A Look Into The Mind Of A Camper, With Professor Rushalot

I am pleased to announce that we have secured an exclusive interview with the prestigious and widely cited Professor Beastman Rushalot. Based in the internationally recognised, Shewter University, he commands a wide range of specialisations in the Video Game Psyche department where he is acting head. He is frequently invited to gaming events around the world, giving talks and lectures on the state of the industry and more importantly, the nature of gamers today.

After a quick cup of tea and some crumpets, we settled down in our comfy lounge chairs and had a superb chat about camping, campers and pretty much any golden nugget we could gleam from Professor Rushalot's vexing mind.

Enjoy!

Ninja Gaiden 3 and Itagaki's Fluffing Fanboys

With the rapid approach of Ninja Gaiden 3, I thought it would be a good time to reflect on my thoughts about Ninja Gaiden as a reemerging franchise and where I think it is heading.

It goes without saying that Ninja Gaiden set the benchmark for brutal fantasy action adventures when it released in 2004 on the original Xbox. It brought me in to a franchise that was both familiar and fresh. As a game, it personified a developer's ability to take risks in the right places and invent something that was really adored by fans all over. The driving force behind this was of course none other than Team Ninja, spear headed by the infamous Tomonobu Itagaki. Itagaki had his greasy palms in more than one game series of course.

The Skyrim Christmas Bubble

I think we all know of the mega hot Skyrim price plummet that ended not too long ago.

It was so big that even a skeptic like myself who still loves gaming related bargains, dipped in for a second copy of the game. What harm could a spare copy do? You could easily flip it for a bit of pocket money for Christmas to brighten up a little kid's holidays.

But what people didn't bank on was the shear quantity of bulk stock that was distributed

The Season Pass Conspiracy

Microsoft has already begun employing the Season Pass DLC philosophy across a host of games.

Gears of War 3, Forza Motorsport and Mortal Kombat already have this 'pay up front' tactic successfully implemented. And while it's key advertising pull is to essentially save a lump sum from the total DLC cost in the long run, there are factors that you need to consider before you dive in and sign up to this up and coming DLC marketing strategy.

Gears of War 3: The Reviews That Stick Out Get Hammered

The reviews have been flooding in for this anticipated blockbuster as reviewers receive their review copies. As of writing this, the game is sitting on a '91' on Metacritic. Good, right? Yes, the game is looking like a critical success.

Critical sites such as Gamespot have given the game no less than 9.5/10, where they would not shy from giving games 5, 6 or even 7 out of 10 where deserved.

Review scores aren't really going to sway the vast majority of potential game buyers, especially those who've decided on Gears 3 ever since the beta was open. However, that really isn't the issue that bothers me. Looking at the review scores on Metacritic, what immediately stick out are the set of reviews found at the way bottom, the '80' scores.

Allow me to entertain you with my collective semi-rant about this, seeing as though it has garnered serious interwebz activity the past few days.

The Ghillie Suit Snipers

The ghillie suit. Hallmark of stealth ops and military reconaissance. Venturing into the foray of first person shooter video games, it has mainfested itself hand in hand with the Recon/Sniper class setup. Irreplaceably effective at maintaining a low profile during tactical operations, relaying enemy positions and scouting targets for soldiers on the frontline.

In the virtual world, it is particulary appealing to young excitable players who enjoy the fabled mystique of being the lone sniper, picking off valuable assets from a distance, sees all yet remains unseen etc. All the kids want to be the next Vassili Zaitsev and earn the praise of nations as the kill hundreds for their country.

Popular shooter games such as Call of Duty and Battlefield have embraced the aesthetic value of the Ghillie suit to compliment its real life purpose.

The suit however does tend to distinguish itself a little too much compared to its neighbouring class appearances.

The Plague of Corner Camping

Corner camping.

We all know what it is. We all sense what type of player does it. We've ALL suffered from it.

As the FPS genre grows in size, more and more gamers and casuals will fill their free time with playing Call of Duty, Battlefield, Crysis etc. However, there seems to be two distinct types of first person gamers.

1) Those who play to have fun and know they are playing a game

2) Those who are so feeble minded that they become immersed into the game so much, they think it's real life

Its category 2 that are ruining the enjoyment of anyone with the misfortune of playing in the same lobby as them.