The Value of YOUR dollar

Gaming is an amazing hobby, through video games we can go places and do thing that just are not possible in real life. From traveling the farthest reaches of the galaxy and fighting the convenient, to becoming a professional athlete or being a superhero and protecting your city from evil and tyranny. Gaming allows it all, but its not just about the games its about the people we meet and the experiences we have while playing them. This special edition of the carnage report is about the gamers, it’s about us, how we spend our hard earned money to enjoy this hobby and how what we buy can change the gaming market. First off I would like to note that while this article will address certain company’s producing games that does not mean that I hold them in a negative light and neither should you, we all should make our own educated opinions when it comes to this topic and this article.

That being said as gamers we have to be smarter about when and how we spend our money and support video games. With the release of the past console generation the asking price for new video games has reached over sixty dollars, a far cry from past games that were 49.99. In developers defense games have evolved in leaps and bounds with the arrival of new technology like the unreal engine, so its fare to say games are worth more money with the new advances. Both sides being considered certain things should not be tolerated and as gamers allowing a company to continually remake a title and demand more money for it is definitely one of those things. A perfect example of this argument is capcom and its constant rehashing of the street fighter franchise. Street fighter 4 was released February 17th 2009, it is a great fighting game that almost single handedly revived the two-dimensional fighting genre. For sixty-dollars gamers were able to reunite with favorite characters of the series as well as forge memories with new characters and expand the street fighter franchise.

Flash forward to April 27th 2010 and the release of super street fighter 4, the game had the returning cast of twenty-five characters from the first street fighter 4 as well as the introduction of ten new characters. Some of these characters return from previous street fighters like Adon and Dudley, and the game also introduced new fan favorite characters like Hakan and the newest character to join the street fighter elite Juri. Capcom said that super street fighter 4 would mark the definitive end to the street fighter 4 series and that all the added content of the different online modes and characters was too much to add onto the original sf4 disc but also lowered the price to 39.99 for ssf4. Super street fighter 4 is a great game and was received with high marks across the board from all the major gaming sites and channels. If your keeping track of the money spent so far gamers have spent at this point 100 plus dollars on sf4 not including tax, now that is quite a bit of money but with the advances of ssf4 it is a validated purchase for fighting fans. But little did gamers know capcom was preparing to release another super street fighter reincarnation.

(looks like akuma found the 7 dragon balls and wished for capcom to keep raping your wallet)


June 7th 2011, enter super street fighter 4 arcade edition which added 4 new characters, no; wait, wait a minute its really 3 old characters (evil ryu, yun & yang) and one new character Oni who really looks like he should be the next level of super saiyan in dragon ball z instead of a character in street fighter. The game simply put should have been downloadable content for ssf4 but instead capcom decided to take 40 more of your hard earned dollars to get it in retail stores. The game was identical to ssf4 right down to the opening video and backgrounds and had minimal online changes. This super recycling of street fighter 4 sadly is only one example of how capcom and other developers are using a popular franchise to take advantage of gamers and we have to make it stop. (On an interesting side note if you want another example of how capcom continually hoers out its best franchises look at marvel vs. capcom 3 and the info on ultimate MVC3, have fun getting your ass handed to you by Wesker and Dante as you try to learn the combos for
Rocket raccoon and Frank west…)

As gamers we need to support games that are worthy of sequels and further content and avoid games that don’t meet our expectations, developers like capcom shouldn’t be rewarded for lackluster efforts like SSF4AC with high sales, it sends the wrong message and lets them know that if the slap a little spit shine and monkey grease on this run down tired edition of street fighter they can continue to make millions and leave us holding the bill. If you love street fighter I am not tell you to stop playing it, I am simply saying don’t support SSF4AC, force capcom to make better DLC or better yet move forward to street fighter 5 by not supporting crappy titles. The ticker for money spent on street fighter 4 just whent past $140 if you purchased arcade addition and thats not counting purchase of any of the special editions which were in the hundreds including the fight stick(and if you did my condolences on your loss). This is the third time gamers forked over money to capcom and quite frankly unlike ssf4 which really improved on the first title, even 15 bucks for the online download is a bit pricey for one new character, three old ones and minimal "rebalancing" of the game. Once again I must restate that as gamers we have to be smarter and more importantly buy smarter so you dont get vomit worthy remakes such as super street fighter 4 arcade edition

Love, Lust and nightmares!!! This weeks special thursday edition carnage report is about Catherine!!!!

What would you do if after years of a committed relationship you awoke next to a very attractive girl who is not your girlfriend? How would you react? That is the main plotline in the game Catherine. You play Vincent, a man in his 30’s who still is struggling to make the transition into an adult and is dealing with life’s problems. Vincent is in a relationship with Katherine, a high school sweetheart who he has been dating for the past few years. One night while drinking at a local bar Vincent meets Catherine with a C and after one to many drinks wakes up in bed with her, the following night Vincent begins having horrific nightmares of constantly climbing a huge tower where if he or any of the men there die they die in real life as well.

Catherine is a story driven puzzle game the likes of which gamers have never seen, for eight days Vincent must tackle towers of blocks that vary from heavy blocks, ice blocks, blocks that explode and many other obstacles in order to make it to the top of the tower and the next night. There is no inherent right or wrong way to climb the tower, just like there is no right or wrong way to play the game with the multiple answers and choices throughout the story. The game strikes a really great tempo between the panic and chaos of the nightmares that rush you forward at a life threatening pace and the slow, calm atmosphere of the stray sheep where Vincent relaxes with friends and throws down shots. Aside from the nightmares the game takes place at the stray sheep where Vincent has drinks with friends, sends text messages and plays tunes from the games awesome soundtrack. Vincent also has the option to speak with other men at the bar having similar woman troubles, and play rapunzel, an arcade game in the stray sheep that can help prepare you for the nightmares, also downing drinks at the bar will increase your speed during the nightmares as well as give you interesting facts about the different types of liquor.

This kind of attention to detail is what really makes this game shine. Atlus clearly put a lot of time and effort into this game and it shows from the dialog, to the gameplay and main message of the game. Vincent’s nightmares and new crisis in his relationship aren’t just coincidence and they all have a much deeper meaning which echoes throughout the entire game, the things you say to both love interests will affect the game and lead you closer towards one of eight endings. Atlus is to be commended for striking outside of norm and creating a game that is truly original by tackling story elements that have always been seen as taboo by developers. Relationship problems, the journey to adulthood and infidelity towards a loved one are the main struggles Vincent has to cope with in Catherine and they are all themes you never see in games, which really is a shame because they provoke interesting questions and cause reflective thinking the likes of which most games never even attempt.

Catherine is a very different but very good game, but due to its oddities main stream gamers will probably pass but if you aren’t thrown off by its different gameplay style and presentation then you will really enjoy the game

Captain America review

Captain America review
The surprise game of the summer proves why the first avenger is the mightiest marvel.

Captain America has always been heralded as the mightiest avenger, Americas greatest hero but if you were born in the past decade or so without reading the comics you might not fully understand why, luckily caps movie premiered last month to get everyone up to speed on Americas greatest hero and like all recent superhero movies it donned a sidekick in the form of a game adaptation, which shockingly enough is pretty good. The first avenger is a really good game that shows off all of cap’s abilities, much like arkham asylum show off batman’s skills as the worlds greatest detective first avenger really gives you the feeling that you are in control of Americas super solider. The game takes place over multiple areas of a hydra castle that is acting as base camp for many of hydras military activity and development. Cap goes in kicking ass, taking names and freeing P.O.Ws (prisoners of war).

The game has some good combat, cap is extremely athletic and you will need all of his moves to defeat hydras forces, also there are a lot of extra content and achievements to be found in the hydra castle, there is also a challenge mode that is similar to arkham asylums. Unfortunately there are a few problems with the game; the enemies seem to look very repetitive after the first few chapters with only a few variations of the different enemies. Also caps animations are limited as well and as the game goes on you will begin to see the same crippling strike moves over and over, both minor but still are strikes against the game. I guess the biggest gripe would be the length of the game, for a 60 dollar price tag captain America is very short, less than a week of game play for the main story.

Speaking of the story first avenger has some pretty good boss fights and dialoge. Along the way the captain will rescue his crew that accompanied him into the hydra castle as well as encounter many of the foes from the captain america universe, including the red skull. While the game doesint really support the first avenger movie, it does bring cap back into relevancy and is a good game which is more than most ask of a movie game tie-in. Captain America the first avenger is a good game and defiantly a rental tittle but above that the game is not much more than a good first attempt, hopefully marvel and next level games will make a second captain America game and put a little more time and effort into there star spangled man .