Category Archives: Microsoft

Top Ten Xbox 360 Games

Standard

Xbox-360-Consoles-Infobox copy

Oh, 360… you were the first console of the 7th generation and I remember seeing your launch line-up and thinking “next gen, sucks ass!”… you had some up-rezzed ports of old, original Xbox games and then… Fight Night, which admittedly, looked pretty damn good for the time. But otherwise, I remained nonplussed.

Then there was the whole Xbox gold thing… putting Netflix behind a pay-wall is a pretty shitty move, I think we can all agree. Yet, despite it all, you were a great console; you were powerful and more often than not, third party games performed better on you than on the PS3.

It was a love/hate relationship we had for all these years and now that it’s over… well, it’s just over. If I’m being totally honest, the 360 has the weakest exclusives line-up of all three consoles (according to my personal tastes, that is), so I really had to stretch to even fill out this top ten… where the 360 truly shined was through the awesome third-party support. Still though, after all is said and done, thanks for the memories and thanks for the following games:

Read the rest of this entry

Top Ten Multi-Platform Games of the 7th Console Generation

Standard

wiips360

It’s all but over – the Wii has stopped being manufactured and the PS4 and XBox One both debut next month, which means we’re making that bittersweet leap into a new generation. Goodbye to your current back-catalog and hello to your drought of no truly compelling games for about 1-2 years!

Due to that always (usually) lean first year or so of a new console cycle, where developers are still attempting to roll out (upscale) their games onto an entirely new platform, I tend to go back and revisit what I missed from the previous gen. As it turns out you can pick up a ton of really great games for super-cheap once everyone is focusing on the new and shiny boxes – whoda thunkit?. So, bully for us – let’s take a look at the best video games from the seventh generation.

We will only be focusing on home consoles here – no PC and no handhelds (I just don’t play either often enough!), so that means we have three little boxes to dive into – The  XBox 360, the Playstation 3 and the Nintendo Wii.

The next parts of this list (coming soon) will focus on the best console exclusive titles, broken down platform by platform. Today, I present to you the best games (to me) which were available across multiple platforms.

Read the rest of this entry

Know Your Enemy – The Xbox One and Your Dwindling Consumer Rights

Standard

UPDATE: Microsoft, did a 180 on most of these policies – so Google that shit for the current standing of these awful sounding features. The people spoke with their pre-order numbers and Microsoft changed tact. But for posterity’s sake, here is the original unaltered article as originally published:

 

Microsoft has shown their hand, finally after weeks of unbridled speculation and misinformation they’ve cleared it all up: They’ve come to fuck us over. They’ve proudly shouted their plans from atop their ivory tower and have allowed their golden nectar of knowledge to trickle down to us, the fortunate, unwashed masses.

This is not an evolution in gaming, this is an evolution in corporate greed; an unmitigated brick to the face of every paying, loyal consumer which Microsoft has cultivated with their last two consoles.

Read the rest of this entry

Next Generation War

Standard

I am a goddamned adult.

I’m in my mid thirties, I have a professional career, two kids, an education, hell, I own a goddamned minivan. Why does this matter? Because I’m an adult and I make decisions based off of intelligent, rational thinking; i.e., I am not a ‘fanboy’. So – keep this in mind as we get into the meat of the following piece. I make decisions based on contemplation; there is no blind fanaticism or brand loyalty shaping the opinions I espouse.

So let the term fanboy die a slow, subtle and idiotic death in your mind before you continue reading.

This is a story of technology, massive global conglomerates and the ethical, social and artistic implications of supporting them. This is “the next generation console war®“- and you gotta serve somebody.

Read the rest of this entry

The State of the Console Union

Standard

Since I’ll now be writing on a variety of topics outside of comic books, such as video games, I figured I’d serve up a bit of a primer; part personal history, part industry assessment and part prediction on the fast approaching next generation of home consoles.

Sony is holding a (not at all) super secretive press conference tomorrow (Feb. 20th), that all signs point to being the reveal of the “PS4”, so I thought now would be a good time to start saying good bye to this current (and longest) console generation.

– Personal history –

I joined this generation a bit late. True, I stood in line on launch day to buy a Wii, but I didn’t really join the HD generation until I picked up a second hand 360 a few years into its launch. All I used that 360 for was to play Symphony of the Night, a game I’ve played through at least 15 times in my life… so there wasn’t really much excitement for me attached to the “HD” experience. The first true HD game I really played through on that console was Bioshock, which Blew. My. Fucking. Mind.

bio

Holyshit,Ihavehadthisnightmarebefore!

Read the rest of this entry