Friday, August 31, 2012

Torchlight II Release Date Announced at PAX Prime

Runic games announced at PAX Prime as well as with a simultaneous press release that Torchlight II will be released on September 20th, 2012. Amazing that the date is right around the corner! Full press release, below.

Review: Xenoblade Chronicles

It's been a long time since I've put more then 50 hours into a video game. Even longer since that game was on a Nintendo console. Xenoblade Chronicles released in Japan in 2010 and finally made it's way over to the states in April of this year. Outside of what I heard from friends about the game, going in I had no expectations. After 62 hours and 44 minutes my journey over and through the worlds of Mechonis and Bionis was complete and I still wanted more. In this review we'll take a look at some of the awesome features that made my 62+ hours (and counting) with this game one of the most enjoyable experiences I've ever had with a JRPG. So dust off that Wii, fire it up and get ready to finally use it for more then a cute, family friendly Mario game! There are no spoilers in this review.

Monday, August 27, 2012

Raw Thoughts from the Guild Wars 2 Headstart


Guild Wars 2's Headstart access unlocked this past Saturday so I was able to take full advantage of a free weekend to play about 24 hours worth of the game. All things considered, it was the best MMO launch in recent memory despite some brief downtime. I've collected some raw thoughts on my experiences so far.


Friday, August 24, 2012

SNES Enix Games You Need to Play

In this post, we'll be looking at some of the lesser known RPGs on the SNES published by Enix in the 1990s that I think are still worth taking the time to play through. The games talked about here are games that I played as a child that I can still pickup and play today. Enix was a powerhouse in the SNES RPG world during the 90s but a lot of their games went unnoticed. Let us take a look at some of these games you may have overlooked.

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Guild Wars 2: Launch Times


All the writers of TGN are in total Guild Wars 2 mode here. I, for one, am quite anxious to get in and see some higher level zones on my Charr Guardian than I was able to in the Beta Weekends. Luckily, AreaNet has done us all a favor and emailed out the exact times the servers should go live so we can get to work leveling as soon as possible.

Details below:

Monday, August 20, 2012

Darksiders II: First Impressions


After what many fans have considered a long wait Darksiders II was finally released this past Tuesday. I took some time to sit down with the sequel to one of my favorite games of 2010 to see if it would live up to my expectations. After completing only the first area of the game I can say, overall, I am not disappointed. 

Friday, August 17, 2012

Guild Wars 2: Manage your Expectations

Let me preface this article by saying that I thoroughly enjoyed my time with the Guild Wars Beta weekends. That being said, some of the hype I read around the web is getting borderline unrealistic. It's far better for people's enjoyment of the game to temper their expectations for what the game is and what is possible in the genre. While ArenaNet boasts a few features they bill as genre redefining, I think on release we'll find a perfection of the current generation MMO formula rather than a revolution of Massively Multiplayer experience.

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Streamer to Watch: GuardsmanBob

We at The Gaming Nook have gotten back into League of Legeneds recently after a long break mostly due to the release of Diablo 3.  Now that the dust has settled, we've all jumped back in with both feet.  This includes watching some of our favorite streamers.  In this post, I'd like to highlight one of our favorite streamers, GuardsmanBob.  It's rare to find a streamer that can keep his viewers informed while at the same time, keeping a cool head while playing and Bob does both of these things very well.  If you're not already watching him, you should be and here is why.


Friday, August 10, 2012

Classic Koei

In the historical simulator world, there has always been one company that has had the market cornered: Koei.  In the time of 8-bit/16-bit consoles Koei led the way (mostly because no on else wanted to) in historical simulation games.  Even at a young age, I was a history nerd and loved anything that could combine 2 of my favorite things, history and video games.  These days, you might know Koei as TecmoKoei since they purchased Tecmo in 2009 and they're most well known for games such as Dynasty Warriors and Warriors Orochi.  In this post, we'll visit the games that spawned these two franchises including some others that were little known but can still be addictive today.

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Xbox 720: Requirements to Succeed in the Next Gen

Microsoft should be asking themselves one fundamental question as they gear up for their next generation console launch. Why should consumers purchase our new box? The market has shifted significantly since the Xbox 360's launch - more people are gaming on their phones, on their tablets and perhaps more significantly, on their PC. The current generation of systems are clearly showing their age and anecdotally you will find numerous cases of gamers buying a gaming PC because the consoles feel so dated. Furthermore, why buy an Xbox 720 and not Sony's "Orbis" or even the Wii U? Here are what I believe are the main features and changes that Microsoft needs to nail in order to be successful in the coming generation of consoles.

Monday, August 6, 2012

Elder Scrolls V: Dawnguard PC Review

I poured around a hundred and fifty hours into The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim after it's initial release and over a hundred into Oblivion. Days of my life have been devoted to exploring Tamriel and Cyrodil.  Suffice it to say, I am a fan of the series and was excited for the first DLC of the Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim: Dawnguard to launch on PC.  That wait was over as of two days ago when Dawnguard became available on PC.  The game has been available on Xbox for a month due to an exclusivity deal between Microsoft and Bethesda; however, the game is not yet out on PS3 due to some technical bugs according to Bethesda.


Friday, August 3, 2012

Tower Wars Preview


Tower Wars is an upcoming tower defense game from the folks at Super Villain Studios. Recently, The Gaming Nook got some hands on time with the beta. Tower Wars looks to stand out from the pack with skill trees, resource management, and impressive multiplayer. At the same time the game strives to retain everything we know and love about the tower defense genre. Read on through the break to see why Tower Wars breaks the mold.

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Classic 8-Bit/16-Bit Sports Games

Back in the day, your only options for sports games were not so limited like they are today.  Now you pretty much have the base franchise games, NHL XX, Madden, Backyard Whatever, and anything else EA can churn out before a new season starts.  There was a time when EA put thought into a game and made it fun.  There was also a time when developers other then EA and 2K made sports games.  In this post, I'll bring you back to a time where sports games where fun, creative and had some level of replay value rather then being your standard cookie cutter sports game.  Coach Bricka demands you join him!