Despite all the time spent reading CSS, Windows networking, and Eckhart Tolle books I've still managed to squeeze in some video gaming here and there. When the Battlefield Heroes servers came down for maintenance recently however, my routine was interrupted and I had to find something else to enjoy. Along came X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and I was relieved.
It's good to see Raven Software's kept their standards of quality consistent over the years, and Wolverine does not fail to deliver in the quality department. Thanks to the action-paced gameplay, you really get a feel for what being Wolverine could be like, and holy shit is it awesome (most of the time).
Continue reading "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" »
"There's nothing I love more than not having to work to add content to my own site, so today is just as much a treat for me as I hope it is for you. Enlightening us about some of gaming history's most depressing hardware flops is Gamal, fortytwopoints newest contributor, so please welcome him to the party. Let us weep together about what may have been and hopefully we will be inspired to do it better ourselves in the future. -Unfather"
>O<>O<
Since the late 70’s, gamers all over the world have had their own specific wish lists of what they wanted in a console. From how their dream console should have looked and what features that console should have had. It’s natural to dream up the ideal piece of technology that could cover one’s own specific needs and very often, those needs show up when there is a particular disadvantage in one or all of the consoles that have already been released. Who the hell would want a PS2 when you could have had a PS3?
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The Phantom, by Phantom Entertainment
Expected Cost:
Never officially announced but just to make ends meet, they'd have to charge $700 for the console
Why was it awesome?
Continue reading ""5 Awesome Video Game Consoles That Never Made it to Market" by Gamal" »

I don't know how it happened, but some where in my gaming career I became a massive fan of aerial combat games. The first
Ace Combat is probably what won me over but it's still a surprise whenever I consider it. I mean, I
loathed Top Gun the movie
and the game before I ever even knew what that word meant, and frankly, my poor opinion of the license stands after having given it additional opportunities to prove itself. And have you played the theme song in
Guitar Hero III yet? If repeating the same 5 goddamned irritating chords in an irritating pattern doesn't make you want to smash someone's expensive HDTV with a plastic instrument, I don't know what will.
But discussing popular culture in the gay community is not what this site is about, so I apologize for digressing.
Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X. by
Ubisoft's Romanian division is the newest flight combat title to grace our respective consoles and I have got to say that, by the demo, it's pretty damned good. Here's some gameplay footage I shot myself so that you may consider it without all the bullshit quick-cutting marketing departments like to use:
Continue reading "Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X. may be Rightful Heir to Ace Combat's Abandoned Throne" »
Rockstar will remind us where the Grand Theft Auto franchise came from next month with their brand new Nintendo DS exclusive GTA: Chinatown Wars, and the best part is, they're bringing some great new stuff to the series in the process.
Set in Liberty City once again you play the role of a young man who's father has just been murdered. As you set off to deliver some prized family heirlooms to your uncle, you are attacked and they are stolen by the same Triads who murdered your kin. Driven to take back what's yours and to avenge your father's fate in the process, you set off to make things right once again.
Many seem want to forget it sometimes, but the first two GTA games were exclusively top-down affairs (if no less controversial), and some may even remember the occasionally pinball-like nature of the scoring system. Though the later does not return, the former does, and you control young Huang Lee (the protagonist) from the sky once again, this time with the debatable benefit of cel-shaded graphics. Much of the action is still true to the nature of the series in that you'll be beating down defenseless prostitutes and skidding over crippled pedestrians to your heart's content, but there are some key changes meant to breathe new life into the series and that should be noted.
Continue reading "GTA: Chinatown Wars Brings the Franchise Back to its Roots" »

For the last ten days now The Escapist has been running a feature on independent developers called the Indie Developers Showcase. The creators of World of Goo and Samorost have both been interviewed and the insight they and others have provided into their games and the industry as a whole is enlightening and entertaining. You can catch up on what you've missed here:
Indie Developer Showcase
To wrap the whole thing up the final question they asked of all their interviewees was to create a game concept based on a simple premise: "You are a passenger on an airplane." The answers range from the humorous to the mundane and even get into "I hope that was an attempt at humor" territory a bit (World of Goo creator suggests making a match-3 game out of it, to which I reacted by spitting). Here are a couple of my personal favorites:
Continue reading "Escapist's Indie Developers Showcase Finale = Wacky Game Concepts" »
"Today it is my great honor to introduce fortytwopoints.com's first contributor. He has written us a great piece about the current state of innovation in the game industry and I hope to share more of his work in the future. Without further ado, please welcome TidalSpiral, and enjoy the read. -Unfather"
>O<>O<
In a world consumed by commercial interests and failing economics, it's not hard to understand why certain games are primed for the spotlight and others are left to devise their own means for success. Gears of War will not ever have to fight for air time in the market - it's got an extensive company behind it, virtually unlimited funds, and to a lesser effect, a massive fan base that demands everything to do with it be revealed to them as soon as possible. This satisfies the latest generation of gamers who are more familiar with these relatively new franchises than the ones that paved the way for them.
To many veteran gamers however, the path we're on is leading to a worsening environment that jeopardizes the quality of all titles. Gameplay innovation has slowed drastically, cliches are ever present, and story writing has been left behind in favor of graphical enhancements. For all the exciting games that allow you to shoot hundreds of terrorists or watch the dramatic explosion of a space ship, there have been scant few titles to inspire deeper thought and push the envelope of artistic power in the gaming community.
Continue reading ""Devolving Innovation: Inspiration in the Industry" by TidalSpiral" »