Xbox Live Indie games is a unique feature of Xbox Live that is barely noticed, and rarely ever has any good games. It gives people a chance to make a living by posting games on Xbox Live and try to make a little profit. However, most games are either rip-offs of other games or just lack creativity. However one game caught my attention, and this game could be very well be an Xbox Live arcade game or even on PSN, yet mistaken as a classic NES game.

Protect Me Knight, is a game developed by Ancient, a developer who had their fair share of games back on the Genesis. This is a throwback to ****c beat em up action with some twists added from ideas of today. The goal of the game is to protect the princess (who would've thunk?) and by doing that, you have to kill everything that comes at her. Goblins, Centuars, ghosts, zombies, dragons, evil knights, and the likes are what is thrown at you. Luckily, you have the choice of 4 heroes, barricades, and upgradable abilities to slaughter the baddies.

To make things even better, up to 4 players can band together to protect their princess. Thanks to today's tech, the game definitely takes an edge over NES games by allowing dozens of enemies littering the screen. It gets hectic when the screen is filled with so many creatures during the final wave of each stage. Unfortunately, the game only has 10 stages, and it takes about an hour or so to get through every stage. The game does have 4 difficulty settings--easy, normal, hard, and hell. Hell mode is definitely worth the challenge. For a measly three bucks, this is a great game to try out. You can find it on Xbox Live Indie Games!

Here's a trailer of the game to see if it's your cup of tea.

Protect Me Knight Trailer

Being a freshman in college, it is required of me to live in the dorms of my college my first year. Unlike some people, I had no choice in who was to be my roommate. Instead, I was randomly selected to live with a guy. I would like to express that he is not the last choice I would've had made to room with, but definitely not my first choice. To the least, both of us share a love of gaming that at least keeps us both civil. However, there are quirks of his when he games that can just... drive me crazy sometimes... and make me laugh up a storm as well.

So for a fun little piece to procrastinate me from finishing a paper, here is a list and descriptions of what my roommate does while he games.

1. The Sniper spasm

So one of the games that he loves to play is MW2 (surprise, surprise). While he does some funny things I'll mention later, one of my favorites has to be the sniper spasm. It's the best way I can coin this odd action he does. Let's put it this way. Whenever my roommate uses a sniper rifle, he always has some sort of spasm after he shoots. This is probably one of the reasons why he always misses, but I'm still scratching my head on this one. Is it some sort of build up and nerves whenever he shoots to cause his body to twist and jump in such a fashion? No, this isn't his first shooter since he has played games for awhile. Whatever it is, you can't help but smirk when you see him spas.

2. Hypocrite Actions

As for when he dies while he plays, his anger slowly but surely builds up. Oh sure, you'll start hearing all sorts of slurs coming from when he gets killed again and again by the camper or by another noob tuber. I don't mind a little smack talking, but his outbursts leads to always the same solution: using the noob tube as well. Oh sure, those damn noob toobers are so horrible with how they abuse, but when you whip it out, suddently it's okay? He always ends his revenge with a very loud declaration of the opponent being related to the female dog. :P

3. Using my Connection

So being in a dorm room, we only have two ports to use for the internet. Logically, that leaves us a port each to use for our laptops. When one of us wants to play on Live, we will have to sacrifice our own port to play online. That isn't always the case for my roommate. I'll occasionally walk to see him using my port (which is on the other side of the room so the cable is stretching across like a booby trap) to play online. And no, he is not using his laptop for anything. He just so happens to be using my port for really no good reason. :lol: The worst part is, he won't give me back my connection until I really imply that I have to use my computer.

4. The Monologues

This habit of his applies more to him playing WoW but really applies to any game he gets his hands on. Pretty much, every action that he does in the game he sometimes has to talk out loud about it. These can dramatic speeches about what he is doing (such as the usual fetch quest) or some not-so-clever line he inserts after he kills some creeps. The first time might've raised a slight smirk on my face, but now I have my headphones on blast as I try to do my homework. If you are one of those people who does this, my only advice is to check whether those that are around you. If they are not looking at you, it is most likely because the look on their faces would be of one slowly trying to halt his/her descension into insanity from his/her roommate's obnoxious speeches. It's even worse when he improvises a dramatic speech about what I am playing. Can't I just beat FE or play LoL in peace? :cry:

5. The War Cry

Now I know this could be applied to the one above, but due to its sheer annoyance, I believe it deserves its own. Sometimes during WoW, he will let out a war cry while he charges towards some enemy of sorts. This is by no means a cry that signifies manliness in any sort, nor does it relate to Leroy Jenkins in any way. Realistically, if there was a taunt move, this would be it. Not because the opponents were taunted, but because the enemies would want the one who emmitted such a scream dead... immediately. It sounds so high pitched and so drawn out that I felt like going deaf. Yes, it is that bad. :P

So those are five quirks, please don't think of this dude as the worst man on Earth, because he honestly isn't. I would also say that the piecei s a little overly dramatic (ironic) and is meant for pure entertainment.

Let's face it, EXP has become a big part of life for multiplayer experiences today. Back then, K/D ratios and Truskill/rank was the only thing players worked towards in their matches. K/D ratios relied heavily on the player's input to keep it up, while Truskill/rank could very well reflect both the player's ability to play and work with others.

How It Used to Be

To think medals were the trophies that gamers held onto before.

For the console users, they only got a taste of how it used to be through games of last generation including Halo 2 and MGS3 online. At that time, you had your win/loss ratio, your k/d ratio, and the occasional goodies such as a medal chest. These trends continued in the early parts of this current generation. Halo 3 still kept this trend alive with an updated rank system that allowed a numerical rank and a military rank. Of course, they also added many more medals for players to earn. Gears of War kept things simple with k/d ratios, and almost every game coming out stuck with this ****c formula. Then Call of Duty: Modern Warfare changed things up.

The Current System

Player customization and a whole lot of stuff to unlock; that is what MW achieved.

When Call of Duty: Modern Warfare was released, it introduced a system that really allowed players to feel welcome. After ranking up so much, players could start to creat their own ****s. Weapons and perks that affected player abilities allowed players to create the soldier they wanted. By ranking up more, more weapons/perks were unlocked. Even attachments could be unlocked for each weapon by giving them enough kills. This gave players a goal to work for besides k/d and win/loss ratios. In fact, it even encouraged players that weren't as skilled to continue playing. This is what made COD stand out: its emphasis on keeping the players hooked through mains of personal goals.

This system is currently being mimicked by other developers as well. Bioshock 2 features a MP mode that allows players to unlock new plasmids/weapons as they level up. Battlefield Bad Company 2 is also allowing players to unlock new weapons and skills as well.

It is obvious that this trend has done well in earning its place for gaming, but what are its effects?

The Good

You might've sucked this round, but hey, you're still levelling, right?

With Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2's release, numerous goals were added to the series. There are so many more things to unlock in the game: more weapons, new killstreaks, titles, emblems, and camo patterns are some of the things that allow progression. These features give a lot of things for the players to do online. The longevity of the game was extended to a large degree thanks to them. This improvement to the formula gives even more incentives for players to keep playing. During losses, players will still gain EXP towards their rank in matches. Almost everything they do benefits them to some degree (You'll gain EXP for dying from a 30ft fall). By allowing this system, players have a lot more reason to keep playing. The heavy focus of k/d and win/loss ratios are not as important in this game, which still makes the game fun.

However, there are some setbacks to the formula as well.

The Bad

What? There's a flag? I'm just here for the kills!

Perhaps one of COD MW2's main faults is that it encourages personal goals over team wins. Majority of the games challenges (which earn EXP) focus on getting x number of kills using y. This detracts especially from objective games such as COD's popular Headquarters mode or CTF. These matches can go on for much longer periods of time due to players not focusing much on objectives. Sure, there are challenges to beat based on completing objetives, but they are heavily outweighed by the amount of killing the game has. By far, the best example of personal importance over the team is the killstreak Tactical Nuke. With enough kills (25), a player can call on a nuke to win the game for his team. Even in a gametype such as Domination, which revolves around controlling points, and one team has the clear lead over the other; the other team can still earn the victory simply by having a player dropping a nuke. In games like these, what's the point of teamwork when kills can earn a win no matter the gametype (with exceptions to gametypes such as Search and Destroy that which cannot earn enough kills to activate)?

The Solution?

Both systems have their flaws no doubt, but by achieving a balance, something great can come out from these very successful methods.

Introduction

We are approaching the point in gaming where the pool of new ideas are starting to run dry (thanks genius developers) and new ideas are becoming more of a myth rather than a practical thing to do in game design. One of the solutions to this that I've been noticing a lot of hybrids of games coming into the market. Currently, RPG elements are landing into almost every game in one form or another. Games like Modern Warfare 2 give players an experience system that grants players XP for so many things: kills, wins, dying from falling 30 feet or more, and then some. Borderlands has combined RPG with shooters in hopes of garnering attention to fans that enjoy popping off heads with guns and then looting the corpses of everything their now dead enemies once held important. Sandbox games especially have taken RPG into their realms, as games like Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas gave players stats from weapon and driving proficiency, to how obese they could get.

It's obvious that a synthesis of genres will become more and more apparent. Soon, it may even be deemed hard to really tell the shooter and roleplaying game market from another as they are becoming very much alike; shooters are getting more stats to further their longevity; roleplaying games are bringing in more action-oriented combat to draw a wider audience.

So as time goes by, I noticed another synthesis of games are becoming more renowned on the market: RTS elements falling into games. One of its kind that has made to the stage in this generation of gaming and achieved some success is Brutal Legends. In its multiplayer mode, players take control of armies and battle against each other to destroy the other's stage (base). It uses resources and unit management that are found in real time strategy games, and allows players to take the field as a hero-like character. Another game that will be making the scene shortly will be Kingdom Under Fire 2. Like its predecessors, it hopes to attract audiences with its real time strategy combined with swordplay similar to Dynasty Warrirors and other hack-n-slash titles.

It's apparent RTS elements can make for some interesting new mechanics. In this blog, I am idealizing over the shooter market: one that is currently popular and that many believe needs some overhaul. I am not declaring my ideas to be completely original, as I have not taken the time to search the endless net to compare mine with others, so I will apologize in advance if my thoughts overlap that of overs.

How to Make It Work

So the major issue with this synthesis is finding the sweet spot between the two. The genres have their major differences. Shooters focus on hands-on combat that usually aims for a match to last around 10-20 minutes and features fast-paced action. Real Time Strategy games on the other hand usually focus on matches that require planned out thinking in many different areas, and these matches can potentially last for hours.

The best way is to look at what has been applied to the current market. Commands are not a new thing for shooters. Some games like Brothers in Arms have excelled in allowing the player to issue squad commands to their soldiers, and executing strategies to outmanuever enemies. Battlefield 2 allowed a commander character to carry out important tasks and while wasn't directly involved with the fight on the ground, could turn the tides to favor the team to which he/she serves. Then on the RTS side, some games like Battallion Wars allow troops to be commanded and allows the player to take control of one on the field.And

So commands and action so far have worked out well. But what about the other elements of the RTS such as resource managing and construction? So far, those haven't made much of a appearance. In the following sections, some of these ideas will apply many of the elements, while others will leave some out of the picture.

You Build, I Shoot: Team-based

Fat Princess, a team-based action game on the PSN has showed that people can work together and have a lot of fun doing it. The game features many different classes to choose from: fighters, mages, archers, and the most notable for this section, workers. The workers play an important role for the team, as their harvesting of resources and construction can turn the tides in their team's favor. Can these elements be applied to the shooter junkies as well?

This may be a more difficult question to answer, since most games that have tried haven't come up successful yet. Could players in a shooter market find it fun to gather resources and build structures while their buddies are blasting away the enemies on the front lines? It may prove hard to convince players of this market to work like this, but the potential of this system can lead to some epic game design.

Imagine a world like Starcraft, where it has a very diverse structure that combines unique races for building and battling galore. Starcraft Ghost might've made this system work out... had it ever been released. Back to the point, a teambased game with elements similar to Starcraft might not be so bad. The game would start off teams with a base and a number of resources. The map is outlined with additional resources and structures that would benefit a team if that said team captured it. Perhaps in resources or in bonuses to player's fighting ability.The players get a choice of classes, and carry on to defeat their enemies. Now there would be the classes suited for the fighter, and their objective would be to make sure their base isn't destroyed and to seize the structures to benefit their team. Currently, the idea of capturing points already works well in most shooters that features games like King of the Hill or Territory control, so something like would seem natural to the shooters. The plus is that they would get bonuses for their team, so it entices them to follow this objective. Worker classes would have a different objective to attend to: strengthen their team. They have access to a certain number of buildings that are meant to defend the base or to grant new things such as improved weapons and maybe even vehicles. It's a balance that would be hard to strike, but imagine the teamwork that could occur. Who says has to stay at the base? With the right tactics, a worker could set up defenses to aid the fighters at chokepoints of the map. Heck, depending on the design, a skillful worker could sneak into a base and build turrets near resources, making it difficult for the enemy workers to harvest safely.

One of the problems I think is the idea of harvesting and resources. How long should it take a worker to harvest a resource? Should it be pooled together? Does the worker have to take it back to the base?

The best solution I believe would not to pool the resources together. Imagine if the engineers in Team Fortress 2 didn't have their own metal, but had to share it? It has the potential of having engineers wasting precious metal on turrets or other machines because they didn't set them up at good points. Much like the engineers in Team Fortress 2, I believe if workers could put in what they want into structures for the team, they would work together to reaching structures quicker rather than being a lone wolf about it. This also allows the more offensive workers to do their own thing without being scolded by the team.

It's a system that requires a lot of balance and team effort, so it may not be ideal for developers.

Don't Worry, Help is Above: 1 builder, many fighters

Another approach would be to work off the commander system even further, and let the grunts below do the grunt work. As one person commands the scene from above, the rest of the team below handles the fighting. This seems to be the easiest to pull off as the commander could handle the structures and resource management, and let the units below do the fighting as it would be in a regular RTS. Communication would be vital between the fighters and the builder, as players don't want their commander teching while they are being slaughtered by a rush.

Short and simple.

Heroes Among the Forces: The DOTA Approach to Shooters

Before I began this idea, there are a few games that I have played in order to formulate these thoughts. Let's begin with the bigger picture of them all--Defense of the Ancients, better known as DOTA. This popular custom game in Warcraft III introduced a different hybrid for PC gamers that has led to games such as Demigod and League of Legends (from the makers of DOTA). The idea of the game is simple in some aspects and complex in others.

The game has two teams. Each team has its own army that sends out minions with the sole objective of destroying the other team's base. Each base has a set of structures such as turrets along several paths. Combined with the fact that each side sends out equal number of minions, the battles would be even for the most part. The minions are computer controlled, and with their AI set to simply try to push to the other side, this is where the players themselves come in. The players take the roles of champions--characters that are like heroes in RTS games that can also level up. These champions help to push the tide in their favor. Of course, the other side has champions as well, and the game eventually determines the winner with the side that has the strongest champions. That, and the RPG elements, variety of heroes that play roles of assassins, fighters, tanks, and healers, and a shop that sells many different items... all of these elements make DOTA and League of Legends very complex games.

So this is the final idea of mine that has developed. Rather than having the players have any involvement in the minor units, the players take control of the stronger and fight on the battlefield. Currently, one game tries to make this idea work to an extent to my knowledge. Star Wars Battlefront I and II throws players into trying to capture points on a map in a fashion that is popular in Battlefield games. The difference is that most of the battlefield is populated with AI units fighting that are the same as the units a player can select (the exception being that in Battlefront 2 players can assume heroes for a brief time). This idea is interesting in the Star Wars universe, but the lack of good AI that does not amount to more than target practice makes the DOTA approach not as ideal. Instead, I take a look at other games that have featured modes that are not DOTA-ish, but have the potential.

Survival modes in shooters are becoming very popular. Horde mode from Gears of War 2 has pretty much lead to arrival as this mode, and it has evolved into many different ideas. Halo 3: ODST featured its own variant called Firefight, and Call of Duty: World at War is most remembered for its add-on, Nazi Zombies. Focusing more on Gears of War 2 and ODST, these modes show that players can engage against challenging AI in a teambased enviroment. So it made me think, "Could this apply to a versus style variant as well?" In other words, could a DOTA variant be applied to these modes?

For example. let's look at ODST's Firefight mode. Up to four players are allowed to last as long as they can against a horde of Covenant soldiers. Knowing Halo's AI, the Covenant put up rather interesting fights in many scenarios. Now here's the idea, it would be a Covenant vs UNSC fight. The goal, destroy the enemy's beacon. Each beacon acts as the guide to bring in new troops from Pelicans and Phantoms. The AI for each side has the same goal in mind, destroy that beacon. To get that beacon? Follow a linear path across the map. Like DOTA, the sides would be balanced in a way that the AI fighting on their own would be pretty even (that might mean that Bungie would have to improve the marine AI, but it's possible). Once again, this is where the players come in to shift the tides in their favor.

On the human side would of course have Spartans to serve as the heroes. For a Spartan on the field prove more than enough to bring down the Covenant AI. That is, if the Covenant didn't have their own human champions putting up a fight as well. The Elites would serve as the champions of the Covenant considering they are the other half of Halo's MP already.

So now we have Covenant and Marines duking it out with Spartans and Elites fighting into the fray, but what that would be enough to shift things enough? Not quite, so here is where a point/currency system could come in handy.

In DOTA, whenevever a player kills a unit, they get a bit of gold. Killing enemy champions offers even more gold, and destroying enemy structures earns the whole team gold. This system could apply to this mode in a similar fashion.

So a player that kills a unit would of course get points for it, but considerably less since it's probably faster and easier to headshot a grunt/marine than it is to kill a minion. Killing enemy players would earn more points as well. As for structures, those would not be applied as much in a shooter. Instead, capture points would prove more efficient for a shooter. If players can capture a point, they get a bonus of points.

Now what to spend on points? Using the Halo univese as an example could result in many great ideas for spending them. Rather than having an item shop, players would be given options to spend their points (similar to Call of Duty's kill streaks). On the human side, Spartans could call in ODSTs to drop in and bolster the forces. They could also call in special weapon drops (something that occured constantly in Halo 2) and maybe even call in vehicle assistance. The Covenant has many unique units, so most of their options could bring in these bad boys. Elites could call in Hunters to join the fray, Drones to annoy enemy players, and even a few vehicles of their own.

This is simply a base foundation for the idea in which I may expand on later.

So I know the internet is rather a poor place to post a blog such as this, since GameFaqs and other great sites will list strategies of all sorts to let people know. However, most of these I find almost always focus more on players looking for intermediate-advanced methods of playing, and rarely give newcomers any real tips than just movesets, layouts, stats, and combos. So in this post, I'm throwing it out what I think are fundamentals of most genres. Feel free to throw out opinions and criticisms, because these are just things that have worked for me.

Before we go into the genres, here's some basic tips on all games.

Difference between Cheap and Cheating

In every genre, there will be cheaters. Cheating mainly comes down to people using cheats, glitches, lag, or mods to put the game in their favor. If it wasn't intended for the game, it's usually not appropraite to use it. In this case, I believe it's the one form of exploiting that shouldn't be allowed.

On the other hand, you'll learn about mechanics that may be cheap. Spawn killing in FPS/TPS can bring a lot of advantage to your team, and it's not exactly cheating. Certain moves in fighting games can be easily spammed to pressure players, but that's not exactly cheating. And things like rushing in strategy games can be cheap, but it's not exactly cheating. These forms of exploitations no matter how low they are, are still intended for the game. If the other player/team can't adapt to the strategy you're using, then it's them that's at fault. Sooner or later, you'll run into players/teams that won't fall for the trick, and punish you. Games are about adapting, and whoever can outthink the other is the true winner.

Balancing Mentality

Let's be honest, simple things frustrate us. Work does. School does. Relationships. Anything! And games aren't left out of the equation. To me, anything that you can derive satisfaction or pleasure from can cause the opposite effect as well. So it's safe to say you'll run into a lot of people that may potentially piss you off.

You're going to have people that perform actions to you... such as tea bag in Halo or CS. You'll have players shouting insults (intelligent and mindless) at you. You're going to lose... and sometimes a lot. This may spark a bit of rage in you.

Most people will say, "Grow up. It's just a game." Well if people are allowed to get pissed off at the most mundane things in life, then why keep out video games? You know yourself better than I do, so if you want to cuss out the other player, do it. If you want to teabag them, then teabag them. If you rage quit, then it's probably for the best reasons. To me, it's only too far when you start destroying objects in your possession (controllers) or if you're taking it out on family/friends/loved ones.

It's really up to you to be in control. It's the mindgame of video games.

Now onto the genres...

FPS/TPS genre

One of the most popular genres in the industry are beginning to hit the mainstream easier. At first, most casual players found these games a bit intimidating since the controls are a funk, and maps can be daunting at first. They've gotten easier with certain mechanics, but there are still a few things to learn.

Find the Controls that Work for You

Most people who never have never tried a game at first will always ask, "What are the controls?" And they'll get to know the default or the player they are playing with preference, but I feel most players never find anything that work for them.

So open the menu, and just fine tune what kind of controls what you want. Maybe inverted works better for you. I never knew why I like it so much, but it does. Games like Halo 3 offer a list of schemes that will match your playstyle (I use bumper jumper) while games like TF2 will give you complete control over every action of the game. Take the time to adjust sensitivity, toggle crouches, and other things. Once you know what works for you, the game will be easier.

Know the Maps

If you've never hopped into an online game, I suggest exploring the maps offline first. Find the spots where you think will have the most logical advantage, and know where the weapons/vehicles/etc. spawn on the map. Knowing is half the battle (Gah GI Joe lol). Once you start hopping into matches, pay attention to where most of the action takes place. In almost every game, most players will find spots on the map that are easy to get kills, easily defendable, or just plain works to your advantage. Learning from others will get you into the game much easier.

Team Player or Lone Wolf?

These kinds of games highly popularize the use of "teamwork". In which case, two guns are better than one when shooting at someone. For example, if two players in CS are firing at another player, and they all have the same weapons and similar amount of accuracy, then the third man is most likely going to die. But that's what you'd call a DUH fact. The point is, working together with others can garner some success. More players flooding a base will more likely complete the objective, or that's the illusion at least.

The thing is, I've been in plenty of situations where my whole squad/group/party has been killed off by one guy. It only takes one well-placed grenade and a few good shots to clear a whole room. One laser shot will wipe out a decked out warthog. And one man will sometimes completely sneak behind an entire team and get the capture point. Lone wolves can get the job done just as well as any other team. So it's a matter of finding out what you are.

If you think you're a teamplayer, then start finding people to play with. XBL party system is a great way for players to communicate in matches without the noisy chatter of strangers on your team. Find people you want to play with, and won't cuss you out at every corner. Once one guy starts flaunting his list of insults to his mates, then the whole morale degrades rather badly.

But if you're a player that can't stand working with a group of knuckleheads, then go get the job done yourself! My biggest word of advice is make sure you're actually contributing to the team. Being that player running around and getting constantly killed and not doing anything isn't considered helpful. Can't handle it on your own? Then best start working with the others on your team.

Fighting Genre

Oh boy, out of all the genres I've ever played in the gaming industry, this one I believe is the most irritating of them all. I feel it comes down to the fact that it's all up to you to win. Unlike other games, you can't go pointing the finger at anyone but yourself for the loss. It's a beast to handle, but if you're up for the challenge, then you'll find some of the most competitive fun the industry has to offer.

Find Your Character

A few fighting enthusiasts may disagree with me on this, but if you want to do good in this genre, you really need to focus on one or a handful of characters. When you focus more on one character, you'll learn not only their moves and combos, but what works for them against other characters. Timing will become more natural, and by using one character, you kind of start to learn them all. Other players will do you good by showing what works and doesn't work. So if you bored with the one you're using, just pick up another and start to figure out, "How they did that." Speaking about figuring out stuff...

Value Replays

You're going to come across some combos that make you go, "WTF just happened?" In this case, use your replay feature if the game has one. Analyze what your opponent did to you: watch every move and whatnot. You'll notice in parts that if you had recovered differently then you could've prevented as much damage, that some moves in the combo are slower/low hits that can be blocked, and what your opponent did to bait you into a super/throw/super throw. Knowing trends that players use will benefit you greatly.

Never Stop Training

As if I was talking about some RPG, you should never stop training. Honing your skills, making sure you can pull off that move/combo, and learning how to evade/counter/block attacks helps more than it hurts. As strategies of characters evolve, you'll need to be on your feet as well.

Be Ready To Fight The "Best/Worst"

A lot of fighting games have developed a rank/true skill for their online. This is really another mindgame that is meant to intimidate/provoke players into playing at a state that's sometimes not their best. In Blazblue and Soul Calibur 4, I've ran into many players that have left the room because I was simply a higher level. To any beginner, this is fault you can't fall into. Even if it's a loss, it will be a good way to learn how the big boys play, and from there you can adapt your playstyle. Besides, you might even win. At the same time, I've seen low-level players dominate the so-called "Better" players. Just because they're a hgiher rank, doesn't mean they're unstoppable. In some cases, High-level players lose just because the players are using a strategy they simply forgot, spamming. In reality, you have to be ready for anything. I say take every fight you can get, because you'll get something out of it with the right mindset.

To be continued...

Okay, the idea of posting it here didn't work. So I just posted it in my myspace blog. I have two parts out at the moment. Here's the link for my profile.

www.myspace.com/backintan

I have gotten pretty far in the story, but after being in a creative writing class for a few weeks, I looked back at it and realized that it could use a lot of work. Then I came to the conclusion that not too many people would actually read it. Heck where I was in it was only the beginning really. So I started to rewrite it. This time, however, I am going to write and release it chapter by chapter. You could say it's like a comic book/manga only in text though since I can't draw if my life depended on it.

The Story for the very many who don't know is a fanfic of sort called the Gama. It's a story that puts many video game characters with a few original ones in a world. You could say that it's like Kingdom Hearts but mine is a bit different. You won't see the main character jumping from world to world or fighting a type of heartless creature for that matter. Instead, it will be a journey of him getting mixed up with many characters from videogames. There will be many fights between them, mostly good against evil but I will change it up a bit. The idea might have already been done, but I still want to write this to prove to myself that I can write a full story without giving up. I'll be releasing the Prologue soon.

I am please that the planning is done for it is done, and I have already written a lot, about a little over 30 computer pages. Although I shouldn't be speaking in quantity, but I just want to say that the story is barely off to a start.

For anyone who cares, the story revolves around a boy named Idus. When he was young, he was abandoned by his father, and ever since has been with the Greil Mercenaries. They were the ones who took him when he was about to perish. After being with them for many years and going through some tough missions. Idus decides to set off to search for his father or at least to find out why his father left him. He is accompanied by Zihark, another member of the troop, and together they head off towards lands unknown to them, while they aren't the strongest ones in this story. Idus and Zihark will play a large role with the events that are going on all their dimension known as Ancia, and the more futuristic dimension known as Scia.

If you're interested about this story and/or have any questions regarding it, just PM or comment this and I'll get back to you.

Okay, I thought this through, and first of all. I would only want something like this implemented into the game if they nailed down the SP first.

So I love RE4's gameplay mechanics. The over the shoulder view, the way you aim, and just about everything. I thought to myself, and I think that a system like that could be great for MP in RE5(if the same mechanics are returning that is) Sure I know there has been those online REs, but this one would be different(I think) It would be more fast paced and intensed.

So there's two basic modes I thought of. I'll start with the more fan appealing one. There was the Mercenaries mode in RE4, which allowed 1 player to get high scores by killing lots of ganados. Well this idea is basically Mercenaries with multiple people. I mean how fun would it be holding off a horde of ganados with a buddy. Of course, it would have to be more challenging with more people. Not just with more ganados, but with things like damage and weapons.

The mode would start everyone with a pistol or a knife depending on what the host chooses. There would be weapons placed around the stage as realistically as possible. Such as shotguns in a storage room or hanging up on wall, and the more powerful weapons such as Uzis and sniper rifles in military crates. Each player would start in a certain spawn area. From there on, your goal is too survive from the ganados. With each wave being tougher and tougher than the last.

Of course I don't want it to be just a wave survival. I want some elements that made the SP so fun. Maybe after each wave a boss of some sort would appear. Like an El Gigante would come and smash up the building your holding out in. Or the Del Lago appearing if it's on a lake or buildings on docks. In Castle levels garrados(blind guys) would come every once in awhile. The list could go on with mini bosses/bosses. Then I want some sequences like in the cutscenes. The parts where you have to mash buttons to stay alive in a cutscene. If they could somehow pull that off, it would be awesome. Combine that with all the Ganados coming after you, and you got yourself a thrilling survivor.

Not only that, but there could be like co-op missions to do for the MP. Like VIP stuff where there is two or three people you have to protect between you and another. Or a survival where you have to fend off a few waves of ganados but all you have is a pistol. The trick is, you'll have to depend on your partner who has a sniper and is in a safe spot to nail down most of those ganados.

The next mode is of course a Deathmatch gametype. When I think about it, this one reminds me of MGS3:S's MP. You kind of have to stop and aim in that one too to get accurate shots I guess, but of course they have their differences.

So the modes for Deathmatch would either be FFA or team. It would really use the gameplay mechancis well with a few extra things. The first thing is damage to body. The ganados in RE4 would react realisitically to your shots, so it could work for RE5. If you get in the leg good enough, you would stumble over. Heck, you might even start limping. Shot in the arm or shoulders would cause your aiming to get worse. Headshots would of course kill you, and shot in the chest or gut would have effects on your breathing.

Another thing I would like to see is some improvement with knives, since they would kind of be useless unless they were overpowered. Like you should be able to sneak up and slit a sniper if he/she doesn't notice you.

The last thing I would want would be environmental interaction to a degree. So if I wanted to get rid of a sniper who was up in a house, I could toss a pyro gernade and that place would be lit up eventually. Also things like ladder uses would be nice, but you would need a person to help you carry them around.

Now there are some issues I could see happening. One might be the number of weapons you could hold. Which I think should be limited to like 2-3. Another would be switching, would you have to go into your case and select in real time? Or would you be able to switch weapons with a button? Lastly, the idea of only being able to fire while standing still would anger people in Deathmatch. They might make it so that you would be able to move a bit, but that might mess with the formula too much in MP. Or maybe they would just have more flash gernades to get rid of campers.

Well, that's my idea for MP in Resident Evil 5. Questions? Good comments? Bad comments? Anything would be good.

I just got my trials today, and I know I need to get used to them but it's pretty hard. It's cold outside so I can't really do anything, and it's hard just to look at my moniter and TV. I think I'm going crazy!