Sessler's Soapbox

Adam is back!

After a week long excursion to Liepzig followed immediately by a trip up to Seattle, The Sess has finally returned tot he G4 studios and is here to share his thoughts on this year's Penny Arcade Expo. E3 and Leipzig were fun, but Adam now has a special place in his heart for PAX.

In this week's Sessler's Soapbox, Adam argues that PAX managed to succeed in providing an exciting experience with gamers from all over getting to join in on the action while, at the same time, not succumbing to the commercialism of something like Comic-Con.

What do you think? Should more events follow the PAX model? How long can PAX hold out from Corporate interests? Check out the video and let us know what you think.

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Guten Tag!

The Sess is ranting and raving from Germany this week, while he's reporting from the Leipzig Games Convention. In this week's Sessler's Soapbox, Adam has found himself taken aback by the presence of large, expensive promotional booths and the babes to accompany them. The pageantry of Leipzig's Convention makes Adam yearn for the old days of E3.

What do you think? Should E3 open itself up the fans? Should it stay closed off and more industry-oriented than Leipzig and PAX? Check out the video below and let us know what you think.

Sure, we may bitch about Lucas ruining Star Wars, or Link going cute and cuddly with Wind Waker, but when does our fanboy bitching cross the line? At what point do we need to accept that the song doesn't remain the same and that change is inevitable?

In this week's Sessler's Soapbox, Adam tackles the recent criticism over Blizzard's bright and colorful art scheme for the highly anticipated Diablo III.

He also wants to hear your thoughts on the matter. Should we rant and rave about a game betraying us simply because its different from its predecessor? Check out the video and let us know what you think or share your thoughts on our forums.

Like the U.S. and Russia for 44 years, Activision and EA seem like two superpowers engaged in a cold war, and the gaming world hangs in the balance. In this week's Sessler's Soapbox, Adam critiques the actions of these two ultra-corporations of gaming, where they're succeeding and where they're failing. By dropping many of their more experimental and unique IPs in favor of safe, standard fare, can Activision avoid being labeled gaming's new "Evil Empire?"

What do you think? Is Activision or EA the enemy of ingenuity and original gaming, or do are they both threats to the future of gaming? Check out the video and let us know what you think or share your thoughts on our forums.

Sure, we could say there are things in the gaming world other than E3 worth talking about this week, but then we'd be lying to you. And, honestly, we don't want to jeopardize our friendship like that. You mean something to us, and especially to The Sess.

That's why he's spending this week's Sessler's Soapbox talking more about the upcoming E3 and the incredible lineup of games that is going to be present at gaming's biggest event of the year.

What do you think about the games we're expecting to see? Is there one that you want to see above all others? Check out the video and let us know what you think or share your thoughts on our forums.

Also, don't forget to check out our killer E3 coverage. It all starts Monday, July 14th at 1PM ET, only on G4!

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E3 is coming up fast! All the biggest names in gaming will be showing off their big upcoming titles and, needless to say, this all has Adam as giddy as a school girl.

In this week's Sessler's Soapbox, Adam wants to share his giddiness with you as well as let you in on the fact that our E3 coverage is going to have exclusive demos that no one else is going to have!

Adam's bursting with excitement for upcoming demos like Ghostbusters, Halo Wars, Resident Evil 5, Fallout 3 and tons more. He even predicts that this might be the best E3 lineup in a long time. What do you think? Is this year's E3 worth getting this excited about? What games are you most looking forward to? Check out the video below and let us know what you think or share your thoughts on our forums.

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Let's face it, as terrifying and horrific as it sounds, there's a part of you that has secretly wished to live out the events of Night of the Living Dead or maybe 28 Days Later. Well, Valve is trying to make those dreams a reality with their upcoming Co-op FPS, Left 4 Dead (360, PC).

Adam got his hands on the game last week and it made such an impression that the Sess feels like he needs to share his initial thoughts on the game with the masses in this week's edition of Sessler's Soapbox.

What have you heard of Left 4 Dead? Are you excited or could you care less? Check out the video and let us know what you think or share your thoughts on our forums.

On a side note, do you have a plan on how to survive the coming zombie apocalypse? Well, if you do, we'd like to hear about it. Leave a comment below the video or write in (webmaster@g4tv.com) and tell Adam about your theory that will keep you from joining the hordes of the undead.

In this week's Sessler's Soapbox, Adam talks about the only game really worth talking about this week, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. The Sess discusses his long held belief that videogames couldn't be as effective at storytelling as the movies, and how MGS 4 has proven him wrong.

What do you think? Has Kojima's latest masterpiece raised the bar for storytelling? Check out the video and let us know what you think or share your thoughts on our forums.

When playing a competitive game, a certain amount of "trash talking" is to be expected. However, when you combine the competitive nature of some video games with the anonymity of the internet, these friendly jibes can quickly show a darker face, often involving racist and homophobic epithets.

In this week's Sessler's Soapbox, Adam addresses the issue of racist and homophobic comments that are seemingly running rampant on Xbox Live. The Sess is asking anyone who feels this behavior to be appropriate to write in and let him know why he or she thinks so. What do you think? Do think comments demeaning someone for their race, gender, or sexual preference is fair game? Or does a line exist somewhere, between comments that are "harmless" ones that are "going too far"? Check out the video and let us know what you think or share your thoughts on our forums.

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Last Friday, word had spread that Konami was asking reviewers of Metal Gear Solid 4 to avoid mentioning details about the cut scenes in their reviews. It's a common practice for publishers to ask reviewers not to mention story details in their reviews in an attempt to keep the public spoiler free. However, Konami wasn't talking about story details, they didn't want the length of cut scenes mentioned.

As a result, Electronic Gaming Monthly magazine and 1up.com have chosen to not offer a formal review of the game, as they felt an agreement of this sort would compromise their review.

In this week's Sessler's Soapbox, Adam gets to the heart of this story and tries to understand what Konami is asking of reviewers and if agreements such as these make reviews unreliable to the general public.

What do you think? Is it right of Konami to ask game journalists to withhold technical information from their reviews? Check out the video and let us know what you think, or share your thoughts on our forums.

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For the last ten years, games have been growing increasingly similar to movies in terms of the style of storytelling. However, with Alone in the Dark, Atari is trying a new method of narrative structure - something more akin to a season of television than to a feature film.

In this week's Sessler's Soapbox, Adam explores the episodic method of game-playing employed by Atari and growing number of game developers.

What do you think? Is the serial route the way of the future, or do you prefer your games to be similar to 30 hour movies? Check out the video and let us know what you think, or share your thoughts on our forums.

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Adam's back from a week away from both the studio and the soapbox. But now the Sess has returned to a heralding of trumpets and even a mini-ticker-tape parade*.

Where was he, you asked? Well, Adam spent the week attending various Gamer's Days and Pre-E3 events, where he got a chance to get some hands-on time with some of the most anticipated games of the coming year. But Adam's not someone who like to keep things like that to himself. Adam likes to share.

In this week's Sessler's Soapbox, Adam is giving you his first impressions on games such as Dead Space, Gears of War 2, and LittleBigPlanet. What are your thoughts on these games? Do these upcoming titles look like they'll be able to live up to your expectations? Check out the video and let us know what you think or share your thoughts on our forums.

*there was no ticker-tape parade, neither mini nor of the full-size variety, and there was also no heralding of trumpets. sadly, these items are not in our budget.

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Enough with the GTA. Adam has moved on.

In this week's Sessler's Soapbox, Adam talks about the one game that's made him put want to put Liberty City aside in favor of the lighter side of life. That game is Boom Blox for the Nintendo Wii, and The Sess has some things he'd like to say about it.

What do you think? Are GTA IV and Boom Blox equals in very different ways? Can a Wii game really be so engaging? Check out the video and let us know what you think.

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This past week, X-Play brought you its Summer Games Preview and, may we say, it rocked! The week was full of World Premieres and Exclusives and sweet sweet Previews. In fact, the week was so full of awesomeness, that we realize you might not have caught it all.

Here now is a recap of all the badass Previews, Demos, and such that X-Play delivered during their 2008 Summer Games Preview:

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Yesterday, Adam Sessler and Jack Thompson squared off on NPR's Talk of the Nation, but they didn't exactly get the chance to finish their conversation.

Well, Adam doesn't like leaving things unsettled, and he's not about to start now. So, in this Special Edition of Sessler's Soapbox, Adam addresses the concerns good ol' Jack had about the recent release, Grand Theft Auto IV.

What do you guys think? Does Jack Thompson have a leg to stand on, or is he just a crazy old man screaming insane ramblings at the towering monolith known as Reality? Check out the video and let us know what you think.

 If you'd like to hear the full NPR interview, you can stream it here. IMPORTANT: its the "listen now" link at the top of the page.

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