charles2029, CONGRATULATIONS! You have a won a Free PS Vita from GamingBolt.com. Eventhough Musser64 was giving you a hard time, but eventually you made it across to top the Leaderboard. We will be getting in touch with you shortly via email.

Community updates:

We bought back scoring and Facebook connect yesterday. We apologize for the delay but the maintenance took a bit longer than we anticipated.

What other types of contests you want to see from us?

Let us know in the comments section below.

Hey GamingBolt.com Readers! I hope you are enjoying surfing our new design. In these past few weeks, we have pushed out major updates, made the site faster and churned out interesting content. We have got close to 4000 new registrations ever since we launched the new site. All in all, we are very pleased with how the new design has performed and how our users have interacted with it.

I have a few updates to share with you.

1. Scheduled Maintenance:

a. We will be switching off scoring across the site from today at 5PM IST (i.e. about 2 hours away from the time this article was published). Scoring will be back on Monday, April 2nd 2012 at 2PM IST.

b. We may also switch off login via Facebook acccounts during the same period. Update: We have switched off Facebook Login.

2. PS Vita Contest:

Due to our sudden maintenance affecting scoring, we will have to end the contest today at 5PM IST (i.e. about 2 hours away from the time this article was published). We deeply apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. We will announce the winner tomorrow.

Just to let you guys know we are currently working on adding forums, gaming clubs, user profiles, achievements, user levels, ranks and more by July, 2012.

If you have any suggestions, please let us know in the comments below.

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Gears of War 3 is getting closer and closer to it’s official launch date on September 20th, or for many the night of the 19th.  At the Best Buy Theater in Time Square – NY, New York USA, there will be a huge Midnight Release Launch for the game.  There will be Gears of War 3 on gaming consoles, ‘Gamer Grub‘ food and product giveaways, inside and outside the theater.

It doesn’t end there as Epic Design Director Cliff Bleszinski will be there on hand to meet and take photos with as he is a pop star now.  Did you know that?  In addition to that, the chopper/motorcycle custom built inspired by Gears of War 3 from American Chopper will be there, and to top it off a surprise musical guest will be preforming!  I think  it is safe to say it could very well be Ice T and his band BodyCount, as he not only voices the Aaron Griffin character in Gears 3 but, the band has wrote a song called ‘Gears of War’ made specifically for Gears of War 3 that is in the game as well as the soundtrack if I am not mistaken.

You might want to cancel your pre-ordered game at your current store and go pre-order it at the Best Buy in New York City, to get your game there, attend the event and maybe even get your copy signed by Cliff Bleszinski.  Either way, if you are a Gears of War fan and you live in the Tri-State area, you might want to go because this will be one huge event.  The event will be on Sept. 19, 2011 (8 p.m.–1 a.m.) or if you live in New Jersey (Mercer County) or it’s surrounding areas, you might want to join GamingBolt.com at the Nassau Park Blvd Gamestop for a Midnight Madness Event, with giveaways and more.

Many games this generation have offered a deep, choice based experience, in terms of story and/or gameplay- few like Dragon Age, Fable and Fallout come to mind. Some of them have succeeded, when it comes to story, like Mass Effect, but no game this generation has really been as open ended and free flowing as Deus Ex: Human Revolution. Be it story, the way you play the game, or what you play in the game- it’s all up to you, without reservations. The game does throw some stuff at you that you have to play the way it wants, like stupid boss fights, but otherwise, it’s the most free-flowing game you’ll ever come across for a long time.

Meet Adam Jensen- one of the most badass characters you will ever see in any game.

The year, as we all know by now, is 2027. Mankind has come a long way from where we stand now- we have developed technologies like no other, able to implant our bodies with enhancements that help us in social, physical, mental and many other activities. They’re called Augmentations. Civil strife is tearing the world apart regarding these “augs”. You are Adam Jensen, a security specialist with a new job at Sarif Industries, the leading augmentation manufacturers. At the beginning of the game, your headquarters get attacked by mercenaries, who destroy and ravage a lot of the research and kill a whole lot of people. Adam is almost killed, and brought back to life with the help of augmentations. It is not the new, augmented Adam’s job to find out who attacked you, and why.

That takes you on a long journey around the world, from Detroit to Shanghai to Montreal and other places you will never forget. Undoubtedly, the story and the narrative have to be some of the strongest assets in Deus Ex: Human Revolution. The first thing you will notice about the story is just how shockingly rich and deep it is, covering subjects and field like politics, transhumance, renaissance, civil strife and so many other things- it pulls you in immediately, with a rich, alive world that feels not so distant and different from the one we live in, and keeps you hooked, throwing difficult choices, excellent plot twists and conspiracies your way all the while. The story is really awesome, worthy of a Deus Ex title, and perhaps one of the best stories in any game in the last few years.

The world is rich and complex, with great attention paid to detail, and it comes to life with the glorious city hubs. People go about their businesses, talking about the political situation in the world and what’s been going on in the game world, the architecture of the buildings is exquisite, reflecting that of the present day yet still futuristic enough to fit perfectly in a sci-fi game. The streets, the winding lanes, the patrolling cops, the citizens, the gutters, the buildings, the crates and boxes all bring the city to life, making it seem very realistic, and making the game itself very atmospheric.

The story and the world are strongly supported by a great cast of characters, especially the protagonist, Adam Jensen. Jensen is the definition of badass really. His augmentations are awesome (more on these as we go on), his character model is, at the risk of sounding gay, deadly looking. His voice work is perfect, brilliantly done, and you would never have expected a character in a game to be voiced like this, really. He is an evil, good badass. It’s confusing, I know, but that’s the only way to describe it. You have to play the game to really find out. His character is a lot like Neo from The Matrix- silent, badass, slick and cool. Other characters most notable, Eliza Cassan, David Sarif, Frank Pritchard, and the main baddie, Jaron Namir- are really good as well, with their distinctive personalities that you grow to love/hate/be awed of. It’s a really strong cast of characters.

Cities are very well designed, very well built, and feel very realistic.

Now, on to the aforementioned augmentations. They’re much like upgradations in other, conventional RPGs, really. Basically, as you gain experience points, you get 1 Praxis Point for each XP meter you fill up. You can buy an entirely new augmentation for 2 Praxis Points, and upgrade augmentations for the cost of 1 Praxis Point. You can also buy Praxis Points from clinics known as LIMB clinics (also sell ammo and weapons and other goodies). Augmentations range from social enhancers, inventory expansions and health upgrades to abilities that make us invisible, allow us to punch through walls or gain momentary X-Ray vision. The augmentations are great, giving a lot of depth to the game, and change the experience significantly.

The gameplay is basically centered around three things, as we all must know by now- combat, stealth and hacking. In terms of combat, the game’s difficulty can be really punishing. Enemies have great aim and they swarm in from all directions, flanking you or strategically attacking you. Enemy AI in terms of combat is simply great. As much as the combat is tough, it is also very rewarding, and registering each kill gives you great satisfaction. However, the shooting of the game is a bit buggy- bullets don’t always hurt enemies, even when they hit them, and just fly past them a lot of times. Enemies may not die instantly even if you shoot them in the head or shoot them a lot of times in the chest or something. This gives a very unrealistic feel to the game, and the few combat glitches mar the overall experience somewhat.

The second “pillar” of Deus Ex: HR, stealth, is probably the best and the strongest. Deus Ex: Human Revolution handles stealth very well, and has to be one of the best stealth games I have ever played, especially when augmentations come into play. You can use augmentations like becoming invisible to pass through laser beams or remain unnoticed by cameras or patrolling guards, mechs. You can use augmentations that soften the sound of your footsteps and sneak past an enemy when he has his back facing you. These augmentations add a great deal of advantage to the game, and make it a hell lot of fun. Even without augs, stealth is extremely entertaining, and making your way through sprawling rooms past hordes of enemies without being notices gives immense satisfaction.

However, enemy AI can be a little stupid and glitchy when it comes to stealth- for one, they never enter rooms! All you have to do if you ever alarm the guards is enter one of the smaller, branching rooms in a corridor, and all the guards will do is stand outside in front of the door, have a quick, brief look around, and go. They may have seen you entering the room, but they do not follow you inside. They think you’ve magically disappeared and start searching for you elsewhere. And if you stay hidden for five minutes, they forget all about you. Doesn’t matter if you killed another guard in front of them, or if they saw you running from their bullets with their very own eyes- go five minutes without being noticed by anyone, and they forget you ever existed.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution has to be one of the best stealth games I have ever played, and it’s not even a stealth game officially.

However, other than that, the enemies do make stealth very tough- not because they’re smart, but because of the way they are placed. If you exit the line of vision of one, you enter another’s, or maybe a camera’s or a mech’s. You have to stay careful all the time, stay in cover and stay hidden, and make sure you do nothing, make no sounds, to get noticed. Yes, every time you make a sound- like toppling over a crate, or thudding your feet on the ground, or, of course, shoot, the enemies notice and triangulate on the source of the sound- you. If you kill guards or knock them out and leave their bodies in the open, security cameras or other guards might notice them, and that would alert them of your presence. So you have to hide the bodies too. All the little things have been taken care of that make the stealth element of the game that much more amazing. So you have to stay careful all the time.

You can take down enemies stealthily too. There are two types of takedowns- lethal and non-lethal. In a lethal takedown, you kill your enemies with the blades in your arms, and in non-lethal takedowns, you just known them out with spectacular punches. It’s all just a press of a button- hold the square button, and you perform a lethal takedown. Tap it, and you perform a non-lethal takedown. Every time you do perform a takedown, the game fluidly transitions into a third person view and shows some flashy animations, and fluidly switches back to first person again.

The cover system works really well too. You hold down the action button to switch the direction of your cover, and tap it to perform flashy swat turns between cover and cover. Every time you take cover or perform certain augmentations, the game switches to a third person view. The transition works really smoothly, and gives the presentation a slick and tight feeling. I initially thought it would be disorienting, but it was not, at all, rather, it was very fluid and smooth.

Art style is brilliant and imaginative.

Hacking is a lot of fun too- I, personally, never understood how exactly it works, but it will still an enjoyable, frequent mini-game that provided a break from all the intense action. You can hack doors to enter locked rooms, disarm alarm panels, hack turrets and turn them against your enemies, hack into other people’s computers to disable security cameras and turrets or read e-mails or codes to unlock some doors. It makes you feel that much more like a secret agent badass. But be careful who you hack in front of. If unfriendlies see you hacking something, they will shoot. And shooting can kill you very easily in Deus Ex: Human Revolution.

This all comes together to deliver a very expansive, choice based, free-flowing gameplay structure, couples with brilliant level design. And that’s the beauty of Human Revolution, more than anything else. It is not the story, not the characters, not the game world in DXHR that will appeal to you the most- it will be the open ended gameplay. The game lets you decide how to play- something not a lot of games can boast of these days. Do you want to sneak past the enemies via a fire escape to make it into an apartment complex they’re not letting you enter? Do you want to sneak past them taking cover of the vehicles? Do you want to find a vent somewhere around and go inside from there? Or you could climb a building and jump from its rooftop onto one of the buildings into the complex. Or, you could just shoot all your enemies and enter anyway. And this is just one of the scenarios, and just a few of the possibilities. The freedom in the game is incredible. It’s ineffable, really. You have to play the game to realize just how incredible it really is.

You can choose which objectives you want to complete in a mission and which ones you don’t. Like in the first mission of the game, you have to secure one of the devices Sarif has developed, but you are also given the objective to save some hostages. The hostages have been wired to a bomb, which, when detonated, will release a toxic gas and kill those who inhale it. It is all up to you- if you want, you can defuse the bomb by hacking it, but that can be really dangerous. If you want, you can forget all about the hostages and just go and secure the device, to find out at the end of the level that the hostages were killed. Again, this is just one example. The choice is incredible.

Combat is awesome, but nowhere near as good as the stealth sections.

Choice based progression is also present in dialogue. In some of the conversations, you are prompted to select a dialogue from an L.A. Noire-like dialogue wheel. These dialogue choices can open up many quests or other dialogue options, or alter the course of the story itself, if done properly. It’s not what you’d see in games like Mass Effect 2 or The Witcher 2, but it’s still pretty good, and seeing as Human Revolution does the gameplay part better than any of those games, its somewhat shortfall here is excusable.

It’s really disappointing, then, when the game throws stupid, ridiculous boss battles at you that you have to play through. You are not given any choice in these matters- the boss battles are forced upon you. It would have still been excusable had they been actually good boss battles, but no. They- suck. They have to be some of the worst boss battles ever, involving mindless shooting and very boring “action.” The game could have done much better without them- I wouldn’t have had a problem with playing through the game without having any boss battles.

The side quests in the game are also pretty boring and they may put off some completionists. They’re okay, by normal standards, but generally involve a lot of backtracking and combat, and are not up to the awesome quality of the main missions.

There are some other issues with Deus Ex 3 as well, other than the ones already mentioned. For one, the inventory and inventory management of the game are really bad. The inventory is much like the one you see in Resident Evil 4 or 5, but nowhere near as good. You cannot even do something as simple as stacking items. I liked how the inventory had to be expanded column by column with augments, but let’s be real- who’d spend Praxis Points on increasing their inventory size when they can gain the ability to punch through walls are jump from large heights and land on their feet safely?

The game also has a lot of technical issues- lip syncing and facial animations are very jerky and unwieldy. They seem really out of place, given the high quality of the voice acting. The facial animations just don’t express the emotions in the voices of the characters properly, and the lip syncing doesn’t match up with the voice work. It’s really jarring to see such technical issues in such a high quality game. Jensen’s lip syncing and facial animations are good, though.

Badassery at its best.

The game also has extremely loading times, sometimes stretching on to be as long as a minute or two, and I’m not even exaggerating. It’s really frustrating, sitting their and looking at the boring loading screen that gives us momentary entertainment with tidbits of information, but in no way reduces the frustration of the excruciatingly long loading times. Even if you install the game, loading times stretch on to 30-40 seconds, which is still very long.

The graphics of the game, too, are not very good. They would have been good for a game two or three years old, but now, they just look rough, unpolished and outdated. Not that they’re ugly, no. They do the job pretty well, and in no way are they an eyesore, but they do have a lot of rough edges that Eidos could have improved on has they taken a week or so more. But the artistic design more than makes up for any technical niggles the game’s visuals might have. The game’s art style is very reminiscent of the renaissance, with great art style. The art director of the game has really done a great job- everything looks beautiful and not very far away from our own world, and you can see that 16 years into the future, you might just see these things coming to life.

Though these flaws become almost negligible, when you take into account the other awesome things present in the game. The soundtrack, most notably, is very good. It hits the right chords, with many metallic tunes that fit perfectly with the game’s cyber punk setting and at the same time, give you adrenaline rushes whenever the action kicks in. It’s a beautifully composed track, very reminiscent of Mass Effect, and you would want to get the Augmented Edition, because it comes with the soundtrack of the game.

The replay value of Deus Ex: Human Revolution is also excellent. The game literally begs for multiple playthroughs, wand you strive to indulge it. You’ll want to play through the game again and again to explore the different choices, the different ways to play, the different story paths, the multiple endings. Not just that- it’s a 25 hour long game, and even if you don’t come back to the game, which is highly unlikely, you’ll get your money’s worth out of it.

If Human Revolution is ever made into a movie, Keanu Reeves would be perfect for Jensen’s role- he even looks like him.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution is just too massive a game to properly describe in a review. I could go on for a thousand words more here, and I still would have a lot to say. Trust me, there are a lot of things I haven’t even begun explaining even now, after 3,000 words. You might think I’m crazy, but once you do play this game, you’ll realize how correct I am. Deus Ex: Human Revolution is hard to be described. You have to play it. It’s so awesome, you’d be doing yourself a disservice if you don’t.

This game was reviewed on the PS3.

Check out the full interview below.

GB:  A lot of features have been announced for Dead Island so far, but surprisingly, most of them have a very heavy RPG feel to them. Wouldn’t it be more appropriate according to you, to call the game a Role Playing Game?

Reichert: I love that question. Thanks for asking. Yes, Dead Island has a big RPG part. But when we say RPG many people think about multiple choice storylines, huge story telling etc. Or: many people think you can’t hit the head because your aiming skill-level was not high enough.

In relation to those points we are a pure action game. But I’m looking forward to how the players will use the RPG elements to become the master of the Island. Many combinations are possible, especially in Multi-Player. And some can result in extremely powerful team builds. Folks, don’t let the zombies win! 😉

GB: A zombie infestation in an apocalyptic setting is not exactly a new idea. How are you looking to make things fresh and different in Dead Island?

Reichert: By moving it to an idyllic holiday Island we made a huge step into a sick direction. You look at the beach and your first thought will be: I need a vacation… but can someone please remove the corpses? The contrasts are just amazing in DEAD ISLAND.

GB: The trailers have all been given of a sort of discomforting, depressing feel. Does the game do the same throughout the playthrough, or will the players get a break from all the heavy stuff at any point in the game?

Reichert: Well as mentioned above the contrast is important. But we wanted to make sure players can enjoy the terror we’ve push them into. So don’t be concerned. It will stay an action game and it will be fun to smash heads even if it is horribly wrong.

GB: Do you think there is any specific game franchise or a single game you can compare Dead Island to, maybe draw likenesses?

Reichert: You know, if you want to describe in a jiffy what the game is like. Some of the RPG elements will remind you of Borderlands. The open world might draw some parallels to all kind of open world games. Many players were reminded of Dead Rising when it came to weapon upgrading/creation. We also have a strong Multiplayer focus that might remind you of Left4Dead. We really tried to get all the fun from different games into this one ultimate zombie slasher. The close combat has no comparison in my opinion. It’s just insane how good it feels to dismember an undead with your machete.

GB: So, the game is supposed to focus mainly on melee combat- how is that supposed to work, when we’ll be fighting hordes of enemies throughout the game? And do you think melee combat really works well in a first person view? Wouldn’t you be better off with guns?

Reichert: It would be easier with guns. And every time you found some ammunition you will agree that it is easy and satisfying. Thanks to the heavy ammo restrictions you will still feel the terror (how many bullets left? How many beasts in front of me?)

Nothing feels as visceral and deadly as looking an undead in the eyes before stabbing him over and over again to get rid of him.

Again a perfect questions because the difficulty to fight a horde in close combat will kick your adrenalin level up. It’s very tactical. Dumb button mashing will not help you.

To make sure players will understand it and grasp it quickly and easily we copied a lot of the shooter mechanics.

Instead of ammo you’ll have durability on the weapon, for reload you have a stamina bar that needs to regain before you can continue with your attacks. Aiming stays the same way you know it from any FPS, but the impact is much more satisfying.

With the Kick we added the secondary fire you know from other shooters. In DEAD ISLAND it will give you some room as it pushes the creatures away.

GB: Is there any specific part or scenario in the game that you would say is the most eerie, something that would freak out the players the most?

Reichert: I was surprised how amazingly gross the sewers became. In the beginning we liked the idea of sewers as a lot of contrast with light and dark was possible. But the way it turned out is just amazing. When you think you are safe and then this huge fat creature comes out of the water to puke at you… It’s great how creepy it turned out.

GB: Do you think Dead Island is inspired by any game/book/movie in general? Because I personally see a lot of similarities with The Walking Dead.

Reichert: Thanks. Yes, Walking Dead is definitely one of our favorite comics. But in general we put everything in we love about zombies. 28 Days Later for the fast ones, Dawn of the Dead for the slow ones. And many more. Hope you recognize more of the homage while playing the game.

GB: Trailers seem to be hinting at the fact that Dead Island might have some choice based parts that affect the story. Is that going to be the case?

Reichert: It’s an open world game. So you always have to make a lot of choices. But for the sake of Multiplayer experience we removed the choices from the main story. Would be awkward if you join your friends game and there a character gives you a mission, while he is dead in your game.

GB: Will Dead Island play out the same across all the platforms? Does the PS3 gives you more freedom to do more with all that extra Blu-Ray Storage?

Reichert: DI will play the same across all platforms. We did not need any additional space.

GB: Is there anything else you want to tell us about the game?

Reichert: Nope. You already asked the right questions.

We thank Sebastian Reichert for taking out his precious time to speak with us and KUDOS to Rebecca Jakeman from Koch Media for setting up the interview.

UPDATE: Link to Contest.

We will be having tons of Gears of War 3 giveaways this month, from Cole Plushie Avatar Codes, to Rare Shirts, Hoodies and more only at GamingBolt.com.  More details tomorrow on the Contests, but we will be posting Gears of War articles all month long.  The game comes out September 20th.  In the mean time here are some viral GOW Sites:

0719811.com
1019758.com
8873883.com
1559169.com
4308499.com
2111980.com

September 10th – Vancouver?

Gamestop Contests Everyday

Gears of War 3 – The Walls of Brotherhood

Normally we would not post things like this but next month is September and we are celebrating the release of Gears of War 3 with TONS of giveaways, we’ll be posting Gears articles all month long as well as giving away all Gears of War 3 related stuff like Shirts.. Codes and much more, but I don’t want to spoil the good giveaways just yet.  Just make sure you have your ass planted in your chair on GamingBolt.com during September Gears fans, because it’s all about you next month.  Just to prepare you, having your own fan made trailer or badass montage just might get you something, we just hope you know crap when you see it.

Bastion is one of the most beautiful games to have been released in recent memory, downloadable or no.

As soon as you jump into Bastion, you notice not the narration, not the story, not the apocalyptic feel of the game, but the wonderful visuals and that artistic flair they boast of. Bastion doesn’t have hyper-realistic, super-HD graphics with crisp textures or superior animations. No, Bastion is, technically, a very ordinary looking game. It’s the artistic flair of the game that makes it stand out, that makes it more than just another face in the huge crowd. The graphics are simply beautiful, and please your eyes from the very moment you glance at them. The art designer of the game must have spent months and months on working on this project, because never have I played a game with such beautiful graphics.

The visuals, though, aren’t even highlight of the game. You would expect a typical action RPG to slowly and gradually introduce you to the setting, give you some background details. You’d expect the action to be slow and gradually pick up pace. In Bastion, that is not the case. From the very beginning, you’re thrown into the heat of things, battling against one horde of enemies after another, or doing something or the other that pumps more adrenaline into you than an adrenaline shot itself.

The action is high on testosterone. That’s the only way to describe it. You take your two weapons and a shield and a special power, and you battle against platoons of enemies on your own, slicing and hopping your way through, dodging attacks or evading projectiles shot at you, while trying not to slip off a cliff or a bridge. It gives you great satisfaction to fight your way through an entire horde of enemies, and the varying difficulties throughout the game make battles all the more unpredictable and fun.

The combat in Bastion is mind blowing.

Do not, however, make the mistake of thinking Bastion’s combat is just hack-n-slash. It has more to it than you can imagine. First of all, there’s upgrading. You can upgrade your weapons in areas like offense or defense or critical hits. You can customize them so much so that they start to feel like extensions of your own self sooner rather than later. However, the fact that you can only carry two weapons at a time can feel a bit restrictive. If this were a shooter, it wouldn’t have been so weird, but you don’t expect something like this in RPGs. Even so, weapon customization still is deep and a hell lot of fun.

Then there’s also the fact that you gain XP at the end of every battle. You can use the XP to, of course, customize your weapons, or customize yourself. You can upgrade your stats, grow in the direction you want to, make your own strengths and weaknesses. It’s all really addictive and again, fun. Using XP, you can unlock larger sweeps for your sword, or lighter yet deadlier hammers, or more powerful arrows for your bow. You just never run out of ideas, and the two playthroughs I did of the game were completely different in terms of the weapons I had and the way they were customized.

You can also equip tonics to yourself. These are little items that give you the edge in battles in several areas or boost several stats. The more XP you gain, and the higher level your character is, the more slots you have to equip tonics.

This isn’t just routine hack-n-slash affair. There’s a lot more to Bastion than meets the eye.

What supports this combat system in a great way is the brilliant level design of Bastion. Each and every level begins not with boring cutscenes or long drawn journeys. You get into the action right away and start killing things, or solving puzzles, or passing through obstacles or stuff like that. Each level is neither too long, nor too short- they’re perfect doses of fun and thrilling action that keep you wanting for more and keep you hooked to the game till the end, so that you want to play the next level desperately to know what the game has in store for you. You don’t even have to go through contrived journals and codex entries or watch cinematic cutscenes to know what the hell is going on. The narrator keeps telling you things all throughout.

Some sections of the game where you enter a dream world are wonderful. Here, you fight off waves and waves of enemies, and in the end of each of these levels, the narrator reveals a vital piece of information regarding The Kid’s past. You not only have to, but want to play through all these sections (because they’re darn awesome and fun as hell) to not just slice through hordes of enemies, but also find out exactly what is up with our protagonist.

The game also delivers the apocalyptic feel perfectly. There’s always the sense of decay around you, yet the graphics are enough to prevent the game from being bleak depressing. The sound design is also great, and the voice acting of the narrator, who comments on everything– whether you’re walking or jumping or there’s some crucial point in the story- is simply outstanding, and a great deal of fun to listen to.

Don’t think over it- do yourself a favour and get Bastion.

Ultimately, Bastion is, most probably, one of the best Xbox Live games ever, up there in the rankings with the likes of Shadow Complex, Limbo and Braid. It’s action packed, it’s deep, it’s addictive, and it has immense amounts replay value- you’ll be returning not just to play through the multiple endings, but to start a new game with your old data via “New Game +” as well. One thing is for sure- once you bask in the glory and magnificence of Bastion, you won’t want to pull out.

This game was reviewed on the Xbox 360

This November, the Nintendo DS will be completing seven years on the market. Few game systems have ever seen that kind of longevity- most of them are phased out around the five year mark, and their successors take centerstage. However, the DS is one of the rare exceptions to that rule, and joins the ranks of systems such as the NES, the Gameboy and the Playstation 2 that continued to get steady software and hardware support even well after their time on the market was up by conventional understanding.

There is a reason, of course, that the DS lasted this long. A reason that the odd, quirky, two screened handheld sold in excess of 150 million units worldwide to become the highest selling game system of all time, second, perhaps, only to the Playstation 2, if that. A reason that, even after the release of its high tech, persistently connected successor, the DS continues to outsell almost every other system on the market. A reason that the DS found such unprecedented success across all demographics, casual and hardcore alike.

The reason for all of that, and more, is that Nintendo simply got it right. Like never before, the DS hit all the right chords, and continued to do so throughout its lifetime, attracting major third party support and a swarm of users. And while the launch of the Nintendo DS was marred by some major mishandling by Nintendo (not entirely dissimilar to the way they have fudged up the 3DS launch, but not quite as serious), once the system found its footing, there was no turning back, and only a steady, relentless march onwards.

However, for all of us, it would perhaps be best if we stopped and considered just how the DS evolved from a machine that everyone believed was destined for instant failure, particularly in the face of the impending PSP, to a system that is often mentioned in the same breath as the PS2. It is worth looking back and noting on some eerie similarities between the handheld war then, and the upcoming one between the 3DS and the Vita. More than anything else, it is perhaps, worth noting the DS’s trajectory, if only to demonstrate just how unpredictable the gaming industry can often be.

The Nintendo DS was first announced at E3 2003 as a new game format that Nintendo was working on. Little specifics were revealed at that time, except for a couple that managed to leak through to the public. Initial impressions were not in the least encouraging: all that Nintendo had been able to state with complete certainty was that it was a handheld with two screens to provide multiple perspectives of gameplay to the player. That’s it. Compare this to the PSP’s debut, where it was introduced as a ‘console in the pocket,’ a full fledged multimedia device that would bridge the chasm that separated handheld and console gaming, and one that would act as an all purpose media device in the pocket, and it won’t be hard to understand why everybody’s sympathies were with the PSP at the time.

The original Nintendo DS prototype. The DS Phat suddenly doesn't look as ugly now, does it?

Nintendo unveiled a prototype DS the next year. While the hardware itself looked flimsy and horrendous, its capabilities impressed quite a few of the observers. The demo for Metroid Prime Hunters for instance, demonstrated the 3D capabilities of the hardware pretty nicely, with quite a few observers remarking that on the DS’s small screen, the graphics looked better than many late generation N64 games. However, barring this, the reception to the handheld was still largely muted, and it is not hard to see why. This unveiling was coupled with an announcement of the complete set of features for the DS, which included a touch screen, a microphone, two dated processors and Wi Fi. This unholy Frankenstein of a system, this mash of seemingly incompatible technologies, seemed to confirm everybody’s initial suspicions: Nintendo had panicked. In the face of competition from the impending PSP, they had probably decided to throw in everything including the kitchen sink, and mix up this contraption that would likely never work.

However, Nintendo had given this system it’s all. In its own words, the DS could spell the death knell for them if it failed. ‘If the DS is successful,’ a Nintendo exec had remarked in one interview, ‘then we will rise to heaven. But if it fails, we will sink to hell.’

Unfortunately, for all appearances, the DS seemed destined to fail, and it looked like just as the Playstation had driven the N64, and by extension, Nintendo, out of the home console market, so the PSP would steal the DS’s marketshare, and conclusively bring about the end for Nintendo, whose handhelds had been their sole steady source of revenue for quite a while now.

The system launched amidst a spate of advertising and heavy fanfare later in 2004 for an attractive pricepoint, beating the PSP to the market by several months. The launch was surprisingly successful, with Nintendo managing to meet its rather optimistic targets for the device. However, the DS, for its first several months on the market, continued to lack one very important thing- it lacked good games. The system launched with Super Mario 64 DS, a DS remake of the popular N64 title, as well as a demo of the upcoming Metroid Prime: Hunters game. But that was basically all that was worth playing on the system. The rest of the launch lineup was crap, and worse still, its slate of future releases looked absolutely barren. What was worse about this lineup was that all the games that were released on the system took zero advantage of any of the DS’s ‘unique’ capabilities. Super Mario 64 DS tried to debut touch screen control much like its N64 progeny had debuted analog stick control over half a decade ago, but the result was mixed. Metroid Prime Hunters actually provided a compelling touch control scheme. But at no point was the inclusion of the second screen over a touchpad justified, much less a microphone or the inclusion of Wifi.

Things did not improve. Just a few months later, the PSP launched, and it had a healthy, well rounded launch lineup that adequately represented its capabilities, graphical and otherwise. Following its launch, the PSP continued to get some major third party games, and its future looked increasingly bright. For Nintendo, this must surely have been a period of panic, as the DS was consistently outsold by the PSP over this period, and the sales lead that it had established seemed to be dwindling.

To add insult to the injury, third party support for the DS seemed negligible, and all the system seemed to be getting were hastily put together shallow minigame compilations or crappy GBA ports, none of which were doing justice to the system’s admittedly dubious capabilities. The PSP, on the other hand, was moving from strength to strength, as it lived up to its initial promise of providing the gamers with a ‘console in the pocket,’ and a true one stop multimedia device.

You couldn’t possibly blame third parties, though- the PSP was notoriously difficult to develop for, yes, but at least it was a conventional system, and you knew exactly what kind of results you were expecting from a finished game on the system. But  how could they possibly make a touch screen, a microphone, two processors and wireless connectivity work together, in their favour, in a single game? The DS, it seemed, was just the Sega Saturn all over again, chock full of useless technologies, and too complex for its own good, destined to an early death, and representing the total end of Nintendo’s presence in the hardware market.

Until Nintendogs.

This is the game that singlehandedly sold the DS. Until all the others came along.

The pet simulator was a surprise hit for everybody- nobody expected this unassuming under the radar game to actually accomplish anything, but it was the first game to truly showcase how things should be done on this odd new handheld. With Nintendogs, Nintendo properly demonstrated the use of every single feature under the DS’s hood for the first time, and the effect was simply marvellous, as Nintendogs turned into an unforgettable experience for all who played it. The launch of the game suddenly resulted in success in the system from absolutely unexpected quarters- from an audience outside of the traditional gaming market.

Suddenly, everyone was taking an interest in the DS, as to them, it was presented not as a game device, but as a gadget, a lifestyle product. The newfound ‘casual’ audience, all the mothers, and relapsed gamers, and grandfathers and grandmothers, teenage girls and more, all of them who would never have touched a game device before, suddenly went out in drives to buy the system. And when Nintendo followed up Nintendogs with Brain Age for them, the system exploded at retail overnight.

The wild success of Nintendogs was followed by the launch of the Nintendo DS Lite, a hardware redesign that transformed the ugly duckling into a beautiful swan- the DS became indisputably Nintendo’s best looking piece of hardware with the DS Lite. Suddenly, it became desirable and cool to own a DS, and that was something that had never been true of a Nintendo system before.

However, it was on the hardcore front that the DS suddenly began to shine. Nintendo finally released Mario Kart DS, and that was the game that, along with Advance Wars: Dual Strike, single handedly sold gamers onto this handheld, proving that the technology didn’t matter one bit, but the games that utilized that technology did. Following up this two punch with a steady stream of first party titles that lasted all the way into earlier this year, they released Kirby’s Canvas Curse, Metroid Prime Hunters, New Super Mario Bros, Pokemon Diamond and Pearl, Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon, The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, Advance Wars: Day of Ruin, Golden Sun Dark Dawn, Mario and Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story, Pokemon Platinum, Pokemon HeartGold and SoulSilver, Pokemon Black and White, The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks and more. Each title was well received, and each title promptly proceeded to smash records at retail.

Happy birthday, Nintendo DS. You were the first and last mainstream dedicated gaming handheld.

However, more than even the first party games, the DS is probably one of those rare Nintendo systems that will be remembered for the third party games that it got. Games like Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow, Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword, Final Fantasy IV, Dragon Quest V, The World Ends With You, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, Dementium: The Ward, Professor Layton and the Curious Village, Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor, Okamiden, Ghost Trick, Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney, Dark Void Zero, 999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors, Big Bang Mini, Picross 3D, Shantae’s Risky Revenge, Picross 3D, Dragon Quest IX, Sonic Colors, Scribblenauts and Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars represented a steady stream of AAA support for the system that never once for a moment died out, and ensured a stream of quality content for the system even as all three home consoles struggled to find their footing in the market.

But the DS represented so much more- it was perhaps the last standing haven of quality JRPGs. As consoles continued to get bastardized JRPGs that compromised on the genre’s integrity, the DS continued to get quality efforts, from longstanding traditional ones like Dragon Quest IX to quirky and new ones like The World Ends With You.

At the same time, the DS also remained the last retail platform where genres such as 2D sidescrollers, shoot em ups and platformers could survive. Once mainstays of gaming, these 2D centric genres had been threatened to the verge of extinction with the dawn of polygonal 3D gaming, but they found a new lease of life on the DS, and they thrived there.

The Nintendo DS turns seven later this year, and what a journey it’s been for the quirky, odd handheld. The legacy of the DS has left an indelible mark on the industry- it led to the resurgence of Nintendo,and it re-established their dominance over the market. It led to the Wii, which has arguably, for good or for bad, changed the face of gaming forever. It is also the only system so far to demonstrate how casual and hardcore gaming can co-exist, without one, in any way possible cannibalizing the other. For a handheld that was relegated to failure status even before it launched, that’s a pretty impressive achievement.

Happy birthday, Nintendo DS. You and your legacy, both live on.

To celebrate the success of the DS, even as it continues to outperform its own successor, the 3D enabled 3DS, we at Gamingbolt will be posing a stream of DS related content to commemorate its success over the coming days. This will include the usual suspects, like a list of the best DS games and all, as well as some unexpected editorials and features. Stay tuned.

Nintendo’s new console was announced- it’s called Wii U. Coz it’s made for “you.”

The controller was also shows- it’s a tablet kind of thing with a screen on it, with two analog sticks and the normal buttons.

You can stream your game on the controller as well- it’s like a system within itself. It also has motion sensing. You can draw on it (it’s a touch screen).  You can play mini games on it.

It’s… it’s awesome. You can also make video calls using it. It’s typical Nintendo innovation.

The controller has a 6.2 inches screen. You can stop playing on your TV, and just continue playing the game where you left it on your controller. It also has a microphone and an inward facing camera.

They also gave a sneak peak of an HD Zelda game.

The system is coming in 2012.