Adventures in Babeland - Weekly Gaming Girl Diary: September 23, 2009

Yea, yea, yea...I suck at this whole updating on a consistent basis, I'm well aware of that. I apologize for my delay of an update. As per usual, life is hectic and I just haven't had the time. With that, comes the fact that I've had very little time to do any actual gaming as well. I do have any update in regards to my casual gaming experiences since installing a bunch of games on my laptop!

One of the best decisions I could have made when setting my laptop up for casual gaming was purchasing Plants vs. Zombies. Now, I never understood the hype when the game first came out and even after playing a bit of the demo I wasn't 100% sold, but the game was $10 on Steam...so I figured, why not? I must say, holy crap! That game is ADDICTING! Once I got past the first few levels, I was 100% sold. I've mostly been playing the game when I've been away from home at State College or in those moments right before I go to bed. I'm not really sure how far into the game I am, but I assure you, it gets more and more fun as time goes on. I would seriously urge anyone who owns a computer (PC or Mac) to purchase this game. It's definitely worth it. The game is also slated to come out for the iPhone, as well as XBLA, so there's absolutely ZERO excuse for not purchasing this game.

Over the past couple of weeks, I've also put in a little bit of time playing Diablo II. I'd like to do a full play through of the game prior to Diablo III coming out and with Blizzard busy with finishing Starcraft II as well as WoW: Cataclysm, I would expect that I have a good amount of time to complete this task.

Other then those two, I really haven't played much over the past couple of weeks. I did, however, purchase Assassin's Creed and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City for $5 each from Direct 2 Drive. I was never 100% sold on digital only game distribution, but these distribution companies are easily winning me over with these sales. I think that's the key, however. There's really no sense in charging $50 for a digital copy of a game when I can purchase it at a retailer for the same price AND get the box art and all that fun stuff. Maybe I'm just old fashioned, but I still love box art and physical copies. If digital distributors could start lowering their prices below what they sell for at retail, then I would most definitely be drawn to that much more. Not only have the digital sales been pulling me towards purchasing online, but they have also pulled me towards playing my PC more in general. I'm pretty sure I haven't touched my Xbox for a couple of weeks now. I realize that PC gaming isn't quite as popular as console gaming these days, but these digital distributors definitely have some good ideas going on to maybe shift those numbers somehow.

Crackdown 2 Announcement @ E3 2009?

You would think that with all the speculating that I was doing yesterday, that I might have picked up on what I am about to say sooner.

Let me start off by saying that Crackdown, a first party game from Microsoft, was an awesome game. It really got me into playing sandbox games whereas previously, before the 360, I pretty much avoided them (Grand Theft Auto IV was the first GTA game that I played to completion). So now that I prefaced what I am about to say you can probably already deduce what all the speculation is going to be about.

I feel that at E3 Microsoft will announce Crackdown 2 and I can only hope that the original developer, Realtime Worlds, will be taking the reins. Before I talk about that I wanted to say why I think that this announcement is coming: Microsoft just released a Premium Xbox 360 Dashboard Theme for Crackdown. Now I know that is not a fool proof announcement but it could surely be an indication. Think about it, the game came out two full years ago but sure they could just be trying to eek out some money from consumers who dug Crackdown.

The theme could also be a promotion for All Points Bulletin which is Realtime Worlds next game and could also be the reason that, if it is announced, there would be a different developer attached to Crackdown 2. If you did not get that Realtime Worlds, the developer of Crackdown, is currently working on an MMO called All Points Bulletin so if Microsoft does announce Crackdown 2 at E3 it is likely that Realtime Worlds did not develop it.

Now all of this is speculation beyond speculation but it would be nice to see and moreover it would be nice to play another Crackdown game regardless of the developer (provided that they do not f' it up). How about you dear reader, what did you think of Crackdown and do you want a sequel?

February NPD Data Opinions

There has not been a lot of news as of late that has caught my interest but I am sure that will all change when it comes down to GDC (Game Developer's Conference) in just a few short days. I know that I will have something to say about Mass Effect 2 because I know that it is going to be there but other than that we will just have to wait and see. Maybe we will see something from Bioshock 2 that will do something the quell all of our inhibitions about the prequel/sequel.

But none of this is what this post is actually about. It is about the February NPD Data that was posted by everyone under the sun yesterday. The Xbox sold 391K units while Nintendo sold bajillions (technical term) of Wii's and DS's. Street Fighter IV and Wii Fit rounded out the top three games sold and that is about all of the interesting information that is there. The rest is just standard stuff other than the fact that DS games that are at least a year old are somehow in the top ten for the second straight month.

What I am looking forward to seeing is the March NPD because I'll get to see how RE5, Halo Wars, and Chinatown Wars faired among Nintendo's glut of hardware and software (well the later is Nintendo software).

Game Diary March 15, 2009

Late last night I stepped back onto the deck of the SS Normandy and it felt refreshing. It has been almost a year since I last saved the galaxy. This will be my fourth time through it and I am excited to be enlisted once again. I sincerely want all of the achievements for this game and I feel that the probability of that happening is more likely than not. I have wanted to jump back in since the Mass Effect 2 teaser and last night was the night.

Other than Mass Effect I have been playing Halo Wars still feeling equally neutered and equally powerful. I am surprised at myself because I have not yet completed the campaign but I do not feel compelled to rush it. I am savoring it and right now that is okay with me.

I wanted to play Halo 3 this week also but it never made into the drive. It should happen this week seeing how refreshing it was to play it recently.

Resident Evil 5 came out on Friday and while I want to play it, I am okay with not having the money for it right now. I want to spend my money on other things right now anyway. I want Peggle for Cindy (the wife) and I. I would also like to have the DLC for GTA IV. I would also like GTA: Chinatown Wars (DS) but that will also have to wait. Another thing that I do not need is the Premium Mass Effect Theme. I will get all of the above listed things before RE5 though.

P.S. - Kara should play Mass Effect for PC, its HUD and menu system looks fantastic and the game is f-tons of amazing.