Baby I’m back!!!

I know it’s been a while… what, like two years or so… but that is how life goes sometimes… I don’t have time for playing games like I used to… but I want to get back into doing more interviews with artist in the industry and posting about some great games soon…

I have been more an artist who digs games lately… but believe me I am still a gamer who digs art at heart.

Here are some samples of the works I have done in the game area… as you can see there has been a big progression over the time.

This was my first digital piece done back in 2009 trying my hand with some fan art…

A sketch from Blue Dragon that I need to color…again done in 2009

Some sketch work from Team Fortress

Ryu from street fighter

A sketch of a jackal from Halo series

Kratos Sketch

Crack Down vs Infamous digital illustration

Mega man digi painting

Big Daddy sketch

Master Chief lite

Chris Redfield vs the infected from Left 4 dead

Little Sister from BioShock

Grunt Sketch

Gravity Hammer Grunt

Nariko sketch

Kratos vs Link Sketch

ODST sketch

Bayonetta digital illustration

Blanka and Sloth break Dance

The flood Tank Form

Elite

Johnson

Skirmisher

Halo Reach

Brute Chieftain

Han Juri

Bioshock

Gears

Locust Horde

Marvel Kombat colored by vic55b

And the Winner is…

Tim Kelly

Mr. Kelly’s piece won based on many factors.  Sure it was awesome, but that won’t get it done all the time for the contest.  We love originality.  Who would have thought of Ico vs a Gears of War Locust before the contest started.  I love everyone’s choice of character.  I was worried we would have like 4-5 Master Chief’s Vs Kratos.  I want to say congratulations to all who entered.

The game version would look a little like this…

I would want to play that and some how figure out how in the world I would take that guy down…

For full article click here!

Xbox360 vs PS3…at this point who really cares?

***I know the Wii is selling like hotcakes going out of style but when your average person buying the system looks like this…

I will leave them out of the discussion. (it was a joke…not just elderly people buy the wii!)I know other gamers play and own the Wii, but seriously, the real games are on PS3 and 360.

Really Sony and Microsoft should have no beef with Nintendo, and I believe they realize they are not competing with the Wii.  They each know their true opponent is each other.  Nothing is wrong with Nintendo and the direction they have taken…I want a Wii and will own one soon…but it will never be home to the hardcore games of today….here are some killer titles for the Wii

1. Super Smash Bros. Brawl
2. Mario Kart Wii (with wheel)
3. Wii Play
4. Wii Fit (with Balance Board)
5. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (with guitar)

Fun Casual games….

Probably every hardcore gamer secretly cares who wins this console war.  The true winner will be who delivers the goods on the games! I believe in good quality games.  It doesn’t matter which system I play it on.  Sony doesn’t pay me to play their games neither does Microsoft. Yet we as gamers forge some sort of unofficial alliance with these large multi-billion dollar companies like they care about us.

They care about the dollars we shell out for games plain and simple.  Look at the roles we gamers play in the larger picture of console wars.  When gamers buy a system at a high rate, it creates an installed base that publishers look at.  When those developers see a system selling hundreds of thousands of units more than the competitor they will spend more time, money, and effort in getting games into the hands of those gamers.

Look at the advantage of the PS2 over the original xbox and game cube. Developers made games for the PS2 system and ported them over to the xbox and game cube.  Not all developers, but most developers.  The graphics showed  many games looked like ps2 games on all three consoles.  Even though the xbox was more powerful it didn’t matter.  It didn’t have the power where it mattered most, and that was the in the number of gamers who purchased new products.

Fast forward to this generation and roles have been reversed.  You have the xbox 360 in one corner dropping hits like crazy with mind blowing graphics and delivering heavy-weight-classics on a yearly basis.

Then you have the PS3.  It dropped in 2006.  Killer machine, powerful, blue ray built in…yet they were the red-headed step child to the gaming schedule.  Releases were coming to the 360 first, then were ported to the ps3.  So you have games built based on 360 architecture being turned over to the more “powerful” system but sometimes lacking muscle of it’s 360 cousin.  They have had some killer titles release.  The problem is…it still didn’t turn the ship for Sony. These titles shown below should have helped Sony…but did little to raise awareness for Sony’s cause… both are great titles by the way.

We gamers decide the winners of each console war.  Not the gimmicks or crazy plots or grand ideas of companies.  Numbers don’t lie, take a look at these.

Most current taken from www.vgchartz.com

7.02M Japan
16.31M America
13.28M Others

36.61 Million units sold.  47.9% market share (hardware)

0.79M Japan
13.38M America
8.75M Others

22.93 Million units sold.   30.0% market share (hardware)

2.49M Japan
6.40M America
8.00M Others

16.89 Million units sold.  22.1%  market share (hardware)

Now like I said before toss the Wii out of the picture.  They will get their money.  If you are a hardcore gamer and you have a Wii, you will also have a PS3 or a 360 (maybe both)  Nintendo is drawing a lot of new gamers to their system.  But if they bought the system to play Wii-fit…I doubt they will be purchasing games on a regular basis.

Last thing about the Wii~besides Mario galaxy, Smash Bros, and Resident evil 4 what games are good on this system??? Really I don’t know!

Ok moving on…you have around 22.93 million 360 owners. (more after this Holiday is over) and around 16.89 millions PS3 owners (not bad they are closing in on 360 sort of) Here is the thing gamers need to understand.  These companies make their money off of games sold.

I will take a third party publisher for example…Activision and their Call of Duty franchise.  Since moving the next gen (our current gen) Call of Duty games have made their mark year after year in every Holiday since 2005.

Call of Duty 2 for the 360.  It was the biggest game of 2005 for next generation of gaming. It sold 2.25million games to this date.  That isn’t too bad for being xbox 360 first ‘true’ next gen experience.  It made Activision a ton of money and Microsoft a ton of money.  Sorry Sony….no Call of Duty 2 for you that year.

Call of Duty 3 came out a year later.  Done by a different developer it still sold fairly well for the 360. 2.14 million copies isn’t bad.  This helped Sony get a chance to taste some of the action to the tune of 560,000 copies sold.  Not close at all to the 360 version. Still however Activision made some money.

Fast forward to last year 2007 holidays’ hits.  A year where Halo 3, Bioshock, The Orange box, Assassin’s Creed, and Mass Effect all dropped.  Yet who stole the show?  Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. It sold 6.58 million copies for the xbox 360 alone…and an additional 3.71 million for the PS3.  Activision knows it has a cash cow on it’s hands with the Call of Duty Franchise and they milk it each year rotating developers to churn out a new game a year.

Since 2005 Activision has made a game that produced: 15.24 million units sold on current gen technology.  With that in mind think about that in dollars.  That’s $914,400,000.00 dollars.  With 360 gamers spending $658,200,000 of those dollars over those three years…activison knows where to send games.

That is not even including this year’s World At War. (which sold 1.35 million units on 360 and 800,000 units on ps3) These numbers are great on both systems.  (I think the ps3 are really nice actually to be so close to the 360 version in sales)

But don’t count Sony out just yet.  With Little Big Planet and Metal Gear Sold 4, and Resistance 2  in 2008, also a Blue Ray built in…they are a few hit titles away from scoring gold.  BUT!!! They need to change 2 things that they are currently doing.

1.  Stop making hand me down games from Microsoft.  Dead Rising, Lost Planet, and Bioshock are some games that made a 360 worth while…in the past!  Now this holiday Sony is showing off Bioshock a year too late….Same with Dead Rising and Lost Planet.  While microsoft has moved on to new titles like Left 4Dead and Fable II.  I know Sony also has Resistance 2…but that game is not really turning any heads:350,000 units sold so far…Call of Duty: WAW has this title beat soundly…

2. Stop losing your exclusives!! Sony made a killing on having exclusives in the past. I remember Final Fantasy VII was the hotness back in the day. Same with Metal Gear Solid, and the Resident Evil Series. Imagine if Assasin’s Creed was PS3 only? You would have a Killer title for Sony…great way to show gamers thier system means business. Now as things stand they even lost FInal Fantasy XIII !!

Many gamers feel that as of right now the “cool” games are on 360.  There are many third party popular games available for both systems, but that game will sell more for the 360.  Take the mega popular GTA IV release this year.

Xbox 360 had 6.18 million takers and the PS3 had 4.84 million buyers (not bad at all!) But you are talking about a game the PS2 made famous (or is that the other way around?) and Microsoft not only getting in the mix but taking it over.  They bo-guarded thier way to two downloadable adventures yet to be released. (February 2009!)

That is business done right. Even though it had the RROD (xbox360) that crapped out on nearly everyone who bought one…(myself included!) and I’m sure they are kicking themselves on the billions they lost on the repair program, but they still have the strongest library of games out there. It makes sense for them to fix their clients system so they can play more games!

Gamers voice your opinions…who is winning…who cares right?  As a gamer I will say this; WE are the true winners with all the above mentioned gaming experiences out there right now!!

Enjoy!

We all are cogs in the Gears of War…

So, who all bought Gears of War 2 the day it came out? I did.  I bought three copies actually, 1 for me, and 2 for the last two contest winners…  A LOT of my friends bought it…everyone in the gamestop I was at bought one.  Well it turns out a lot gamers wanted to sign up and the continue the fight against the Locust Horde…Gears of War 2 did pretty good for a day one release on a Friday to the the tune of 2.1 million copies sold on day 1.

Like a Brumak busting out the gates Gears stole the show for game sales this Weekend!

Gears of War offers an experience to Gamers of many different skill levels.  The team at Epic Reeeallly put a lot of effort into making this game fun and enjoyable. I have to start with Horde…

If Horde released by itself (with more levels than 50) it would have been a nice addition to anyone’s xbox 360 game library.  In fact, if more shooters had a “horde” mode; (hint) halo series fans would be going nuts for that as well.  Imagine starting with fighting grunts in any of the multiplayer maps on Halo 3 in level 1. By level 4 you are fighting more grunts and jackals, then by level 15 brutes and Hunters show up.  With each level you pass the enemies would adapt to your fighting styles and change their plan of attack. By level 50 your team would be fighting all levels of Covenant and Flood with Vehicles intact…that would be nice….but Epic made it a reality.

In Horde you and up to 4 friends face off against the on-coming forces of Locust Soldiers.  In each battle you are scrambling to help your team defend an area by taking down an incoming squad of Locust.  What I loved about this mode of the game is that after each Wave you beat they will adapt to your teams battle tactics.  Lets say you cruise through 5 levels pretty easy.  The game has a unique spawn system and enemy selection that will counter your actions.  Team work is essential in this mode.  Stray to far from the group to get some ammo you may need to be revived…in a hurry.  I have played it by myself, with my wife, and with up to 4 others.  Nothing beats having 5 people on a team together working to take down the Horde…

Horde is what a lot of gamers have been asking for.  It is really fun to play against other people in death matches and other modes, but Horde is something else.  It combines a brand of teamwork against a common enemy without the pressures of playing Gears of ‘Pro’ players.  The Multi-player modes are interesting as well, but Horde is a different breed of fun that is a fan service done right!

Gears of War 1 = pretty cool but short campaign…Gears of War 2 = Answers the basic question of why we are fighting, and gives a lot of moments to look and say let’s kill those Locust!  The campaign is really roboust this time around.  I would say between campaign and horde alone Gears of War 2 is the best shooter on the 360 this year. The best thing about the campaign are the large battles.  Gears of war 1 was nice, but the battles never got out of hand in size.  Gears 2 opens the world up to gamers to see the size of this war.  This is one war I wouldn’t wish upon any nation.

I won’t go into details of specific events…but gamers will love the battles and overall story direction in Gears of War 2.  Single player is nice, but the game is really made to be played Co-op.  There is nothing like going to war with a buddy by your side.  Some people may be dissappointed that it is not 4 player co-op, but I think a lot of the battles would have been watered down if two other players joined this battle.

As you can see from these screen shots..Gears 2 is the best looking game on 360 right now.  I would go on to say one of the best looking game in this generation on any home console.  It doesn’t have the complex story from Half-life or the art direction fron Bioshock, but to find a better action shooter will be hard to find.

The controls for this game are spot on.  If you played a shooter before you will pick this game up and hit the ground running.  This game is near perfection in every way possible.  BUY THIS GAME if you have the ability to do so…it will be worth your money and time.  The Holiday season of gaming has started and Epic has struck the first and possbly the strogest blow this season.  Finding a better game this holiday season will be hard to do.  If you don’t own a 360 yet…what are you waiting for!!!  

Meet Chase-SC2!!!

When are leaves more than just leaves?  There is a lot of discussion about traditional art and it’s place in the modern world of digital arts.  My personal belief is that without a basic understanding of traditional mediums, you will be limited as a digital artist.  Take this artist for instance…~Chase-SC2 he has some amazing traditional rendering skills and it carries over into his traditional work as well.

Hey Chase, could you start off with a brief bio about yourself? This could be your
name, age, what you do besides art, if you are an artist by trade (full
time job) or not. Anything really so the readers can know a little
more about you.

My name is Chase Stone, I’m a 19 year old student majoring in
illustration at the Fashion Institute of Technology. I don’t have a job
in the industry yet but i think I’m getting there, and thanks a lot for
your interest in my gallery!

Looking through your gallery, you have some killer pieces left and
right. But the ones that stand out to me are your simple ones. Your
color pencils of the string, the leaf, etc. How important is
traditional art in the growing digital work place?

I think traditional art is still very important in the growing digital
work place, as the skills one has on paper translate directly to their
skills in photoshop. While the computer has made the process faster in
a lot of ways, and does make some things easier, you still have to be
able to draw and that’s the bottom line.

What is your background in art (education/training etc.)

I’ve been drawing all my life, and most of what I’ve learned over the
years has come from practice and trial and error. I’ve gotten
professional training in the past year at FIT, but i still believe that
practice in your own time is the most important way to improve.

Where do you draw your inspiration from as an artist? What keeps you
going to improve and keep your attention to realism so high?

Working artists like Craig Mullins are always great for inspiration,
guys whose work just really blows you away. I guess that’s the main
thing that drives me (and I’m sure most other artists), the want to
create an image that really floors people and sticks with you. To make
something on that level is always something o aspire to. As for
realism, it’s really just what appeals to me the most.

What video game systems do you own if any? What are you currently playing?

I own an Xbox 360, and as of now my favorite games would be Halo, Call of Duty 4, and Gears of War.

Who are some artist that you look up to? Also name your top 3 artist.

Like i said I’m a big fan of Craig Mullins’ work (whose stuff is just
plain awesome), I also like Justin Sweet (he’s got a really nice style)
and James Hawkins (does amazing concept art, a field I hope to get into
in the future).

Your level of realism in your art is amazing. How important is
reference to you when working on art. How much time do you give an
illustration before it is time to move on? (How long did it take you to
finish your slick Halo piece) (side note: nothing wrong with fan art!!
Make more halo art!!!)

Thanks man! I think reference is very very important. the simpler
pieces in my gallery are all done from life, and for the more
imaginative ones i try to get as much reference material as possible.
As for time, I’ll basically try to work on something as long as i can
until I’m either totally satisfied, loose interest, or simply run out
of time. I don’t know how long the halo piece took exactly, but i know
it took a while, working on it on and off over the course of a few
months. And hahah thanks man, I’d like to draw more stuff from Halo,
once i get some more original stuff done maybe I’ll go back to it!

(Holy Flippin’ batman…crazy sick skillz on display… only 19 years old…)

If you weren’t an artist what would you do to fill your time in the day that you use for art right now?

If i couldn’t draw i don’t really know what I’d do, I guess I’d find
something else I’m good at and work at that…In the big picture if i
couldn’t make art I probably would’ve joined the army hahah!

Are there any projects/companies (film, music, comics, video games) that you wish you could work with TODAY?

Hmmm if i could just pick, working for Ubisoft, Bungie, Weta, Epic
Games, and any of the projects they’re working on would be awesome.

First video game experience ever? Favorite game ever?

I’m pretty sure my first video game experience ever was on the NES, and
I think it was Super Mario Bros. As for my favorite game of all
time…thats a tough one, i want to say Halo but theres a certain
nostalgia about the N64 Zelda that i think gets my vote.

Thank you again for your time!

Thanks again for offering this interview man i hope i answered with enough information.

Awesome interview Chase and fantastic artwork! Many thanks bro and good luck in school!

Best 20 bucks I ever spent…

This is what I got….for 20 bucks! 

It may not go down as the best game in history but it sure is fun! It “borrows” heavily (by borrow I mean copies) from Resident Evil 4 and Gears of War.  The controls from Gears of War are applied button for button, even the run button with the motion camera following the character.  

 

The graphics are everything you would expect from a game in this generation.  (At some points the main character’s head looks funny in the cut scenes!) The game opens with a sort of feel like a Splinter Cell. If you played Resident Evil 4 you will also understand where a lot of the roots of this game came from.   

 

I will repeat: 20.00 bucks will get you some entertaining hours in a decent action shooter. If you like good graphics and slick action this game will be up your alley! 

 

I am not stating this game will win any game of the year awards…(This is not a review by the way!) There is a lot of things that keep this game from being a Triple AAA Title like Resident Evil 4 and Gears.  We as gamers need to understand not every game has the be an epic quest or feat like those titles.  The action stays solid throughout and the gun play is nice.  

 

The feature that the developers of this game was banking on in this game was the Glaive. That is the claw/hand of the main character that throws like a bat-a-rang and stings like bee! It soups up with more beef when mixed with things like fire and electricity.  There are some creepy moments in the game that MAY get a jump out of you.  

I wished a few things were pushed in this game a bit more. The melee needs more power behind it. Multiplayer was kinda garbage, but the single player mode was a spot on delight! Give this game a try it you liked the mentioned above games.  If it had a Co-op component it would be even sweeter! 

 

This is just the humble opinion of one gamer who digs art.  I like this game…for 20.00 bucks that is! 

Check the game out in action and see it for yourself.  

Meet dannlord!!!

I have had the honor and pleasure to have some great artist grace this humble blog…the great thing about it all, the one thing that united them all…even myself is the fact that we are all gamers/artist. 

The next artist introduced is a fantastic artist who has a serious passion for games and art as well.  He may be busy and not play as much as he wants to…but still he is a gamer at heart! 

Meet dannlord! 

The guy is super cool!  He was uber busy, yet still found some time out of his schedule to answer some questions about himself!  Thanks dannlord! 

Questions by me!  Awesome Art by dannlord. (some of his Gears of War colors’ by Protobunker) 

Hello Dannlord!  Thanks again for agreeing for the interview! Could you start with a brief bio about yourself… let the people know who you are, and what you do. also anything else about yourself as well.

I was Born in Monterrey, Mexico in 1977.  I am 30 years old, and have been drawing since age 3.

My professional career in comics  began as a digital colorist, working for Studio F in titles that include “Mystique”, “Thunderbolts” and “Incredible Hulk” for Marvel Comics, as some titles for other companies such as Dark Horse and Image. 

Later, I entered in a collaboration with Les Humanoïdes Associés in France, doing color work on the titles “Millenaire” and “Lune d’ Ombre”,  while doing that I managed to illustrate my first work in comics with the miniseries “EL ARSENAL: Unknown Enemy “, published in the United States and Canada by Arcana Studio. 

A couple of years ago I got together with some other colleagues from my hometown and founded Protobunker Studio, where I continue my work as a comic illustrator.

 

How long have you been in the art field? What is your background/school education in relation to art? 

I have worked as an illustrator since 1999, but back then I worked for a newspaper and magazines. It’s been only six years since I started working on comics.

 

Who are some artist that have influenced you to go into the realm of creating art for a living?

Trying to create art for a living was kind of a natural decision for me (I can’t see myself doing any other thing for a living) but seeing the works of Gimenez, Jodorowsky, Otomo, Shirow among others has always been like fuel for me.

I see that with a lot of your images…there is a living breathing world in there. Has creating a story with your illustrations been part of you since the beginning? I see that through it all you are a true comic book artist. 

I love detail and working in creating a good sensation of space and that my scenes have some kind of movement. Whenever it is possible to me, specially with my sequences, I try to work on as many different things happening at the same time as possible. It is very difficult at times. The (my) mind enters a labyrinth, thinking about so many things, but in some way that calms me and the hours seem minutes. Just can’t get enough of that.

 

 

What games are you currently playing? and What systems do you own?

Currently I’m not playing any games, I’m pretty busy right now, and I have only the xbox 360, but now that the fight between the HD DVD and the BlueRay is over and MGS4 is out, I am definitely gonna buy a PS3 and try to escape for a weekend at least to play it.

One word answers…

Gears of War 2=anxious

Xbox 360 =issues

PS3=Snake!!

Nintendo Wii=kids

Are you satisfied with your art=no

In 5 years you are=better

Project you would love to work on=batman

If you could pick anywhere to live it would be=space

Best artist in comics now=dunno

Favorite current comic series right now=none

Your sequential pages are nice. They tell a fluid and nice story… would you ever consider taking your skills to the field of animation? 

Perhaps in the future, so far I do not have plans to enter it, although I found it very interesting. You must recognize that I know nothing about the production process of an animation. 

Storytelling has been a part of society for ages. Comics have been a part of society for quite some time as well. As artist we all have stories to tell. In the future what project would you tackle of you had all the time in the world and money to fund it? (Really! This could be anything? Written, pencilled, inked, colored, by you!)

So far I have many of my own ideas and stories that I would like to tell, but that is a bit hard to think on producing other things. If you are  talking about Anything, being a lover of science fiction, it would be great to do a comic adaptation of Frank Herbert’s Dune. That would be huge for me.

 

Thanks for everything Daniel Perez! 

Thank you!

Taking a look back…are we spoiled???

Take a look back and remember the times of previous video game generations and just think how blessed we have been with the number of great titles that have come across our television sets…

Even look back just four years ago…when The Game Cube, Xbox, and Playstation 2 rocked everyone’s entertainment system…

  

We didn’t have gems like Bioshock, Metal Gear Solid 4, or GTA 4…what graced our systems 4 years ago were titles like Jet Li Rise to honor…Red Dead Revolver and Psi Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy.

   GTAIV

Which one would you choose…this or 

 Jet Li: Rise to Honor 

…this?

We take certain things for granted as gamers these days.  The industry has exploded in terms of what games have been released in this generation that we are currently in.  And since we are so used to seeing these graphics and gameplay now…we are a little spoiled.  

The updated graphics engines alone are reasons for any gamers now a days to purchase new titles…look at the the games being released…Let’s take two titles same name different console generations…

Area 51 for the PS2 and Xbox.

Blacksite: Area 51 PS3 and Xbox 360.

…Look at the difference in these two games…they speak for themselves…  Area 51 was a decent FPS for the Xbox and PS2 and it was ok, solid at best.  It received some decent reviews(about an 8.0 average) And Blacksite: Area 51 came out with more of a whimper…pretty good visuals.  Some great battles in there as well…but it came out really at the wrong time.  (In the middle of a Bioshock, Halo 3, Call of Duty 4 Sandwich!) But still an ok game! 

 

Look at Halo 2…

 

…and Halo 3 

 

 

…two great games generations apart…  

 

Even titles like Jade Empire which looked beautiful back in the day…compare it with Mass Effect…Not just in terms of graphics…but the entire gameplay itself is not even close to it’s masterpiece cousin that released in 2007.  

Jade Empire…good game

   

 

Mass Effect…epic life experience…

     

 

I remember paying 50 bucks happily for half-life 2 for xbox and playing through that load crazy game…only to pay 60 bucks 3 years later for the Orange Box which includes half-life 2, episode 1, episode 2, portal, and team fortress on a single dvd…

Half life 2 on xbox…

  

..VS. The Orange Box! 

  

Half-life 2

episode-1

episode-2

Team Fortress 2

Portal

 

One game that had so long of load times in there, vs 5 games in 1!  You tell me which one was a better purchase! 

We are getting a lot for our money these days.  Our games had multiplayer in them in the past yeah, but now so many games are getting released to have a social network party going! Take GTA San Andreas, and compare it to GTA IV….the difference is ridiculous.  You could already play San Andreas for a while, but now you could play GTA IV for like months and still find new things to do because of the multiplayer features…

Take a look at the top games of 2005 when the xbox 360 first came on the scene… 2005 was a great year for gamers

We had Resident Evil 4 (Cult Classic-Changed the way we play games today) Shadow of the Colossus (Great game just didn’t sell as much as it should) Jade Empire…

 

Those were heavy hitters yes..but look at the other games that were at the top of the list. Mortal Kombat Shaolin Monks. Heroes of the Pacific, The Incredible Hulk:Ultimate Destruction, more greats like Devil May Cry 3, and Splinter Cell Chaos Theory.  The Warriors also released that year (great co-op beat’em up!) Guitar Hero (debut!) and also Prince of Persia The two Thrones…True Crime: New York snuck in there as a great sandbox action game as well.  

Pretty good year yes… but in the year when the 360 debuted the regular consoles still stole the show.  So we really can’t count the Next gen (our current gen) until 2006 (even though call of duty 2 was awesome on the 360). 

2006 was another good year for games.  The xbox 360 had full year under it’s belt and the PS3 and Wii launched. We saw great titles like Gears of War( One of the best co-op games ever…graphically just a powerhouse) Resistance Fall of man (only real reason for owning a PS3 at this time…)  The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (only real reason to own a Wii at this time!)

2006 also had Rainbow Six Vegas (Giant sleeper hit) Splinter Cell Double Agent, Final Fantasy 12, Marvel Ultimate Alliance, Saints Row, Dead Rising (great title only missing online multiplayer) Bully, Scarface, Guitar Hero II, Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter and  The Elder Scrolls Oblivion.

Great Year for a last stand of the PS2, but clearly the xbox 360 stretched it’s muscle with many knock out titles wetting the appetite of many gamers.  It would be hard to top Gears, Resistance, and The twillight princess..but 2007 was immense…

2007 was and I will go on Record as saying, the best year of gaming in my lifetime.  The Year starting slowly with a couple of hits like Crackdown, God of War II, Super Paper Mario, then we saw hits like Ghost Recon Advance War Fighter 2, Then hits like the Darkness, Metroid Prime 3, Blue Dragon…Heavenly Sword, Quake Wars Enemy territories, Guitar Hero III, then the holiday season came. The games listed above were winners already, then titles started to drop like wildfire…HALO 3, CALL OF DUTY 4, Assassin’s Creed, MASS EFFECT, ROCK BAND, CRYSIS, Uncharted: Drakes Fortune, SUPER MARIO Galaxy, THE ORANGE BOX, Rachet and Clank Future: Tools of Destruction, BIOSHOCK… what a holiday.  

 

My eyes are still glowing from these sure fire hits…so many Triple A titles came out that Holiday season that some are were under the radar releases…

2008 has been an impressive year and may top 2007…with releases already of GTA 4 and Metal Gear Solid 4.  We have Gears of War 2 coming and Resistance 2 coming Left 4 Dead looks promising, Fall out 3, and Fable 2 speaks for themselves, Guitar Hero World Tour, Possible Prince of Persia, Little Big Planet, EndWar, Halo Wars, Rock Band 2, Far Cry 2, Dead Space, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, Spore (Finally) 

And in 2009 some titles that look amazing are Resident Evil 5, Batman: Arkham Asylum, Borderlands, Killzone 2…man pretty good time to be a gamer! I haven’t listed all the games…just a few gems…

Gamers…come on admit it… we are spoiled.