In this edition of TUGS, we are going to look at the new components that I will be adding.

CPU: Intel Core i7 2600k 

The Core i7 2600k (along with its little brother, the core i5 2500k) is one of the hottest processors on the market right now. This bad boy has everything you need and more. Hyperthreading? Unlocked multiplyer? Raw power? It’s all here in spades. SPADES. AMD has 6 and 8 core processors on the market and the core i7 2600k leaves them in the dust.

As a huge fan of Resident Evil, since my first introduction to the original title back in 1996, I’ve followed the whole series and played almost every version of the game, including the Gun Survivor entry. I have loved this series in every type of incarnation. Yes, I even enjoy the movies. And without going into the whole discussion about games and their often times terrible big screen counterparts, I’ll just say the diverting direction of the movie story line was something easy to go with. They kept the same basic things from the games, but added their own twists.

I have also enjoyed the direction and gradual evolution of the games. Now there are a lot of fans that be-moan the series’ more action oriented direction, but really where can they go? We are still playing the same characters. Just like any battle hardened soldier, the more you see the less you jump in fear, which leads to more of just taking care of business. Fans complain about the loss of the fixed cameras, yet we all know we would complain endlessly if they were still there. If you really think about it, many of these changes are not that surprising for a franchise that as been around for almost twenty year now. Which brings us to today, the beginning of 2012. We have no less than five Resident Evil related properties coming out this year.

• Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City (PC/PS3/360)
• Resident Evil 6 (PC/PS3/360)
• Resident Evil: Revelations (3DS)
• Resident Evil: Retribution (live-action film)
• Resident Evil: Damnation (computer-generate film)

That’s right, five properties coming up in twenty-twelve: three games, a live-action movie, and a computer generated movie. Yes, certainly something for the Resident Evil fans to look forward to. And although such a influx of content will undoubtedly have the fans smiling from ear to ear, over-saturation is a concern. Is it just too much? Having so much come out so soon definitely has the potential to leave a sour taste in ones mouth.  Are we so quickly bored with our games now that we need the next one so soon, or are these games differentiated enough that they each have a chance of success in their own right. Let’s take a look.

Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City, and presumably Resident Evil 6, both have online elements, with rumblings of it being a very important component in Operation Raccoon City. Will these undercut each other? If your a budget gamer by necessity, how  do you go about picking which one to get? Do you go for content, story continuation, or game play? So many things to consider. If you have a Nintendo 3DS, as well as a Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 that’s three games in one year to look at, in the same series with a pretty hefty line-up of other titles for each system this year as well.

The decision to see the live-action movie is not so bad. Like me, you will probably go to your theater’s cheap day, or hit the cheaper matinee. As for the computer generated movie, judging from my previous enjoyment of Degeneration in all its 1080P glory, it will most likely be a buy for me.

I don’t know about you but my belt budget is pretty tight. Like most of you have probably had to do, I have had to cut extra holes in the belt to hold my financial pants up. One of these I will be missing out on, as my fanboyism of the series no longer is so feverish as to make me by a new system. So Resident Evil: Revelations, I will most likely miss out o, unless borrowing it from a friend is an option.

With so much of a franchise that I love coming out, and most likely not enough money to enjoy it all, how do I choose what to experience? Or if I even have the money to experience it all, is it too much in such a short a time span? How would we react to say that many Street Fighter, or Call of Duty titles coming out in one year? What do you think?

If you didn’t get the idea from the graphic, I plan to build a (somewhat) reasonably priced system that will run with the best of them. I plan to upgrade this box into a top-of-the-line system for less than $1,500. Part 1 is a Rundown of my old system (so we can see what we need to upgrade):

Case: Chieftec Dragon Case
 

Description: This case is roomy, sturdy, and has lasted 10 years.

Upgrade? No

Power Supply: Corsair CMPSU-650TX 650-Watt TX Series 80 Plus Certified Power Supply

Description: This PSU isn’t even breaking a sweat on my current setup.

Upgrade? No

CPU: AMD Athlon II X4 630 95W AM3 2MB 2800MHz
 

Description: I bought this CPU nearly two years ago. It was my first quad-core and has served me well. However, As AMD adds more cores to their CPUs Intel continues to increase performance using only four. I’m going to definitely be looking into building my first intel system this go-around.

Upgrade? Yes

Memory: Kingston HyperX 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 Desktop Memory

Description: DDR2 ram has served me well, but DDR3 is faster and a heck of a lot cheaper. I live in constant fear of DDR3 prices rising!

Upgrade? YES

Motherboard: MSI 790XT-G45

Video Card: ATI Radeon HD 5770 1 GB Ram

Description: for 100 bucks this card is amazing, but we are definitely going to be upgrading this bad boy.

Set in 2069, Syndicate takes players into a dark, Machiavellian world run without government oversight with many syndicates vying for total dominance of their local market place. With no one to question their intentions or actions, three mega corporations – Eurocorp, Cayman Global, and Aspari – are at the forefront of this brutal war for control of the pivotal American market. In the world of Syndicate, everything is digitally connected, including the people. Players aren’t limited to the weapons in their hands. Through DART 6 bio-chip technology implanted in their head, players can slow down time and breach the digital world around them to take down their foes using a variety of upgradable hacking mechanics. Syndicate’s blend of fast-paced, futuristic, action shooter settings and story combined with innovative chip breach gameplay instantly immerses players in a unique digital world.

“Our goal with Syndicate is to provide a challenging action shooter for today’s gamers as well as fans of the original. I’m sure they will enjoy and recognize the legacy that made it such a classic,” says Jeff Gamon, EA Partners Executive Producer. “Fans of the franchise will recognize many weapons and environments in the game, but in a whole new way. The game also provides a separate and deep 4-player co-op mode featuring missions from the original cult classic, which adds another layer of depth to the overall experience.”

Syndicate will be available in early 2012 for the PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system, Xbox 360® videogame and entertainment system and the PC. For more information on Syndicate, please visit www.syndicate.ea.com.

Developed by Incognito Entertainment for the PS3, StarHawk is the successor to the PS3 game WarHawk. Warhawk was a semi remake/re-imagining of the original WarHawk PS1 launch title. The original WarHawk was a 3rd person flight game that pitted the player against an invading alien onslaught all by their lonesome. It was revolutionary for it’s time as were most PS1 launch titles.

The remake of Warhawk on PS3 was quite a bit different. Out was the single player mode. Incognito felt it just didn’t hold up to the multi-player section so they just straight dropped it. WarHawk still kept the 3rd person perspective, but added new things. You could run around as a trooper, drive a armored jeep, or hop into a Hawk and battle it out in the sky. If you’ve missed out on WarHawk…for shame. It still has a very large fanbase, and online community even after more than 4 years on shelves.

StarHawk is a in spiritual successor to Warhawk, and it adds some new things to the mix. First up is now you can build structures. Anyone can do so at any time within their team’s green zones, provided you have enough building blocks. You can build walls, auto turrets, jeep garages, jetpack hangers, Hawk platforms, sniping towers, armouries, large anti vehicle weapons, and an energy shield generator. Whew…that’s a lot, but in the BETA there are still two structures in the construct wheel that are blank, so expect that list to grow.

The great thing about building the different structures is that anyone on the team can use them. If you build a Hawk platform for instance, anyone can get a Hawk. All they need is two construct blocks and away you go. Also, the Hawks are done a bit different. Taking a Robotech-esq approach, the Hawks can be in one of two modes, the aerial vehicle mode or a bi-pedal ground mode. Which makes for some interesting tactics in capture the flag games.

In the BETA are just two maps and two gameplay modes. The modes you have are capture the flag and team deathmatch. As for the maps you get, they are two very different types. You have Acid Sea, an industrial island that is literally surrounded by a ocean of acid, and a Space Platform stage that gives great opportunities for aerial fun. For the buildings and spawning, you get drop pods. On the Respawn screen you get a top down view of the map and can choose where to spawn, then you rocket down to the map.

After selecting your construct you get a ghost outline of the structure that when it is green means you can build it right there. Then all you have to do is stand still, look up and you can see it coming down from the dropship to you. Spawning both yourself and your constructs can be used to kill enemy team players which is really satisfying when you pull it off.

I’ve played several BETA’s over the years, but in my opinion this one has changed the most while I played. Every day there seems to be a latest version to update to with generally no less than 4 major tweaks and changes that have been implemented due to player input. Everything from Hawk mobility, to jetpack durability. Most of the BETA’s I’ve played would generally let you play, give input, and add tweaks to the final product. So this BETA has been a huge breath of fresh air.

Final Judgement: If your a Plus member check this BETA out. If not there has been talk about a more open BETA soon, and if so then you definitely need to check this out.

Its not the traditional “my arm turns into a blaster” Megaman or even the extremely popular spin off characters Megaman X, or Zero, its the Megaman found on the original box art for the original game. Yeah, this guy!

Clearly the box art dept had a different idea of what a "Mega" man actually was.

This character looks nothing like Megaman and instead of a blaster in-hand he carries an effin’ gun! Its a series that’s known for its terrible box art, but to bring attention to something so obsure and so bad without qualifying it with an adjective or something, almost proves that Capcom is throwing Megaman under a bus.

Its for certain that Megaman fans will cry foul…they always do, but its very unlikely that Capcom will change anything. The fan outpouring against the cancellation of Megaman Legends 3 hasn’t yielded any success. No games are currently announced for the series and its numerous spin offs are all dead in the water.

...and why the hell is he fat?

Creator of the series Kenji Inafune is no longer with Capcom and the most recent releases were the delightfully retro titles Megaman 9 and 10. Megaman isn’t even getting any love from other Capcom games. Secondary character Zero was included in both Marvel Vs Capcom 3 and Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom with the later also having MegaMan Volnutt (whoever that is). Despite being an overwhelming fan-favorite, he wasn’t added to the re-releases of either game.

In 2010 a Megaman MMO was announced, for it to be cancelled only a year later. What is to blame for Capcom’s cold shoulder towards one of their biggest franchises? Did Inafune piss someone off when he left? Was he the only one championing the name? Have they lost faith in the character? Coming off a decade that saw about 30 or so Megaman games, its surprising to hear nothing but unfortunate news coming out about the Man de la Mega.

Despite Capcom basically saying "Hey you guys, you definitely don't want to play this...it sucks." fans are still clamoring for its release.

The fans are there. Capcom’s major names, Resident Evil, Street Fighter and Megaman all have fervent fan bases. RE and SF fans are getting their itches scratched every 6 months or so, it seems like Dead Rising has replaced Megaman in Capcom’s release calendar.

Here’s an idea, license Megaman out to an American developer, and let them have creative control. Reboot Megaman and bring him into the 21st century properly. Sure, the reboot of Bionic Commando didn’t go so well, but what did they really expect out of Grin? There are dozens of teams that would be honored to reintroduce Megaman to the world. It couldn’t possibly be any worse than what he’s going through right now. I mean com on! this is getting embarrassing.

So I picked up this game at Gamestop for about ten dollars –brand new– out the bargain bin a while back. For obvious reasons, GameStop just wants to get this product out of the store. And for all the horrible reviews Duke Nukem Forever has received, I had to see for myself if such overwhelmingly negative reviews were justified. Brace yourself.

The gameplay mechanics are OLD AND SERIOUSLY OUTDATED. Currently, gameplay mechanics are measured by such games as Halo or Call of Duty, and if a game doesn’t play anything like these games, you can almost certainly know it will be automatically received as being bad. This game plays like all the first person shooters that came out when this game should have come out, about eleven to thirteen years ago. Game intensity and difficulty ranges from calm and relaxing to ‘I want to pull my hair out’. As far as controls go, by today’s standards the controls are clunky at best. Don’t get me wrong, they are responsive, but nothing like what we have become accustomed to. There is no snap feature when it comes to locking onto a target, and no lock-on system whatsoever, with the exception of the rocket propelled grenade launcher, but then you have to manually keep the rectal on the target for a few seconds to get the lock. The multiplayer system suffers from the same outdated-ness. Multiplayer matches are limited to four-on-four no matter what mode you are playing.

The narrative of Duke Nukem Forever hurts the game a lot, but this could partly be due to the game going through several development teams. But honestly, it’s a Duke Nukem game and none of them have been known for their stories. When Duke was first introduced he was a parody of every seventy’s and eighty’s action hero. He’s muscled, kicks-ass, crude, and spouts a crap-ton of one liners. The game is filled with lots of moments of plain silliness.  For instance, on one stage Duke does nothing but go through his strip club finding items to get a lap-dance in a dream sequence. There are moments when it seems your going to have non-player character help, but these are basically cannon fodder and die almost as soon as any action picks up.

There are several places where the gameplay takes a change. A turret sequence, some vehicle driving, and a few places where Duke gets shrunk down and has to do some platforming to get around. The weapons are typical Duke. With many Duke mainstays like the trusty pistol, shotgun, RPG, and devestator, with the added weapons of a Shrink ray, and a freeze ray. You also get two types of throw-ables, the pipe bomb that you throw and then detonate with a car clicker, and a trip mine you can set onto any surface. The bosses are set to where only explosives can kill them so these, along with the explosive weapons are your only means to win.

Once you beat the game on normal you unlock the cheat extras. Which include Big Head, God Mode, Infinite Ammo, and more. Yet like all other games they disable trophy acquisition. Which may or may not matter as for the most part the replay value of the single player is a bit lacking on the whole.

For the multiplayer you have the normal game modes with some twists. Death-match and team death-match are called Duke Match and Team Duke Match. The capture the flag is Capture the Babe, which does have some interesting twists. You of course pick up the enemies Babe, but you lose the ability to use any of your weapons. You must instead use the single shot garter pistol the Babe has on her. She will make it hard for you as well by placing her hand in front of your face, but you can just press the button to spank her ass and she will move it away. The garter pistol is a one shot kill which is nice, but it has slow reload, and the lost of the snap feature does mean you have to use more skill. Your domination match is Hail to the King, where you must take the control points and do a Hail to the King while in the point.

You get quite a bit of customization as you progress through the multi-player. You get different hats, eyeware, and shirt logos to outfit Duke. Also added is the My Digs, that has furniture, games, and babes to unlock as you level up. Which makes wanting to progress through the multi-player a bit more intriguing as you get the ability to ogle the babes.  The maps are interesting. You get simple ones, and some that are really cluttered. Duke Burger map has all of you shrunk and running around the Duke Burger kitchen. It’s a very fun map, in that you have several ways to trap and kill other players with environmental hazards like the microwave, and dishwasher.

Unfortunately the main problem with the maps are the weapon placements. Some are hard to get to, and are set to where you can be a very easy target. Which can make it very frustrating to get the things you need to rack up your points, unless your the guy that gets them first and starts camping. Matches can be set up in various ways: limited weapons, infinite ammo, score counts, etc. As a side not, guys flying around with jetpacks wielding the devastator can just ruin your day.

Overall the game is enjoyable, and will give you a few good hours of playtime. The multi-player is actually a great way to hop online and just play for a few matches and then get off. It also has a huge plethora of challenges you can do that can rack up to big experience point rewards. Again if this game had come out when it was originally supposed to, the only thing that would have given it a run for it’s money would have been Doom 3. As is today, I really think they just put it out to get rid of it and maybe move on to something else.

For the original price it definitely wouldn’t have been worth looking at. At ten bucks or even five, like some Best Buys have done, you get what you pay for. A simple game that plays simple, gives you some fun moments, and has lots of crude humor, and gives you something to go “Damn” about.

The 11/20/2012 release has been confirmed and even some details have been spilled. Fan favs Leon and Chris return and each will have their own separate storyline in the campaign. I’m told Ashley being included is a big deal too. Hmm, maybe I should brush up on my RE lore.

As much as I respect Brian Cresente, Brian Ashcroft and Stephen Totilo, and I do, believe me, those guys are doing great things with game journalism, Kotaku seems to take a strange approach to what they consider “post-worthy.” Its like they are trying to turn Kotaku into the catch all for gaming counter culture. Everything from fan art to cos-play to bizarre Youtube videos, Kotaku’s RSS is filled with drivel that probably drives traffic from meme-happy interweb-dwellers. If this is their goal, then bravo, they have succeeded.

However, as a reader that craves smart, text-heavy thought provoking material Kotaku is too hard to sift through. For every high quality opinion blog that’s posted there’s just as many unnecessary fluff topics. Volume-wise, Kotaku posts 30%-40% more content than Joystiq, IGN or Gamespot and nearly 10 times more than Giant Bomb or Destructoid. Sure some of those sites have drastically different coverage models, but 1000+ articles in a month is simply more coverage than what’s actually happening.

A good game site has three types of posts, news (game announcements, studio closures, basically anything grounded in fact), opinion (reviews, editorial posts etc.) and previews (informative pre-release coverage that contains equal parts news and opinion). Kotaku has added a fourth type to this that blurs the line between professional journalism and real time gaming culture pulse measurement. By taking popular game related links from the internet and posting them, Kotaku is essentially sharing the best of the Neogaf and/or 4chan forums as if its worthy to sit beside their Metareviews and Gut-check columns.

This diminishes the value of the real editorial posts, inflates the value of random Legend of Zelda fan art and it creates an overall watered down experience. Is this innovative? Probably, but its not what I want. I’m not looking for cutting edge Skyrim glitch videos or 7 different Asain girls dressed as slutty Bayonettas. Even that video of a frog attempting to eat bugs on an iPhone screen, as funny as it is, doesn’t belong in MY RSS feed. Its time for me to cut the cord.

The news piece of Kotaku I can get from Joystiq, they are fast, clean, and concise when rolling out gaming news. The preview piece I will get from Gamespot and Giant Bomb. Between the two I will get both a vanilla (Gamespot) and colorful (Giant Bomb) idea of what to expect out of upcoming games. The editorial piece I will miss, but there are a number of other sites that can fill the void.

Gawker took alot of heat for their new page layout, but despite that, Kotaku and Gizmodo are still huge names in tech and gaming news. I hate that I’m about to end my subscription to such an oft-quoted source, but with the way their posts are dumped into the world its just easier for me to wait for someone else to reference their material and go from there.

Sure, I will still visit the site during huge media blitz weeks, especially TGS, Gamesconn and other international shows. Their editorial staff typically makes the international trips and covers them extremely well. However, day to day RSS feed reading of Kotaku will probably stop for me all together. I’ll find something more focused in which to subscribe.

A lot has been said about the PSPs library of games…and most of it is bad, but if you are willing to overlook the dated graphics and the at times frustrating battery life and load times, a PSP is still a good purchase, and here’s why.

Lumines 2
Every time I talk about the PSP, I feel obligated to mention Lumines. It was the best PSP launch game and my PSP probably spent half of its life playing Lumines 2. A simple puzzle game that combines stunning visuals and abstract music creation, Lumines is the Tetris of the PSP. Had this been a pack in game, the PSP would have sold double! Ok, maybe that was an overstatement, but you get the point.

God of War: Chains of Olympus and Ghosts of Sparta
Kratos is no stranger to epic adventures and these two PSP titles accurately translate the experience of console God of War games. The stories told may be completely disposable, but any PSP owner deserves to have something as good as God of War to play. These may not look as good as the PS3 rereleases in the God of War Origins Collection, but no other handheld game will allow this much bloodshed.

Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories, Vice City Stories and Chinatown Wars
GTA is one of the highest rated series in all of gaming, and the PSP titles are no different. Following the release pattern of the GTA3 PS2 era games, Liberty and Vice City Stories give you more stories and missions in those respective settings. Given the rabid popularity of the source games its hard to go wrong with their spin-offs. Chinatown Wars is a port of the DS game of the same name, and is the highest rated of the three.

Crush
As a relatively obscure Sega game, this may seem like a weird choice. Crush is a 3D platform puzzle game that features level “crushing” abilities. At any point during the game the player can make the entire level 2D, giving it completely different traversal options. The puzzles get twistedly difficult and the structure of the game lends itself to pick up and play gaming.

Resistance: Retribution
As one of the best looking PSP games, Resistance Retribution stands out. It also has all kinds of weird, “connect your PSP to your PS3 features”. Probably the thing Retribution does most successfully is handle the lack of a second analog nub. Through classic shooter controls, and very generous auto-aim, Retribution doesn’t feel clunky and drops you in the action cleanly.

The Litany of Passable Dumbed Down Sony Games
Sony is guilty of sticking to their guns on a lot of things. One of those is establishing a franchise and making games in that franchise. Nearly all of Sony’s first party lines make an appearance on the PSP. Everything from Littlebigplanet, to Gran Turismo, to Jak and Daxter have games at varying levels of quality. There are some flops, like Killzone Liberation, and there are some winners like Wipeout Pure, but if you are fond of Sony game(s). You’ll definitely find something you are at least interested in.

Japan
One side effect of the PSP being crazy popular in Japan is the flood of Japanese developed games being localized for the states. Companies like Square Enix, Capcom and Konami have huge catalogs of Japanese style games on the PSP. Hell, the PSP is where Monster Hunter thrives! The decline of Japanese games since the last console generation has saddened many gamers (at least the ones paying attention and not the ones still playing Chrono Trigger like its new) and for the last 6 years Japanese game’s home has been the PSP. Even weird Japan developed Sony games like Patapon and Loco Roco were PSP exclusives.

The PSP, will be remembered as a risk, to many a failure, and few of its games will have longevity, but is it worth experiencing? Yes, many of the games above can be grabbed for a fraction of the original cost, and if you’re not ready to pony up the cash for a Vita, a PSP is a respectable purchase.