Tentative Halo Reach Cook Off

An announcement has just been posted on the "Cook Off's" page! Head on over for the details!

Ghost Recon: Future Soldier Beta Review - Worst Beta Ever!

Hopefully the title of this review gives away that I’m seriously considering not playing the final version of Ghost Recon: Future Soldier’s multiplayer mode. I know it’s in Beta phase right now, and that many of the issues I’m having with the multiplayer are probably going to be fixed, but there is a lot wrong with this beta.

Introducing Matt: News Correspondent and Editorial Contributor

First I would like to thank Mike and Ryan for the opportunity to be part of this blog. I am thrilled about being a part of the Gaming Cuisine team.

So let me get down to introducing myself and how I came to be a gamer. My name is Matt Taney and I was born in Utah, but was raised in California. During my service in the U.S. Navy I lived in a few places around this great country including Mississippi, Illinois, and Washington DC.

My start with video games was way back with the Atari 2600. Although I was too young to really appreciate games as I do now, I do look back at playing games such as Asteroids and Missile Command with fondness. It wasn’t until later, when my friend Mike Grapes introduced me to the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), and the Christmas of that year I received my first game system, that is really when I started down the path of being a gamer.

Halo 4 Multiplayer updates

Recently 343 Industries shed some light on Halo 4's multiplayer! Check out the details below!


The 343 team said that it looked extensively at what previous Halo games did in terms of how weapons spawned in multiplayer matches, but the goal was to put it in the context of Infinity (one of Halo's multiplayer features) and make it simultaneously accessible for new players and engaging for series veterans. Interestingly, the team knew right away that it had to stick to the initial weapon spawns found in previous Halo multiplayer iterations so that the opening to a match could be controlled in some manner, particularly in team games. Without those initial weapon spawns, players had the tendency to rush the center of the map, which in turn would mess with the flow.

Scarygirl: Where Burton Meets Schafer

The classic, yet touching, tale of an abandoned girl taken in
by a giant, nearly extinct, octopus. 

Scarygirl
PS3, Xbox 360, PC

Developed by Tikgames and published by Square Enix, Scarygirl is something else. Scarygirl is an old-school styled action-platform game, with graphics and storyline based on Nathan Jurevicius's comic and figures of the same name. Playing as a little girl with a tentacle arm and a hook, and dressed "stylishly" by Blister, her octopus guardian, Scarygirl feels like a mashup meeting of Tim Burton and Tim Schafer. And that's far from a bad thing. 

Mass Effect Series Review: Part II

Mass Effect was an awesome game, but Mass Effect 2 improved on it in just about everything, including better graphics, A.I., story, gameplay, weapons, character development, and sound effects. The intro to ME2 took my breath away, and was a very unique way of starting the game. In the introduction, Shepherd ends up working for Cerberus, an organization run by a person who goes only by the name of “The Illusive Man”. In Mass Effect Cerberus is described as a pro-human organization that runs some pretty brutal tests on aliens, some even consider it a terrorist organization. In the beginning Cerberus helps Shepherd out, and asks him to help them stop an alien race known as the “Collectors”. Because the Citadel counsel and the Alliance are doing nothing to stop human planets from being attacked by the Collectors Shepherd is left with no choice but to side with Cerberus. Eventually Shepherd discovers the Collectors are working with the Reapers, giving him even more motive to put a stop to whatever the Collectors are up to.

Thursday on Friday!

A teaser of things to come.

 Due to extenuating circumstances Mike and I are off schedule again. As soon as Mike has an internet connection, IE Friday, he'll have his second article on the Mass Effect series posted. Also expect a weekend post reviewing the recently released Scary Girl, as well as some updates. Thanks for checking in, and keep on gaming,

-Ryan

Mass Effect 3 Series Review Part I

Before I begin, I’d like to thank you for your patience. This has been an incredible journey, and I now have a great appreciation for the Role Playing Game (RPG) genre because of it. Now ladies and gentlemen, my series review.

Several months ago a couple of my friends were talking to me about Mass Effect. At the time I was anticipating The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, so I wanted to play an RPG that give me an idea of what the genre is all about. My friend Nick spoke very highly of Mass Effect, and let me borrow the first game. The graphics were very good for a game released in 2007. The gameplay was a little rough, and the controls took me a while to get use to, but all in all, I was very impressed. Then I arrived at the citadel, and everything changed. I was in awe with the size of the citadel, and how detailed it was; but it may have been too much for me at that time. I’m what you might call a "distracted" gamer. I will start out with the main quest, and then get side tracked with each and every side quest that I stumble upon. It’s like the domino effect; I want to complete a quest for someone, and then another quest spawns from that; then in trying to complete my new found quest, I would meet more people, and discover that they needed help too. Eventually, I was overwhelmed. Even though I could start and stop quests whenever I pleased, I was still exhausted with how much could be done. Another thing I didn't have an appreciation for was conversation. I wanted to get straight to the point, and get through the game. In the end I put ME down, and played other games.

MW3 Tournament Update

We have an update in regards to the Modern Warfare tournament this weekend, as it pertains to those who are under 17 years of age. If you are under 17 years of age, please bring a parent to the tournament so that they may show their consent to play in the tournament. Once they have approved your participation, then they may leave if they choose to do so. We hope to see as many people competing as possible! So sign up now by e-mailing us your name and birth date to gamingcuisine@gmail.com!

Sentimentality Versus State-of-the-Art: You Can Go Retro, But You Can't Go Back Home

Well, you actually can go home again, it's just that it's a long walk, and I'm lazy. 

A friend of mine recently invited me to join him and another friend for a night of retro gaming. He had retro systems and emulators (legal of course) set up, and the three of us spent the night replaying old favorites, and uncovering gems that one or another of us never had the chance to play as kids. Seeing some of my childhood favorites flash across a big screen, and getting the chance to play or try titles I haven't played or owned in years, if ever, was a blast, but also an eye opener. As I was going back through games I used to think were classic, or just amazing, I noticed that I didn't enjoy them as much as I once did, or in some cases I didn't enjoy them at all. Giving test runs of former favorites I found myself wondering "what did I see in this game? It's absolutely terrible!" The more I thought on it throughout the week, the more I thought of Thomas Wolfe's famous words "You can't go back home..." While this phrase can take on a lot of meanings, I think it's Wolfe's own words that sum it up best, "You can't go back home to ... your childhood ... back home to the old forms and systems of things which once seemed everlasting but which are changing all the time – back home to the escapes of Time and Memory."

Announcing the Cook Offs Page

Hey all! We now have a "Cook Offs" page where you can check for updates on our latest tournaments, and the schedule of when we plan on hosting them. You can also sign up from this page. So in the future, please click on the "Cook Off's" page for any and all tournament information. We hope this becomes very successful, and have some incredible plans for it in the future if it is. It all depends on you, the gamer!

Until next time, keep on gamin' on!

Announcement

On Friday, March 30, 2012, Game Insider released their latest issue of "Game Insider Magazine". I wanted to let you all know that this magazine is enticing, unique, digital, and I highly recommend heading over to their site to subscirbe to it! I am also pleased to announce that I will be writing an article as a guest writer for each issue that is released. These will be articles that you can only read in their magazine, so if you want to read those articles, you'll have to subscribe to the magazine! In this issue of "Game Insider Magazine", I wrote about Assassin's Creed, and where I think the series is headed. Weather you have been a serious Assassin's Creed fan or not, I think you will find my theory very interesting! Visit Game Insider now to subscribe!

Xbox 720 Coming Holiday 2013

This concept image can only mean one thing.... The next Xbox is going to be an interactive spaceship!!!

Well, it's official. The Xbox 720 will have Blu-ray, two GPUs (Basically two computers working together), four to six cores, and will require an always-on-Internet connection as an anti piracy measure. VG247 has all of the details, but I must say that I am pretty excited! One thing that has me concerned is that the 720 will have to be connected to the Internet to function, which leads me to believe the rumors of the console not having a disc drive are true. This could mean that it would not be backward compatible with the 360.

A Wizard, a Thief and a Knight: Trine 2... and other news

It's a pretty, pretty game.

Before we jump into the review I'd like to take a second and make a quick and exciting announcement. Beginning in May, 2012, Mike and I will be starting a regular podcast here on Gaming Cuisine. Tentatively it will be called "The Gaming Cuisine Podcast", original and exciting, I know, but may have a change in name soon. In the podcast we'll discuss games and gaming, as well as interview guests, talk about the industry, game related media (read: movies, comics, books, etc.) and generally have a good time. Keep an eye out for it. We'll also be introducing a new contributor soon, and hosting of tournaments will be finding a more regular schedule. That last bit is really great news for those in Northern Utah.

Without further delay, on to the review!

Trine 2

PC, PS3, Xbox 360

Before I say anything else I have to state that Trine 2 is one of the prettiest looking games I've ever played. From the title screen to the storybook style loading pages, Trine 2 is simply beautiful. Developer Frozenbyte clearly took their time developing the games look, and it shows. Telling you the graphics are pretty doesn't tell you what T2 is though. Trine 2 is a side-scrolling action/platform game with lots of puzzle elements found in each level. What sets T2 apart from the many other games in this genre is the ability to switch between three characters on the fly. Playing as a wizard, a thief and/or a knight, each character has unique abilities and characteristics that can be used to get through each area. The wizard, Amadeus, can levitate objects, and create magic boxes, which can be used as platforms. The thief, Zoya, has a bow and arrows for ranged attacks, and a grappling hook which can be used to climb to hard to reach places. The knight, Pontius, has a strong close range attack, can bust certain objects and has a shield which he can deflect objects with. A pretty straight forward and standard setup for a fantasy based action game.