Virtual Sports Games (Present)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3WPjyIbt4Q

With the now wildly popular PSMove, 360 Kinect, and WII, virtual gaming is extremely prominent in today's gaming industry. While many believe that if you are willing to run and jump and swing your arms around for a virtual simulation of a sport, why not just go outside and play the real thing? Would any of you guys be willing to play a video game simulation of their personal favorite sport over the actual sport at least once?

Gaming Addiction (Present)

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2008/06/08/craft_addicts/

Check this article from boston.com in the subsection of the Boston Globe newspaper articles. In this article is an interview with a psychiatrist who commonly treats those with addictions, and in this case a video game addiction. The article generally focuses on the current and wildly popular MMO (multi-million online) game World of Warcraft. As of October 2010, over 12 million users worldwide partake in this monthly pay to play fantasy game.

Homefront (Present)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6NiAGu4_8s&feature=player_embedded

Watch the "trailer" to this new video game just released. Is this game going too far? Using the still-recent N. Korean military shelling on the S. Korean border as a piggyback to pique the interest of those interested? The game itself has met several controversies, including the outright sales ban in S. Korea, as well as the simulation of a possible future war. These plots and story developing techniques are quite common nowadays in modern-warfare simulated games, including Homefront and the very popular Call of Duty Modern Warfare series. Do these games overstep their boundaries and go a little "too far" in terms of simulating a future war amongst countries already face to face with violent tensions?

Pokemon B&W (Present)

Take a quick examination of the two pictures on the left. One will probably bring about nostalgic childhood memories of a hand-held game, painfully deciding which would be your choice amongst the three beginning pokemon. The first generation of pokemon games were released on the Gameboy in 1996. Flashforward to the present, where the newly released Pokemon Black and White has just been released for the Nintendo DS. The pictures as shown from side to side just shows how much gaming as evolved, however mainstream series will always be able to bring in new players/fans to buy their products, as well as add a new look to the good old classics.

3d gaming (current)

TV and movies are in this lead... and video games are coming up with 3D gaming now as well! It is the next jump from HD tvs, 3D tvs are becoming more popular now and playstation 3 has taken the lead in the gaming world because they have already released their 3d gaming. It's remarkable how close to reality games can actually get....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-ishJ1EdGw

Nintendo 3ds (current)

Nintendo is a gaming pro... and has been for years. They are still putting out great systems and keeping up with technology with the new nintendo 3ds... check out this video to see it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGqQV-yz4qg

Mortal Kombat series... still alive! (current)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdEhPV5KDug

The mortal kombat series has been in gaming for over 15 years, and it is still here with a new game coming out next month. The series has been completely reamped and matched with today's new gaming technology so the visuals look impressive in this brutal arcade style fighter!

The playstation sharp shooter (current)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7oGjGWiSrg

This is an attachment for the playstation move, and it really brings the realism to gaming. Not only are the graphics there, but this makes playing a first person shooter game, like your actually holding the rifle. In the past, there was duck hunt, but this completely changes the gaming experience and really ups the game in today's market.

Playstation Move (current)

The playstation move expands gaming technology greatly! Many systems are going more "mobile" these days with their interactive gaming, and playstation really keeps up with the race with there Move device.

Starcraft 2 (Current)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0pB7h6zg00 (if link doesn't work type in "Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty (PC, Mac) Walkthrough - Part 1 [HD]") This video shows Starcraft 2, the sequel to Starcraft, which was mentioned earlier in the blog. Most of the video is the beginning cutscene of Tychus Findley (a main character) being released from his cryogenic prison and into a marine suit. After that you see Jim Raynor, another main character, in a bar watching Arcturus Mengsk slander his name on the news, while glancing at a photo of Sarah Kerrigan, an ally of his who fell to the Zerg at New Gettysburg to be transformed into the Queen of Blades, aka the leader of the Zerg. The video then shows the start of the first mission, Liberation Day. Changes from Starcraft 1 to 2: 3D is enabled, a lot of the technology used in the cinematics and such is more up to date, among other things. One of the fundamental changes is that players now have access to a system called real I.D. This means if you personally know someone you can invite them (invite their email address) to see both their actual name and their regular I.D. By this I mean there is still a system where you have a username that is displayed to the general public, so only the people you wish will know your actual name.

Borderlands (PS3 / Xbox 360)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sSMD9GtSjg (If link is not working type in "Borderlands Walkthrough - Part 1 : Time to get School'd") This video shows the PS3 / Xbox 360 game Borderlands. In this game you choose from a siren, a soldier, a berzerker, and a hunter as playable classes. Each class has unique profiencies and special abilities (aka the soldier can summon a turret to aid him in battle). The game is also played in a sort of dark, yet cartoonish environment with lots of humor added, espeically in the form of Claptrap (the breakdancing robot). Also did I mention there are LOTS of guns in this game? Well.... there are about 2 million guns in this game meaning lots of customization for your characters.

Demon's Souls (Ps3)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMIFCEPDU94 (if link is not working type in "Demon's Soul's Walkthrough - Boletarian Palace 1-1 - Part 1") This video shows the PS3 only Demon's Soul's. It is a 3D action/ quick thinking game that to many people (not me however since I was able to get 100% of the PS3 trophies for it) is EXTREMELY difficult. Although there is only 16 levels (The same number as the original Diablo) in this game, there is never a true end to the game since after beating it, your character starts over again with everything from the previous playthrough and the game becomes harder and harder for each playthrough. What is the max level for this game you ask? 772, meaning a level 772 character has all stats maxed at 99. Also lvling is done through collecting souls from slain enemies, BUT are lost if you manage to be killed. When you are killed you are sent back to the beginning of the level and at the spot where you died, there is a bloodstain. If you get to your bloodstain you will get back all of your souls, but if you die before reaching your bloodstain, the original bloodstain goes away as does all the souls that are in it and is replaced by a new bloodstain. Also if you are connected to the internet while your playing you can see the spirits of other players in the same area (they are in a different instance of the zone). You can also see other player's bloodstains and activate them to see how they die. This could warn you of a nearby trap or an ambush. Also messages can be read and written by the player for all the world to see, to help or mwuahaha hinder the other players.

Super Street Fighter IV (Present)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKIJIJdjhT8 (if link is not working type in " Super Street Fighter IV 'Adon vs Sagat Gameplay' TRUE-HD QUALITY ") This video shows the present Street Fighter game. As anyone can see the graphics are much better then the original and the gameplay is much more balenced (aka one hit doesn't knock out 50% of a character's life bar). In the video Adon fights Sagat is a truely great match of skill. Personally I don't think I would last 30 seconds against these competitors.

Donkey Kong Country Returns (Wii)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ov6rRDZrkho (if link is not working type in "Donkey Kong Country Returns 100% walkthrough Part -1 ( Intro and Jungle 1-1 )) This video shows Donkey Kong Country Returns, which is the present version (some consider it to be a remake, but that is not entirely true since tikis are the enemy instead of kremlins) of the Donkey Kong Country series (in which the first was covered on this blog). Donkey Kong Country Returns is a platform game like it's predecessor, but unlike the original it is presented in a different way. By this I mean in the original Donkey Kong Country, everything was purely 2d. That is not the case anymore with more then one area being on the screen sometimes as was the case once during this video. The second area appears above the first and much smaller, but still decently visible. Another difference from this new Donkey Kong Country Returns and the SNES Donkey Kong Country is that true co-op is possible. By this I mean in the SNES Donkey Kong only one player could play at one time in co-op mode and could switch to the other player whenever. In the new Donkey Kong Country, two players can simultaneously play together with the option of having Diddy Kong ride Donkey Kong's back.