Sarajevo Downtown at night.

• 27Dec 10

  GameSpot's Ornament Scavenger Hunt

  CLUE 1: Van Nguyenhttp://uk.gamespot.com/users/Van/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=m-100-25893598

  CLUE 2: Jody Robinsonhttp://uk.gamespot.com/users/JodyR/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=m-100-25893594&tag=tracked-blogs%3Bbloglink1

  CLUE 3: Guy Cockerhttp://uk.gamespot.com/users/guy_cocker/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=m-100-25893558

  CLUE 4: Matthew Gravishhttp://uk.gamespot.com/users/mgravish/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=m-100-25893574&tag=all-about%3Bblog1

  CLUE 5: Chris Wattershttp://uk.gamespot.com/users/Chris_Watters/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=m-100-25893547

  CLUE 6: Kevin Vanordhttp://uk.gamespot.com/users/Kevin-V/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=m-100-25893569

  CLUE 7: Aaron Sampsonhttp://uk.gamespot.com/users/AirDog80/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=m-100-25893530

  CLUE 8: Alex Sassoonhttp://uk.gamespot.com/users/sebFlyte/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=m-100-25893542

  CLUE 9: Wernher Goffhttp://uk.gamespot.com/users/wornstar/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=m-100-25893595

  CLUE 10: Jan Heirhttp://uk.gamespot.com/users/Jan_Meja_Heir/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=m-100-25893561

  CLUE 11: Randolph Ramseyhttp://uk.gamespot.com/users/RandolphRam/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=m-100-25893577

  CLUE 12: Andrew Parkhttp://uk.gamespot.com/users/AndrewP/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=m-100-25893543

  CLUE 13: Mark Waltonhttp://uk.gamespot.com/users/markypants/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=m-100-25893573&tag=tracked-blogs%3Bbloglink5

  CLUE 14: Justin Calverthttp://uk.gamespot.com/users/JusticeCovert/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=m-100-25893566

  CLUE 15: Sophia Tonghttp://uk.gamespot.com/users/Sophia/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=m-100-25893585

  CLUE 16: Kurtis Seidhttp://uk.gamespot.com/users/Yarvem/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=m-100-25893570

  CLUE 17: Giancarlo Varaninihttp://uk.gamespot.com/users/Giancarlo/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=m-100-25893556

  CLUE 18: Justin Porterhttp://uk.gamespot.com/users/jporter313/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=m-100-25893567

  CLUE 19: Ryan MacDonaldhttp://uk.gamespot.com/users/RyanM/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=m-100-25893580&tag=tracked-blogs%3Bbloglink4

  CLUE 20: Tyler Winegarnerhttp://uk.gamespot.com/users/TylerW/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=m-100-25893599

  CLUE 21: Maxwell Mcgeehttp://uk.gamespot.com/users/Maxwell/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=m-100-25893575

  CLUE 22: James Kozaneckihttp://uk.gamespot.com/users/kozanecki/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=m-100-25893560

  CLUE 23: Frank Adamshttp://uk.gamespot.com/users/frank7731/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=m-100-25893551

  CLUE 24: Sarju Shahhttp://uk.gamespot.com/users/SarjuS/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=m-100-25893581

  CLUE 25: Shaun Mcinnishttp://uk.gamespot.com/users/shaunmc/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=m-100-25893583&tag=tracked-blogs%3Bbloglink3

  CLUE 26: Ricardo Torreshttp://uk.gamespot.com/users/RicardoT/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=m-100-25893579

  CLUE 27: Tom Magrinohttp://uk.gamespot.com/users/TomM_GScom/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=m-100-25893588&tag=all-about%3Bblog1

  CLUE 28: Dan Chiappinihttp://uk.gamespot.com/users/Chippa7/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=m-100-25893548

  CLUE 29: Homer Rabarahttp://uk.gamespot.com/users/gshomer/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=m-100-25893559

  CLUE 30: Takeshi Hiraokahttp://uk.gamespot.com/users/Takeshi-GS/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=m-100-25893587

  CLUE 31: Tor Thorsenhttp://uk.gamespot.com/users/thorsen-ink/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=m-100-25893591

  CLUE 32: Jim Mayburyhttp://uk.gamespot.com/users/jmaybury/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=m-100-25893564

  CLUE 33: Carolyn Petithttp://uk.gamespot.com/users/carolynmichelle/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=m-100-25893546

  CLUE 34: Tom Mcsheahttp://uk.gamespot.com/users/TomMcShea/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=m-100-25893589&tag=tracked-blogs%3Bbloglink2

  CLUE 35: Dan Mihoerckhttp://uk.gamespot.com/users/neur0sis/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=m-100-25893549

  CLUE 36: Jane Douglashttp://uk.gamespot.com/users/janedouglas/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=m-100-25893563

  CLUE 37: Brendan Sinclairhttp://uk.gamespot.com/users/Polybren/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=m-100-25893544

  CLUE 38: Laura Parkerhttp://uk.gamespot.com/users/Lozzica/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=m-100-25893571

  • Posted Dec 27, 2010 2:33 pm GMT
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• 10Mar 10

  A blog to Final Fantasy

  
  

  Since we are gaming, many franchises changed, we played many platforms, the way we play changed and even whole genres changed. Some new kids came who surpassed the old group of gamers with there reflexes and concentration. The market got bigger for so-called "Casual" gamers and even for non-gamers. But non matter which group of gamer you are, everyone agrees that Final Fantasy is one of the rare great constants in the gaming industry, providing a unique feeling which no one else can. In the mid 1980's, Square (now Square Enix) was facing bankruptcy. In those times Hironobu Sakaguchi decided to create one more fantasy based Role-playing game since he said that he isn't good at making action games and decided to tell people a story, inspired by Enix's Dragon Quest, Nintendo's The legend of Zelda and the Ultima series. Since he was planing to retire after that game, he decided to name the game Final Fantasy. The development team was counting 7 people, while the other team at Square had about 20. It was originally planed that the first shipment will consist of 200000 units but Hironobu pleaded the company ship 400000 and they agreed. Aside of Hironobu as designer, other noteable people working on that game werecharacters and title logo designer Yoshitaka Amano, Akitoshi Kawazu and Kenji Terada were the writers, programmer of that game was a Iranian-American freelancer programmer Nasir Gebelli and the music was composed by Nobuo Uematsu.

  
  This man though Final Fantasy is going to be his last game.

  The game was critically very well accepted, especially in Japan selling the whole shipment. Nintendo made the localization of the game for the North American market, after the success of Dragon Quest. Unlike how it was in Japan the game was mild received in NA. The gameplay is like from any RPG from that time. It consisted from an overworld map on which you move across the world, the battles were turn-based and only possible through random encounters and the level-up system was based on experience points you get after every battle to level-up and to raise your stats which was done automatically. There was a story, but because of the limitations the consoles had in those times, it was very basic. The first installment of the series is regarded as one of the most influential early console RPG. And all that was enough to spawn a sequel, but since Hironobu planned the game to be a stand-alone tittle, they decided to create an all-new story, but keep some elements from the first one. The sequel came just a year after, and it had a more complex story, a little of character development and a lot different level-up system which was based on the using of weapons and not experience points, and it introduced Chocobo's. The main people behind the game were the same as behind the first one, but it wasn't localized to NA until 2003. The last Final Fantasy game that came out for Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) was Final Fantasy III, which also wasn't localized to the rest of the world until the DS remake that came out in 2006, 2007 in Europa. The original Final Fantasy III came out in 1990 in Japan. It returned the level-up system from Final Fantasy I, it introduced the job system which allows players to change c l a s s whenever they want, and have the players an even more complex story and more depth character development.

  
  Final Fantasy III was probably the first FF that had memorable characters

  The NES retired, the Super Nintendo (SNES) came, and with it a new Final Fantasy. Final Fantasy IV, released in 1991 was localized to NA as Final Fantasy II. It was very story-based and many fans still regard it as the best story a Final Fantasy game had. The character development was very deep, but Final Fantasy IV is remembered also for the introducing the Active-Time battle (ATM). What not very well known is that the original script was reduced to one fourth because of the catridge storage limit. Once more, just a year after and without a NA localization, Final Fantasy V saw the light of the day. The ATB returned, and even thought experience points returned, there were not the only factor because the job system played a major role for getting stronger in this game. It is regarded as a great Final Fantasy but with less character development and story. People waited 2 years to get Final Fantasy VI, known as Final Fantasy III in NA. It didn't introduced nothing innovating, and although it had less character development then Final Fantasy IV, the story is regarded also as one of the best in the series and overall as one of the best Final Fantasy's.

  
  Final Fantasy VII was the first Final Fantasy in 3D

  Final Fantasy VII abandoned Nintendo, and went to Sony's new console, the PlayStation. It was the first Final Fantasy in 3D, it had prerendered background, CGI animations and a lot more and to write everything that it introduced would take a whole blog. It is the best selling Final Fantasy till date, selling about 10 millions units, and it is also one of the best accepted by critics. The story is the most important part of the game, but for many it is a very hard story since it has about 200 A4 paper script without any voice acting. Final Fantasy VIII came 2 years after, and it didn't introduced anythingrevolutionary but a great story which became a synonymous for Final Fantasy games. Final Fantasy IX returned to the roots and was based on crystals, like the first games but all in 3D, and it is one of the best rated Final Fantasy games. Playstation 2 came, and once more a new Final Fantasy came. It was Final Fantasy X (which was also the first Final Fantasy that spawned a real sequel, Final Fantasy X-2), which was the first Final Fantasy to introduce voice acting to the series and boosted the sales of Sony's console. It also introduced a new battle system called Conditional Turn-Based Battle (CTB), but it also was the last game from Square, which after this game, became Square Enix. That act changed a lot, since Hironobu and some other staff left and created there own studios. The composer, Nobue Uematsu did the same but he still makes music for Final Fantasy.

  
  Square Enix is formed from two RPG gaints, Square and Enix
  

  Final Fantasy XI is an MMORPG based game and by many not regarded as a true Final Fantasy and it came out in 2002. 5 years after the original release of Final Fantasy X, Final Fantasy XII came with the biggest development time for a Final Fantasy game. It featured amazing sound and CGI animations, but it also took out random encounters and it was the first Final Fantasy were you could see enemy's walking on the map. It was very good received by critics and was sold in impressive numbers. And 4 years later we are standing here, playing Final Fantasy XIII, as the latest installment in this long running franchise and enjoying it. If we can believe to Square Enix, it is the most expensive Final Fantasy to date, but it is also one of the worst received Final Fantasy's by critics. But never less, Final Fantasy will stay an impressive franchise with a lot of hater but even more fans.

  • Posted Mar 10, 2010 10:52 am GMT
  • Category: Editorial
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• 26Jan 10

  My most anticipated games of 2010

  It's almost a year since the year started but just like the last year and about in the same time, I posted my most anticipated games of 2010. If you checked out that link you would have seen that 5 out of those 15 games didn't came out the last year, and 3 of those game still aren't out (and again 2 of them are in my list). Games like Mass Effect 2 and Dark Void have been considered in this because there weren't out when the list was made (Bayonneta not but if I would have made the list earlier it would be in top 10), but unfortunetly there were not able to come in the final 15. When I was collecting the games to make the list, I had 85 candidates. After the first rating (the score was based on the sum of 3 different categories which were anticipation, technical side and attraction and every categorie could give a max of 10 points so the max amount was 30 points) the number of games fell down on 36 games that got 25 or more points, and the second rating (just those 36 games) brought down that number on 21 games with a score of 25 or more, but 15 with a score of 26 or more and that's exactly what I wanted. I finally took those 15 games and rated them one more time to order them from 15 to 1. If some games has the same number of points, I took the rang from the last round and considered it.
  
  The 6 games that were just a point from getting in this list are:
  Mass Effect 2, Fable III, ModNation Racers, Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Conviction, Final Fantasy XIV and Starcraft II (and the last game was number 1 on my list of most anticipate games last year).

  Now let us look a bit on charts which will show us on which platform the game will come out:
  

  Now that we saw which console have most exclusives and how many of those game will come on a praticular console I can show you the number of games per genres and age rating:
  

  After all this statistics, I'm ready to show you my top 15 most anticipated games (the legend is Rang/Name of the game/image/comment/platform/release date/my anticipation rating from round 3 (anticipation, attraction, technical side)/possibility of moving to next year (if it's 0% then this doesn't exists) and here there are:

  15)
  Dante's Inferno
  
  So, the game which is the last on the list is an M rated Action/Adventure game from EA Visceral studio (the studio behind the great Dead Space from 2008 ). Like most of you know, the game is based on Dante's Book of the Hell, which is a part of one of the greatest cultural heritage of literature, and part of the Divine comedy. I'm really excited to see how EA is gonna make such a great book in a game, although we already know that it won't follow the book complitly, already the fact that the main character is Dante who is searching for his belowed girlfriend is showing us that, and will they bring us the charm of Virgilie (in the book he is the guide who shows around Hell) right? It's up to us too test when the game comes out!
  Platform: Playstation 3, X-box 360 and Playstation Portable
  Release date: February 9
  My rating: 24/30 (7,8,9)

  14)
  Gran Turismo 5
  
  The best racing simulation game is coming, and that's for the fifth time! We all now what Kazunori Yamauchi wants from this game so no wonder it is been expected to come out since 2008. And you ask what he wants? Only one word: Perfection, and that in all segments. As we already know, Polyphone studio has already spend more then 60 million $ for this game so we can expect just a hell of a racing and frustration because of the great physic which the game will provide.
  Platform: Playstation 3 exclusive
  Release date: TBA 2010 (last half)
  My rating: 25/30 (7,10,8 )
  Moving rate: 25%

  13)
  Nier
  
  An upcoming Action/Adventure game with a M rating from Square Enix! Now what can we expect from it? Well, hopefully a lot of fun and killing, but since Bayonetta came out all games on this theme will have to struggle to become great. So let us see how SE will perform!
  Platform: Playstation 3 and X-box 360
  Release date: Summer
  My rating: 25/30 (8,8,9)
  Moving rate: about 25%

  12)
  Alan Wake
  
  Will Remedy, the Finish studio behind some of the greatest games, be able to provide us some big excitment with this game which we are waiting for about 3-4 years? They better do, and Microsoft also hopes big from this probably M rated Adventure game with some little Action, maybe this will be a little answer to Sony's Heavy Rain.
  Platform: X-box 360 exclusive (PC version planned)
  Release date: April 13
  My rating: 25/30 (8,9,8 )

  11)
  The legend of Zelda (Wii)
  
  The yet to be tittled TloZ game for Wii. We all hope Shigeru Miyamoto and his team will be able to complete the game till end of the year and provide us some great Action/Adventure sequence which all TloZ games had.
  Platform: Wii exlusive
  Release date: Late 2010
  My rating: 25/30 (8,9,8 )
  Moving rate: up to 50%

  10)
  Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker
  
  Hideo Kojima never failed us to provide us some great cartoon box fun and action and the same will probably be this time also. The multiplayer looks promising and the excitment that this is a main story game just brings this game this high on this list!
  Platform: Playstation Portable exclusive
  Release date: May 25
  My rating: 26/30 (9,9,8 )

  9)
  Professor Layton and the last Time travel
  
  A game which came out in late 2008 in Japan is hopefully coming to us this year. The great puzzle game from Level 5 is already expecting it's 5th tittle in Japan and a movie will soon be out! This is the third game in the story and progress the story of the first 3 games, but the 4th tittle will take place before the first game followed by the movie.
  Platform: Nintendo DS exclusive
  Release date: Second half 2010
  My rating: 26/30 (9,9,8 )

  8 )
  Super Mario Galaxy 2
  
  Shigeru Miyamoto said last year that the game could have been released in the holiday session of 2009 but he didn't wanted to spoil the fun for New Super Mario Bros. Wii, so the will released this year. I hope many things from the best platformer game and world famous plumber!
  Platform: Wii exclusive
  Release date: TBA 2010
  My rating: 26/30 (10,8,8 )

  7)
  Fallout: New Vegas
  
  A new game from Obsidian games (part of them are creators from the original Fallout) and Bethesda. Like we know it will not be a sequal to Fallout 3, it will be a new entry in the RPG series. Like the name say, it will be in Nevada, Las Vegas after the nuclear apocalypse. Now we just have to hope that it comes out this year!
  Platform: Playstation 3, X-box 360 and PC
  Release date: TBA 2010
  My ratting: 27/30 (9,9,9)
  Moving rate: about 40%

  6)
  The last Guardian
  
  Fumito Ueda and the rest of his team which are behind two of the greatest games ever, Shadow of the Collosus and ICO, are hard at work for there upcoming Action/Adventure game, feautering a young boy and a big griffin-like creature. Like we know from previous games, one of them will die, but will it be?
  Platform: Playstation 3 exclusive
  Release date: TBA 2010
  My rating: 27/30 (9,9,9)
  Moving rate: 40-50%

  5)
  Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep
  
  The next entry in the praised RPG Kingdom Hearts series, a hybrid of Final Fantasy, Disney and some original thoughs from Tetsuya Noumura and the rest of his staff from Square Enix. The game is already out in Japan and getting praised so we just have to wait to get!
  Platform: Playstation Portable
  Release date: Tba 2010
  My rating: 27/30 (10,9,8 )
  Moving rate: 10%

  4)
  Crysis 2
  
  We all know for the original Far Cry, for Crysis. There are the most praised games when it comes to the technical stuff in the year when they came out and even in the following. All that was done by the German studio Crytek which has opened by Turkey imigrants. Crysis 2 will be the sequal to the critical very good acclaimed shooter from 2007. This M rate shooter should better not fail us!
  Platform: PC, Playstation 3 and X-box 360
  Release date: TBA 2010
  My rating: 28/30 (9,10,9)
  Moving rate: about 30%

  3)
  God of War III
  
  Everybody who played and finished God of War II wants this tittle. We want to see how this M rated Action/Adventure game will truly end. Will the spartan who became the god of war, but then betrayed by Zeus, get his revenge or will the god of gods show to powerfull to do so. We will find out soon and hope that Sony's Santa Monica crew did great job!
  Platform: Playstation 3 exclusive
  Release date: March 16
  My rating: 29/30 (10,10,9)

  2)
  Heavy Rain
  
  Sony's biggest exclusive, along side with God of War III, is coming out soon! This M rated Adventure game, made by French Quantic Dream with David Cage on the top, will feature probably the most realistic facial and body emotions and movings in any game. The game will be about 4 characters chasing a serial killer and all of them have some other reason for that, but they also have private problems (astma etc) which will be activated while we play and just bring more tension.
  Platform: Playstation 3 exclusive
  Release date: February 23
  My ratting: 30/30 (10,10,10)

  1)
  Final Fantasy XIII
  
  Square Enix most praised game and franchise started more then 20 years ago and it's still running. It was suppoused to be Hironobu's last game, but we see what happend, we got 12 more titles. It evolved to one of the greatest RPG games and series. We already await this game for 3-4 years and we finally will play it this year in March. Just a little more time and we will finally fell that Final Fantasy felling again!
  Platform: Playstation 3 and X-box 360
  Release date: March 9
  My ratting: 30/30 (10,10,10)

  • Posted Jan 26, 2010 1:03 pm GMT
  • Category: Editorial
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