Wii-U is Nintendo’s latest console, and currently the only “next-gen” system released in the market. Unlike it’s predecessor, the Nintendo Wii, Wii-U wasn’t flying off the shelves and causing consumers to fight and hustle their way to owning one. Wii-U kind of just released.

Sporting capabilities such as 1080p via HDMI, and boasting titles such as Darksiders II, Super Mario Brothers U, and recently released Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate (MH3U), the Wii-U still doesn’t have a positive image when it comes to the general gaming community. Some look to it as a fad, or a just a gimmick system with the Gamepad peripheral, and before purchasing my Wii-U, I was part of that demographic.

I purchased a Wii-U Deluxe for the extra storage and aesthetics of the system with a copy of Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate (review coming later). Setting up the system was easy, and being able to switch my primary screen from my television to the gamepad is pretty nifty. Finished setting up, I popped in Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate, and was surprised. The colors and High Definition was amazing. After dropping 30+ hours (so far) into Monster Hunter, my other systems have been collecting dust, and probably will continue to do so for some time.

“Don’t write off the Wii-U just yet”

So I started thinking about 2 aspects about the Wii-U: 1. The system is nice. MH3U looks great, and other software titles have been getting decent reviews, but (2.) is the system really a next gen system? I honestly can’t say yes or no, because there is nothing else that is out to compare it to. What I will say is that Nintendo is continuing to strive and continue to be a force in the industry. American gamers might not believe it, but when you look at the sales of the system and titles, you can’t argue.

As to my original question, it depends on your taste. For any Monster Hunter fan, it is a must have. As for others, don’t write off the Wii-U just yet. Currently, it is a good system for those that love Adventure games with titles such as Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate, Super Mario Brothers U, and LEGO Undercover (LEGO Grand Theft Auto Style!) available now with more to come.

Originally posted at: 3GodKings.com

Complaining about things to do in the endgame as a PVE player in SWTOR will be put on hold if you purchase this 1^st expansion for the game. Boasting a bevy of new unlockable achievements, toys, goodies, and titles for your legacy – you will be tempted to max out everything you do within the game.

In the past you would only play SWTOR–as with any MMO–to get better gear but now with the addition of new Legacy Titles you can make yourself into a trophy hunter by taking part in many things. A few patches back SWTOR made it so players could earn reputation with certain ingame organizations who would reward you with titles and gear, now with the Rise of The Hutt Cartel (ROTHC) there are even more organizations including one on the new planet Makeb for running missions there.

New Expansion, New Bugs For Player vs Player

With ROTHC comes an additional 5 levels for maxed out players to aspire to but unfortunately for PVP players like myself this meant that the armor earned from hours upon hours of Warzone time is now considered worthless. We found this out the hard way when we played a Warzone (which has gone from a 50 only bracket to a 33 – 54 bracket) where the new “bolster” made undergeared, newbie PVPers have the stats of gods while the seasoned armor encumbered the vets. Talk about shock…

This led to many PVPers playing naked in the Warzones in order to compete with the broken bolster mechanic… At 55 it’s a return to normalcy as it has its own bracket and armor to grind once again to attain… thanks for giving us something to do Bioware (slow motion eye-roll). Rumor has it that bolster will be fixed tomorrow – here’s to hoping.

Boring Story is Boring

If story is your thing and taking part in the sophomoric trash-talking and circle-jerking of standard MORPG PVP isn’t your thing (hey I PvP… just calling a spade a spade), then you will be happy to learn that Makeb is yet another huge planet to run “fetch it” missions for rewards. I was not sure how interesting a Hutt-based story would be since I hate the slugs but it turned out to be a bit meh… so don’t expect another thrilling Chapter of story for your toons. This was extremely disappointing.

The story is one of planet-saving or destroying and does not vary much between the classes and the factions. As my main is an Imperial Agent I found it to be a bit odd that my rogue, traitor Agent to the Empire was contacted by the Venerable Darth Mar to do him a favor… ya… sure… that happens.

Still Makeb itself is quite a planet to behold with its broken crags, deep fissures and occasional earthquakes. The creatures that inhabit the planet are pretty vicious and crazy so when you aren’t falling to your doom you may be getting mobbed by killer butterflies or bullfrogs from hell coming at you.

All this to say that you shouldn’t expect anything really new from this expansion outside of more things to do… which is not a complaint – I personally love it but the changes to PVP are still taking me some time to accept. Another thing to note is that with the expansion and patch 2.0 all of your skills will be reset as the classes have been reworked for change. In the past we all had skills that were PvE only and those have been removed along with some other things that the devs deemed to be worthless.

Final Consensus

Why not do this a lot more Bioware? I have 3 alts at 50 now due to lack of content (and wanting to see their stories) and you could have had me enjoying my main if we had 3 expansions by now. For the time it has taken to get this going I really think a lot more content (outside of stuff for nerds who raid) could have been added in for the casual/PvP audience. But anything is better than nothing and I am marginally happy with ROTHC.

GOD KING GRADE: (C)   ★★★

Originally posted at: 3GodKings.com

Are you a former Real Time Strategy head who got sobered by the many iterations of bad games that broke the classic “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” theory? Well Microsoft has announced that the king of all RTS games (Age of Empires II) will be blessed with a new HD version come April!

Yes I am talking about THE Age of Empires II, a game that still gets played on LAN 8+ hours a week between myself and 7 other co-workers… think fight club with a bunch of overpaid, older IT nerds dodging phone calls from girlfriends and wives while cracking jokes about Dongles, Forking and how your crappy Paladin rush ended poorly when the halberdiers showed up to meet them. So to say that we are hype is an understatement.

Oh you want a video of the upcoming goodness don’t you? Well here ya go!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEGcPu0bLrY

SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!!!

Age HD Will Feature:

• Re-mastered for high resolution displays 1080p+.
• Enhanced visual engine with improved terrain textures, water, fire and ambient lighting effects.
• New Steamworks features: Achievements, Leaderboards, Matchmaking and Cloud support.
• Share user created content with Steam Workshop support.

Downsides for me:

Forgotten Empires, the expansion created by players to add new civilizations and a 1,000 population limit (plus many more needed fixes and bonuses) to the old Age of Empires II: The Conquerors Expansion will be sorely missed. New kickass civs like the Slavs, the Italians and the Inca will be gone along with our competition to see who can amass the largest army in a running game…

Oh you expected me to list more downsides? Ha! What kind of complaints would I have with a game that I love which now will be able to use the actual power of my PC?

I hope this is a trend that will pick up for different developers who have not been able to live up to the glory of a gem from the past. LOOKING AT YOU SQUARE ENIX! Will the massive sales of this re-energized Age (as I know it will sell like hot cakes) and the continued support of die-hards  give us a Final Fantasy 7 in full HD awesomeness soon? Probably not…

But until then, there is Age of Empires II HD and once again the mighty Persian juggernaut of Elephants tearing apart castles and skirmishers alike will dance itself across your computer screen with much renewed glory!

Originally posted at: 3GodKings.com

Remember the warm, fuzzy feelings you got when you played the Shadow Broker DLC for Mass Effect 2? Well… they’re back with another home run hit in Citadel – the alleged final DLC for Mass Effect 3.

While it’s hard to get past the impending feeling of doom in Mass Effect 3, Citadel (the newest and probably last DLC of the series) brings back a feature that I missed from Mass Effect 2 – the ability to spend some quality time with old friends as well as your chosen lover (mine being that bad girl turned good, Jack).

One of the best things about this DLC is the new rookie/cutie, Alliance Agent Maya Brooks. Brooks is a very green, geeky and extremely hot female officer who Shepard encounters early in the DLC who turns out to be a whole lot of fun by the time you complete it… how? You will have to see for yourself.

We are also given a plush apartment courtesy of Admiral Anderson and a bit of back-story to the older N7 and who he really is outside of father-figure for Shepard. This apartment becomes your home away from the Normandy once you’ve completed the DLC and you can host a party (which absolutely kicked ass), invite up individual squad mates for some alone time… and DECORATE!

Yes you heard me right folks, Mass Effect 3’s final DLC has mixed in a bit of SIMS for those of us who like to deck out our own spaces. For those of you who love sandbox features in your end-of-the-world space operas… they have brought back the arcade games and casino gambling on the Presidium. All of this and an action arc… there is a whole lot packed into this $15 DLC – trust me.

The real reason Citadel rocks (no spoilers)

The story behind the Citadel DLC (without any spoilers) is one that will take you by surprise; While it fits in extremely well with the happenings at the time for Commander Shepard, it was hard to shake the whole “End of life as you know it” impending doom feeling as you take shore leave to hang out with old friends and lovers. This is my one gripe with it – how the entire game is a rush towards the inevitable but this DLC forces you to stop and take a breath.

Personally I appreciate this addition to Mass Effect 3 and feel it is a necessary REAL send-off for fans who have weathered the storm of the hell that is Commander Shepard’s life. Seeing everyone who has been involved in the journey (it’s odd how it feels like I know these people) together, relaxing and joking, brought back that old Mass Effect 2 feeling of team.

Those of you who loved the fight between Miranda and Jack back in 2 will get a kick out of their new interaction during the party along with Zaeed trying to get into Samara’s pants – which was just hilarious. This feels like the real ending to Mass Effect 3 for me and I believe this DLC was developed to heal many of the wounds that the original endings had caused to us die-hards.

If you haven’t gotten any DLC’s before I would encourage you to grab this one. While Omega was a massive disappointment, I was very happy to experience Citadel.

GOD KING GRADE: (A)   ★★★★★

Originally posted at: 3GodKings.com

Metal Gear Rising(MGR) is non stop action thrill that is a separate storyline from the Metal Gear Solid story. MGR follows Raiden a few years after the end of MGS4. Raiden works for a PMC protecting diplomats; he looks to seek Vengeance and Revenge (Revengenace) after the group that attacks his client. He travels the world from Africa to Denver seeking justice on the enemy.

MGR is an action packed joyride, but don’t expect a Kojima full packaged product with this one. Platinum Games took the mantle on this title with Kojima playing in the background.

The story is toned down from the usual plot twist realism fans have come to love about Metal Gear Solid.

Looking at the graphics, the game looks great but in my opinion it’s not groundbreaking when it comes to this department – but nice to look at nonetheless. While there were some frame rate issues, they were minor. There was also the same camera issues that games of this genre tend to have (ie: Devil May Cry and Ninja Gaiden).

Despite the graphical issues, the music was a nice touch to the atmosphere of the game especially when it came to heavy combat scenes.

One aspect that sets MGR apart from the rest is Blade Mode – In blade mode you are able to cut up your enemies into pieces, but even though you may like your enemies dead julienne style, you can lose great opportunities to regain health and specific left hands that are needed for certain items.

MGR is somewhat short just like the other Metal Gears, so expect an average play through to be about 5-10 hours. There is plenty to unlock and purchase in game, so the replay value is pretty decent; though some may not favor the $59.99 price tag even with these aspects.

MGR is a decent game just like it’s sister series of Solid; you will find the PMC induced storyline with familiar characters from MGS, but not at the same quality as the story is toned down and even gets ridiculous.

While the action is great, Kojima’s presence is not there, as I would have loved it to be.  Unfortunately this (in my opinion) affects the quality of this great franchise.

Originally posted at: 3GodKings.com

Shotokan Sorcery

The sun was setting on the beautiful rooftops of Okinawa as Chun Li, dressed in a tight tracksuit and hair sealed away in buns, tailed the man who only went by the name “the announcer”. He had a number of people with him; investors and other low-life that placed bets on Vega’s bloodsport. The entourage stopped at the top of a village and a bunch of betting, shouting and laughing ensued.

Off to the side of one of the vehicles Chun observed a man in a tattered Gi. She was perched in a tree a few yards away from them but she could tell that he knew she was there. She thought he was cute but he looked like a vagabond; rough demeanor – despite his calm eyes, hair in tatters and he carried a bag in which he stuffed his shoes and a wad of cash that the announcer handed him.

The man, who looked to be in his early twenties, walked into the empty field and began adjusting his hand-wraps. Emerging from the other side to fight him was Thailand’s own rising star Adon. It only made sense that Adon worked for Vega since he was a countryman and a cruel fighter. The announcer introduced the other fighter as Ryu and Chun wondered if poor Ryu knew what he was in for; he was clearly the underdog.

After the fight began Chun Li slipped from hiding and wormed her way over to the announcer, he apparently had seen her too – which she found to be quite annoying. “Was wondering when you were going to pop out pretty girl” he said as she closed in on him. “are you with the police or did my master send you?” She let the master part sink in, “neither announcer, I want to fight. Can you set something up for me in Beijing?” He seemed genuinely surprised. “You?! Girl despite those powerfully sexy thighs of yours what are you going to do in a street fight besides get yourself killed?”, Chun Li brushed off the sexist underestimating concern of the man who couldn’t keep his eyes off her crotch and pushed for an answer “so can I expect my card to fight then? Or should I show you why I am the strongest woman in the world?”

The announcer was tempted to get a demonstration but in the past when he questioned those who wanted to throw their lives away he had always regretted it. “You’re in miss Li, you’re in. Matter of fact we will fly the winner of this trip there to fight you, and we will see how strong you really are”.

* * *

Ryu was being knocked back by Adon’s legendary hand speed. Chun Li always thought karate was a brutish art used by unwavering Japanese men with no grace but Ryu seemed very much the genuine article where martial arts was concerned. Adon ended his elbow barrage with a front flip to drop a heel on Ryu’s head and Chun Li gasped at what happened next.

Timing the flip with lightning speed, Ryu side steps the descending leg and bellowed out a noise she had never heard before “SHORYUKEN!” he catches Adon’s chin on descent with a bone crunching uppercut and ascends 3 feet into the air twisting, an aura of Ki stood around him, his peaceful eyes now blue fire from rage and energy. Adon was spitting out teeth and retreating slowly as the investors screamed at him to shake it off.

Ryu was breathing slowly and his hands made circular motions in a way that reminded Chun Li of Kung Fu… in fact, she thought… that is Kung Fu! Ryu pulled his hands back and dropped into  a horse stance, Ki all around him sucking in energy. Since the days with her Korean master Chun Li had never seen anyone else do this. She knew what was coming and she felt sorry for Adon.

The energy flowed within Ryu and he let it out with a push of his hands in front of him. The surrounding crowd was knocked down but Adon felt the worst of it. Raw energy from Ryu’s thrust burst right through his body and he collapsed unconscious on the other side. After some time – possibly from the shock of what just happened, the announcer announces Ryu the winner and the mysterious warrior just turns his back. It was obvious that Adon had done something to really set him off.

The Legend of The Lightning Legs is a fan-fiction written by Greg Dragon of 3godkings.com. No unauthorized copying of this work is allowed unless the copying is accompanied by a visual and relative link back to 3godkings.com with credit made to the author.

All Chapters Available at The Legend of The Lightning Legs Page

Originally posted at: 3GodKings.com

Capcom has publicly stated that while Resident evil 6 has sold over 5 million units, the core changes did not appeal to players. I would say quite the opposite; if you bought RE6 it was due to the words “Resident Evil” being in the title and your trust and hope that it would deliver.

I can imagine that if Resident Evil was a person she would find herself now in her bedroom bawling her eyes out wondering why nobody pays attention to her at school. She were once the belle of the ball and everyone wanted to be like her, but instead of doing her own thing she used her popularity to start acting and dressing like the other popular girls. See what I’m doing here? I am comparing the mother of all survival horror games to a fallen prom queen.

Resident Evil is having an identity crisis now that the 6th installment–which negated the scare factor in favor of twitchy action–received poor feedback from it’s fanbase. Capcom’s response to this was actually refreshingly honest:

“Moving forward I can see us focusing even more on the horror aspect and fear in the series, and see us making something scarier than we have already.” – Masachika Kawata

You don’t say Kawata-san! While it’s great to hear that after RE6 tanking in opinion (not sales) the producers may actually make the series scary again, one has to wonder why? Why did they think action would work for this series over horror? Who are the people in this focus group of theirs to make them decide on something so obviously wrong like this?

Some say that Capcom wanted to attract some of the Call of Duty crowd to 6… how many failed games will we have to hear this same reasoning for before game companies stick to the script? It’s getting just as old as failed MMORPG’s trying to be the “next World of Warcraft” by cloning the UI and generic gameplay. Here’s an idea Capcom, why don’t you act like a freaking leader?! Your company has been around for far too long for playing copycat. It’s becoming the common trend of Japanese companies and it is pathetic!

Let me help you make a good Resident Evil game that fans will love based on feedback. Here’s what may help (just my opinion here):

• Bullet limitation… part of what makes an outbreak scary is the limit in ammunition.
• Scary situations
• Seemingly hopeless situations
• A great story that immerses the player into the scenario

Essentially we would love for Capcom to stop looking over the fence to the Maddens and Call of Duties and work on their own freaking house using the metrics of the players who actually like Resident Evil. The only person I personally know that loves 6 is a guy who loves everything no matter how bad it is… so this isn’t saying much.

It would be great to see Resident Evil rise up and reclaim it’s crown as king of Survival Horror but decisions made solely on money and greed will never do it. Maybe whatever division of Capcom was able to reignite Street Fighter ought to have a talk with the Resident Evil crew because Street Fighter is again king and they didn’t do it by copying Call of Duty or Madden.

Originally posted at: 3GodKings.com

Capcom wants to know which 5 Street Fighter characters (from all of their past games) are your favorites. The results of the polling will be averaged out and used in their decision-making for future games, marketing and probably to violate us through DLC of some sort – who knows.

Polls will close on March 1, 2013 so be sure to get your vote in today. 

English Poll:     www.surveymonkey.com/s/StreetFighter

Japanese Poll: www.surveymonkey.com/s/StreetFighterJP

Looking over the roster would it not be cool to get some of the original Street Fighter characters back into the fray? A real ninja like Geki would do good with Ibuki and Lee could get down with Chun Li or Gen. Your vote will decide though folks, so giterdun!

Originally posted at: 3GodKings.com

Have FPS Games run their course with the people who used to love them? Many people seem to think so; with the speed and unoriginal content of the titles being released nowadays it would seem that many believe the market to be a bit over-saturated.

One would say that saturation is a non-issue and our generation of gamers have become spoiled and picky. We here at 3GK are no hardcore experts and didn’t see half the issues with Battlefield 3 that many FPS fans complained about, but even if it was perfect there would be complaints about something.

There are of course problems with the games but gamers complain so much that it makes you wonder if it’s legitimate. Companies are not innocent either and could slow down complaints by focusing on bug-fixes instead of fancy expansions.

Are there THAT many FPS fans?

We have to admit that the genre IS over-saturated; do we think that there are enough FPS fans to support the number of titles being released, given the “choose a side” attitude of the Battlefield player versus the Call of Duty player?

Since games have gone on to become big business, the chance at seeing a company take risks over copying the popular IP is just about nil. The standard, low-salary game player has enough to purchase one title even though there were 4 that got released. So despite game B being just as good as A, the chances of game B getting a sequel falls short because the suits in charge expected B to beat out A.

Let’s not get into game C or the fact that features are now being tacked on last minute despite being buggy and unfun for players. Games that rely on the big companies have the advantage of promotion, quick updates, and money; players who are used to this speed tend to have little patience for smaller companies who take twice as long to update. This is why it seems like everyone plays the same titles despite the numerous others that get released.

With that being said – now you see why a player can have the attitude of “why do they even bother making those other titles?” If the developers were to focus on the player-base and remove bugs for a better multiplayer experience, then FPS would be healthy instead of what we are seeing today.

Awhile back it seemed as if every game was some sort of RPG back when Square was king; it led to a lot of bad titles. This is the price of success for a game genre folks, so we can blame the over-saturated FPS market on ourselves. It is what we call growing pains.

Originally posted at: 3GodKings.com

An Underground Tournament

Chun Li sat across from her boss at the Interpol Headquarters, she had just briefed her on the fight with Birdy and the intel gathered from Mike Bison. Selena was a beautiful woman who had climbed the ranks through hard work and great policing but her experienced attitude could come off as harsh to those who didn’t know her. The boys in the office told cruel jokes about her sleeping her way to the top, yet whenever Chun was around they would keep quiet about it, assuming that as an offended woman Chun would tell her boss and get them in trouble. But Selena knew the rumors, did not care, and would never care. Her focus was on her star agent who reminded her of herself in younger years, and was now on the biggest case of her career.

“Vega sponsors an underground Street Fighting contest” she said to Chun Li as she typed rapidly into the records on her computer; “he does it as a cover to smuggle drugs and young women in and out of various countries. It is no surprise that every year, the best fighter in the world is invited to his city in Thailand.”

Chun Li instantly got upset “Vega is smuggling women!?” she burst out the question at Selena who rocked back in her chair smiling “as if you needed any more reason to kick his ass and bring him in right? Go easy girl, we plan to get you in that tournament so that the wolf can bring you to his lair – rather than this suicidal chase you’ve been on for all these years”.

It was as if Selena had handed her the keys to a brand new Ferarri, Chun Li was on her feet, happy, and full of life “They won’t know what kicked them! I am the strongest woman in the world!”

* * *

The sun was setting on the beautiful rooftops of Okinawa, Japan as Chun Li, dressed in a tight tracksuit and hair sealed away in buns, tailed the man who only went by the name of “The Announcer”. He had a number of people with him; investors and other important people that placed bets on Vega’s blood-sport. The entourage stopped at the top of a village and a bunch of betting, shouting and laughing ensued.

Off to the side of one of the vehicles Chun observed a man in a tattered Gi. She was perched in a tree a few yards away from them but she could tell that he knew she was there. She thought he was cute but he looked like a vagabond; rough demeanor – despite his calm eyes, hair in tatters and he carried a bag in which he stuffed his shoes and a wad of cash that the announcer handed him.

The man, who looked to be in his early twenties, walked into the empty field and began adjusting his hand-wraps. Emerging from the other side to fight him was Thailand’s own rising star Adon. It only made sense that Adon worked for Vega since he was a fellow countryman and a cruel fighter. The announcer introduced the other fighter as Ryu and Chun wondered if poor Ryu knew what he was in for as he was clearly the underdog. 

The Legend of The Lightning Legs is a fan-fiction written by Greg Dragon of 3godkings.com. No unauthorized copying of this work is allowed unless the copying is accompanied by a visual and relative link back to 3godkings.com with credit made to the author.

All Chapters Available at The Legend of The Lightning Legs Page

Originally posted at: 3GodKings.com