of the game I was completely sick of going through that temple, but that was really the only low point.

9. Twilight Princess


I have a feeling most people would have this title closer to the top of their lists, however I had a lot of issues with Twilight Princess that hurt my overall experience with the game. I feel that Twilight Princess’s best parts are some of the best in any Zelda game, but it’s worst parts are some of the worst in the series as well. For example, the weapons may not be new, but they are very well done (The Boomerang, Claw Shot, Bow, are all familiar but refined weapons).  The dungeons in the game are fairly large and complex – yet the game rarely leaves you lost. Also, most of the bosses (in particular the fire temple and sky temple) are absolutely stunning.
However, the side quests in this game are what really killed it for me. When you’re not solving puzzles in dungeons, you are mostly doing annoying side quests that I never had fun with. I felt like I was doing work in between dungeons that I had to complete to actually get to the fun parts, and the non-fun parts lasted far too long in my opinion.
Also, despite the game’s dark and mature tone, the game is extremely easy to get through. However, the “bad” times I had in Zelda is mostly me being picky and the game was extremely good overall.

8. Four Swords


Four Swords is a special game. It’s the only co-op multiplayer Zelda game. It’s fairly short, but it’s all dungeons and no filler. It’s easy to pick up and play this game for 15 minutes at a time. None of those points exist in other Zelda games, and Four Swords manages to still feel like a Zelda game despite all of this. The dungeons in Four Swords are extremely well made, and the use of disposable equipment and co-op based challenges made Four Swords a title everyone needed for their GBA and Gamecube.

7. Spirit Tracks


Spirit Tracks is a refined version of Phantom Hourglass. Instead of using a boat, travel is made even easier by following rails on a train. This allowed the train aspect to focus more on action and shooting from the train. There isn’t much to say about this game except that it improves on everything that Phantom Hourglass already did well. This is an absolute must own for DS owners.

6. Wind Waker


This is probably the most hated Zelda game at launch. Nintendo teased us with that awesome video of N64 Adult Link sword fighting with Ganondorf, then actually gave us a cute cell-shaded cartoon Link sailing the seas. I was one of the people that actually liked the cell-shaded look – it reminded me of what A Link To The Past would have looked like if it was on the Gamecube. However, I wasn’t big on the sailing the seas aspect of the game. I only ever played a little bit of Wind Waker until recently, and playing it again made me realize just how good it really was.
This game strived to do things different in the Zelda universe – travelling by boat made for different challenges while travelling the world, and made exploration seem almost endless. With that said, it takes a lot of patience to enjoy the sailing. I enjoy it quite a bit, but even I get sick of it after a while.
Wind Waker also introduced some interesting takes on old weapons – the grappling hook, and the deku leaf are familiar-yet-different weapons. Even if the sailing doesn’t appeal to you, I’d argue that Wind Waker has the best combat in any Zelda game to date. The swordplay was very fluent and very fun. Also, the temples in this game were unique compared to other Zelda titles. They were also extremely well made, which is definitely the norm in Zelda games.

5. The Legend of Zelda


This game is probably the least fun to actually go back and play out of the 10 on this list. However, this is the game that started it all – and it still holds up fairly well 25 years after it’s release. The game had a huge amount of dungeons, an open world to explore, items and weapons to collect, and challenging and puzzling dungeons to conquer. Also, this game introduced us to the amazing Zelda music that is still around today.
Everything The Legend of Zelda did pushed the envelope on what video games could be – it was an open world game before that was a term.  The only real complaint with this game is the lack of a map, making it tough to know where you have been and where you should go.

4. The Minish Cap


The developer that made Four Swords got their chance at making a full-fledged Zelda title with Minish Cap. This is personally my favorite handheld Zelda game. It stayed true to the Zelda formula – it had a ton of extras, side quests, and collectibles, mixed in with some well-made dungeons featuring interesting weapons.
There wasn’t a moment of Minish Cap that I didn’t love, and I wish Nintendo could make another game along the lines of Minish Cap.

3. Majora’s Mask


Majora’s Mask is my favorite Zelda title. However, it’s not the most important. It deviated a lot from the Zelda formula, and did an extremely good job. I wrote about this game before, so I’m just going to paste this section:
To be honest, I think Majora’s Mask is a better game than Ocarina Of Time. I think it’s more fun to play, the world map is more populated, the 3 day timeline is very innovative, the dark and twisted tone of the game creates an amazing atmosphere, the dungeons are very clever, the ability to change physical form works very well, and the story was simple yet intriguing.  Furthermore, the controls are tweaked to be even better than Ocarina of Time.
To be honest I didn’t give Majora’s Mask much of a chance when it came out. I thought it was weird that you weren’t in Hyrule, I wanted to be adult Link instead of young Link,  and the 3 day thing threw me off. I never actually played through Majora’s Mask until it was released on Wii’s virtual console. When I played through it I was amazed at how much I loved it and couldn’t believe I disregarded it when it was released. However, the game’s biggest frustration came with not being able to find a couple of the masks that you need to get. I had to turn to a walkthrough a couple times, and when I found out what to do I could not have imagined doing it without a guide.

2. A Link To The Past


The SNES outing of A Link To The Past was the epitome of what could have been done with the original Legend of Zelda if technology were better in the 1980’s. A Link to the past is a huge game boasting 12 dungeons to play through – each of which having it’s own unique look, feel, and puzzles. It also has nearly 20 weapons/magic powers, 2 unlockable tunics, and weapon/equipment upgrades. This game had so much content and none of it was filler. The game was as perfect as it could have been, and is definitely one of the greatest titles Nintendo has ever developed.

1. Ocarina of Time




Ocarina of Time came out first, and everything in Ocarina was completely new and revolutionary. It was truly the step up from A Link To The Past in every way and no adventure this grand had ever been seen.
The world was huge and gave a great sense of size. The game’s tone was light hearted when it needed to be, and serious when it needed to be. The game’s story was the classic Zelda story of the triforce and defeating Ganon. The 3rd person control scheme was awesome, and the 1st person use of the slingshot and arrows were also awesome. Every temple in this game was very well designed. Even if you hate the water temple, it’s still a clever design with great art direction.
This is an epic adventure with a great story, great characters, a ton of sidequests, and a ton of temples. Even though I enjoy Majora’s Mask more, Ocarina of Time had more of everything. Even if the world map was a bit empty on enemies, it was still an awesome world to travel through. Ocarina of Time is one of the biggest improvements gaming has ever seen. There is very good reason why Ocarina of Time is arguably the greatest video game every created.

What about you guys, what are your favorite Zelda games and Zelda moments?

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim – Legendary Edition Now Available

Gamers can experience the complete Skyrim collection from today, as Bethesda Softworks has launched The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim – Legendary Edition throughout Europe and Australia. The second repackaging of the critically acclaimed The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, this newest outing includes all content released for the title thus far.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim – Legendary Edition features the original critically-acclaimed videogame, official add-ons – Dawnguard, Hearthfire, and Dragonborn – and added features like combat cameras, mounted combat, Legendary difficulty mode for hardcore players, and Legendary skills, which enable you to master every perk and level-up your skills infinitely.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim – Legendary Edition is now available on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 with a recommended retail price (RRP) of £39.99 GBP, and on PC for £29.99. Electronic Theatre will keep you updated with all the latest details on Bethesda Softworks’ The Elder Scrolls videogame franchise.

The Best and Worst of Final Fantasy

With Final Fantasy XIII's release on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 quite literally just around the corner (March 9th), it's time to take a walk down nostalgia lane and revisit the franchise's distinguished past.
It's been more than two decades since Final Fantasy debuted in 1987 as director Hironobu Sakaguchi's last ditch attempt to make video games, and since then the series has evolved greatly. One humongous merger, 12 single-player RPG epics, one Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game with millions of subscribers and countless spin-offs and remakes later, Square Enix has earned itself the reputation of being one of the most influential and prestigious gaming studios in the industry.
However, while gamers tend to remember Final Fantasy more for its halcyon days back on the Super Nintendo and PlayStation, the series has had its share of missteps as well.
With that said, here are some of the most defining, shining highlights in Final Fantasy history, and some of the moments best left forgotten.

 
The Best

Best Story -- Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions
When Final Fantasy Tactics was first released on the PlayStation in North America in 1998, there was no ignoring the complexity of its Shakespearian-esque plot of friendship, war and duplicity. However, due to a rushed localization job, the script was rife with spelling and grammatical errors, many of them unintentionally hilarious. Some of the most important parts of the story were either ruined or completely lost in the translation process.
That was all fixed in 2007's PSP re-release Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions. The script was polished and the plot was embellished by animated, voiced cut scenes, resolving a lot of confusion that plagued the original. With the clutter finally cleared out of the way, Final Fantasy Tactics' narrative prowess truly revealed itself.
Its brilliant, complex cast of characters are diverse, but each are individually tragic and sympathetic. The story is full of twists and turns, and as the conspiracies and political betrayals grow, it becomes apparent that no character is safe from the pervasive corruption and greed that rules Ivalice. Grim and morose yet gripping and immersive, Final Fantasy Tactics's story is not only a landmark moment in Final Fantasy history, but video games as a whole.

Most Memorable Soundtrack -- Final Fantasy VIII
It's difficult to rule which Final Fantasy game had the best soundtrack because music is so subjective. After all, what makes Final Fantasy X's sweeping piano score "To Zanarkan" better than Final Fantasy IV's classic "Edward's Harp" or Final Fantasy VII's haunting and ominous "One Winged Angel"?
Ultimately, it's 1999's Final Fantasy VIII that truly stands out as having one of the most well-rounded, memorable soundtracks. "Force Your Way" got the adrenaline pumping in battles, "The Landing" fit SeeD's Normany Beach-esque assault perfectly, "The Man with the Machine Gun" was a bizarre mix of rapid beats and electronic synth, and "Fisherman's Horizon" and "Balamb Garden" inspired an aura of tranquility that matched the setting.
On top of all that, Faye Wong's catchy, pop single "Eyes on Me" was the first time Square Enix experimented with a vocal piece in a soundtrack. The success of the song (it sold over 400,000 copies) opened the door for Final Fantasy IX's "Melodies of Life", Final Fantasy X's "Isn't it Beautiful?" and more.


Least Conventional Hero -- Tidus (Final Fantasy X)
Some may write off Final Fantasy X's plucky protagonist as being a wuss and a whiner, but many neglect the fact that he's one of Final Fantasy's few leading men who isn't a walking cliché. He's not a mercenary, he's not seeking revenge against someone who murdered his family, and he's not a brooding, amnesia-stricken, Byronic hero. Like most teenagers Tidus' age, he enjoys playing sports, flirting with girls and suffers from repressed father issues.
Tidus may not be the first person you'd expect to be waging a war against an evil monster bent on destroying humanity, but that's what makes him so personable and sympathetic. He's not an elite soldier, a daring brigand or even a "Treasure Hunter" --he's just an ordinary guy who finds himself in an extraordinary situation.

Most Sinister Villain -- Kefka Palazzo (Final Fantasy VI)
Villains with Messiah complexes and plots to eradicate humanity might be a dime a dozen in role-playing games, but guaranteed none are quite as completely insane as Final Fantasy VI's devious, genocidal antagonist. Kefka manipulates Terra into spearheading an assault on Narshe, poisons an entire city's water supply, murders General Leo and then kicks Emperor Gestahl off a floating continent to his death. In fact, he's such a two-timing Judas Iscariot that he even betrays the coalition of villains in Dissidia: Final Fantasy.
Suddenly, other villain's list of misdemeanors like burning down a village, attempting to compress time to negate existence or kidnapping a princess seems somewhat amateurish in comparison. Kefka wants to destroy the world just like every other villain, but he makes sure everyone suffers as much as possible in the process.

Most Revolutionary -- Final Fantasy VII
Final Fantasy VII takes this category with ease. It's responsible for forging the long lasting relationship between Square and Sony, bringing the series into the world of 3D and being one of the first RPG's to extensively use CGI. More importantly, Final Fantasy VII's success made the Final Fantasy name huge in North America and ushered it into the mainstream. Though past iterations in the franchise had enjoyed a prominent following in America, the launch of Final Fantasy VII is accredited for expanding its fan base substantially.
Whether Final Fantasy VII is the best Final Fantasy is arguable, but there's really no denying that it drastically changed the gamers' perception of RPG's. With its dystopian, urban setting, vulgar language, detailed graphics and mature storyline, Final Fantasy VII established itself as an edgy, adult experience that even older gamers could better relate to.

Most Badass Cid -- Cid Highwind (Final Fantasy VII)
Almost every Final Fantasy game has a Cid in it, and almost every one of those Cids totally digs airships. However, what made Final Fantasy VII's Cid so exceptionally badass was...well...everything. Not only was he one of the most powerful Cids in terms of gameplay (second to only T.G Cid from Final Fanasy Tactics), but he can pilot airplanes, massive airships and even a spaceship, all while chain smoking cigarettes and shouting profanities at everyone within ear shot.
Admittedly, he does have a bit of a soft spot for his assistant Shera (who he decides not to roast into a million, crispy pieces by abandoning his launch into space), but the knowledge that Cid has a heart underneath his foul language, propensity for violence and macho posturing just makes him all the more badass.

Halo: Spartan Assault is a Twin-Stick Top-Down Shooter

With all the attention surrounding the Xbox One, it almost seems as if Microsoft has forgotten its other gaming platform, Windows 8. Thankfully, gamers who are wondering what to play on their Windows tablets and phones will soon have the chance to experience the latest game in Microsoft's flagship franchise, Halo. Halo: Spartan Assault is a new top-down, twin-stick shooter due out this July for Windows 8 devices.
While it's a bit of an arcade experience, the requisite Halo freedom is there in full force. Players will be able to customize their roles on the battlefield through various loadouts, and will also be able to hop in and out of familiar vehicles like the Wraith or the Warthog. It's all part of the same seamless sandbox experience we're used to on the console. The only difference is that now we're looking down at it all from above. Players control the movement of their character or vehicle with the left stick, and control the direction of fire with the right stick. Options to lob grenades or enter vehicles are available with a simple tap.
The story marks the return of Sarah Palmer, the UNSC Commander and veteran of the First and Second Battle of Requiem. The whole context of the game borrows from the Spartan Ops model, which has players running through missions in a tactical simulator, complete with daily challenges. In a sense, the tablet and phone version of the game serves as the simulator through which the player is meant to relive the storied battles from the Halo lore. As the player completes challenges, he or she will unlock new content for Halo 4 and Waypoint.

You can see from the trailer just how good the game looks. This being Halo, that's not necessarily surprising, but it does show just how far developers can push the graphics on the current generation of mobile devices. The animations, effects, and overall style of the game make it as authentic a Halo experience as possible. Halo Spartan Assault pushes the hardware well past the line at which you immediately follow "it looks good" with "for a tablet game." The audio, provided by Skywalker Sound, completes the presentation.
I'm less confident in Microsoft's marketing line that Halo is always at the forefront of Microsoft devices, as it ignores the lack of Halo content on Windows-based PCs over the last six years, including Halo 3, ODST, Reach, Halo 4, and, yes, even Halo Wars. That said, the growth of Halo on a new platform is encouraging.

Sega bringing three Sonic games to Ouya

Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episodes I and II, as well as Sonic CD coming to Android console June 27 for $7 each.

Sega is supporting the upcoming Android-powered Ouya console with one of its biggest franchises: Sonic. The company has told Games Industry International that three Sonic the Hedgehog titles will come to the mini-system on June 27.

The games are Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode I, Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode II, and Sonic CD. Each game will be optimized for the Ouya's Tegra 3 processor and will allow gamers to play the title's first levels through the system's "free to try" business model.
The games can be purchased in full for $7 each, above what they cost on iOS and Android.
"Sega is an example of the types of developers that are coming to Ouya. We've always said that because Ouya is open, we lower the barriers for any type of developer, whether it's AAA or a newcomer," Ouya CEO Julie Uhrman told the site.
Sega of America director of mobile business David Zemke was also enthused about the partnership, calling the Ouya "disruptive technology."
"It's fun to see what these technologies can do and be a part of it from the beginning," Zemke said. "For those two reasons alone, we've looked at it as yet another reason to bring some great Sega content to a whole new audience."
Sega joins a long list of developers supporting the Ouya, including Double Fine, Airtight Games, Robotoki, Polytron, and Square Enix.
The Ouya launches publicly on June 25 at Amazon, Best Buy, GAME, GameStop, and Target, as well as through the Ouya online store. Additional controllers can be purchased for $50.
The company recently secured $15 million in new funding on top of the $8.6 million raised through the console's original Kickstarter.