It’s 2011 and I just got done with a move into a new place and have begun a new chapter in my life. 2010 brought some fantastic games and moments in gaming. There were some low points as well, but I think some of the best games I’ve played in years came out in 2010.

I only have an Xbox 360 as a viable current generation gaming system. I’ve missed out on a lot of great games for the other systems. What better way to start my best of 2010 with the games I didn’t play?


Top 5 Games on Other Systems I Didn’t Get to Play From 2010
5. God of War 3 – You will find this list dominated by PS3 games. God of War has to be the premiere title that I haven’t played going back to the PS2. I’ve seen the demo and it was amazing. We invested in a PS3 for Christmas, so it’s time to catch up.

4. Sly Collection PS3 – I’m not a huge platform game fan, but these games were excellent on the PS2. I know my son loved them. Sony has a wealth of great games to...

I haven't had a chance to write any reviews or articles in the last week because I had been working hard on a resume and application for a position opening up in my department. I also had a birthday this week.

I work at a college bookstore. My boss (not my manager, because he doesn't manage) has never hired anyone from within. He has made it openly clear that there is no one on campus qualified to replace our Assistant Manager. Obviously I disagree because I back that person up and do a lot of their job when needed. Somehow, he even had HR convinced this was true. So when they hear about me and all of my responsibilities, they start to wonder. As I'm told, interviews begin next week. It doesn't help that he's stacking the interview panel with people that know me, work well with me, and realize the facade that my boss has put up about our work environment.

I can just see that tide of war coming. He's going to have to show why someone from within is not the best...

All this talk about the industry swaying towards multiplayer and you can't have a game that can survive on good single player anymore has me wondering. I mean, the fact that its rumored that there is multiplayer in Mass Effect 3 blows my mind.

What really got me wondering about this question though is the fact that the multiplayer part of my two part review on Call of Duty: Black Ops has over twice the views currently. Are people more interested in multiplayer? Or is it just that it happens to be CoD which typically has a stronger multiplayer experience anyway?

Do we really want to see solid 6 to 8 hour single player games mired with lackluster multiplayer? Assassin's Creed seems to have a pretty good multiplayer response. I did a review on that also by the way. That review currently has almost 500 views on it, which is probably one of my most viewed blog posts here. Check it out.

So, the single player campaign is a well crafted enjoyable experience, but how is the multiplayer?

I love Call of Duty 4. I am 10th prestige and have over 80,000 legit kills over almost 27 days total played time (more than anyone on my friends list). I liked Call of Duty World at War, but I stopped playing around 6th prestige. I eventually went back and played about three weeks straight to get my 10th prestige for the final achievement I was missing. Yes, the zero point achievement, Go Get Some Sun. Modern Warfare 2 had some interesting new elements, but I just didn’t get into it like I thought I would. I didn’t like a lot of the maps because some seemed so much larger. Maybe some of it was burnout, I don’t know. There seemed to be an extreme amount of hacking...

Where do you go with a first person shooter when there is already a Modern Warfare series and you dare not revisit World War II again? Okay, well for a brief moment you revisit World War II, more on that...

I was made aware of this today and I'm surprised that I hadn't heard this sooner as it has been going on for 18 of the 25 days now. You now have 7 days left, not including today to share either on Twitter or your Facebook the daily service op and you're eligible to win a copy of Call of Duty: Black Ops. The final day is December 7th which if any of you who don't know (shame on you) is Pearl Harbor Day.

Here is the link to the Facebook page:

http://www.facebook.com/CallofDutyEn...64870256868352

I posted a series of blogs about the hate on Activision and Call of Duty. One of the posts was about how Activision had started the CODE (Call of Duty Endowment) and surprisingly (not really), there were no comments. I guess that's good since there was no negativity, but this kind of thing is a positive...

Waiting for the train to Seattle!

Also waiting for the train. She likes the Seahawks. This day means war!

Raising the 12th man flag at Qwest Field.

...

I awoke this morning to the spreading news that the college where I am gainfully employed had decided to shut down due to the winter storm that passed through the previous day and night. What would I do the rest of my day?

I was tasked with finding ingredients for breakfast and I chose to embark on a quest for treasure of my own gain, but conceived that walking to the local corner market was the safest way. So I bundled myself up and struck out into the freezing element. The wind whistled about me, taunting me as the cold gripped me and ever so slowly sank deeper into my flesh and bone. The sun teased me as it would not show its face, not just yet. Other travelers were about, but they chanced the slippery roads that I dared not attempt in my own conveyance apparatus. I trudged on through snow and ice, up and down hills.

The cold was beginning to wear me down. I could feel it weakening my legs. It enveloped my head and face. But, it was too late to turn back...

If you’re of my generation, you can remember when multiplayer on many an NES or Genesis game was going over to a friend’s house and taking turns switching off controllers. Not every game had two player so you had to fight over the controller when one wouldn’t give it up on the other’s turn. Ahhh, the good ol’ days.

Now, every game has to have multiplayer, good or bad. I think gamers have evolved to the point where our standards are much higher. We want a better single player experience to invest our time into. We want a superb online multiplayer that will extend the life of a game, sometimes even being the true meat and potatoes of the games we play. How many...

Anyone losing jobs in this economy is sad news. I feel for these guys as even the video game industry is not bullet proof from a slumping (recession) economy.

http://www.1up.com/news/activision-s...eations-budcat

People will buy what they want to buy. If you don't want to buy a game because of the logo on the box more power to you. Lets just remember who your little protest affects or hurts the most, the guys losing their jobs. Sure doesn't make a dent in Bobby Kotick's pocket book.

Activision is making a business decision. It sucks, but they must be doing something they feel needs to be done in order to maximize profits. Cue the greedy comments, but I work for a state that is making cuts across the board and telling everyone to do more with less. That's the nature of the economy we live in. Even the big boys can't afford multiple bad releases or losses....

A few days ago I finally felt compelled to ask, why you (you know who you are) hate Activision, Bobby Kotick, and Call of Duty (while it was busy smashing sales records).Well, once again, say what you want about the company, the CEO, their business practices (I don't agree with them all mind you) and the series they produce, this is one reason you should set aside your hatred and give them props.

I'm sure a lot of other companies out there contribute to charity and do their part. Is it on this level? I have no idea. But as the son of a CSM in the Army and someone, like just about anyone out there, who knows someone serving in the military, I respect this.

But Mike, this is just a PR stunt to make themselves look good. Of course it is. Why does that even matter? Every company puts out press releases to make them look good.

I don't care if they give vets jobs peeling potatoes for 10 bucks an hour. There are good hard working people that will do it...

Why the hate?

The hatred I see for Activision these days is on par with politics and religion. People all over the internet want to lead some kind of crusade against Bobby Kotick and Activision for various reasons, the most of which I feel are uneducated and just plain dumb. That’s my opinion and I’m entitled to it, just like the haters are entitled to theirs. I don’t hold that against them, even if I don’t agree with it.

It’s November. You can be sure of a few things in November, Thanksgiving, NFL, and Call of Duty setting record sales each year. And with each iteration of record breaking Call of Duty comes the haters. The ones who think you are sheep for buying a game that is released each year by Activision. The ones who call a game garbage before they’ve ever seen it (and I’m willing to bet a good portion of them have or are playing it on the down low.)

I haven’t gotten Black Ops yet. I want it. I’ll get it and I’ll enjoy it until they try...

As the world prepares for Call of Duty: Black Ops to be unleashed, I won't be getting it right away. Not because I don't want to. Unfortunately, I can't afford full price new games right now. So, that said, I've got a cheap ass copy of Fallout New Vegas I picked up from another CAG. I've got Blazblue Continuum Shift and Crackdown 2 from Gamefly I can work on for the time being.

I am throwing in some Battlefield Bad Company 2 time here and there to keep from being too horribly rusty while I eagerly await the Vietnam add-on.

If you aren't playing Black Ops, what are you playing in the meantime?

I've owned an Xbox 360 since 2007. I ordered it online and even owned a copy of Call of Duty 4 while I waited for my system to arrive. I've been online on Xbox Live gold since I've owned it. I've suffered through a couple of RROD's (on the same system) and a video malfunction on my Elite system. I've never complained about cost of games and accessories. After all, I managed an independent video game store. I feel I've got a pretty solid grasp on the industry. I also recall how much the SNES and Genesis games cost when they first came out. I bought Revenge of Shinobi and Phantasy Star 2 for $64.99 each at Toys R Us with my paper route money. I've never complained about having to fork over more dough for a subscription service. It takes money to maintain the service, create and...

My girlfriend and I went to Seattle for Halloween. Had a great time dancing away at Trinity. Finally went with a costume I had been thinking about for a couple of years actually. I got the outfit at an online store called www.asianideas.com

I guess I'll shill for them a bit because the clothing (it was marketed as a costume for obvious reasons for the time of the year) was a much better quality than I expected. I am very happy with the purchase and I guess if I ever need an awesome kung fu outfit to sport, I've got one. I should've gotten some kind of sash to go with it like Gen from Street Fighter though!
I actually saw a few Street Fighter costumes, a Ken and Chun Li couple, and an Akuma. They looked terrible lol! Fun night though.

I did have a wig but it was horrible and I had to make do with the kit.

...

Zombies are overexposed.

There, I said it. I don't particularly like zombies in any entertainment form.

Hold on. Before you skip straight to lambasting me with fiery, impassioned comments, let me assert that there are always exceptions. In movies, Night of the Living Dead (black and white!) is one of the greatest horror flicks of all time. 28 Days Later was a refreshing take on the age old theme. In comic books, one can't argue the success of Image Comics' The Walking Dead or Marvel Comics' Marvel Zombies series. AMC, the network responsible for Mad Men, is getting ready to premiere The Walking Dead TV series this coming Sunday (which coincidentally is Halloween night.) In video games, Resident Evil has been the godfather of zombie games with Left 4 Dead and Dead Rising emphasizing the horde and multiplayer aspects. Call of Duty looks to be making it an annual feature (starting...

Sometimes you do something or have one of those memorable moments that you just wish was an achievement, or sometimes you wish someone else could've seen it.

You know, sometimes you kill someone a certain way in a FPS. Maybe you pull off some insane stunt in an open world game. They never count for anything, but they are moments you'll remember forever and you can't help but brag about it.





Last night, I had one of those moments. I actually got into a full six person poker game in Red Dead Redemption. First hand of the game, royal flush, clubs. I even beat out someone with a straight flush. He was one of two people that went all in on the first hand. So, I won with a royal flush that I'm sure will likely never happen again, and I knock two people out of the game on the first hand.

If only that were an achievement! What are you personal achievements...

With the impending release of Battlefield Bad Company 2: Vietnam I bought the Ultimate Edition of BC2 because I knew I'd be getting the add-on for it. I rented BC2 from Gamefly, got my 1000 GS, and sent it back because I didn't want to pay buy it new at full price, even though I did enjoy the multiplayer. Needless to say, it's actually been a while since I've played a FPS online regularly.




I loved Call of Duty 4. I played religiously for about a year and a half. I am a 10th prestige and I still jump on once in a while just for shits and giggles. I have over 80,000 kills and roughly around 27 or 28 days total played time. I played World at War through about 4th prestige, but gave up on it and even went back to COD4 while all my buddies stayed on W@W. (I did eventually play W@W earlier this year for 3 weeks non-stop to get 10th prestige because I hated not seeing it as a complete...

Alec Mason. The name just sounds generic. It pretty much personifies just about everything this game has to offer. I wasn't sure I was going to do this review. I tried playing the game for a few minutes and wasn't captivated with it. I gave it another shot and found it be a passable experience.

Back to the task. You are Alec Mason, brother of Dan Mason, a member of Red Faction. You arrive on Mars to start a new life. Dan teaches you how to blow stuff up and break stuff with the signature Red Faction sledgehammer. Well, you knock down a couple buildings you aren't supposed to and next thing you know, the EDF (Earth Defense Force) are on your ass. Dan gets gunned down by EDF, Red Faction members launch an attack, and you become the reluctant war hero who will unite two factions and lead them to...