I recently got the Gears of War 3 Limited Edition Xbox controller and the codes for the Infected Omen downloadable weapon skins that come with it. When I got out the card with the code I took a look at it and went to claim it on Xbox.com. I had just finished entering it when I stopped, put the card down and went to eBay. Searching on eBay for the same card, I found a couple of auctions charging up to $30AU for the code and one that had twelve bids for nearly $10. I decided on a potentially profitable experiment and put my own code on eBay, starting at $10. I thought, if I get that then it’s worth it. It sold for just over $13 and it honestly feels like money for nothing.



There has been a small market for this stuff for a few years now; the biggest and earliest one I can recall is the pets with the collector’s edition of World of Warcraft. Last year in particular players were given many pre-order bonuses for games such as Mass Effect 2 and Red Dead Redemption. Most of these codes just provided players with a couple of different skins that were otherwise unobtainable. It’s a good idea as it rewards early adopters with a small bonus for their purchase and indeed encourages players to buy early.

The problem I think with this is the extra market it has created for people that just have to have it all. I’ll admit I was quite obsessed with obtaining the bonuses that arrived with Mass Effect 2 though never enough to pay $20 for a single character skin code. This was rectified with later DLC but I couldn’t help but feel sorry for the people that had spent the money on something so small. Like most, I think these people are silly and will likely ultimately regret their purchase but it would be much easier if the publishers just provided a way for these people to get all the bonuses at a small price without going third party. This would obviously serve to benefit the company and the obsessed consumer too.



Sure, give early adopters a free skin on something and sure differentiate the bonuses between businesses but also offer everyone the chance to get these other bonuses for a small fee if they want them. Rockstar later offered the RDR skins as a cheap download but it wasn’t quite soon enough. It’s not hard; it will get the company a bit more pocket money and stop these people buying these things at absurdly inflated prices. And I suspect a lot of these sales are just from sneaky game store employees anyway.

By putting my own code on eBay, I have made myself part of the problem, now I want to be part of the solution.

The increasing hostility of publishers towards used game sales has often (and fairly), been criticized on Destructoid. Other writers have already covered the topic well so it is not necessary for me to go over the same arguments. Rather than argue of why I am against such hostility and the annoying measures taken against used games, I thought it would be better to just give an example of how used game sales eventually got Epic Games some of my money.



I did not own an Xbox 360 in 2006 for Gears of War or in 2008 for its sequel. I bought my Xbox early in 2009 a few months before the release of Resident Evil 5 which was the game I originally wanted the console for. I never had much interest in Gears of War, despite its huge sales and critical praise. I didn’t actually come across a copy until I stayed with my brother late in 2009. One day I picked it up and decided to play my brothers copy. After about three extended sessions I was finished and thinking it was a good game, I made a note to check out the sequel. Epic Games got none of my money.

I later found the sequel by chance in a game shop for less than $20. It was used and I eagerly picked it up and played it. I enjoyed it even more than the first one and I later bought a used copy of the first one to play it again. I also ended up playing co-op through both games with friends. Again Epic Games got none of my money.

After beating the single player campaigns of both games on Insane, I decided I wanted to try multiplayer. For some reason, I was blocked from downloading the map packs to both games so I was unable to give Epic games any of my money for the All Fronts Collection.



This year, I eagerly pre-ordered Gears of War 3 and a one of the Limited Edition Controllers. Epic Games finally got some of my money and they wouldn’t have got any if it wasn’t for used games.

I could write the same thing for multiple games over many years.

Used games helped me discover Gears of War and help the industry.




P.S. Gears of War 3 totally deserved an 8.

… if the company is in the habit of listening to unsolicited advice from fans.


1. Don’t throw our choices in our face.



A typical conversation in Mass Effect 2 with a previously known character went something like this:

Person: Oh, hello . Do you remember when we met and you said and did this and I said and did that?

Shepard: Yes, I do and now because of this you are doing what you are currently doing as a direct result of what I did and/or made you do.

Person: Yes and isn’t it strange that we happen to meet again in a completely different place?

Shepard: Not at all. I would have been very annoyed had what I did or said at a previous time not been followed up at a later date, so I could see the consequences of my own choices.

Person: Good to know. Well I have nothing more to say but I will continue to stand here.

I think subtlety would be much better when dealing with the smaller choices players make. I don’t even think every choice players make has to be present. While it was entertaining to have another shot at the reporter and Conrad Verner, it was unnecessary to have any character we did anything to show up somewhere in Mass Effect 2.

Big decisions should obviously have a bigger impact but smaller ones aren’t so important as people may think and have very little relation to the main story.



2. Don’t suffer from tieupeverythingitis or Jedi Fever.



The Matrix famously caught this in its first sequel. The trend for trilogies in movies is becoming more common in games. This is happening for a number of reasons. One major one is the obvious profit margins studios can expect from sequels to successful franchises which do tend to trend downward by the third release. The other major reason is many in the entertainment business would love to make their own Star Wars.

The better and perhaps original example is Return of the Jedi which while great, tried too hard to fit everything in, including three major events happening simultaneously in the final act. Mass Effect 3 need not try to close up everything that’s happened before. The story need only focus on the battle between Shepard and the Reapers. There are also the romances and more to discover about the Illusive Man but the main story should take precedence and trying to wrap everything up could hurt it overall.



3. Try to take the best from the prequels and favour refinement over removal.



Something that annoyed many about Mass Effect 2 was the way it ripped out entire parts of the original rather than fixing the shortcomings. The main examples being the weapon and inventory system and the open world exploration. While Mass Effect 2 had a more focused story, this was not unreasonably considered overkill by many including myself. I hope BioWare can find an easy compromise in Mass Effect 3 while still being its own game.



4. The number of turret sections in the game should be kept to single digits.



Preferably between one and three. I f you have watched some of the previews for the game; you may have noticed a turret section. I quite often like turret sections but they shouldn’t be a common feature in almost any game. They are at best a way to add a little variety to gameplay. A good way of implementing them would be for space battles (e.g. Normandy is attacked by a Reaper). But I and I am sure many more, do not want their character to spend too much time behind a turret.



5. No multiplayer.



I am not at all against multiplayer and I think it would work great in the Mass Effect universe. However the series thus far has been a single player experience and having multiplayer brought in at the end can only divert resources away from what most people want. I would argue part of Mass Effect’s success is based on its unapologetic focus on a single player experience. Multiplayer would be great but leave it for a dedicated game so it can be done properly.


Of course I will be buying it anyway.

From Fallout 3 to XCOM and now possibly Syndicate, it seems a lot of old PC games are being brought back as FPS games. Its good they are back for many but bad they’re back as the most common and overdone genre for many more. FPS games are far more bankable than many other genres and you can agree with this without liking it. .My opinion on this trend depends entirely on my enjoyment of the final product and not on prior assumptions. I really enjoyed Fallout 3, as I did the previous two despite the major differences. I may enjoy an FPS version of XCOM and Syndicate, I don’t know. But it seems to me that there is any easy way to satisfy both the long-time fans and new players alike.

Xbox Live, PSN and Steam to name the major examples have over the past few years had an explosion of great games released. Many of these contain as much to enjoy as other full-priced, higher budget titles. I don’t think I even need to name any examples as there are so many but a recent favourite would be Double Fine’s Costume Quest. Many developers are using these services to release smaller games that act as a sort of promotion for the upcoming game. The recent (and apparently bad) Red Faction: Battlegrounds and Fable 2’s Pub Games are some examples and I really hope that Beyond Good & Evil HD will become another in the next few years.



So with services like this and the popular trend of resurrecting old licenses, why not use these services to make promotional games in the style of the originals? One easy way that has been done is to release games like Banjo-Kazooie in HD with its next-gen sequel. Another way would be to make a whole new game. Imagine if in the last months before the release of XCOM an arcade title based on the gameplay of the earlier games was released? This would no doubt go some way to pleasing the longtime fans and promoting the new game. And if its particularly successful, there could be even more. If it’s not, it becomes a good bonus to get with the game. Hell, you could even employ talented fan communities to make them.

Steam is already including giftable copies of earlier games with pre-orders and getting the original Banjo-Kazooie was obviously a good strategy for helping people to take more notice of Nuts & Bolts. I think getting a new isometric Fallout RPG in HD would be an excellent way to promote Fallout 4.



You’ll never please everyone but I think this is worth a try.

It is hard to know where to begin with a review of Duke Nukem Forever. It has now been out worldwide for over fourteen days after having been in development for over or about fourteen years, depending on where you start counting. I have been along for the ride since I first saw the news of its announcement and I remember checking the 3D Realms website once or twice a year to see if there was an update for most of the last decade. I was excited by little thumbnail screenshots from magazines in the late 90’s and I was actually a little optimistic after seeing the 2007 Christmas trailer. I loved the early Duke Nukem games, the original being one of the earliest PC games I played and I loved Duke Nukem 3D. The original Duke 3D was actually censored in Australia and I remember one of my earliest attempts at advanced computing involved going into some of the code to turn on the adult content which now seems so tame. I also enjoyed the Nintendo 64 port and the original third-person title, Duke Nukem: Zero Hour. So I can’t deny that these childhood memories will influence my opinion of Duke Nukem Forever. It also makes it hard to choose how I approach it. Do I review it as a modern release? Do I ignore the development time? Do I try to shove all the baggage away when approaching the game? I don’t think I can do any of this. I am just going to try and go with what flows out.

I don’t have any sympathy for 3D Realms and I don’t think even the most hardcore Duke Nukem fan should. They made all the decisions and they are responsible for them. They also have had an amazing level of patience from their publishers. So when Duke Nukem Forever’s future became even more uncertain after their demise (if that was ever possible), I never thought it a tragedy or really a disappointment. The only thing that surprised me was how long it took to happen. I don’t think that knowing the minds of all involved could change my own either. Despite its release the saga of Duke Nukem Forever (DNF from now) should just be looked at as what not to do for a would be game developer and this goes especially for the seemingly infallible companies live Valve, Blizzard and Nintendo. At the end of the day gaming is also business and even if money is not a problem, you still need to set goals, have vision and do your best to meet deadlines.

I have absolutely no idea what went on at 3D Realms but I have a theory that it was Half-Life that may have first spooked them. In many ways it improved on what Duke Nukem 3D had already done. Like Duke 3D, Half-Life wasn’t just another dark FPS game with a standard assortment of weapons. Both games while being shooters at the core had interesting puzzles, interactivity and a generally original aesthetic. The main reason I enjoyed Duke Nukem 3D so much was the easily forgotten fact that it looked a lot different than most other FPS games at the time. Doom-clone was still in common use back then and it seemed nearly every FPS I played fit that description. I would designate Duke 3D as the game that truly changed that despite their probably being earlier examples that I don’t know. Games like GoldenEye and then Half-Life Followed. Then RPG hybrids like System Shock 2 and Deus Ex. Now FPS games aren’t just Doom-clones and Duke Nukem 3D really helped change that. Half-Life did more still and blew everyone (including I believe 3D Realms) away. After that DNF was always about catching up to what it couldn’t and it just been finished and released in its early 2000s form, I believe it would have been well received though not another revolution. Instead 3DR kept chasing an unreachable goal. This is just my interpretation though and I’d like to know the real deal some day.



Duke Nukem Forever (PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 [reviewed])
Developer: 3D Realms, Triptych Games, Gearbox Software, Piranha Games
Publisher: 2K Games
Released: June 14, 2011
MSRP: $59.99

I had to wait more than a week to get DNF in the mail so I got to see a lot of comments, opinions and reviews while doing my best to avoid spoilers. I had also seen a fair bit of gameplay footage and belatedly tried the demo before finally getting to try the game. After playing through the game once, going back again, trying multiplayer and now still playing on the highest difficulty, I can confidently say that I enjoyed and am continuing to enjoy the game. It’s not a revolution, a breath of fresh air or any other cliché, it also isn’t nearly as bad as a scroll through Metacritic might have you believe. I can certainly see why gamers (Duke fans or not) would dislike this game, I just don’t think you should take a bad review as seriously as you might with a similarly rated movie license or budget release (which the general review scores would normally compare with). For one, gaming journalists young and old have been itching to get at this game for a long time and reviewing a bad game is a lot more fun than playing one. To further my point, Jim, Sterling’s review of DNF is honestly the first time I have ever found his opinion in direct conflict with my own (and not just a little). I think it is actually the first time when I’d be tempted to agree (though I don’t really) with the “controversy for hits” complaints that have been going around a lot recently. So I personally think DNF is far from being bad but I can still understand why other gamers would love it, like it, hate it or think it’s OK. It’s that kind of game.

The major criticism I have with DNF is the loading times. I have it installed on my 360 and it still takes far too long to load even small sections of the game. Installing it must make a huge difference as it doesn’t seem to take as long as some estimates I have read but the times are still far too long compared to other FPS games and indeed in almost in any other genre. The long times to wait are especially annoying during some of the more difficult points of the game and there really doesn’t seem to be a good reason why. I’d love this to be patched but I’m not optimistic that it will.

The game is definitely visually dated, I would not try to argue with this and I think the description of “early 360 game” is apt. It actually reminds me of a mixture of Rainbow 6: Vegas and Prey. The former being an early release set in Las Vegas like DNF and the later being an early title in which 3D Realms was heavily involved. This is what you’re getting; the environments sometimes look great and go from colourful and vibrant to dark and grimy and sometimes are just bland. The character models especially look dated and there are a lot of blurry textures, some pop-in and delayed texture loading. I have seen pictures and video comparisons of the PC version and it certainly looks much better. I have thankfully recently played a lot of old FPS games from the late 90’s to present and the games visuals didn’t bother me too much. But DNF is a recently released game in a genre that’s always at the forefront of visual excellence so I would expect the criticism to be harsh. If you still think Doom 3 still looks good (I do) then you will find the visuals in DNF much better.



Most of the levels in the game take place in Las Vegas with the early areas of the game all being set around Duke’s base/mansion/skyscraper/casino building. The early part starts out slow with little shooting as the game introduces the story without cut scenes and tries to take you through Duke’s history up until now with plenty of references to Duke 3D and even pictures in his museum of his earliest games. Some may certainly find the lack of shooting in these early sections annoying but it doesn’t take too long before your holding a gun and the chapter select means you never have to see these sections again if you don’t want to. The important thing is that the vast majority of the game involves either shooting aliens with guns or blowing them up. The opening parts of the game are also no longer or more frustrating than the often mandatory tutorials in other games or even the very long (though better done) openings of both Half-Life games. It isn’t something unique to DNF.

After Duke leaves these areas he moves on the destroyed streets of Las Vegas and on through various other levels. There are a few throwbacks to Duke 3D, particularly the Hive stage and Duke Burger. The Hive stage in particular has provoked a lot of discussion and I personally found it neither offensive nor especially different to the humour in Duke 3D. I think some players have forgotten about the similar levels (and similar state of the women) in the last game. That’s not to say I thought the humour was amusing or even appropriate, just not especially different from what I’ve come to expect from the character. I don’t view him as a parody or a necessarily likeable character, so I suppose that moments like this were never going to bother me.

DNF has a surprisingly decent length compared to other games in the genre. I got the game on a Thursday and got in a couple of hours after work on Thursday and Friday before playing through the rest on Saturday. It is rare that I want to play one game so long but I did for DNF. I’d estimate it took about 12 hours to get through but I am sure many gamers could get it well under that depending on your style of play. Apart from the awful loading times, I can think of no time in the game where the game felt drawn out and I was never bored or frustrated outside a couple of cheap moments and the genuinely bad water level towards the end of the game.



The guns and items aren’t really new and neither are the enemies much different from Duke Nukem 3D. The pig cops are much more like wild boars, especially the unarmed variety who like their real life counterparts are best killed before they get anywhere near you. The pistol, shotgun, freeze ray, shredder, shrink ray, RPG, trip mines, pipe bombs and devastator all make a return. The rail gun seems to be new and is basically the sniper rifle of the game. You are also able to pick up some alien guns. It is odd that the game limits you to two weapons slots but I got used to this as the game progressed and found I was never too far from finding the weapon I wanted. The holoduke and steroids return but the jetpack is disappointingly absent from the single player game. I really liked this in the original especially since jetpacks generally make games better. There certainly isn’t much new but the guns are fun to use and many are still unique compared to other FPS games.

It would have been nice to see some more variety in the enemies. Some bosses are recycled which is particularly disappointing especially since these bosses go down exactly the same way the second time. If you played Duke 3D you will recognise all the enemies, though as mentioned the Pig Cops are both different and more difficult. The enemies actually make many combat sections of the game enjoyable when mixed together. There is a particular part early on where you have to fight both rampaging pig cops and teleporting aliens which really tests your reflexes and there are many other great fights throughout. The enemies generally aren’t to intelligent though, merely attacking you when they see you.

There are some puzzle sections in the game which involve both platforming and physics puzzles. I have seen these areas criticised and I don’t think they merit it. None are particularly frustrating or difficult and I found the platforming in particular very smooth. The physics puzzles are very easy especially if you’re a fan of Half-Life 2 and Portal. These sections are infrequent though and serve as a good way to break up the combat without padding the length. There are also driving and turret sections, both of which seem to have become a staple of FPS games in recent years. I found the turret sections to be some of the weaker parts of the game but I found myself quite enjoying the driving sections.



As a whole, there is abundant evidence through out of cobbled together ideas. The jokes in particular are quite bad. This is mainly because of how dated many are. There are at least two Portal references which now provoke groans in any game now and even some from (I thought) long forgotten internet memes. I don’t think I’ve seen all the references but I wouldn’t be surprised if there was something in there about Monica Lewinsky and Bill Clinton. The game also seems to use most of its best ideas early on as the amount of interactive areas and variety lessens a lot in the later parts of the game. The latter half of the game is mostly shooting which is good but it would have been nice to have more things to discover and interact with.

I haven’t played a lot of multiplayer but what’s there is fairly standard. A levelling system is present but the rewards are merely for an interactive area for Duke to walk around which doesn’t seem worth the effort. The multiplayer is enjoyable enough if your standards for shooters aren’t high and if you’re after good simple fun and not perks and achievements. I will try it some more but I don’t think I will change my opinion a lot from what it is now. Though the DLC that is planned might make it a bit better and the first pack is free at least if you are in the First Access Club.

I’m pretty sure this is the longest review I have ever written about a game. As I said earlier, I have been following this game from the start. This doesn’t mean it has dominated my life or that I have spent nights longing for it. In truth, like most gamers it has been merely in the back of my mind, popping out only when mentioned. Over its long development time there have been many far more important things that concerned me day to day, year to year. Finishing middle school, high school, University, travelling overseas for the first time, parties, friends, adventures, getting married and now having a kid on the way. It hasn’t made any difference to my life or had any significant impact on it. However as a gamer, it has been very interesting being an observer and commenter here and there over the years. So Duke Nukem Forever is not the game that its developers probably wanted but they were clearly never going to achieve what they wanted. It’s a good and fun game though and I think it is worth renting at the very least. This is one game where you should ignore the review scores and just try it for yourself.

I originally had a seven written down but I think I will just leave this with no score.

I’m often late with games and I’m very late with this. The middling reviews on release and the less than middling reviews to last year’s sequel did a lot to put me off. However Duke Nukem Forever didn’t arrive in the mail before the weekend and my friend had a copy of this so I thought I may as well try it.

And try it I did, right to the end. This surprises me because I am writing this Sunday night and I’ve already got through the whole game and I still can’t believe I got that far, considering I hated so much of it. The mistake I made was that I kept thinking it would get better right up until I was at the point where I decided I would just see it through.



The Force Unleashed opens very strongly with the player taking the role of a very angry Darth Vader plodding through the Wookie planet Kashyykk and killing everyone in his path (including his own troops). I hate storm troopers so I took particular pleasure in picking them up and hurling them off platforms and into trees. I also enjoyed the way Darth Vader’s lightsaber could effortlessly cut opponents down. This ended, all too soon with an easy battle against a Jedi where I was introduced to the child who would next become the grown-up main character in the game.

This is pretty much where the game takes a turn for the worse. The opening level not only serves as an excellent tutorial but shows you immediately all the best things that are found in the game. From the moment the main character Starkiller enters, the game becomes a lot less fun. It’s not really the characters fault either as he isn’t bad and is a whole lot more likable than most of the other extended cast of the Star Wars universe. It’s just that this is when the game becomes a whole lot less fun. Your force powers of course start out nowhere near as good as what Vader’s which is understandable but this is made worse by what is now introduced.

It would be silly to expect Darth Vader to be able to move along at more than a brisk walking speed and remain true so you deal with his relatively slow movements. While Starkiller moves faster, he remains very sluggish to control. Using the force powers is still relatively smooth but the lightsaber fighting doesn’t have a good flow and many of the enemies take quite a bit of damage before going down. It is also often not clear when they are blocking so attacks that seem damaging sometimes aren’t doing anything at all. When ever you encounter anything powerful you are usually forced into QTE’s to defeat them after whacking them until their health is low. You are also unable to use many of the cooler powers against bosses though they are able to do so to you.



I could overlook some of these shortcomings if they weren’t made all the more noticeable by the cheap enemies. I played the game on the standard difficulty and was soon convinced I would never try anything higher. Challenge is usually created by throwing lots and lots of enemies at the player. The further you get the more annoying and numerous the enemies become. Many of the most annoying are immune to force powers like some tall robotic enemies and even shielded storm troopers. The enemies are also able to keep hitting you even when you’ve fallen down so your character will quite often get stuck repeatedly being hit, sometimes until death. There are also times when you will suddenly die by being thrown off a ledge or into something which is made worse some badly placed check points.

The game is also buggy - very buggy. I started the third level of the game with what I assumed were invisible enemies until I died and the game was reloaded and I could now see my originally invisible foes about one third of the way through the level. You also sometimes get stuck in scenery and the audio will pop in and out as well. A good example of both is when I had to fight a boss without his energy bar appearing, before dying and starting from the checkpoint with the energy bar present but the music now gone. Enemies sometimes get trapped behind things or just stop attacking you. The physics while very entertaining when using force powers, exhibit many oddities at other times. Much of this would be amusing if it didn’t hinder your progress in unfair ways.

There are also some long loading times. This includes something as simple as going through the options screen. Every time you want to upgrade your force powers (at least once a level); you have to wait through a loading screen. If you want to change your characters skin you go through a loading screen and have to restart from the previous checkpoint (something you aren’t warned about). The game is only short but actually feels stretched out. You revisit many locations twice and fight the same enemies each time.

The story is no worse than those of the prequels but if accepted as canon, actually makes the Star Wars plot even more convoluted. When the game is not doing blatant fan service, it is adding more plot holes. The storm troopers in Episode IV apparently went through enormous budget cuts if this story is to believed and without spoiling anything, Darth Vader and the Emperor must have had some serious déjà vu during the climax in Return of the Jedi. Another thing annoyed me was the female imperial officer introduced with a tight uniform cut low to show off her cleavage. This might seem small but from the moment she appeared, the story lost me.



I don’t know if the other console versions are any better but if they are anything like the PS3 release, than they have very little to redeem them. I really can’t understand why this game is so bad. The concept is more than enough to carry it and if had only played to its strengths is could have been great. I know there are many people who have enjoyed this but I can’t see why when there are so many better games in the genre. I also can’t understand how such a buggy, unpolished mess of a game got so many above average reviews on release. The only fun to be had in this game are during the times when you actually feel like a Sith Lord of Jedi effortlessly dispatching enemies before you but these times are too few and far between for any long term enjoyment to be had.

I'm sure something like this has been said before, but the title "The Force Unleashed" does not fit at all.

Score: 3