The VGAs and a Continued Lack of Self-Respect

It’s the end of the year again! A time to look back, assign everything a category and pick out the best example of each one. Awards are fun for everyone for different reasons: some boast about their clairvoyant ability to know the winners before they are announced, some enjoy entering never-ending arguments with others as to why one ‘thing’ should get the award over another ‘thing’ and Z-list celebrities get an oversized pay check to appear at an event they have no interest in. Of course, the gaming industry needs its own major awards ceremony to solidify its place as a normal, mainstream pastime and at the moment, providing this service is the Spike Video Game Awards. Game of the Year, Character of the Year, Best Downloadble Content, Best Soundtrack, Best Performance by a Human Male and Best Individual Sports Game were some of the many hotly contested categories at the ceremony held on December 11th.

Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood - Review

I believe that ‘mild trepidation’ would be the accurate phrase to summarise the general mentality towards Ubisoft’s latest entry into the popular Assassin’s Creed series. Hastily released only a year after Assassin’s Creed 2 with ostensibly little time to work on a new single player campaign and marketing focused on a new multiplayer mode emphasised our fears. Whilst there may not be the same leaps of innovation compared to the previous games; Brotherhood maintains the strong single-player model with enough tweaks to feel fresh. In addition, it incorporates an original and exhilarating multiplayer component, that in absolutely no way, feels tacked on.

Super Meat Boy - Review

I wish I had set up a camera to film myself playing Super Meat Boy, capturing every expression of anger, laughter and elation. Alas, I did not but if I had I could have simply posted it right here and be done with the review. In retrospect it seems incredible that such a small game can create such a diverse experience and elicit a wide range of emotions.

Final Fantasy XIV - Beta Impressions Part II - Combat, Classes and Conclusions

In our previous trip to Eorzea, Zharg Jparx had just arrived in the busy city of Ul'dah. Equipped with nothing but some crappy clothes and the lance on his back, he managed to fend off an escaped beast in the city streets. This was before he was weakened by horrible mouse and keyboard controls and eventually defeated by overburdened login servers. With the initial mad rush to participate in the beta subsiding and now equipped with my own PS3 controller, I decided to take another look at Final Fantasy XIV.

Final Fantasy XIV - Beta Impressions Part I - Character Creation and Introduction

I've avoided most of the MMO space since I stopped playing WoW about three years ago; mainly because I wanted to prevent the inevitable time sink a new MMO would become. However, being the wannabe video game journalist I am, I keep my eye on the bigger releases. When I discovered that Final Fantasy XIV was scheduled to have an open beta I jumped at the chance to have an early look at the game. In this part of my beta impressions, I take a close look at character creation and the game's introductory moments.