Top 4 reasons MicroTransactions need to become removed from the Video Gaming Industry

1) Degrades Consumer Confidence: Imagine you go to your favorite Gamestop or Best Buy to purchase your favorite new title. Then you learn that not only has the price gone up, but now you have to pay extra dollars for content you don't care about, or shit you don't really need! Then consumer confidence goes out the window and for what? Next to nothing.

2) Forces Consumers To Pay For Content Already On The Disc!:

Even worse than losing consumer and customer confidence, is the byproduct of forcing gamers to pay for content that is already on the disc itself! You paid for a full video game experience but now fuck that, you must purchase locked sections of the game through gratuitous monthly installments, or Pay-To-Play micro transactions that spoil the entire experience for everyone!

3) Eliminates Achievements:

Remember the days where in a game like Halo 3, getting Recon was something special. This is because you could not buy it, and instead needed to participate in a series of challenges, the Vidmaster challenges just to unlock the armor. Unlocking this armor felt like a serious accomplishment, but now this is forever ruined because you have to pay for armor in the game and it's randomized. Now you have to pay for content that is already in the game itself, and all the sense of fun or challenge is gone.

4) Victory Becoming Contingent On Who Pays The Most Cash:

This complaint speaks for itself. In modern FPS COD releases, and even Halo now, gamers who shell out the most bucks will get access, even through a randomized system to the best weapons and upgrades. So if you're a gamer living on a particular budget, tough shit! You now need to spend money you don't have, just to make a video game more balanced, and this is a poor absolute to determine consumer confidence. This is also why pre orders are a dying breed because gamers are sick and fucking tired of Triple AAA developers bullshit in releasing incomplete video games that are patched later due to negligence.

Faster Sensitivity in FPS is not always better

When most people play first person shooters, most times, they will advise you to play at the highest sensitivity possible. They say that faster reflexes lead to better shots. I disagree having experimented with lower sensitivities. I would strongly argue, that a steady shot is the most important element of getting good at First Person Shooters. It doesn't matter how fast your turn speed and reflexes are if you cannot hit the broad side of a barn! In experimenting with 1 sensitivity in Halo, I discovered how much steadier my shot was, and pulled off two killing sprees and a frenzy, which I have uploaded in this available video for you below!

The key in getting consistent kills with lower sensitivities in FPS games is to learn about positioning. If you rush when you shouldn't, you're going to get assassinated hard. Learn when to play defensively and when to play offense, and it will make a crucial difference in your FPS game. Using the Guardian map match I uploaded as an example, my shots are dead steady the entire event, with multiple 4 shots occurring in rapid succession. Because I position myself accordingly, the other team struggles to kill me without myself cleaning them up! One spawn, the player was directly next to me, and I still kill him off spawn. On higher sensitivities, getting caught off spawn can become a death sentence, that does not occur at 1 or 2 sensitivity. Positioning is everything, it makes the crucial difference in firefights between winning and loosing! 

The truth is, you should play FPS games at whatever control scheme you are comfortable with. But the critical lesson to learn here is that faster sensitivity is not always superior! Not to mention, the adage of faster not always being better applies to real life responsibilities as well, given the phrase, "Work smarter, not harder!" Who knew that video games can teach valuable life lessons about slowing down, and enjoying the present moment! You learn something new every day, and when you stop learning and growing, you start dying.

Spy Fox: The Amazing Point & Click Adventure Which Time Forgot

Granted, this blog focuses a lot on newer Triple AAA video games. Yet we cannot forget the past, of excellent video games of all stripes, and nowhere is this more important than in the often forgotten Point and Click adventure series, a platform once dominated by the now defunct LucasArts. And nowhere is a Point and Click adventure title more overlooked than in the classic kids PC release, Spy Fox in Dry Cereal. This game truly was awesome. The plot involves an evil goat, seeking to force all the children of the world to remain stuck eating dry cereal with no milk. Now as SpyFox your mission is to stop the halt of flowing milk through an intelligent series of witty dialogue expositions and smart characters.

The game features an immediate eye catching cartoon style cell-shading. The dialogue is awesome, and each character feels fun as hell to interact with. Every moment there is a new plot twist or secret item to find, and you can spend hours finding all the content available! This game has exceptional replay value, just for the amusing Bond expositions and spy themed missions, and with all the collectibles to find, there is always something new to explore within Spy Fox's captivating universe. If you want a blast from the past, check this title out, I promise you will not soon regret it.

How to fix Destiny 2

Destiny was a game with incredible potential from Bungie, the same creators of the smash blockbuster Halo series. However, the potential is not the same thing as achieving a release of quality. Destiny was plagued by grind-fest missions at launch and a story which explained nothing to dedicated gamers. Even worse to add to the monotonous grinding was the constant Horde mode sequences, where you fought repetitive waves of enemies over and over again with no end in sight!

Destiny 2 needs a serious upgrade in the variety of enemies. The pointless grinding also has got to go, and the missions where you would complete waves after waves with little incentive for doing so. Even uglier, this game had ugly micro transactions with random loot drops, where you could play better than any of your friends in cooperative mode, and still get terrible Silver or Bronze unlockables while your friends get the best equipment at total random! This is the same bullshit as Halo 5's idiotic Requisition points system for unlocking content. News flash Triple AAA gaming developers, no one enjoys this broken system! It's an exercise in pointless tedium and frustration! We want to unlock our content through achievements made in the actual game, not paying to play, or paying to win. And this is what modern gaming has boiled down to, profits and graphical fidelity over robust and fun gameplay. Destiny 2 will not save this series, or Bungie should the company refuse to learn from past mistakes.

Bungie must take serious considerations from all the fans regarding how to release Destiny 2. Include DLC updates at reduced prices, while ensuring that all customer complaints are adequately addressed before release, not post release!

Super Mario Odyssey: A Return to Form!

1996 was one of the best years of my entire life. Not just because I got to have a birthday with all my friends. Not just because my mother made me a delicious tiramisu cake, but because this was the day I got a Nintendo 64, the greatest video game console of all time. And with the console came Super Mario 64, my first ever three-dimensional video game I ever played. This game changed my entire life! Until Ocarina of Time was released, I believed no video game could ever surpass Super Mario 64 in all its glory! The graphics at the time were revolutionary and beautiful, the gameplay simple and near flawless, and the music awe-inspiring. Although Rareware would prove during the N64's lifespan to become a worthy competitor to the likes of Banjo Kazooie, Donkey Kong 64, and Conkers Bad Fur Day.



Then came Super Mario Sunshine, and my feelings toward this game were ambivalent at best. I enjoyed the open world atmosphere but was not a fan of the super soaker mechanics or really cheesy characters. The platforming was excellent, but the same charm that so captivated me with Super Mario 64 was gone! Super Mario Galaxy 1 and 2, however, gave me high hope that the Super Mario franchise could return to form, and it appears that finally, Nintendo is ready to make right.



Super Mario Odessy is an absolutely stunningly beautiful looking game. It combines open-world gameplay with outstanding platforming excellence, new power-ups, new bosses, and a massive world to explore and jump around in!  The graphics are brilliant, nearly Pixar quality in their rendition, complete with a modernized Koji Kondo soundtrack. My hope is that Luigi makes an appearance, complete with full co-op online gameplay. Imagine playing score attack racing with friends to witness who can complete a level first!  Due to the Nintendo Switch, and its unique position in the console market as both a home console and portable gaming device; Super Mario Odyssey holds a unique situation, as potentially being the first portable Super Mario entry in the franchise, with cooperative gameplay and console HD graphics combined into one cohesive unit!

If you found this article interesting or have any comments be sure to share and Connect with me!

A Pokemon MMORPG for the Nintendo Switch

Pokemon has long been a Nintendo staple. Another industry staple is the phenomenon of massively multiplayer online role playing games. This is why Nintendo needs to wise up and combine the two together into a single, incredible online experience, a next generation Pokemon that could turn the Nintendo Switch into a real competitor to the Xbox One X and PlayStation 4 Pro! Imagine if you will, a massive sprawling open world for you to explore, with every single Pokemon from the entire series able to become caught, traded, and battled with. Super realistic cartoon graphics in the style of the Pokemon anime series, with real time battles and the ability to evolve Pokemon at more levels than ever before.




Let’s take this concept even further. Imagine being able to combine Pokemon together. Any Pokemon whatsoever. Imagine a Pokemon with the combined abilities of both Charizard and Blastoise, that you could summon at any time! Then conceive the ability to connect evolved, and de-evolved Pokemon forms into brand new Pokemon. With a full blown Pokemon creation tool built into this Pokemon MMORPG! Designed for Nintendo Switch or Nintendo’s successor to the switch, for a game of this absolute magnitude may require a truly next gen graphics push from Nintendo. Pokemon is Nintendo’s strongest franchise to compete with the MMORPG juggernaut World of Warcraft and finally steal away the crown.


Imagine online battles with thousands of other Pokemon trainers! Live tournaments, with cash prizes given by Nintendo to the most skilled opponents. It would rival Halo’s MLG status, if not potentially threaten to surpass it. Pokemon when it first released, was a world changing franchise and is Nintendo’s secret weapon. If the company creates a fully realized Pokemon MMORPG, Pokemon may become the great equalizer that puts Nintendo on the map as a threat to Microsoft and Sony!

Top 5 Worst Platforming Mascots Ever

1) Bubsy: This cat is irritating, starring in horrible game after horrible game, a lousy camera, cringe-inducing vocals and a horrible storyline.

2) Awesome Possum: Basically Sonic The Hedgehog if everything about the franchise sucked from day one. Awesome Posum who kicks Dr.Machino’s butt is lame, he thinks too highly of himself despite his embarrassing falsetto voice, he collects garbage for powerups (the most befitting metaphor in video game history) and cries like a pussy if he so much as trips over a flower. All the bad attitude of Sonic, none of the charm or care of the classic Genesis games. An utter failure.

3) Gex: If the character isn’t spouting off expositions, worthless platitudes, or dated movie references, Gex has nothing to offer any audience besides sub-par platforming, and the worst gaming soundtrack in history, that loops on a feedback so often, you will want to take a hacksaw to your ears for the peaceful nature of silence.

4) Glover: Glover is dependent on his ball. So dependent, that you have to carry the ball everywhere and cannot platform without being chained to Glover’s ball or you die. Imagine Knuckles Chaotix if you lost a life stepping a few inches away from a single ring, then having to start the entire horrible atrocious experience all over again, just to experience the same broken game mechanic repeated ad nauseum.

5) Bebe’s Kids: This video explains to you more than any mere words can. Enjoy! This video remains copyrighted to the Nostalgia Critic, not myself.

My Gaming Review Affiliate Business

I am currently offering my services, both as a passionate lifelong video gamer and writer, to assist gaming companies in selling your product for you, for a 25% cut of the profits. Using my gaming rig and recording software, I will deliver to consumers rich gaming experiences that demonstrate the product in question and will provide unbiased reviews of each product, to ensure total customer and enterprise satisfaction! 

The goal of this business is to ensure clients never waste money on terrible video games, ever again, and to make sure that Triple AAA developers get their heads in the game with removing backward design fundamentals that hold both the consumer experience and gamers from reaching the markets billion dollars of future potential. Email: simonnathanielstravitz@gmail.com

The death of the Platformer and Graphics trumping Gameplay

Back in the late eighties and early nineties, platformers dominated the cultural landscape. Atari’s blunders with the Atari 5200 and the disastrous failure of E.T appeared to be sending the entire video gaming industry to its deathbed. Then out of the ashes, Nintendo arose and birthed the Super Mario Bros franchise, turning the Nintendo Entertainment System into a worldwide sensation. The platformer became dominant, and every gaming company in America began desperately trying to grab onto Nintendo’s dominance within the industry by crafting a competitor to Super Mario, but none could succeed.

Until the year 1990 when Sega threw its hat into the gaming arena ring with the Sonic the Hedgehog series, and its infamous “Blast-Processing” advertising. Suddenly, every single video game company had to have a successful platforming adventure. Bubsy, Gex, Glover and other reject mascots came and went, all delivering style over substance because they all forget the central tenant of great platformers… ACTUAL PLATFORMING!!!

What made great platformers great was a combination of correct jumping techniques and well-developed characters that made the world’s fun to explore. This genre had all but died out, because the game designers cared more about making the character appealing to younger and younger audiences. News flash, Conker’s Bad Fur Day was a great platformer not just because of its edgy and sophisticated darker theme, but the adult themes combined with excellent gameplay. No hardcore gamer cares one bit how shiny your graphics on your game are. If the game plays like garbage, you have failed as a game developer, end of story. Conker worked as a platformer and as a mature title, because it seamlessly blended story and platforming together in a manner unlike any platformer before it, and wasn’t afraid to get as raunchy as possible in the process. The operatic Great Mighty Poo while a disgusting character, may also have been one of the most original and brilliant villains in history!

Graphics cannot trump the value of solid gameplay, as great Indie developer released Shovel Knight undeniably set in stone forever. This game has 8-bit graphics in the modern era of flashy graphics and anisotropic filtering. Yet tight, nail-biting gameplay with excellent platforming and addictive combat, making the graphics meaningless in context. I cannot stress this undeniable fact enough, modern game developers now care more about graphics than good story or gameplay, to the detriment of everyone involved. Mass Effect Andromeda (or in my eyes a Mass Effect Abomination which I will certainly cover) has shiny graphics, a nice coat of paint. But the story is awful, the characters forgettable, and the gameplay so buggy and glitch-ridden, it is an absolute disgrace. You can spend all the millions of dollars in the world, but without proper QA testing of your product, you are only deluding yourself as to the nature of the final product. It’s as if we have come to celebrate mediocrity in all forms as long as its tied neatly together in a bow and presented within a pretty package.

Graphics are NEVER more important in great video games than gameplay. What made the old school platformers fun and satisfying video games was the game developers commitment to making a game that is, at bottom, fun and satisfying to play for the consumer. Now its all about DLC bullshit, microtransactions for every cosmetic piece, and silly, superficial content that strips away a fun experience at every turn. The modern gaming industry needs a fundamental change in how games are designed, starting with a back to basics empasis on catering to the hardcore gamer, by delivering solid, tight, addictive, and endlessly replayable and customizable gaming experiences. You limit our options to save on budget or make the game look better at the expense of substance, your product is already an absolute failure.

Can Sonic Forces save the Sonic The Hedgehog franchise?

The Sonic the Hedgehog series has essentially been on a downward spiral the last decade. After the last Yuji Naka Sonic game, SONIC HEROES, the series went into free fall with three horrible games. Shadow the Hedgehog featuring Shadow wielding guns and failing miserably to act edgy and cool by inserting the word “Dam” into every dialogue box. Sonic Unleashed with its ridiculous Werehog concept and horribly broken Sonic speed sections where you die in several seconds even if you don’t touch your controller. Finally, the infamously horrendous Sonic The Hedgehog 2006 with its insane loading screens, hideously ugly graphics, and fundamentally broken rip your teeth out gameplay that strained even the most patient gamer to an absolute boiling point. Then for a moment of tantalizing sanity, it appeared that Sonic Team had ceased huffing gallons of paint and smoking crack while developing video games, and Sonic Colors and Generations released to significant fanfare. Gone were the stupid sub plots, and instead tight, speedy 2D and 3D gameplay replaced the awful and stilted Sonic 2006 gameplay. It looked like Sonic was on the up and up, but then came the abomination to end all atrocities, Sonic Boom Rise of Lyric.

The gameplay was broken, the framerate disgustingly unplayable, the characters irritating, loud, the story asinine, stupid and so overtly obnoxious you wanted to jam knives into your ears to silence the bleeding of the horrible voice acting! The game was unplayable, annoying, and just a hideous blot on the entire modern gaming industry, a new low for the Sonic franchise, already nearing the life support stage. It looked like the Sonic Franchise was once again on the ropes and that Sega had learned absolutely nothing. However, with the next two Sonic games Sonic Mania and Sonic Forces, it appears Sega is pulling out all the shots to redeem the once proud name of Sonic The Hedgehog. Sonic Mania features strictly classic Sonic 2D gameplay, complete with sprite animations! Sonic Forces on the other hand once more brings Sonic multiplatform. Not only this, but Sonic Forces features for the first time, a custom character creator allowing you to design your own Sonic character and use them in-game. From what I have observed, this release combines ideas from Sonic Colors and Generations and expands upon them. Classic Sonic is returning again, and he is most welcome, along with 3D Sonic stages focused on fast paced gameplay. Sega has one last chance to not screw up this battered and abused franchise because gamers are getting sick and tired of the lack of quality control with Sonic, it needs to end now.

Oculus Rift

The Oculus Rift represents a paradigm shift for the FPS genre. Imagine first person shooters with the ability to engage combatants in real time, no need for a controller! Imagine using your arms to dismantle an enemy tank and feel the tactile response. Such is the possibilities that devices such as Microsoft’s Oculus Rift bring to the technological table, and the potential cannot remain overstated. Imagine performing cooperative missions with friends in a virtual world designed with VR technology, playing call-outs with your voice and having AI squadmates cover you and follow orders in a split second!

The Oculus Rift also has the potential to revolutionize how we interact with our home devices. In a similar vein to Google Glass, the interface allows for context sensitive information to become mapped to the headset. I envision a future in which all VR games enable you to interact with your email, social media, and other plugins as you play so you can multitask as you game. FPS video games are all about immersion, and with virtual reality becoming more sophisticated technology than in the days of Nintendo’s failed Virtual Boy; there remains no limit to how far this new technology may become stretched and applied both to modern console and PC gaming, and our computer software applications.

Top 14 Characters to add to Super Smash Bros's sequel on Nintendo Switch

1Akuma (Ryu is awesome, Akuma would be an incredible edition!

2Tails, Knuckles, Shadow, and Dr.Robotnik.

3Balloon Man

4Cervantes

5Nightmare

6Spawn

7 Spider-Man

8King K Rool.

9.Sagat.

1Dan Hibiki

1Chun Li

1Oni

1 Riden

1M. Bison.

The Rise of Cros-Platform Gaming

The console and PC markets are evolving. Windows 10 has demonstrated a remarkable commitment to PC gamers, with regular updates to graphics and software capacities. With the upcoming Project Scorpio due for release at the end of this fiscal year, cross-platform gaming may soon become a reality between consoles and personal computers. Imagine playing an online match against hundreds of PC and console players simultaneously. Imagine creating a map on a PC editing platform, then showcasing your plan to console and PC players in real time! 

Customization is the rightful future of video games. Players want maximum customization. They want options to change their character to their liking, customization of weapons and maps, and they do not want restrictions in the next generation. I imagine a future in which players can craft custom single-player and multiplayer missions on the fly, then swap levels and customized missions with other players. Imagine if players create a campaign mission better than what the developer’s craft, forcing the developer’s hand in hiring said player to design levels for them. Imagine gaming journalists or game developers hired on the fly for creating the best mods and extending the longevity of triple AAA titles.

Welcome!