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Author Archives: Steven Harbor
What’s So Great About Skyrim?
Guest Article : Steven Harbor. Steve now has a blog. Check it out here.
Near the end of 2010, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim was announced to unfettered excitement at the Spike Video Game Awards. From the moment the title card showed up on that giant stage screen, Skyrim has had a red carpet rolled out for it in the gaming press every step of the way. It has always been a celebrity, a shining knight that has come to whisk us away on a journey to a far away land in the snowy peaks of northern Tamriel. Almost three months since the first sword was swung, Skyrim now sits high and mighty on its throne, having been adorned with many game of the year nods and near universal acclaim. Many who find themselves out of the loop probably scratch their heads trying to figure out why we spend hundreds of hours plugged in, worshipping at this game’s almighty altar. I have taken it upon myself to make sense of all of the fanfare, explaining in detail what this game does right, what it does wrong, and how it affects the video game industry.
The Worth of a Call of Duty Game
Guest Article : Steven Harbor
So, I recently bought Call of Duty: Black Ops. I’ve played the campaign, I’ve played at most ten hours of multiplayer, and I already feel ready to make a verdict. Some may describe this as the law of diminishing returns, as I have spent much longer on Modern Warfare 2, and Call of Duty 4 longer still. When I chose to buy a Black Ops, I spent a long time deliberating on what should have been a no-brainer purchase, and the reason is simple. I mean let’s face it, when you buy a Call of Duty game, you already know exactly what’s inside the box. That is, unless of course you bought it on eBay from Doc Brown.
Just What the Hell is the Wii U?
Guest Article : Steven Harbor
E3 has come and gone, and if there is one thing people will surely remember most about 2011’s expo, it will be the revealing of the Wii U. Leading up to its announcement, rumors and speculation about the “Wii HD” was getting weirder and weirder. It turns out that the actual announcement was just as weird, if not more so. In fact, it was so weird that Nintendo’s stock fell significantly just after the revealing of their new system. This is no doubt due to the fact that people are still largely confused about what the hell this thing is. So what is it about the Wii U that’s so hard to grasp?
Why I Don’t Give a Shit if a Game is Innovative
Guest Article : Steven Harbor
The current generation of video games is stricken with a curse. To my memory, neither the previous generation nor any of the generations before it had this problem. This problem was introduced way back in 2006 when Nintendo finally announced its new gaming system, the Nintendo Wii. Nintendo touted their new “innovative” motion controls. These motion controls would supposedly usher in a new era of “innovative” games. Nintendo, after decades of repeatedly remaking their key franchises with marginal improvements and updated graphics, suddenly became the harbinger of innovative gaming. Ever since then, Microsoft, Sony, and every developer in the world have been trying desperately to jump on what I would say is an imaginary bandwagon. It’s a bandwagon of innovation that does not actually exist. The Wii obviously did not usher in an innovative era of gaming. There isn’t a single game on my girlfriend’s Wii collection (which is quite large) that I can say uses the Wii remote in any meaningful way. Nintendo blinded everyone with a hail storm of marketing and hype over its product, acting as if it was the second coming of Jesus, but what motion controlled game came out last year that you just absolutely loved? That’s what I thought. You were holding the controller sideways and using the 1 and 2 buttons as A and B buttons on all those games. Now that’s a real era of innovation right there. “Oh, but there was that one thing where you have to shake the controller up and down to—“ shut up before I smack you in the face.