Why Ninja Theory’s Independent AAA Could Save Gaming's Middle Ground

Ninja Theory is a developer that always seems on the verge of mainstream success. They landed a PS3 exclusive deal early on with Heavenly Sword; they wowed critics with Enslaved: Odyssey to the West; and they made serious waves with Dante’s redesign in DmC. However, it’s their newest effort Hellblade that just may be their most important work to date. The game is shaping up to be what fans would expect from the studio: a third person action title in the vein of Devil May Cry or God of War. Though, it isn’t so much the game’s content that’s been turning heads in the industry; it’s the way the game is being produced. It’s a process they’re calling “Independent AAA”.

Top 5 MMO No Brainers

Tons of people have fallen in love with the worlds presented by MMOs, and while MMOs have typically only been successful in the fantasy genre, there are tons of potentially amazing MMOs that could come from licensing major properties. Here are five of the most obvious choices for the next big MMO.

Audio Log: Sonic Colors/Sonic Unleashed

Sonic gets a deservedly bad rap for his recent outings on just about every platform. It's unlikely he'll ever regain his status as an attitude driven alternative to Mario. However, no matter how poor so many latter day Sonic titles have proven to be, the music in just about every Sonic game remains some of the best game music that still feels like game music rather than a film score. Two of the best representations of this are the Chun-Nan day stage from Sonic Unleashed and Aquarium Park from Sonic Colors. So, feast your ears on these toe tappin' tunes.

Top 5 Medieval Fantasy Games that aren’t RPGs

Picture Credit: Zoppy

Whether it’s battling dragons, discovering magical amulets, or defending castles from hordes of orcs, just about everyone this side of the Lord of the Rings films has wanted to dive headlong into the medieval fantasy setting at one time or another. Fortunately, games have been all too willing to oblige via deep role playing games that scratch that particular itch. However, sometimes we want to save the kingdom without having to level up for 14 hours to do it. We don’t always want to fight rats in the town sewer before getting to fight Evil King What’s-His-Name or do a fetch quest before we can fight the troll in the Dwarven Halls of Something-or-Another! Sometimes we just want to get to the good stuff quick, so here are 5 of the best fantasy games that ditch the RPG elements and let us do just that.

Weird Entries: God of War: Betrayal

Any series has characteristics and features that make it immediately recognizable. Shinobi is distinguished by being about an awesome ninja; Uncharted is distinguished by its everyman, light hearted protagonist. However, every once in a while, when a series has been around for a while, the developers and publishers will want to shake things up. Sometimes this works wonderfully (Resident Evil 4), but other times it doesn’t work out too well. In these latter times we get sequels/reboots/off shoots that are remembered only by their weirdness. Perhaps not as bad of a game as last time's entry but no less weird is God of War Betrayal.

Audio Log: Medievil

Medievil (yes that is the correct spelling) was a pretty awesome platformer for the original Playstation. It was heavily inspired by both Zelda and Tomb Raider, and unlike so many games from the PS1 era, Medievil is still fun to go back and enjoy today. The game also had an impressive soundtrack at a time when composers were trying to decide if they wanted to keep the synthesized sounds from previous generations or go with the orchestral scores found in film. As an early effort in the latter style, the Medievil soundtrack is impressive, with its Gothic horror vibe and macabre sense of humor, so have a listen...if you dare.

The Most Grumble-Worthy Things about the New Generation (so far)

The new generation of consoles has brought a lot of excitement from the gaming audience. Gamers were ready for the successors to the Wii, PS3, and Xbox 360, so, naturally, everyone flocked to get their new consoles upon release. As with any new generation of consoles, however, there have been a fair amount of growing pains that came with the transition. Here are 5 of the most annoying aspects of the new generation so far.

Weird Entries: Bomberman Act Zero

Any series has characteristics and features that make it immediately recognizable. Shinobi is distinguished by being about an awesome ninja; Uncharted is distinguished by its everyman, light hearted protagonist. However, when a series has been around for a while, the developers and publishers will want to shake things up. Sometimes this works wonderfully (Resident Evil 4), but other times it doesn’t go so well. In these latter times we get sequels, reboots, or offshoots that are only remembered by how much they deviated from what the series was really all about. This feature will cover 2 this month, so let’s jump into one of the weirdest ever: Bomberman: Act Zero.

Blog Update March 31, 2014

First of all, I want to thank everyone who takes a look at this blog. Whether you read every post or just come by when a particular post catches your eye, seeing the pageviews go up like they have lately has been really awesome, and I really appreciate everyone taking the time to read my stuff. However, I feel like I'm spreading myself a bit thin, and as a result, the features I write end up feeling a bit underdeveloped. So, I won't be posting every week from now on, BUT I'll still put 3 posts up every other week (which will be the same types as before). Hopefully, this will allow me time to conceive, write, and edit posts more thoroughly before posting them. Also, if you're enjoying what I'm writing, let me know, or if you aren't enjoying what I'm writing, really let me know. I want to get better even if this is only something I do for fun. I'll see you guys in a week!

Audio Log: Astyanax

Astyanax was a game whose name no one knew how to pronounce. Go ahead; try. However, it was still a pretty fun sidescrolling adventure with Greek Mythology elements and a fairly awesome soundtrack. The title music and first stage music in particular were fun tracks. Have a listen with your ears.

5 of the Best Sidekicks in Gaming

We all know the hero is the star of the show; that’s why they’re called the hero and not…some person. But sidekicks are all too often forgotten for the key roles they play in helping the hero save the day. Games usually relegate the sidekick to the second player, but sometimes developers make them such cool or useful characters that they end up taking the spotlight for themselves. Here are 5 of gaming’s coolest second stringers.

Best and Worst: Devil May Cry

Devil May Cry could easily be a contender for one of the most important franchises of all time. With its first entry, creator Hideki Kamiya helped usher in a new era of third person action titles, and eventually change many of the fundamental aspects of the hack and slash genre. The series was a success from the start, and would go on to spawn a number of sequels as well as its own TV show and a comic book series. However, like any franchise, DMC has its problematic entries. What’s the best and worst the DMC series has to offer? I’m glad you asked.

Audio Log: Mega Man 6

Mega Man music has been lauded to the point where even mentioning that it's great has become a cliche. Suffice it to say that the whole of the Mega Man series has fantastic soundtracks, but one that has always stood out to me as being particularly noteworthy is the stage select music from Mega Man 6. Hardly anyone has the fondest memories of anything between 5 and the X series on Super Nintendo, but this song in particular is one of the best Mega Man tracks on the NES.

Classic Game Design Elements that Should Never Die

Games have gotten more complex as the tools to make them have become more robust; however there are a few things that modern developers should still tap into when making new experiences. Here are five of the most important design elements pioneered by the games of yesteryear that should never go away.

Best and Worst: Sonic the Hedgehog

It’s difficult to imagine how gamers born after the year 2000 can really understand why people still care about Sonic. After all, he’s been the butt of so many jokes in the past 10 years that it can be hard for some to remember that Sonic used to be one of the coolest games around. The 16 bit console wars were legendary in part because of how successful Sonic was as an alternate to the more mild mannered Mario. However, it’s also easy to see how Sonic really isn’t running at the same speed he was on the Genesis, so which of Sonic’s games was his best and which was his absolute worst? Let’s find out.

Audio Log: Alan Wake

Alan Wake was an Xbox 360 exclusive released in 2010. The game was a survival horror game that drew heavy inspiration from Stephen King's work with a story focusing on a writer who plans a trip to a remote location in order to cure his writer's block. As you can probably guess, things aren't all that peaceful in this little town. The game was a moderate success, but one of the best parts about it was it's score. It's a situation where the music adds so much more meaning to a scene that would otherwise be missing. 'Welcome to Bright Falls' is the best illustration of this idea and kicks off a pretty haunting soundtrack.

Game Series that Fizzled and Died

Game series seem to go on for far too long these days. With rising development costs and a market that seems to reward the familiar in favor of the new, publishers want something that they can continuously count on year after year. With annual releases of titles like Call of Duty and Assassin’s Creed, just about every publisher has a franchise to fall back on. However, not all game series are able to become blockbuster franchise; sometimes they go on for so long that developers run out of ideas (Tony Hawk) or sometimes they just don’t find their audience no matter how great they are (Shenmue). Here are 5 games that were set up to be major franchises that ended up going nowhere.

Best & Worst: God of War

Any video game franchise that lasts more than three entries is usually a pretty good one. Fans will always want more, and publishers are eager to make sure that these trusted franchises continue to see new releases. Sometimes this can lead to truly great experiences, but sometimes it leads to some pretty lackluster ones. This March long feature is going to take a look at the best and worst a few series have offered.

God of War and all of its home console released sequels were created and developed by Sony Santa Monica Studio (with the PSP releases developed by Ready At Dawn). Sony has been relying on this franchise to bring in the big bucks for almost ten years now, and nearly all of the entries have been fantastic. So, let’s start with the good.

Audio Log: Werewolf The Last Warrior

Werewolf The Last Warrior isn't a good game. There is no good explanation as to why your character is a werewolf, why you're the last warrior, or why you have blades instead of hands. However, of the handful of tunes that are on the game's soundtrack, there are a couple of pretty good ones, so why not celebrate one of the most bizarre games ever to grace the NES? 

5 Games to Play While You Prepare for Titanfall

The recent release of the Titanfall beta has shown that even a small amount of time with the game is enough to make anyone want Respawn Entertainment's shooter sooner than March 11. But, unfortunately no one here has a vortex manipulator, so the game's release date is going to get here one day at a time. However, there are a few games you can play to get ready for one of the biggest XBOX One releases this year, so here are 5 games to play while you prepare for Titanfall.