Is The Arena Shooter Dead?

The Arena Shooter

Is it dead?

by exterminat

©2012 Nicholas Laborde

Part of progression is the simple act of moving on.

We live in a day and age where the past is continually being dwelled upon (see: the influx of HD re-releases), and we’re about to jump into the next cycle of video game technology with the imminent next generation of consoles and engines.

Something that constantly irks me, though, is of how one particular type of game seems to be breathing its last weak sighs; the arena shooter.

The modern mentality coupled with “everyone else is doing it” has led the Call of Duty franchise to momentous heights, and in my opinion, it’s hammering the final nail into the coffin of one of gaming’s most cherished pastimes.

Have shooters lost their way? Find out…

The Top Announcements We Want and Don’t Want at E3 2012

The Top Announcements of E3 2012

What We Want and Don’t Want

by exterminat

©2012 Nicholas Laborde

Ah, E3. The Electronic Entertainment Expo, gaming’s biggest event and easily the largest concentration of information throughout the year.

It’s in the air. Can you smell it? Feel it? Sense it? It’s right around the corner – in fact, from the time of this post, only thirty-seven days away – and this is when anticipation truly sets in and begins to build.

  • Will that hinted-at project be unveiled?
  • Will that sequel get announced?
  • Will that exclusive title go multiplatform?
  • Will Valve finally speak of Half-Life 2: Episode Three/Half-Life 3?
  • Will Star Wars: Battlefront III see the light of day?
  • Will Peter Molyneux claim his next title will cure cancer?
  • Will the new consoles be unveiled?
  • Will I have to sell my firstborn child to purchase said consoles?

It’s quite simply the most wonderful time of the year in the gaming scene, and everyone is ecstatic. But with every E3, there always comes the great anticipations, excitements and – of course – the disappointments and let downs. It’s a given with any E3.

OXCGN is proudly returning to the show floor to provide coverage like none other.

Until then, here are the top announcements we do and don’t want at E3 2012, in no particular order.

Is this the year that all our dreams come true? Read on to see!

Five Years Ago: Half-Life 2: Episode 1

Five Years Ago

Half-Life 2: Episode One – How has it aged?

by exterminat

©2011 Nicholas Laborde

It may be said that every fifty years marks a noticeable advance in human knowledge and civilization.

What people dreamed of in 1961 can, for the most part, be accomplished or at least plausibly envisioned in 2011. The once luxurious, expensive computer is now a common household device that is beginning to be eclipsed by the rising advance of mobile phones. Automobiles are still expensive, but are much more efficient than they were back in the day.

The thing that makes the passage of time interesting is not the inventions we expected, but the ones we didn’t expect.

We went to the moon at the end of the 60s, and the entire human race thought we’d live there by 2000… well, we haven’t gone any further and probably will never go back (which, in my opinion, has led to the death of good science fiction).

What was it like way back then . . . .

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