My 5 Most Exciting Upcoming Games for Xbox 360 (Part 2)

4. Halo: Reach

I know this seems like a cop out. Virtually everyone who owns an Xbox has at least played a Halo game, if they aren't completely obsessed with the series. It is on every list of exciting upcoming titles. Reach will undoubtedly do exceptionally well in sales, and in all likelyhood, Bungie will have created an absolute monster title. That being said, it comes in at number four for a few important reasons.

Halo games have always found success in their utter simplicity. Here is a gun. You shoot it at bad guys. Here are some grenades. You throw them. You can jump with this button, reload with this one, and off you go. As a player, there isn't a lot you need to know. Halo multiplayer works so well, in part because of the great matchmaking system, but mostly because combat is so simple that it can be refined to perfection. It is the classic "easy to learn, hard to master" gimmick.

Frankly, I'm just a bit tired with the franchise. It has been a good run, but Halo: Combat Evolved came out in 2001. It has been a blockbuster series for nine years. I am happy to hear this will be the last Halo game Bungie is actively involved in developing. Oh I'll buy it. I'm really excited to play the single player campaign, and I'll lose hours in the online multiplayer. But the old girl is tired. And it is time to put her to bed.

On an unrelated note, the next video games developed by Bungie Studios will have my complete attention. I'm looking for the next great game/series, and I know Bungie could well deliver.



Video is property of IGN.

My 5 Most Exciting Upcoming Games for Xbox 360 (Part 1)

5. Call of Duty: Black Ops

If you read my previous article on the Call of Duty franchise, you may remember that I am wary of Call of Duty: Black Ops. It is being developed by Treyarch- who constructed other Call of Duty titles such as World at War and Call of Duty 3. Fans of the series know that these games are generally the weaker installments, with the games from developer Infinity Ward generally being more successful.

However, I can see the Black Ops reception going one of two ways. It might be very successful, as an alternative to playing the annoying broken Modern Warfare 2. Or, many Call of Duty fans may have been polarized by Modern Warfare 2 and pick up a game developed by Bungie Studios instead.

If I were a betting man, I would say that Activision and Treyarch will have another successful launch and millions of players will be having fun online on opening day. Treyarch does a very good job with their multiplayer maps and World at War didn't seem to have nearly the issues Modern Warfare 2 had. They are smart to get rid of game ending killstreaks and cumulative killstreaks are in. That should stop some of the atrocious camping.

Overall I'm going to wait on Black Ops. If it can prove a fair and competent shooter, I am definitely on the boat. If it isn't, I'll probably pick it up anyway to play with my friends, but don't expect me to throw any money at the 2011 Call of Duty.



Video belongs to IGN.

First Impressions: Red Dead Redemption

If I were to describe Red Dead Redemption in one word, I would say, "safe." This may come as a surprise because critics have been showering this game with perfect scores and high ratings. To be honest, Red Dead Redemption deserves a lot of its praise, but it is ultimately suffering in my book because it hasn't brought anything definitively new to video games.

Do you have 1 GB of space? Fill it with League of Legends

Traditionally I haven't had much success with free online games. They are usually pretty simple and fun, but they don't have any lasting appeal. In other words, you get out what you put in. Which.... was nothing. Enter League of Legends, the best gigabyte and a half you could spend on something that doesn't cost a dollar.

Problems and Solutions for the Call of Duty Franchise

I let it slip in my Halo: Reach article that I think Modern Warfare 2 is "essentially a broken multiplayer experience." So I wanted to use this post to explain what I meant by that statement and list some ways for Activision and Infinity Ward to improve upon the mistakes they have already made.

First Impressions Halo: Reach Beta

Well, I've had some time play around with Bungie's Halo: Reach Beta, so I thought I would give some of my initial impressions on how the game is coming along.

With Halo: Combat Evolved being one of my top five favorite video games of all time, a new Halo title is always intriguing. I'm glad that Bungie didn't just remake Halo 3 into a new experience. To its credit, Bungie is becoming a studio that I can really trust; to the point that I know something with the Bungie label will be a quality game worth playing. Valve is the only other development studio that shares this consistent quality. But you aren't reading this article to hear me talk about the quality of Bungie's work, so lets get straight to the core of gameplay.

Zero Punctuation's Scribblenauts Review

A little test in posting videos.