Light gun games on consoles were a mixed bag, obviously the buzz of the packed arcade was detracted and the social aspect lowered, with games either feeling too light in content or just feeling rather dull to play. But there were some sparkling examples of games that made the cross over well, such as House of the Living Dead 2 on the Dreamcast, this was always a great game to pick up and play either solo or with friends. Its  unique co-op experience is under appreciated in today’s modern multiplayer formalities.

Booting up House of the Living Dead 2 armed with my light gun is a memory I’ve always looked back on when talking about light guns and arcade shooters.  The game was a fantastic light gun experience that played just as well on the Dreamcast as it did in the arcade. The official Dreamcast light gun was nothing short of brilliant (the VMU unit added some nice little touches). It had a good weight to it, it was able to take punishment (rage throws to the floor after a cheap death) and was responsive.  Playing light gun games with Playstation Move and the Wii motes feels like a pale imitation. This isn’t to say the Move or the Wii doesn’t work or is particularly bad, they just feel rather soulless compared to using a brightly coloured light gun, which feels almost natural while playing the game.

While light gun games are disappearing and/or are merged into the first person shooter genre (for example Killzone 3) it would be nice to see a little more activity in the genre.  There are of course the few bastions carrying the torch for light gun titles in today’s market, such as the fantastic House of the Dead: Overkill, but these games are far and few between. While the light gun is set to become something of a relic, and the genre either obsolete or merged into another genre, it should be remembered and treasured for being one of the most fun video game experiences to date. While the arcades have all but gone (in the UK anyway) and video games now strive towards motion control, I will always look back at the light gun with a sense of joy and regret. Joy for the great times I had with a light gun in my hand, be it in the arcade blasting zombies in House of the Dead with my father or playing the Dreamcast equivalent alone in my room, it was always fun to play.

The regret is that within a year or so light gun games will be all but gone; a mere relic of days gone by. While this realization is disheartening, I can rest in the knowledge that playing my light gun collection is merely a press of a button away.

The return of Leon is well welcomed as he as been my most favoured Resident Evil character (though his hair cut has always slightly confused me) but it does raise a few questions that the game will surely answer. Leon’s sections seem to be a mixture of the action packed Resident Evil 4 gameplay tied in with the classic T-Virus zombies. It’s a nice touch to see Resident Evil bringing back the classic zombies but it does present a few issues in terms of how well the gameplay can blend in with the established ‘slow’ zombies. While there is plenty of room to question Leon’s section in trailer I found myself easily looking past them and instead questioning the next showing.

Chris Redfeild takes a large role in the Resident Evil 6 trailer and this is where my problems arise. My issues don’t rest within the character of Chris Redfeild but instead rest with the actions we see him perform. There’s a certain clip within the trailer that shows Chris taking up a very ‘Gears of War’ like position. While its apparent Chris has became the face of the pure full on action side of Resident Evil, this jump to third person cover based shooter seems rather alien given the franchise we are talking about here. While I understand franchises must evolve/adopt to survive (for the most part anyway) I cant quite get past the mish-mash of gameplay styles Resident Evil 6 seems to be.

I worry that the sections I could possibly enjoy could often be broken up too often and the gameplay switched to something I enjoy a lot less (or perhaps even dislike). This could easily lead to the game feeling like a chore to play through which can easily kill any video experience. Of course I’m speaking from a personal point of view, there will certainly be people who enjoy the potential mixing pot of gameplay. The prospect at having such a mix and change in pace within one game, while trying to carry a storyline, is an extremely daunting idea.

Another problem I seemed to find myself having with the trailer stems more from the identity crisis Resident Evil seems to be suffering. Capcom are no strangers to experimenting with the Resident Evil franchise. A look back through the years shows new directions taken by the franchise with some having more success than others. The likes of Resident Evil Survivor showed Capcom were willing to push their franchise into new genres. Even when they met failure they were still willing to try again and use their past experiences improve future efforts. You could not accuse Capcom of lacking ambition with the Resident Evil franchise after the releases of Out Break 1 & 2 which were met with a mixed reception. After a number of experiments and new directions it seemed Capcom had stuck gold with Resident Evil 4. The core gameplay of Resident Evil 4 seemingly set the tone for Capcomls numbered entries into the franchise. This hasn’t resulted in Capcom sticking to just one style of gameplay or genre, but has in fact allowed them to return to their experimental ways allowing them to branch out the franchise. The existence of the Wii Resident Evil light gun titles (Umbrella Chronicles) was further proof Capcom felt comfortable returning to their meddling ways within the Resident Evil world, the same can be said for Resident Evil:Raccoon City. Capcom have also began to embrace new technology in the shape of their title for Nintendo’s 3DS named Revelations.

I may have my issues with Resident Evil 6′s trailer and indeed with Capcom as a company, but I can see to why they have seemingly took the route that Resident Evil 6 is on. The mixture of gameplay is a double edged sword that could allow the game to offer a decent range of experiences or turn out to be a mess. I may be against the ‘Gears of War’ style action we seen in the Chris sections of the Resident Evil 6 trailer but the Leon sections and the sections belonging to the new character did raise a slight interest for me. Resident Evil 6 could be potentially franchise changing event for a number of reasons but until the game ships all we can do it sit back and wait.

Maybe I’m stuck in the past, maybe I’m just jaded but what I do know is I’m willing to have my mind changed. Just don’t charge us for content that’s locked on the disc Capcom.

Well, with more and more free to play games popping up it was about time we showed you what FREE games your missing out on.

What is a Free 2 Play game? Its as simple was what it is called, it’s a game that you are able to download for free and play for free! How do the game companies make their money? With each game there is a premium version, this is the bit you pay for and other extras like, better weapons or armour that you CAN’T get in the game you have to pay for!

So the Games Currently about are (just to name a few) Quake Live, Team Fortress 2, DC universe, Bloodline Campaigns, Global Agenda, Iron Grip Marauders and many more.

The 3 videos below are of 3 games I have tried out, TF2, Bloodline Champions and Global Agenda.

So on with the shows:

• Global Agenda

This is a on-line team based game with the ‘Free Agent’ being the free to play side and the ‘Elite Agent’ being the premium account.

Click here to view the embedded video.

• Bloodline Champions 

This is a arena based PVP style game. You can buy currency in the game that allows you to by new charters and items for that charter.

Click here to view the embedded video.

• Team Fortress 2

A really great simple FPS game. Like the other 2 games above there is a standard charter with limited items and premium charter with lots of extras!

Click here to view the embedded video.

These are just intros to the games! I’ll be back in a few weeks with an update to how I am doing and if the game is ever worth the ‘Free’ tag is comes with!

So far my personal favourite is … Team Fortress 2 followed closely by global agenda!

Have you played them? Do you like any of the games mentioned above, leave your comments below.

On another note : I will be more than willing to give any one a game on Team Fortress 2!

The lovely people over at Amazon are selling Deus Ex at a hell of a good price. By following the links below you can find The Limited edition of Deus Ex for £16.99 on both PS3 and Xbox 360. You can also find the Collector’s edition and the Augmented Edition for £84.99 and £50.71, respectively. So there you have it, the best value for money deal this week. We hope to have one of these up every week, but possibly not on the same day, so stay tuned to the site for our next deal of the week. Hit the link below to see this offer.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution

For those who are as in the dark about this as I was, OnLive is described as a ‘Cloud gaming platform [where] the games are synchronised, rendered, and stored on remote servers and delivered via the internet’. In other words, no minimum specifications, no installs and no compatibility issues. All you need is a screen, the free client (or, optionally, the console for TV play) and a broadband connection. There’s also some great features, including a copy & paste, Xbox style achievement system, intuitive video capture for all your best bits, and seamless integration with social media sites like Facebook (You know, if you’re in to that kind of thing). Seems a bit good to be true.

The first thing I can say about OnLive is that it isn’t the first service of this kind. StreamMyGame pioneered the idea about three years prior – but in the same way that Nirvana weren’t the first band to make grunge, Onlive will be remembered as the first group to make a major success of it. As loathe as I am to doubt my initial speculations – it works.

As you boot up the client, it will test your connection speed and give you a reminder if you are suffering from a high latency (a nice touch, I thought) or if you are connecting via a Wi-Fi connection and suggest you move to ethernet. Stubborn as I am (and half wanting to be proven right) I carried on in my wireless capacity. After taking advantage of a brilliant ‘Your first game for £1′ offer, I was playing Deus Ex: Human Revolution within minutes.

A high-demand game… for £1… on a bottom-spec, 4 year old Macbook. I had to admit, I was initially very impressed. Akamai.com estimated that in 2009, 20% of the world’s internet users were connecting at OnLive’s recommended 5mb/s rate. Though this has oft been used pejoratively against the system, any half-serious gamer will have no trouble in passing this specification. However, even if there was an occasional latency issue, I could have put up with it for the sake of progress – but there wasn’t. The game ran like a dream. A few years ago, my PC was top-notch, but since then, I’ve gradually moved over to the 360. Keeping up with minimum specs became an expensive business, and my Mac (which I bought for work reasons) was far from a gaming machine. Plus, short of The Sims 3 and World Of Warcraft, OSX games are in short supply. OnLive genuinely seems to remove that problem. The system works. But surely every silver lining has a cloud.

A high-demand game... for £1... on a bottom-spec, 4 year old Macbook. I had to admit, I was initially very impressed.

The main concern I’ve heard bandied around regarding Cloud Gaming is bandwidth issues, (which are discussed in a bit more detail in this article – and rightly so. It seems techbeast.net estimated OnLive could munch up to 200mb in just five minutes, so an uncapped broadband connection with no fair-usage policy seems like a must if you want any real use out of system. And I can’t stress paying attention to your fair-usage policy enough. Small print like that in any contract can run up huge bills if you’re unaware of it. A big issue here for me though, is the portability factor. The idea of taking your games anywhere is blissful, but with technology as it is, how far afield can you take your broadband? Around the house, yes. But an iPad’s 3g won’t handle it. Nor will a Virgin Pendolino’s wi-fi. And I highly doubt Costa coffee will appreciate hordes of people sat around destroying their quota. Further more, constant streaming combined with data transfer is going to do a serious number on any device’s battery life. For the home, yes. But for out and about – not yet. It’s a great idea, but in today’s society, it’s impractical. Though this is just one aspect of OnLive.

My next big qualm is inherent to the system itself. We’ve all been in those situations where we’re bored and looking for entertainment, and the internet is just not accessible. Maybe BT are doing some routine work that day, or maybe you’re switching providers for a few days. You’re going to be a bit sorry that half your collection is stored in the ether. Before you know it, you’ll be taking drastic measures like reading a book. Or talking to someone. The internet is fully integrated in to our way of life nowadays, so services are becoming more and more reliable every day. But we’re still just not there yet. It’s a shame, because OnLive really is ahead of its time. I just hope that the idea doesn’t surpass current technology. I have to admit though, so far everything is looking good, but I am still slightly apprehensive as to whether we could be walking straight in to a Pied Piper scenario.

What concerned me was that whilst buying my copy of Deus Ex, a little bit of small print at the bottom of my screen stated that I would be able to play this game ‘as long as it remained on the OnLive servers’. Worrying, I thought, but with a bit of prying, I found that it was guaranteed to remain there until 2014. ‘Phew’. Still, will my entire collection be at the whim of this company? I recently started playing through a copy of Baldur’s Gate II, which I have owned since 2000. Eleven years old and still re-playable is what I call value-for-money; and Baldur’s is one game of many in this category for me. I want to own my games, not to lease them. However, the next clause worried me more. I could continue playing as long as I was an ‘active member’ – and OnLive seem reserve the right to charge a fee for membership, should they choose to in the future. If I ploughed, say, £300 over a few years in to their products, and then got told I had to subscribe to access them, words would be had. Still, this is the trust we put in SkyNet… I mean OnLive.

It’s been asked a few times as to whether a Cloud based system could surpass the consoles of the era in popularity. In short, the answer for me is a resounding yes. I haven’t found them yet, but if problems do arise, they won’t be with the OnLive system. They will be with other products which support it – Batteries, connections etc.; and with companies like OnLive pioneering Cloud Gaming, these supplementary services will be forced to keep up or get out of the way. As a business model it’s infallible. If they hook gamers now, no-one will migrate to a rival service, as they’ve already invested their collection in the hands of this system. But that’s half the problem. If Cloud Gaming genuinely takes off, you can bet you’ll see PC Manufacturers queuing up on a Thursday morning for their benefits. High-end computers will be a thing of the past, and consoles (like the OnLive TV console) will be little more than a wireless card with a video codec installed. It’s a monopoly in the making. So much so that a little Hispanic sounding voice in the back of my head is trying to convince me to fight against it. They will become death, destroyer of consoles.

In summary: It’s fantastic, I don’t trust it, and I’m slightly nervous it will betray me due to certain abandonment issues.

That statement applied to most business’ who have a Twitter account, whether it be British Telecom, Game.co.uk or Sky HD. It was a fantastic advancement in an outdated area, whereby the norm was sitting on the phone for approximately 30minutes, being charged an extortionate fee before being put through to a call center in a foreign country due to cheap labour. That sounds a hassle, but then you’ve got the language barrier when you run into an advisor who’s grasp of the English language isn’t great.

Then business left their small time live-chat applications and jumped on Twitter. It was a revelation, a true marvel in the field. Consumers with complaints or queries would just fire off a tweet, wait a while, and get a response fairly rapidly. From a personal standpoint, I loved it. I’d fire off my tweets to BT asking about a new package, to Game for an update on an order, to pretty much everyone I required. I’d go away, eat my lunch, and come back to usually find the answer I required.

But time passed, and things changed. The service was still available, the application worked the same. But something, something was amiss.

Customer Service, had died.

Customer Service was no longer the thing companies used Twitter for. It was now used for gaining followers and cheap advertising to the masses. Gone were the days when you’d see companies churning out responses to peoples questions, it had been replaced with questions on what games people were playing, what country they called most, and competitions. Anything to generate a response, or a retweet. That was the new mandate.

Had companies officially switched stance? I doubt it. It was an evolution of the service, whereby companies realised instead of the consumers benefiting, they could benefit instead. Why should they worry about dear old Mrs Jones electric cutting off? She could ring up and sort it via the phone. But, those extra 20 followers could lead to 5 extra sales.

Was money the real root cause?

I’m going to use a company here as an example. It’s a company I’ve been a customer of for as long as I can remember, and have always found to be reliable. Game, also known as Gamedigital on Twitter.

To me, they were the greatest supplier of Games in the Uk for many years. Shopto sprang up recently and have delivered, but Game had a big foothold. Then recently, things changed. No longer did they answer questions with rapid response, and yes, they may have been busy, I’d have no problem with waiting. The problem only arises when you see them tweeting about competitions, Gamefest, asking us what we’re playing over the weekend.

Sure, social interaction is lovely. But I’d much rather have my urgent question answered, and not be charged a fiver down the phone for the privilege.

So did Twitter cause the death of customer service? Or was it an evolution of the attitude towards customers?

As with any internal debate I have with myself, I like to offer a “counter-argument”. Unfortunately, I’m using Game again as an example.

Two days before the release of Gears of War 3, I was in one of my local game stores. I was waiting for the manager to sort something for me, when a young teenager popped in next to me. He went to the tills, and politely asked the guy a perfectly valid question. It went something like this :

“Hey there, I’ve pre-ordered the Epic Edition of Gears of War3, but moneys tighter than I thought, so I was wondering if I could switch it over to the Limited edition”. The Game employee politely explains their company procedure.

“Unfortunately, you can’t switch it as we’ve only a set amount of limited editions that are already taken up by pre-order. You don’t have to buy the Epic one, but unfortunately you’ll lose your deposit”.

Perfectly polite, and to the point. Then he drops the bombshell :

“But don’t worry mate, you’ll be fine. The Epic edition is mint, and hardly costs anything more than the limited”.

The young teenager says thank you, and walks out quite happy. But then I had to get involved (whilst still waiting for the manager mind you).

“Not being funny, but the guy told you he’s short of money, and you’ve just clearly told him there is not much difference in price? The Epic edition retails at £99.99, the limited at £59.00. How on earth can you call £40 not much in difference?”

The Game employee didn’t take me on, and just shrugged. Is this how customers should be treated now? Blatantly being lied to, just so they leave with a smile. I hope that young teenager didn’t return on release day expecting to pick the Epic Edition up for a tenner more than the limited. Sure, some might say he should of done his research. But in my opinion, asking an official employee is research enough.

But, fear not friends, because all is not lost. There are some companies out there, who use Twitter to maintain excellent standards in customer service. They also gain followers, and a reputation, because of this. They interact with their customers, and make them smile.

So, it’s them that I dedicate this article too.

To all the guys @InsertCoinTees (by far the best & friendliest Twitter service you will find)
@ Btcare (busy as heck, but will always reply)
@xboxsupport (amazingly fast replies)

Ok, so you’ve got this far. Maybe you want to be part of the team? Good. Well, the reason we are hiring more staff is that the site is growing at an incredible rate, and to be honest, the small core team we have now just can’t cope with demand. We’re getting that many visitors, we really need to step it up and deliver the best possible experience to our readers.

We are looking for two or three  YouTube content contributors. Obviously, the position at the moment is unpaid. We do it for the love of games, and personal satisfaction.
What we need from you :

• Produce a well edited/thought-out videos (singular or series) with original content and will draw an audience.
• The spare time to produce videos for our channel. Preferably once a week, or more depending on how much you’d like to contribute.
• A previous history of playing the latest titles.

If you are interested in applying for the position, please email brad@gamereuphoria.com with the following :

• Why you feel you’d be right for the position.
• How much time per week can you devote to the position.
• Your previous gaming experience.
• An example video you’ve self-published.

Please make sure the email title is GE Reviewer.

We are also interested in recruiting a dedicated news team to assist Alex in reporting on the gaming industry. An awful lot happens in the industry on a daily basis, and it’s an awful lot of work to report on it for a small team. So, we’re expanding.

People in the news team will be required to co-ordinate with other team members on the reporting of news, source the latest information and deliver it to the front page in a timely, organised fashion.

What we’d require from you :

• A decent grasp of the English language in written form. Formal qualifications are nice, but not required.
• The ability to source the latest information from the internet, take that information, and deliever a unique article for GE.
• The spare time to source information, and write two/three articles per day.

For more information on the news position and how it works, check out this page.

If you’re interested in becoming part of the news team, please email brad@gamereuphoria.com with the following :

• Why you feel you’d be right for the position.
• How much time per week can you devote to the position.
• How would you source your information.
• Your previous gaming experience.
• An example news article.

Please ensure the email is titled GE NewsTeam.

What are the benefits from writing for Gamer Euphoria?

While we can not offer you a salary when writing for us (though we are looking into that in future) we can offer you a place on a warm staff committee, where your opionion matters. We are all friends here, and offer a kind hand when welcoming newcomers.

As you will be writing for one of the fastest growing video-game websites, it will be an excellent addition to a future job application or CV/resume if you are interested in journalism, or even other fields in the video-game industry. It is a known fact top gaming agencies look for not only the skill you are trained at (coding, design etc) but as well as a knowledge of the industry – here, we can offer you that.

Thanks guys, and I hope to hear from you soon.

As we’re eagerly awaiting Dead Island to hit the stores in a few weeks time, we’ve been very much wetting our appetites with past co-op titles – which brings us to this list. We here at GamerEuphoria are suckers for a good co-op title, not to mention zombie aficionado’s – together, co-op and zombies make an explosive mix.

While the future of gaming looks set to contain more co-op than ever the following list is a show case of some of the best co-op experiences already on store shelves (and download services). Grab a buddy and grab a pad and prepare for the best co-op experiences money can be in video games.

Top 10 Co-op Games To Play With Friends

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Gears of War 2:

Epic’s sci-fi gore fest has always been a blast to play through. Sure the story isn’t great but the action more than makes up for it. The full campaign co-op has always been a vital ingredient to the success of Gears of War so it didn’t come as any surprise when Gears of War 2 landed with an enhanced cooperative experience. The campaign made more use of the co-op with branching paths and more sections requiring team work and tactics. The campaign was action packed as ever and had  plenty of moments in which both players would be saying ‘sweet’ over the microphone however the true fun was found in the Horde mode. Gears of War 2’s Horde mode was a simple idea of four players taking on wave after wave of enemies. Horde mode was both intense and frantic but always fun with desperate last stands against the bigger enemies the game had to offer.  There’s nothing more fun that holding out in a corner with your buddies armed with shot guns waiting for the incoming wall of death.

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Borderlands:

If Diablo and Mad Max had a good night together and invited back a First Person Shooter along with them the offspring would be Gearbox’s Borderlands. The cell shaded shoot and loot em up deployed Diablo like role playing game elements and stat balancing into a broad and humorous world. Borderlands sets players out in groups of four and tasks them to complete quests and shoot stuff with big guns. The game is extremely simple at its core and playing solo is quite repetitive however in co-op is where the game shines. Adventuring through the world and taking on interesting enemies and mini bosses with buddies is highly enjoyable. The rush of looting a weapon that is far bigger and far better than your current one is an experience worth investing into.  With great downloadable content Borderlands is a great example of simple yet brilliant co-op on modern day consoles.

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Left 4 Dead 2:

At some point in our life we all ask ‘what would it be like to be in a zombie apocalypse with our mates? And Left 4 Dead provides an answer to that question. Running through the zombie infested levels with 3 of your closest buddies is an insanely fun experience. The gameplay is fast and furious and the game adapts to each play through being as fun as the last. Hearing a friend scream in horror as a Hunter leaps onto him/her is a memorable experience as is the first time a friend experiences a Jockey humping for the first time. Grab a microphone and blast through the highly enjoyable fast paced action that Left 4 Dead has to offer. Keep a cheeky eye out for the film references to obtain a extra sense of enjoyment.

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Halo Reach:

The Halo franchise has always offered a fantastic full story co-op experience however it was wasn’t truly defined until Halo: Reach. With a fantastic campaign to play through that mixed things up in terms of gameplay from time to time you’d think that would be enough to earn a place on this list. The return of Fire fight and the full co-op campaign are what place Halo: Reach on this list above all other Halo titles. The co-op action was blended seamlessly with the campaign and felt natural. The hours of fun on offer are undeniable as too is the various opportunities to mess around with mates, there’s nothing better than throwing a sticky grenade at your mates face.

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Operation Flash Point Red River / Dragon Rising:

While both games suffer from various bugs and glitches it’s undeniable that both titles offer an intense and slow burning co-op experience. Let’s get this straight both games are best experienced with three other buddies with the difficulty setting on Hardcore. With constant communication and tactics being required for Hardcore the games enters a whole new level of emersion and intensity. While the games are unforgiving on the Hardcore you do get a sense of satisfaction after competing each intense mission with all your buddies alive and kicking.

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Little Big Planet 2:

Creating things is fun and offers endless hours of enjoyment but there’s only one thing better than creating and that’s sharing your creations. Playing through your (or a buddies creation) is a unique experience that is not often offered on consoles. The level of fun is unparalleled and due to the accessibility of the game anyone can play it regardless of age or experience.

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Rainbow Six Vegas 2:

While the multiplayer earned a lot of attention it should be remembered the game also had a fantastic co-op experience. Although the franchise had become more of an action tactics game through the years it resulted in an enjoyable experience. Coordinating weapons and equipment with your partner was a minor yet appealing option to the game. The best part of the co-op was approaching missions using team work, examples of this was a co-op partner using a riot shield while another player took position behind them firing onto the enemy. While it didn’t do anything new Rainbow Six Vegas 2 did do everything well and was highly enjoyable with a buddy. Hunting Terrorists while discussing the awful weather, a pure delight!

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Saints Row 2:

Unfairly cast under the shadow of the inferior Grand Theft Auto 4 Saints Row 2’s co-op delights have went under the radar. Full world and full story co-op is a true feat for such a large and detailed world. Nothing is off limits nor is anything limited within the co-op. Countless hours of fun were on offer in the shape of the story, side missions and all the quirky mini games. A true underrated game and co-op experience which remains to this day as one of the best.

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Crackdown:

Playing as a super cop with a massive city as your playground sounds fun on its own however when you add a buddy into the mix the fun doubles.  Crackdown is the definition of crazy co-op antics with players being placed in the boots of almost super hero like characters in a broad and living world filled with opportunities for over the top action. While the game had a story to complete you would often find yourself sitting back and killing time by messing around within the game world. Climbing to the highest point in the game world only to push your friend off had a unique sense of comedy. Your friend’s cries of help and the odd curse word were always blocked out by the constant laughs Crackdown’s co-op created.

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Diablo 2:

Diablo 2 will always have a place in the heart of many gamers. The epic story telling that Blizzard does so well was a big feature of Diablo 2 however the online full story co-op was the key ingredient to its success. There was nothing better than joining a fresh game and interacting with a number of players and embarking on the various quests Diablo 2 had to offer. The co-op experience was further enhanced with gaining a balance within each party in which players would use buffs to compliment each other’s strong and weak points. Running through the world in a group was a satisfying experience that wouldn’t be successfully replicated until the release of Blizzards World of Warcraft. Oh and who didn’t love the secret cow level?

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Honourable Mention – Dead Island:

The combination of co-op and zombies has already been crafted into a thing of beauty but that hasn’t stopped Dead Island from making ripples in the gaming community. Boasting a large world filled with flesh hungry zombies (the sprinting variety) Dead Island is forging its own path to success. The game offers the sense of brutality and finesse which has became a hallmark of modern day zombie media.The twist Dead Island puts on the situation is the location isn’t your Dawn of the Dead style mall nor is it your 28 Day’s style suburban landscape instead Dead Island offers a holiday resort steeped in beauty…and blood.

While Zombies increasingly become more main stream Dead Island  is stepping up to the plate with its combination of RPG elements and brutal first person survival and co-op to provide what could be one of the most satisfying experiences for gamers and gore hound alike.

For the past few months speculation regarding the new generation of consoles has been at an all time high. With claims of new hardware to be announced within the next twelve months – that will lead this generation to a close – and into a whole new exciting era entirely.

Without a doubt it’s a bit early to jump the gun and say there’s nothing big left in the tank. But it got us thinking about how much this generation has pushed the limits of the industry and launching gaming into the fastest growing entertainment median – and with that, a collaborative entry about some of our hand chosen special memories this generation has provided.

Your best Gaming Memory of this Generation – What would you pick?

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Andy – Routine Gears of War Multiplayer

In 2006, it become routine to come home at the end of the day, turn on the Xbox360 and join the guys for a session of Gears of War multiplayer. It was the first game on the console that kept me coming back time after time – it wasn’t just the story, it was the overall experience. Some of my fondest memories online were spend with friends on Gears of War. The mad rush at the start of the match to get possession of the power weapons. The way you learnt other players movements. That quad kill with a sticky frag grenade. Never have I felt to mad at a game, but so satisfied moments later. It was a hard game to get in to the groove – but once you did, it was fantastic.

Gears of War 2 has all the necessary ingredients to be an even better all around package compared to the first – but somehow it felt a little off. Perhaps it was the lag, or even the weapon changes. Or maybe we just got too attached to those classic maps in the original. While it was still a fun game, the spark the original had wasn’t as prominent.

It was 5 years since I felt that spark again – but on April 18th 2011, upon receiving a press beta pass for Gears of War 3 Beta, I felt it. Roll on September 20th.

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Sean – The World of Warcraft Investment

My most treasured modern day gaming memory stem from a game that I hold with some prestige. World of Warcraft was my first major investment (in both time and money) in a MMORPG. Logging in and creating my first character from a selection of familiar races and lore (I was a big Warcraft fan before the days of WoW) was a fulfilling experience and set the mood perfectly. Walking around familiar locations and talking to familiar characters within the game was something that instantly appealed to me, it’s an odd experience seeing all the environments from a new more detailed perspective. The best part   of WoW (back then anyway) was the social aspect of the game.  I started the game with a few friends I knew from school so I began the game within a very small community as it was.

As I invested more time in the various fun and engaging activates within the game the feeling of community vibe intensified and soon people who knew each other only through game were freely chatting on Ventrlio like they’d known each other for years. The game core quality was undeniable with high quality content such as dungeons and quests but the games quality was improved tenfold when experienced within a strong community. While I loved the game’s content its the community I remember. The banter in guild chat, the chat on Ventrlio and the mixture of a group of people from all walks of life coming together to enjoy a game we all loved, this is my fondest modern video game memory.

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Alex – Street Fighter IV Bringing back Memories

I had a little bit of a hard time thinking of this one, but honestly I think my favourite memory would have to be playing Street Fighter IV online for the first time… then being beaten almost instantly.

Of course not for that reason, though. I have been a big fighting game fan, especially a Street Fighter fan since the early days.  So when I heard about Street Fighter IV I flipped, it was enough reason to pay for XBL membership. I remember as soon as I got it, I immediately put the disc in and started an online lobby. The feeling of competing against somebody across the world filled me with memories of playing its predecessors with friends for hours on end.

Needless to say I bought Super Street Fight IV and enjoyed every moment of it.

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Jorey – Gears of War Leading in to the Next Generation

Picking my favourite gaming memory from this generation is probably one of the easiest choices I’ve ever had to make. Sure, there’s several memories that I look back at fondly; the launch of Street Fighter IV in particular was the catalyst of a long foray of sleepless nights that lasted long after the sun had already set and risen, but there’s one memory so simple that stands high and tall above everything else: the launch of Gears of War.

I’m not even anything remotely close to a crazed Gears of War fan, but its launch clearly stands out to me for one specific reason: It was the first game that truly felt like the next generation was finally here. The jaw-dropping visuals, the fear-inspiring Kryll, the chilling atmosphere and soundtrack – it was unlike anything I had ever played, but the thing that I remember the most fondly was the unique bond shared with my friends while playing Gears of War co-op. I’m not just talking about regular old Xbox Live headset co-op, I’m talking about two or more friends sitting in the same room with a big HDTV taking turns playing a game that just absolutely blew our minds. While the memory of having a group of friends huddled around the TV shouting out enemy locations, yelling for assistance, and cheering for joy may be one of my earliest memories of this generation, it’s also the one that’s resonated with me the most.

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Brad - Achievement Unlocked

My best moment of current generation gaming is a hard choice. I’ve had many good moments, from being in a top 3 world ranked guild in World of Warcraft, to the Gears of War 2 days, to, well, lots of other moments.

But one stands out above all for me, and it happened whilst I was playing Aliens vs Predator on the 360. I decided I was going for the full 1000g on it, as not many had done it because it was too hard. There was my challenge. I did all the hard parts, the nightmare campaigns, max rank online, and it left me one online achievment left – The Uninfected. The premise was simple – be the last to survive in an 8 man mode (with the other 7 hunting you as Aliens), and last 30 seconds. It was harder than sounds – if people didnt make it near the end, they quit. And that voided my achievement. Then one day, I got it, with about 2 seconds to spare. I could see 3 Aliens running at me, and I was doomed. Luckily, the timer went and my achievement popped. I actually danced around my living room for joy.

And ever since then, achievements give me far more joy than they used too – now I go for all of them.

The ‘Frag Dolls’ were the first major deployment of a ‘girl gamer’ marketing tool that I can recall at this moment in time. They were billed as professional gamers or ‘cyber athletes’ (for the record that term is utter trash, you can’t be an athlete by sitting on your arse playing games. Fact) and would often advertise games (majority of the time they were Ubisoft games due to the Frag Dolls being owned by Ubisoft) and act as spokeswomen. Advertising and marketing has always used sex appeal to attract would be customers, it’s nothing new and it won’t disappear any time soon but the ‘Frag Dolls’ were trying to pull a Spice Girls by promoting girl power within the gamer community.

I’m not saying all female gamers will use their gender to their advantage, what I am getting at is the ones who do.

While the idea sounds innocent enough it always struck me as odd as every game related community i had came across had never aliened females. The lines between race and gender are well and truly blurred for the most part when it comes to communities based around video games (bar the odd immature child /manchild/lady child) as most people just wish to talk and debate about various aspects of video games. This was the reason why I was so confused by the use of the ‘Frag Doll’s as it seemed almost an unneeded focus on an issues that wasn’t even there to begin with. Forwarding the idea of girls playing video games was and still remains to me as a silly focus. It almost seems to be defeating the point of treating female gamers the same as you would treat any other gamer as it actively alienates them from the off. You can’t breach equal treatment and then constantly make a point that you’re a female playing it games. The ‘Frag Dolls’ didn’t last too long as a advertising method but the focus on ‘girl power gaming’ didn’t fade out with the dolls.

We now find our self in modern day gaming with the state of the community in a worse condition than it was a few years ago. Indeed things have become a little more hostile in terms of online multiplayer but this isn’t the main issue I have with modern day communities. It’s the cries of attention from female gamers who feel the need to point out that they are a girl playing a video game, and that we should treat them the same yet feel the need to alienate themselves from gamers. It’s even worse when it comes to debate and banter from this small section of gamers. If you dare question a point they have made no matter how valid or flawed it is the chances are you will be attacked by internet ‘white knights’. I’m not saying all female gamers will use their gender to their advantage, what I am getting at is the ones who do. It’s a massive contradiction to say your all about equal treatment but then use your gender to gain the upper hand or as a method to be treated differently. The biggest issue i have with this kind of gamer is the blogger.

However, there is a growing number of ‘girl gamers’ who are trying to gain attention and 'special treatment' due to their gender.

There are plenty of blogs out there who will relentlessly point out that they are female like it’s some kind of rare condition. While I understand it’s easier to gain a following as a female blogger who writes about games (and this is not sexist its fact) it’s up to the writers mortal fibre and character to whether they wish to do things legitimately or if they want to take the easy path and exploit their gender.

While I would like to sit here and say that most blogs and sites don’t use the ‘girl gamer’ image it seems that they are more than happy to exploit it. Throwing in as many articles and pieces of that drive home the fact it’s written by a female seems to be the way of these sites. The message of equal treatment is instantly thrown away with each and every use of gender. Male or female it shouldn’t matter and for the most part it doesn’t however there is a growing number of ‘girl gamers’ who are trying to gain attention and special treatment due to their gender but at the same time playing coy and claiming they just want to be treated the same.