For those of you not keeping track we are about to enter the second half of the year, full of just as many exciting things as the first half. So far some entries have disappointed, some have surprised, and some have lived up to and surpassed expectations so far, so lets keep our fingers crossed that there will be more of the latter options in the months to come. So what are you excited for? Let’s give you some options to consider with this list of what the writers of HST can’t wait for. [Read more...]
Looking Ahead to 2012: 3rd Quarter (July – September)
07/01/2012 by Leave a Comment
Looking Ahead to 2012: Quarter 2 (April – June)
04/01/2012 by Leave a Comment
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 really excited to see a movie about male strippers. [Read more...]
Review of SSX (XBOX 360)
03/03/2012 by Leave a Comment
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 heart, which really means that I’ve bought every game since then and played them to completion. Though the franchise took a couple of missteps (SSX On Tour wasn’t as fun as the third installment, and Blur was kind of a mess) and fell off of the map completely, its newest installment has finally been released. And with some hiccups in some places, I’m happy to say that the franchise is back on it’s sturdy feet.
The game’s story is rather forgettable, but is a great place to recapture your skills. Apparently, the little kid in SSX 3, aka Griff, has broken away from everyone else and thinks that he is the best in the world. So Zoe and the rest of the cast are going from peak to peak across the world to prove him wrong – by doing each of the nine “Deadly Descents.” [Read more...]
Looking Ahead to 2012 – Quarter I (January – March)
01/08/2012 by Leave a Comment
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 excited for and hoping will end up on our “Favorite of 2012″ lists come year’s end. [Read more...]
HST’s Best of 2011: Video Games
01/05/2012 by Leave a Comment
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 and seat on high as the crowned favorite. [Read more...]
Gaming Review: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
12/27/2011 by 2 Comments
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 must once again shoulder in The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. [Read more...]
Gaming Review: Dead Island
12/23/2011 by 1 Comment
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 I heard that there was going to be an open world zombie game that takes place on a tropical paradise, where friends can jump in and out whenever they please, I was in. So as an early Christmas present to myself, I bought Dead Island. But what did I get? [Read more...]
Gaming Review: Rage (Campaign)
12/03/2011 by Leave a Comment
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. [Read more...]
Gaming Review – Assassin’s Creed: Revelations (Campaign)
11/22/2011 by Leave a Comment
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 to an end (granted we could still see them in some form in the future based on how the series has treated them so far). [Read more...]
Gaming Review: Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
11/19/2011 by Leave a Comment
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 comes out becomes rather irrelevant. Once Guitar Hero added other instruments (basically stealing from Rock Band (who stole from Guitar Hero)), it was a downhill slope from there. [Read more...]
Am I A Zelda Fan?
11/18/2011 by 2 Comments
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?
Gaming Review: Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception (Campaign)
11/18/2011 by 2 Comments
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 (play Enslaved: Odyssey to the West if you haven’t), Altair, and Nathan Drake in all their platforming glory is the way to go. Goodness knows I don’t actually want to fling myself at a building. [Read more...]
An Article To Vent: Video Games & Internet Tough Guys
11/17/2011 by 3 Comments
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 decided to easy myself into a lobby for Mercenary Team Deathmatch (for those who don’t know, it’s Team Deathmatch without any clan support). My side of the team (who eventually lost) was relatively quiet – besides the snickering of one player who seemed to die as fast as he spawned. Once the game was over and done with, we re-entered the lobby, and then all hell broke loose.
Around four or five different players – each of them sounding not of age to play this game – started throwing insult after insult to one another. One of the top players of the game then chimed in and threw some racist, homophobic, and derogatory insults at that one person until the next match started. I wish not to upset any of the readers of this article, so I will not post what this kid (about 15 years of age, according to his XBOX Live profile) had to say. [Read more...]
Gaming Review: Batman: Arkham City
10/28/2011 by 3 Comments
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. [Read more...]
Video Gaming Review: Batman Arkham City
10/24/2011 by 5 Comments
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 because of their Batman games. These two games are all Rocksteady has every done with their franchise and so far both of these games have been executed perfectly. While Batman games have been coming out for almost as long as video games have existed, Rocksteady is the first studio that has been able to do what the others have only tried to accomplish. When playing Arkham Asylum or Arkham City you feel like you are Batman. [Read more...]
