Ironblog
Dec 20, 2011
2011 was a decent game year. We have some epic new MMOs getting ready to release for PC and the Console gaming scene is really beginning to pick up momentum in the US adult community. XBOX360 made a huge console memory improvement and I am sorry to say the PS3 has not yet followed suit.

PC
Funny, this is the year I decided to really get more into my PS3, so I will make this section very short.

The PC platform does have a few advantages over the console.
1) Hardware upgradeable
2) Essentially unlimited storage space
3) UI (user interface) - many would contend that a keyboard-mouse is superior to console controllers, I generally agree, with some exceptions.

PC Games
World of Warcraft appears to be fading. In my opinion, it is largely because of the lack of community social element, lack of player housing, lack of collectibles trading, and the ever oppressive quest-driven level grinding (which I hate by the way).

Enter the likely successor, Star Wars: The Old Republic. I played in the beta, and I must say, this game is pretty dang awesome. As long as the economy doesn't become too skewed from players being able to sell goods for real money, this game could run strong for many years.

These are the only ones I really want to talk about. All the others have their place, but not for me. And, other than the big MMOs, I have completely migrated to console for all my other games.

Console - PS3
Battlefield 3 has been awesome, and I am very much looking forward to continuing to play that for a while. I have to give this 5 stars.

COD: Modern Warfare 3 was the other game I seriously considered. It's on my wishlist, but I want to run Battlefield 3 a bit deeper before I jump into another shooter.

Skyrim I am sure I will love, as I have played all the previous Elder Scrolls games from their inception. This is another on my wishlist.

Uncharted 3 is an awesome game, but as my preference is non-linear games, I will only give it 4 stars.

Batman Arkham City is a great game also. I do not care as much for the movement interface, and it in general is a bit too linear for me also. I will give it 4 stars.

My fav game series for this year, as it was last and as far as playing time goes, is going to have to still be inFamous (1, 2, and Festival of Blood). I love the games responsiveness, it has a storyline yes.. but with ultimate flexibility, awesome and devastating powers. What can I say, I give the series 5 stars.

I would be remiss if I didn't also mention that when I want to relax and "collect things", I am enjoying PSHome. It's buggy, it's generations behind the big MMO's.. but heck, they only have 256megs of memory to work with... that's gotta suxxorz lol. It's currently just another F2P MMO (pay for the premium stuff), and because it is in "eternal beta" I guess there is nothing to complain about.

I will say though that I would not be surprised to find out that they are hiding behind the guise of being "still in beta" to prevent lawsuits. With clunky item organization and interface, items going missing which were purchased, "fixing one thing breaks another" problems, staying in beta is probably a sound decision. I can't help but think though that we are moving toward the cinema-stylized Social Avatar style world as seen in the movie Surrogates www.imdb.com/title/tt0986263/ with Bruce Willis. I hope it doesn't go the way of SL (Second Life) and allow sex, nudity, and other deviant variations like BDSM (S&M). That would pretty much be the end of my enjoyment of the game.

Ideas and Commentary
I am of the mindset that we haven't yet developed the perfect gaming interface. What would mine look like?

1) Voice driven integration and speech recognition via headset -

2) Dual Gauntlets (with expandability to other limbs) that sense motion, rotation, wrist and finger movement. ALL of which replace the dreaded buttons/pads configuration. Because each is map-able by game/application, you have the ultimate in UI customization.

I picture playing a shooter and having it go something like this:

Twitch my right index finger in a "trigger pulling" motion and the gauntlet's finger sleeve -- which offers "adjustable" resistive tension -- fires the FPS shooter round. When I'm ready to reload, I slap the my right hand down into an input mat designed to register impact (be it my fist, an elbow, a drum stick). This quick mat-slap simulates slapping in a new clip.

My left hand rests comfortably on and uses the rugged left-hand fight-stick, which controls my character movement. While my right hand, also resting comfortably, grips an identical right-hand fight-stick and controls the swing of my gun arm. I especially like that I can then slow my targeting in the final moments of aiming by applying a little downward pressure on the right fight-stick, making it so I get the cross-hairs right where I want it without overcompensating the 2 inches my initial movement was off for a head-shot.

Lastly there is the myriad of movements and actions I can do by pressing down on the left stick and issuing a verbal control/command.
*press* "crouch", *press* "roll", *press* "Command - squad b patrol left". By not pressing the command toggle, your voice would be broadcast on the team communications just like so may use each day.

Probably not the best of voice-command examples, but i am trying to illustrate the flexibility of design.

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