It’s getting closer to that time of year again, when the new and anticipated games of the year start pouring into the market.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky (PC)
I’ve had my wary eye on this one.  I thoroughly enjoyed immersing myself into the first game—until the game just decided it does not want to run on my computer anymore, despite several hours of reinstalling and pleading and begging, coaxing the game with various defrags, clearing out more space for it and promises of sweet sweet lovin’.  It didn’t help that I mistakenly read the ending for the game and spoiled the entire game for myself while searching for a solution to my problem.

I’m hoping that Clear Sky won’t be as buggy this time around…or require such strenuous amounts of load time.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (Wii, PS2, PS3, 360, DS, PSP)
I’ve tried the demo on current-gen systems and I merely have mixed feelings to show for it.  On the one hand, I greatly admire the amount of new physics and graphical flare that has been brought to the table by Lucasarts.  Throwing bodies around isn’t anything new since Half Life 2 first implemented the gravity gun, but this is the first time anyone decided to take it to the next level by making the ragdolls actually physically react.  We’ve still got a long way to go, but this is definitely a step in the right direction.

Surprisingly enough, gameplay-wise, the PS3 version demo felt inferior to the PSP version; something I was not expecting at all.  Not only was the control scheme much easier to handle on the handheld, but combat felt more natural and fluid.  Throwing objects and/or enemies was very instant and satisfying, whereas in the current gen version you’re busy getting shot up as you slowly try to aim and throw your object.  It’s also impressive how they were able to implement a lot of world destruction considering what they had to work with on the PSP. 

Also, why are you a sitting duck when you block in the current gen version, but can walk while blocking in the PSP version?  It makes no sense why they made the current gen’s controls clunkier when the PSP has even LESS amount of buttons to work with.  I figure that it’s due to them working on their superb physics and graphics engine, but we are reminded once again that in the end, all that matters is whether the gameplay is satisfying or not as opposed to impressing the audience.

Crysis Warhead (PC)
I’m still confused as to what this is supposed to be.  A sequel?  An add-on?  An expansion?  A standalone expansion??  The first game was a great game, despite its short length.  Still, looking forward to what ze Germans are bringing to this new iteration and I look forward to becoming reacquainted with the suit telling me MAXIMUM this and MAXIMUM that while I’m killing commies.

 The Witcher Enhanced Edition (PC)
I might take a look at this, but “Enhanced Edition” sounds to me more like “oops we forgot to put this in the first time we released this” Edition.  Isn’t it nicer to just release things like this as a patch?

Armored Core: For Answer (PS3, 360)
Very happy about this release, especially considering that Korea got shafted with just a Korean manual for a completely 100% Japanese game.  Hopefully I’ll manage to pick up an English copy somewhere, because the demo was very breathtaking and mindblowing.  The scale of the fight in the demo was very epic indeed.

Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning (PC)
I’m very interested as to how this will do.  From what I’ve heard and read about the game, it seems like a very strong competitor to WoW in that they seem to have made it even more user-friendly, and were able to change a lot of things that make WoW annoying (as far as questing, grouping and PVPing go). 

There’s tons more being released, but the others are really not worth mentioning at all.  Hell’s Kitchen, for example.  Are you serious? 

Our previous discussion into the MMORPG concept took a fairly critical view of the genre itself, but having gone into a “relapse” into the MMO world once again, I have found several positive aspects found in our online fantasy worlds.

The most obvious of these, of course, is the social interactivity.  We as humans need a certain amount of social interactivity in our lives, but we as gamers also need a “special” kind of social networking, and what better way is there than interacting through our most favorite medium?

With the advent of microphone-based chat room programs such as Teamspeak or Ventrilo, mmorpg’s have been taken to another level of social networking.  Hearing another human being on the other side is far more engrossing than reading text on a computer screen, obviously.  It’s no surprise that most guilds are almost guaranteed to use these programs and encourage members to use it.

Let’s split this into the PVP and PVE categories.

In cases where two groups of players are relatively equally matched, teamwork and cooperation among players is paramount to victory.  Voice chat seamlessly integrates communication into the game, eliminating the time it takes to type a strategy out (and thereby leaving your avatar more helpless than a sheep with a farmboy).   This is especially true in timing specific situations such as Arenas in WoW.  In the PVE aspect, it tends to be a way for players to wind down and just talk about everything in general.  The daily grind can get quickly tedious and repetitive, but it seems to melt away when you’re talking to your friends online.  I’ve come to realize that indeed, it’s not necessarily the game itself that makes an MMO addictive… it’s the community, and the sense of belonging.  Conventions such as PAX have become huge successes and is still growing every year.  Game shows and other conventions are opening up more and more to the gaming public, but it appears that it’s not only about the latest and greatest, the newest freshest marketing campaigns, the booth babes… it’s about being part of a community, fulfilling that essential human need to belong, where humans can accept each other regardless of who they are or where they came from, and transcends all the politics and drama that clutters our chaotic world today.

Hello again.

At the risk of sounding as awkward as old lovers trying to re-connect their long-dead relationship, I have returned from my long hiatus from life’s journey to continue the old internet tradition of clogging up webspace with things nobody reads or cares about.

Recently I became an employee as an Editor, deluding myself that I was some sort of Holy Knight that came to vanquish the fowl evils of “Engrish” and revive the lost punctuational societies. Needless to say, things have settled down a bit and I have returned to reclaim this forgotten island in the vast sea of the interwebs.

There’s going to be changes around here; gone will be the dry, serious tone of yesteryear and in with the wet(buh??) and more personal embracement that this is, indeed, a blog, just like any other. The rivers will flow with geek-terminologies and the trees will be ripe with ramblings. Rejoice!!!