One of the bigger companies that has been implanting video games into their training has been the company Raytheon. The development in Raytheon Tactical Intelligence Systems has been open to exploring the trend of video games for awhile now. Raytheon actually uses Xbox controllers as an interface for their unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs for those CoD players out there. Xbox controllers aren’t just for playing Call of Duty anymore, they will actually be flying the devices so many video games out there are trying to simulate themselves.

Raytheon has also been experimenting with Wii controllers to explore the possibilities for training simulators and other applications that require physical movement. Just imagine a training simulation that one can have on any TV in their house, military provided, of course. The game controllers that Raytheon has been looking to are all of the joystick gamepads, PS3 or Xbox controllers being their favorites to study. Throughout the years video games have all tailored their designs to some sort of joystick controllers, so most of the military’s research has been put into this type of technology and seeing how they can implement controllers into their training.

I always had a vision of video games becoming the next training sessions for our armed forces. Parents could never say video games are just rotting our brains if they are actually training our troops, or that they were just a waste of time right? I really enjoy this concept to be honest; it takes a lot of the problems of on hands experience in the field. If I spent thousands or millions of dollars on a piece of equipment that is to be used in the field driven by an amateur that has really no experience it would really scare me, hoping that the technology wouldn’t be destroyed or mishandled from lack of experience. With video games our military can train individuals with simulations and on hand experience not putting the equipment on the line. This is what simulations do; they train our forces to be the best at their job in the first place. My opinion stands, as it is a great idea.

Video games have always simulated the military it’s about time the military uses the technology of video games in their favor. Anything to help our forces out in training or in the field is alright with me. I want to be able to see computer games controlling our tanks or airplanes without any pilots at the wheel.

Guitar Hero

Is this breaking news? No it’s not; in fact many, if not most of you probably heard this weeks ago, but why is it dead?

It seems to me that the answer is fairly simple: sequel fatigue.  If you’ll look at all the Guitar Hero music games that have come out over the last few years you’ll be amazed at the sheer volume that Activision shoved down our throats, with the simple fact being that no single one of their new creations was really anything special or dramatically different than the previously released games.  The developers saw that the games were popular and decided to bleed the franchise to death over the course of a few years, and now one of gaming’s biggest franchises is dead.

Now I don’t want to knock the sequel; I love sequels, if they’re done right.  My favorite movies include Spiderman 2 and The Dark Knight, both of which are sequels that utilize the potential of the sequel to improve themselves over their original in pretty much every considerable way.  And, in as many ways as videogames are different from movies, they are also similar.  The sequel for a videogame has the basic philosophy driving it as a sequel for a film: the creators want to make more money, and it’s easier to get people to invest in a presold idea than in an original concept. It’s just the way the world works; it’s not necessarily a bad thing, nor is it necessarily a good thing .  So I wanted to basically write this article to really say one thing:  When creating a sequel to a successful game, or movie, or anything, take your damn time.

There are two examples of the positive and the negative that I want to cite to help elaborate on my feelings about sequels, Call of Duty: Black Ops and Pokémon Black and White.

The thing about the two sequels is that we can’t really say that either one of them truly changed the gameplay or the core mechanics of the series; rather, both of them just tweaked the original formula and added cool additions that we wanted.  The difference for me is the amount of time that was spent between installments of the series.

Call of Duty releases a new game every single year.  Yes, the games are made by two companies which allows each one of them to take some time with the series, but really, outside of the creation of the first Modern Warfare, are any of the new COD games really that much different from the previous ones?  All that they really do is add additional multiplayer maps, guns and some new single player levels.  Are all of these things cool?  Yes, yes they are, but in many ways I feel that they could have given us much of this stuff in downloadable content.  I didn’t buy Black Ops. I know a lot of people did, but aside from the inclusion of the zombies mode I really have no interest in playing the game, and I haven’t really seen much interest from my friends who own the game for the other modes either.

Words cannot express how freacking excited I am for this game.

Let’s contrast COD with Pokémon.  Pokémon is without a doubt a huge success of videogame franchising- the new games have already sold some 5 million copies and it hasn’t even come out outside of Japan yet.  Now, we did get a Pokémon title fairly recently in the form of Heart Gold and Soul Silver, but that is just a remake of an old game and not a true new installment in the franchise like Black and White are going to be.  Has each installment of Pokémon been groundbreaking and original? No, each game follows the same basic formula, and aside from some tweaks to the gameplay the core of the series hasn’t changed since its inception.  But unlike Call of Duty, where we get a new game every year, we don’t see a new installment of Pokémon all that often.  The original game was released in Japan in 1996 (1998 in North America), and we have only seen five truly new titles for the series released since then.  Yes, we have gotten a ton of filler stuff like the Pokémon Dungeon and Pokémon Ranger series, as well as all of the remakes of the older games, but be honest with yourself- Whenever a new installment of the core series comes out you get excited.  In contrast, COD came out in 2003 and there have been seven installments since then.

Look, I’m not saying that COD is a bad series. Hell, I’m not saying that Black Ops is a bad game; I just spent yesterday working my ass off to get two Xboxes hooked up just so I could play “Zombies” with four people, and it was awesome.  All I’m saying is that I miss those days where sequels were a big freaking deal, where I got excited when I saw news for a new installment of a series that I love.  I understand that there’s money to be made and that developers need a safe bet for making games and that those safe bets are sequels.  But I just don’t want series that I love like COD to die because they lost what made them special by being forced to have multiple version of themselves come out every year.  We all love the popular game series, we all loved Guitar Hero, and I just don’t want more of my series to wind up dying from overexposure.

-Quinn Anderson

What do you think about sequels? Are you excited for Pokémon? What do you think of Black Ops? Post below.

I really, really wanted to use this image.

Is the revenue generated on a game’s release an indicator of massive influence? In recent years, several different titles have been making absurd amounts of money, and all sorts of records are being broken every year. And not just video game sales records—even records set by blockbuster films have been shattered by titles like Halo 3 and Modern Warfare 2. Call of Duty: Black Ops is the most recent record-breaker: in the first 24 hours alone, the game was reported to have made around $360 million, beating out immensely popular movies like Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and Avatar. But its sales aren’t so much a testament to the game’s originality so much as it is a testament to Activision’s profuse advertising, a campaign that even shelled out enough money to get Jimmy Kimmel and Kobe Bryant to play small roles in the game’s “There’s A Soldier In All Of Us” commercial. Seriously, check it out here. And video games do sell for about six times the amount of a movie ticket, so it makes sense that game sales would be higher.

Valued slightly higher than solid gold.

In an industry where so many “revolutionary” features are created by some and perfected by others, it’s hard to give any game credit for being a true benchmark. But anyone worth their weight in T-rated Oblivion copies can list off the games that did receive the credit. Doom didn’t invent the first-person shooter, but it did propel it in an entirely new direction. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time didn’t invent the open-world RPG, but the massive popularity that the game enjoyed did inspire many new games that copied the genre.

This is the problem when searching for the video game equivalent of Citizen Kane—we’re essentially comparing apples to oranges. The film industry and the video game industry are two distinctly different things. Video games are taken seriously right now, as is clearly evidenced by the fact that multiple billion-dollar corporations have been devoted to their creation and sale. It didn’t come in the form of a single piece of entertainment in the way it did to the film industry, but instead as a collaborative effort by the dedicated developers who have given us our favorite titles in the last two decades. So continue to believe your personal favorite is the best game ever, because, in a way, it is.

-Evan K.

As you begin the game you start off as the soldier Alex Mason. You are being interrogated for information that you cannot remember. Some of this can get pretty gruesome, but there is a “brutality” function that tones down the cut scenes and changes the story just a tad for a less intense experience. The plot goes through the Cuban missile crisis, Vietnam, and covert missions in Russia and Asia. Since the plot is derived from the memory of Mason, it tends to jump from different time periods in a unified manner. The game also includes some cool cameos by historical figures and allows you to change history in a pretty bad ass way. The story includes a lot of riveting missions and heart pumping action. The plot embraces the player into the game and puts you on the edge of your seat the majority of the time.

However, there are some quite noticeable quirks that seemed to be looked over. One mission leaves it really unclear on what the player has to do. Without ruining anything for you Gamezombies, just remember to “roll out the barrels” at the Battle of Khe Sanh. The plot defines a linear story. The user really never gets feeling like they are controlling what is about to happen. The player is forced to abide by certain orders and commands, even if you try and complete the mission in your own way. The AI for both your squad members and enemies is quite poor. I watched some allies using other allies as cover, shooting directly into brick walls, and even climbing over invisible fences. Although most of these things won’t directly take away from your experiences, it does give the game a sloppy look.

But much like the game’s predecessors, the success of the franchise is found through their multiplayer. The game offers a lot of the popular matches but still feels like it has a whole new face. One of the most noticeable additions is the wager match. The player is allowed to buy in for next to nothing or wager the majority of their money. Other modes, such as Sharpshooter, allow players to build their proficiency and skill in various aspects of the game. Players are also able to partake in a Combat Training mode. The player sets up a private match against bots to a preset difficulty. This can REALLY aid a CoD newbie learn the maps before indulging in the true multiplayer destruction.

The multiplayer maps also offer a lot more complexity and add a fast-paced strategic feel. Players are offered the choice to veto and vote for the maps they wish to play. New perks and rewards are evident, as maps even have tunneling designed for the newly added and totally awesome RC car bomb. Other perks allow you to drop dummies at random spots in the map for a period of time which adds a whole new cover and deception element. Most importantly, though, the perks have been adjusted so the balance of online play is reset to an enjoyable level (most noticeably, the tactical nuke is gone).

Black Ops has added a lot of extra fat to their traditional meal. The stat tracking tells the player their progression from previous matches and which weapons they suck entirely using. Customization is taken to a new level as you can place your clan tag on your weapons and cheesy looking sunglasses. However, customization does not really tend to kick in until you have a lot of disposable income.

There were some problems upon first joining in online, most notably, connecting to a game. This should be expected as the servers were flooded at the same time that night until the wee hours of the morning. Aside from some glitches, lazy mistakes, and the still evident spawn killing, Black Ops delivers. Sure the plot has its typical clichés and predictable story, but it still indulges the player in the famous CoD environment. Looking past the lazy mistakes and slight sloppiness, the new additions and features offer a whole new terrain of terror, as the gaming world is yet again witness to CoD’s superiority.

WARNING: Please remove any controllers, remotes, shoes, or any viable object that can crack a monitor or TV, because this list is sure to bring out your dark side. This is the Top Ten Tuesday most difficult levels/fights!

10. The Water Temple: Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

The Water Temple trumps every other dungeon as the most confusing and difficult in the popular franchise. Everyone remembers the immersion Ocarina offered and how we desperately drove our Master Sword into enemy after enemy, until the final showdown with Ganon. Then came the Water Temple. Just like the Iron Boots needed for the dungeon, I felt really slowed down. At first, it almost seems like a routine that is fairly easy to get the hang of. Water up, water down, water up, water down. As you unlock one door in the basement, you realize you probably should have unlocked the door on the upper level. Water up. Wait, I swear there was going to be a small key in this room to unlock that door. Water down. /Facepalm. This dungeon tests the loyalty of the Zelda fan base by creating the most tedious and mind numbing puzzle ever. Sure, it isn’t so bad if you note what every room holds and exactly where it goes to, and what floor it’s on. At least the dungeon holds one of the coolest and most notorious Zelda items ever, the longshot. But still, totally not worth it.



9. The Weapons: Final Fantasy VII

Congratulations, you defeated one of the most infamous and sinister villains of video game history. You relished in one of the greatest games of your time, and you can sit back and enjoy your accomplishment. Not quite yet. The Weapons pose a serious threat to your party even at level 99. In fact, you really need to go in and die A LOT to figure out exactly what you need to do. Ruby Weapon has an attack that can take out two party members right off the bat, which puts you in a WTF situation. Even having the almighty Knights of the Round Table Materia seals your victory. Emerald Weapon also has a very unique and sneaky attack, as well. I like to think of myself as a gamer that thinks outside the box to find solutions and strategies to defeat a boss or level, but this was pretty well done. Does anyone notice the attack Aire Tam Storm? Although it dishes out a hurricane of pain on your party, it shows its weakness in the name. Aire Tam = Materia backwards. Equipping your party with less Materia prevents A LOT of damage from that move, but nevertheless, makes the fight that much more difficult. Even Sephiroth’s long shiny sword would have a tough time against these guys.




8. ‘Heat’ –Veteran Difficulty (Sniper Level): Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

The beginning of the level takes some practice or an experienced FPS shooter. You really feel like this is going to be a badass level. You literally blow your target away with your sniper rifle to start the game. But after that bloody victory comes an even bloodier mess. After the initial kill, you have to escape an onslaught of enemies. You eventually get to a point where you have your back to the wall as hordes of enemies from every direction flock to your position. Even after some successful claymore drops, you are in no-man’s-land. Not to mention one wrong step or even leaving a finger out in open sight is a death wish. The checkpoints are sparse and the tension is high as you have to dance yourself around the map to give yourself the best scenario, which is usually a 1 vs. 50 handicap.



7. Sephiroth: Kingdom Hearts

It is funny how Sephiroth makes this list from being the toughest boss in a Disney game. But if you take this Sephiroth compared to the one from Final Fantasy VII, there is no comparison. The amount of health he has is absolutely insane. You begin to wonder if your game is glitching or if he is simply immune to your attacks, because it takes a looooong time before you see his bar go down. He also makes use of his iconic sword with sheer agility and reach. His spells are also pretty tricky as well, especially the one that leaves you with one health point; ouch. As time progresses, he continues to get stronger and stronger so prepare yourself for a severe beat down.






6. Waterfall Level: Contra

This is a perfect example of trying to pick a needle out of a haystack. Contra in its entirety is extremely tough. It takes a lot of trial and error to figure out how to beat the game. But even after the countless attempts, being able to maneuver your way through and away from enemies is still a challenging task. The waterfall level proves extremely perplexing as you need to shoot enemies from every angle imaginable. Not to mention a slip of the thumb or a poorly timed jump will send you to an endless watery death where oh-so-many have ventured before. The continual barrage of bullets and enemies can prove deadly to the most skilled players. And even if you can surpass that, you still need to jump to perfection as your own worst enemy may be yourself.




5. The Princess: Super Ghouls ‘n Ghosts

Never in a game did I feel so helpless watching my character die countless times. As you control Sir Arthur, you REALLY need to be sure on what you’re doing. Unlike Super Mario, you have zero control while in the air. Say you jump and couldn’t see the ghoul on the other side of the screen. Too bad. You cannot avoid or dodge while you jump making this feeling of hopelessness a certainty. If you manage your way through the entire game, you come to the princess. Once you think you may have beaten the game, you get a rude awakening. Once you reach the princess and all is well in the world you are sent back to level one to do the whole damn thing over again. No, it is not just a harder difficulty; you really have to play through the whole thing over to get the actual ending. The zombies will forever haunt you as you replay death after death in this game. Just think of the relief after waking from a nightmare, only to discover you have to go through it all over again.




4. Mike Tyson: Punch Out!!

I remember watching an old Rocky movie and psyching myself up to play this game. I felt invincible taking out opponent after opponent with relative ease. The timing was fairly simple as each opponent had generally the same pattern. Then came Mike Tyson. The uppercut he threw in the game was just as devastating as his uppercut in his prime (or just as painful as his bite in his later years). The most frustrating part of this fight was mostly due to the jump in difficulty from fighters before. Mike Tyson is a beast and can take you out with a single punch. Timing and countering was difficult mostly due to the fear of being taken out with the K.O. uppercut. This was the first time a game was ruined for me due to the difficulty of the last boss. It really is an unfair fight and thinking of Tyson’s stupid smirk afterwards still bothers me.



3. Inferno Level: Battle Toads

I will admit I remember playing this game and quitting relatively quickly. The difficulty was just too much for me to handle at the time. This level, however, is just a head-smasher. The level really is designed for you to die multiple times in order to memorize the sequences. And even if you do remember every single detail, the speed at which you need to execute what you’ve learned is insane. The gaps to fly through don’t even look big enough for survival. There is enough dipping, ducking, and dodging to make Patches O’Houlihan queasy. This level will make you violent fast. The setting for this level does seem appropriate because I’m pretty sure this is the only thing you can play in hell.





2. Dr. Wily: Mega Man & Bass

Dr. Wily proves to be difficult in plenty of the Mega Man games. In fact, there are plenty of other levels from the series that could make this list, but this one is just downright nasty. You have to face two forms of Dr. Wily in this fight WITHOUT a spare energy tank. Say what? There are no energy tanks in the game and not having a back up in this fight is ludicrous. So, you may ask, what is Dr. Wily’s weakness? None. You have to fight two forms, with the normal gun, and no energy tank. Good luck.





1. Alma: Ninja Gaiden Black

Do not let the appearance of Alma fool you. When you see a pink character you may think of the innocence and cuteness of Kirby. Well, Alma has a much more deadly approach. Even if you can fight your way through the spirit-crushing bosses and gank squads of enemies, you will probably still cry when you run into Alma. Even a real life ninja would laugh as you try to jump, slash, and survive in this tremendous challenge of a boss. The game already has a fast-paced style, but Alma cranks it up a few more notches. If you can stomach this one, your reward should be an actual samurai sword to seek out and find the twisted soul that created this boss.

CALL OF DUTY: BLACK OPS COMING TO STEAM WITH FULL STEAMWORKS SUPPORT

Most Anticipated Title of 2010 Prepares for PC Launch

Oct 22, 2010- Valve and Activision Publishing, Inc today announced the upcoming holiday blockbuster, Call of Duty: Black Ops (PC), is now available for pre-purchase via Steam, a leading platform for PC and Mac games with over 30 million accounts around the world.

Those who pre-purchase Call of Duty: Black Ops on Steam will be able to start playing immediately upon release on November 9, 2010, when Activision expects the title will be available worldwide. Developed by Treyarch, Call of Duty: Black Ops utilizes the Steamworks suite of tools. The title is rated “M” (Mature – Blood, Drug, Reference, Intense Violence and Language) by the ESRB.

In addition to leveraging Steamworks’ Auto-Updating, Achievements, and more, Call of Duty: Black Ops will support Steamworks Cloud technology. The PC version of the product will be powered with Steamworks for both the digital and tangible versions of the game and, as with all Steamworks titles, offline play will also be supported.

“We are delighted to be delivering the year’s most anticipated title with Black Ops to PC gamers around the world,” said Jason Holtman, director of business development at Valve. “We’ve collaborated with the development team to leverage the Steamworks suite of services to deliver the highest level of service to Call of Duty: Black Ops PC customers.”

“Steam has been a great partner throughout development of Black Ops,” said Mark Lamia, president of Treyarch. “We’re working closely together to take full advantage of Steamworks to ensure we deliver the most polished and secure PC experience that our community deserves.”

Call of Duty: Black Ops is slated for worldwide release the week of November 9 at retailers and via Steam. For additional Call of Duty updates, visit www.callofduty.com/blackops and also via Twitter @JD_2020.

Steamworks is a complete suite of publishing and development tools–ranging from product key authentication to social networking services–offered free of charge to publishers and developers. For more information, please visit www.steampowered.com.

About Activision Publishing, Inc.

Headquartered in Santa Monica, California, Activision Publishing, Inc. is a leading worldwide developer, publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment and leisure products.

Activision maintains operations in the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Sweden, Spain, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, Australia, South Korea, China and the region of Taiwan. More information about Activision and its products can be found on the company’s website, www.activision.com.

Call of Duty and Activision are registered trademarks of Activision Publishing, Inc. All other trademarks and trade names are the properties of their respective owners.

E.T. phone home...or chugs nuts?

 

Movies Into Games=My Head Into a Microwave, My Beef with Basketball Games, Call of Duty Lag and the Like.

            Hey everybody, long time no see, hugs and kisses and all of the usual greetings that we all know and love.  So I’ve just returned from a long and relaxing trip and have also finished de-tox to cleanse my body of all the delightful poisons that I consumed.  Over this break I didn’t play any games at all and thusly forgot all of those little things I hate about them.  Since I’ve been reintroduced to my loves I have had to learn to live with all of these annoying twirks once again….shall I bitch?  Yes? No?  OK here it goes.

            If there was ever a genre of games that screamed waste of time pile of crap it would be the videogame tie in for movies.  These games are notoriously bad in pretty much all facets.  Many issues usually play into this.  One is that the designers are not really enthused about it and turn out a lackluster product. Another is that not much time is spent on plot or character development because it is apparently assumed that all of that is taken care of in the movie. Probably the biggest one is that the development is rushed because the game must be released by the movie’s release date.   This is frustrating because these games could be really good.  The storylines from the movies are usually already intriguing, the characters are good, and the movie already garners much attention.   Many of these games go the way of one of the first movie tie in games, E.T (WORST GAME EVER!!  Its been voted) and completely suck.  Their only success is sucking precious time out of my life and leading me closer to death as an angry man.

            Another genre of games that can get my rocking in the corner and pulling my hair out is sports games.  I absolutely love sports games.  They are one of the few types of games where you can buy one release and play it forever without completely losing interest in it.  My beef that I have is the weird little tweak that tries to balance the game and the extreme discrepancies between difficulty levels in some games.   My problem with the balancing tweak is mostly found in basketball games.  This tweak basically makes the game stay even and competitive throughout and it pisses me off.  I hate it so much because the gameplay is too damn predictable.  I’ll get on a hot streak , then they will, then I will, then they will.  It frustrates the hell outta me when no matter what I do or how good I am my team will magically suck ass and allow the other team to even the score before I actually start scoring again.  The discrepancies between difficulty levels show up the most in the Madden series.  On one level I have no problem at all beating the CPU and then on the very next difficulty level I can barely throw the ball without chucking up an interception!  I’m either a freakin’ prodigy of the gridiron or I’m getting bent over the table and spanked.  I need a nice medium ground damnit!

            My last little rant is about the lag that you can experience while playing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 online.  Nothing grinds my gears more than knifing a guy only to be shot down because of lag.  I fully knife him and apparently I forgot my field knife and was wielding a butter knife because he survives to pop a round off into my face.  My killstreak goes to hell and I am left sitting in front of my T.V. (fully nude as a gamer should be, I am one with nature when I play).  It just really pisses me off and I like crying about it.-TCR

Tuesday it was announced that the first downloadable content for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 will be available March 30 via download on Xbox Live. The PC and PS3 versions will receive the downloadable content, but the date has yet to be announced. Activision officially named the DLC as the “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Stimulus Package.” Also announced, from March 12-15 Xbox Live Silver members can play Modern Warfare 2 on Xbox Live for free. There are no further details about the DLC such as price or content.

-Brian

The two Infinity Ward Executives that were fired by Activision are now suing for wrongful termination and breach of contract. Jason West and Vince Zampella were fired for insubordination on Monday and are now suing for an estimated $36 million for owed royalties for Modern Warfare 2 that they feel Activision is trying to avoid paying. Activision has only claimed that they are “disappointed” that a lawsuit was filed and that they have fostered Infinity Ward’s development with “the resources, financial support, and creative independence” that allowed them the success they have.

It’s hard to tell at this point what exactly is going on. The future of Call of Duty is not up in the air as Activision has already stated their continuing support of the series, since they own it. The only real questions now are whether or not Activision’s actions were warranted, and what happened with Infinity Ward to see this kind of action being taken?

-Cody Toothman

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