Welcome / About Me

Hello,

My name is Nick Michetti and I’m a freelance video game journalist, editorialist and blogger. I primarily write editorials about video game industry issues, but I’ve also written hands-on impressions / previews of video games, in addition to reviews. Most of what I’ve written has been for Kombo.com, a fairly well-known video game site, which I joined in late April 2006 as a PlayStation3 editorialist. Now, I’m openly accepting opportunities to write editorials and video game content for web sites and publications.

This site will primarily serve as my portfolio page — every piece of video game-related content I’ve ever written. If you like my work and would like to get in touch with me about writing video game editorials or other video game-related content for your site or publication, please contact me via e-mail at cervantes240@verizon.net

I hope you enjoy my writing.

–Nick

Bitmob Roundtable: The Present And Future Of PSP

Author’s Note: This roundtable was published November 9, 2009 and originally appeared on Bitmob.com. Clicking on this link will take you to its original location.

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In December 2004 in Japan and March 2005 in the U.S., Sony entered the handheld console market with their first handheld, the PlayStation Portable (PSP). They not only entered a new market but a new console war — against Nintendo, who created the handheld market and has never lost a handheld console war.

All of Nintendo’s previous competitors left the handheld market, and none had the brand power of PlayStation at their disposal. The PSP has had three remodels, and Sony has sold 55.9 million units worldwide. But how has the PSP really fared as competition in the handheld market?

With the fifth anniversary of the PSP’s U.S. launch coming this March, fellow Bitmobbers Alex R. Cronk-Young and J. Cosmo Cohen joined me for a roundtable discussion evaluating the current PSP’s performance thus far and what might (or might not be) in the cards for its successor.

Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack In Time (PS3) Review

Author’s Note: This review was published November 4, 2009 and originally appeared on Bitmob.com. Clicking on this link will take you to its original location.

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Keeping any video game franchise going for long periods of time is difficult. Keeping an action-platformer franchise like Ratchet & Clank going for seven installments across two consoles is even harder. Insomniac Games’ most noted galaxy-saving duo has certainly seen their fare share of success, but they’ve also recently seen some less great times as well, with fans crying out for new Ratchet games to include more variety. Looking at a Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack In Time, those voices appear to be have been heard.

A Crack In Time focuses on Ratchet and Captain Qwark’s quest to find Clank, who is discovering his destiny as caretaker of an important facility known as The Great Clock after having been kidnapped by the Zoni. Ratchet and Clank’s paths are split — players will spend most of their time playing through the series’ trademark action-platforming as Ratchet and a smaller (but equally rewarding) amount of time solving time puzzles as Clank.

The planets Ratchet explores really highlight an upgrade in platforming for the Ratchet franchise. Gone are the small worlds from previous installments that felt a little closed off — A Crack In Time’s worlds are significantly larger with much more territory to explore and much more to do. Franchise staples like swingshot targets and grindrails return, joined by new features like hoverboot race areas and wrench-tethering. A Crack In Time really does feel more like an action-platformer and less like a shooter-platformer than any installment in the franchise to date, which is a very good thing.

Has The Age Of Deterrence Arrived For Metal Gear Solid?

Author’s Note: This editorial was published October 11, 2009 and originally appeared on Bitmob.com. Clicking on this link will take you to its original location.

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After the “conclusive” ending of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, some thought a brief hiatus and eventual reinvention of the Metal Gear franchise was in store. Series creator Hideo Kojima had other plans, though, as the next Metal Gear announcements came in the form of Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker for PSP and Metal Gear Solid: Rising for PS3 and Xbox 360 — new games featuring the same convoluted MGS universe and story arcs. Peace Walker fleshes out more of the mysterious past of Big Boss, much of which is still potentially untold. Rising will hopefully add insight into the world of Raiden and answer the questions of what exactly happened to him between the years of MGS2 and MGS4.

But after MGS4 went to such great lengths putting the MGS plotlines to rest, introducing two new installments in that same series feels a bit odd. The familiarity of the universe certainly makes it considerably easier to release new installments — as opposed to introducing a new Metal Gear overhaul — but two new games in a universe that developer Kojima Productions worked so hard to “conclude”? That seems like the opposite of what the franchise needs: a fresh start.

Backward Compatibility Going Forward

Author’s Note: This editorial was published September 9, 2009 and originally appeared on Bitmob.com. Clicking on this link will take you to its original location.

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Gamers are used to backward compatibility in their consoles. It’s been in video game consoles that are part of a company or brand lineage. Backward compatibility is a rewarding feature for consumers who’ve supported those lineages — buy the newest console and you get to play your games from the previous one.

It’s a win-win situation, honestly: Consumers don’t have to take out their old consoles, and their investments in previous generations aren’t discarded. For console manufacturers, backward compatibility has been a means to extend new life to the consoles that have come before, enabling them to continue to move software and hardware units of the previous console during — and after — the launch of new hardware.

The current generation of consoles, though, has been fairly quick to shed backward compatibility, partially or completely. The PlayStation 3 used to play PS1 and PS2 titles through hardware-based backward compatibility, but now it plays PS1 titles only through software emulation. Microsoft had been on a mission to make nearly every Xbox title playable on the Xbox 360, but they stopped. The Nintendo DS started off with a GBA slot, but Nintendo got rid of it in the newest DS model, the DSi.

Console manufacturers are now quick to dismiss the importance of backward compatibility. Overall, backward compatibility has taken a blow this generation, and its future as a feature is in question.

Is backward compatibility gone as a major console feature?

Batman: Arkham Asylum (PS3) Review: The Dawn Is Coming

Author’s Note: This review was published September 1, 2009 and originally appeared on Bitmob.com. Clicking on this link will take you to its original location.

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Batman has had a number of successes across various mediums. He’s had well-received animated series, critically acclaimed films and that’s not to mention the number of legendary comic books and graphic novels he’s starred in. However, The Dark Knight has always had a bit of trouble when it comes to video games.

So, when screenshots of Batman Arkham Asylum leaked, there was cautious enthusiasm for the next-gen Batman game that looked like it would deliver finally Gotham’s resident crime fighter out of the shadows.

Several positive hands-on previews and a hype-inducing playable demo later, Batman Arkham Asylum became one of the most anticipated games of the year. The question at hand, though, is this: Does Batman’s latest game save the day or fall into the clutches of evil?

Pricing The Issue

Author’s Note: This editorial was published August 20, 2009 and originally appeared on Bitmob.com. Clicking on this link will take you to its original location.

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Being a gamer has never been particularly inexpensive. Every so many years, new hardware is released and the new consoles always cost hundreds of dollars. Some gamers prefer to think of consoles as “investments.” When gamers say they’re going to “invest” in a console, they actually mean purchasing plenty of video games for said hardware.

Over the course of the console’s lifespan, gamers will likely eclipse the cost of the console in purchasing games for said console. The console’s lifespan winds down, the console war/cycle comes to an end and new hardware comes out. The process then repeats itself all over again.

However, there may have never been such a pricey console war as this one. Everything in this console war seems to have a significant price tag. Consoles are more expensive, games are more expensive and independent games and DLC are going for as much as $15 or more.

When the issue of price hiking is brought up, many gamers might be tempted to point the finger at Sony, but the truth is that there are few companies in the video game industry who haven’t raised prices in some way.

Consumers were suddenly introduced to $59.99 for games for high definition-capable consoles in the single turn of a generation. Then, we were introduced to a new world of downloadable content where paying $59.99 for a game simply wasn’t enough.

Suddenly, there are new installments of these games and they cost up to a quarter of what the consumer paid for what is supposed to be a “full” game.

Can A Game Like Scribblenauts Make Learning Fun?

Author’s Note: This editorial was published August 18, 2009 and originally appeared on Bitmob.com. Clicking on this link will take you to its original location.

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When I was in elementary school, my English textbook had lots of left-hand pages filled with spelling and grammar lessons, with lots of right-hand pages filled with sentences to fix. My family wouldn’t even buy our first computer until I was in seventh grade, so I had no word processor and no Internet for reference. I would sit there with my textbook open, writing down the correct solutions to the sentences in my notebook.

When I went to high school, every year for four years we received a rather meaty vocabulary book for English class, which meant there was at least one vocabulary exercise per week in addition to regular English class homework.

Now, all of that hard work and trial-and-error eventually paid off for me. I received an English award my freshman year of high school, and staying dedicated to English in high school more than prepared me for the paper-writing challenges of college.

But that strictly textbook approach doesn’t always work for everyone.

People learn in a wide variety of different ways. One of the ways is visually and one of the other ways is interactively. A game like Scribblenauts happens to combine both approaches.

Subtlety In Motion

Author’s Note: This editorial was published August 12, 2009 and originally appeared on Bitmob.com. Clicking on this link will take you to its original location.

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Control paradigms change and evolve over the course of time in the video game industry. The NES’s D-pad-and-button configuration was a change from previous controllers introduced by consoles such as Atari and Intellivision.

Over time, console makers added more buttons to controllers, and D-pads were replaced by analog sticks — until Sony introduced the DualShock dual-analog-stick controller over a decade ago. A strong, comfortable, and ergonomically sound device, the dual-analog-stick controller was the standard for video game controllers for more than a generation.

However, the time for change has arrived once more in the form of Nintendo’s Wii Remote, which introduces a new dimension to controllers: motion control. The widespread appeal of Nintendo’s innovative and market-disruptive controller has forced the competition to respond with motion-control schemes of their own.

Microsoft recently introduced Project Natal, a camera that promises to bring users even further into their games with the most familiar controller they’ve ever known: their own bodies. Sony responded with wand controllers for the PlayStation Eye, which appear similar to Nintendo’s Wii Remote yet possess somewhat different, if not added, functionality.

By the end of next year, there’ll likely be no shortage of motion controls or motion-controlled games.

Prince Of Persia (PS3) Review: Rebuilding A Legend

Author’s Note: This review was published August 11, 2009 and originally appeared on Bitmob.com. Clicking on this link will take you to its original location.

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Ubisoft’s Prince Of Persia franchise is recognized as one of the most technically sound platforming franchises in the video game industry. Last generation, Ubisoft gave the Prince a fully 3D makeover that lead to a memorable trilogy filled some of the best platforming around last generation. Certainly, there were a few bumps along the way and the Prince briefly went through an awkward dark period, but for the most part, the franchise was a resounding success.

After the popularity of the PS2 generation’s Prince, there was some surprise that Ubisoft had opted for another makeover of the Prince of Persia franchise. A brand new look (complete with intimidating metal claw), new story, new combat focus, a cel-shaded graphics engine, a new world structure and more populated the world of the new Prince Of Persia. There was a little skepticism about how the new Prince with his new makeover would be received by PoP fans, especially considering the fact that new Ubisoft franchise Assassin’s Creed already shared certain elements with the PoP series. Did Ubisoft successfully re-invent the franchise, or was this a case of good intentions with not-so-good follow-through?

inFAMOUS: A Welcome Shock To Superhero Games

Author’s Note: This editorial was published June 17, 2009 and originally appeared on Bitmob.com. Clicking on this link will take you to its original location.

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I never had a problem with the concept of inFAMOUS as a game. Shooting lightning at enemies, climbing up walls “urban exploration” style, open-world gameplay — in terms of gameplay appeal, inFAMOUS was a winner. However, for a little while, I was kind of skeptical about inFAMOUS’ ability to deliver as a comic book superhero game. I never questioned the validity of the idea, but I remained a bit skeptical about exactly how faithful to comic book superhero concepts inFAMOUS would end up being. I love video games as a medium, but when it comes to superheroes, they’ve rarely ever captured the essence of licensed superheroes, let alone lend enough confidence that they’d deliver full-fledged original ones.

Imagine my surprise when I found myself nearly immediately sucked in by Sucker Punch’s electric adventure.

I haven’t read or collected comic books in nearly a decade — since I was twelve or thirteen years old. Yet, inFAMOUS pulled me into the game by opening an enormous gate right back to my childhood nostalgia and everything I ever loved about comic books. The reason why dawned on me within a few hours of gameplay: Sucker Punch gets it. Cole McGrath, his story, the gameplay, the setting — these certainly weren’t a bunch of video game developers stepping outside of their element. They understood how to make a superhero and exerted that understanding throughout inFAMOUS.

But what exactly does Sucker Punch get so right in terms of comic book style?