Looking Ahead to 2012: Quarter 2 (April – June)
Hello internet perusers! We are back with round 2 of the four part year break down of things to come. Between April and June, the writers on HST have plenty that we are looking forward to in movies, music, and games,, and we want to share them with you. No, none of these are April Fool's jokes. Zac is actually →
Review of SSX (XBOX 360)
Years ago, when "next-gen" meant the PS2, I was introduced to what would be one of my favorite sports franchises of all time when I played the original SSX back in 2000. I still remember the commentators telling me that "Snow plus Dream equals SnowDream." From then on, the franchise has always had a soft spot in my →
Looking Ahead to 2012 – Quarter I (January – March)
With our lists of favorites of the past year done, it is now time to look ahead to what is to come this year. [Takes a gander] Holy F there is a lot! Did you read year? No, I said year through March. Silly you. Here is the list from your favorite writers at HST for what we are most →
HST’s Best of 2011: Video Games
Last but not least, here is HST’s list of favorite video games from the past year. And what a year it was, with huge titles coming out and an epic fall season to cap off the year. Plenty of sequels and a few new IPs to boot, so there are plenty of games to mention even without the honorable title →
Gaming Review – The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
Despite his effeminate, childish looks, Link is actually older than me, as the screen full of 25th anniversary excellence will inform you when starting the game. Yet somehow he still manages to be far more active. Granted I have a really comfy couch, and am not the one destined to save the world. He can keep that burden, which he →
Review of Dead Island
I love zombie games, movies, shows, and literature. I really do. Me and my friends would go around the worlds and courses of Left 4 Dead for hours, blowing the heads off of countless zombie hordes, and then becoming the infected to punch people off of tall buildings to watch them plummet to their death. So once →
Gaming Review – Rage (Campaign)
It is obvious why the title Rage was given to this video game. Two seconds out of the pod and some angry albino is trying to shove a knife into my chest. Clearly there is some much needed anger management on this planet. Or times have definitely changed from when I was last awake. Let’s set the scene. In a post →
Gaming Review – Assassin’s Creed: Revelations (Campaign)
With the number of Assassin’s Creed games that have been released in the recent past, I am starting to wonder if they are trying to outdo The Sims with that series's affinity of releasing expansion packs. Thankfully each game is a full adventure on its own, with this 3rd installment of Ezio’s trilogy within a trilogy finally bringing two characters →
Review of Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
Activision really knows how to drive franchises into the ground. From X-Men, to Tony Hawk, to the genre-defining Guitar Hero, the developers keep pushing sequel after sequel every year, hoping that the fan bases continue to hand them your money. But once fatigue starts to set in, the franchises get old and played, making each other game that →
Am I A Zelda Fan?
I cannot wait for The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword to come out this weekend, but can I be a Zelda fan (which I self identify as) if I have only ever played through two of the series' games in their entirety? The two games in the series I have played through are Ocarina of Time and Twilight Princess and I →
Gaming Review – Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception (Campaign)
I don’t mean to brag, but when I was little I was decent at climbing trees. I mean, I would get at least 10 feet off the ground. Ok, so that’s not that grand, but I had sensitive hands, and bark is all scratchy… The point is that for people with childhoods like mine, living vicariously through characters like Monkey →
An Article To Vent: Video Games & Internet Tough Guys
This past week, I've been playing the widely successful Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, the newest in the long list of CoD games. While I've been having a great time playing with some of my internet friends, I decided to stray away from them and to go level up on my own. After some good rounds of Free-For-All, I →
Gaming Review – Batman: Arkham City
As I had to do when I wrote up Batman: Arkham Asylum, I must start this by apologizing to Superman. As much as I like to believe that I am a Man of Steel kind of girl, I just can’t stay away from The Bat when he makes video games like this. Batman: Arkham City follows the events of the first →
Video Gaming Review: Batman Arkham City
Batman Arkham City is finally here and to say the least, it is a far cry from disappointment. Batman Arkham City is the perfect sequel to Batman Arkham Asylum. Rocksteady studios has done something truly remarkable with this franchise. They went from being a company no one had ever heard of to a huge name in the gaming industry all →
Open Thread – Games: A Scarier Format Than Film?
Lauren: With Halloween coming up just around the corner, now is the time to up your yearly dose of horror infused entertainment. Personally I love the genre, but films are one thing, while video games are something else. They are the killer sharpening his blade in my closet while he softly, albeit menacingly, whispers my name in a promise that →
Delayed Gaming Response – Enslaved: Odyssey to the West
With all of the big name games stealing the public’s attention last year, from Mass Effect 2 to Red Dead Redemption to Call of Duty: Black Ops, it’s understandable that some pretty amazing games didn’t get the recognition they deserved on the grand scale. For me, the most overlooked would be Enslaved: Odyssey to the West. Like many games and films →
Gaming Review – L.A. Noire
The sweltering summer day’s perspiration trailed down the outside pane of glass, clinging to the hope of making it inside. The scene inside was not much better. The shadow of the day cut across the wounded body of the young woman, broken and bruised from the deep cuts in her abdomen as she waits for a savior to come take →
In It’s Defense: Why Video Games Aren’t Just For Kids
For many people, video games are a getaway from all of your worries and problems. They transport you to different worlds, and tell magnificent interactive stories that entangle the viewer(s) into place of unforeseen wonder and beauty. Not only have they introduced main media to such characters as Mario, Master Chief, and Donkey Kong, but they have also →
Delayed Gaming Response – Dead Space 2
When it comes to science fiction, space is always presented as a pretty action oriented place, from space battles to asteroid fields to roaming cannibals (you thought I was going to get through that without a Firefly reference? Silly you, you thought wrong). But from way down here where the majority of us are standing it is nothing but a →
Gaming Review – inFamous 2 (PS3 exclusive)
As far as I am concerned controlling electricity is not a power I would want to possess if I had my pick because I don’t plan on forgoing showers anytime soon. Good thing this isn’t The Sims and hygiene really isn’t a concern to Cole, the protagonist reprising his role in InFamous 2. At the end of game one I happily →
Review of Brink (XBOX 360)
If you are on my friends list, you probably have heard me talk about Brink; Bethesda and Splash Damage's new class based, wall-climbing, objective-completing first person shooter. With all of the beautiful videos (look up the E3 trailer), awesome graphics, and gameplay that looked smooth as silk. I was so ready for this multiplayer epic to come out →
PS3 Players Rejoice! Mass Effect 2 is Finally Here
Here’s a little thought about console exclusiveness. When a game is released solely onto one console (I’m ignoring PCs cuz I’m a Mac person and PCs scare me) it sucks. Boasting ensues, lines are drawn in the sand and suddenly we’ve got a full on battle over which console is the best among the fans. For those of us claiming →
Gaming Review – Fable III
Similar to the promises made by the hero of Fable III on his path to the throne, there have been a lot of promises coming from Lionhead Studios building up the hope of the people for what this game could be upon completion: Morphing hero weapons! The power of touch! An interactive “menu” that will bring those before to shame! →
Gaming Review – Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands
With the DVD release of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time this week many may be looking for a way to continue the fun action adventure without having to put the movie on repeat. Luckily enough there is another option, which is to rent Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands, the game that was released in conjunction with the →
