Kotaku writer, Mark Wilson, has written a very, very good article on video game reviews, and the direction it’s been heading in. The article is extremely well written, and gives readers great points and heavy support. Wilson criticizes the criticism by touching on the fact that some publications are a bit ridiculous when it comes to giving number scores, how video games are being reviewed as products and not art, and shows everyone how reviewing should be.

There are reviews that go to the hundredth decimal place, scoring games like 9.45. In such cases, reviewers are essentially scoring out of a thousand. So what separates a 9.45 from a 9.44 or a 9.34. And on that matter, what separates an 82 from an 87? Maybe Yoshi’s tongue snapped too quickly back into his mouth. If that were only tweaked, man, Miyamoto could have cleaned up with at least an 88.349.

Tough. Hard hitting. It’s a terrific article to read, if you get the chance to.

Since the beginning of time those without skill have cheated their way to glory. Even today some gamers, although they do not deserve to be called that, cheat for achievements. There are some who do not care about earning those points, and instead just want to artificially increase their score through the efforts of others who are actually capable of playing the game. They have so far gone unpunished, free to exploit the system and gain virtual points that cannot be redeemed for anything more than bragging rights among others who are addicted to being rewarded for virtual deeds.

However, all of their lies and deceitful numbers are about to be gone forever. Major Nelson says that anyone who has tampered with their gamerscore may sign in only to find that every single one of the points they cheated to get are gone - they will be sent straight back to zero, and won’t be able to get them back. If that’s not enough, they might even ban cheaters’ accounts and consoles from Xbox Live so they can never again pollute the groups of hard working gamers with their numerical lies.

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Today, as I moseyed around my libratory - that’s a laboratory used for wordscience - my lab assistant, Kingsley, informed me of a post on Bungie’s blog. I eyed him curiously through my goggles, stunned at his mere indifference towards my work. “Kingsley,” I whispered ferociously, “What is this nonsense?”

“A blog,” He stated plainly. He was clearly not a man suited for such a laborious job as a wordscientist. “It is about the Halo.”

I glared at him with the intensity one reserves for a pregnant nun, before letting out a sigh in acquiescence. I allowed myself to read the blog, my eyes widening as the wordplay danced its way into my mind. A post so beautifully written; I could not possibly desecrate it with my stylistically neolithic ramblings! Furthermore, there was to be an Infection gametype in ranked Halo matches! I allowed a smile to creep across my face. Yes, I thought. Bungie is a worthy adversary.

I shall meet them on the battlefield. From 12:01 AM on Halloween ’til 3 AM on the following day, I shall destroy them all, infecting them with the painful realization of their utter mediocrity. On Halloween, I do swear this: I shall beat them at their own game.

Forgive the late post for MEGAMonday, yours truly has been busy marveling the Video Games Live show in Columbia, Missouri this past Sunday and writing a review for your pleasure. A MEGATONik video segment showcasing the festivities will be posted in due time, but first, a note about new releases this week…

It’s quite uncommon for the gaming industry to put out a new release with a retail street date set for the weekend. However, the public was more than ready and willing to get up off the couch this past Sunday, October 28 to pick up Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock for either Xbox 360, Wii, PS3 or PS2.

Perhaps this move might overshadow any other anticipated games coming out this week. Nonetheless, as we enter the month of November, remind yourself that the best is yet to come.

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On Saturday, I took a trip to Best Buy to pick up The Orange Box. While waiting for the clerk to fetch a copy from the back, I noticed something awesome: the Rock Band demo station. So I walked over, and a very short journey began….
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Like a pendulum coated with billions of dollars, the Halo movie teases us once more with its potential badassery. Our eyes, trying hard to focus through copious tears of happiness and hope, glow with the passion of a thousand Spartan Lasers. We smile. And then it begins its dreadful swing back into a realm of obscurity, where German, no-name commercial directors butcher our hopes and dreams with shaky-cam garbage.

Peter Jackson’s representative, Ken Kamins, recently spoke out about the state of the Halo movie to Variety. Kamins stated that, despite the dropping out of both Fox and Universal, the Halo movie is still in pre-production. Furthermore, potential victim of various effigies, Neil Blomkamp, is still set to direct. Kamins makes it clear that they are very adamant about this dude. We call this kind of thing blind faith, because you’d have to be blind to like those live-action shorts.

Also, Peter Jackson’s a hack.

This Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles “head blasting” gameplay footage gives a great look as to how gameplay, designed to be used with the Wii Zapper, will work. From the looks of it, not even FPS Doug, the grand-daddy of first-person shooters, will have anything to complain about. Thus far, Umbrella Chronicles looks great; it may not be the most visually stunning game on the market, but rather it looks fun, something that many of the beautiful games out there seem to be lacking. You know what I’m really looking forward to, though? Blowing fucking zombie heads off with a shotgun. BOOM! HEADSHOT!

In an interesting post over at Kotaku, Marky Mark Wilson explains how Epic Games president Mike “No Good Ideas” Capps almost made a couple of decisions that would have completely ruined Gears of War. When interviewed on the subject, Capps said:

I was going to cut multiplayer from Gears because I thought it wasn’t coming together fast enough…The day before E3 I’m like “no guys, it’s not pulling together”. And they made it, they pulled it together, and then we won every award.

Yikes. It’s a good thing that this guy isn’t the head of any major company or anything. I’m really happy that in being employed in Epic’s mailroom, he has no say as to what happens with the games that Epic creates. But Capps didn’t stop there. While commenting on the commercialization of his future blockbuster, Capps had this to say:

So, you know I thought the Mad World music, for the commercial that’s won so many awards, I thought it was stupid; I was like “what are you thinking? Nobody knows Donnie Darko any more.

Two almost debilitating decisions for the price of one? That’s too good to be true! Who let this guy become president? Looks like Mr. Bad Decisions over here has a lot of thinking to do for the upcoming Gears of War sequel, scheduled to drop sometime around the holiday season next year.

I didn’t think it could happen. Smash Bros. DOJO!! has proved itself to be worth the time that Masahiro Sakurai, creator of Super Smash Bros. Brawl, is pouring into it. Today, Sakurai announced that Brawl will be getting what he calls a “stage builder.” The feature allows you, as the creator, to use a series of simple tools to pick from a set list of items and create your own stage. The stage creator seems faintly reminiscent of the good old Tony Hawk skate park editors, except without the rambunctious, over-the-top faux skaters hitting each other with God knows what. Masahiro describes the different functions that you can perform using the editor:

Basically, you choose parts from the palette on the side and place them in the field.

The controls vary by controller, but each one can do the following:

* Flip parts left to right
* Enlarge or shrink parts
* Zoom in or out on the screen
* Swap palettes
* Erase

…Among other things.

Possibly the best part about this announcement is that, using the Wii’s online capabilities (a phrase that I thought I would never utter), you can send the levels that you create to your friends. Additionally, if you’re feeling lucky, you can send your stage into Nintendo, and hope that they release it as a part of the daily stage-giveaway that they will be doing.

I am truly excited for this update; with a little work, and a lot of patience, the stage creator will allow nearly endless replayability to a game that is almost assured limitless replayability in the first place. When the game drops in early 2008, be sure to clear out your schedule for the next few months.

This week we had a few reviews, a look at all the awesome games (or all the reasons your wallet will stay empty) this year, and plenty for fans of rhythm games - be it guitar, drums, or even maracas. Hit the jump for all the wonderful words we’ve wrapped together whilst the week went by.

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Greetings, Megatonians. I’ll be your tour guide to the absurd.

And what better way to start my tour than with the newest entry in the Scene It series, Lights, Camera, Action? In a world where board games are taking their time to die, Scene It’s neo-board-game approach is a shining, largely-packaged bastion of hope. You can play it on the tube, kids. It’s hip. It’s rock and roll. The truth is, it’s just another money-draining gimmick, complete with poor movie taste. Now with a nifty controller.

Hit the jump like a disloyal spouse for my impressions of the recently-dropped demo on Xbox Live.

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Battlestar Galactica is one of my favorite shows ever, and when I first heard that they were bringing a game based on the show to Xbox Live Arcade, I was pretty excited. Unfortunately, early previews seemed to imply that it was essentially Wing Commander Arena with Battlestar ships, and much of my enthusiasm for the game died.

The good news is that now that the game is out and I’ve had a chance to play it, it really is a much better experience than WCA and actually a decent use of the license.

Read more of my review after the jump.

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IGN has the full list of every song initially available in Rock Band, although there are some as yet unrevealed tracks that can be unlocked and there will be even more through downloadable content. However, while we may not know those tracks, here is the complete licensed track list revealed so far, organized by year:

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A few weeks ago Bungie teased of upcoming Halo 3 downloadable content, and in the newest Bungie Weekly Update more information is revealed:

The other thing keeping the designers busy, and the artists and audio guys for that matter, is downloadable content. The maps themselves are being prepared in a logical order, designed to fill gaps in our matchmaking selection and add new, interesting environments to our multiplayer arsenal. The more finished the maps are, the faster they’re likely to make it to marketplace. We’ll have more news on the specific plans for timing and availability soon, and we promise to let you guys get a look at the maps and hear more about what they have to offer.

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TN Games is going to release a vest for use with PCs, which will add a new level of realism to FPS games - by simulating getting hit by bullets in-game.

That’s right - come November 21st, for $169 you get to feel what’s it like to get shot. Repeatedly. Every single time you get shot in the game. While that sure doesn’t sound like loads of fun, the founder of TN Games Mark Umbrella Ombrellaro seems pretty enthusiastic:

Our patented vest technology now provides gamers with an unprecedented opportunity to physically experience their action… feel the rush of body slams, be crushed with G-forces, feel a stab wound or be blasted with bullet fire in either a single or multi-player game

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