Itunes's GameCenter is a good idea executed poorly. GameCenter is basically Xbox Live for the iTouch/iPhone. You have a username, freinds, games and achievements all controlled from a central hub. This is controlled by Apple. Think of it as an Apple sanctioned Open Feint. The games on it, although limited, are great ranging from favorites Angry Birds and Tetris to newcomers like Plunderland and UFO on Tape.

Now there are a lot of bad things about GameCenter. It activates very weirdly as it only activates when you start a game and it only does that periodically. Achievements are not officially sanctioned by Apple so games achievement number, achievement points and value vary wildly from game to game making it very annoying to keep track of achievements. Also for all you iTouch owners GameCenter only works with an internet connection so unless you're at home you'll probably lose achievements if you decide to game outside the house.

Despite the difficulties, GameCenter is a great concept that if fixed could bloom into a great gaming interface for all Apple mobile devices.

Written by Matthew Byrd: Gamertag: ColonelByrd95

2. Assassin's Creed Brotherhood multiplayer beta dated

The Assassin's Creed Brotherhood multiplayer beta which is a PS3 exclusive was dated this week. Aspiring assassin's will be able to test out the multiplayer on October 4th. Beta invites will only be given to people who have pre-ordered the game.

1. Apple launches gamecenter

This week Apple launched the Appe GameCenter- a hub for all the games for the ITouch and IPhone. The gamecenter includes social networking, leaderboards and for the first time, achievements. Although only a few games are available for gamecenter now- more will be added soon. IPad owners (like LOG's Taylor Bayless) can expect gamecenter at some point in November.

You'll probably notice only two news items this week. That's beceause as fall begins there will be less news items and more games coming out so expect more shorthanded weekly updates in the coming weeks.

I love Mafia movies. If you told me you would be watching Goodfellas at yopur house, you should expect me to show up on your doorstep with a bowl of pasta. As much as I love Mafia stories, I haven't played, or for that matter found, a really good Mafia game. Mafia II has changed that.

5. Dead Space 2 multiplayer announced

Dead Space 2 developer Visceral games announced this week that the highly anticipated (mostly by me) game will feature multiplayer mode. While no further details were given, it can be assumed that the inevitable, soldiers vs. necromorphs mode will be available. Rumors are persisting that the multiplayer will be Left 4 Dead esque. More details to come.

4. Killzone 3 gets a release date

The highly anticipated (and hated by LOG's Kaillif Ammen) shooter got a release date this week at PAX. Fans will be slaughtering Helghast's on Febuary 22nd 2011.

5. Mass Effect 2 is coming to the PS3

Microsoft exclusivity was struck a crushing blow on Tuesday when Bioware announced at Gamescom that Mass Effect 2 will be available for the PlayStation 3 in January 2011. Microsoft might be struck an even more crushing blow in the months to come as it was rumored that since you could transfer your character from one installment to the next, the heavily anticipated Mass Effect 3 might be on the PS3 as well.

4. Insomniac announces next two titles

Although singing a deal with EA to make multiplatform games, developer Insomniac announced 2 sequels to their PS3 exclusive franchises. Resistance 3 was announced for a 2011 release at Gamescom on Tuesday. A live action trailer revealed little except for possible game locations. St. Louis, Missouri and New York, New York. Ratchet and Clank: All 4 One was announced at Gamescom on Tuesday for a Q4 2011 release. New features include four player co-op and a new story for all those Ratchet and Clank fans out there.

5. Batman: Arkham City revealed

The sequel to British studio Rocksteady's surprise hit, Batman: Arkham Asylum was "announced" in the September issue of Game Informer (a trailer was shown at the Spike VGA's last December), but new details emerged this week including the cast confirmation of Two-Face, Joker, Harley Quinn and Catwoman, amped up Riddler challenges, rivaling gang factions for Batman to beat up and a bigger, darker and better environment for all those little Batnuts. The release date was set for Fall 2011.

4. Crysis 2 delayed

The sequel to the popular 2007 PC shooter was delayed this week in the continuing trend of delayed video games. The new release date has been confirmed as March 22nd, 2011 in North America and March 25th everywhere else.

WARNING: THIS ARTICLE IS FILLED WITH SPOILERS!!!!! IF YOU WANT TO PLAY LIMBO WITHOUT SPOILERS DO NOT READ!!!!!

LIMBO as LOG member Kaillif Ammen says if very vague with little description and back story. For this reason LIMBO is up for a lot of interpretation. The following is my interpretation of the story of LIMBO.

As I described at the beginning of my review, Limbo is in Catholic theology Purgatory. From the title I feel the boy is traveling through purgatory which composes of the two evils of Earth. The dark scary forest filled with dangerous life forms and the cold, solitary city filled with dangerous machines and no life. It is the two sides of Earth - Nature and City. Purgatory is representative of the evils of earth. Now why would a little boy and his sister be in purgatory? Well continuing with the Catholicism, a lot of Purgatory's residents are un-baptized babies and children. Children not baptized by the Catholic Church are doomed to Purgatory. So most likely the boy and his sister were raised in a non-Catholic household, most likely Protestants, Atheists, Jews, Muslims etc.

[UPDATE: Price corrected]

Microsoft has put everything behind Kinect, it's new motion control device releasing this fall. They've treated it like a new console launch with launch titles, super hype at E3 and Comic-Con and a ton of build up. However it is all in vain. Kinect is has been doomed from the moment it was debuted at E3 2009. Now before I sound like a cynic, let me outline three fundamental reasons why Kinect will never connect with gamers, casual and hardcore alike.

Limbo or Purgatory is a Catholic belief that between Heaven and Hell there is a place for the lost and for those who were neither good nor bad. That is where the XBLA exclusive puzzle game Limbo takes you (maybe). You play a boy who awakes in a forest, begins walking around and discovers that this is no ordinary world. It is a world populated by dangerous creatures and traps and other children who don't take well to you being there.

You may have heard about the recent Schwarzenegger proposal from the Govener of California which would basically make the ESRB rating the standard in stores, meaning that it will be illegal to sell M-rated games to anyone other 17 without parental consent. Now before you say this law seems okay let me say some things. The MPAA (the movie rating system) is not federally enforced. You know why. Beceause it's unconstitutional.

As we all await the next podcast I decided to run down some of the new features coming to Library of Games.

Video Achievement guides- Since Matthew Byrd (ColonelByrd95) and Kailiff Ammen (Gloqwi) have the highest gamerscore's at LOG they have decided to feature video achievement guides for all you Achievement seekers out there. Upcoming games include Limbo, Alan Wake and Transformers: War for Cybertron.

Game Commentary- Love it when you and your friend make extremely funny comments while playing games? Want to hear even funnier people doing it? Well then Stanley Ng (BattleStorm132) and Matthew Byrd (ColonelByrd95) will be doing hilarious game commentaries all for your enjoyment.

Old game reviews- Ever want to know how old games stand up to the test of time? Then your in luck. LOG staff will be review all pre-2005 games simply for your pleasure.

Written by Matthew Byrd: Gamertag: ColonelByrd95

Now if your reading this blog you most likely love video games. You play them almost everyday and read magizines and articles about video games. You are most likely perplexed as to why people don't like video games. It shocks you. It shocks me too. So I did some investigating and I've narrowed down 5 reasons why people don't like Video games and then quickly debunked each reason.

5. Hot Coffee (A.K.A Sex(Sex?))


In 2004 a Dutch modder discovered a hidden minigame in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas which allowed the player to have sex with the players girlfriend in numerous sexual positions. The minigame caused a firestorm of controversey which included the notorious attorney Jack Thompson (shocker) and even then-Senator Hilary Clinton. This mini-game controversey has put a negative spotlight on the industry that games are sex simulators for kids (even though San Andreas was an M game NOT INTENDED FOR KIDS!) and are desensitizing America's youth (when have you heard that before?). The fact is barely any mainstream video games in their entire history have had nudity and never except for Hot Coffee has sex ever been simulated and in the players controls during a game. This is a simple misunderstanding of Video games.

4. Video games are stupid children's entertainment

Like Comic books, video games are seen as children's entertainment not to be taken seriously. So when people play games they are considered trashy and child like. The truth is that gaming's fastest growing demographics are adults. A majority of the triple-AAA titles released are M-Rated so this is just a stupid and short-sighted arguement.

3. Jack Thompson

If all gamers had a nightmare- that nightmare would be Jack Thompson. The Florida attorney single handedly placed in the minds of American parents that games like Doom, Grand Theft Auto and Mortal Kombat would turn their children into axe murdering psychopaths who did drugs, murdered their classmates and would become devil worshipers.And the funny thing is, people believed him. Time will tell but it looks like Jack Thompson may have put full video game acceptance in pop culture back by a decade.

2. Video games have no depth.

On the surface when people look at video games they see simply killing simulators for no purpose. Any gamer will tell you this isn't true. Whether it is the tragically epic story of Red Dead Redemption or the mature philisophical adventure of BioShock games are mature pieces of art which use their interactiveness to distiguish themselves from other art mediums and saying that they don't have depth is simple ignorance of the medium.

1. Violence

This is the biggie. Video games have always been known for violent games. Counterstrike, Grand Theft Auto, Call of Duty, Manhunt the list goes on. But so what. Movies have been violent for nearly a hundred years and their an accepted form of entertainment. Their are two reasone why this is a reason. One the interativeness makes it seem like video games are turning America's kids into murderers (Jack Thompson). However there is NO PROOF that video games are involved in anyway in school shootings or murders of any kind. Second it's the newest medium on the block so it's instantly made fun of and looked down upon.

In conclusion you can expect all these problems to go away in 10-20 years. A new generation is coming. A generation raised on popular next-gen titles and this generation, I predict will be the one to bring gaming (good gaming) into the mainstream.

Written by Matthew Byrd: Gamertag: ColonelByrd95

Marvel Ultimate Alliance holds a special place in my heart. The 2006 game held a special place in my heart and was one of my favorite games so I was psyched the sequel was announced. However the original developer, Raven Software was replaced by Vicarious Visions and trust me. That was a mistake.

The game takes place during the Marvel Civil War were heroes are split over the Superhero registration act and you can either play the Pro or Anti Registration. A chance at multiple enjoyable playthroughs was squandered as the campaign's are simply carbon copies of each other. As you play through the game, something very clear comes up. This game took all the good things from the first game and made them repetitive. They then took all the bad things from the first game and amplified them.

Seriously. This game sucks. This game is putrid bargain bin, generic, graphically glitched trash. This game belongs in garbage cans across the world. Why? Because the brawler action gets repetitive real quick and listening to bad voice actors gets tiresome real fast. The game's weak attempt at Mass Effect like conversation has no impact and makes your hero seem like a stupid little kid who's going on an adventure with his favorite superhero. The camera is even worse as sometimes it goes behind walls and sometimes it goes up in the sky and leaves you OFF-SCREEN!!!!! And that's just the start. Enemies disappear into walls and fly into the air (and not because their supposed to.). Co-op is unenjoyable as camera issues make what was an enjoyable experience in the first game into a chore to play.

Bad. Bad. Bad. This is one of the worst games I've ever played. I had so much difficulty completing this game, not because it's hard but because it's such a chore to play. This game is barely a step above Superman 64 in terms of badness. Avoid this game at all cost. Go play a good game like Red Dead Redemption or the first Marvel Ultimate Alliance game but please skip this trash.

Written by Matthew Byrd, Gamertag: ColonelByrd95