An ironic event recently happened to me involving music, video games, and my age. While working a side holiday job, one of my high school student employees made a comment about the song on the radio. She said, “This song is on Guitar Hero!” Of course, my reaction was, “this song is as old as the original Nintendo!” The good part is she was aware that the title of the song is “Sweet Child O’ Mine”. The bad part is that she couldn’t even tell me that Guns N’ Roses were the writers.

I understand that I am not the oldest or the youngest gamer out there, but I really like to think that there is not such a generation gap for good music. Unfortunately, there are problems with the music industry. The reason I bring all this up is because, ironically, I sat at my computer desk later that day and noticed the new game BURNOUT: Paradise.

The trailer as well as the actual game features the hit “Paradise City” by Guns N’ Roses. Making me realize that the there are people out there that still have good taste in music. This news makes my day by reiterating the fact that if there is any industry that knows good music, it is the gaming industry.

EA announced the soundtrack for the new Burnout: Paradise game. It ranges in hard rock titles and even streams to classical tracks such as Mozart. Get the play list at the website here. Don’t forget to check out the trailer too:

So far, I have just been excited about the soundtrack. This only compliments a finely designed game. This is only from what I have seen second hand. I, like all of you, must wait until January 22nd to get a real glimpse at the action.

The sequel syndrome continues. Personally, I am getting bored with the same games adding a few more features. Yet, as far as game developing companies are concerned, this is what keeps their profits up. It has been confirmed that Guitar Hero 4, Call of Duty 5, and the 11th Tony Hawk are all in the works.

Obviously, these title games are not anywhere close to their release date, since each game has recently released its predecessor. By the time they come out, these games should have more advanced graphics and other bonus features. Unfortunately, the concepts of the games are surely going to be the very similar. Like the movie industry, original thoughts are lacking. The difference is that a sequel in a video game goes over much better than a movie. However, when is enough, enough?

A year or so from now, I can bet that I will be buying these games and checking them out. The newer technology will cause me to lose interest in the old games for the better quality. Yet, the new games that I will favor are the ones with new ideas. Originality and uniqueness will be first on my list. So, I would like to just send a message to the gaming designers to please give us something different for a change. If you need ideas, I do offer my services as an advisor, and I am sure about 95% of all other gamers would say the same.

UbiSoft announced plans to release Rainbow Six Vegas 2 this coming March. For those of you that played the first Vegas game, you are probably very excited. The game had everything a first-person shooter lover would want. Though, newer games have caused the multiplayer match ups to become less satisfying, it only goes to show that it is time to hit the charts with a new and even more impressive game.

RBS Vegas had an amazing AI engine for being two years old now. As a gamer that tends to beat games well before they are due back at the video store, I can honestly say that Rainbow Six Vegas gave me a run for my money when set to the realistic difficulty. Obviously, the game had its points that became frustrating because of glitches, but compared to the other games released at the same time period, there is no doubt that it deserved the awards it received.

Now, when we look at newer Tom Clancy games, such as Ghost Recon 2, one can only wait with excitement to see how they make the new Vegas 2 better than the rest. Based on comments from the president of UbiSoft, it is apparent that the developers aim to make this new game innovative with supreme new graphics and action. Expect this game to raise the bar for First-Person Shooter games.

Microsoft has released their new objectives to release the original Xbox games as downloadable content in the Marketplace. According to 1Up.com, the games will not have achievement points; rather, the games will be emulations that play exactly like they did on Xbox. This makes for nothing special to announce.

Most the good Xbox games are compatible with the 360. So, if you really wanted to play them still, you probably still own an actual copy. Most of us are probably running out of too much space to hold these games. For $15 a pop it may be cheaper and easier to just get a hard copy of the game.

It would be advised that you save your Marketplace credits for the games that are real classics. These “contemporary” classic games are nothing too special. Without adding achievement points, levels, or other features, it just seems like a pointless “feature” for the Xbox Live community.

The original America’s Army game for PC and Mac was pretty cool. It was hard and realistic. However, something seemed different on the new game. I only played the demo that you can download from Xbox Live. It may not be the greatest way to judge a game, but if you don’t like the demo, how can the real game be good.

In just the first game I played, it did not seem to play very good. The controls seem awkward. This could also be from another bias. I enjoy fast paced first-person shooters. Even though I thought it would be cool that AA’s demo is a multiplayer mode, the demo for the new Medal of Honor was awesome and it was just single player mode. Based on the two experiences, I would expect Medal of Honor to be a much better game than the new America’s Army.

A demo game should be a good representation of the actual game. Why would a company release a demo that did not give you a reason to buy it? Check the demo out for yourself in the Marketplace. From my overview, I will give this game one last chance by renting it before I ever try to buy it.

What would we do without yet another Tony Hawk game? Well, we would probably get by with just playing the last one. So, I guess it is “Proving” that people will continue to buy new version for a few more tricks. However, the lack of players on Xbox Live may prove otherwise.

It is cool to be able to customize your character and purchase new items, even though many of us prefer to focus on actually playing the game. These games are always the best with multiplayer action. The regular game play is the best way to learn the tricks and features, but the real fun is competing against other real people.

Looking for a good fighter jet game? Well, Ace Combat 6 has the great detail and planes you may have been looking for. Flight simulators have come a long way since Top Gun from Nintendo. This newest flight sim does top the rest. With this great detail and the ability to keep a solid frame rate, Ace Combat 6 makes for a very intriguing fight.

The detail is rendered from photos giving it a very realistic feel. Put this into the multiplayer mode and here you have battles with up to 16 other fighter jets. The list of planes is larger than most other flight games giving you enough options to keep busy for a while. It has also been reported that it has been downloaded over a million times.

There are three multiplayer modes, Battle Royale, Team Battle, and Siege Battle. The first, Battle Royale, is a free-for-all. Get 16 players to go every man for him-self in a very intense fight. Team Battle is set up in two teams. Each team earns points based on the planes they shoot down. Siege Battle is a offensive-defensive game. One team would be defending their ground and the other is attacking.

On top of it all, Xbox 360 has released a set of throttle controllers for more realistic play. So, go ahead and pick yourself up a new controller and the game and get out there and play. This game is great when you have played yourself dry with first-person shooters and sports games.

Normally, I would avoid writing articles about such similar topics so often, but I cannot resist this time. Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix is an awesome game. The multiplayer on PC has been unmatched by other shooter games. This game has brought endless hours of addiction on, even while newer games continue to be released.

My love for this game may have come from circumstance. Besides jumping on a few friends’ computers a couple times, I didn’t really play SOFII until the price drops. With my impeccable shopping skills, I became proud owner of this game for around $20. Man, did I get my money’s worth.

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Well, this definitely isn’t always true. However, 2007 is the year of the shooter games. Every gamer anticipated the release of Halo 3 for months, if not longer, but the excitement do not end there. One could criticize the product release tactics of the Epic Games, but where they lack in the strategy of marketing, the may make up for with the performance of the soon-to-be-released Unreal Tournament 3.

Let’s start with the downside of this release…

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Do you remember the days of constantly blowing and cleaning out every game cartridge about thirty times before actually getting to play the game? The frustration of your favorite games giving you problems, no matter how well you took care of them? Fortunately for many of you, the answer may be “no”.

However, many of the top gamers out there did get their start on the old systems such as Nintendo. Whether or not you remember those old games and wish you could get the old system up and running, or you were never able to experience them, the Xbox 360 and Xbox Live! have produced the best solution.

You may have noticed the lists of games and demos in the Xbox Live! dashboard. Do not forget to checkout the classic games. It is an amazing experience to download a game and within minutes, be playing your favorite old game without the flaws of the original system. Even better, most of these games come with multiplayer capabilities! If you think you are the only one that loved Street Fighter II, you will find how wrong you are on Xbox Live!

There is hours of fun packed in to the classics like SF II when you can challenge the best from around the world, right in your own living room. The list continues to expand as they add more and more games. In these times, with the ever expanding and developing high graphic online games, don’t forget to visit your roots. The challenge is endless while you play the masters of the old. See for yourself, and download your favorite. This list includes the original Doom, which was one of the first 3-D multiplayer games. No more dialing up to your friends phone through a DOS-Prompt with slow connections and many errors.

If you are over age 24, you may know what we are talking about. Otherwise, you should be getting online and seeing what has led us to the Halo 3 era.