[06.10.15] Former ‘HAWKEN’ developers announce new tactical shooter, ‘Burstfire’

Free Reign Entertainment

Move over “Halo,” “Call of Duty,” and Battlefield”; there are some new developers in town who want to bring back a slower-paced, tactical shooter in place of the modern run-and-gun trend and they’re not just blowing smoke, either. As Free Reign Entertainment and Nacho Games, these developers know a thing or two about first person shooters. Comprised partially of the team that brought you “HAWKEN,” these studios are hard at work on a 5v5 competitive first person shooter which rewards a more tactical and team-oriented gameplay style. In a press release from June 9, Free Reign Entertainment and Nacho Games proudly announced “Burstfire.”

“Burstfire” is a slow paced, objective-oriented first-person shooter built around deep strategy. Unlike most modern shooters which implement a class-based system, “Burstfire” allows players the freedom to equip any combination of weapons and tools they see fit. There will be dozens of weapons available, with optional attachments and cosmetic changes, along with plenty of tools and tactical gear. The game experience rewards patience, careful planning, and teamwork. Players can take a more defensive approach, setting up traps on defense or taking the time to scout out the enemy team while on offense with an initial preparation stage. Afterwards, it’s time for bombs to drop and bullets to fly; however, teamwork still plays a crucial role throughout the match. Each round of “Burstfire” is sudden-death combat, and even one teammate’s death can tip the scales and cripple a team’s effectiveness. Anyone who has played older “Rainbow Six” titles knows that this type of strategy-first gameplay creates high intensity matches that can’t be matched by even the most exciting 360-no-scope in “Call of Duty.”

With both studios being founded in 2014, it’s likely you may have never heard of Free Reign Entertainment or Nacho Games, but you have very little reason to doubt their pedigree. Free Reign Entertainment is a branch of Arktos Entertainment Group, the company behind War Inc. They specialize in original IPs with massive, immersive worlds and games which are heavily influenced by the community. Nacho Games is an independent game studio based in Los Angeles. They’re comprised of several former members of Adhesive Games, the studio behind the award-winning“HAWKEN.” They’re led by Adhesive co-founder and lead gamer designer, Dave Nguyen, who is a veteran of the PC gaming community.

In essence, “Burstfire” is purely a passion product of the best kind. To reinforce this, Nacho Games has committed to full support after launch, including new maps and new items. Most importantly, “Burstfire” is a “pay once, play forever” game – a breath of fresh air in a world dominated by Free-To-Play games, Pay-To-Win games, and games destroyed by microtransactions. Nacho Games promises that all future updates and DLC will be free.

If this sounds like the kind of game you could get behind – and it should – you can sign up now for an invitation to the closed Alpha on their website. The full game will launch in Summer 2015.

[02.20.13] Sony officially announces PlayStation 4

Sony

There was something interesting about today. It was supposed to be a day of excitement and surprises, but somehow, it wasn’t. Today, Sony had a press conference that was rumored to reveal the PlayStation 4, and sure enough it did, but it was lacking something very important: The PlayStation 4. What we instead got was a two-hour tease in which lots of information was revealed, and yet lots of information wasn’t.

The event started off with a lot of technical mumbo-jumbo about the raw power of the PlayStation 4. The PlayStation 4 will have 8GB of memory, a new CPU, new GPU, and a whole other slew of technical upgrades that, when referred to by their names, probably make no sense and mean absolutely nothing to the majority of us. All we really need to know is that it will, in fact, be far superior to the PlayStation 3 in every way, shape, and form.

Now it’s not to say that there wasn’t anything positive to come out of the press conference today, there was actually a lot of that; however there just wasn’t anything mind-blowing. Still, there are plenty of new features to be happy about that were announced.

The one thing we did actually get to see was the new controller, the “DualShock 4”. It’s a more refined version of the DualShock 3 with a larger D-Pad, enhanced rumble capabilities, and reduction of input lag. It’s ergonomically designed to fit more comfortably in your hand, and it has the addition of a touch pad for more precise input. It will also have a new peripheral that looks a lot like Microsoft’s Kinect, but functions more like the PlayStation Move. In case you were wondering, the PlayStation Move will also be making a return to the PlayStation 4, although there’s not much information on how yet.

The controller will also have a new “share” button, which is crucial to a new feature: the implementation of an always-active “theater mode” video recording function. If you’ve played “Call of Duty” or “Halo”, you’re probably familiar with the popular “theater modes” which allow you to take clips of gameplay and share them with everyone. The PlayStation 4 will have this capability integrated directly into the console itself, allowing you to instantly create video clips or take screenshots at the press of a button.

The hardware itself isn’t the only thing getting an upgrade; it turns out the PlayStation Network is looking forward to a major overhaul too. Sony is making full use of its recent acquisition, cloud gaming service Gaikai, to create a PlayStation Network that is all about instant access and personalization. They’re looking to create a new social network that is specific to gaming. You’ll still have your usernames and gamer pictures, but if you want to keep closer contact with real-world friends, you have the option to make more accurate profiles, with a real picture of you and your real name, available to certain people. It’s likely this will be through integration with current existing social networks.

With this always-connected world, you’ll have the option to live-stream your gameplay in conjunction with the new theater mode, and have it available online courtesy of a partnership with UStream. You’ll also have the option to let friends leave live comments that will pop up on screen as you play. If you find yourself stuck, you can actually forfeit control and have a friend remotely connect and play for you to help you through a tough jam.

As far as the ‘instant’ part goes, it starts from the console and works its way up. There will be a new power-saving sleep mode which will allow you to instantly hop back into gameplay at any time. Just press the power button, and the console goes to sleep, remembering exactly where you’re at in your game. When you come back, hit power again and you’re right back in the action where you left off. No more waiting for the console or game to boot up. Gone, also, are the days of waiting for game demos to download. If you’re shopping the store and you find a game you want to try out, simply press a button, and you’re instantly streaming the demo straight to your console. If you decide you like the game, you can purchase it, and start playing it immediately while the rest of the game downloads in the background à la Steam.

Speaking of games, about half the conference was dedicated to the announcement of upcoming titles. Much like the system, it was severely lacking in the “surprise” department. A few sequels that were announced include “Killzone Shadowfall” and “inFamous Second Son”, two PlayStation exclusives that weren’t really expected to disappear anytime soon. Activision also briefly took the stage to announce that Bungie will be bringing its upcoming new IP, “Destiny”, to the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4; however, that was something Bungie had already touched upon a few days ago during their own official announcement. They did say that PlayStation exclusive playable content was planned, though.

The first original announcement was that of “Driveclub”, the product of Evolution Studios, which is 10 years in the making. It focuses on team-based racing through in-game auto clubs. You can join up with your friends and take on other auto clubs in challenges and races, all happening in real-time. The highlight of the game, however, is the car models. All of them are painstakingly recreated in excruciating detail inside and out. Think Forza’s AutoVista times infinity, and applied to every vehicle in the game.

Next was “The Witness”, a new title from the creators of “Braid”. It’s an open-world puzzle game that takes place in an extremely compact universe, in which you are always 20 seconds from a different area with a completely unique theme. The intension was to cut out any useless and repetitive gameplay while still creating a large amount of game time that is made up entirely of unique experiences. It will be exclusive to PlayStation Network.

Capcom unveiled their brand new engine they’re designing around the PlayStation 4’s capabilities, which is codenamed “Panta Rhei”. Alongside the development of that, they’re creating an original IP under the working title “Deep Down” which takes place in medieval times and focuses on dragons, knighthood, and the like.

Square Enix also took the stage to debut their “cinematic demo”. That’s right, not a game… just a pretty video of what they want their games to look like. Then, as a brief afterthought, they mentioned they’ll be announcing another Final Fantasy game at E3, right before walking off stage. Perhaps they’re as tired of the series as we are.

Ubisoft looked to steal the show with an update on their original IP, “Watchdogs”. After shocking and pleasantly surprising viewers of E3 last year with their completely out-of-the-blue announcement, Ubisoft looked to build upon the excitement with another gameplay demo. This is clearly a more refined version of the build we saw at back at E3, and the game just keeps looking better and better. Despite being short, it gave a closer look at the level of control you’ll have over the so-called futuristic “Smart City” in the game. It also gave a little more insight into the character you’ll be playing as who appears to be somewhat of a vigilante.

Now if anything from the press conference could be considered “surprising”, it would be the appearance of Blizzard Entertainment onstage. They announced a strategic partnership which will start with them bringing over “Diablo III” to both the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4. They will make their formal debut at PAX East in a couple of months.

All of this will be coming “Holiday 2013”. We still don’t know what it looks like, but it’s coming. All-in-all, Sony really dropped the ball on useful information this time around. There’s no formal announcement of price point, nor did they discuss any of people’s biggest concerns such as whether or not they’ll be able to play second-hand games (don’t worry, this was since confirmed as not true by a Sony Exec) or if they’re going to be required to have an ever-present online connection. Hopefully they’ll have a little more information come E3, but if one thing is for sure, they already missed their chance on the element of surprise.

Anthony Ortale writes news and reviews on behalf of Examiner.com. He does so much gaming in his spare time, it’s practically a full time job! If you like what you read here, please subscribe to his articles! You can also follow Tony on Twitter, or become a fan on Facebook! If you ever have any questions, comments, or concerns, feel free to email Tony any time at ortale.anthony@gmail.com, he’d love to hear from you

[11.13.12] Review: ‘Medal of Honor: Warfighter’

Electronic Arts

Medal of Honor: Warfighter

Rating:

4 Stars

After rebooting “Medal of Honor” in 2010, it came as no surprise when Electronic Arts announced a follow-up title for this year. Totting the tagline “the only realistic shooter this holiday season”, it gave itself a lot to live up to; however, its predecessor proved that if any game could do it, “Medal of Honor” would be the brand. Once again, Danger Close worked closely with Tier 1 Operators, relying on them to actually write the story for the game, so they could pull from their own experiences and create the most authentic game possible.

The Fun Stuff:

Realistic it is, starting with the cut scenes. Just like “Battlefield 3”, there is an optional HD graphics download you can install, and it’s highly recommended that you do. The cut scenes are drop dead gorgeous. Occasionally, you’ll probably find yourself questioning if it’s live action or not. The graphics carry over into the game too. Although not quite as jaw-dropping as the CGI, they’re still beautiful and push the Xbox 360 to its absolute limits. Sound mixing is, once again, fantastic too which adds to the realism.

“Warfighter” also utilizes the Frostbite 2 engine, allowing for destructible environments in all the right places to add another subtle touch of realism. Wood shatters from grenade explosions and small chunks of the wall will chip away when grazed with bullets. It really shines during the door breaches. The coolest part is you can unlock multiple unique breaching animations so you can destroy that door in any way you please. Whether you decide to place a charge and blow the door to smithereens or take a tomahawk to the doorknob, it all happens in excruciatingly beautiful detail. You can spend all the time you want looking at the details too, because there isn’t any intel or collectible item you have to find during the campaign. For that, gamers everywhere rejoice.

There’s more to “Warfighter” than just shooting things. From time to time, you’ll find yourself behind the wheel – and it’s a surprisingly pleasant experience. One mission in particular, titled “Hello and Dubai”, has you driving for the entire mission. Don’t worry though; it’s anything but a chore. During one segment, the mission actually felt a lot like the ‘Burnout’ series, as it required you to take down enemy vehicles pursuing you. The driving is smooth and used just to the right amount that it’s always entertaining and never annoying.

The multiplayer has been overhauled too. You now always have a buddy who you can rely on for ammunition and healing, as well as temporary tactical advantages when they get killed. It still follows the FPS standard of kill streaks, ranking up, and unlocking new things, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing as they’ve essentially become established components of any successful shooter. It’s actually a good deal of fun, and should become even more interesting next month when a new map pack tied in to the “Zero Dark Thirty” movie is released.

The Frustrating Stuff:

Unfortunately, though, for everything that “Warfighter” has done right, it seems they’ve done something wrong too. Despite the incredibly beautiful graphics, it seems they forgot – or simply ignored –the concept of “dynamic lighting”. In a game that’s going for realism, this is something that probably shouldn’t be overlooked. There’s nothing sillier and more disappointing (in a ‘realistic’ game) than realizing that your character is incapable of casting shadows, as is anything and everything else passing through lighted areas.

Taking another step away from realism, it sees the A.I. have gotten an intelligence upgrade –but not in a good way. The A.I. in the previous “Medal of Honor” were pleasantly realistic in terms of how they acted with you. Unfortunately, they’ve gained god-like intelligence on the hardest difficulties like in the rival “Call of Duty” series where the enemy knows exactly where you are before you even show up. On the bright side, you companions are equally intelligent and still just as capable of killing enemies for you like they were in the previous game.

Although having the ability to choose how you want to breach an area is really awesome, you’ll soon realize it’s purely cosmetic. No matter how you enter, it always turns out the same. Oh, and a very large majority of the time, there will conveniently be exactly 4 bad guys behind the door. It starts to feel repetitive pretty quickly.

Speaking of repetitive, be prepared for yet another training session running through airplanes. There’s even an achievement tied to completing the course with a quick time – something that should feel a little familiar to fans of the “Call of Duty” series… or pretty much any other modern first person shooter for that matter. To add to the awkwardness, this training actually takes place after completing the first mission, which throws you straight into the action and expects those unfamiliar with shooters to just deal with it. There is one awesome thing about the training facility, though. Without giving away anything about the story, it’s safe to say they do actually tie it in to the story in a very neat way.

Bottom Line:

For anyone who was a fan of 2010’s “Medal of Honor”, this is a must buy. For everyone else mildly interested, it’s probably still worth picking up if you can find a decent sale on it. The story and beautiful cut scenes are definitely worth experiencing. If you don’t want to divide up your time between multiple first person shooters this holiday season though, you’ll probably want to pass over this title as there are much better titles worthy of your $60 this season between “Black Ops II” and “Halo 4”, depending on which series you align yourself with.

Medal of Honor: Warfighter was developed by Danger Close Games and was published by Electronic Arts. It was released in North America on October 23, 2012 with an ‘M’ rating from the ESRB and an MSRP of $59.99. This review was based on an Xbox 360 copy of the game purchased on the release date.

Anthony Ortale writes news and reviews on behalf of Examiner.com. He does so much gaming in his spare time, it’s practically a full time job! If you like what you read here, please subscribe to his articles! You can also follow Tony on Twitter, or become a fan on Facebook! If you ever have any questions, comments, or concerns, feel free to email Tony any time at ortale.anthony@gmail.com, he’d love to hear from you

[06.04.12] Everything you wanted to know from E3’s Xbox 360 Media Briefing 2012

Microsoft

The Xbox 360 Media Briefing was quite the spectacle this year, despite no new console reveal. Rumors have been swirling around for months about the next generation Xbox, but it made no appearance here. Then again, is it possible that was a good thing? Are gamers really ready for a new console? Perhaps it was just backlash from the way the core gaming community felt they had been abandoned at last year’s E3. Today, Microsoft wanted to remind you that they haven’t forgotten about their roots, but also showed off they want to blend the best of both worlds when it comes to casual and hardcore gaming; and maybe blur the lines between a few other worlds as well.

This year, Microsoft did something all new by making a stream of the conference available to anyone with an Xbox 360. There were a few technical hiccups along the way, but nothing as severe as the Diablo III launch. If you missed out on the event, the streams are going to be available on the Xbox 360 as well as Xbox.com

The Xbox 360 Media briefing kicked off with a beautiful live action trailer for “Halo 4” which seamlessly transitioned into a campaign gameplay demo showing off an amazing looking game. Master Chief is going to be battling the Forerunners and battling with losing his A.I. counterpart Cortana. Everything has been upgraded, including Master Chief’s armor, the game’s graphics, and a lot of weapons. The demo started off feeling very reminiscent of Halo 3’s campaign, but suddenly the jungle environment felt incredibly unfamiliar when new glowing enemies showed up. Despite the many changes, it’s clear that Halo hasn’t lost itself, and it will be exciting to see what else 343 has planned for the all new trilogy.

Sam Fisher is also back with “Splinter Cell: Blacklist”. Gameplay looks very similar to “Splinter Cell: Conviction”, although the presentation, as well as Sam’s gear, has taken a step back to the older games. Once again, there’s actually a HUD instead of everything being artistically mapped onto the environments. “Splinter Cell: Blacklist” also supports Kinect integration. In the demo, the player called out, “Hey, you!” causing a guard to turn around surprised and confused so Sam could perform an execution. The player was also able to call in an airstrike using only his voice. All the while, everything was being done with the Controller, so much like with the integration in “Mass Effect 3”, it’s not being forced upon you, but could definitely supplement your gameplay nicely.

Following the voice command trend, “Madden 13” was briefly shown off and now features voice commands. Plays can be called verbally, audibles can be called at the line, and of course you can yell “hike!” to start play. All of this was demoed and appeared to work pretty well, although it also did a great job of highlighting Kinect’s limitations. There was a minor delay from command to execution, which will slow down gameplay significantly in comparison to the responsiveness and speed of a controller. Keep in mind, this is just an early build, although it’s highly likely the delay will still exist, at least to some extent, meaning this feature will probably be entertained briefly by all, but only utilized by quarterbacks who know every play and don’t have to wait for the menus to step them through each part of the play calling.

“Fable: The Journey” also made a brief appearance via trailer, although it didn’t actually reveal anything not already known. There was no exciting announcement to go along with it, and it wasn’t hardly even mentioned after the trailer was over. It seems as if it was only present to say “Hey, this game still exists… but it isn’t ready quite yet.” Likewise, “Gears of War: Judgment“ also had a trailer revealed, although it showed little more than a broad release date of 2013.

Next up, the Forza logo flashed on the screen, but surprisingly, it was followed by clips of street racing. Taking a drastic turn for the series, “Forza Horizon” looks a lot like the classic “Need For Speed” games meeting the ever-popular “Foza” series. It sported all of the neon lights and mountainscapes that have made appearances in past “Need for Speed” games, but also brought in the smooth gameplay, realistic physics, and unbelievably gorgeous car models Forza fans know and love. Also, it releases October 23, 2012.

Taking a break from games, Microsoft wanted to show off one of Bing’s new search features: the ability to search movies by genre. Additionally, Bing is being expanded to 12 new countries and will support more languages. To go with this, Microsoft plans to double the amount of entertainment apps in the following year. Partnership with Nickelodeon, Paramount Movies, Machinima, and Univision were all announced. NBA League Pass and NHL Gamecenter are also joining the lineup in the sports category. ESPN on Xbox is going to have live programing 24/7. ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN3, and ESPNU will all be available in HD.

Next up was the announcement of “Xbox Music”. With a library of over 30 Million music tracks, it appears as if this is Microsoft’s new direction with Zune. It’ll be available across Windows 8 PCs, Tablets, Phones and of course, the Xbox. From the looks of things, it appears as if Zune is no more, and has simply been morphed into Xbox Music. Although this hasn’t been confirmed, things such as the appearance of Smart DJ, the hint of Xbox Music being a music subscription service, and the announcement by Microsoft to discontinue their Zune MP3 players a while back make this seem like a highly likely turn of events.

Nike+ and Xbox now have a partnership, and are working to bring you “Nike+ Kinect Training”. It offers personalized training and feedback and even has mobile reminders to work out. The plan is to bring the massive Xbox Live community together with the massive Nike+ community. It will be fully integrated with everything Nike+ already has to offer, and its coming Holiday 2012.

Arguably the biggest reveal of the show was “Xbox SmartGlass”. It works across Windows Phone, iOS, and Android. This service looks to offer supplementary information to what you’re viewing on your big screen, and wants to put it all in the palm of your hand. Everything from background information on actors in movies to maps showing your where characters for TV shows are at within their universe. That’s just everything for the entertainment front.

Xbox SmartGlass also works with games. A little preview video showed off the gaming capabilities, and from the looks of things you can use it as a controller for Madden to draw up plays and actually run them as well. For Halo 4, it will have full WayPoint integration, which isn’t very surprising. It’s likely most other games will have features similar to that. SmartGlass also works like a touch-remote for Xbox, you can navigate it completely with your touchscreen, similar to how you already can with the Kinect.

The most exciting breakthrough SmartGlass offers, is the ability to finally browse the web on the Xbox 360 through Internet Explorer. SmartGlass will allow you to use your phone or tablet like a laptop’s touchpad for your Xbox 360. You can drag around with your finger as a cursor and fully manipulate the web on your TV. It will also support Kinect, giving you full control of the web with your voice. It launches worldwide sometime this fall.

Also making a repeat appearance from last year’s E3 was “Tomb Raider”. New gameplay shown was shown and the game looks great. Much like the first gameplay demo, this one reaffirmed the much more mature tone the game is taking on, and it seems like an excellent turn for the series. Also announced was that the first DLC package will be available first on Xbox 360, following suit with the Call of Duty series

Microsoft had three world exclusive premiers up their sleeves for games that will all launch in 2013. They weren’t much more than incredibly brief teaser trailers, but they certainly sparked lots of interest. First up was a new game from Signal Studios, the team behind the popular “Toy Soldiers” series. There new game is called “Ascend: New Gods” which can be played across both the Xbox 360 and Windows phone. It looks like it could be Xbox Arcade’s attempt at a “Shadow of the Colossus” game?

The brilliant minds at Twisted Pixel, Microsoft’s latest acquisition, showed a very vague glimpse of their next project, titled “LocoCycle”. A voice described a futuristic, super powerful motorcycle that looked like something straight out of “Tron”. First assumptions would be a sci-fi racing game, but then again, with Twisted Pixel at the helm of the project, you really can’t know what to expect.

Last for the exclusive reveals was “Matter” for Kinect. Not much was shown here either. All that could be gathered from the trailer was that it might possibly be a futuristic puzzle game, although not even that is certain. The glowing blue and orange eyes of the two silver sphere-shaped characters shown are very reminiscent of “Portal”, although no connection was confirmed.

“Resident Evil 6” had some gameplay to show off, and it clearly sported many improvements over its predecessor; the most notable of which is the ability to shoot and move at the same time. There were lots of real time events, a nice blend of shooting and hand-to-hand combat, and some pretty crazy action sequences. Many fans are expecting this to be the best of the Resident Evil series yet, and it does look to be shaping up that way.

Going back to Kinect was another brief mention, “Wreckateer”. It’s going to be exclusive to Xbox Live. The gameplay demo made it basically like the classic internet sensation, “Crush the Castle” for Kinect. A massive catapult is loaded with many different types of ammunition you can control and manipulate in the air. Points were awarded for destroying parts of castles, but the player was limited to just three shots in the one level shown in the demo. It’s likely they’re trying to hop in with the “Angry Birds” craze by bringing it to Xbox. “Wreckateer” launches on Xbox Live sometime this summer.

South Park is back and just as obscene, vulgar, and hilarious as ever. Have you ever wondered what it’d be like to put yourself in an episode of South Park? Now you can find out because you star in “South Park: The Stick of Truth” created by Obsidian. You’ll get to create your own personal “South Park” character and wander around the town as the new kid in town. Joining you will be Stan, Cartman, Kyle, and Kenny. “South Park: The Stick of Truth” is being written by the show’s creators, and will launch on March 5, 2013 with an exclusive “Mysterion Superhero Pack” for those who preorder it on Xbox 360.

Harmonix is bringing back “Dance Central” for the third time. It looks to be much of the same with a nice blend of new music. Prior to a surprise performance by Usher, he stated that he worked alongside the team at Harmonix to bring his exact choreography for two songs into the game. This could show that Harmonix is trying to bring more artist integration into the series much like they did with their work on the “Guitar Hero” and “Rock Band” franchises.

Closing out the event was a gameplay demo for the already announced “Call of Duty: Black Ops II”. The game’s presentation had a very familiar blockbuster action movie feel to it, much like the games in the past. The demo did show off some of the exciting new decision making features the game will sport. In the specific mission shown, the player was attempting to protect the president and escort her safely. On the edge of a blown out highway bridge, the player had the choice to rappel down with your group to do work from the ground or stay up top and snipe while your team moves the President below. The demo also showed off a few futuristic weapons, the use of support drones, and a nice section of vehicular combat. “Call of Duty: Black Ops II” will launch on Sept. 13, 2012.

Anthony Ortale writes news and reviews on behalf of Examiner.com. He does so much gaming in his spare time, it’s practically a full time job! If you like what you read here, please subscribe to his articles! You can also follow Tony on Twitter, or become a fan on Facebook! If you ever have any questions, comments, or concerns, feel free to email Tony any time at ortale.anthony@gmail.com, he would love to hear from you

[03.24.12] Get to know your gamers - Alex Bogh

Microsoft

For this week’s Get To Know Your Gamers, I reached out to a longtime friend of mine. We’ve known each other since grade school days and we still play video games together to this day. Besides being a great friend, he’s also a fantastic singing partner. If you think he’s talented at Halo, you should hear those pipes he’s got on him! Soak up everything you can from this article, because he’s probably going to be a famous singer in the near future. Then you can brag to your friends about how you knew about this kid before he was world-famous, and maybe even impress them by knowing what his favorite game is!

You might actually recognize him already if you find yourself frequenting the Iowa State Fair, because he’s sung there multiple times. You may have even seen him perform elsewhere. Until now, though, you probably never knew about his gaming si-

Wait, wait, wait… this all sounds very familiar doesn’t it…? That’s because you’ve already read this intro. Don’t worry though, you’re not seeing double. Well, ok actually you are, just not with the article. It’s all new this week, but the reason it sounds so familiar is that this week’s interviewee is last week’s brother; and together with their sister, they’re triplets. So yes, they may look very similar but as you read on you’ll see they’re very different. It’s fascinating to see how two people with the same roots and similar talents in real life take such different branches when it comes to video games; but don’t take my word for it. If you’d like a refresher on Adam Bogh’s interview, you can read up on it here; but for those of you who still have a vibrant memory of everything, here is his brother, Mr. Alex Bogh.

Tell us a little bit about yourself. Where are you from, what do you like to do (besides play video games)?

I am from Coralville, Iowa. Besides video games, I enjoy designing, drawing, playing piano, playing basketball, and watching football. After graduating from Luther College this spring, I plan on moving to the Chicago area and working as a designer.

What got you into gaming and what was your first console or game?

My first console was the NES, along with my first game "Super Mario Bros.". I would say the first game that really got me into gaming on a regular basis was "Super Mario World" on the SNES.

Some people won’t play a game if the graphics are bad. Do graphics have that big of an impact for you?

I defiantly play some games for beautiful graphics, but bad graphics don't necessarily mean I won't play a game. Sometimes a really great game needs to sacrifice some graphic quality to have a better all-around experience, like faster load times or better performance. I think most companies have the ability to make the game look as lifelike as possible, but choose to better the playability of the game.

What do you look for in game / what makes a game ‘fun’ to you?

Along with long lasting playability, I look for a story that I can immerse myself in completely. The games I have the most fun with are games I can play with my friends, like any of the top FPS titles. However, when playing single player, I really enjoy RPG’s like Red Dead Redemption or Skyrim. Both of those games are good examples of a story you can really get lost in.

Do you consider yourself a ‘casual’ or ‘hardcore gamer?

I would call myself a casual gamer. That doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy challenging myself or that I’m not competitive. I just don’t put in the time like some gamers do. However, when it comes to any of the Halo’s or Super Smash Brothers, I geek out and study pro matches and train like a pro gamer. So my “hardcore” side shows every once in a while.

Do you prefer a solo experience or a co-op / multiplayer experience?

If my friends are online, I prefer a multiplayer game where we can all participate at the same time (depending on how big the party is). More than often now, I am not online at the same time as my friends, so I enjoy putting on some good music and blasting through a campaign. As I said before, I also really enjoy a good story that I can get lost in; like you’re playing through a movie. If I can do this with friends, even better.

What are you playing right now?

Right now I am playing through Borderlands again, because I’m getting so excited for Borderlands 2. I also waste many hours of my life playing Super Smash Brothers Brawl, a series I have loved since the first one on the N64.

What is the worst game you’ve ever played?

I have to say I was pretty disappointed with Call of Duty: Black Ops. It’s not because it was poorly made, but because I felt it played so different from any other CoD game. The only thing I enjoyed about the CoD’s made by Treyarch were the Nazi Zombies, and even the WaW Nazi zombies were better than the Black Ops.

What do you consider to be the best game ever?

The best game ever made is Red Dead Redemption. It was masterfully done by Rockstar. It was a great story with a good mix of drama and humor. Although the game was a lot of fun to play, I found that the reason I wanted to play the most was to be in the story and act out my role as a cowboy, and exploring my way across this huge landscape. Also, the soundtrack was fantastic as well.

What is your favorite game console/handheld of all time?

My favorite console has to be the Super Nintendo, as it was my first love. I have fond memories as a kid playing Mortal Kombat and Super Mario World with my brother.

What are some games you’re looking forward to?

I really can’t wait for Borderlands 2, since the first Borderlands was so well done and a blast to play. And of course, being a long time Halo guy, the idea of a new studio (343) doing another Halo is interesting.

What game would you like to see get a sequel that likely won’t happen?

I’m going to kick it old school and say “The Simpsons Hit’ n Run” deserves another game. I loved the “Crazy Taxi” play mixed with the Simpsons world (one of my favorite shows, although the new ones are awful). Even “The Simpsons Road Rage” was a great game, and I think deserves another title. Grand Theft Auto + Simpsons = awesome.

Random Thought?

I stick to the Xbox 360. However, if the Halo’s were on the PS3, and I could use an Xbox controller, I would switch to the Playstation Network right away, mostly because you don’t have to pay money for online play if you don’t want to.

[11.07.11] 'Modern Warfare 3' stolen in armed robbery

One of the biggest titles of the decade comes out at midnight tonight, but that hasn’t stopped people from trying to get it early. Earlier this week, K-Mart let many copies slip out their door thanks to a shipment error, and it’s likely a few other copies have been quietly sold at mom and pop stores around the country. The question is though, just how far would you go to get your hands on a copy before its release date? Did you cruise to K-Mart when the news broke? Did you think about bribing the employee of the local game store? Would you go so far as to take someone at knifepoint to get a copy? Well surprisingly enough, two men in France did this past weekend.

In something straight out of an action movie, two men rammed their car into a van carrying approximately 6,000 copies of MW3. They sprayed the drivers with tear gas and then stole the van and its contents worth an estimated $550,000. Reports also mentioned that the two men were armed with knives, however if never stated if the victims were injured. There were also reports of a similar robbery taking place later where three men used their van to block the road before commandeering a vehicle with a shipment of equal value. If armed robberies aren’t really your thing though, you could always just bid on a copy on eBay, but if you go for one of the leaked K-mart copies, it could cost you upwards of $1,700!