Special Forces: Team X (XBLA): "An Impressive Mashup Of Various Shooter Genres"

Atari, and Zombie Studios have worked together to bring us what could be best described as a third person cover based shooter. The game itself seems to borrow what's great from other popular shooter titles, and make a unique experience with the well known game mechanics. There's definitely a hint of games like "Borderlands", "Call of Duty", and even a tiny fraction of "HALO" thrown into the mix. If I had to compare it to any shooter series though it would definitely be more like that of the "Gears of War" series. The cover-to-cover combat is definitely the game's more prominent feature, and focal point. While the game definitely borrows some ideas it still stands alone as a unique gaming experience.

Good Morning Everyone!

I thought I'd do things a little differently this morning. I know I usually give you guys & gals a greeting via twitter, but I thought Doing a greeting from my blog would work just as well. In the mornings I find that I'm quite the handsome devil. As conceited as that may sound it's the truth. I find that snapping photos during the daytime tends to show my more hideous side, so a morning mirror image works out much better. I'm not sure if it's a curse or what, but looking in the mirror in the morning shows a reflection of the beautiful me while snapping a direct photo displays my more horrific self. Different mirrors also show different reflections (^.^). I guess the reason I'm saying all this is it's about time for a new "OtakuDante" photo to be released. Aren't you guys & gals so lucky (^.^). Anyways ... I hope you enjoy this new photo, and the morning greeting that accompanies it ...

Arcadecraft (XBLIG): "Run Your Own Virtual Arcade!!!"

As a youngster I often took advantage of family trips to Kmart, the movie theater, and the local mall. These were the only arcade sources that were available in my area unfortunately. The good thing was that these sources kept some impressive up-to-date arcade cabinets in stock for shoppers to enjoy. I was able play games like Street Fighter Alpha, Tekken 5 & 6, Soul Calibur, Killer Instinct, and even Samurai Showdown III: Blades of Blood. I ended up spending a sh*t ton of quarters whenever I got the chance to do so. It was a public outlet that allowed me to compete against other gamers I never knew of. Keep in mind this was long before online gaming ever came into play. Looking back those were definitely some of my greatest gaming days. I guess my point in reminiscing is that Arcade venues are becoming a thing of the past. These days you only hear about the stories from gamers who actually lived their lives playing at the arcades. Thanks to 'FireBase Ind.' though we now have a cool little indie game that breathes life into the arcade legends of old. While it may not mirror the experience it offers the gamer a peek into what it was like to run such a business. In essence it's an homage to an almost extinct genre of gaming.

Skulls of the Shogun (XBLA): "The Arcade Game That Could Have Been An Indie"

You guys have heard me complain about PRs in the past, and having to deal with them, so I will not got into a rant about dealing with 17Bit. I will however say that thanks to my good friend WOLFZKRIEGER I was able to gain a code for this latest XBLA title. 17Bit totally ignored me, so they will not be getting any credit from me. If it weren't for my friend you would not be reading this following review from me. As such my thanks goes out to my friend WOLFZKRIEGER for being so generous. I hope that one day I can share a code with him as well. With all of that aside let us delve deep into the world of the interesting XBLA strategy hybrid that is "Skulls of the Shogun"!

Exploding Imp (XBLIG): "Wytchlight's Devilish Indie Platformer"

For those of you just now tuning into my blog you may want to go back, and read my post on Wytchlight's first XBLIG title "Lemmy the Lizard vs The Mecha Eggs". While it has absolutely nothing to do with this latest game release it still reflects what Wytchlight (the developer) is all about. In this latest XBLIG title from Wytchlight we are blessed with yet another very interesting platforming protagonist. The lead character this time around happens to be a devilish little imp named "Guff". For some reason, or another Guff is hellbent on the demise of the fairies, and their land. He aims to destroy all the magical plant life, and turn the mystical land into literal hell via plant destruction. All that stands in his way are the fairies themselves, and other creatures such as gnomes who are willing to lend a helping hand to stop Guff in his tracks. Luckily for Guff he is not without means of offensive combat though. At his disposal is a volatile passing of gas, and the ability to claw, and kick his adversaries into a colorful pile of skeletal remains. You'll find that the fairy flowers scattered throughout the land of the faeries are the source of Guff's gassy attacks. Reaping such plant life will benefit Guff greatly in his mission to rid the world of the pansy critters (otherwise known as faeries), and turn there pretty little world into one hell of a nightmare.

Blog Update & Black Ops 2 Custom Emblems

There's been a lot going on in my life this first month of 2013. I've been busy tending to my adult blog, and getting business in order on that side of the spectrum in hopes that it might become as popular as my gaming blog. So far I've secured a lot more contributors, and have gained access to some new adult entertainment options for my blog. I know that has nothing to do with "OtakuDante's Gaming Inferno" directly, but it partially explains the reason why content has been so lacking here. As far as game reviews are concerned I have received some requests from XBLIG devs, but have heard nothing from the higher up devs leaving me to almost abandon my hopes for the future of this blog. My fear is that small time gaming journalists such as myself are not going to be able to get the XBLA, and retail games like we previously were able to in 2012. This can likely be attributed to the boom in gaming blog sites, and to the fact that a lot of the "so called" blog journalists out there were not being legit with their requests. In other words they wanted something for nothing, and devs fell for it. It gives honest, hard working journalists such as myself a bad name, and in turn causes developers not to trust us.