The funny thing is that movie games have a pretty terrible reputation in the gaming world. Most are quickly put together knock-offs of what could be considered a full game that depend upon riding on the fame of the established franchise. But back in 2004, Spider-Man 2 based off the Sami Rami take on the franchise changed all that.

Without reliance upon the movie, Spider-Man 2 as a game was just good. It was a great movie game, a great super hero game and most importantly a great Spider-Man game (considered the best of the character up to this point). But ten years later, the game and movie franchises have both gotten a reboot and that’s not always a good thing.

The Long…

First let’s talk about the story of The Amazing Spider-Man 2. While I applaud the writers trying to separate themselves from the movie slightly be adding in a whole new subplot connecting the scenes between the movie as previous games often do, the beats in this one just feel off. The early beat that introduces the game’s main antagonist also directly messes with the whole Uncle Ben story and what happens to Ben’s killer. It feels about as accurate to the character as Superman killing in Man of Steel.

Taking a cue from the designs of Pacific Rim, The Art of Titanfall shows the titans as less than beautiful pieces of hardware that feel like lumbering hulks meant to take a beating as well as delivering them. With only three basic units, there is a great balance in diversity and design of each titan. During the fast paced battles of the Titanfall game, it’s incredibly challenging to try and notice these details but the art book allows you to really appreciate it from the pulled back perspective.

The Art of Titanfall does an awesome exploration of the maps as well. Though not giving a full breakdown as if it was a strategy guide, The Art of Titanfall allows a player to again appreciate the care put into each map that they’d never get to during the heat of battle.

These kids today have it too easy. Back in our day there were certain aspects of being a gamer you just had to deal with. Polygons could be maxed out on screen. You’d have to use your imagination to see what the little collection of blocks represented. And one thing we all knew was that if you made it into the beta testing phase of a game, things were bound to be broken. But that was to be expected. A beta wasn’t a finished product and you “paid” for the early gameplay by dealing with the bugs. Kids today don’t get betas. They just get an extended demo and that’s why they don’t know the pain we went through growing up.

What brought on this jaded old man tirade you ask? The Titanfall beta of course. Don’t misinterpret, there is nothing wrong with the Titanfall beta. Between the beta and the awesome art book I got today (don’t worry, a review is coming soon), I am going to be picking up Titanfall on launch. But when playing it, it hasn’t been a beta experience. The game runs smooth, controls great and looks fantastic. The only limits are some of the maps and weapons not being fully unlocked. It’s basically a smaller version of the final product. And that’s not a beta. It’s a demo. But they’ve changed the name because beta access is a better buzz phrase for marketing.

Tomorrow, a new Free-To-Play FPS takes the field to take on the king of the hill, Team Fortress 2. There are a lot of the same sensibilities and even certain aspects of the art style that can be seen in both Loadout and Team Fortress 2 but Loadout looks to deliver a much more over the top and immaturely “mature” experience. Loadout will be releasing tomorrow on Steam for PC.

As you’ll see in the trailer below (or if you watched any of their Let’s Play footage), the team from Rooster Teeth can’t help but fill the internet with their foul mouths when playing Loadout. The game lends itself to it so naturally.

With over 44,000,000 combinations of weapons that can be created and mashed together, it’s hard not to swear when you see your character survive an explosion that has blown most of their face off or left a hole clear in the center of their chest.

Yesterday, Activision gave the first detailed glimpse at Onslaught, the first DLC pack for Call of Duty: Ghosts. As has become the standard, the pack will include four regular multiplayer maps, one new weapon and one survival map, this time for the Extinction game mode. As you’ll see in the trailer after the break, the multiplayer levels are more goal oriented than ever before with a “reward” system that looks to really change the dynamic of each individual match.

The most exciting new map has to be Fog. A dark and spooky backwoods map with cabins and a barn, the real excitement comes from the completed field order which turns a player into Michael Meyers. Yes, from Halloween. When you’re Michael, you get armed with an axe… and his signature theme music. When you get close, your victim knows it’s coming and hear it before you take them out.

One press release says it all:

Telltale Games and HBO announce Partnership to Create Games based on Game of Thrones. 2012 Studio of the Year and HBO Global Licensing in multi-year, multi-title partnership to Create Games Based on Emmy Award-Winning Television Series.

Though I have never been an adventure game player, I instantly fell in love with Telltale’s The Walking Dead. It was one of the licensed games to nail it on every count. There references to the world I knew were there, but never forced. The story stood on its own as well for those who didn’t know the source material intimately. The characters were emotionally engaging. And I didn’t want it to end.

And now they are going to do that with something I love almost as much as the original Walking Dead comics. Well to that I say, “Bring it on.” In 2014, Telltale will embark down what will no doubt be an emotional journey in the world of Westeros with Game of Thrones. One thing that both Game of Thrones and The Walking Dead have each taught me is that bad things happen to good people, especially when I begin to really like them. In a way now, I almost dread the heartbreak that this game is going to bring upon me.

One billion dollars in merchandise shipped to retailers on day one. Quite the ambitious feat and though Grand Theft Auto V set the record for the fastest entertainment property to hit a billion dollars in actual sales in three days, Call of Duty: Ghosts is in a unique position in how they will reach it. This is the first Call of Duty since Call of Duty 2 to be released on a crossover year with a new console launch.

Not all gamers who are planning on purchasing the PlayStation 4 later this week or the XBox One next week are going to be able to afford a double purchase and considering what we’ve seen with the next gen graphics, it is certainly splitting the sales. And considering it is also a yearly franchise, there isn’t that same gigantic level of hype for a new Call of Duty the way there is for a new Grand Theft Auto. That said, Call of Duty: Ghosts is a game you are going to want to play.

The Long

Call of Duty: Ghosts is the first entry into the Call of Duty franchise from Infinity Ward since the conclusion of the Modern Warfare trilogy two years ago. They not only needed to introduce an entirely new set of characters but a new status quo as well. Set in a world similar to that of Modern Warfare and Black Ops, this version has a group of allied forces fending off an attack from the Federation.

See what we did there? Okay. We didn’t do it. I found it on a meme Facebook page but at least I made the effort to post it. Considering in about twenty four hours I am going to disappear for a week after Activision shoots Call of Duty: Ghosts my way and I “mysteriously” am not found in the office from an “unknown illness”.

In all seriousness, I won’t be able to wait until the XBox One comes out later this month for the next gen version of Call of Duty: Ghosts. This is an instant gratification nation and I want the game inspired by one of the best supporting characters never seen on my screen now.

And what would a Call of Duty launch be without a live action trailer. We’ve had the Replacers. We’ve had FPS Russia and Robert Downey Jr. This time, we get Megan Fox… You know what? I’ll take it.

Anything to keep her away from the Transformers franchise because at the end of the day, she isn’t going to be IN Call of Duty: Ghosts. Below you’ll check out the full live action trailer from director James Mangold on a trip with four buddies in Vegas that is way more epic than the Hangover.

Since The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is headed to theaters in spring of 2014, it isn’t much of a shock that its gaming counterpart will be coming out around the same time as well. From what we’ve heard so far from the folks at Beenox and Activision who revealed the trailer at New York Comic Con is that it will release for the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, XBox One, XBox 360, PC, Wii U and Nintendo 3DS.

As you’ll see in the press release attached below, there isn’t mention on a split development between the current gen and next gen systems which leads one to believe that the PlayStation 4 and XBox One versions may be just slightly better graphics but with no real change in the gameplay.

In the trailer, you’ll also notice a new villain that doesn’t match up to any characters yet announced in the movie. Half way through, you’ll see a very light skinned character, similar to that of a gang member. with tattoos on his body and his face wrapped in a scarf of some sort.

You then see a second similar gang member attack another character who is holding a kukri style machete. These may be just some gangs that Spider-Man encounters in the game, or this scarved character may be one of The Amazing Spider-Man movie style analogs of an existing character like Carrion.

In what seems to be a long time coming, Blizzard is finally closing down both of its in-game auction houses in Diablo III. While it isn’t a huge shock that the real world cash house where people could literally pay their way to get a better character is closing, it is a little bit surprising that they are also taking down the in-game gold auction house as well.

While the real cash auction house was essentially power leveling on steroids, the gold auction house should have theoretically worked in line with the game’s economy but it is likely there was some level of either drastic inflation or deflation on value of the game’s currency at hand to make Blizzard come to such a drastic decision.

In an email that went out at the end of day yesterday, Blizzard addressed the closure to Diablo III players: