Top 4 Ways to Avoid a Second Video Game Market Crash

1) Put the Hardcore Gamer First:
The rise of casual gamers is nothing to shun or ignore, but hardcore gamers are getting devalued in the new triple AAA gaming developer market. They want to bring kids, the elderly, and increasing amounts of female players to the table. I am all about all-inclusiveness, but the problem is that they have neglected the core gamers through deceptive practices that we didn't have to put up with before. We didn't have to put up with shitty micro transactions before. We didn't have to pay $60.00 for a full priced video game before. Oh, my mistake! I meant a $60.00 priced half-finished triple AAA title with shitty DLC you have to pay for later, half-finished maps, and glitches out the ass that will get slowly "patched" later. Enough with the bullshit! Release your game in a complete state with all the features built in, or do not release anything at all!

2)  Cut the prices of video games back to $50.00

Let's face it, $60.00 isn't a massive increase over the old school $50.00 price point, but it's not exactly a small amount of money, especially considering all the video games getting released with half of their features missing or only unpolished! By lowering consumer costs, you increase consumer confidence and trust in the strength of your product. The amount of Triple AAA video games getting released with incomplete features merit a cutback in price, these video games should not get released with so many missing features, half-baked concepts, and then you expect the audience to shell out full price for a mediocre offering? No Man's Sky was all one huge lie, and gamers were ripped off. Mass Effect Andromeda promised big, delivered little to nothing, while destroying a once untouchable franchise, bringing Bioware to its knees in disgrace. Haven't the core gamers suffered enough at the hands of incompetence and deception?

3) Kill the hype trains and stop pre-ordering games!

The pre-order, as every hardcore gamer now knows, is a huge trap. Do not fall for it! They promise extra features to those who preorder, which rarely make a difference in the final released product. I once made the terrible mistake of pre-ordering Halo Reach. I paid nearly two hundred dollars (what a waste) for a collection of Halo Reach statues and my Legendary copy of the game. 

I stood outside in the rain, stuck in the dead end of Palm Springs drunk as a skunk on several shots of Jack Daniels whiskey at a Gamestop on a Friday night, with a group of strangers instead of having fun with my friends! What did I get for all that extra money and my pants soaked with water and stale urine besides a group of nice-looking action-figures? Blue flaming helmets in multiplayer, a pure cosmetic afterthought. That's it! And Halo Reach sucked ass by the way, with broken map design, an average campaign, but hideously terrible multiplayer with the broken Armor Lock AA that made players invincible to both grenades and melee attacks! Simply put, I was conned into pre-ordering Halo Reach because I thought after Halo 3 Bungie could do no wrong *cough* *cough* (Destiny) *cough*. The bottom line is to tell all your gamer friends, stop pre-ordering video games! Let's force the developers to step up their respective games, and offer all content at release with nothing left out for anyone. Charge a single price, and give everyone the same content, no Pay-To-Play bullshit!

4) Include a free Beta before every release:

So many new titles are popping onto store shelves with little quality control! We need more gaming developers to begin offering beta tests for every game they release. Let us break your video game for you, then you can fix the product before making us pay full price for an incomplete product!

Crash Bandicoot Returns on Playstation 4

I will admit that growing up, my penchant was for Super Mario Bros and Sonic The Hedgehog. So, the PlayStation lineup didn't factor largely into my scope. But when it did, Crash Bandicoot was the one gaming title that stood out largest. I loved the multilayered and colorful worlds, the unique enemies and boss fights, and most of all the excellent platforming mechanics! So when I heard that Crash Bandicoot was getting a remake on the PlayStation 4, I was not expecting to get disappointed. However, one concern remained, Activision developing this remaster instead of Crash Bandicoots rightful creators, Naughty Dog Studios. However, my fears have been laid to rest upon sampling the gameplay.

Put simply, this remake gets everything right that a remaster is supposed to. The original shine and polish of Crash Bandicoot is here, but with a next generation coat of paint! The platforming is as addictive as ever. Even better, this game combines Crash Bandicoot, Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back and Crash Bandicoot Warped, into a single unified release, so you can get your Crash fix at any hour of the day or night! The only genuine improvement I could mention for Activision to consider is the necessary addition of Crash Bash. For fans of the Crash Bandicoot series, this game is a must purchase!

Cuphead: A Blast Of Retro Awesomeness!

I can say with little hesitation that Cuphead is one of the greatest gaming concepts I have seen in a long time. The graphics are gorgeous, hand-drawn with a Disney style and panache. The gameplay is classic Super Mario Bros, Contra, and Shovel Knight blended into a single release. The soundtrack is utterly breathtaking, orchestral instruments backing up the ensemble of tight, crisp, classic 2D platforming. 

Everything about this title makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside! This is the type of game that reminds me that all hope may not become lost for a true, incredible, new platforming adventure and solid two-dimensional gameplay. Make no mistake, 2D gaming still has its place among video gaming veterans, and Cuphead combines the greatest elements from all of them into a single release. I have not been this excited for a new title in a long time, check out the Youtube video below for Cuphead's classic blast from the past, and future gameplay! The game will be released both on Xbox One X, PC, and the PlayStation 4 Pro, and for any old-school platforming fans remains a mandatory purchase!

SEGA Genesis Flashback Is An Absolute Trainwreck

It has become abundantly clear to myself, as well as countless other gaming fans of both SEGA, Capcom, and Konami, that these three gaming studios literally have stopped giving a fuck about anything but profits. Capcom continues its newfound tradition of butchering classic titles such as Megaman, Street Fighter, and Marvel VS Capcom with shitty DLC requirements and nerfed gameplay options. Konami huffed so much paint and air duster, they believed firing Hideo Kojima was a good idea, and received a proper fan backlash ribbing up the ass.

But between Konami and Capcom, the true loser is now SEGA. This company is on life support. Outside of Sonic Forces and the rumored new Shenume title, this company no matter should matter to anyone who loves video games! SEGA has repeatedly demonstrated total callousness towards old school fans, and nowhere is this more apparent than in the pitifully awful, SEGA Genesis Flashback, buy at your own risk! Shell out $80.00 a pop, then recieve a crappy lineup of non-HD Genesis game remakes with an incomplete roster of Sonic The Hedgehog titles, NO SONIC THE HEDGEHOG THREE ANYWHERE!!! It's insulting, as this company once was Nintendo's primary competitor, now they are a sad joke than cannot compete with Nintendo, who despite being an excellent company themselves, are struggling against Microsoft and Sony's dominance of the video gaming industry. 

The difference is that between Nintendo and SEGA, I want to see Nintendo come out victorious and remain a competitor to Microsoft and Sony, whereas I only want SEGA to die off and never return. Even if Sonic Forces is not a shitacular Sonic game, and even if Shenume is decent enough as a remake or sequel, it will take decades of excellent game releases for SEGA to undo the damage they have done to themselves. SEGA has also made the foolish mistake of attempting to ban all YouTubers from promoting their video games and consoles through fair use. News flash video game developers, gamers uploading videos of your product increases consumer desire for your products. By banning the fair use of copyrighted material, you ban people selling your product for you, and deserve every bit of the backlash you receive in turn!

The Way To Save The Mass Effect Series From The Mistakes of Andromeda

Alright gamers, we can no longer pussyfoot around the issue. Mass Effect Andromeda was not just a disappointing video game. It was easily the worst, most overhyped video game of 2017 by far! All the magic of the original trilogy is gone, removing unique characters such as Garus Vakarian, Commander Shepard, Grunt, Mordin, Wrex, and Tali, now being replaced by hideous paper-thin cardboard cutouts. Mix in poor facial animations, an annoying and pointless storyline, buggy glitch rode gameplay, irritating fetch quests along with useless, completely ineffectual writing, and Mass Effect Andromeda may well take the title of the worst video game of 2017. Just thinking about this game makes my blood boil, as the original Mass Effect Trilogy is one of my favorite game series, and this latest entry is a far cry from the past glory days.

The way to save the Mass Effect series, in my opinion, is simple. Bring back Commander Shepard and the original Mass Effect cast, add new characters to that world, then build on the universe which has already been set up through deep and complex storytelling! These new characters are boring and pointless. Therefore audiences do not want to waste time with them. Hire better writers, and integrate seamlessly, the worlds of Andromeda and the first Mass Effect together into a single game entry. Make the relationships meaningful again. When the characters feel like cardboard, and there is no significant incentive to care about their motivations or personality, they become a faceless AI in which the player cannot become invested in the storyline. Simply put, a Mass Effect title with shitty writing ruins the entire foundation upon which the franchise became built.

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!