Spoiler alert: This article contains some details about Skyrim’s Imperial-Stormcloak civil war quest line.

The other day I read an article on Motherboard, “Skyrim Should be a Game About Nothing”, where Joshua Kopstein claims that Skyrim should’ve been a game about nothing: “Of course I mean ‘nothing’ in the tabula rasa sense; a kind of videogaming zen that coaxes enlightenment from simplicity.” After admitting to being “spoiled” by games like Minecraft, he also says that Skyrim breaks his flow with “the fact that there is some grand quest I should be embarking on, some dragon I should be slaying or village I should be saving.”

I have to refute these claims. Skyrim shouldn’t be game about nothing for multiple reasons. The biggest reason comes from generic constraints and expectations inherent in the epic fantasy genre. Secondly, I have to say that Skyrim offers far fewer choices and consequences than it initially appears. These things make Skyrim (as it is now) a terrible candidate to be game without plot.

Let’s address the genre question first. I think we can all agree without a doubt that Skyrim is an epic fantasy game. It has all the hallmarks of the genre: adventurers, a quasi-feudal society, orcs, witches, magic, and of course dragons. And epic fantasy is nothing without plot. In fact, most epic fantasy stories tend to rely on stock characters and plots—many of them based on the classic Hero’s Journey. That’s the draw of these kinds of stories. You want to be part of that fantasy world. You want to be the person who goes on an epic quest to slay the: demons, dragons, orcs, bad things, whatever and save the: princess, prince, kingdom, realm, universe, what have you.

Kopstein says that “If it weren’t for the whole needing to save the world thing, you could simulate a pretty nice life for yourself in a game like Skyrim.” Think about it: would you really want to just live in a fantasy world as a regular schmo? Not as a Dragonborn, royalty, landowner, or even a knight, but as a peasant. It would be like Harvest Moon minus all the adorableness. If the real medieval period wasn’t too nice for the lower classes, what makes you think that a peasant in a fictional setting would have it that much better? Sure you don’t have to be a farmer, but if you try to be an adventurer chances are you’ll take an arrow in the knee.

Epic fantasy lends itself well to larger than life settings, characters, and plots. Imagine if the Hobbits in Lord of the Rings decided to stay home. Sure they wouldn’t have missed Elevensies, but it sure would’ve made for a boring book. Besides, are lost ruins, looming fortresses, magical colleges, dank caves, really things that lend themselves to relaxation and a zen state of mind? Not really.

Now maybe Kopstein means he wants more of Skyrim’s open-world and less of its narrative trying to tell him where to go and what to explore. The problem with this is that Skyrim’s exploration tends to end up with the player finding quest upon quest. Many of these quests and those for the different factions all contain their own narratives and plotlines: the Companions, the Mage’s College, the Dark Brotherhood, etc. All of them have their stories. If Skyrim was a game about “nothing” then all those quests would have to disappear too because they also tell you where to go and what villages to save.

While Skyrim definitely wouldn’t work as a game like Myst, Journey, Fl0w, or Flower–games with “little or no emphasis on combat and other high-stress tasks”, it also doesn’t go far enough in creating a living, breathing world with consequences.

For example one of Skyrim’s more interesting quest lines involves a civil war between the Imperial Legion and the Stormcloaks. Depending on which side you choose to support (if any at all) you end up capturing different cities for your faction. These battles lead up to you capturing either Windhelm or Solitude, thus supposedly ending the civil war. However once the quest line is done, nothing changes. Sure the guards in those cities swap color palettes, and the people in the city have a couple of new dialogue options, but that’s about it.

Imagine how amazing it would be if the civil war actually changed who lived or died in those cities. Was the shop owner an Imperial supporter? Well now he’s dead because the Stormcloaks executed him because he was a collaborator. Or let’s say you spy a dragon attacking an outlying village. As it is, Skyrim’s freedom lets you say, “Eh. I don’t really feel like fighting that dragon right now.” But nothing happens from that choice. The town doesn’t get destroyed or anything. Skyrim doesn’t need to have more or less story/plot/impetus for adventuring. It needs consequences to go with all that open-world freedom.

Kopstein finishes with the admission that “[he’ll] accept that [the] above may just be another type of game entirely, or perhaps even a non-game. But this wish to revert Skyrim to a form of virtual minimalism is born of […] delight that games like it still exist.” I whole heartedly agree. The fact that Skyrim exists–with or without the extra heft of extended consequences–is amazing in this crowded year of sequels. I’m all for experimenting and playing with the constraints of what constitutes a game, but Skyrim–an epic fantasy, adventure, roleplaying game–is not the right vehicle for that experimentation.

For those of you that haven’t yet indulged in an EA Sports Ultimate Team mode — be it in FIFA, NHL, or Madden — it is basically a way for you to build up your own dream team. Play games with your team, earn some currency, buy packs for cards, buy cards from the auction house, or, new to Madden, trade your cards on the trade block. All of this goes towards the end goal of building that perfect team and playing games online against others.

Since its inception as free DLC in Madden NFL 10, Madden Ultimate Team (aka MUT) quickly became my mode of choice. I was that person in World of Warcraft that would reset the market on the auction house. That person you despised who bought low and made a ridiculous profit by reshaping and owning a piece of the market. This, for me, was like a mini-game that brought instant gratification and reward.

As you can imagine, this was a large part of the appeal for me in MUT. The mode in Madden NFL 10 and Madden NFL 11 provided a rewarding and challenging experience. While it was never perfect in the past, it still allowed for a somewhat healthy market and an experience that drove you to perfection. The future of MUT last year was bright and I looked forward to what Tiburon had in store for the mode.

There is a balance in MUT that needs to be struck. An extremely important balance. One that, in all honesty, can make or break the mode. Currently, MUT is broken. While I want to give the benefit of the doubt to Tiburon and why this is, it feels very much as if this mode is nothing more than a way to drive players towards microtransactions.

Keep in mind that I am more than able to take a step back and understand where Tiburon is coming from. This balance needs to allow for a challenging and rewarding experience for the hardcore, allow for the same thing for the casual without being frustrating, and also still make microtransactions appealing to the masses. But as many games before this have shown, that balance is something you slowly work towards.

The latest update released on Friday has proven that MUT is headed down a path that not only completely ignores this balance, but does nothing more than turn the mode into one that loses its appeal and forces the player down a path where the only way to progress is to spend their hard earned money. I completely understand that the underlying goal of this mode is for EA to make money. I am perfectly fine with that. But this is not the way you go about it. Gameplay should never take a back seat to microtransactions. This is a slap in the face to every Madden player out there. And it will be a serious disappointment to many if this mode isn’t turned around quickly.

As can be seen in the video below, Madden Ultimate Team released an update that completely worsened an already bad situation. The primary issue that existed even prior to the update is the fact that all cards rated 75 and above have the same value. That means that a 75 rated player is apparently worth the same as a 99 rated player. Logically, this doesn’t make any sense.

Prior to Friday’s update, each card also came with a tiered cost of posting to the auction house. For example, a 99 rated player cost roughly 10,000 coins just to post to the auction house while a 85 rated player cost 1,000 coins. But this wasn’t really a big issue. Yes it cost a bit too much to post, but by tying a price like this to high rated players, you allow for the economy to be filtered and make certain cards somewhat rare to see on the auction house. That is a very important part about any economy. The market has to be brought into a state of many different worthy, appealing purchases.

Instead of just lowering and scaling the cost of posting auctions, Tiburon took a different direction. All auctions can now be posted for 50 coins — regardless of card rating. Many seemed happy at first but what they didn’t realize was the consequences that this comes with. As you can imagine, the market is now completely oversaturated because there is absolutely no risk of posting a card to the auction house. And now, what you see in the auction house is every single card 75+ at a cost of 10,000 coins. In turn, cards roughly 75-89 are now rendered completely impossible to sell and have become absolutely worthless.

Add all of this to the fact that gold cards are extremely easy to obtain in packs and you are left with a majority of players with teams rated 90+. This no longer makes MUT rewarding in any sense. The appeal is almost lost entirely because it takes only a couple of hours to build your team up to 90+.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxNdd_xoA-g

Now that your team is 90+ rating, you still might want to build it up even more. But what options do you have? How about the trade block? Well, this highly requested feature has also been rendered completely worthless due to the above issues. Why post a trade to the trade block when you can post a 90+ rated card to the auction house for next to no cost to you, obtain 10,000 coins from it and turn around and purchase the exact card or perhaps better from the auction house?

Since trade block is out of the question, you are left with two options without spending real money. One is to just play some games, build up your bank, and buy the cards you want off of the auction house. But as I noted earlier, cards rated 90+ are extremely easy to obtain from packs. So the majority of players will simply play a couple of games, purchase a gold premium pack, take the one or two cards that might improve their team and sell the rest on the auction house or simply vendor them for an average cost of roughly 50% of the cost of the pack itself.

After this is done a couple of times you more than likely have a team rated around 95 without any legendary cards. Legendary cards are now the only way to improve your team in any way. So, what options are you left with now to improve your team without spending real money? Well, how about the auction house? Nope, not the auction house. The cost of legendaries is at the least 100,000 coins. That is the cost of 10 90+ rated cards. So odds are this is out of the question.

If not the auction house, how about the trade block? Well, legendaries can only be traded for other legendaries. So that is out of the question as well. Awesome, our options our thinning by the second.

You are now left with one last option before being forced to spend real money as there are a few collections that reward a legendary. There are currently only 11 collections in MUT. Three of these collections — none of which are hard to complete — reward a legendary. But conveniently enough, each one of these three collections rewards a halfback. Which means you can fill only one position before being forced to spend real money on a legendary pack. A pack in which just saw an update on Friday that almost guarantees you to get a legendary.

So, congratulations on your easily acquired 90-95 rated team. You can now either spend that hard earned money or play games with your team against every other 90+ rated team out there. Either way, you are now left with a mode that is no longer challenging, rewarding, or fun.

Tiburon has a long road ahead of them with MUT. There are a lot of things that could bring this mode back into the state it was in years prior. Be sure to check back as the suggestions I have as to how to fix this mode will be coming next week. Until then, hit up the comments and let us know what you think about MUT thus far.

There were several great game soundtracks that blessed my ears in the past few months. Surprisingly to me, they have all come from independents or otherwise obscure games. Also surprising, these soundtracks have all supplemented intriguing stories, charming art styles and solid gameplay.

I would be remiss not to mention the fact that two of the soundtracks on this list led me to discover their respective games and may have changed the way I first played them. In the era of high budget production and amidst clamor for AAA quality, these soundtracks make the argument that music should do more than provide a game with mere ambiance.

Jim Guthrie’s Sword & Sworcery: The Ballad of the Space Babies

If you followed my 4 part feature of Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP, you already know the iOS title has my vote for game of the year. I have yet to come across a title that has fully changed my mind. But let’s save that discussion for another time. Jim Guthrie’s Sword & Sworcery: The Ballad of the Space Babies can very well be my game soundtrack of the year.

To call it just a game soundtrack would be pigeonholing this masterful work, however. As I explain in the game feature, I discovered this album before I discovered S: S&S EP. I was literally stuck for days playing and re-playing all 27 tracks while I quietly typed away at work. With my headphones on, I probably looked like a moron with a slight grimace on my face, furiously bobbing my entire body back and forth. This was especially while listening to Lone Star, the second track of the album.

Lone Star is beat heavy and boasts a melodic theme that is often repeated with several synthesized instruments. The meat of the track is reminiscent of traveling through the forest of your favorite RPG. In fact, the entire album is reminiscent of various RPG and adventure environments that have been played through again and again, but with strange twists and attitudes that ultimately transport the listener into a new space that is altogether deeper and more vicious.

I for one kept hearing influences from the Zelda franchise. At the same time, Guthrie never just stops being influenced by Hyrule or any other game. With a toolkit full of both synthesized and more traditional sounds, he delivers his take on the adventurer’s landscape. It’s like he’s responding to these recognizable themes that have come before him, with something that is both modern and timeless. An absolute pleasure for the earholes.

Bastion Original Soundtrack

The soundtrack for Bastion is yet another collection of music that transports the listener to a definite place. This time, it’s somewhere dusty and desolate. This obviously fits the themes of the game, as the main playable character is met with the destruction of his world. At the same time, when you close your eyes and just listen, you meet your own wasteland in the most poetic, T.S. Eliot sense of the word.

Similar to Guthrie’s work, Darren Korb’s Bastion Original Soundtrack boasts a lot of beat heavy runs. The soundtrack also oscillates between wild west and middle eastern themes. The soundtrack further expands its range by offering short pieces hand in hand with full length ones, for a total of 22 tracks. This may sound like it goes all over the place, but Korb’s control of the themes make it all fit together.

Each track, no matter if its a full bodied experience like Bynn the Breaker or a melancholy tease like Faith of Jevel, has something to say. One would find it hard to just skip through. In fact, listening to the entire soundtrack from start to finish will reward the listener with plenty of peaks and valleys.

Case in point: Percy’s Escape is a fast paced romp with a relentless drum role and harrowing slices of violin; as soon as it’s done, it’s like the listener is dropped into a pit with Faith of Jevel’s slower tempo and wandering guitar notes. Another example: Build That Wall (Zia’s Theme) features a cool woman’s voice that carries the whole track with minimal guitar strums following her in the background; once she lets go of the listener’s ears, the soundtrack takes off running with Spike in the Rail — that guitar takes the foreground followed by a hard drum.

Now, full disclosure: I have never played Bastion. But, with a soundtrack that can stand on it’s own, I am sorely in need to take part in the full experience.

Waker

Rich Vreeland’s soundtrack for Waker is the shortest of the three with only 5 tracks, but it’s definitely not the least. What the soundtrack lacks in quantity, it more than makes up in atmospheric melodies and moods that swallow the listener up in their simplicity. There are no drums save for one track, The Earth’s Restoration. The rest of the time, the listener is riding on a cloud of piano, violin and bells.

Like all the other soundtracks studied here, this one matches its game’s story and gameplay tit for tat. For those not familiar with Waker, it’s a charming little puzzler where you take control of a monkey-cat animal hybrid tasked with fixing people’s dreams. You do so by solving physics puzzles, creating bridges to progress to the next level. With how ethereal this all is, it’s only fitting that the soundtrack makes listeners feel like they’re moving through a dream themselves.

Speaking of dream bridges, The Earth’s Restoration, the only track with noticeable percussion, serves as the midpoint of the musical journey. It has the most action out of all the tracks — featuring a relatively harder hitting theme that in the end gives way to a dream-like piano; the hard theme tries to come back, but can’t overcome the power of the dream.

This was the other one I listened to before I ever played. Like S:S&S EP, Waker I’d argue is a wholly different gaming experience than if I had played first. I find the game more pleasurable, both in its simplicty and in how all the gameplay elements work with the art style and music.

Bandcamp.com

The website where I stumbled upon all these soundtracks. It’s a shameless plug of sorts, but hey, the site lets you listen to the entire album for free. You can find The Ballad of the Space Babies, Bastion Original Soundtrack and Waker (Soundtrack) here. You can find much more, like Shag’s Flyrule, a tribute to the Legend of Zelda franchise, as well as other game and non-game related music.

What’s your favorite game soundtrack? Let Gamer Limit know in the comments below.

Sony announced the the first annual PSN PLAY event Friday, vying to replicate the success Microsoft has had with its annual The Summer of Arcade sale. PSN will offer four games at retail, with a fifth game free to players who purchase all four. Pre-orders start Tuesday, August 9; and the event will last until Monday, September 19.

Sony goes further, giving players a free PS3 theme along with an unannounced “special gift” with each pre-order. Playstation Plus members will also get a 20% discount off every purchase during the event. This sounds like a good deal on the surface. But, I tell you, my wallet is terrified. Let’s break it down and do the math.

The first thing I noticed was the language surrounding these campaigns. I liken it to a croupier’s smile. It’s meant to be inviting, friendly. Yet, it’s only a facade and behind it lies the coldest, most calculating mind.

Notice that to Microsoft, The Summer of Arcade is a “party” and to Sony, PLAY is an “event“. Who doesn’t love parties or going to events? They’re fun! At the same time, respectively, it’s not a party and it’s not an event. They are both sales. They’re aimed at your wallet; and one would deduce it’s only festive and eventful when you’re the one receiving the dollars in said wallet, instead of liquidating them.

I trust that I’m stating the obvious. You’re a discerning reader who visits sites like Gamer Limit because you’re interested in more than just mindlessly buying and playing games. Through your practiced reading, you have gained the valuable skill of sniffing out the proverbial BS. Albeit, it’s a clever play on language. Hats off to the marketers.

With all the pomp and circumstance surrounding these festivities, however, someone is bound to take the bait. Both Microsoft and Sony have levers built into these sales that will then influence the behavior of more than one gamer out there. Call it Gamification 101.

A short re-cap — Gamification is the act of introducing game mechanics into things that are not games, i.e. a business process or transaction. That’s what Microsoft and Sony have done with their respective sales. To be specific, they’ve introduced achievements. When you buy all four The Summer of Arcade games, your achievement is a free copy of Crimson Alliance. Similarly, PLAY offers mini achievements in the form of PS3 themes and “special gifts”, along with the ultimate prize, PAYDAY: The Heist.

While I’d go for a free game myself, especially the Gauntlet Legends-eque Crimson Alliance, it’s not reaching a special checkpoint or completing a side-quest that gets me that achievement. It’s spending my hard earned money. Both Microsoft and Sony are exploiting our gaming sensibilities with their campaigns — the one thing they know will get the masses hooked into giving up the cash. It’s one thing to throw a bunch of flashy advertising at you for mere enticement, it’s another thing to get into your brain and play with your psyche.

So, how much money does one have to spend and on what?

The Summer of Arcade

• Bastion – 1200 microsoft points*
• From Dust – 1200 microsoft points*
• Fruit Ninja Kinect – 800 microsoft points*
• Toy Soldiers: Cold War – 1200 microsoft points*

* The lowest level of microsoft points once can buy is 1600 points, at approximately $20 a pop. This means, one is spending $60 on this “party”.

PSN PLAY

• Street Fighter III Third Strike Online Edition – $14.99*
• The Baconing – $14.99*
• BloodRayne: Betrayal – $14.99*
• Renegade Ops – $14.99*

* The total comes out to a little under $60. They sweeten the pot with PS3 themes and unnanounced gifts, as well as a 20% discount for Plus members. In total, with a 3 month Plus membership and the discount, one is paying nearly $66.

After all the semantics, theory and math comes a question: “Am I willing to spend $60 on these titles?” Of course, the answer is based on taste. As far as this year’s The Summer of Arcade is concerned, it is also based on hardware with Fruit Ninja Kinect. Albeit, it’s equivalent to a retail game with value in the eyes of the beholder.

Remember, there are many other games coming out this year, including but not limited to Dead Island, Batman: Arkham City and Star Wars: The Old Republic. Herein lies a greater dilemma and another question to ask: “With all the other anticipated games coming out this year, does this make sense?”

In the end, Gamer Limit cannot answer these questions for you. Neither can any other of the media outlets. It’s just that sometimes, I feel, that these media outlets should provide you with a deeper look at the mechanisms behind what we call news.

Originally landing on the Wii in early 2008, No More Heroes was met with critical acclaim and has since become something of a cult hit for punk rock game visionary Suda 51 and his studio, Grasshopper Manufacture. The game has since spawned a sequel, a first for the studio, in 2010’s Desperate Struggle. Now there’s talk of a mobile game in the works, but first, Konami will be bringing Travis Touchdown to the PS3 later this summer with Heroes’ Paradise.

While I managed to get my hands on the game last month at E3, playing games in overcrowded rooms for hours on end doesn’t always make for ideal conditions. Now having played the demo in the comfort of my home today, I have some concerns for the impeding PlayStation 3 release of Grasshopper Manufacture’s celebrated Wii title.

If you’re familiar with the original game, merely being the game’s opening and Death Metal boss fight seen in the original No More Heroes, the demo won’t provide much new for you to experience. While the full game sports a variety of added features such as five boss fights from Desperate Struggle, new side missions, and a boss rush mode, you’ll just have to settle for new controls and high definition graphics.

Amidst a sea of gorgeous graphical powerhouses, No More Heroes certainly wasn’t the prettiest game on the market back in 2008 – even for a Wii game. If you’ve been hoping for a release on the high-definition consoles, developer feelplus and AQ Interactive have remedied this by improving the graphical quality considerably for the PlayStation 3 release.

Also new to Heroes’ Paradise are Dual-Shock and PlayStation Move controls. Unfortunately, neither set up feels quite as comfortable as the Wii remote and Nunchuck setup — at least to me. While the PlayStation Move will do little to persuade you if you weren’t a fan of the occasional waggle in the original, you very well may dig the new gamepad set up.

When attacking enemies with his beam-katana Travis has the ability to perform a finishing move that eviscerates his target, creating an incredibly gory fountain of blood. In the Wii original this was controlled by a simple directional swipe of the Wii remote. This has been replaced by a click down on the R3 button and a directional movement of the right analog stick. I found it uncomfortable to say the least.

Something else I found disappointing about playing with a Dual-Shock was the lack of a speaker on the controller. Before boss fights the head of the United Assassins Association, Sylvia Christel, calls Travis by phone. During these short sequences the French fox delivers hilarious monologues to both prepare Travis and amp the player up before the coming battle.

In the Wii original players would hold their controller up to their ears like a phone for what was something of an immersive, smile-inducing moment as you attempted to listen to the French woman’s crazed ramblings through the Wii remote’s tinny speaker. While new players won’t be missing anything, hearing it through a high-quality sound system just wasn’t quite as magical.

By the time I was starting to get used to the controls the demo was over. It’s unfortunate too because No More Heroes is a game that only gets better the further you get into it. Perhaps Konami is painfully aware of the title’s almost universally panned open-world and only wanted to give players a taste of the game’s most enjoyable aspects – the crazy narrative and awesome combat.

Regardless of any control issues the game may have, at its core Heroes’ Paradise is still the same fantastic game it’s always been. If you’ve yet to try the series out, now is your chance. The graphical updates, added features and budget price I’m already sold on the title and will be eagerly awaiting it’s launch on August 16^th.

From cult hits like Grasshopper Manufacture’s No More Heroes to first-party million sellers, the Wii has amassed a large library of superb titles over the past five years. Unfortunately, that long list of great games no longer seems to be growing. In the past few months the Wii has stagnated, showing little sign of impressive software heading toward the launch of the Wii U. Luckily, Gamer Limit has dug up a dozen great-looking Wii titles that have yet to see releases in the United States.

Join us after the break for a naïve wish list of games that will probably never see US releases, but could help the Wii go out in a bang rather than die with a lonely whimper.

Captain Rainbow

Having been in the business for over thirty years now, Nintendo has introduced the world to videogame characters so iconic that they have become household names. But for every Mario out there, there are dozens of supporting characters just waiting to have their chance in the spotlight. Enter Captain Rainbow. D-list Nintendo characters ranging from Punch-Out’s Little Mac to Tracy of Link’s Awakening make appearances in hilariously strange action-adventure game. The game is unique amongst Nintendo’s catalogue for being extremely vulgar, and covering rarely discussed topics in the medium of videogames, such as Birdo’s sexual and gender identity issues.

Zangeki no Reginleiv

Anyone who’s played an Earth Defense Force game will be able to appreciate the series’ stupidly fun gameplay. It just doesn’t get much better than shotgunning a giant alien ant in the face, then taking out a skyscraper with  a rocket launcher. With Zangeki no Reginleiv, Sandlot takes the premise behind EDF and inserts it into the Norse mythos, reimagining the tale of Ragnarök. Swap the guns and bugs for swords and giants, and the Dualshock for a Motion-Plus Wii-Remote and get ready to see buckets of blood fly across the screen as you chop off limbs and sever the heads of mythical beasts in this incredibly gory hack and slash title.

Another Code: R

Fans of Trace Memory have been tragically deprived of the Wii sequel to the fantastic DS original. Boasting a wonderful visual style and mystery novel-inspired adventure/puzzle gameplay, the Trace Memory / Another Code series was something new and unique for Nintendo, that was tragically cut down before it had a chance to blossom. The development studio’s recent bankruptcy might not bode well for additional sequels, but Nintendo could actually use its publishing rights to bring Another Code: R to the Americas and let us experience what the Europeans and Japanese have been able to for years now.

Fatal Frame IV: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse

Fatal Frame IV is the most recent installment in one of the most acclaimed survival horror series in the industry. Moreover, the title was developed, in-part, by the acclaimed studio Grasshopper Manufacture. In light of Nintendo’s decision not to bring the game to American shores, fans took matters into their own hands, localizing the game themselves for anyone willing to import a copy and mod their system.

Sukeban Shachou Rena

I love weird Japanese games, and they don’t get much stranger than this one. Affectionately known as “President Cat”, Sukeban Shachou Rena is a hilarious minigame collection about, yes you guessed it, cats. As an entry level cat at Cat Queen Inc., you must perform a variety of tasks to earn your feline CEO’s respect and climb the corporate ladder. It’s a rare thing for me to be salivating over a minigame collection, but this title looks too absurd to pass up.

Earth Seeker

With a plot that sounds vaguely similar to Titan A.E., humanity leaves the post-apocalyptic Earth in hopes of creating a new home. Unfortunately the terraforming device malfunctions when the ship crash-lands, creating monsters and problems for what remains of the human race. Having only just launched in Japan last month, Earth Seeker is the youngest title in this list. Let’s hope that a publisher steps up to the plate to get this one localized.

Takt of Magic

The spiritual successor to DS title Lost Magic, Square Enix subsidiary Taito’s Takt of Magic was never given a chance with American audiences. It’s a shame too, because the title had a pretty interesting user-interface. Similar to Deep Silver’s Cursed Mountain, in Takt of Magic players used the Wii-remote to draw hundreds of spells to cast in battle. Oh well, yet another good-looking strategy role-playing game that never made it out of Japan.

Eyeshield 21: The Field’s Greatest Warrior

Unless you’re a fan of obscure anime, you’ve probably never heard of Eyeshield 21. The series follows a terrible Japanese high school football team with a secret weapon, the incredibly fast running back Eyeshield21. As a fan of arcade sports, I’m always looking for something to put on my shelf next to NFL Blitz. Not only would The Field’s Greatest Warrior be a nice arcade sports game to have localized in the United States, but it would be a great opportunity to reflect on something ingrained in our culture, given new life through a Japanese perspective.

Disaster Day of Crisis

There are plenty of minigame collections out there: Carnival Games: Game of the Year Edition, Rayman & the Bunnies, Mario Party 38, That Other Crap Party Game, but few that appeal to hardcore gamers. Well if playing beach volleyball with mom isn’t exactly your idea of a good time, how about surviving earthquakes, terrorist attacks, car chases, volcanic eruptions and attacks from wild animals? Enter the unintentionally hilarious string of minigames that makes up action-adventure romp Disaster Day of Crisis…unless you’re American.

The Last Story, Xenoblade, and Pandora’s Tower

Having deprived North American Wii owners from some of the most compelling first-party software the system has to offer, a movement was born out of the IGN message boards. Just last month, Operation Rainfall set out to convince Nintendo of America to localize three good-looking Japanese role-playing games. While not a huge fan of role-playing games myself, I truly admire what the people behind Operation Rainfall are doing. Enough so that I’d be willing to reach out of my comfort zone and support Miswalker, Monolith Soft or Ganbarion, should any of their games see US releases.

Supergiant Games’ brand new XBLA title Bastion has a lot of things in its favor. Fantastic visual style, great music, and what many will consider its greatest strength, its narrator. Logan Cunningham’s performance as Bastion’s narrator is pitch-perfect.

Cunningham augments the style and tone of the game, and really helps Bastion set itself apart from its peers. But I can’t help but feel that Bastion’s greatest strength also contributes to one of its biggest weaknesses.

Bastion (and technically Cunningham too) tells the story of the Kid as he wakes up one morning to find out that his world and the city of Caelondia has been destroyed by something called the Calamity. As the Kid wakes up, the first thing we hear is the narrator telling us that this story “ain’t so simple.”

Throughout the game the narrator reacts to what the player does as the Kid. However, many of these lines are all tightly scripted, so it’s not so much a reactive narrator as a tightly scripted one – one that somewhat offers the illusion of true interactivity.

Because Cunningham’s performance is so strong, I have a feeling that this will cause many to overlook certain narrative flaws. For example, the nature of a narrator is to tell a story, but video games are an interactive medium. If anything, they are much better prepared to show a story, and at their best, they allow players to do a story.

Let’s look at a more specific example. If in a book it’s considered better to show something to the reader through character action and dialogue, then in a game it’s usually better to have a player experience something through gameplay rather than watching it in a CGI scene.

When it comes to Bastion you have the narrator telling you what’s happening on screen – which is fine because the player is already responsible for those actions - and what’s going on in the characters’ minds. Rather than letting the player make their own assumptions, the game tells them things that, in my opinion, would be better off making part of the gameplay.

In an interview on Bitmob, Bastion’s creative director Greg Kasavin says that they wanted to create an “empathetic main character.” But how empathetic is the Kid? To me he was just an empty avatar. I never really cared about his feelings or how he reacted to the Calamity. And really you only learn about his story when you play in the optional arenas.

While the arenas may work from a gameplay standpoint – they give you an opportunity to hone your skills and earn experience – they are a terrible vehicle for storytelling. You’re trying to survive against waves of increasingly difficult enemies in a confined space while the narrator reveals probably some of the most interesting bits about Caelondia’s and the Bastion’s history.

The gameplay during these sections doesn’t mirror the narration. You’re trying to fight twenty waves of enemies while the narrator is talking about the Kid’s parents and what he did before the Calamity struck. Not only is the dissonance between player action and narrator hard to wrap your head around, it’s also just plain hard to pay close attention to what the narrator’s saying while you’re in the fight of your life.

In another interview on The Daily DL, Kasavin says he wrote roughly 60,000 words for Bastion. For clarification, that’s roughly the length of a short novel. However, “a large slice of this is all back story content mostly for my [his] reference to inform the rest of the writing.” And in all honesty that kind of shows during gameplay. In fiction writing, back story tends to be exposition or the “telling” category from my examples up above. While even though some of Cunningham’s narration doesn’t technically qualify as exposition, because of the nature of a narrator, it all becomes exposition.

Bastion becomes a game of contradictions. On the one hand, its gameplay is more than solid and the art and music are both fantastic. But on the other hand, its coolest feature both helps and hinders it at the same time. The narrator undeniably adds to the overall “flavor” of the game if you will, while at the same time subtracting from the narrative’s impact. I wanted to hear more of Cunningham’s lines because they were so well delivered, but at the same time I also wanted to experience some of what he was telling me for myself.

I honestly can’t decide what to make of the inclusion of a narrator in Bastion. It both works and doesn’t. I simultaneously want more and I want none. No matter how you might feel about the narrator and how he functions, Supergiant Games needs to be commended for taking such a stylistic risk with their first game.

Do you even remember the last game you bought for your Wii? Exciting Wii releases, typically few and far between, have been virtually nonexistent as of late. The Wii has stagnated to the point that fans have taken matters into their own hands. A grassroots movement called Operation Rainfall have set out to do just that, campaigning to localize three Nintendo-published role-playing games.

Though not for a lack of trying, the efforts have yet to prove successful. Nintendo of America still refuses to localize the games. Despite critical acclaim and commercial success in Japan, it seems like Americans won’t get a chance to experience these titles. You just have to wonder why though. Have they forgotten their fans? Does Nintendo even care?

It’s incredible to think of how successful the Wii has been over the course of its lifecycle, how much Nintendo have turned their luck around over the past five years, only for it to end like this. The Nintendo Wii, one of the most successful videogame platforms of all time, will go out not with a bang, but a whimper. Now a dying console, the Wii is limping toward its final days.

Much of the blame for all of this could be passed off on third party publishers. Over the past year, one by one, third parties have discontinued their support for the system. Nintendo have been left alone to prop up the Wii, until the eventual release of its successor. Unfortunately, they can’t even do that. Nintendo’s attention is obviously torn in several directions and they’ve decided to let the system with the largest install base be the one that gets the short end of the stick.

Earlier this year Nintendo released a half-functional 3DS months ahead of development schedule to please investors. Only recently has the new portable begun to deliver on Nintendo’s promises, whether that is functionality such as the Nintendo eShop or an actual lineup of decent software offerings. Now, they have to worry about the impending release of their next home console, its software, and digital infrastructure. All the while the Wii sits forgotten.

Whether intentionally or not, Nintendo is telling consumers that if they want to play new games they need a 3DS. Nevermind the fact that Nintendo’s new portable’s embarrassingly meager launch offerings. Nevermind the fact that there will be a smaller, better version of the system out by next Christmas. Nevermind the fact that a lot of Wii owners will not even want a 3DS.

The other option is to wait an entire year for an expensive, new console that has yet to show us anything more than tech demos, much less do much to differentiate itself from an Xbox 360 or iPad. The more likely scenario is Wii owners flocking towards the competition, turning to Sony and Microsoft for new experiences. That, or they’ll mod their console and play the games anyway. Rather than willingly take money from their fans, Nintendo seems content to lose money to their competitors and piracy.

Nintendo shouldn’t give up on the Wii when there is the rest of 2011 and 2012 to play for. Not only shouldn’t they do that, but it’s just bad business to do so. Wii owners, even ones that are interested in a successor console, are going to have doubts about Nintendo after a year where the only compelling mainstream release is The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. As excited as I’ve been to play a new Zelda title for the past half-decade, one game isn’t going to carry an entire calendar year. Wii owners that don’t own a second console should be absolutely livid, especially considering that Nintendo is holding out on them.

There are nearly a dozen other first party titles that the publisher could bring to North America. These games have already finished development and have been released in other territories. All of the hard work has already been done, Nintendo of Europe has even localized several of these into English, leaving Nintendo of America the comparatively easy task of printing off discs and supplying various retailers. At least that would remind consumers that the Wii exists.

The three titles under the umbrella of Operation Rainfall, Xenoblade, Pandora’s Tower and The Last Story, have already been released in Japan to both critical and commercial acclaim. These are great games that thousands of fans have rallied behind the effort to get these games localized. What could possibly be Nintendo’s rationale behind not bringing these games to America?

It doesn’t make financial sense. As can be seen above, Americans tend to purchase more units of similar releases than Europeans or Japanese. While certainly not Call of Duty numbers, even in these relatively small numbers publishers can turn a profit through limited releases. Several considerably smaller publishers do just that for their entire catalog. Yet, Nintendo of America, one of the largest publishers on the planet, can’t seem to take a gamble on a single one of these titles? What do they have to lose?

No, none of these games will sell anywhere near as well as Wii Fit. You won’t see The Last Story in every American household. However, Nintendo have a unique opportunity to please their fans. They have an opportunity to do something nice for the people that have supported them in the good times, and kept them in business through the bad.

Nintendo may not have a whole lot to gain from releasing a few role-playing games in the United States.  They do however, have a great deal to lose. The success Nintendo saw with the Wii could very well come and go. Who knows if Nintendo will continue to have success pursuing the Blue Ocean. What Nintendo will always have is their loyal fanbase.  That is, unless they do something to screw that up. I fear that this may very well be the last straw.

You may have noticed that Gamer Limit’s reviews have been going through some changes lately. These revisions include everything from the graphics we use, to an increase video content and an update of our Official Review Policy. While reviews are in the spotlight, I would like to take this opportunity to discuss the nature of reviews, how Gamer Limit reviews games, and explain how our scoring system works.

Here at Gamer Limit, our goal with reviews is to help you. There’s a lot of games out there and we’d like to help inform your decisions when you’re looking to buy one.  Hopefully we can tell you about some great games you might not have heard of, and steer you clear of the shit ones that will waste your money and your time.

Something important to remember about reviews is that they represent the opinions and experiences of one person. As reviewers we’re essentially telling you how much fun we had with a game. If you agree with us, that’s great!

If you disagree, well then that’s your opinion. The world would be a really boring place if we agreed all the time. Your idea of a perfect game could by our personal hell, or vice versa. Unfortunately, some people seem to question the quality of a review if they disagree with it.

It’s our belief that a review is good as long as it accurately reflects the opinions of the reviewer and there’s sufficient evidence in the review to back it up. You don’t have to agree with us. While we collectively review hundreds of games a year, we’re but one of many sites that review games. While we would like to help you decide whether or not to purchase the latest new release, by no means do we believe that you should rely on one publication alone when making that $60 investment.

The scores you see on aggregate websites and at the bottom of our reviews are numerical representations of how much we like or dislike games. Our reviewers subjectively weigh games as experiences and scale them against our ten point review system in terms of the quality and enjoyability of the overall package.

We seek to use the full review scale. As five is the average of zero and ten, games we award that score are indeed middle of the road, mediocre experiences. If you take a glance around the internet you’ll see plenty of other sites using that same number to denote games of terrible quality, therefore using only half the review scale. That’s something we seek to change, if only for ourselves.

Each number in the scale corresponds to a specific point on the spectrum of quality, ranging from abysmal to near perfection. When we review a game we assess the visuals, music, gameplay, narrative, value, fun factor, and everything in between. Each score suggests aspects of the game that could have been better, but you’ll have to read the text instead of just scrolling down to see the number if you want to know why we scored the game the way we did.

Something else that we feel is important to understand is that our review scores aren’t meant to be compared to one another. The circumstances regarding any particular review are as diverse as videogames and the people that play them.  We believe that drawing comparisons between entirely different games, in different genres, with different reviewers, doesn’t really make any sense. Again, the score’s meaning lies in the context of the review, a number by itself is essentially meaningless.

If you have any questions, concerns, or constructive criticism feel free to let us know.

A beta for hot upcoming indie title Journey landed on the PlayStation Network this week. While the beta is limited to a relatively small number of playtesters, I am one of the fortunate few.  Having played through the beta several times now, I would like to share my thoughts on the Journey experience with you.

With Journey thatgamecompany is crafting an entire experience that focuses an aspect often overlooked in gaming. Doing something new and interesting would be enough for most developers, but the Los Angeles-based studio isn’t just stopping at reinventing the adventure game with Journey, players are also in store for a refreshing take on online multiplayer.

Simply put, Journey is a game about exploration and little else. With Journey, thatgamecompany focuses on an aspect of games that is oftentimes overlooked. Rarely do we remember travel as an entertaining aspect of a videogame. Usually it’s something to get out of the way before you go on to the next big thing.

The beta begins with a cloaked traveler sitting in the desert sands alone. The traveler eventually rises to his feet and climbs to the top of a hill, looking out on a gleaming mountain. From my time with the beta, I suspect that the entirety of the game is about getting to that peak.

What you do along the way is what makes the game. Any semblance of conventional “gameplay” is tossed out the window, leaving players experience the passage across the desolate and mysterious world. So, if you’re not self motivated or require a lot of feedback from a game, this one might not be for you. But, those that can dig it are in store for something really special.

As of now I’ve played through the beta half a dozen times. As rewarding as it is to explore the world that thatgamecompany has crafted, soaking up that unique aesthetic beauty, it’s Journey’s unique take on multiplayer that really helps this flesh out the gameplay. If you’re familiar with their previous work, you know that this studio makes wonderful games that, oddly enough, aren’t very game-like. It’s this distinctive multiplayer experience that keeps Journey from being a pretty picture book that you get to walk through.

In my time with the beta I ran into other players twice. When I was on my own I had a tendency to power through the beta leaving vast areas of the game unexplored, a “bad habit” from games where getting from A to B is just a waste of time. However, interacting with another player often lead to new discoveries and made the long road an enjoyable experience. Playing with another person allowed me stop and smell the roses.

Journey’s multiplayer is so unique because of the anonymity. You can’t speak to the people you play with. You don’t get to know their username. You’re not even forced to work together. However, you will be working to solve the same simple puzzles to move ahead with your quest, so it’s in your interest to do so.

Though I was unable to talk to my co-op buddy, I was able to communicate. The traveler can make sounds, similar to that of the chirping noise a bird makes. So, chirp we did. We travelled the desert together, playing with kite-like flying carpets, exploring ruins, and acquiring items that enhanced our abilities to jump and glide on the wind.

Whether it was soaring on the desert breeze or trudging through the sand, we steadily made our way towards that ever-present mountain in the distance. I’m really looking forward to the day that I get to finish that journey, not necessarily to see what is at trails end (though that intrigues me), but to experience everything else along the way.

After being virtually omitted from this year’s showing at E3 and with a complete lack of software coming down the pipeline, it’s become apparent that the Wii is on its way out and the Wii U will soon take center stage. Because of that, I would like to take this opportunity to highlight many the successes that the Wii has achieved over the past five years.

Nintendo may have forgotten the Wii, but that doesn’t mean we have to.

For all intents and purposes the GameCube, as a piece of hardware, was indistinguishable from the PlayStation 2 and Xbox. Despite a solid line of first party software, features such as the lack of DVD functionality, virtually non-existent online capabilities, lack of third party support, and Nintendo becoming increasingly out of touch with longtime fans caused an otherwise fantastic console to fail at market.

By the end of the last console generation Nintendo was forced to come to a realization. Through poor sales, it was forced to recognize that it could no longer continue to fight fire with fire. Nintendo needed to do something different if it was to have any hope of replicating the success it achieved in the 1980s and early 1990s. From that point of desperation and Nintendo’s constant mantra of “innovation” the Wii was born.

The Wii’s most obvious achievement comes from a technological standpoint — new input devices. The Wii Remote is the result of the combination of accelerometers and IR (infrared) detection. These devices, in addition to the LEDs contained within the console’s sensor bar, sense the position of an object within a three dimensional space.

The Wii Motion Plus, and subsequent Wii Remote Plus improved things considerably with the introduction of turning fork gyroscopes which not only allowed the sensor bar to detect motion better but directly reflected your movements on-screen. The Wii Balance Board introduced pressure sensors that allowed your feet and body to act as the controller. These devices allowed Nintendo to bring motion controlled gaming to the forefront of the gaming industry.

Games like The Conduit and Resident Evil 4 Wii Edition proved that motion controllers can provide a mouse-and-keyboard-like shooting experience on a console. Red Steel 2 and the upcoming release of The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword let you swing your Wii Remote and see your actions mimicked on screen as a sword in a 1:1 fashion. Countless independent titles on WiiWare like Lost Winds, Lit, the Bit.Trip series, And Yet it Moves, and Fluidity showcased new and unique experiences that only Nintendo’s new controller could offer. There are now entire genres of games that were previously almost nonexistent such as exercise and dance.

Nintendo changed the game considerably by turning the market’s focus from a graphical arms race into a contest where the competitors have to offer new, different methods of control. Motion control may have been laughed at and derided when it was first introduced — but one needn’t look much further for proof of motion control’s success than the number of Wii consoles sold over the last half decade or how Microsoft and Sony followed suit with the Kinect and PlayStation Move. New methods of control have opened new doors and new opportunities for gamers.

They’ve also revived old ones. Something I have particularly enjoyed about the Wii is the resurgence of the light gun game. The Wii Remote’s IR pointer allows console gamers to experience classic arcade gameplay in their homes. Highlights include Dead Space Extraction, House of the Dead 2, 3 and Overkill, the Resident Evil “Chronicles” titles, and Sin & Punishment: Star Successor. The arcades we grew up in may be disappearing at an alarming rate, but at least now we can get similar experiences in our living room.

Another genre fading into obscurity that received a resurgence on Nintendo’s little white box: 2D platformers. By the time the final days of the SNES rolled around sprites had become gorgeous works of art. Unfortunately, decades of pixel-art evolution were sidelined by polygons. While revolutionary at the time, the introduction of 3D polygonal visuals brought graphics back into an aesthetic dark age, one that we have only recently come out of with the advent of high-definition.

While the Wii lags behind its competition graphically, that hasn’t been the worst thing in the world. It’s allowed gamers to take a nostalgic trip back to more youthful days with 2D platformers. And what a revival it has been. Favourites include Donkey Kong Country Returns, New Super Mario Bros Wii, A Boy and His Blob, Lost in Shadow, Warioland Shake It, Megaman 9, Bit.Trip RUNNER, and Kirby’s Epic Yarn.

There are more reasons to celebrate the Wii’s standard-resolution visuals than just a retro revival.  While many celebrate Nintendo’s decision to join the HD revolution with the Wii U, smaller developers probably aren’t among them. Lower resolution graphics have led to lower development costs. Lower development costs mean that developers can produce niche games, and make a profit on sales figures that would make other developers working on games for the high-definition platforms weep.

Suda 51’s studio Grasshopper Manufacture released No More Heroes in 2007. If it were a PlayStation 3 title selling 500,000 copies would have been a failure. On the Wii half a million copies sold allowed Suda 51 to produce a sequel, and a damn good one at that. Titles like No More Heroes exist, in part, due to the lackluster visuals for which the console has received much derision and scorn. Little King’s Story, Muramasa: The Demon Blade, Madworld, Fragile Dreams: Farewell Ruins of the Moon, Rune Factory Frontier, and many other cult hits were made possible by “bad graphics”. These are among my favourite titles of the generation and while I’m sure they would all look great in HD, I’m thankful they exist at all.

Finally, I would like to recognize the Wii for expanding the audience and redefining what it means to be a gamer. Five years ago videogames were perceived by the public at large as something for children and nerds. The Wii and the DS have made great strides toward breaking that stereotype.

It’s interesting to think that five years ago Nintendo’s back was against the wall. Their home console was in third place, despite being technically superior to its primary competitor. Nintendo’s strong franchises and long history with gamers wasn’t enough to ward off the incredibly successful PlayStation 2 and all of its mass market appeal.

That was five years ago. Now, my mom owns a Wii. Somehow Nintendo is getting games into the hands of people that you never would have expected and they’re responding. Nintendo’s Wii series alone has shifted more than 150 million units. While hardcore gamers may resent the casual crowd, the fact is that their enjoyment of the medium only really only benefits us all in the long run as gaming gains more mainstream acceptance.

These are but a few reasons why the Nintendo Wii has been a success. However, from a personal standpoint, the most important thing the Wii has achieved exists in the social sphere. People were once ashamed of playing videogames. While that social stigma still exists, day by day it is being washed away as more people consider themselves gamers. Being able to sit down with family members who previously thought gaming was a juvenile waste of time and share a common pastime is an amazing experience.

Have you heard of WayForward Technologies? Well, if you’re a fan of Nintendo consoles the answer is…well actually still probably no. They have an unfortunate track record of making awesome games that just don’t seem to sell. They’re the guys behind awesome games like Contra 4, the Shantae series, Lit, and (my personal favourite) A Boy and His Blob.

BloodRayne: Betrayal mark’s WayForward’s first entry on the high definition consoles. So now that WayForward are on your system of choice, with an established IP to boot, you’d better not ignore this one.

Fans of the BloodRayne series might be a little surprised to find that WayForward has drastically changed the game with Betrayal. Instead of a direct sequel to BloodRayne 2, WayForward has played to their strengths and created a 2D side-scrolling action platformer.

On the combat side of things, Betrayal is centered around finding new and unique ways to dispatch your foes. Rayne can hack and slash enemies with a pair of blades or shoot them with her pistol. Ammunition is limited, so relying on close quarters combat and combos will be your bread and butter. Speaking of close quarters (and food) Rayne can heal herself and dish out some damage by sucking the blood of her enemies.

While it looks relatively easy, after some hands-on time with Betrayal, I can tell you that is far from the case. For a two dimensional action game, Betrayal has a great deal of depth. If you’re a high score junkie, a main draw of the game will certainly be it’s arcade style. Honing your skills to avoid enemy damage and pull off impressive, gory combos will earn you the points necessary to run up those online leaderboards.

Visually, Betrayal is gorgeous. Everything from the colours, to envrionments, character models, and animations, they’re all absolutely beautiful. It’s not only pretty from a technical standpoint, but it just oozes that signature WayForward style. I don’t ever think I’ve seen anything this violent be so adorable and charming, but somehow Betrayal pulls it off.

BloodRayne: Betrayal is landing on the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade later this summer. With fifteen levels, tight controls, a gorgeous art-style, and over six hours of side-scrolling arcade action this is one game that I can’t wait to sink my teeth into.