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

Can Skyrim Be Too Easy At Times?

Small observation here from my time with the game thus far.

I've done many quests so far in Skyrim. Already well into 100 hours and think I have a fair scope of the game to start judging it.

It was after one particular quest relating to a Daedric artifact (that shall remain unnamed), that my eyes were opened to something I just did not like.

Skyrim's 360 HDD Install Texture Problem

I have been looking forward to this game for a good chunk of the last 3-4 years and now that it's here, I am blown away by the advances Bethesda have made from Oblivion (and Fallout). The interface, the design and even the storytelling is already going from strength to strength.

But what really left a sour taste in my mouth from the start were the graphics.

Battlefield Fanboys Are The Worst

Battlefield fanboys. Also known as DICE fanboys.

They are to the FPS genre divide what PS3 fanboys have been to the console "war".

The come in various shapes or forms.

They may give incredulous praise to DICE as benevolent game developers who have done and can do no wrong.

They may rabidly foam at the mouth at the mere mention of Call of Duty. Sometimes, extending their vitriol to any pages about a Call of Duty topic around the web.

Here's Why The Nintendo 3DS Hardware Sales Slump Is Not Surprising

Recent reports have shown that the Nintendo 3DS's hardware sales have been disappointing to say the least. Nintendo have been forced to slash the price down as a result, with a second price reduction rumored to surface in the next month.

The 3DS just hasn't quite hit the mark to put it bluntly.

Let's start with the basics and see why this appears to be the case.

Why Battlefield 3 Should Wait Till The Next Generation (for consoles)

With more and more info pouring in about DICE's latest adventure into the Battlefield franchise, it is more and more obvious even to the most casual of gamers that today's consoles just wont cut it.
We got our first taste of console footage for this next generation military FPS on the Jimmy Fallon not too long ago and to say that the response was exuberant would be a tad too generous. The colours were slightly off, textures seemed muddier than previously seen on the PC side of things and the overall look just didnt seem right. All things aside, another glimmer of information surfaced confirming the frame rate of the title to be at an expectant 30 frames per second. Ok, fine, not a problem right?

Wrong.

One thing that I know COD got right was its 60 frames per second "smooth" gameplay. If I were to attribute the Call of Duty franchise's success to one thing, it would be precisely that. We know that given the design direction of a game like Battlefield 3, console gamers can continue to dream about higher resolutions, let alone higher frame rates. Coupled with other drawbacks including the inevitably poorer graphics and reduced multiplayer player counts (24 for consoles, 64 for PC), I cant help but wonder if DICE were doomed to disappoint someone somehow at the end of all of it.

My proposal from the start has been to continue with the Bad Company series for consoles as far as this generation is concerned, and give PC gamers what they want (and quite frankly should've gotten a while ago). I dont want a game like BF3 to end up becoming outdated once the looming next generation arrives; I'd like to see it as a fun, enjoyable and intelligent long term game as previous Battlefield games were.

Nevertheless, it is still too early to speculate; we will see how BF3 pans out.