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What do Empire City, Washington D.C. in 2277, Arkham Asylum, and Rapture have in common? They all give off the impression that humanity is in serious trouble. This theme of a post-apocalyptic past or future seems to be one of the hottest trends in video games. The typical dark theme in a game used to involve a certain level of horror or some type of war. Now it's all about something causing humanity to go insane. Either it's a nuclear explosion, a viral infection, or simply ending up in an insane asylum. Background characters who used to be funny and uplifting have been replaced with miserable people who are either crazy or have nothing to live for. Could it have something to do with today's economy?

Empire City best represents this recession. Most of the people didn't see the explosion that changed their lives coming, and after it happened they tried their best to maintain. Sure there were people that saw it coming, but maybe they were more informed about the situation than others. Cole is kind of like President Barack Obama. People either love him or hate him, but either way their looking at him to fix the situation. President Obama might not have any superpowers, but he's arguably the most powerful person on the planet.

Do the apocalyptic themes make you feel better about today's economy? The amount of people playing games has gone up for many reasons including the number of people unemployed. It might add fear to a persons outlook of the future since games like Fallout 3 predict devastating nuclear explosions and such. One could only hope for a better tomorrow and try to do something about it today.

Batman: Arkham Asylum

Batman: Arkham Asylum was released last Tuesday so you know I had to be on that. My funds are nowhere near where they are going to be, so I had to rely on Blockbuster. I'm so glad I didn't buy this game. It's a good game, but it's not great. I beat it in a day and a half. I wanted to finish it as fast as possible, but a day and a half is too fast for $59.99. The last game I crammed to finish was No More Heroes, and that took me 4 days. I also enjoyed playing it for the whole 4 days. The first step in Batman: AA is getting used to being Batman. If you a fan of Batman your going to have a great time because I would say this is the closest you'll get to actually being him. His movement is different from any other game I've played this generation.

The fighting annoyed the hell out of me. I wasn't impressed when I saw the demo. The fighting looked slow and easy. As I played through the game the fighting is slow and easy. Punch With Square, Counter with Triangle, Stun with circle. That's the basics. The gadgets and moves you learn throughout the game add more spice to the fights, but it felt repetitive on day one. Especially since in most places you couldn't use stealth to either attack or avoid them.

The stealth was my favorite aspect of the game. Stealth kills take looking at the situation as a whole and figuring out how to handle it. If there was an option to use stealth the whole time this game would have been a classic. The Riddler's clues were also fun. I caught myself ignoring the story looking for clues. The clues were cool because they did different things. Some came with character bios, while others opened new challenge modes. I found about half of his clues by the time I finished the story. The story is forgettable, but it's pacing kept me going. The Character Bio's helped me in understand how the Batman universe works.

I would recommend playing Batman: Arkham Asylum. Take your time with it. I tried to write about it right after I beat it. I couldn't because my brain had so much to process. Took me 4 days to finally be able to write something. It's all good though. My last words about Batman: Arkham Asylum are it's a good game, but it's not on my list for Game of The Year.

Get Me Outta Here!!

The drought is over ladies and gentlemen. I've spent the past week catching up with my Wii and PS3. I started it off with Punch-Out!! Great game. 1987 would be proud. It's funny what updated graphics can do to a game. The game felt fresh to me even though it's based off a simple premise. It's remarkable. Kept me entertained all weekend.

I then decided to play the PS3. The only game I own for my PS3 is LittleBigPlanet. It's the only game you should own on the PS3. Unlike games where the only update you get is downloadable content that usually costs money, this game evolves everyday for free. There's over a million user created levels. I had problems with my network connection so I wasn't able to sign into the Playstation Network. I spent hours attempting to ace levels. For those that don't know that means going through a level without dieing. No Lives Lost. Judging by the pic on the left, I don't think I did all that bad. Next stop was Batman: Arkham Asylum.

You Never Go Away

Call of Duty has come a long way from it's days as a PC first person shooter set during World War 2. The transition to the current generation of home consoles helped set itself apart from other series such as Battlefield and Medal of Honor. After increasing success with it's four sequels, the series has its eyes on creating the best selling game of all time when Modern Warfare 2 is released in November. Whether or not that happens is up to consumers, but is this the peak of Call of Duty's success?

Call of Duty 2 was introduced to the Xbox 360 in November of 2005. A sequel has been released every year under Activision's inFamous business model. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare in 2007 proved to be a breath of fresh air to the series. The new setting and weapons gave way to a higher level of success for the series. Last year we went back to World War 2 with COD: World at War. I think the step backwards helps Modern Warfare 2's chances at the top spot since it's had some time away from the spotlight to be missed. If Modern Warfare 2 becomes the best selling game of all time, how much time will it take before we see another Call of Duty? If it's by Activision's business model about 365 days, which doesn't feel like a long enough time to be missed. Then again Guitar Hero is doing fine, and Tony Hawk did ok until the series ran into the ground. Most of the top selling series are still relevant today because they take time off between releases.

Imagine if a new Grand Theft Auto was released every year. Every odd year it's set in Liberty City, and every even year its set in Vice City. That would mean this years Grand Theft Auto would be set in Liberty City. Do we deal with it because we love the series so much, or would we say enough and demand for something fresh? The sales of the series probably wouldn't be as strong as they are, unless the controversy around each release is what draws so many people to the series. Modern Warfare 2 has had it's fair share of controversy, so maybe it will keep the series alive in the future. Switching back and forth from World War 2 and Modern Warfare could keep the series going, but for how much longer? First Person Shooters already have it hard enough trying to stand out in an overcrowded market. Will the name keep the series going 5 years from now? I doubt another Call of Duty game will be able top the success Modern Warefare 2 has in store. The sales will probably stay strong, but its probably all downhill from there. Unless the series takes a break....

Super Smash Time

Nintendo is arguably the most recognized brand in gaming. It's run through five home consoles has introduced the world to a bunch of memorable characters. These characters have had their fair share of adventures, but rarely do they all come together in a game. It seems like whenever they do come together it's to smash. Super Smash that is.

Super Smash Brothers is an interesting series. A sequel seems to appear every time Nintendo releases a console, but it doesn't seem to change much. Sure there's more characters and stages, but I've been holding forward and A to do some serious damage since the Nintendo 64. Why does Nintendo get away with bringing back old franchises? I understand Punch-out!! is a good game and all, but does nostalgia allow you to look away from the fact that it's pretty much the same game that was on the NES? Let's look at another old franchise that was remade on a Nintendo system, Resident Evil for the Gamecube. That was a classic remake of a classic game. The developers didn't stop with better graphics. The game introduced new gameplay mechanics, and added more to the original story. Sure it's a third party remake, but you can play it on the Wii.

Where would Nintendo be without their established franchises? All Nintendo has done this generation is sell units. If Mario didn't blast off to another galaxy and Link wasn't playing in the dark, where would Nintendo's adventures lead us? Do they want us all to be Wii Fit and nothing more? The Gamecube was all about the first party exclusives. That gave it an edge over both Sony & Microsoft who only published games developed by other people. Sure most of the Gamecube's 1st party games were sequels, they still introduced new series like Animal Crossing and Pikmin. Wii Play does not sound like a series. When the next generation comes will these games still exist? Probably, but lets hope Nintendo hasn't lost it's edge as a creator of original masterpieces...

The Next Step

It's official. The PS3 Slim is coming in September for $299.99. This news might not come as much of a surprise to many, but what does this mean for the PS3 in the long run? Can it make a huge comeback from last place, or is this generation going down as a rough patch in Sony's history? Time will answer all of these questions, but how much time is left for the PS3? It might be less than we think...

The average life of a Playstation is about 5 1/2 years. That would mean that "leaked" pictures of the Playstation 4 would probably start to show up by next years holiday season. People from Sony have been saying that the PS3 is on a 10 year life plan, which can be both good and bad. On one hand if the next 6 years show a steady growth in sales, the first 4 could be overlooked as growing pains. On the other hand if the competition moves forward, the PS3 would probably be considered last generation given that it had been around so long. Unless the PS3 is ahead of it's time.

In Sony's history, the slim version of a Playstation usually shows up when it's lifecycle is more than halfway over. Maybe the PS3 is trying to go out with a bang. The fall lineup of PS3 exclusives look strong, and a price cut for the PS3 in September could only help sales of these games. The more people you get hooked to what your doing now, the bigger your next move will be. Maybe that's what Sony has in store for us...

Flight School

Videos of gamers unboxing early copies of Batman: Arkham Asylum have been showing up lately. The Special Edition includes special things like a straight jacket. Maybe we all are a little crazy, but exactly how crazy does one have to be for the opportunity to play an early copy of a game? If it's more than a little bit. Sign me up...

I wonder how long early copies exist before being released. The Prestige Edition of Modern Warfare 2 has been getting unboxed long before the boycott against Activision began. How does one get the privileged of playing an early copy? Rappers have been tweeting about playing Madden 2010 weeks before it hit stores. Early copies of Madden 2010 were donated to a submarine crew being deployed before it's release date. It's safe to say one must be a strong individual in order to get one. Knowing the right people must help.

If you could spend more money to buy an early copy of a game, would you do it? I'm not sure if I'd even spend $59.99 for a game that's in stores today. I just got a subscription to GameFly and my que is set for the upcoming months. Having to wait weeks to play a new release has yet to be determined, but it will in due time. I'm hoping to never have that problem...