Call of Duty Black Ops 3 Multiplayer Beta Impressions

I play a bit of the preorder bonus that is the Multiplayer beta for Call of Duty Black Ops 3. I give some pro tips for playing a first person shooter, go on a rant about why people suck, and talk about how the game feels and what all that good stuff is like. I think the Beta ends soon, if not tonight, for PS4 at least. But go ahead and watch and get an idea to see if it's something you'd want to play come November. Watch it HERE, or below. 



As always, thanks for watching. If you haven't please subscribe. More videos are definitely coming soon especially with the in rush of titles come September.

Thanks,

Rich

Watch Press Start - Bloodborne How long can I survive?

Be sure to check out my blog HERE

Twitch Streaming HERE

Twitter HERE

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare Multiplayer 5 Point Review

It feels fun again.

Summary - So it's out, and I swore to myself I wasn't going to play anymore Call of Duty games. But, they sucked me back in. After the debacle that was Ghosts, and the less than stellar Black Ops 2, I had become skeptical to say the least. I think if it did turn out to be the Treyarch game after Ghosts, I wouldn't be playing it.But to be honest, it wasn't so much the game that turned me away from playing, mostly the community. I consider myself a pretty great Call of Duty player and I love the competitive play and aspect of the game. But, I have never, nor will I ever be a fan of drop shotting, quick scope, no scope, 360 shot, excessive camping, or anything that isn't really just a guy and his gun and his skill. And you could argue that all of that takes skill, but that's a different topic for a different day. But to get it out there, the multiplayer is fun again. A bevy of new guns, a new mantling and movement system, the double jumps and dashing, the Exo abilities, the pick 13 system, it all feels familiar while feeling fresh and different at the same time. It is a far from perfect multiplayer, as some of the maps are too tight and the spawn system will suffer because of how quickly everything is moving, but I almost don't mind dying like I would in other games, because I feel like everyone is actually moving around and having a ridiculous time flying through the air.

Pros

• New weapons, Exo suits, Perks, Kill streaks, character customization
• Pick 13 system returns
• Maps are surprisingly really well made with only 1 or 2 duds in the bunch
• Fast paced game play. I mean really fast. But also the ability to play "classic" style
• Future setting without feeling Sci-Fi or campy
• The community hasn't ruined the game yet
• That addicting feeling
• It is a pretty game

Cons

• Spawn system suffers
• Some weapons feel really underpowered
• That "you're putting a 100 bullets into someone and they don't die, then you get killed on 2 and perfect aim and no recoil on the kill cam" feeling is still there and it is still frustrating
• Verticality is a huge and fun part of the game
• New game modes are fun but they're nothing to go crazy over
• I'm still confused why I'm unlocking things, and then losing them a few matches later
• The community still sucks regardless

Should you play it? Yes - Especially if you took a game or two off, to me at least, it feels new and fresh and I swore off the series. If you like FPS games, it will keep you addicted for at least a few months

Should you buy it? Yes - Again, it's that same addicting feeling of Call of Duty and will last a few months. If need be wait till Christmas and ask for it then. Just be prepared to be harvested by veteran players come December 26th.

Score - 8.75

This is for the multiplayer section of the game only. There are single player campaign, as well as a survival mode. They may be coming later. Also, I will be releasing some videos on Youtube hopefully soon so you can see some gameplay and impressions. Thanks

Call of Duty: Ghosts Multiplayer Reveal

Today is the Call of Duty: Ghosts Multi player reveal, and a lot of information has come to fruition.There's a lot of info to digest, so I'm gonna try to keep it rather short.

They began with a trailer of a bunch of features, while a brand new Eminem song played in the background. It is apparently a world premier from his new album. So, some new multi player stuff. It's going to be a bit jumbled, because a lot of the information they provided was back and forth and integrated into all other new announcements

Complete soldier customization - appearance, clothing, faces, gender, camouflage. Approximately 20,000 combinations possible.

Classes are now your Squad - Instead of 10 classes, you get a squad. Essentially tailoring each soldier to what you want them to be. If you want a ghillied LMG expert, have fun, and so on and so forth.

Squads - Compete across all modes. Squad v squad puts you and your AI squad against another player and their squad, war game - which you hand pick 5 squad mates against 5 AI opponents, and safeguard - a wave based squad game mode

The AI will be refined and attempt to play like humans, ala like douchey kids who like to drop shot, jump shot, etc. I understand this is part of the game, but when you say that your game is realistic, this stuff tends to take away from the experience, as it's a cheap way to take advantage of the shooting system and mechanics. What makes it worse is that Infinity Ward is actually supporting this form of game play. 

Dynamic maps - Set pieces and scripted events you can trigger, like moving locations, falling debris/buildings, map specific kill streaks, and some destructible cover.

Kill streaks - 20 new kill streaks have been added, and they're also removing a lot of air based streaks to minimize the necessity to carry around specific equipment to neutralize them. Care packages, UAV, mini gun, sentry guns, juggernaut, choppers, are all returning, plus more. Also Riley, the campaign dog will be a kill streak. He will follow you around, help with CQC, and act as a personal UAV. Death streaks have also been removed.

The idea behind removing holding certain equipment for game play takes away even more of the strategy element of the game. I understand that some kill streaks were very overpowered in past iterations, but now making them ground based might even make it worse. 

Weapons - 30 new weapons have been added, they didn't go into specifics, other than a new gun class called marksmen rifles that looked to be like the FAL-DSW, M21, etc. Essentially single/burst/full auto high powered weapons that can have high powered scopes or normal red dot, etc.

Again this is something I don't like. Giving weapons full customization is an awesome thing. But the power of some of these weapons is great enough, and the whole quick/no scoping, and rapid firing semi auto rifles with no recoil give the game an annoying touch to it. This is another piece of annoying community fanfare they're embracing that I personally don't agree with.

Second screen - They're embracing second screen a lot. Seems like just enhanced stats, customization on the fly. There's also a lot more second screen options like touch screen emblem creators, clan operations, etc.

Weapon Overhaul - The system to building your squad (class) has been overhauled. For the first time since modern warfare 1 the new system is considered "most flexible." They've adopted the "pick 10" system from Treyarch, but is slightly redesigned with new/more perks. Every perk has a set point value from 1-5. The maximum quantity of picked perks is set to 8, without weapons it goes to 11. Now, XP gives squad points to unlock the usual - difference is pick what you want to unlock at any point, in any order. So, instead of classes, you singly level 10 different soldiers. Each soldier has 1 prestige, equaling the usual 10 prestige levels.

Strike Packages - Are back. They didn't go too much into it though. I'm assuming because it's the same as MW3, with assault, support, and specialist.

Game Modes - 
Cranked -It's TDM with faster pace. Every kill gives you faster movement, like reload speed, ADS, but with a timer. If you don't get a kill in the timer, you die. It's a similar idea to the movie Crank where he has to keep moving with adrenaline or he dies.
Search and Rescue - This is similar to Search and Destroy, but after your death, instead of being done, you can be revived. When you die, your tag drops. If you grab a teammates tag they respawn. If you grab an enemy tag they stay dead until the next round.
Squads - Is explained above. These are also considered in the new game modes.


Movement - Now the movement system has been more streamlined, so moving over cover, or mantling, is now easier and you don't lost momentum. They have also added in a leaning cover system where you don't need to press any more buttons, it will do it intuitively, and a knee slide to slide into cover, obviously.

Redefined Sound - The new system sounds good. Depending on where you are on the map, say a metal warehouse, or a carpeted room, the fire fights, and explosions will sound differently. They have also added in combat chatter which will help with locating enemies, and other things around the map without any prompt.

Field Orders - In the live demo, while they were playing a game of Cranked, the first player killed dropped a briefcase, the briefcase contains an order from anywhere to humiliate your opponent to a certain number of kills. If the player holding the orders dies, someone else can pick it up and try to complete it Upon completing this gets you a care package that could be anything. Now I don't know if this is across all game types or just cranked, but it's actually a cool idea.

Clans - Integrated clan support and in game challenging, as well as 2 week long Clan Wars involving maps, and challenges to determine a winner, all in game. Winning events will earn you exclusive gear, emblems, camo, etc.

Prestige edition - They had a really dumb video of the two guys from college humor showing off the prestige edition of the game, with a helmet cam that resembled a Go-Pro, and how it is shock and water proof. I don't know, I didn't get it. But there's obviously other goodies in it. Also, the season pass is back.

So, Eric Hirshberg stood on stage and said that there is a holiday every year in November called Call of Duty time, and referenced pop culture like how when the franchise was born Pierce Brosnan was 007, Ironman was only a comic, and the Avengers wer

e something, I forget, but... there was something about this guy talking that gave me cringe worthy chills down my neck. Touting stats of what Call of Duty has done, how the series brings that "holy shit" reaction to gamers, bringing Eminem in for a shameless plug for his new album, and cameo saying to stay tuned for more information, and just overall trying to be too overly funny and culturally hip.

In my honest opinion, as someone who's been in love with the brand, Call of Duty is heading in the wrong direction. I get it, they want to keep making the billion they make every year. I'm all for companies doing their thing. I just don't really like how they're trying to market the annoyances of the game, like drop shots, and quick scoping, and upping the speed of the game, but still have the audacity to talk about the realism it portrays. They have actual US soldiers playing the game, yet none of the soldiers would ever do anything in the game. Again, let me reiterate, I understand the franchise is essentially a hero's idea of war, and supposed to be arcade-like super speed action. I just don't think they should be advertising it as realistic for anything other than their attempt at graphics.

The series is a mainstream thing, which is no problem at all, but it seems like they're having problems staying humble as well.The issue there, is that they're talking about game features that have been present in their biggest nemesis, the Battlefield series, for a little while now.

In the end, there are a lot of things I like about the idea of the new Ghosts entry. Enhanced customization, interactive maps, new game modes, bigger emphasis on clans, and a complete class overhaul. These are the things that need to push the soon to become boring FPS genre forward. Embracing the social media space, new generations of gamers and consoles, different styles of game play are all great ideas, and I hope they succeed in attempt to make the franchise seem fresh again. I just hope they don't lose site of what made Call of Duty a multi-billion dollar franchise in the process.

Call of Duty Ghosts releases on all major platforms, including next gen on November 5th, 2013

Rich

E3 Starts today - Microsoft & EA

E3 begins today, and I expect there to be a ton of new news and content as Microsoft will kick off their conference first, then a couple of dev studios, then Sony. I'm currently in a training meeting, so I'll try to keep the website updating especially through the Microsoft and Sony conferences with the big named stuff. Keep an eye out in the next couple hours for updates.

Rich 


UPDATED

Xbox One/360 (I will only be posting a few big name things as there is a lot to cover)

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain - Starting off here, Microsoft announced the Phantom Pain for the Xbox One, and showed off some interesting new gameplay. Also to note, if you previously didn't know, Keifer Sutherland will be voicing Snake.

Sunset Overdrive - In something that is sure to be surprising, the former Sony exclusive developer, Insomniac, is bringing a new IP to the Xbox One as an exclusive called Sunset Overdrive. It reminded me somewhat visually of the EPIC game that wasn't released, Fort Nite, mixed with some crazy action and gunplay.

Halo - Not much else is known, other than there will be a new Halo in 2014. I'd look to a holiday release for this. 343 Industries is still at the helm for this, and is promising a new Halo for a new generation. Hopefully its more Halo, than Call of Duty this time around.

Titanfall - The much awaited game from Respawn Entertainment (the guys who made Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, and Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2) is an Xbox 360, Xbox One, and PC exclusive. There's mechs, soldiers, and a whole lot of explosions.

Ryse: Son of Rome - I was able to watch some of this at lunch, and it looks pretty decent. Roman era combat, mixed with some great graphics, and crisp combat. The only thing I was a little worried about was their was a lot of quick time event button pressing involved in the combat. That kind of stuff gets old awfully quick.

Minecraft - The Minecraft craze will continue exclusively on the Xbox One, featuring bigger maps and more multiplayer functionality. Not much else is known.

Dead Rising 3 - This is one I personally am greatly exciting for, I almost jumped out of my seat during training. It will follow a new protagonist named Nick who in vein appears to be doing the same thing that happened in the previous installments. Hopefully, they do abandon the time sensitive shoot yourself/someone up with Zombrex bit every so often, and go more open world.

Pricing/Release Date - Finally a price. The Xbox One will release on November 21, 2013, retailing at $499.99. Further information found is -

      
This report of what comes with the Xbox One’s $499.99 launch day bundle comes from Siliconera:

• Xbox One system (500GB hard drive)
• Blu-ray drive
• In-unit wireless
• Kinect peripheral 
• Free 14-day Xbox Live Gold trial
• Xbox One Wireless Controller

Players that reserve the Xbox One for purchase on launch day will receive a commemorative bundle with some digital incentives and special black packaging.

• Exclusive “Day One” achievement for bragging rights
• Ryse: Son of Rome: Special multiplayer map, weapon, and stat boosts
• Forza Motorsport 5: Four cars tuned for high performance
• Dead Rising 3: Exclusive Frank West and Chuck Greene Tribute Packs with enhanced attributes.

That's the important stuff I took away from the Xbox presser. Up next...

EA/EA Sports - (The majority of these are all multiplatform)

All the Sports - EA showed off all their sports franchises with a lot of detail. All were present including UFC and the much maligned NBA Live series that's been dead and dormant for some time now. The titles look crisp, and it appears they're trying to prevent the same backlash that they got from the launch lineup with the Xbox 360. These will launch on all next gen and current consoles.

Star Wars Battlefront - The rumors had been circulating that a new Battlefront was in the works, and the title has been confirmed. DICE will be taking control of the title, which is probably the greatest possible news. Not much was shown other than a small clip of a soldier on Hoth, and an AT-AT foot crashing down. No word on release dates.

Need for Speed Rivals - A new Need for Speed was announced, running on the Frostbite 3 engine from DICE, and being made by a new EA studio call Ghost Games. The game will similarly focus on pursuits between racers and law enforcement.

Mirror's Edge 2 - A new Mirror's Edge game was announced. The cult classic showed a trailer of the free running star moving through environments and battling foes. No word on release, as it was stated at the end "when it's ready"

Battlefield 4 DLC - In a somewhat odd twist, Battlefield 4 has DLC announced, before much of their multiplayer has even been shown or talked about. Named Second Assault, it is Xbox One exclusive and will be released at some point after launch. It is however only 4 remastered maps from Battlefield 3, which will probably end up being on other hardware at some point.

Presenting: Xbox One

After much hype and anticipation, the new Xbox has been revealed, now known simply as the Xbox One. It was rumored it could have been called the Infinity, Fusion, 720, but they decided to go with One, as in the "All in One" console.

So here's what we saw:

The console itself - Touting the actual thing, unlike Sony did for the Playstation 4, it looks like how you would expect it to. It's a big black glossy box, with the Xbox Symbol on it, and some vents. It does look huge, but it's got a lot of tech inside it so it's probably on par with what the PS4 will be. 

Kinect 2.0 - It will be bundled with all Xbox One's, and will apparently need to be connected to the system for the system to work. In other words, if its not plugged in, your new Xbox One won't function properly. It does appear to have enhanced capabilities, better body and facial recognition, and a design synonymous with the new console. 

Games - So far we saw the new Forza Motorsport 5, and Quantum Break, which were actually the only console exclusives shown  almost all EA sports games were shown off in a prerendered trailer form, but with the oddly notable not present NHL series, but did include the new UFC title from EA, and Call of Duty: Ghosts. Other than that we didn't see much in terms of games.

User Interface - It looked similar to the Xbox 360, but now everything can be controlled with voice and hand gestures, but can also be done with the remote. Switching back and forth between TV, Movie, Games, YouTube  and back to the home screen are done with ease. Not much else seems to have changed other than that.

Mandatory Game Installation - this is leading to the idea of no used games with the One. When you pop in your new game, you'll need to download the title. Major emphasis on the new. Apparently the new idea behind this, is that you can buy used games, but when you install them from a used disc, you will have to pay a fee. Sounds pretty awful right? There will be more information made available at E3 soon. Microsoft has said they have a plan for used games. If it's anything like what it appears to be, its a botched one. 

Controller - the controller doesn't look too changed, other than maybe being a little bigger, and a minuscule redesign. The buttons are pressure sensitive now, and the triggers each have their own rumble sensor. The battery in the back also moved from the back central, to the top rear part. I really don't understand the use of exterior batteries at all anymore if that's what they're using. 

Backwards Compatibility - the Xbox One will not play your Xbox 360 games. That's all you need to know. 

Blu-Ray - the Xbox One has made the leap from the regular DVD drive to the originally exclusive Blu-Ray drive. So look forward to finally getting to use your Blu-Ray discs on your new One.

TV - Tv and other applications will be an integral part of the system. Microsoft wants to work closely with cable providers to give seamless transition from TV, movies, games, apps, and everything in between. ESPN, and NFL are two major names tacked on to give the One some spark. 

Here's what I don't know yet.

Pricing - they said nothing about this. You have to figure there will be multiple bundles. A base one, stripped of everything good coming in probably around $350-400. A middle Tier from $400-450. And an elite tier probably from $450-500. This is just speculation, but it's what Microsoft has been doing when offering the 360. Different hard drives, wireless vs. wired controllers, games, better headset, customized outward appearance, and a couple other little features. We'll find out more at E3.

Always online - the dreaded words no one wanted to hear. There's been some hush hush talk about it is or it isn't happening. Some have said it has the capabilities to be always on, but they're leaving that up to the developers. Some have also heard rumors that it will be always on all the time period, which is why their would be a connection to your cable provider, and Kinect. This one is still open for talk.

Release date - I along with probably every one else, is assuming late October to mid November. Games are being listed for the systems around then, and it's going to be a holiday nightmare finding these. Which in turn is exactly what the companies want.

Online - a big reason why some people choose to not use the Xbox online is that it costs money to access the Gold membership account. They haven't stated whether or not the pay model will return, but since it's only $60 for a year, I don't see why this won't be back. 

Overall, those are the main talking points. There are a few more, but I didn't consider them to be too substantial. If you have any other concerns feel free to ask and I'll answer to the best of my knowledge.

Lastly, I hate to say it, but I wasn't really impressed with their conference. Other than some application functions, they didn't say or do anything to wow me. The whole Kinect 2.0 scheme they're trying to pull on the Xbox crowd is going to be its make or break function. I just don't think it's going to work as well as they're showing it to. Especially when what they were doing actually seemed to be prerecorded. The presenter was doing his hand grab to stretch open and close motions while also talking to the Xbox One. Which was fine, except when he said you could do it on the fly, he said something along the lines of Xbox, watch ESPN. It instantly flicked over to ESPN. Sounds fine, and awesome at that. But what was showing? A basketball game. Cool, it's playoff time afterall. Well, it was of two teams not in the playoffs, of which I can't remember. He snapped to a game, which was already in progress of a car driving. Who was playing the game? Why was it automatically playing? Who was actually playing it? Honestly, I don't have a clue. Then back to ESPN. A completely different basketball game. This time it was the New York Knicks and the Brooklyn Nets. Two teams eliminated from the playoffs. It was also 10:30 A.M. in Washington where the conference was being held. If I had to guess, at this time there would've been Sportscenter playing. He snaps to a movie which is playing. One cool thing to note, is that he did minimize the movie, brought up a clean UI of the One's dashboard and took an incoming Skype call in a smaller window in the top corner. 

I'm pretty baffled by the press conference. I don't know what to make of the new Xbox One. Part of me is semi excited, and another part is full on disappointed. A company that size, with that much power in their teams, put on a show like that, with few mentions to any notable games other than the yearly releases, and a couple of voice and gesture activated features has me worried for them. I guess, and we'll hopefully be finding out more about the console at E3 in a couple weeks. 

My Top 10 games of this generation

It's been a somewhat slow months for gaming, and for this well. Work, personal life, sports, gym, and more have been consuming my life, but with my new position at work, it allows me a little more time to maintain. So, with not much going on, other than the announcement for the next Xbox coming up, I figured I would write my list for my favorite games from this generation, so far. I know there are still some big name titles around the corner, but I toyed with this idea since the Playstation 4 was announced.

It was a difficult task. Too many quality titles were released, and to be honest, I probably will have forgotten and left out a few. Let's give it a go, in descending order from 10 to 1.

10. Batman: Arkham City - A game that proved licensed property doesn't always have to suck. And not only that, but was a wonderful game overall. Improving on everything Arkham Asylum did, it gave us the feeling of being Batman in a large scale world. A ton of gadgets, and unlockable moves, progressing through the story multiple times was a blast. Playing this is the closest thing to be the Bat as you're going to get, other than wearing the costume and getting beaten up on the streets by people wanting to test your skills...

9. Dark Souls - I was prepared for death. I told myself I wouldn't stop till I beat this damn game. I stopped. I traded it to a friend, and said screw it. 2 weeks later, I was pondering what I could have done differently? Why I was dying so easily? Maybe I should have tried a different build? I ended up having the itch to try Dark Souls again, and never looked back. Racking up a couple hundred hours of game play and play throughs, I fell in love with everything about this one. And with Dark Souls II on the horizon, I'm looking forward to the frustration all over again.

8. Halo 3 - It was a long time ago, but Halo 3 was a huge part of this console generation. People seem to overlook it, especially with Reach taking a lot of the praise away from the game that gave it the hype it was semi worthy of. Halo 3 brought me into online gaming more than I ever was before, and I loved everything about the balanced game play and shooting mechanics, and awesome story that kept me coming back to play Legendary with friends. This one deserves a spot on the top ten.

7. Borderlands - Borderlands brought a lot to the table. I must have played through it 4 or 5 times, I actually lost count. A couple on Xbox, and a couple on my PC, I couldn't get enough. There was something strangely addictive about finding gun chests scattered throughout Pandora and mixing different gun combinations to fit your character class. Borderlands combined everything people loved about first person shooters, role playing games, and a comically smart story line to keep me not caring about any other game I had, even months after release.

6. Metal Gear Solid IV: Guns of the Patriots - Oh boy, this one. The fitting conclusion to Solid Snake's journey. A ridiculous story line that had more twists than any right minded person could count, fun stealth and camouflage game play, addicting gun customization, and a proper sending off for Old Snake, this game is as close to perfect as it will ever get. 

5. Uncharted 2 - As a game that felt more an experience rather than just another title, the overall grandiose cinematic adventure that was Uncharted 2 was something of legend. Fun characters and fun game play. Fun run and gun action, and a fun story. Guess what? The game was fun. Plain and simple fun. I was never frustrated, it flowed perfectly. Even on Crushing difficulty, it was a blast to play through. Add in some decent multiplayer death matches on top of the stellar everything else, this game was damn good that everyone better have played from front to back.

4. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare - Here is where things get interesting. Modern Warfare is the game that started the first person shooter craze. Yes, Halo 3 was made before it, and it was the game that got the FPS genre going, but Call of Duty 4 took it to the next level. This was the type of shooter that everyone was clamoring for after the World War 2 setting had become stagnant. Finally a game set in modern times, with M4A1's, M1014's, M240's, Clay-mores and C4. A compelling story with major tones of national unrest and the threat of world war by terrorism. Pepper in some beyond addicting multiplayer with a progression system that everyone and their mother's developers have copied since. This game was and will go down as the shooter to spawn the rest, and it did one hell of a job in the process.

3. GTA IV - Building on the success of GTA 3, Vice City, and San Andreas, GTA IV took a little turn to the more serious side of story telling. It was Rockstar's first GTA on the new hardware and they succeeded in every way, shape, and form. Ditching the cartoonish visuals of the Playstation 2, and Xbox era, they went with a real look, and real story, all while keeping their patented satirical humor, insane action, massive open world, and detailed character development. Grand Theft Auto has been a juggernaut since GTA 3 was released, and they haven't looked back. GTA IV is arguable one of the greatest games ever made, let alone this console generation. You could pretty much do anything you wanted in Liberty City, and it was a great way to kill your Sunday afternoon, or entire weekend for that matter. I could ramble on for a few paragraphs about every crazy thing you can do in game but I need to continue on. Just know this game needs to be played at some point in your life, or you just need to stop playing video games if you haven't at least tried it.

2. Fallout 3 - I must have spent close to 400 hours in the Wasteland, and I just started up a new play through on my Xbox 360. When I first learned about Fallout 3, I didn't know much about the series, nor did I even know much about Bethesda. For some odd reason, I was in college and I remember being at Gamestop, and something clicked in my head that I wanted to pre-order the game. It must have been a Gameinformer preview or something along those lines that made me excited about the title. So, I ended up at the midnight release with about two dozen other people. I brought it back to my apartment, and had an immediate attraction to everything the game had to offer. The way the story was presented, the feelings I had developed to characters and locations throughout it's massive map, my affinity for the secret weapons and the need to find and try them all, stellar DLC, and more side quests than I could remember. Fallout 3 has crept its way into one of my personal favorite games of all times, and it absolutely deserves it.

1. Red Dead Redemption - Rockstar has stolen the show. With two titles in the top 3, it's clear, to me, they have made the most out of this console generation only to have another powerhouse in GTA V coming down the pipe quickly for holiday 2013. Red Dead Redemption gave us something new and refreshing. A lot of people were a little unsure as to how the Wild West would lend itself to an open world environment, but coming away years later, it turned out to be, in my opinion, the greatest game of this console generation. The sheer amount of quality in the massive amount of quantity is above and beyond the competition. Do you want to hunt wild animals? Have fun stalking prey in the snowy mountains, and ranking up your hunter challenges. Want to cause a ruckus at the bank and fend off the local police from a rooftop? Good luck in the firefight with the U.S. Marshals. Want to ride the train through Mexico for a few hours picking off anything you see with your Winchester Repeater? It'll be a treat watching bandits, slide off their horses dead. Meeting strangers and other cowboys in the field, stumbling upon treasure, intense gun fights, awesome multiplayer, considerably the greatest DLC ever created, and a story to make a grown man shed a tear, Red Dead Redemption far and away takes the cake with a Winchester in one arm, and a lasso in the other. Bravo John Marston, bravo.

I really struggled with this, especially the last 5. Now, these aren't the greatest games ever made, nor am I saying that these are better than your picks. These are just the games that I think I personally enjoyed this console generation. The gap from 1-10 is minuscule. I didn't think it would be this difficult until i got to around number three. And I know there's major titles that are superb games that I left out; Bioshock, Bioshock: Infinite, Left 4 Dead 1 & 2, the Mario Games, the Zelda games, Dead Rising, Dead Space, Mass Effect, Rock Band, Gears of War, God of War 3, Minecraft, Killzone 2, Journey, Braid, Battlefield 3, Assassins Creed, etc. These are all games I spent time with and had fun with, a lot of time playing multiple play throughs and countless hours. 

Overall, I like my list. I tend to stick to the open world games, shooters, and RPG's. I ended up flipping a few choices back and forth a few times while writing it, but I'm comfortable with how it turned out. A few choices I was debating on putting in the list, and not the eighth through tenth, but pretty much throughout other than one to three. I guess to me, story, and character development have a lot to do with what I consider to be the greatest. Add in customization, some post release support, and fun multiplayer and it just helps out the cause. Hope you enjoyed the list, so what are your favorites from this generation?