Holiday Gaming Releases Are Upon Us!

Tomorrow marks November 10th, the day three different franchises are released simultaneously. Crazed fans can expect to finally get their hands on Fallout 4, Rise of the Tomb Raider and Starcraft II: Legacy of the Void - among who knows what other entertainment options for the masses. Yes yes, we're finally there, it's the holiday gaming season.

While gamers have to wait all year long for this time, it's finally upon us. Aside from some stellar releases this year; Rare Replay, Halo 5: Guardians, The Witcher III: Wild Hunt, Metal Gear Solid: The Phantom Pain, Bloodborne, Batman: Arkham Knight, Forza Motorsport 6 & Gears of War: Ultimate Edition, the cream of the crop, so to say, is within grasp. Here are a few titles that'll be taking up your precious leisure time in the coming months as they're looking to be stellar additions to their already esteemed franchises.

• Fallout 4 Release: Nov 10th Set in an open world post-apocalyptic infamous "wasteland" setting and littered with mutated enemies, vast loot and staring a dynamic story, did I mention it's an Open-World Role-Playing Game, from the creators of other amazing open world games Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Bethesda Studios. RPG gamers have been waiting for the sequel to the critically acclaimed Fallout 3 ever since 2008 - the year that Fallout 3 was released. Here's to hoping productivity globally doesn't diminish due to this game's release. The game's targeting V.A.T.S. is back but this time you can select enemies on the fly without the stutter stop clumsiness of the previous iteration. Also making a reappearing appearance is the S.P.E.C.I.A.L. perks system but this time the level cap has been axed. Want a beefy action guy that's reminiscent of Arnold - Get to the Choppa! -, you got it. What about a stealthy ninja who takes out enemies simultaneously in the dark like a trained assassin, check. Your imagination is the limit with this one. Fallout 4 is a multi-platform game with exclusive features for the Xbox One like Backwards Compatible Fallout 3 and Fallout 4 mods - a first for the console version.

• Rise of the Tomb Raider Release: Nov 10th Continuing the success of the formula Crystal Dynamics retooled into the 2013 Tomb Raider reboot, Rise of the Tomb Raider continues to give gamers the high fantasy of being stuck in tombs and climbing icy frozen cliffs a few hundred feet off the ground while unraveling a thralling story with explosive combat and platforming. Promising the same fan favorite gameplay along with new locations and story, it seems like Crystal Dynamics finally knows where the franchise is headed. This action-adventure game is sure to give thrills, chills and vistas but more importantly we finally get a glimpse of the physiological effects Lara Croft endures with the madness she undertakes. Rise of the Tomb Raider is a timed Holiday Xbox exclusive with it going multi-platform in the near future.

• Starcraft II: Legacy of the Void Release: Nov 10th To cap off such an epic story that Blizzard Entertainment has crafted with Starcraft II is a high note. Legacy of the Void tells the continuing story focusing on the Protoss race, their homeworld, lore, buildings and iconic characters we know and love from the Starcraft II storyline. Of course the infamous mutliplayer will also get infused with these enhancements and even if you don't have the stand-alone expansion you'll be able to experience the enhancements as Blizzard is allowing any version of Starcraft able to experience the new features of Legacy. Expect to see some brilliant tacticians in the coming months. Blizzard Entertainment has confirmed they're working on episodic content for the game, in the form of Nova Covert Ops, and assures fans that more of what they want is on the way. Starcraft II: Legacy of the Void is a PC exclusive and finishes the story set up in Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty - which focused on the Terran forces and story - and continues the story from Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm - which focused on the Zerg forces and story.

Whichever title you decide on, yeah it's a good time to be a gamer, game on!

Console's Showdown: Strengths/Weaknesses & E3 Approaching

Sony's PS4

Currently has

• Strong emphasis on Gaming, slick interface, Indies, Netflix & other apps don't need PS+, 1st Party Exclusives & 3rd Party Support

Current Good Exclusives: Infamous: Second Son, Killzone: Shadowfall, flower, Resogun, Towerfall: Ascension, Don't Starve

​Needs work with

• 1st Party Games
• Robust Features
• Robust Online system

Future Exclusives to Look Forward To: The Order: 1886, Drive Club, The Last of Us Remastered, future Uncharted title in dev

Microsoft's Xbox One

Currently has

• Strong emphasis on entertainment, slick interface, Live & TV services, 1st Party Exclusives & 3rd Party Support

Current Good Exclusives: Forza Motorsport 5, Dead Rising 3, Ryse: Son of Rome, +Titanfall, Killer Instinct, Powerstar Golf, Zoo Tycoon, Xbox Fitness, *Peggle 2, *Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare *Timed Exclusive, +Microsoft Exclusive

Needs work with

• Games
• Price
• Indie support
• Robust Features

Future Exclusives to Look Forward To: Kinect Sports Rivals, Halo 2 Anv., Quantum Break, Sunset Overdrive, Halo 5, Fable Legends, future Gears of War title in dev, rumored Halo 3 & 4 HD ports/Forza Horizon's sequel/Crackdown 3

Nintendo's Wii U

Currently has

• Strong emphasis on Gaming, 1st Party Games

Current Good Exclusives: Super Mario 3D World, The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker HD, Pikmin 3, New Super Mario Bros. U, Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate, The Wonderful 101, Nintendo Land

​Needs work with

• Games
• 3rd Party Support
• Robust Features
• Robust Online system

Future Exclusives to Look Forward To: Mario Kart 8, Super Smash Bros Wii U, Bayonetta 2, Hyrule Warriors, X, Zelda HD title in dev

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Current Good Multiplatform Games: Battlefield 4, Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, NBA 2K14, Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition, Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare, Call of Duty: Ghosts, FIFA 14, Rayman Legends, NFS: Rivals, Strider, Lego Marvel Super Heroes

Future Multiplatform Games, most spill into PC too, To Look Forward To: Child of Light, Wolfenstein: The New Order, The Elder Scrolls Online, Watch Dogs, Destiny, Evolve, The Evil Within, Dragon Age: Inquisition, Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor, Alien: Isolation, Dying Light, The Crew, Project Cars, Mad Max, Mirror's Edge, Batman: Arkham Knight, Tom Clancy's The Division, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

Looking forward to E3, it's coming up pretty soon. What will we see there, what's going to be announced and what is going to send ripples in the current console showdown? Games, lots of games since last E3 was all about the hardware, this year's E3 is all about the games!

Metal Gear Solid Fame or Metal Gear Solid Shame

Big Boss is angry, contempt, it's kinda hard to tell?

Recently the masses got their hands on the latest Metal Gear Solid game called Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeros. When I say masses, I really mean it, as this game's release is available on PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One. The game is a prequel and a starting point for the much bigger Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, coming later sometime in 2015. The events take place right after Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker and the focus this time around is with Big Boss in an action-adventure stealth environment set in a new shiny open world Fox Engine. With the game releasing for either $30 (physical copy) and $20(digitally copy) many have questioned the legitimacy of such a short demo, which is said to have 2 hours of gameplay for the main story, at such a high price.

Each system has its own exclusive bonus or visual flare.

No matter your opinion on the price and value of this title, one can positively say that it doesn't feel like a full fledged video game release. What the masses are getting is a little snip-it of what and how developer Kojima will be utilizing the Fox Engine to bring a whole new era of Metal Gear Solid. In my eyes though I feel like this is the console's first version of "early access" which has been a staple on the PC marketplace for some time now-and an opportunity for a struggling studio to take advantage of their fans. Developers are allowed to charge players an early-access charge in Valve's Steam program and digital giant distribution service. In trade, players get to toy around with the latest game still in progress, as given like VIP passes to experience all of the game. Often or not these games are at such an early process in their development that many key features are still missing or the developers go back to the drawing board wiping their current progress to start a new. Here Kojima has allowed people to toy around and mess around with Metal Gear Solid's new engine and get a piece of the story puzzle along the way, for a price.

Starbound is a notorious early-access game available on Steam, which has seen many server wipes over its development.

As the game came out there were reports that a speed run had clocked in the game in 10 minutes. Other reports were that if you did everything in the game, side missions and collectibles and all, it would go around to 6 - 8 hours of play. In my eyes, that's not much of a value but diehard fans have jumped on board to what I hope doesn't become an industry trend. Critical reception have also poured out for the game as many are hailing the game since it's behind the Metal Gear Solid franchise pedigree veil, eager to get more from the impending release of MGSV: The Phantom Pain. However take for example how Capcom, yet another Eastern developer and publisher, allowed players to sample a bit of the next installment of the Dead Rising franchise.

Dead Rising 2: Case Zero, a downloadable Xbox Live Arcade game, which ties the story from Dead Rising 1 to Dead Rising 2, allowed players a glimpse of what to expect with the next installment, acquire XP to bring over into Dead Rising 2 and all for a $5 digital entrance fee. At that time some people thought $5 for a demo, something you'll no doubt hear some echo about the MGSV: GZ release, was too much. You can think however you want on the value for MGSV: Ground Zeros, as that can always be debatable, but one things for sure, "early-access" has breached the console environment. Games are expensive, publishers don't want to take high risks and if they can get some cash from gamers eager to play the latest while a future game is in development then they'll no doubt continue this trend. It's just smart business, although due to it being relatively new a business that's taking advantage of gamers at the moment.

Dead Rising 2: Case Zero, let players experience the improvements over Dead Rising 1 in a small bit sized Xbox Live Arcade chunk.

I don't think this is advantageous for gamers out there. Even though many would love to test-drive a new game that's in development, as we're seeing more and more closed and open Betas for titles about to launch, I just don't get that motivation as I'd rather play a finished/polished product. However with a Beta program, you're not paying 30 or 20 dollars to play. The developer of Rust on the PC for example even urged players not to buy into the product he was still working on and stated it wasn't finished, had plenty of bugs that needed to be fixed and wasn't the final experience that he wanted gamers to experience. That didn't stop millions from plopping down their money to join in on the latest talked about the video game, as after all video games are in the entertainment medium sharing such other water cooler topics with movies and TV shows.

If anything I'll laugh if this "glorified demo" is included in the release of MGSV: The Phantom Pain , as the demo of MGS 2 was included originally with the copy of Zone of the Enders for free! It just strikes me funny when critical sources harp on how a game like Titanfall or Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare feel "bare bones" due to no meaty single player questioning the full asking price, $60/$30 respectively, yet when it came to the MGSV GZ game you rarely heard such acquisitions. It's a slippery slope we're heading down here and it's apparent the industry is changing, sometimes you hope the non-advantageous shifts come out being trends and not standards.

Top 5 Games of 2013, it's the Top Downloads!

Ok so first off we've all read, or watched, all the best of awards or nomination discussions with the video games that came out in 2013. I figured I'd do something different and give you my top 5 games in the download category. Now I had thought of retail games that you can also get in virtual form -- let alone I picked up Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds digitally with that new sweet sweet 3DS XL bundle --, as downloading games is already the future of now, so those however will not be on my list. Also my list is in no particular order although you can totally think it is and get all upset over a list. Whatever floats your boat. Onwards!

Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes

This one is kind of cheating since it originally came out in 2009 for DS, although I played it on XBLA in 2011, but the game did come out for iOS this year which is great because everyone should play it. Mixing strategy and puzzle forming gameplay this intricate RPG is unlike no other. With memorable characters, each with their own strengths and weaknesses, brain teasing challenges, and even with multiplayer, there's sure to be something for anybody playing this addicting good beautiful puzzler. The story was pretty good but I really enjoyed just discovering each character's levels. Each world is seen from a different character's perspective which gives a perfect example of how each character's playstyle and abilities compliment such a fun and addicting game design (hmmm GTA V comes to mind now). This game is one of my favorites, lost many hours playing it and will occasionally play a match against the AI to get my puzzle RPG fix, since I'm not playing Puzzle Quest anymore (god I wasted even more hours playing that one). This is a good mobile game although I played it on Xbox Live Arcade on my decent sized TV.

State of Decay

When I first started the demo for State of Decay I was not sold on what I thought was going to be yet another zombie game cashing in on the whole zombie craze (hey we were burned a few times). Boy did that change fast and I went from zombie fatigue to fully loving being fully immersed in a post apocalyptic setting trying to survive the zombie hordes while keeping everyone I was shepherding in check at the same time. This is not really a world you want to live in but the way the gameplay and character development carried on, the deeper I got into this game the more I connected with it. Keeping track of supply lines and other stats also took priority as each factor in the game that has a stat needs to be watched in order to have a successful little pocket of zombie resistance, known as civilization at this point. For example, need food? Aside from creating a garden at your little base, you could search for food on the radio and set out for a little raiding party. Need ammo, fuel, companions, etc well continue to scurry for supplies around your base and make outposts and alliances to achieve them. Build and upgrade your base and outposts to help contain the zombie horde until you have grown too big and need to move on. Anyone who's watched AMC's The Walking Dead should play this game. The biggest thing that held back State of Decay was its buggy launch and the omission of co-op play, initially promised, unfortunately. Taking a friend with you into this pretty big open, this is a downloadable title by the way, zombie infested world would have given me hours of fun (and fright). So a lot of talk goes to Telltale Game's The Walking Dead when it comes to emotional zombie games but for me it's hands down State of Decay. From the time that I lost survivors that I had been living with for a few weeks, to unscripted events of emergent gameplay I still remember to this day, all the way to that ending, there's plenty of game here. Never before did I feel so defeated and yet satisfied at the same time. This needs to become a franchise.

Terraria

Talking about a game that benefits and should be solely played with a co-op buddy or more is Terraria. Following the successful popularity of Mojang's Minecraft comes Re-Logic's Terraria, an open world sprite based game calling back to the 16 bit days infused with charm. This retro RPG, and sometimes platformer, is all about exploring and crafting in the game's world. There's plenty to do in Terraria and even more so if you're planning on summoning large bosses to battle.While initially releasing for Windows back in 2011, recently this title made it to XBLA, PSN and is now available on iOS and Android. Dig down to discover an intricate system of tunnels under ground, mine for materials, return back to your house and craft everything to your heart's content with said material. Create a village and watch helpful NPCs move in to aid you on your journey. The game consists of many hostile creatures and it's a fight for survival. This 16 bit take on being alone in the wilderness couldn't be more fun and whimsical and would let anyone play out their dream of being a 16 bit Bear Grylls. With a beautiful artstyle and score Terraria shouldn't be missed, especially if you liked playing through Minecraft. Tack on a buddy or more and you'll have hours of enjoyment to be had.

Battleblock Theater

Well if you want to talk whimsical and really fun co-op experience look no further than Battleblock Theater. Made by the same studio behind Castle Crashers, The Behemoth, this game has the same frantic yet fun gameplay with the studio's humor to boot. Set as a prisoner among a cat civilization you have to run the gauntlet of good ol' fashioned gaming arenas that have a series of obstacles and collectibles along the way. If a game were ever to be criticized "too gamey", this might be such said game. However I felt the gamey-ness of Battleblock Theater actually made the game. Never had I had so much fun with a platfomer and if you take along a friend you'll both be cooperatively helping each other out to race to the finish or to squeeze that extra second off your best time. Consisting of a single player campaign, online multiplayer, time trials and a level editor there's plenty to be had with this one. Oh and the story and narration is a great touch, I really couldn't stop laughing and grinning my face off while playing this game. I'd say if you liked the humor and gameplay from Castle Crashers and the humor and narration from Bastion, then you'll like Battleblock Theater.

Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon

The 80's were awesome, we just didn't know it at the time. As someone who grew up in the 80s well I have an excuse I was too little to get it. It only took how many years to look back, at the good parts mind you, at the awesomes (what I'm calling the 80s from now on). Ubisoft Montreal decided to give us a stand alone expansion originiated off of their other superb game, Far Cry 3, as a satirical "retro-futuristic" open world first person shooter and for this I applaud them. So many funny one liners, so many awesome moments, so much badassary in this game - while also poking fun of pop culture, gaming references and even itself at times. Taking what many loved from past shooter games and infusing in modern elements of what we've all been blessed with as of today's gaming evolution, Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon is the perfect mix of nostalgia and modern game design. Set in an open world players choose however way they want to take down the bad guys and get the girl in the end while leveling up and upgrading themselves and their weaponry. One of the best things about this game to me personally, the soundtrack. Yes, from the title screen music to combat induced adrenaline pumping moments throughout, the score for Blood Dragon is dripping with 80, ah ness. From the sprinkled collectibles scattered throughout, from the set amount of outposts you have to overthrow, to the hilarious and cringe worthy segments of the game, Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon was the best faux April Fools joke made video game ever (small category there but you get my point).

Honorable mentions: Plants vs Zombies 2: It's About Time, -- ruined by touch controls and free-to-play microtransactions design although has the PvZ formula intact -- The Stanely Parable, -- I have not played it but from others say it's a great game that breaks the 4th wall constantly and will have you laughing before the end -- Rogue Legacy, -- again have not played it but others say it is a good game (check out the best game picks from Rev3Games for example) -- Gone Home, -- not played but is a new and unique story-telling method -- & Path of Exile -- also not played but is a great game along with one heck of a customization tech tree. Whatever your pick is, it's clear there were some great downloadable bite-sized games to choose from.

Grand Theft Auto V Gameplay Trailer

Well it's Friday so what happened this week in video game. Oh I don't know, a little something called Grand Theft Auto FIVE! Yes, gameplay footage was shown and my god it looks like it's going to be a game to rule them all, so to speak.

Wow, that should have gotten you excited, are you excited? If you're not, please check your pulse or maybe you're a robot. If you are a robot please leave a comment in the... wait a minute. So yeah, many different video game companies will show you cool stuff in a trailer for their game but not 100% of it will be actually what you're doing. Not the case with anything Rockstar! See the guy base jumping off a mountain, you can do that. See the guy diving into the big blue, yeah you can do that. The implementation of three main characters will also continue to breathe more depth into your gaming experiences. From switching from a suburban mid crisis father to a ghetto hood hommie just trying to get by will create some interesting moments no doubt. Throw in the improvements in combat - which is most likely influenced from Rockstar's outing of RDR and Max Payne 3 - and that little teaser of multiplayer, you've got yourself something that's bright on my radar.