GameGemini – Video Gaming Heaven

Taken from www.eventhub.com, here is the official tier list for the console version of Street Fighter IV (taken in April 2009). Note: All of the names below are based off of the Western release of the game. For example, Balrog is the boxer, Vega has the claw and so on.

For the pro’s out there – do you agree with this? Sagat is once again top of the tree, as he has been for as long as I can remember. A huge reach, and the ability to turtle or to play offensive means he can do virtually anything. Dan is also once again given the task of being the ‘joke character’ – predictably right at the bottom of the pile. It’s good to see a newcomer (Rufus) making an impact near the top. Let’s hope that this continues.

I think that characters such as Zangief and Balrog are so high up is mainly because they deal so much damage from a single blow, and take relatively little from an attack. As people play the game more and learn more advanced strategies, they’ll learn more effective strategies to playing against these slower characters, and will ultimately win. That’s my personal opinion anyway!

Nintendo has successfully and effortlessly done something that no other gaming company has done before (or has appeared to ever tried before) – They have widened the market to include females, adults and young kids. Most gaming companies fight it out for the small demographic of 18-30 year old males. While they’re all
fighting over the same scraps like two rats in an alley, Nintendo has come along and sat down in the restaurant. It’s not the best analogy, but you see my point. Games such as ‘Wii Fit’ and ‘Wii Sports Resort’ have broadened the industry, and made people question ‘what is a video game?’. Since for many of these games you can use a controller that only has two main buttons on it, and is operated mainly by movement, or you can use a step that monitors your weight and balance, it’s very different from anything 5 years ago, and a million miles from the days of Space Invaders.

Nintendo have marketed this idea brilliantly by showing adverts of famous families (such as the Redknapp family) all playing the Wii together. It all started with Wii Sports, a game that families will gather round and play together. People would have previously played board games in events such as these, but the video game has taken over. Monopoly and Cluedo hae been replaced by Wii Bowling and Wii Tennis. The obvious downside with this approach, however, is that this is only suited to the casual gamer. There are few games for the Wii that allow the serious gamer to get any real substance out of, although this is beginning to change, as Nintendo have addressed this. Everything about the Wii reeks of that Nintendo enthusiasm and charm, and it’s intoxicating. The other main drawing point of the Wii is in it’s price – a console can be bought for as little as $199, whereas a Playstation 3 would cost you at least $299.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, also known as Call of Duty 6 (or COD 6) to some, is the natural successor to the massively successful 2008 game of the year (despite being released in 2007), Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. Most of you will know this game already, will have played it, or probably own it, so it needs no real introduction. The semi-sequel to this (produced by a different branch of the company) was called Call of Duty: World at War. Released in 2008, it was set in World War II, and featured a certain Nazi Zombie minigame that was unlocked upon completion of the story mode. This feature has become a cult-phenomenon already, and two subsequent zombie levels have been released since.

Nazi Zombies puts you and up to 3 other people in a confined set of rooms. Zombies attack from all angles, and come in through various walls and windows that you must keep boarded up at all times. Money/Points are earned for killing zombies and repairing the building, which can be spent on opening up new areas and buying new weapons, as well as buying special ‘perks’ (such as quick reload and quick revive). The game (seemingly) goes on forever, with each level getting longer and harder (tougher zombies and more of them). The real key is to work as a team, and to have a strategy so that you each cover one-another. Trying to survive in the game can be truly enthralling and terrifying, and you get a real sense of togetherness with your teammates.

The big question now is; will Modern Warfare 2 have a zombie mode of it’s own? The short answer appears to be No. The reason being that the two games (World at War and Modern Warfare) are produced by different people, and are essentially not of the same series, so why would they have the same modes? However, it seems that a sequel to World at War is on the way (and which will no-doubt include more zombie madness then you can handle), as well as the possibility of more DLC (downloadable content) for the current game.