Category Archives: News

Breaking news, this just in, and read all about it. Here you’ll find the latest rumors of the industry, what new game was just announced, and why you should be excited.

Mass Effect 3 Extended Cut: Was It Worth The Wait?


Mass Effect 3 Extended Cut: Was It Worth The Wait? (Opinion Article)

Discloser: This article is solely the opinion of this one writer and does not reflect the overall opinion of this entire site.

Spring Break 2012. Families, young, old, and everything in between flocked to the beaches of both the east and west coasts to revel in a short glimpse of the upcoming summer. Those unfortunate enough to not be able to participate in over-glorified tourism spent time at the pool and with their families and friends, enjoying this week of relaxation and freedom from school and for some, work. Though I did enjoy some of these endeavors, the thing I looked forward to the most was a game I had longed to play for four entire years, Mass Effect 3. Receiving the game at the beginning of Spring Break meant an entire week to spend playing the most anticipated game ever in my gaming career. The fanatic I am, I of course scourged eBay, having been too arrogant to pre-order the Collector’s Edition ahead of time and was treated to the punishment of them being sold out. Paying much more than I would have otherwise, I had invested in this game more than any other game in my entire life. And was it worth it? Of course! Now this is by no means a review of Mass Effect 3 (though I believe it to be one of the greatest of all time), but instead an insight into the infamous ending.

SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

I got the game in the mail and started it on Monday of Spring Break, arriving to the conclusion that Saturday afternoon. Anticipating the inevitable defeat of the Reapers since the end of the first game, I knew it was coming. I woke up that morning knowing that today, the machines bent on destroying all life as we know it were going to be vanquished once and for all. The ending came and gone and alas many were disappointed in how the war ended but there was no true impact and result from all the decisions and choices made across three entire games. Bioware had attempted something no other franchise had done before in truly making your voice count in the game you played but when the final credits rolled, no matter what choices you made, you roughly had the same ending as everyone else.

But I liked the ending.

There I said it! I am apart of the staunch few that stand by Bioware’s original ending, praising the brave sacrifice of one man to save the galaxy. Normally, I would be on my soapbox demanding change just like the majority, but I didn’t simply because the ending Bioware gave, gave me closure on Shephard’s life and the Reapers’ lives for that matter. Peace and salvation for all those I cared for because of Bioware’s fantastic character development. So why does a few decisions matter? The ending left an air of mystery into where the series could possibly go next. The thought that the mass relays were completely destroyed, leaving many races and peoples stranded in their systems (many of which were presumed to be stranded on Earth) left me pondering about a new series where there is no racial discrimination but instead galactic unification. Against a new threat? Of course. Which is why I of course chose the Synthesis ending and still stick by that one, loving the idea of a unity and equality between organic and synthetic life, plus that was a sick green color! (no pun intended) I went onto Bioware’s Facebook page, praising the ending and overly excited for where the series was headed next. Whether that be continuing the story of the Normandy crew through the eyes of a new main character (more of my hypothesis about that at a later date) on an adventure across this strange new world they landed upon or somewhere completely different, I am ecstatic regardless! But now to the main event: Tuesday’s release of the Extended Cut. 

All I have to say is this is where I am now disappointed and in more ways than one. First of all, the download was an entire 1.85 GB (almost 2 GB’s!!!) for a 5 minute, that’s right 5 minute, additional cutscene/slideshow. Now yes that is 5 minutes for each ending including all new 4th ending, entitled “Refusal”, which by the way is not good at all except to amuse yourself to the idea that the cycle will continue (but actually inferring in the post-credit scene that the next race does in fact destroy the Reapers anyways). Other than that, there’s not a whole lot to the extended scenes. My second problem is a short and simple one. Yes, I did in fact enjoy the extra scenes (and humorous other ending) but why make us wait so long for this? Couldn’t have this been made much faster? Did Bioware even intend for all this to happen and if so, what was their goal? And finally, my third and biggest problem is the fact that Bioware did this in the first place. It is the battle between the consumer and the creator. But I personally think they should have stood by their original ending and not added anything because this decision has ultimately taken away some of the power a developer has in their own creation. From now on, who’s to say this whole community uprising won’t happen again and cause an entire game to be completely different than what it’s creator would have wanted it to be. Game is an art whether the main stream society wishes to believe so or not, it truly is and how would you like it if you spent a couple years putting your entire self into something you believed in and loved just for a person to hate it? And not only that, but they only hate something as small as your sculpture only has four fingers. Would you go to the trouble to completely remove the hands and spend months to rebuild them just for one pinky? Yes we are the consumers and yes we put the money in their pockets but does that give us the right to demand they change or even simply add to their creation? We wouldn’t have Mass Effect without them so don’t take them for granted. Don’t you trust them? I do. And that’s why I can’t wait for Bioware’s next game, be it Dragon Age 3 or a new Mass Effect, because when it comes down to it, I trust Bioware to deliver a rich, compelling storyline and truly immersive, choice and player driven experience that no other developer can do.

As always for walkthroughs for this game and/or tips (including videos) just comment or send me a message! I’m always willing to help!

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Rumor: Half-Life 2: Episode 3 in the Works?


An interesting and exciting thread appeared yesterday on the fan created site ValveTime.net, claiming that they had found supposed concept art for the next installment in the Half-Life series.  Although sent in by an anonymous user from an unnamed source, the art does fit with the Half-Life concept art style and contains elements that could hint towards a Half-Life sequel.  For example one piece is a drawing of what appears to be Alyx wearing Eli’s jacket, and in another piece the helicopter from the end of Episode 2 turns up crashed in an arctic setting.  ValveTime claims that these images are the real deal, however there is no hard evidence suggesting that it is indeed from Valve themselves.  I guess all we can do for now is hope that this isn’t some scam, and that this concept art is indeed legitimate. Be sure to check out some of the images below, and head over to ValveTime’s Gallery (link posted below) to see all of the concept art. What do you think? Could we possibly be looking at the makings of Half-Life 2: Episode 3? Be sure to comment below and let us know what you think, and stay tuned to Updownright for all the latest on this rumor and other gaming news.

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The next Gordon Freemon?

The First of Seven: Max Payne 3 DLC out July 3rd


Rockstar announced yesterday that the first downloadable content pack for their noir inspired game Max Payne 3 will release next week on consoles.  Titled Local Justice, this downloadable content will come out on the Xbox Live marketplace and Playstation Network on July 3rd, with a following release for the PC on July 17th.

Three new maps come with this DLC; the 55th Batallion HQ, Imperial Palace, and Departure Lounge.  The 55th Batallion HQ map will be playable on all game modes, while the Imperial Palace and Departure Lounge maps will only be playable on Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, and Payne Killer.  Furthermore this new DLC pack comes with a new weapon, the M4 assault rifle, a new item called Light Fingers which makes looting faster, and the Sao Paulo police faction, complete with avatar customization.

Originally set to release in June, the Local Justice DLC will be at a discounted price during launch week as an “appreciation of patience.”  During this time the Local Justice DLC will run for 480 MS points (6$) on Xbox Live, and 6$ on Playstation Network and PC.  After the week though, the content will return to its normal price of 640 MS points ($8) on Xbox Live and $8 on Playstation Network and PC.  Additionally the Local Justice pack and all other DLC content for Max Payne 3 can also be purchased through the Rockstar Pass program.  Currently this pass is available for 2400 MS points ($30) on Xbox Live and $30 on PSN and PC.

This new DLC for Max Payne 3 is the first of seven planned add-ons for the game.  Due out later this summer is the Disorganized Crime map pack, the Deathmatch Made in Heaven mode pack, the Hostage Negotiation map pack, and the New York Minute co-op pack.  Coming out sometime later this fall will be the Painful Memories map pack and the Trickle Down Economics map pack.  In short there’s a lot coming to Max Payne 3 making this a title that refuses to slow down.  Be sure to check out our review of the game and stay tuned to Updownright for all the latest in gaming news.

Far Cry 3 Delayed Until December


Ubisoft announced this past Monday that Far Cry 3 has been delayed until the holiday season. Originally announced to be released early in September, this highly anticipated title has been pushed back until November 28th for the UK and December 4th for the U.S. According to producer Dan Hay, the team decided to delay the game because they want to take “more time to create the best possible gameplay experience.”

As of this moment Far Cry 3 is the only title scheduled for December, however this new release date could potentially hurt its sales. Originally slated to be released in September, the only other close by first person shooter was Borderlands 2, which releases on September 18. With this December 4th release date, Far Cry 3 now comes out after Halo 4 (11/6/2012) and Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 (11/13/2012), which are two highly anticipated and competitive titles. What do you think, does Far Cry 3 stand a chance in the sales against these highly popular titles? Let us know in the comments below and be sure to check out the Far Cry 3 preview to see what we think of this upcoming title.

The Microsoft Surface Finally Surfaces


On Monday, June 19th at a press conference in Los Angeles, California, Microsoft CEO, Steve Ballmer, finally unveiled Microsoft’s first ever tablet PC. Entitled the Microsoft Surface, this is Microsoft’s leap into the tablet industry in what they claim to be greater than Apple’s iPad. Standard competitor trash-talking aside, the specs of the Surface speak for itself (full list of both model’s spec as well as a comparison with the iPad 3 can be found here).

The Surface will be launching alongside  Windows 8 (currently expected to be released fall 2012) and will also be powered by the Windows 8 OS. In an industry filled with Apple and Android powered tablets, it will be interesting to see how this newbie does. This announcement also coincides with the previous announcement during Microsoft’s E3 press conference for SmartGlass. A new, innovative way of increasing connectivity across tablets, phone, Xbox, and more, expect the Surface to take full advantage of enhancing your entertainment experience.

But ultimately as a gamer, you’re most likely wondering what does this mean for you? Well, personally as a fan of both Microsoft and mobile gaming, I see this as a perfect marriage of the two. With the processing power the Surface boasts, you’ll be able to play any normal PC game without sacrificing anything all the while being able to do it on the go. However Microsoft would be foolish not to extend their own line of software to the tablet from first party exclusives to the Xbox Live Marketplace. The Surface is Microsoft’s best effort at establishing a foothold in the mobile gaming market, while innovating at the same time.

For more information on the Microsoft Surface, stay tuned with us here and we will keep you up to date as always!

The Ups & Downs of E3 2012


Like every gamer around the world I was thoroughly excited for this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo, more commonly known as E3, but I found it be quite underwhelming for the most part. Let’s first take a look at some notable titles that were announced at last year’s show. They ranged everywhere from big name series such as Gears of War and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare unveiling their 3rd installments respectively to some brand new gems like Dead Island. Some others worth mentioning include the Uncharted, Legend of Zelda, Mario Kart, and Resistance series, along with the introduction of the revolutionary concept of Nintendo’s next-generation console; the Wii U. Keep in mind I’m only naming a few things and that the list could go on and on.

Now let’s take a look at this year. It wasn’t necessarily awful by any means but it was certainly less than what most expected. I’ll start off with the bad side to keep this from straying into something depressing. As a big Nintendo fan I found myself pretty annoyed that there was absolutely no info on the 4th game in the Super Smash Bros. series after being announced last year. It was known that production wouldn’t have begun until Kid Icarus: Uprising had been released, which dropped this past March, but surely they would have some kind of information for the hungry fans? Unfortunately there was no such luck at 2012′s E3. Instead Nintendo revealed the title and release date (Holiday 2012) of Paper Mario: Sticker Star for the Nintendo 3DS along with some new gameplay footage. Normally this would be a good thing but based off of the direction they appear to be taking the series it doesn’t look too promising when compared to it’s predecessors. On another note, Skylanders: Giants, the sequel to Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure, looks like a quick rehash of what we’ve already been playing with some bigger playable characters. Let me guess, more figurines to buy in order to play to the fullest potential? I hope not, but as a gamer I’ve learned that when it comes to video games, hoping never helps and you just have to live with it. The most impressive thing about it was the graphics of the cutscenes in the trailer and not exactly the actual game. However, we should wait for the games to be in our hands before we make a final judgement on them.

Game play of Paper Mario: Sticker Star. Definitely looks different than previous installments.

I’m an impatient person when it comes to release dates for video games and music. I’m sure I wasn’t the only one shaking my head in disbelief when I found out that some games and consoles we’ve been awaiting for awhile such as Bioshock: Infinite, Super Smash Bros. 4 and the Wii U itself were either pushed back, not mentioned or do not have a release date at this point in time. On the other hand it was nice to finally know when Halo 4 and Borderlands 2 are being released; fortunately this year.

Before our train of hope for the future of video games completely derails, we’ll take a look at the top 3 games to be announced this year in my personal opinion. First we have The Last Of Us brought to us by Sony. The game play footage we got to feast our eyes on looked amazing and it was entirely unexpected. I found it to be a breath of fresh air for a 3rd person survival action-adventure game to be so realistic compared to most other games of the same genre. One thing that definitely stuck out to me was the AI being aware of when the player is out of ammo and reacting accordingly to the situation; as they will continue to do for all kinds of different situations throughout the game. Be sure to check this one out next year. Next, there’s Resident Evil 6. If I had to make an educated guess I’d say that the series is taking the action of Resident Evil 5, spicing it up 100x and throwing in some of the survival horror aspects of Resident Evil 4. If this is what we end up receiving later on this fall, I, and many others, will be happy gamers. Lastly, I was excited to see a New Super Mario Bros. title being announced for the Wii U. The graphics look very modern and flashy coupled with some new power-ups for Mario and the gang. Nothing beats some good, old-fashioned, light-hearted platforming seeing as most games nowadays are leaning towards the darker side of things, whether they be survival horror or straight up first-person shooters.

Leon Kennedy as he appears in Resident Evil 6. Who’s ready to shoot some zombies?

All in all, E3 wasn’t too spectacular this year as a whole but there was enough variety to have at least one thing that caught your eye. Most of the highly anticipated titles will be released in 2013 but I’m sure that the few gems that are awaiting us this fall such as Halo 4, Resident Evil 6 and Borderlands 2 will be able to hold us over until then.

Time to be humble: Humble Bundle V out now!


Humblebundle.com is an extremely unique site, and if you haven’t heard of it now’s the time.  Humblebundle.com is a website that releases Humble Indie Bundles, which consists of a series of games all packaged into one.  The games within the bundle are multi-platform (Mac, Windows, or Linux), DRM (Digital Rights Management) free, independently developed, and did I forget to mention that you get to name your own price?  Yes, you read that correctly, you pay what you want and the best part is your helping charity while you do it.  You get to choose exactly how your purchase is divided, either between the developers of the games, the Child’s Play Charity, or the Electronic Frontier Foundation.   So in the end, whichever way you go, your supporting someone just by purchasing this amazing package.

As of right now the team at Humble Bundle is on their fifth bundle package, and boy is it a great collection.  Like the title says, in the “Humble Indie Bundle V” you get five classic and critically acclaimed games.  These being: Bastion, Amensia: The Dark Descent, Psychonauts, LIMBO, and Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP.  Furthermore you receive all of the games soundtracks with your purchase, as an added bonus.  In order to receive Bastion however, customers have to pay more then the average price, which is currently set at $7.86.

So what are you waiting for?  This exceptional bundle of games could be yours for only $7.86, let alone your purchase will be supporting some charity depending on how you distribute it.  Sounds like quite the steal if you ask me, so why not?  Be Humble.

SimCity to have “more player direction” and “missions” than classic SimCity


SimCity for charlie

I got a chance to ask Maxwell Mcgee ,an editor for Game Spot who is currently at E3, a few questions. After asking how SimCity differed from the classic formula. He responded by saying  that SimCity had “more player direction than classic SimCity w/missions & city specializations”.

From this I gather that fans of the classic SimCity games may have some problems with the new rendition. SimCity has always been about doing what you thought was best for the city. The closest thing to missions were the random events and disasters. Personally, I believe that missions can add much to the formula, but I hope for a way to turn these missions down or off so that players can explored a modernized version of one of PC gaming’s lost juggernauts.

Stay tuned to Updownright.com for the latest in E3 news and interviews.

Video Games dubious Distribution


Videogames are a major medium in today’s buyer market. Major retailers nowadays value Video Game sales just as much as TV, BRD, DVD and CD’s. Yet in comparison to other types of media Video Game distribution is horrible. Personally I’ve never thought much of the matter yet putting myself into a situation this year to shop for older games has opened my eyes to how impossible it is to find these titles. First off by old I’m not talking about PS1 Chrono Trigger type games. I’m talking about critically acclaimed titles that are as new as Fall 2010. You look at TV shows on DVD, CD’s and Movies. You can still easily find classics of each genre even dating back to the 60′s and 70′s in your local big market store. The idea that you wouldn’t be able to buy Inception on DVD anywhere because they just stopped making it would widely be considered ludicrous. So why is it then that it’s naturally accepted that any game unless it holds god like status disappears in it’s terrible two’s?

To drive the point home of my struggle I wanted to connect this issue to a specific game that gave me extreme grief to obtain. Most games I semi-accecpted they were hard to find because they were dated as I searched for titles but this one personally baffled me. That game was Bioshock. Largely considered one of the best games of the modern console era it seemed very curious that it was no where to be found on store shelves.  For the purpose of critical acclaim IGN even ranked the game 2nd in there top 100 modern games. This game was released respectively in 2007 and 2008 for all major platforms so it’s no spring chicken yet even it’s oldest form is not even 5 years old. In my search to play Bioshock I personally either contacted or went to 14 separate major retailers looking for this game to no avail. Everyone said they no longer carried the title. This to me at least is unacceptable. Games are a medium where not everyone is able to play new titles on a budget and to now know I have a potential time window until a game disappears is extremely disheartening. For me as a gamer it’s important to support developers and I always try by talking with my wallet. In the current case I’m faced with it becomes extremely hard to show this though when my only option to buy new becomes ordering off of Ebay or Amazon. It’s not a win win situation for either the developer or the buyer as I’d rather not buy a used copy for the sake of supporting a company (and to avoid the ketchup stains) nor do I want to wait weeks for a package.

There are reasons for the current state of video game distribution that lend a little bit of understanding to why things are the way they are today. First off unlike a lot of other products Video Games are a 1 way street. Once shipped a game cannot be returned unless it’s a case of a defect. This is why many times you will see clearance prices on games as retailers are really just trying to get rid of them. Couple this fact with limited shelf space and you have a reason for store apprehension to order more copies in of an older game. New titles are the base of game store sales and this leads to those specific games dominating store space. Even Game centric retailers such as EB Games seem to lack the room to hold a library. In fairness to Sony, Microsoft and especially Nintendo there exclusive titles hold shelf life. Titles such as Gears of War, Halo 3, Resistance Fall of Man and Uncharted: Drakes Fortune have been named greatest hits after a couple years and haven’t left since. Meanwhile Wii first party titles are always stocked and rarely drop in price. It’s the 3rd party publisher that the issue lies with where game such as Assassins Creed, Bioshock, Dead Rising, Mirror’s Edge and Vanquish are impossible to find. These games if on store shelves would still sell strong yet they aren’t and likely won’t be as time doesn’t like to reverse often.

There’s no doubt that a vast majority of the gamer population could care less about games that are dated but for the rest of us there are a handful of games that will take the form of an archaeological dig to find.  It isn’t so much the fact that specific titles are hard to find it’s the issue that this is even a problem at all for the gaming industry. To be told that a extremely popular DVD or CD that was from 2009 is now unavailable would be considered unacceptable to most buyers.  Games shouldn’t be any different then any other major type of entertainment and it’s frustrating that they still are. Without better distribution for 3rd party titles game companies will continue to miss out on sales and gamers will continue to be burnt by lack of product choice. Both the consumer and the developer would benefit from an improvement so the question begs why not?

- Bryden

(Note this is from a Canadian perspective. Victoria, BC is the Capital of British Columbia and has a metro population of rougly 350,000 thousand people. There are roughly 16 or so stores that are major retailers of games in my proximity to base this on. (Futureshop, Bestbuy, EBGames (Gamespot), ToysRus, Walmart, Target and the Source) This obviously does not reflect all peoples situations but it would be great to hear other peoples stories in regards to game availability.)