Work in Game Design Rather Than Other Design

Working in the game design field isn't always given the credit it deserves. Often times, people think that this is a job where the employees sit around and play games all day. What they don't know, is how much more is involved in game design. There is quite a bit of competition in the gaming industry, so at times it can be difficult to find the right job for you. There is also the likelihood of regularly having to work under pressure to accomplish your duties before the given deadline, or spend valuable time figuring out why your designs may not be working correctly. However, if game design is something you enjoy doing, whether for fun or for work, it will likely become a rewarding career experience for you and you'll be satisfied with what you do.

Plenty of reasons exist to seek a job in the game design field. An important one is that you may be able to create games of your very own, which is something many people wish they could do. If this sounds like a dream come true, then this could be the perfect career path for you. Making games allows you to use your own creativity and take a game to somewhere it's never been before. This can be challenging, but it's something you can get used to with some experience. One this to remember is that some of your ideas and designs may not always be accepted by the company you work for. In this situation, you should just take the constructive criticism, and use your creativity to try again.

Having a job in this field is different than most other jobs because it is usually more flexible. Your working hours could be different and they may not necessarily be the standard 9 to 5 hours than most people work. You may be given the ability to choose your own hours, and sometimes game designers even get the chance to work from home if the company allows it. This can be important because it can allow you to have less hassle and stress, making the game design process easier. There is also the possibility that you won't have to abide by a dress code, and will be allowed to wear casual clothes of your choice. Just remember to stick the other requirements of the job.

Those who plan on entering this industry should remember that a career in this field can be challenging and may require a lot of hard work. Though, if you are someone who enjoying playing video games and admire the design element, it shouldn't be hard for you to become comfortable with the job. Salaries can be different due to varying factors, but according to industry insiders, the average range for most video game developers is between $80,000 to $100,000 per year.* If this position sounds like something you may be interested in, you should seek opportunities to earn your degree in game design since this could help you in the job hunt. If you work hard and are determined, you can make your job into a rewarding experience.

*For more information, please visit: http://www.bls.gov

Game-DesignSchools.com is the ultimate destination for those looking to pursue a career in game design. It offers resources about game design degrees, programs, schools and more.

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Moral Choices in Video Games: "A Matter of Time"

In an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation called "A Matter of Time," Rasmussen, a time-traveling historian from the future, visits the Starship Enterprise. His goal is to relive the Enterprise's "history-changing" attempts to help a dying planet full of innocent lives, but he is bound by a moral code that forbids him from revealing the outcome of the ship's efforts to its crew.

In a critical moment, Geordi LaForge, the engineer of the Enterprise, asks Captain Picard if he can remain on the planet to help guide the recovery attempt. Picard turns to look at Rasmussen, who knows whether Picard's trusted officer and close friend will die because of his decision. Picard reluctantly gives LaForge permission to help, while Rasmussen smiles, casually intrigued, and comments to himself, "LaForge remained below."

Upon hearing Rasmussen's line, I was immediately reminded of a certain type of YouTube video title. "Mass Effect: Ashley stays behind," "Mass Effect 3: The Quarians Loose," and "Infamous 2: Zeke Dies" are all examples. Similar to Rasmussen's statement, all of these titles give brief, after-the-fact labels to video game choices that, in the moment, are meant to have emotional and moral impact.

The moral problem Picard faces in "A Matter of Time" can be paralleled with video game morality in more ways than one. The best place to start is a scene where Picard calls Rasmussen to his personal office. He is presented with a decision not unlike the moral choices in many story-driven games:

"I imagine you know why I've asked you here."

"Yeah, I have a fairly good idea," responds Rasmussen.

"I'm faced with a dilemma. There is a planet beneath us which is slowly turning to ice, and unless we do something about it, I'm told that in a matter of weeks, thousands, maybe tens of thousands, will die."

"So, what's your dilemma?"

"Commander La Forge has a possible solution. The margins of error are extremely critical, but if successful, there'll be no more threat."

"And if it's not successful?"

"Every living thing on the planet will perish."

"So do nothing and thousands will die. Do something and millions could die. That's a tough choice."

"Not if you were to help me."

Consider Picard's request as an analogue to the moment when an RPG player faces a choice that could cause the death of his favorite character. Fearing this, he goes to YouTube or a wiki guide to find a way to keep the character alive. The scene addresses this urge as it continues:

"There are twenty million lives down there, and you know what happened to them. What will happen to them," Picard emphasizes.

Rasmussen pauses for a moment, then responds, "And why did you ask to see me?"

"Because your presence gives me potential access to a kind of information that I've never had available to me before."

The "kind of information" that Picard refers to is knowledge of the path that directly connects his actions to their outcomes. Only Rasmussen can see this path, but his presence means that it exists.

In many video games, developers create a system that determines exactly how player choices lead to outcomes. Whether the player directly sees it or not, it is out there somewhere, transcribed in an online guide, or hidden deep in the game's code.

In either case, the mere presence of this knowledge transforms choices into acts of self-denial. When an established, simple system for determining the best decisions exists, making moral choices based solely on personal feelings and opinions becomes illogical. Regardless of the strength of the player's convictions or confidence, the system will work as it was designed, and one option will always lead to the same outcome.

In "A Matter of Time," Picard faces the same issue. As he states, "I have two choices, but either way, one version of history or another will wend its way forward." Picard realizes that with knowledge of fate essentially accessible, the only "right thing to do" is to choose the best outcome for the planet, and to guide his decisions by picking apart the path leading to it. Picard explains to Rasmussen, "I must take advantage of every possible asset. It would be irresponsible of me not to ask you here."

As long as a process for directly connecting choices to results exists, people's thoughts will always be tempted to wander in the direction of figuring out the process, towards second-guessing their instincts in order to decide the best fate for their personal world.

Rasmussen's next reaction reveals the problem with this line of thinking. Put off by Picard's request, he responds "We're not just talking about a choice. It sounds to me like you're trying to manipulate the future."

This is the main message of "A Matter of Time." There is a difference between choosing and manipulating. Even though there is a path that connects a person's choices to their outcomes, it can only be seen from the future. In the present, human perception is far too limited to imagine every possible factor that could affect a decision. "Making a choice" describes a moment where, amidst this chaos and uncertainty, we place significance on our actions. Only because there is no way to determine how our choices fit into fate can we confidently focus on our own opinions, feelings, and consciences when making them.

After Rasmussen refuses to help, Picard describes this more personal morality: "By refusing to assist me, you left me with the same choice I had to began with. To try or not to try, to take a risk or to play it safe. Your arguments have reminded me how precious the right to choose is. And because I've never been one to play it safe, I choose to try."

The right to choose does not come from having complete control over the future. It depends on uncertainty. Whether by creating random, uncontrollable factors that influence a choice's outcome, or by not showing the precise outcome of every choice, developers can break the path that connects choices to outcomes. As Picard states, it is the lack of complete control that gives choices their beauty.

Thank you for reading my article.

Hello, I'm Alex Rinaldi, and I write to explore the intellectual value of media entertainment. My focus is on gaming and interactive storytelling. If you liked what you read, you can find more of my work on http://www.think-entertainment.net/

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Helpful Tips to Enjoy Great Gaming Experiences

Most of us love playing games on our computers, tablets, and smartphones. However, the games that we play on our consoles and computers do a much better job of creating a realistic experience. Video games are not only great for bonding with people we know, they are also a good medium for making new friends as well.

Here is how you can get the most out of modern video games:

Watch your expenses:

Heavy video game titles, especially when they just come out, are quite expensive. Some games cost even more than $50. Most people find such prices to be unreasonable. That does not mean you always have to spend a fortune in order to enjoy these games.

Here are some ways to enjoy games at cheaper rates.

Wait for a few months after the games have been released, because prices come down quite significantly

Shop on holidays and events, especially on Cyber Monday, when you get crazy discounts

Consider buying legitimate used games from the market, as they are considerably cheaper

However, do not buy pirated games, because it takes away the fun. Also, if you are playing online games, then your copy needs to be licensed and registered to get all the features.

Playing family friendly games

Many games out there are meant to be played exclusively by adults, and they might even contain a bit of profanity. If you want to enjoy the gaming experience with your children, then you will want to avoid such titles. The best way to find out is to check for the ESRB ratings. They are very much like movie ratings that separate adult content from family friendly ones.

Here are some things you should do to make your experience better:

Set up a family online account on your consoles, so you can save your history and continue from where you left off the last time

When you enable the internet on your console, make sure that the privacy settings are enabled the way you want

Disable automatic payments for in-game upgrades, as kids might inadvertently choose the wrong options and waste money

Game strategies to help you succeed

Some of the console games that come out today have complex strategies. You will take a while to get the hang of them.

If you play a lot of first person shooter (or FPS) games:

Make sure you play individually for a while, so that you understand how all the options work

Do not reload your gun in the game. Always hide or crouch when reloading, else another player can kill you while reloading

The key to doing well in shooter games is staying alive, so it is always defense first

Save your games at different points, so you can go back to a previous state if you don't like what you did.

Console games are not just entertainment, but also give the brain and body workout. They also help children in developing many physical and mental skills. More importantly, they let you relieve your stress after a hard day's work.

We provide a lot of information on most of the top online games. You could also visit our website, allcandycrush.com for information on Candy Crush cheats, tips, and hints.

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Thinking About Becoming a Professional Poker Player?

Becoming a professional poker player is difficult. Not only do you have to be good at the game you have to have a good business head. To that end you have to learn to treat your beloved card game as a business, rather than a pastime which in the past you have been good at.

If you are thinking about becoming a pro read this first.

Business Element

Like most businesses there will be good times and bad times. You must be prepared for the latter and use the former to offset your losses. Professional poker playing also needs capital like any other business, and for poker this means having a substantial bank roll.

To that end you must try and work out how much you will need to maintain a steady income from playing poker. A highly competitive profession if ever there was one. From the income figure you can estimate how much you will need to bankroll your career as a pro player.

Every player has a severe losing streak no matter how good they are. You must be able to deal with this financially.

You are going to be self employed. This is scary and hard at the best of times, and rather than making a sale, you are going to have to win a considerable amount of money to make your business thrive.

Evaluate Evaluate

To become a pro and a better pro, you have to be able to honestly evaluate your play style after every game. Ideally, having an honest opinion from someone you trust is best. A fresh, unbiased pair of eyes will be able to tell you if you are leaking too many tells, if your bluff was too obvious, and generally pick up on your weaknesses. In essence you must be able to take criticism and be honest with yourself to know when your big loss was down to you. All of this will improve you as a player.

As a professional poker player constant improvement is needed. Otherwise it is a long walk to the poor house and back into mainstream work.

The evaluation of your poker play should have already started. If you can find a mentor or at least someone you trust who understand the game, so much the better. Many players record their games in the form of notes. How much they staked, how much they won, nearly every statistic you can think of. They then refer to them constantly.

Why?

Many professionals started our as good amateur players and realised that playing a game they love for a living would be a good way to live. The chances are you are of the same mindset. On the surface there is edginess to the lifestyle that is very appealing. A little like being a spy. The reality is however, that it is a business and a job. In ten years time will you enjoy the game so much?

You may not ever view the game again like you do at the moment. A point to ponder perhaps?

Social Life

Once you embark on being a pro your social life will be centred on poker. Poker will dominate: Your friends will be poker players, your partner will be from a poker background, and even your pets will be able to shuffle cards. You will study poker when you are not playing it, and your maths will improve.

This is an aspect you need to think about to become a professional. Are you prepared for the change and sacrifice?

Percentages

If you have not worked it out already, you are going to have look at poker as a business. This means working out percentages to the nth degree and then perform in tournaments. You will start to think of the game statistically and indeed start to study your own game in the same terms. This is common to most gambling.

Summing up

A career in poker is hard. Make no mistake big losses and incredible lows are coming your way. There will be times when you wonder why you thought it was a good idea.

With a clear steady mind however, a good business head, and a mentor or friend who is willing to help you, you might just make it.

For more betting and gambling related articles and news please visit http://tipsterwarehouse.co.uk/blog/

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The Art of Selling a Spectrum Game

Let's face it, graphics were not the selling point of a ZX Spectrum game. It wasn't often someone would pick up a cassette box and shout out "WOW, look at the graphics on this game!!" - Spectrum gamers knew what kind of graphics they were probably going to get even before flipping to the back of the box.

What made it worse was that a lot of the times on the back of a box the publishers had provided screenshots of not only the Spectrum version, but alongside them screenshots from the rival Commodore 64 version, and even the Atari ST and Amiga versions which were streets ahead with graphics capabilities. Some cassette inlay's took it a step further with a complete disregard for false advertising as they showed screenshots from a completely different system (one of the ones with the much better graphics) and decided not to show any Speccy screenshots at all! Admittedly, there were times I would look at these comparison screenshots and think "Why can't my game look like *that*". I'd still buy the game anyway, because I knew what to expect and of course I could always use my imagination to make the game better. No matter what version of screenshots I was shown, I had a feeling of what was going to be fun. But what made the Spectrum owner pick up the box in the first place?

In a time without YouTube or the internet, and television advertising for games was unheard of; it was the cover art that had to grab your attention. Yes there were Spectrum magazines filled with screenshots and reviews but when you turned the page to reveal a full page colour advert for a game, it was dominated by incredible game cover art, and only a few small screenshots of the game (if any at all) usually subtly placed at the bottom with the other unimportant stuff.

When I'm talking cover art, this was not computer designed 3D CGI at the standard seen these days; these were beautifully drawn or hand painted - this was real talent, and time and effort spent - nothing computer aided or digital. In some cases you could see the felt tip pen strokes, brush marks or pencil lines. This was real art. Walking in to a computer shop and looking across the shelves at a sea of cassette boxes, each one with their own cartoon cover, painted hero scenes, or movie poster style art - you knew you were in for a treat, even if the treat was the time you spent in the shop looking at them. There were titles you had never heard of, title's that didn't even show a single screenshot on the back of the box! But this added a mystique to the choice of this week's game purchase. Even without screenshots, the cover art told you it was worth taking the gamble as you stared at the picture on the front of the box on your bus journey home (..sometimes the gamble didn't always pay off, though.)

These sometimes breathtaking illustrations would pull you in, and they tempted you. Like the art on the cover of a book, you wanted to open the pages and dive in to the story to be the character emblazoned on the front; the cover set the tone for the incredible adventure you were about to embark on... which of course ended up being a number of basic looking pixelated shapes awkwardly moving around a screen to the soundtrack of a few bleeps and white noise, but that's not the point.

Today graphic artists could simply take a frame from the photo-real texture mapped game sprite and place them in any position or pose, and that alone would be enough to sell the game. However, in the days of the Spectrum, in it's place would stand an actor in action poses dressed up in full costume as characters from the game! I, of course, refer to the very memorable cover of "Barbarian". It gave it an extra dimension of realism to the point of sale rarely seen today - oh, and boobs. Protesters focused so much on the risqué (although not by today's standards) cover art, that nobody pointed out that in the game you chop peoples head's clean off with a sword, for it to be then kicked across the screen! To be fair, the type of person to make complaints about a girl wearing a bikini on the front of a computer game box, probably didn't know how to load the game up in order to be outraged by the beheading.

Grand gestures and attention grabbers were needed in the early days of computing, of course this was mostly to counter the incredibly unrealistic game and sometimes pitiful gameplay of a title - usually the movie-licenced ones, to be fair.

If a movie was a big hit, any kind of game of any standard would do - sometimes with no actual relevance to the plot of the movie, and forget screenshots - not needed! 
Get the license to publish a game of the worldwide epic movie "Jaws", put the famous Shark on the front emerging up toward the swimming girl; then it's going to shift a considerable amount of units. Oh wait, what about the game? OK just swap the X's and O's for Shark Fin's and Girls Face's in a game of sharky Tic-Tac-Toe - that should do it! (That wasn't the game version of Jaws, by the way, I just made that up for an extreme example - the actual game was *much* less relevant to the plot). The point being, as long as it had the big Hollywood cover art, then it was going to sell by the bucket load no matter what. Gamer's did feel let down however, and through the years would become wise and double check the screenshots and reviews of movie-licensed games, just to make sure they weren't being conned.

There were good games, and bad games, correct screenshots, deceiving ones, and no screenshots at all; but one thing was certain when you purchased a Spectrum game - you were going to have a new experience (good or bad) that started the moment you set eyes on the cover art.

In the 80's and early 90's, when graphics were not the greatest, how did a game grab your attention when sitting on the shelf? The cover art! Filled with personal experience and humor, this article takes a subjective journey in to a time when the screen shots on the box were not always that of the system it was being sold for.

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Next Gen Is Here and We Are Waiting

Xbox One and PlayStation 4, collectively known as 'Next Gen' consoles, have the capacity to allow far more sophisticated games with better graphics, a larger gaming world and more creative game development. The gaming public are excited about the possibilities of Next Gen and are eager to discover how the increased capabilities of the Next Gen consoles will translate into better and more stylish games. But with amazing graphics already with us, where will the big leap in game quality come from?

During the past ten years the most significant gaming advances have come from better in game graphics. I remember playing the first ever Fifa Soccer game for the Mega Drive and thinking it looked fantastic. Try playing the game now and it is archaic! Compare that with the NBA 2K 14 game for PS4, where your computer player even appears to sweat in a realistic way during the game and it is safe to say we have reached a point where players look almost lifelike.

Not content with looking realistic, player movement and AI decision making mimics the real life sports stars personality and playing style. Messi and Bale play like Messi and Bale in FIFA 14. This heightens realism and is more immersive. Next Gen gamers expect attention to detail on every nuance of a game and the standard set by the first games released on Next Gen consoles has set the bar high for other developers to meet and in time, surpass.

It is such early days for Next Gen gaming that there is plenty of room for improvement. Compare the quality of games in PlayStation 3 when it was first released to what is now being released today. We sit here in 2014 and speculate that we are not yet seeing a fraction of the potential capability of Next Gen games.

The major release of 2013 for PS3 and Xbox was Grand Theft Auto 5. This game presented the best game possible on current gen, squeezing every bit of power out of the console. It can be considered a passing of the torch and an admission that this is as good as it gets on the current gen consoles. Rockstar Gaming even said as much. GTA V underlined that this was a starting point for PS4 and Xbox One, posing the tantalising rhetorical question to the gamer, 'if we can offer you this on current gen, imagine what we can achieve with Next Gen?'

Early releases on Next Gen consoles have taken advantage of the freedoms offered by improved hardware capacity, choosing to increase the level of immersion in the games. They have chosen to empower the gamer to make decisions that set the direction of their in game experience. I believe this is the way forward for future game development. The constraints of PS3 means that the 'rats in a maze' feeling of some games can be relaxed and whilst every game must have its perimeters, the net can be cast wider thus reducing the impact of being trapped like a pinball bouncing around but ultimately drawn towards the games specific conclusion. With larger in game environments, the Next Gen open world games offers more opportunities for the gamer to explore sub-plots, where instead of just completing set missions you can trade to earn money, running businesses or simply explore the vast in-game environment at your leisure.

Recent trailers of the upcoming open world game 'Watchdog', which is scheduled for release on Next Gen consoles from May 27th in the UK, demonstrate that the user will be able to interact with any AI member of the public across the vast virtual Chicago landscape in their role as a vigilante rejecting the close security system in the city. The game is so vast on Next Gen that developers Ubisoft have posted online videos of hour-long game play sessions without needing to worry about given away all the secrets of the game.

With the possibilities of open world games so vast on Next Gen, it is very interesting to note that the most successful open world game developer, Rockstar Gaming, have yet to release details of any future prospective Next Gen titles, choosing instead to update GTA V later this year. We know from experience that Rockstar can take up to two years to deliver a title on PS3 and it will likely take at least this long for a Next Gen game. I firmly believe that Rockstar will set a new standard and deliver a brilliant Next Gen open world game, far more vast than anything we have seen so far. Considering the look of Watchdog, this will be a significant achievement for Rockstar, if they get it right.

For those sports fans and sports simulation lovers out there like me, one title has already set a high standard for others to follow. NBA 2K 14 delivers an exceptional standard of graphics quality and the game play looks as real as I can imagine seeing for some years. Even in this early stage of Next Gen sports sim development, NBA 2K 14 has set a very high standard. Their choices offer a glimpse into how the developers will seek to use the power of the Next Gen technology in future games. The vignettes where your player takes decisions off the court like interacting with opposing players, coaches, backroom staff and sponsors will be further developed to enhance the gaming experience, giving the gamer a more immersive experience of life as a professional basketball player rather than focusing solely on game play. I was surprised that such a polished game emerged so quickly. If this is as bad as sports sims get, PS4 will be a happy place for the sports gaming enthusiast.

Without a doubt game developers are under pressure to deliver. PS3 games were good, but PS4 gamers have been conditioned to expect excellence by the robust promotion of Next Gen and anything but a sharp rise in quality will be met with derision by the tough audience who are quick to lament any substandard release. Ask any Madden 25 fan who bought the PS4 version. With the exception of slightly smoother graphics, this game could have been released for PS3 and differs only marginally from the current gen console. That is not good enough and fans of that franchise are expecting better from the developers EA next year.

The challenge is set and gamers are eager to see how the game developers utilise the enhanced capability of Next Gen and the freedoms offered to produce great games. Developers need to balance the current game vacuum against the necessity of producing quality titles. With better graphics, more immersion, a better gaming experience overall and the power of the internet to facilitate gaming battles around the world, Next Gen has thrown us into a new era of console gaming. With it comes a hunger for the excellence, a more critical eye and we watch with anticipation as the game developers work on new releases to take advantage of Next Gen capacity to produce better and more immersive games.

The current gen king is dead, long live Next Gen.

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Game of the Year 2014

This year of gaming brought us the first full year of the next generation of consoles. It brought us new triple A' IP's and worthy sequels. You could also call 2014 the year of broken games! I would need more than two hands to count how many games launched completely out of whack this year. Now these are all my opinions and I will only be talking about games I have actually played and can give an opinion about. So if I missed out on one of your favorite games this year, I give my apologize.

Let's start with my guilty pleasures of the year. Madden 15, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, and Assassin's Creed: Unity have all given me hundreds of hours of pure enjoyment. While these are all sequels, they definitely squeezed new life into their respective franchises.

Madden 15 was a huge step up over the very mediocre Madden 25. Where its predecessor failed to be anything near "next-gen", Madden 15 picked up the slack and delivered a spectacular football game. From its overhauled presentation to its slick new graphics it's a joy to look at. It is also more in depth than ever in terms of gameplay. You can say that EA Sports actually made an effort this year.

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare is exactly what the doctor ordered. If you were looking for a reason to get back into the franchise, here it is. You think the franchise needed retooling or rebooted? Check. Advanced Warfare has change Call of Duty forever and it's hard to think about going back to a time before exo suits and double jumping. Not only is the multiplayer the best in the series since the original Modern Warfare, it boast a great campaign.

Assassin's Creed: Unity was probably the worst reviewed Creed game since the third one, but I couldn't agree less with the final verdict. Unity is my favorite Creed game since the third! Maybe I'm just a sucker for bad Assassin's Creed Games. From its jaw dropping open world, its polished graphics, and stellar gameplay; there's a lot to like about Unity and it's a shame bugs and glitches ruined the experience for some. I on the other hand encountered none of those problems, my opinion was unswayed.

There were many new IP's this year hoping to kickstart a new franchise. Watch Dogs, Destiny, Titanfall, and Sunset Overdrive were all valiant efforts. None of these games particularly made excited at the possibility of a sequel though. Watch Dogs was a nice game, but didn't really rock anybody's world. Titanfall was probably the most overrated game this year. People still lie to themselves into believing this is a "true next-gen" experience. It's not, it displays some of the worst graphics on the X-Box One and has very boring gameplay. Sunset Overdrive was a breath of fresh air but wasn't a game that kept you in its clutch longer than it took to beat the game.

Destiny was the only new IP I stuck my teeth into. While I didn't have huge expectations for the game, I was still let down by all the promises made my Bungie. After I accepted its shortcomings though, I was met with a fairly deep experience that married a somewhat open world shooter with very light RPG/MMO elements. I put about 50 hours into the game and had a great time with it. But its expansions would have to do a whole lot to get me to return to the world of Destiny.

Console exclusives were all the rage this year, especially on the Xbox. We had Infamous, Drive Club, and The Last of Us on PlayStation. With the Xbox releasing The Masterchief Collection, Sunset Overdrive, Titanfall, and Forza Horizons 2. Oddly enough Forza was the only excellent game out of the bunch and indeed was a true next gen experience. Infamous was also a fantastic game that took advantage of the PlayStation 4 even though it played things a little too safe. The Masterchief Collection was supposed to be the second coming of Christ, but somehow 343 Studios manages to botch the release of the game. While the campaigns worked and were there, people wanted to play Halo's multiplayer, which didn't work. Even till this day, nearly a month after release, it takes dozens of minutes to get into a match full of lag.

Farcry 4 and Dragon Age: Inquisition both released late last month. I have started both and am enjoying both. Far Cry is an awesome over the top open world FPS, while Dragon Age is an amazing piece of work that is unrivaled by any game on any platform. It's simply breathtaking to play. But since I'm only half way through Farcry and have only put half a dozen hours into Dragon Age, I think it's unfair to include these games into my final verdict. Although I can tell you Dragon Age will/is a top contender. I can't explain how good the game is even though I haven't scratched the surface of it yet.

So out of all the games that released this year that I have beat and actually spent enough time with, my game of the year would be Destiny. Yes, it's kind of out of left field. Destiny is a game that so many people played including tons of my friends and I. It may not be groundbreaking or lived up to its promises, but it's fun to play. Whether is was beating the campaign, doing raids, or playing Crucible, I had a blast with it. I may not feel the need to go back to the game, but I respect the time I had with it.

Now to my real game of the year. Out of all the games that released this year and all the hours spent on dozens of these new games, there was one game I found myself returning to. Battlefield 4 released in October of 2013, but it is the game I played the most and have had a blast with. I platinumed its mediocre campaign and have mastered its deep multiplayer(which is what keeps me coming back). I'm in a clan and we play all the time! Also with the release of map packs every couple months, I can't help but return to the battlefield. Battlefield 4 is a cop out pick, but I'm just being honest. It's the game I played most in 2014, putting over 400 hours into the game.

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