Weirdest video game news over the weekend

This looks like it would be one of the most awkward things to be involved in.

Andy Garcia (the movie star) was in Japan and his son likes the Sonic the Hedgehog games so Andy got in his stretched SUV limo and visited SEGA to I guess take a look at their new Sonic game. I wish there was a transcript of what everyone said because I imagine it's a lot of awkward pauses and him saying "Oh that's neat".

http://kotaku.com/5459461/about-the-time-andy-garcia-visited-segas-sonic-team

Best videos

There are so many awesome game videos out there. Maybe I'll make this a weekly or bi-weekly thing where I find a bunch of cool ones and post them in a list. Here they are:






EMBED-The Most Amazing MW2 Knife Kill - Watch more free videos

Mass Effect 2: First thoughts

I picked up Mass Effect 2 on Tuesday and have had a chance to play it for about 5 hours or so and while it's still super early in the game, I have to admit that I'm not exactly blown away.

For the most part it's fun and the story is interesting however it doesn't really feel like it's diverging from the standard RPG formula enough. Just like in the first one you spend a good chunk of your time searching the galaxy for new party members to join your squad until you're ready to face the final "bad guy". This wouldn't be such a huge hassle but it just seems awfully familiar to Bioware's last game Dragon Age, which was essentially the exact same except it took place in a fantasy setting. It's not that I dislike that specific Bioware formula because it's still kind of fun, it's just that it's so predictable.



On the plus side there is some great dialogue and just like in the first one, you can be a nice guy and say the right thing, or be a prick and play it Jack Bauer style, which is what I do. I play by my own rules but I get the job done! The gameplay is also pretty solid with good shooting mechanics and level pacing. The only gameplay problem I've had on occasion is that the run button is also the "stick into cover button" so if some bad guy is up in your face and you try to run away (ahem) you might hypothetically press A to run but end up taking cover and getting sliced up by the bad guy.

Overall I'm still excited to get deeper into the game and see how the story develops. All of the super positive reviews can't be wrong so I'm sure things will get much better really soon.

Dream job

Sony's recent PlayStation 3 ad campaign has had a lot of great tv spots but I think this is my favourite, mostly because I wish that job existed.

But I just want to play a game!

Every year video games are becoming more advanced as higher budgets and one-ups-man-ship is delivering new game experiences that I never thought I'd see. This year, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, is a great example of what video games should be like. It has a great story, fun gameplay, terrific voice acting and beautiful visuals. Video game reviewers and critics from around the world are heralding it as the game that is bridging the gap between film and video games because it has so many similarities to film. Another example is Mass Effect 2, due out tomorrow, which reviewers are saying is the Avatar of video games and is again blurring the line between video games and movies.

The entire evolution of video games has been to look more realistic (or "beautiful"), to engage players with real story lines and to create an immersive experience that sucks the player into that world. For some reason, video game developers are resigning themselves to simply being in the shadow of films. They are striving to be considered equals of the Avatars or the Dark Knights and in doing this are creating games that are becoming more movie than game. I actually loved Uncharted 2 and am incredibly excited about Mass Effect 2, however I'm not so sure if I'm all that happy with this shift away from gameplay and toward simply watching.

Video game developers should realize that they do not need to be in the shadow of the movie industry when games like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2's first week sales are outselling most movies' entire box office numbers.

I don't know what this really means for video games in the next few years however I hope the trend to emulate the big screen slows down in the near future. If I want to watch a movie then I'll do just that. If I want to play a game, then just let me play a game.