To be completely honest with you, Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon is a very difficult game for me to review. That’s because I’d much rather be playing it than writing about it.

The bugs are BACK, baby. Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon (henceforth referred to as EDF:IA, or just awesome game) is a reprisal of the cult classic Earth Defense Force 2017, though this time by American developer Vicious Cycle as opposed to Japanese developer Sandlot. Some things have changed, but trust me when I say the insect crunching action is just the same, and in some cases better.

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I’ve been a bit irresponsible when it comes to Dragon’s Dogma. I had my first taste of the game a couple months back while at Captivate 2011. In lieu of there being any Mega Man titles, Dragon’s Dogma was easily my favorite of Capcom’s offerings (and this was still the case at E3). I fully intended to report my impressions on the game back then, but I sort of just… let it fall by the wayside. It would be a travesty to make the same mistake twice, so I’ll now, finally, regale you my impressions along with data I picked up from Captivate.

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Skullgirls has apparently been a thing in the works for quite a while now, but I’d never even heard of this fighting game until spotting it at E3. Two things about it really stood out to me. The immediate thing was its unique visual style and character design. The other, more gradual thing was that, for a game that seemed to me to be an unknown, there were always people teaming around it. Filled with intrigue, I eventually conceded and waited in line to give it a try.

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Earth Defense Force 2017 was a surprise hit for me last year, and quickly became my all-time favorite Xbox 360 title. To many gamers, it had a lot of shortcomings, but its pure arcade action and B-movie style presentation made it endlessly enjoyable. So with a new developer behind the wheel, I wondered how well Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon would fair. From what I played at E3, things seem to be rather promising.

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“Friday Old Games” is a series of articles in which we review a game from the older generations of consoles, share why we picked it, and whether or not it holds up with time.

Back in 1992, id Software set the world (of PC gaming nerds) on fire by making the first in a new genre called “First Person Shooters”. The best part: Wolfenstein 3D was shareware, so it was not only legal, but encouraged that you give the first episode of the game to your friends.

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With E3 having come and gone now, I do miss it a little. By all means, it was no walk in the park. Driving around busy downtown LA looking for parking, wading through crowds of gamers, and sitting in lines for upwards of an hour just to try a game for ten minutes; it’s a lot of work. And yet somehow I feel like I came back too soon. Sure, it was fun to try out a lot of cool games before they release, but there was also an energy in the air that I miss being a part of.

At any rate, I must give sincere thanks to Capcom, especially Joveth “jgonzo” Gonzales. Due to my large involvement with The Mega Man Network, and promoting Mega Man in general, they offered me a pass as a way of saying thanks for the support. I am very humbled to know how much they appreciate the work I do, which has never struck me as anything incredible. Still, it’s unfortunate that none of Capcom’s announcements pertained to Mega Man… but I’m thankful all the same! Above is me on Capcom*Unity’s E3 stream with jgonzo and Noah, another Capcom fan. Sadly, I don’t recall what was said to make jgonzo produce such an awful expression.

Also deserving of thanks is my good pal Cheston, who accompanied me and helped out with some of the expenses, and more of the driving around. He also acted as our eyes as assistant media coordinator and took many of the photos we’ve used here in our reports. Cheston is getting married next month, so this may have been our last big adventure. But who knows! Couldn’t have done it without you, man. Congrats on tying the knot.

Finally, I guess I should thank the WingDamage crew for giving me a podium to express my experiences, since they wouldn’t really fit on TMMN. But having gotten to know Jesse and Jonah… yeah, I dunno. They’re sketchy to me. Anyway, enough sentimental crap. To close things up, I’m taking a look at Hard Corps: Uprising, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, Metroid: Other M, Dead Rising 2, and Marvel vs Capcom 3.

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With the Playstation 1 and Playstation 2, Sony was the undisputed King.  Fanboys and fangirls can argue and make any claims they want, but the fact is Sony crushed the competition. For 10 years it wasn’t even close. So coming into this current generation Sony was riding high. They were riding in with a decade of dominance and they had the most powerful console in history. The perception was Microsoft was a one trick pony (Halo) and Nintendo was for kids and Pokefreaks. Of course, Sony was confident, they had never really been challenged, and it seemed like it would take a miracle to stop the juggernaut that was the PS3. It had everything going for it. It was a technophiles dream come true.  Everything was built in from blu-ray to blue tooth to the Hard Disk Drive. This was the system that was going to usher in the HD era.

Then the PS3 came out and sold out everywhere. eBay prices sky-rocketed, and it seemed like it didn’t matter that it was the most expensive, it didn’t matter that the Wii was trying something new, and it didn’t matter that the 360 had a head start. Microsoft had its fun and the Wii was poised to make a little noise but the King was back.  And then, something strange happened. Something that isn’t supposed to happen to mighty Sony. Suddenly, PS3 consoles were everywhere, and Wiis were sold out. Suddenly, everyone wanted the cute little souped up Gamecube with Motion Control, and the Mighty blu-ray HD monster was getting hammered. How did Sony fall, and how can the PS3 rise?

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