I plan to play the living shazbot out of Vietnam in the coming days, and when DenKirson, the man behind the stats, gets Vietnam’s source code, I’ll pull the data and analyze them in the context of the game. If it pleases the community, I’d also like to talk about the overall metagame in each of the maps, or at least the Rush ones. I’ll provide weapon reviews like I did on my personal blog, and I’ll weigh the strengths of each as I see them.

I spawned in the middle of the ocean on a small island of sand. There were a couple of small land masses around me but the most prominent things were a giant pyramid and a small stone fortress; both were nicely lit with torches to guide me on my midnight swim. Arriving at the fortress, I was greeted by the server owner who gave me a quick overview of the world from his roof. To the North was the Great Awesomatron Pyramid, standing strong for over three days; To the South was Shadow Moses Island and New Wales, connected to the main island by a very well built bridge

Serge explains his picks for best games of 2010.

You know how I feel about Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood, and you know how I feel about things that cost zero dollars, so it should come as no surprise that I’m fairly happy about Ubisoft’s decision to release at least two free multiplayer DLC packs. Though unimaginatively titled Animus 1.0 and Animus 2.0 updates, you can’t really complain when the price is right.

Right at zero.

(It’s free.)

What do these updates include? Animus 2.0 is rumored to contain some new maps and a new gameplay mode. Animus 1.0 boasts similar features, introducing Advanced Alliance mode (it’s Alliance, only the game gives you fewer hints) and two new maps based on Mont Saint Michel. At this point you should be emptying your bowels into your pants, because Mont Saint Michel is unarguably the most interesting place in France.* Why? Well, for one, Mont Saint Michel is a castle built on a mountain in a tidal pool that transforms it into an island fortress during high tide.

Helm’s Deep, eat your fucking heart out.

I understand that in most FPS games, players are not rewarded for providing cover fire. I wouldn’t be surprised if most players didn’t even know what cover fire was. Yet at some point after gestation and during subsequent media consumption, every American must have watched an action movie in which the invincible hero asks someone to “cover [me]” right before running headfirst into, behind, or over enemy lines.

And you know what his/her 2-dimensional allies did?
They provided cover fire.

We’ve talked about DarkSydePhil’s skill, sportsmanship, and humility before, but I never thought it would come to this. In a matchup not unlike the battles between the Hellenic deities of Olympus, DarkSydeGeoff overthrew DarkSydePhil in Super Street Fighter IV.

While we as a nation struggle to find meaning in these dark times, I submit my condolences and this tribute. Wherever DSP is now, I’m sure he’s pressing buttons. I can hear him pressing them in my soul.

It’s more or less a scientific fact that just about everyone uses Facebook nowadays. Everyone together in one place. I don’t know about you, but to me that sounds like every game developer’s wet dream. That means that a game you develop will get a metric fuck-ton of advertising potential and the more or less [...]

Treyarch have been making massive headlines recently with their release of Call of Duty: Black Ops but they’ve also been stirring controversy with some press releases. Instead of seeing their feats and failures as general gaming news, I’ve seen them as important lessons (aside from basic English grammar) for those who have never played anything other than CoD.

Dragon Quest IX is a jRPG for the Nintendo DS, released on July 11th, 2010. I bought this game day 1 and proceeded to beast through the main story. It combines both the old school jRPG feel that Dragon Quest is known and famous for, while adding a few new ideas, such as multiplayer gameplay and fully modeled equipment, similar to that found in an MMORPG. The main story lasts anywhere between 40-50 hours, which is more or less the standard for modern jRPGs, and quite impressive for a DS release. So, why have so many people sunk so many hours into this game if the story only takes 50 hours? Well, the main story is really nothing but a tutorial for what is to come. That’s not to say the main story isn’t fun. The story, while pretty cliched and done in a standard monster-of-the-week format, is fun enough to run your way through, with tons of interesting characters and funny puns. Once you beat the final boss of the story though, you are given free reign.

Greetings everyone. I bring to you tonight disturbing news. After two many years of educational and comedic service to the greater Team Fortress 2 gaming community, it has come to my attention that I am terrible.