“Why we love it” is a new feature which we hope to put out when a highly anticipated sequel is about to make its debut. Think of it as an effort to elaborate upon the qualities and traits fans appreciate from the franchise. It’s not aimed at swaying naysayers, but it will acknowledge the franchises’ foibles. This is predominantly aimed at those who are curious about the hype surrounding an upcoming game and have always wondered, “Why do they love it?”.

It’s a question I was asked awhile ago, which I found incredibly hard to answer. “What do people like about the Metal Gear Solid series?” It’s a difficult game to explain. Trying to justify how 20 minutes of cutscenes and codec conversation is an enthralling experience is a tough task, but I thought it was about time I tackled it. So here’s my attempt to describe the Metal Gear Solid series and share why I (and many others) regard it as one of the best videogame franchises of all time.

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Idiotic comparisons over GRiD by GameTrailers have resulted in flames and accusations of bias on the part of GameTrailers. Was it a simple mistake or a case of an overzealous video editor? The creator of this YouTube video claims bias.

I had no idea this has become such a big deal. At first, I just thought it was a simple mistake. Who knows. Who cares?

I strongly believe the release of Grand Theft Auto IV is a step forward for the video game medium. Not because of its record breaking development cost or its near flawless critical accolades, but because they are talking about it as well.

You know who they are. Your dad, your neighbour, the mainstream media anchors of the evening — they’re talking about GTAIV along with us. Not all of it is kind or correct, but they are acknowledging its presence in the entertainment world. Why is this more important than say… Halo 3’s launch? Because of the fact that not all coverage for GTAIV has been about the evils of this so called “murder simulator”. Shooting aliens is one thing, but people? This is the fourth numeric installment from a franchise rife with controversy — the material is there for the media to rip into, but they don’t.

Are people becoming more understanding? I mean, they are talking about the possibility of GTAIV rivaling summer blockbusters and breaking sales records. Or is it a sign of our beloved medium maturing?

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The free content situaion for PC gamers is great. Maps, levels and other small content are usually given to player community for free from either the developer or the community itself. When developers give away free content, it was like they were saying “Thanks, for buying our game. Here’s another map or two to make your purchase worthwhile.” Relationships between the players and developers were formed. Developers knew that these acts of kindness will convince their players to come back to their games in the future, because they will get their’s money’s worth and probably a little more.

Unsurprisingly, console manufacturers and developers have embrassed the idea of additional downloadable content, but unlike on the PC platform, a majority of the content is being charged for. I do not expect everything to be given to the player community for free, but I do believe that there are certain pieces of content that the developers or console manufacturers should just give away. Multiplayer maps are such pieces of content.

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It’s hard to imagine Intel going out of their way to create a processor for anyone, but themselves. However, it appears that Intel is making a habit of taking custom processor orders - specifically from Apple. It started out small with a custom Dothan processor for the Apple TV and then a custom Merom processor for the recently announced MacBook Air.
 
None of these custom orders have been drastic, but they are not typical of Intel. Typically, Intel sells a platform (ie: Centrino) or a chip to its customers and then they would do their best to accomodate Intel’s products into their own. Even the original Xbox’s processor was an “off the shelf” Intel Pentium III based design. Not even the almighty Microsoft could sway Intel for a specially catered design for its first console.

But times are changing.

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Continued from My life Without WoW: Introduction

First of all, let me apologize in advance to most gamers out there for potentially giving your significant others (or loving mothers if you still live in the basement) some ammo against you. I just have to share this tidbit. After all, blogging is all about droning on ad nauseum about something you feel is earth shattering, but in reality is either completely obvious, or just plain irrelevant to everyone else in the world. Ain’t those intertubes grand? Well now that I’m through with WoW and have a fuckload of time on my hands, I can finally get all introspective in my own attention-whoring corner of the web…
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Hello, My name is Effah from Sargeras, and I’m a recovering WoWaholic.

Before I start recounting my life after Warcraft, let me explain something. I really don’t have a bad thing to say about Blizzard’s masterpeice of a game. I’m a 31-year old bastard who’s had the fortune (misfortune?) to play virtually every MMO that was available on the market over the years… Some games were prettier, sure… Some games were more intricate, ok… In my opinion, however, none of them had the right balance of elements that really kept me hooked like WoW did. Besides, it’s a common fact that the amount of potential children expelled from the bodies of teenage boys upon their first glance at a naked Night Elf female would probably overpopulate our entire solar system. Am I right? Of course I’m right. If you disagree you can write your own fucking editorial about it.

Well then, in order to make this a proper introduction let’s start from the beginning…

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With the first day of winter a few days away (December 22nd), I thought it would be an excellent opportunity to pick out my top 10 video games which reminded me of the cold season. The rules of eligibility were simple enough:

1. One appearance per franchise.
2. Must resemble winter in Canada.

Without further delay here is the list I came up with:
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