Really big shoe, really big. So, E3 has come and gone once again. Here is my take on the big video game news stories I have skimmed over this week.

Knights of the Old Republic MMO is officially a go. I’m excited despite the fact that I never l played the KOTOR games. I have always heard that the original is one of the best titles out there, I just never got a chance to play it. I’m also a big Star Wars fan, but I’ve only ever really been invested in the post Clone Wars era(s). KOTOR is on the top of my GameFly queue, but god knows when I will get that in the mail. MMOs have never really entrenched me; I had a brief stint with WoW, but I just found it incredibly tedious and boring after the initial excitement of leveling a character. I did it twice to level 30 and just couldn’t go on. If I can run a sweet wookie jedi or something and actual feel invested in that character and his universe, I could get behind this.

Resident Evil 5. Killing zombies, ‘nough said. But I’ll say more. I love the RE games. Loved the ones that controlled like a tank, and 4 which was a slick take on the arcade shooter. I would prefer a game that mixed the best of each, but each on its own is still plenty enough for me. Zombies during the day? Sign me up. I just better get to crank something.

Left 4 Dead. Killing zombies, ‘nough said. But I’ll say more. Looks like Unreal Tournament during the zombocalypse, fast and frantic. Now with coop! Fantasies (nightmares?) of my friends and I surviving the great zombie throw-down can now be played out, but without all the intelligent planning, and way more shooting. Make it a double.

Lips. Microsoft’s karaoke game. Made by guys that did Gitaroo Man and Elite Beat Agents. Oh yeah. Don’t know about karaoke, but shit, Gitaroo Man! Maybe best music game ever. Fuck Guitar Hero and Rock Band and all those accessories, wait, Lips uses mic controllers, oh well, I’m still intrigued. Supposedly you can string your own songs to jam to, but will the mic score air guitaring during the guitar solos?

Wii Sports Resort. Wii Sports is pretty sweet, and unfortunately one of the best games for the Wii. Could another one be as fun without the novelty of the Wii’s release (tee hee)? Perhaps, because this game comes with the release of the Wii Motion Plus, a small add on to the Wii remotes that allows for much greater control and precision, so it will be like tinkering all over again. I guess these little babies actually make the premise of a light saber game that actually corresponds in a 1:1 fashion, it does what you do, possible. Wii Sports Resort will already come with a fencing game, how far can Star Wars: Blade Battles be? The little speaker making energy sounds from your hands, custom crafting blades with intensity and length. Anyway, I just hope the new sports title comes with shuffle board, and billiards, and I dunno, piñata bashing! Shit yeah.

Bungie has a Halo game that deserves it’s own announcement day. Halo as a single player game never really impressed me that much, even its multiplayer isn’t spectacular, what really sells is it how the multiplayer works. It just works, where so many other’s just don’t. If this is a game without Master Chief, which I think is a smart decision, unless they go with a tie in to the Marathon games. Never played them, but just the idea and shit of them connecting is really cool. But if it’s just a game based on the everyday soldiers and shit, it could be cool, but again I don’t think it would blow me away, and I wonder how multiplayer combat would be different without controlling a super trooper.

Mirror’s Edge. It’s got style and is trying something different. Lot’s of times that is enough for me. Some of my favorite games ever don’t play the best, but damnit they were awesome nonetheless. If they can keep the game from being monotonous and arbitrary, and different than an Assassin’s Creed clone, it could be awesome.

NetFlix on 360. I like it. My home already pays for Live and NetFlix, so we are ready for this to roll out. As someone that has already stopped buying movie discs at this point, the BluRay player aspect of a PS3 doesn’t really do it for me, but this service sounds much more attractive, if not really comparable.

Gears of War 2, Fable 2, and Fall Out 3. Excited for them all. Gears of war was a favorite of mine. I went from despising it to cherishing it and I’m all set to take down some Locusts. Gimme gimme gimme. What would make me tingle even more would be a Shadowrun sequel that my friends actually got into, but I know the multiple reasons behind that impossibility.

Final Fantasy XIII on the 360. Blew me away. As disappointed as I am in FFXII, and what a sham X-2 was, despite it being pretty fun, I think, I still hold out hope for the next installment. And XI should have not merited a roman numeral distinction. If the new game can bring back the classic elements of the game, while still doing new things without trying too damned hard, it could be great. The greatness of these games, from a gameplay point of view, is developing a character and part of that is playing out their actions, not giving them fucking gambits you bastards. And I want limit breaks that make me feel like my character has reached a physical or mental limit, not that he has a full mp bar, you dip shits. And I want characters that have combat roles that reflect their character, not everyone being the same because your fucking boards are all identical. Even FFX’s sphere grid started characters in places that established them as fighters, mages, etc. The characters in XII were so bland because they couldn’t commit to anything that may not agree with what the player chooses. Fuck that. Put me on a leash, I like it. I want turn based battle, doesn’t have to be a separate battle screen, but damnit, that rigidity is part of the allure you fools. You could even do like Tactics grid battles that are totally independent of where you are. And I’ll go on record saying that it’s just not the same without random encounters. How could you have random battles, without using a separate screen and incorporate a battle gird? Find away. Enemies lie in wait for ambushing, have them pop out of bunkers, from around boulders, jump from buildings, etc. Then lay a grid over the current field of battle and the fighting ensues, you could have different settings for the location of your characters: haphazard, in a line, in a defensive circle around weaker spell casters, with a front and read guard that leaves your sides open, with a scout up ahead, etc. And spells that are more varying than fire damage and ice damage. A fire spell can blast forward in a cone shape, weakening as it spreads, where an ice spell affects a small area equalling and freezes enemies in place. And non magical skills could actually be effective with ranges of effect that very from the spells. Great, I’m ranting now. Win me back Square. I’m here for the taking.

Take a stand!

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