My top ten of 2010 games

2010 was one of the better years game wise. Not only did Sony and Microsoft release their motion control systems but many of the larger well known gaming franchises came out with new installments. Other than that it would seem that some new games came out that definitely demand follow up the coming years. On the other hands there were some major disappointments as well.

As usual around the end of the year lists will be presented ranking achievements and happenings of the year. So I made a list, a top ten of new games I played this year. Off course because I do not own a PS3 you might miss some titles and I haven’t played every game that came out. Right now missing in my list for instance are several games people keep telling me are brilliant like; enslaved, Vanquish and Red Dead Redemption. So here it is my personal fave list of games I’ve played that came out this year.

1 Reach
2 Assassins Creed: Brotherhood
3 Bayonetta
4 Mass Effect 2
5 Darksiders
6 Castlevania Lords of Shadow
7 Dante’s Inferno
8 Guitar Hero 5
9 Overlord 2
10 Star Wars: the Force Unleashed 2

Prey give away… update…

Ladies and Gents… the day is drawing near for me to send prey on it’s way to a new owner. I will be drawing tickets next week. So if you still want to have chance to collect this game, now is the time to participate or increase your chances.

How does that actually work? Simple… for every promotional action you’ve taken you get a ticket (posting, retweeting, sharing, bringing in new followers or otherwise noteworthy promotional actions). From these tickets one will be randomly drawn and he or she will get the game sent to them by mail. So with one ticket you can win, but when half the tickets have your name on it you will greatly improve your chances.

Right now these are the “ratings”

1: Qubert DaVaKa : 6 Tickets
2: Paula Cardoso : 3 Tickets
3: Jeroen Kleingeerts : 2 Tickets

If there’s anything wrong here, let me know…

So Share, Tweet and otherwise promote your asses off to increase your chances… and let me know….

Acting like an idiot because the tiger wants me to…

Yes, I have bought Kinect. I already love it, though we got off on the wrong foot. I plugged in Johny 5’s head… or Wall-E’s for the later generations, because that’s what it kind of looks like (especially when it’s gaze is following you around the room, and I switched on my X-box, which immediately demanded an update. After agreeing with it, downloading started… and stopped… giving me an error code apparently Microsoft themselves hadn’t heard of. Off course after not downloading the update, the setup starts anyway, but since it had left Wall-E blind I was standing in my living room for 5 minutes till I thought; “Maybe something’s wrong?”… burning my delicious pizza to a crisp in the process… which I ate anyway.

After about an hour and a half the only thing I could think of was emptying up some memory space, since every time I googled “Why the FUCK doesn’t Kinect see me?” (I first tried asking why Johny Five or Wall-E didn’t want to see me but that didn’t help) I found comments on memory issues. And woppah! It worked and I got to play. First I played Kinect Adventures a bit, which is kind of cool in a “Look I’m better than Wii” sort of way. And then I played Kinectimals… which I am ashamed to say is so cute I couldn’t look away, couldn’t stop. I was home alone so nobody saw me; playing dead (lying down on the floor…no cheating, you have to lie down flat on the floor), star jumping, sitting and spinning around in front off my TV, because my tiger and an annoying flying imp thingy wanted me to. But man, it was fun.

In a slightly cluttered living room, with a difficult angle for the cam to work with, I was quite impressed with how well it actually worked. It’s like Wii but much better, much more responsive and much more intuitive. I truly believe that it has a lot of interesting possibilities, I can’t wait to see what games and apps Microsoft can come up with. I only hope that they will keep supporting it, since previous efforts like the eye-toy with Sony eventually failed to entertain the masses.

Christmas and Games, a match made in heaven…

Christmas and games have a wonderful relationship. This is mainly due to two facts.

Fact one: Games are amongst the favorite present of kids these days, but do not underestimate the adults here. Not only do adults get games for Christmas but they also spend more money on them that month due to Christmas bonuses.

Fact two: You have more time for gaming. Many people have extra time off during December. So there is a lot of extra time for playing those games you got, or bought.

The gaming industry knows this, just like many other industries (Hollywood being another biggie there) the gaming world makes sure they have their A game on during the holiday season. But contrary to Hollywood for instance there are but few seasonal games. Off course a lot of online games like WoW or all the Facebook games will feature Christmas themed events and items, also there are a lot of those simple flash games where you can beat up Santa, ride Rudolph or where you have to sort out presents. But an actual Christmas game is a rarity. Actually the only one I can think of is A Nightmare before Christmas – the Game. It at least has the word Christmas in the title.

Off course with movies you watch them once and games are played over a period of time, so I understand why there is a lack of need to play a Christmas game in march. But still it’s odd when you think about it. You can get almost any product in a Christmas theme, with the exception of games. Which is especially weird considering that it’s the biggest entertainment industry out there with probably the most extreme profit rise in the season.

Child Pornography

Now I won’t go all morality on you, but I want to use this space (NLTarot.NL and NLGaming.blogspot.nl) to express my disgust about child pornography.

There are crimes I dislike, like tax evasion, stealing from large stores or speeding on the highway… then there are crimes I despise, especially animal cruelty but also stealing from another person, drinking and driving and speeding in urban areas.

High above all that there is rape and murder… but in my opinion that pales to the single most disgusting crime… child pornography. Now the news today and probably days to come is filled with reports of this 27 yr old guy who worked at a day care centers where he abused and molested children. After some time he was actually hired as a babysitter where he did the same sick things.… all of which he filmed. The resulting material was found in the United States. Apparently the guy was an encryption specialist and came from Estonia to the Netherlands.

Last Tuesday the guy was caught and has been interrogated several times since. Right now they are building a case, already more than 50 children seem to have been in one way or another abused by this guy. His portrait is spread across the country and I will gladly help with that… so if you know this guy contact your police department or email me and I will send through any info you have. This guy needs to be locked up for the rest of his life.

Prey giveaway and Ass Ass on Facebook

The same as with NLTarot I wil be changing the whole giveaway thing, in your favor off course. End of the year I will be doing the draw for Prey, no matter the amount of followers and directly after that I will be launching a new giveaway. So yay for that.

Here's the link, so you don't have to look it up... the giveaway is at the bottom following the prey review thingy.

http://nlgaming.blogspot.com/2010/11/new-blog-free-games-etc.html

On other news, I have discovered the Assassins Creed Facebook game… which is pretty awesome, a bit like vampire wars but way better and even though you don’t get to mess around with an avatar, for now after playing two days it’s already more fulfilling then Vampire Farm Mobster wars and related games. Next to that it’s actually linked to Uplay, Ubisofts own little corner of gamespace. So AC Brotherhood and the Facebook game Lost Legacy actually influence one another. Not in a big way mind you, but it’s the thought that counts.

Ass Ass Creed… (no spoilers)… Pulling a Dumbledore.

Ass Ass Creed… (no spoilers)… Pulling a Dumbledore.

So I was playing Assassins creed brotherhood, and when I finished it and the credits rolled I just couldn’t shake a slight feeling of confuzzlement, and shock. Now I won’t go into detail because I don’t want to spoil anything, but let’s just say… I had to blink seven times before I could begin to puzzle out what had happened. Now I have some theories and I hope Ubisoft will stick to their story and won’t pull a Dumbledore.

Let me explain… once upon a time there was a book series called Harry Potter… and all was well. Off course Rowlings series became a phenomenon and as with all hypes these days the internet was soon buzzing with all things Potter. When you read Potter somewhere along the line one of the most important characters dies. However everything up till then seems to indicate Dumbledore will be pulling a Gandalf*, meaning he will return in the hour of need. The Phoenix theme most of all, Dumbledores’ familiar. However Rowling had an obsessive internet following who soon came up with more or less the same storyline. It is my idea that Rowling did exactly the opposite of what her fans where saying just to seem original. Quite a challenge because although a fun read, little in the Potter universe is original neither person nor plot device.

So now I am hoping Ubisoft will stick to their original storyline and

are not changing it because

the fans “figured it out”. So we can find out which virtual-conspiracy-theorist has the sharpest mind. Another thing, I deeply hope Ubisoft isn’t just overcomplicating the storyline, throwing in layers and details with no other reason than to stimulate speculation (which they can later adopt as their own plot device).

*Pulling a Gandalf: Letting one of the main characters, often the protagonists mentor die, only to have him resurrect or not be dead at all somewhere during the climax of the story.

Game Clichés

We all know them, plot twists, weapon types level designs… It’s just like the whole game industry is haunted by clichés. So here’s a list I think a lot will recognize…



*Your first weapon is a rusty knife
*Red is Life, Blue is magic
*People you can rescue to make money are lost in caves… usually with only one exit so not that easy to actually get lost in.
*Your guide and mentor turns out to be your enemy
*The girl you’re rescuing is dead, dying or has to be killed by you (weird how often this happens in games) other than that she might just be in another castle.
*Your Arch nemesis is your brother or childhood friend.
*It’s okay to walk into a strangers home… oddly enough theft IS frowned upon.
*Sleeping heals wounds
*The ultimate weapon is only attainable when nearing the final battle, and often lost immediately afterwards.
*You cannot return home because: you are banned, your village has been destroyed, you are cursed and monsters seem to follow you
*Comets can be used to create stronger weapons
*pets carry weapons and gold
*You’re an orphan (your father or mother was a known: hero, avatar of the gods, villain)
*You can drown in one foot of water
*you have a maximum of 9 weapons
*enemies you meet increase in strength and size as such: rat => bat => giant spider => goblin/ orc => skeleton => zombie => human (Sorcerer, knight etc.)
*The final three level bosses are: a clone of yourself usually colored in black, all previous level bosses in a row, a mutated/ transformed form of your arch enemy.
*Because your own spacecraft has been destroyed you have to find and usually repair another vehicle… often one of the enemies vessels.
*The weapon or artifact you found in this level is the weapon need to open the final door or defeat the level boss.
*When faced with a moral dilemma the “good choice” takes more time while the “evil” choice increases the combat difficulty or intervals.
*Women wear noticeably less then male characters
*Once your skill is high enough you can do more damage with lasers or ballistic weapons.