News Update

Hey, everyone! Lots of new things going on in the world of games and many of which I am pretty excited about. So let's just get to it.

First and foremost...a series I have been waiting to hear about for a few years has finally announced something big. I'm sure most people have heard of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, but not everyone realizes that it is actually the fourth game in the series. A few days ago, the fifth game in the series was announced with a name, trailer, and release date!

I do not own anything in the video nor to I claim to own it.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim has been set to release on November 11th, 2011. That's less than a year away! Let's see if it this date will stay or change. It has also been revealed that it will use a brand new engine!

Another big thing I'm excited about is Minecraft going into Beta. If you have never played Minecraft before, click on the link and play the the classic single-player minecraft for free just to get a taste of what can be done in the game. It is currently in Alpha but will be going into Beta on December 20th! This doesn't mean the game is almost finished. In is actually far from finished. The developer still plans to put a lot more content into the game. If you buy the game while it is in Alpha, you can get it for 50% off and get all future updates for free. But I guess I should answer the question...what is Minecraft?

Minecraft is a simple game in which the player mines, builds, fights, and survives. But there is a lot of depth in this simple game. Players can farm, build, mine, craft, create, fight, and more. This is the amount of things to do currently implemented with more to come. There are some fun physics in the game as well as dynamic lighting. The classic free mode is fun but only gives you a small taste of the things that can be done. Try it for yourself to see exactly what I mean.

It is also getting very close to the release of Dungeon Defenders (I hope). The game was already delayed due to some issues with consoles and their weird policies, but this is not a bad thing. The developers have already promised us even more content because of the delay. Dungeon Defenders is a tower-defense action role-playing game. Think of it as tower-defense meets Diablo. It is played from a third-person point of view in which you control a single person who can place defenses. The Diablo aspect of the game comes with the fighting. You can use your character to fight off the monsters invading your castle so the defenses you place to have to do all the work. With killing monsters comes loot...also much like diablo. And who doesn't like getting better equipment. I'm looking forward to this game very much.

And did I mention that Dungeon Defenders was made in the Unreal Development Kit (UDK)? This makes me even more excited because I know how to use UDK and it shows just how powerful this development tool is.

That's about all the major news that I am currently excited about. As always, keep an eye on Steam for good deals on games. Especially since Christmas is just around the corner. Thanks for reading my blog. If you have any suggestions, I'm always open to ways I can improve my blog. If you have any questions about anything, please feel free to leave me a comment and I will try to answer it. Also, be sure to follow me on Twitter.

Are Games really "Survival"?

Hey, everyone. It's been a little while since my last post. I was discussing video games with some people yesterday who do not really play video games and it made me think of an interesting concept.

The Resident Evil series and the Silent Hill series are categorized as survival horror. I was playing Left 4 Dead 2 and some friends asked what kind of game it is. One of them compared it to Resident Evil and asked if it was similar. I told them I suppose because you are shooting dead things, but it is still a very different game. Then I tried to explain it and realized that I was describing a survival game except with more action.

This explanation made me think of an interesting question. What really makes a game classified as the "survival" genre? Almost any game I think of has a common goal...do not die. This goal can also be described as survive. Left 4 Dead, Oblivion, Diablo, Warcraft, Starcraft, Mass Effect, Call of Duty, and many other games all share this goal. Even simple casual games have the basic idea of surviving as long as possible to get the highest score or whatever else. The only games I can think of that stray from this goal are a few strange flash games on the internet.

So what allows Resident Evil to be a "survival" game? Perhaps it is in the horror genre and horror movies are usually about surviving the "horror" in the movie. Or perhaps it's because you can get scared to death...HAHA! But really, in my opinion, I think that many games could have the category of survival attached to them. What do you think? Please leave a comment and let me know. Thanks!

Thanks for reading my blog. Please follow me if you liked the post (you can find that off to the right side). Also be sure to follow me on my Twitter if you use Twitter. If you have any suggestions, I'm always open to ways I can improve my blog. If you have any questions about anything, please feel free to leave me a comment and I will try to answer it.

New GoldenEye Site

Hey, everyone. Just a quick update. I have a twitter account now for my blog.

In other news, the GoldenEye website in my last blog post has had a major update. Everyone should go check it out. If you look carefully, you will find small puzzles and hidden objects around the site. On top of that, there is more to come in the future! So click here to see the awesome new website for the upcoming Wii exclusive. Also be sure to see the new Multiplayer trailer here.

Steam is having a weekend sale this weekend. You can get the Stalker bundle for 75% off this weekend. That's 2 games for only $10!

Here is the link to my twitter account. Please follow me. Thanks!

Lately, I have been playing Oblivion...again. If you have never played it, check it out. You will thank yourself for it.

Thanks for reading my blog. Please follow me if you liked the post (you can find that off to the right side). If you have any suggestions, I'm always open to ways I can improve my blog. If you have any questions about anything, please feel free to leave me a comment and I will try to answer it.

Diablo 3

Hey. So my last post was a list of the top 3 games I'm looking forward to most. The top game is Diablo 3 from Blizzard Entertainment.

Even though there has not been much information on this game yet, there is enough for me to get excited about it. I think it also helps that Diablo 2 is one of my favorite games of all time and the third one is looking to bring back the hack and slash gameplay that everyone loved about Diablo 2. It also looks like it will be bringing in some fresh new gameplay, too. This time around, the environments will be interactive. For example, you can break pillars to crumble down on your enemies or simply just push enemies off a ledge into darkness.

For anyone who enjoys cinematics, go to the official Diablo 3 website, click on media, and scroll down to watch the cinematic trailer. This cinematic is and excellent example of the cinematics seen in the Diablo series of games.

I will bring more updates about this game when more information is released. Blizzcon 2010 is coming up in October so there may be more updates about this game around that time.

On a side note, Steam is having a different sale everyday for the next few days in celebration of QuakeCon 2010. Today's deals are The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Game of the Year Edition and the Deluxe Edition. Check back everyday for new deals on games from Bethesda and Id.

Thanks for reading my blog. If you have any suggestions, I'm always open to ways I can improve my blog. If you have any questions about anything, please feel free to leave me a comment and I will try to answer it.