PixlBit

    First it was Halo now Gears. What other game franchises does Microsoft own now? Well, a lot. Just to name a few are: Age of Empires, Crackdown, Fable (‘cause they own Lionhead), and all the games by Rare and Twisted Pixel (‘cause they own them too). Microsoft has partnered with many developers as well including formerly Sony exclusive Insomniac Games who are now going to release Sunset Overdrive later this year for Xbox One.

     I think what I like most about games in the environment art. I got a 360 for Oblivion based mainly on the wonderful vistas. I got a Vita because that system really shows off well the Japanese ink style of games like Muramasa: Rebirth and Sumioni: Demon Arts. I loved the environments in Halo: CE that got me into an Xbox and the space scenes in Star Wars: Rogue Leader - Rogue Squadron 2 that sold me a Gamecube, and on and on and on. Gameplay is great, and the feel of the controls is essential to my enjoyment of a game, but the environment is what really excites me.

    I played a bunch of Borderlands 2 yesterday with MADKRAMMER, picked up Tales of Vesperia, and preordered Fable Anniversay this morning.  

   A week of mild activity gaming wise: I spent some obsessive late nights filling up my backloggery page; I picked up the latest Halo novel and started reading it; played some Borderlands 2 as Zer0 The Assassin; and beat the first island in Advance Wars: Dual Strike on my awesome DSi XL.

    I got to scanning in my comics covers today and found a few ads that looked interesting relating to games. I also shot the music CD I got with a suitably creepy light effect that by chance appeared on my iPod. I love capturing chance moments like that. 

    Wednesday was comics day, but I had several other forms of media to pick up as well such as a book and a CD.

    My second week of RETRO FRENZY finally ended when my buddy MadKrammer got really excited about playing co-op in Borderlands 2, and I tried out, and stayed with, the Bravely Default demo on 3DS. This week I also signed up for Steam in anticipation of Broken Age on the 28^th and Banner Saga. I also started an account on Backloggery which has a very cool system for organizing your games and randomizing a suggestion as to what to play next. I’ve also been thinking about BaD coming up and what I might do for the month of blogging. Now to what I’ve played.

     RETRO FEVER is upon me and some new purchases have just rolled in for Sega Genesis and Playstation. Feast your eyes.