The winds of gaming are constantly shifting and changing, but whether it be the next generation bearing down on us, or the inevitable just happening to be occurring, it seems quite a few changes seem to happening at once when it comes to actual gameplay.

For our purposes, let’s call them trends.

Like any other medium, gaming is susceptible to trends now and then, but unlike, say, the world of fashion where they often pass by with such speed as to go unnoticed, trends in gaming tend to stay quite some time. If you’re looking for what to expect out of video games as we enter a new generation then, look no further than these five trends, which will soon dominate the industry.

5. Tablet and Smartphone Interactivity

Maybe the Wii U isn’t so farfetched after all, as supporters for using smartphone and tablet features with their games are a growing crowd.

This is most obvious through the Xbox One’s features, which make it clear Microsoft intends to use every entertainment avenue available to enhance the function of their system, however, this is also visible in individual titles like “Watch Dogs” and “The Division,” which are not only promising, but show some exciting and creative tablet support features as well.

It’s a growing tech world out there, and video games seem to be recognizing that as they head into a new generation.

4. Games Get Harder

This is more a notion of where we are going to be in a year from now, more than an idea with a host of tangible examples, but games are slowly getting harder.

Call it the “Dark Souls” effect, but suddenly it seems like even the normal modes of titles are presenting more of a challenge than they did just a few years ago. Whether it be in last year’s surprise hit “XCOM,” or this year’s GOTY leader “The Last of Us,” single player games are creeping closer to the 15 hour, or more, completion mark that was rare in even more recent major releases.

The only downside here is that this could lead to a greater emphasis in the freemium model as companies charge to help gamers get ahead. As long as some personal restraint is shown from gamer’s end though, this is a good thing.

3. Shooters Are Here to Stay

The shooter genre (the majority of which are of the FPS variety) represented the dominate game type of this last generation and, if this year’s E3 is any indication, that isn’t changing anytime soon.

This isn’t necessarily a bad thing though, as many of these shooters represented the best games of the show. Titles like “Titanfall,” “Destiny,” and “Killzone: Shadow Fall” all garnered well deserved attention, and show that FPS’s are not only still kicking, but have plenty of life left in them.

If you’re really down about this though, just know that plenty of developers on both the indie scene and elsewhere are coming up with a plethora of original ideas, seemingly to combat this movement. However, that’s just all the more evidence the shooter is still king.

2. Color Comes Back

In an effort to present a “maturity” of sorts, many games from the previous generation used muted tones of grey, black, and brown and little else. While it got the bleak mood across well enough, it also led to every game looking the same.

But between “Bioshock Infinite’s” bright and creative world of Columbia, “Far Cry: Blood Dragon’s” neon tints, and several titles at E3, it looks like the sun is slowly breaking through the grey, and color is being highlighted once more in the gaming world. Even “Killzone,” the poster child of the grey palate, seems to be integrating reds, blues, and more into its next title, serving as a harbinger of sort for the movement.

Maybe not everyone sees it the same way, but this is a promising trend that can only improve creativity.

1. The Apocalypse

Every once in a while a setting dominates gaming. It was WWII, then it was Sci-Fi military worlds, and then of course the last few years have shown a horde of zombie games flood the market.

Now though, it’s the apocalypse that’s primed to dominate the scene. “The Division,” “The Last of Us,” “Mad Max,” “Titanfall,” “Destiny,” and too many more to count all show some sort of view of the world after the one we know now has ended, and they are just the horsemen of this movement that is sure to change the landscape of gaming in a literal way.

Like many other trends, your interpretation may vary on this movement, but it does mean that from now on it’s the end of the world as we know it.

“Beyond Two Souls” recently sent a gift to some journalists and industry types, and an unusual one at that.

It was 1,999 blank pages bound by two yellow covers, one of which beared the game’s box art and title. The one page that wasn’t blank was the initial one notifying the recipient that what they held was a replica of the 2,000 page script that “Beyond Two Souls” is built upon, as well as a friendly reminder that the game was accepted into the Tribeca Film Festival.

Besides a joyous bearing of free printer paper, the other intent, and message, of the script was a simple one. It was to make everyone take notice that “Beyond Two Souls” will be different.

No…not different.

Unique.

It was the late Roger Ebert who famously raised the question if gaming could ever truly become art. Mind you he didn’t say it wasn’t art, and he didn’t say it couldn’t be art as is popularly cited, but rather it was more of a challenge to the medium to silence the doubters, himself included.

Now any gamer knows that storytelling in games is impressively unique and blazes its own path to create a quality that only the medium is capable of. To summarize the idea, think of “Bioshock.”

What gaming has lacked up until now though is a title that makes people who neither care about or respect video games (but very much do care about and respect films) to pause for a moment and consider the same growth that gamers have been seeing for decades now. Of course for that to truly work, the game must not just impact film lovers in that way, but gamers as well.

“L.A. Noire” came close, as did “Beyond Two Souls” predecessor “Heavy Rain.” Before that, “Grand Theft Auto IV” and as host of others.

However, “Beyond Two Souls” may be the first title that truly needs to be that game. It doesn’t want to be that game because it can, and it doesn’t dream about being that game because it may, but rather it needs to be that game to be considered a success by all parties involved.

And what a coup that would be if it was. While gaming doesn’t necessarily need that game to continue to exist, just imagine the world that would be left in its wake. Just imagine what the world of video games would be like if a game was released that would both satisfy the creative desires of the fans, the financial needs of the industry (like “Heavy Rain” did in a big way), and make people who couldn’t give a damn about either suddenly take notice, and be forced to really look at a video game with artistic respect.

It would be gaming’s Trojan horse. A rebel to even games themselves, under the guise of an expected appeal to the so considered higher authorities.

Then again, it may not be. It’s entirely possible that “Beyond Two Souls” will be a flop, or worse nothing at all. Even if it isn’t the game that shifts the perspective of video gaming though, it is a harbinger that a day is coming where even the most resolute of gamers must question their expectations regarding the capabilities of the medium. A day you could argue hasn’t been experienced sine “Grand Theft Auto III.”

Of course, much like that 2,000 page script, that day may come as soon as “Beyond Two Soul’s” October 18^th release date when that very game will be delivered, to the amazement of all, right at the doorstep.

I’ve never played “Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon.” I’ve never spoken to anyone who has, I’ve never been in the same vicinity of a playable version of it, and my only real exposure to the game is the spectacular 15 minute demo IGN put out recently.

Yet I can tell you without shame in my heart, or doubt in my words that I love “Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon.” Truly love it.

While I realized this the moment that I heard “Long Tall Sally” blasting from a helicopter stereo in a glorious tribute to the greatest sci-fi action movie of all time (“Predator”), it’s not even the game’s love of everything sci-fi 80s that stirs these emotions in me. Rather it’s something deeper, more real.

It’s because “Blood Dragon” reminds me that add-on content doesn’t have to be a bad thing, but can actually be fun.

Too often downloadable content is seen as a necessity, or worse a money grab. “Blood Dragon” is the antithesis of that idea. It was the brainchild of a group of developers who saw the opportunity to release the necessary DLC content for “Far Cry 3” as something more than an obligation to bang out some new items, or a side story in the same environment, but instead they took the chance to take all of the original game’s well developed mechanics, and use them as the foundation of something that would not only be creatively satisfying, but that could be as enjoyable to make as it would be enjoyable to play.

In this case it just happened to be a tribute to the world of over the top 80s video games, science fiction, and cartoons. Every aspect of the game is dipped deep into the well of 80s nostalgia, as the cutscense are straight out of an 80’s NES game, there’s a VCR filter over most of the proceedings, and the amount of film references is nerdgasmic. Seriously, if you took a sip of watered down light beer for every “Terminator” reference in the demo, you’d die of alcohol poisoning three minutes in. It’s like the proper video game adaptation of so many franchises we never got, all rolled into one.

But again this isn’t about the content of “Blood Dragon” specifically. It’s about how all other developers need to take notice of “Blood Dragon,” and remind themselves that the moment they feel bored doing DLC, they are probably doing it wrong. Before I saw “Blood Dragon” I honestly never considered that DLC could be a good thing for gaming, but just like “Bioshock Infinite” did for sequels, “Blood Dragon” shows the benefit of preserving the mechanics of a great game, but changing everything else to produce something that doesn’t give you more of what came before, but something more original that reminds you why you loved that game in the first place.

So while the neon infused hyper retro world of “Blood Dragon” should be enough to get anyone to play it (especially as you don’t even need “Far Cry 3” to do so,  making it more of a standalone add-on), the real reason you should pick it up when it is released on May 1^st is to show developers that gamers are tired of downloads that just put armor on horses, and instead crave expansions that actually expand and explore the possibilities of a franchise.

Gaming and beer may be two of the finer things in life, and while you’ve probably combined the two in the past, my guess is it was done haphazardly by combining a case of the cheapest booze available with whatever you happened to be playing at the time.

I couldn’t argue with the technique either, as I’ve done the same thing many times over. However, there’s at least one beer enthusiast out there who believes that beer and video games can be paired with the same careful consideration of wine and food, or drugs and nightclubs.

His name is Greg Zeschuk, and if he sounds familiar, it might be from this site where I mentioned he was leaving Bioware, a company he co-founded, to get into the world of craft beer. His passion for brewing is such that he recently worked on a miniseries called “The Beer Diaries” which examines the growing art of craft brewing.

Pursuing his other interests doesn’t mean that Zeschuk has forgotten his roots though, and in a recent interview with joystiq.com, he shared some his favorite beer and video game pairings. Among them include IPAs with Action-RPG’s, Adventures with a nice barleywine, and first person shooters with a good pilsner. One genre he doesn’t touch is racing, as you should of course never drink and drive.

Although I’m a little bummed out my go to combinations of PBR and “Team Fortress 2,” Arrogant Bastard and “Hotline Miami,” and Brooklyn Lager and “Far Cry 3” (a little of home, a little of an island vacation) aren’t mentioned, it’s still an interesting idea that drinking could be used to enhance the games you play in more ways than just getting hammered.

So what do you think? Can beers and video games be effectively paired and, if so, what are some of your recommended combinations?

Until very recently, the world of comic book video games have been an up and down realm of quality, as two mediums that you would think should work harmoniously, end up clashing when it comes to the final product.

The fields become even murkier when talking about comic book video games that aren’t based on existing properties, of which there are astonishingly few. Developers seem to be in no hurry to create super hero style games of their own design, making the sub-genre a near non-existent species. Don’t take that to mean there aren’t standouts in the field though as gamers have, on rare occasion, been granted some truly inspired comic book champions, based on no specific comic at all.

So true believers and gamers everywhere, here are the five best non-licensed super hero video games.

Comix Zone

Ok, so the hero of “Comix Zone” isn’t your traditional super hero, but I could never forgive myself if I didn’t take his opportunity to talk about this Sega Genesis gem.

“Comix Zone” puts you into the role of comic artist Sketch Turner as he jumps into one of his own creations, and attempts to save the day, side scrolling game style. “Comix Zone” had a lot of fun with the concept, as stages are broken into comic panels that you actively traverse. The first time you see your character jump to the next panel is a thrilling moment in smart gaming design, and the feeling never goes away as the game continuously explores the better uses of the idea, and never stops having fun with it. This is especially evident in moments like the artist intervening to finish a drawing, power ups that let you manipulate the stages for attacks, or the ability to become an unstoppable traditional hero momentarily, and the general straight from the comics graphics.

“Comix Zone” is brutally difficult and cruelly short, but even over the years it has remained noteworthy for all the original reasons, and remains a must play for fans of super hero games.

City of Heroes

In a massively multiplayer online world filled with raging medival fantasy style hordes, darkness and uncertainty reigned, as the people searched for a beacon of originality. A champion of a new day. Along came “City of Heroes”, a liberator from the same old, same old.

Like so many other MMO’s “City of Heroes” was rough around the edges when first released, but still immediately presented an alternative to the more traditional MMO, that was accessible, wildly entertaining, quicker paced, and so damn fun, as you created a super hero to patrol a thriving metropolis with others. The hero creation process maybe the game’s best feature, as it allowed you to truly play a role that was uniquely yours (the whole point of the genre remember) and create a perfect facsimile of your favorite super hero, or something entirely unique. From there you could form super groups, demolish massively underpowered muggers, or just generally live out your super hero fantasies with a level of depth never before granted.

It was a sad, sad day when NCsoft dropped “City of Heroes”, as we will probably never see a game like it again. It still stands tall though as perhaps gaming’s greatest tribute to the golden age of comics.

Freedom Force

Actually if “City of Heroes” isn’t gaming’s greatest comic tribute, it might be “Freedom Force”.

If you’ve never played it, think of it as “Baldur’s Gate” for super heroes. While not quite as grand and near flawless as that series, it does echo that franchise’s level of world depth as everything from character design to histories and motives are so detailed that it’s almost impossible to believe that it wasn’t based on one specific pre-existing long running comic series. It does, however, take cues from just about every single golden age comic, and the love for that source material is so glowing that it will make any comic fan uncontrollably grin while playing it. Comic game’s live and die by their sense of style, an “Freedom Force” thrives from it. Trying to summarize it all would be an insult to the work put into it.

“Freedom Force” took a novel concept and ran with it with such authority that it assured gamers no one could ever take a swing at the idea again, and certainly wouldn’t be able to do it with near the creative level of completeness that “Freedom Force” achieved.

Infamous

A first look at “Infamous” doesn’t make it scream “Super Hero Game”. The first time you play it though, you realize that it is one of gaming’s most original super hero creations.

You find yourself playing as Cole MacGrath, a bike messenger who, due to an accident, suddenly finds himself with the ability to manipulate electricity. Cole’s path from here is unclear as the player guides him on the path to becoming a great super hero or super villain, and watch his powers evolve and shape based on those decisions. It carried on the open world, task based super hero game idea that “Spider-Man 2” made popular, and, due in large part to some fascinating uses for the electrical manipulation powers of Cole, things rarely became stale as you were constantly uncovering new uses for the abilities and, thanks to the creative prowess of developer Sucker Punch (creators of the Sly Cooper series), constantly entertained by a strong plot and the comic book style story interludes that drove it.

“Infamous” was one of the first must have PS3 exclusives and, as proven by the eerily similar “Prototype” released around the same time, is a difficult to execute idea pulled off to near perfection here. It represents gaming’s most original stab at the idea of a modern super hero tale.

Viewtiful Joe

Taking its cues not just from comic books, but cartoons and film as well, “Viewtiful Joe” is an incredible sensory overload.

It was Capcom’s glorious big name return to the 2D action genre, and it paid tribute to just about everything the average gamer grew up loving, including video games itself. However, there is no doubt that “Viewtiful Joe” is a super hero, and his powers of time and distance manipulation are original, and uniquely used in ways like slowing down time to take out helicopters (their blades can spin fast enough). In any other developers hands, the amount of things “Viewtiful Joe” throws at you would become overwhelming, and may eventually lose the intended effect. In the skilled possession of one of the all time great developers in Capcom though, the game is a textbook example of how to properly implement the feeling of handling a super hero in a video game, and of the 2D action genre as well.

Considering it’s all time great pedigree, near flawless execution, and commitment to making every frame and moment an absolute and original blast of creative wonderment, I’m ready to call “Viewtiful Joe” gaming’s greatest original super hero creation.

Henshin-a-go-go, baby!