Since I'm on a fighting game kick recently, I think I'll throw my attention at Netherrealm's next game Injustice. Coming off the success of MK9 I can't blame them for wanting to make a game specific to the DC universe. MK vs DC lacked the impact of MK and from what I seen, didn't have the roster a lot of people might have liked to see from DC. Having played a good amount of MK9's story mode I can definitely see them throwing in a comic-book style series of events if they keep the same idea going with it, however, that is not the focus of this article. With a fighting game comes the concern of a deep roster of characters that are enjoyable to the people playing, especially when connected to DC with their mound and mounds of potential characters.

I'm honestly more partial to Marvel myself. I've always been fond of The Hulk, and more recently Thor (less due to the movie and his newfound 'fame' and more to the nickname I got from a professor) but the idea of a fighting game exclusive to comic books has me giddy, especially when coming from Ed Boon. So I'd like to take this blog-time to lay out characters I'd like to see in the game and then hopefully have some people add in their 2 cents.


1. Lobo



This is less for me and more for everyone I see wanting him in the game. Every time I see Injustice mentioned Lobo isn't far behind. A, for lack of a better term, badass alien bounty hunter who has duked it out pretty evenly with Supes a few times and has an attitude to match seems like a good fit for the game, especially when you consider how they are handling gadget/power characters.

2. Black Adam



I don't know much about the character other than the origin of his powers via "SHAZAM", but he seems to be a good fit as a power character for the game on the level of Superman and I really dig his design.

3. Deathstroke



An awesome answer for a gadget character from what I've seen of him. Could have a good emphasis on projectiles but at the same time have the option for hand to hand. Something akin to Nightwing, but more emphasis on manipulation (I'm thinking cyrax-esque)

4. The Green Lantern/Sinestro



Doesn't really need any explaining, it'd be like this games Sub-Zero/Scorpion. Green Lantern is almost a shoe-in for the game and having Sinestro to be his antithesis seems like a no-brainer.

5. Power Girl



Boob physics

6. Doomsday



Practically DC's answer to the Hulk I definitely have to pull for him since I won't be seeing Mr. Green in this game. Solomon Grundy shows how well they can pull off the "big and lumbering" character so I'd love to see Doomsday around to take it to the extreme.

I won't profess to be a talented practitioner of button combos and timing frames because I'm not, but I do enjoy a select amount of fighting games. The thing about fighting games, and in turn button combos, is the precision required to pull off these combos with split-second timing and complete accuracy. If I need to string together a combo sequence and my controller fails to read the input I am giving it, the hardware has failed me and is in-turn making the gameplay worse where it wouldn't be normally. This has become more painfully obvious to me lately as I've been playing Mortal Kombat 9, especially on some of the more gimmicky fights. In this case Shao Kahn.

He's not altogether difficult as his moves are pretty easy to read and the characters I'm given I am able to counter his moves pretty well, but that hinges on whether or not my controller actually decides to read the input. Something as simple as the controller reading an up as a left or right, can very literally throw the fight in the favor of the cheap, asshole ruler of Outworld. 8 times I will execute Raiden's teleport to take advantage of Shao Kahn's long animations, and 10 times after that Raiden will just jump or backstep and turn into an easy target. Same input every time, with vastly different results. The fight itself is cheap, but it's also a boss in a fighting game; it's to be expected. The downfall comes from the terrible D-Pad Microsoft decided to produce in its controllers.

Overall, I really enjoy the Xbox controller for every game I play; the issue comes down only to fighting games but it's so glaring it all-together makes me want to smash it into the face of whoever thought it was a good design. Pressing up, and it registering right is not only not okay, it's crippling. It's less obvious on more "mash friendly" characters like Kitana where I can combo all day and not worry about what I'm pressing too much, but on a character like Raiden where precision is a little more necessary (especially in this fight) it's unacceptable.

I realize fight sticks among other things will alleviate the rage pains the controller causes, but honestly why can't Microsoft just put out a competent D-Pad? it honestly doesn't even need to be amazing, it just needs to be accurate. I've found videos online of people modding their controllers and improving the D-Pad with something as cheap as a Pringles lid. Some guy took 5-10 minutes taking his controller apart and putting a circular piece of cheap plastic on the D-Pad and instantly makes it much more accurate and playable. It makes me wonder how it ever got passed testing/QA if this simple fix makes the D-Pad way better.

So, Microsoft, I doubt you'll see this but I'm sure you've received plenty of feedback regarding the D-Pad on your controllers so can you please, for the love of my hairline and fractured knuckles, take this one to the drawing board and make a D-Pad that isn't a complete steaming pile of shit for the next Xbox? It's really the only thing wrong with an otherwise amazing controller.

I see it more and more lately. Pre-order bonuses will be announced and there are people, and generally not even a lot of them, that go from highly anticipating a game as a day one purchase to saying they will now wait until a later date or just not purchase the game at all; presumably because of the pre-order bonuses. Frankly, I just don't quite understand the attitude behind this.

As a "protest" (more like a temper tantrum in my opinion) it's ineffectual because they have no way of knowing that you dislike the idea of pre-order bonuses being store exclusive, or even pre-order bonuses at all. All they see is less purchasing. Granted one could say they see less "day one purchases" and equate that somehow to pre-order bonuses being the reason but I have a strong feeling they just take that as "well people don't want to pay as much" and that's when games just get reduced in price. Halo 4 pre-order bonuses were announced, and they are armor patterns and badge designs. Two completely unnecessary items that only marginally affect your gameplay experience, and that is assuming you actually care about customization that much, yet people bash the game and its publisher/developer for it like they are going to end the world on launch day with their pre-order bonuses.

Is this just typical "gamer hedonism", and by that I mean you have be complaining about SOMETHING or you just aren't gamer enough or do people honestly think that posting a comment on these announcements about how they disapprove of the pre-order bonuses is really going to make in impact?

Like a lot of people, I play games to enjoy myself. I typically do not partake in actions or activities that I do not enjoy because that's the sure sign of a miserable life. If I can avoid making myself miserable, I do so in the fastest way possible. With that said, games are not always the most relaxing or pleasurable things in the world. Whether it is having to deal with incompetence in an online game where teamwork is key to victory or a game is just downright frustrating due to intentional or unintentional spikes in difficult from various contributing factors, gaming can be downright infuriating. To weigh my thoughts in on this I'm going to bring in a few examples of games I find hard, games I don't find hard, and then why I enjoy and/or do not enjoy that given game.

To begin with, we have a notoriously difficult game for most people, Demon's Souls/Dark Souls. This game has such a stigma about it's difficulty that it became a marketing campaign for Dark Souls with the tagline "Prepare to Die", and die you will. This game is brutally difficult, but only to a point. The game and it's difficulty are very symbiotic in that it typically isn't the games fault for being difficult, it is the players. It's entirely possible to get through this massive game in the span of a few hour and no deaths if you know what you are doing and how to defeat enemies. Your first time through the game is going to be littered with deaths, but in my experience, none of them pissed me off. I had plenty of opportunity to realize what mistake I made, realize it was actually my mistake, and then be able to fix it. This is either accomplished by myself, or by using the knowledge of the incredible community this game has fostered. Personally, for this reason I never felt the game was too extreme, and I never felt that I "raged" about dying as I have in other games because the reasons and solutions were so easily accessible to me. For this reason, the supposed difficulty is one that makes the game challenging and enjoyable, it is so wholly a part of the game that the game would be itself without it.

Now we get to Super Meat Boy, another notoriously difficult game, albeit a different monster completely. A very simplistic platformer built as an homage to everything that made classic gaming what it was. Simple, constant design and purely gameplay driven. There are no whistles in this game, maybe a few bells, but you're a wad of meat...that jumps. In my eyes this simplicity is what makes this game so maddening. There are no "other ways" around a certain thing you can't seem to do, or often times what seems like the game just isn't letting you do. You jump, that's it, and a lot of times there's only one way to jump to progress. If you mess up, you have to start the level over again. Giving the game the benefit of fairly short levels is it's only saving grace in my opinion. In a game like Dark Souls I was able to out-think my problems. If my approach didn't work, I'd try a new one until I succeeded. In Super Meat Boy, you monotonously jump into death and repeat the same sections until God smiles on you and you pass through those sawblades or whatever abysmal obstacle has been keeping you held back the last 100 deaths. On top of this the game seemingly taunts you for your failures with a replay of every death you had (while a cool feature) all in on the same screen making your errors all the more obvious. Does this give a sense of satisfaction when you finally succeed? Hell yes, but not because you actually did it. Most of the time I was only happy because I didn't have to see that level again, not because I accomplished something because chances are it was only a lucky jump to begin with.

Crunch. My iron clad feet made the tundra speak as I sprinted through the night to my destination. It was almost impossible not to stop and stare as I ran by streams alight with torchbugs, but the Jarl needed his dragonslayer. I spotted Irileth near the tower that was my destination; her torch revealing the position of many guards under her command. They seemed prepared as they could be given the situation. There was a roar and a beating of wings. I have never seen or heard a dragon, bu there is only one creature that can command that much respect through sound alone.

We searched the skies, but the night hid him well. The guards were taking blind shots at short glimpses of the creature, but to no avail; it was more agile than it's size would have you believe. Arrows whistled through the air just behind the creature, as if it was cutting it close to taunt it's enemies. As if it was a sign the heaven's cracked and rain poured forth, seemingly caused by the immense power of the creature goading us.

"Are you a coward, dragon? Why do you not face us?"

My reply was quick and final as the dragon landed and sent a stream of flame battering against me. I leapt from my perch on the ruins, he was fast so I needed to be faster. I could not find him without the vantage of height, but I could hear him raging around the tower. The scream of a guard was shortlived as I rounded that corner and watched the beast devour him. I took the opening and swung battleaxe with a strength only a Nord could wield. If you invade these lands dragon, you will have me to contend with.

My axe connected and the impact cause the dragon to shudder. It feels pain, and I am able to draw it's blood. I will kill this beast. The dragon took to the skies after sensing the threat I now posed. I nocked an arrow and followed it through the air, waiting for my opportunity. The dragon began to dive, it's maw widened to pour forth flame. The swift twang of my bowstring echoed in the ruins as my arrow pierced the dragons hide and sent it colliding with the ground. Now was my chance.

I sank my axe into the beast repeatedly and it was growing weak; writhing from my blows upon it's skull. Taking advantage of it's anguish, I mounted it's head. It tried to throw me but I held. This dragon was a threat, and the land of Skyrim need be rid of it, so I held. I sank the blade of the axe into the dragon as it let out it's last breath, and collapsed on the ground beneath me. In the light of the torches of the guards I began to see the creature deteriorate.

"What is this?"

Power poured from the dragon, circling around me. This phenomenon had me perplexed, and the guards stood with hushed faces.

"You must be dragonborn!" exclaimed a guard.

"What is this...dragonborn?" I asked.

I was told the tale of powerful men able to learn the language of dragons, and to use them.

"Shout, use your voice, it is the only true way to know"

"FUS"

I belted the word, not knowing the meaning or the power it held, but the effects were noticeable. The guard stood in amazement.

"You are, you truly are dragonborn!"

Irileth was quick to dismiss the talk and discuss the reality of the situation. Whether I was this dragonborn or not, I just killed a dragon, and that was all we needed. I was to return to the Jarl and notify him immediately.

I made my way to Whiterun, my head racing with thoughts of the Dragonborn.

"Hrogdolf, the Dragonborn"

It sounded silly, but there was no denying the fact that I was able to speak power...whatever it meant. I reached the gates of Whiterun to the sound of thunder, but it wasn't a natural thunder. I looked to the mountains, expecting another dragon, but instead I heard a single word. Echoing off the ridge, it held destiny in it's grasp as it reached my ears.

"DOVAHKIIN!!"

As per usual on days I don't have class, I tend to float about in the Xbox Live marketplace seeing if there are any new videos to download and watch or anything else I might be interested. Lo and behold I stumble upon this little gem, DLC Quest. The "cover art" caught my eye in the XBLIG tab so I quickly downloaded the demo for what is a hilarious satire of the industry's obsession with downloadable content.

While I personally enjoy DLC for games I'd like to play more of, I can really see how it can go south, and this just takes it to the extreme and satirizes it's balls off. From the beginning of the game your character can only move right, can't jump, can't go left, has no animations, there's no game sound...well...until you buy the DLC. In classic platforming fashion, you jump around to get coins and once you have enough...you buy the DLC. Outside of the manner it approaches DLC, it has a lot of nods to gaming's stereotypical pitfalls with lots of "inside jokes" pertaining to the industry and game design.

All that aside, it's extremely charming for what it is, and the gameplay really is quite good considering the backseat it could have taken to the humor. At 80 MS points, I'd say it's more than worthy of a purchase for some quick entertainment at the sake of gaming and it's modern woes.

View the trailer here