Monday MUpdate: Wolverine entries, for fall, as well as KURONOTORIGA, there are other

God, I love Engrish! Morning, blogoverse. While I do not have anything particularly poignant to offer today, I do have some tiny bits and pieces of information, as well as pictures! I'll start with that:

My last entry had a secret picture from X-Men Origins: Wolverine in which I found the long fabled cake. While many believe this cake not to be real, I showed that not only was it real, but Chell was searching in the wrong place the whole time. But that is, of course, not all you can find in the game. I mentioned two others, without providing screenshots. Before returning the game, I got a picture of one of the other hidden places in Wolverine:



This is Desmond's fabled hatch, proving that LOST takes place in Africa, and all the Others are actually mutants.

BUT THAT'S NOT ALL! There's one more hidden place in Wolverine worth visiting for an achievement:



I bet you didn't realize that the world of Warcraft was actually Earth-616, did you? Well, now you know. Be on the lookout for the next WoW expansion as well, called World of Warcraft: Days Of The Future Past.

Anyway, I beat Wolverine over the weekend. The final fight against Weapon XI is pretty awesome. In fact, Weapon XI is much cooler in the game than he is in the movie. Don't get me wrong, I thought the end fight was well coreographed, but being able to kick ass ass myself was quite satisfying. The weird thing is, though, is that when I was fighting him on top of that nuclear power plant, my game glitched the frak out. I'm talking insane glitching. For whatever reason, my Wolverine avatar started getting flung all around the map, to the point where he was hovering in space in a place he clearly wasn't supposed to go. The game is nice to you because it recognizes you are fighting on a very flimsy surface and, unlike the fight against Gambit (which is SO much better in the game than it is the movie), it doesn't allow you to fall off. So when I started flying around defying the laws of physics yet still somehow damaging Weapon XI, I could help but let out a "WTF" while laughing my head off. I still beat him, despite that disadvantage though. The game also sets it up for a sequel outside of the movie continuity, so that's exciting, because who knows how long it will be until the next film? Either way, I'd definitely recommend the game. It's a lot of fun and, if nothing else, a lot of really easy achievements. I had it for 5 days and already have almost all of them. Oh, and the ending cutscene? Such a brutal moment. My jaw dropped. It was pretty awesome. If you wanna ruin it for yourself without playing the game, I'm sure it's on YouTube.

After beating Wolverine, I threw down some cash and got the Fallout 3 expansions: The Pitt and Broken Steel. I will not get to Broken Steel for a while as that requires me to beat the game again, and for those that don't know, I lost all my saves a while back due to an incident, so I can't just reload. I did start the Pitt, however, and it's interesting. I had to dress up in bondage gear and go do the dirtiest place on Earth, but it's all for the love of the post-apocalyptic future, right? My current character isn't that great and I'm out of bullets and caps for some reason, but I've got a sword. I've also got armor that gives me an insane amount of protection, so worst comes to worse I can throw it on, but I try and not use it so I don't have an unfair advantage so early on in the game (the armor is my prize for beating Operation: Anchorage. The Pitt looks great though, all things considered, so I'll have to play it more over the week so I can give better thoughts next Monday.

I also used left over MS points to buy the Mass Effect Premium Theme and, other than making me want to play Mass Effect again (which I keep saying I will do but never actually take the time to), it's pretty disappointing. I can't say I'm realy in love with any of the Premium Themes except for the Castle Crashers one, and a bunch of my friends already use that so I want something a bit more... original for myself. Nothing has greatly impressed me yet (although that Holiday one sure was nice!).

I have also been slowly yet surely pushing forward in Chrono Trigger. I love the game, and love the DS version of it, but there are such time gaps in between when I play that I always forget where I left off because I've played the game so many times. I need to devote more time to that because I told myself I wouldn't start my other games until that was finished. I will eventually sit myself down and force myself to do a hardcore run through of it, but I'm sometimes apathetic about gaming. I just have so much to do at all times that gaming can occasionally be put aside because it's hard to multi task while doing that.

So that's really it on all gaming fronts. Star Trek was ok. Entertaining enough. This week promises to be very busy for me, so I don't know how much gaming will be done, but I do have a very open weekend so maybe I'll sit down and devote some time exclusively to that. We'll see.

PC Gaming Diary #2 - I Remember When 60 Was Something Special

My girlfriend works weekends, so that's when I get most of my gaming in. This weekend I spent a good time on...you guessed it! World of Warcraft! I think my appeal towards WoW on the weekends is also due to the fact that I don't have to give the game 100% of my attention to play (lets be honest, it's just a lot of right click target, 4, 6, 4, 6, 4, 6, 7 then walk to the next target and repeat) which means I also get to devote some time to watching some of my favorite TV shows. This weekend it was finishing up Firefly. Other games such as COD4, COD5, Crysis, GTA4, FO3 need a bit more of my attention. But enough about TV!

This weekend I made a relatively large achievement. I leveled to 60! Now, if this were a few years ago that might actually mean something, but with the Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King expansions it really means nothing other then I was final able to purchase my epic mount giving me a 100% speed increase on the ground. Amazingly (and I honestly don't know how) I had the 700ish gold it cost to purchase the training and the actual mount. This is a new achievement for myself as I have only leveled one character to 60 thus far (and that's honestly as far as I have gotten in the game) and I never had enough gold on that toon to purchase my epic mount. So hooray on all accounts! Even though 60 doesn't really mean anything anymore, I'm pretty excited to have finally reached it and reached it significantly faster then my last toon. Seriously, Blizzard has made the grind from 1 to 60 WAY easier then it was a few years ago. Only 20 more levels to go and I have achieved my final goal!

Aside from all that WoWery this weekend, I got to playing a bit of Halo 2. See, I owe our friend Nate a replacement Halo Edition original Xbox so I found one on Craig's List and traveled down to Baltimore this weekend to pick it up. Nate won't be able to get it from me until Memorial Day weekend so I hooked it up and sat down to play a bit of Halo. Being the PC gamer I am, it's a bit awkward switching from the standard WASD and mouse one two combo of the PC gaming world to the console controller. I typically find the two joysticks confusing. I think I'm getting the hang of it, but I still have a difficult time being quick and accurate with the right hand joystick when aiming. I suppose it just takes some practice. I didn't spend too much time on it though and really didn't get very far, but I found it relatively enjoyable. There's one aspect of the console gaming world that I want in the PC gaming world and that is sitting down on a comfy couch to enjoy a game. There's something significantly more relaxed about console gaming to me then PC gaming. When I sit at my computer and play, I have to sit in my cheap computer chair and lean over my desk a bit. It's not as enjoyable or comfortable as a nice, plush couch. I have been toying with the idea of buying a 360 in the semi-near future, but it's the cost that's really keeping me from it. We shall see, maybe Halo 2 will make my urge to make that purchase even stronger.

Microsoft Aquires Big Park Studios

Microsoft announced today in a press release that they had agreed to aquire Big Park Inc. or Big Park Studios. From the press release:

BigPark was founded in 2007 by a group of industry veterans who led the creation and growth of two hugely successful software companies, Distinctive Software Inc. and Electronic Arts Canada. BigPark's founding team is composed of business leaders with over 80 years of collective experience in the video game industry, having produced or overseen blockbuster franchises including "Need for Speed," "FIFA Soccer," "NBA Street" and "SSX."

The only reason that this looks interesting to me is I might see a first party Microsoft sports franchise in my lifetime Ala Sony's MLB: The Show series of games. I would perhaps kill someone (in Halo)... for a good baseball game on the 360. That is the only reason I am even posting this.

Please Microsoft, I love baseball more than most things and if you can bring me a good baseball game I would be forever indebted to you.

It's not a lie.

I was playing X-Men Origins: Wolverine and I found this. I just felt it needed to be shared.

(Note: If anyone is wondering how to find this and get the achievement for it (The Cake), it's in the Sentinel level when you're searching for John Wraith. Right before you find Trask is where it's located, so if you reach him, back track a little bit. In the big room where you have to freeze yourself while on a track, move the teleporting device all the way to the right to find GLaDOS' fabled treat.)

(Other note: It's also possible to find the Hatch from LOST on the first level (achievement: Found!), and Frostmourne from World of Warcraft (achievement: WoW!) in the Alkaline Lake level. For Desmond's hatch, simply keep your eye open for a wall that looks flimsy, as if made out of wood. Hack it up and go through it. For the Lich King's runeblade, wait until you fight two W.E.N.D.I.G.O.s, and after you pass them keep an eye open for a "secret" passage on the right.)

3D Realms Shutters Doors, Economy Touches My Childhood (I Feel Violated)

This is probably a news story that most PC gamers, my age (24) or older, will find disheartening. I am not sure that it really affects the console generation but if this news hurts you in some way then we are all in the same boat.

The developer 3D Realms has announced that they are shutting its doors citing financial reasons.

While it is sad to see any developer this one touches my childhood. The game that I loved and the one that they were always most famous for was Duke Nukem 3D. It was the game I was all about after I had exhausted all of Wolfenstein 3D, a game that 3D Realms published. Over the past twelve years or so they had become the black sheep of game developers touting Duke Nukem Forever since 1997 as their next big thing. Now it looks like a strong possibility that we may never see this game and even if we do will it have been the developers original vision. Many have called Duke Nukem Forever "vaporware" and as of yesterday evening it is looking to be true.

There are no other reports other than 3D Realms are shutting their doors because of financial reasons. Great job economy (looking for a scapegoat here, sorry) you managed to come out and touch my formative years. I am feeling violated.

The lighter side of this news is that a Duke Nukem Trilogy is still coming from Apogee and Deep Silver.

Let's pour one out for all of the people who lost their jobs and wish them a speedy recovery.


[Ed note: Last night after reading this news at one in the morning the 3D Realms site was still up and running and as of right now I personally cannot get the page to respond.]

PC Gaming Diary #1: It's a Game Within a Game!

My roommate walked by my desk last night and simply stated "You are multitasking like crazy, are you playing two games at the same time?!" Well, in fact I was.

I've spent most of my recent days playing World of Warcraft. I own a good amount of games, but the one that usually consumes the most of my time is WoW. I have been playing for going on 4 years now and I have yet to level a character to 80. There was one point in time prior to the Burning Crusade expansion that I did in fact reach the maximum level at the time (60), but since then I have been a bit behind the pack.

Yesterday I leveled my latest toon (a female, retribution speced, blood elf paladin on the Skullcrusher realm) to 59. WoW involves a lot of non action at times. When you fly from city to city you have no control over your transport and are sort of left in limbo. Usually I'll alt-tab out of the game and do some web browsing or some chatting, but in the past month Pop Caps games has released two add-ons for World of Warcraft; Bejeweled and Peggle. You can customize the add ons to automatically open up when you get on a flight path and automatically close when you are done. You can also customize it to automatically open and close in other occurrences such as death, but I just chose the FP option. Bejeweled plays as it would normally play, although as points increase you also gain levels in regards to your Bejeweled skills. Peggle offers extra WoW specialties such as leveling and earning talent points that can be used to your liking (very similar to TPs in WoW itself). I tend to spend most of my FP time (which can sometimes take up to 15 minutes depending on where you're traveling) playing Bejeweled, mostly because I find it more simplistic then Peggle. I haven't quite caught on to the Peggle buzz yet as I find the game to be mostly luck. Maybe I just haven't realized the strategy behind it yet. It's fun though and props to Pop Cap for the add ons. It adds an entirely different level to playing World of Warcraft as well as casual gaming.

Gears of War 2: All Fronts Collection Coming to Retail in July

Epic Games and Microsoft Game Studios are going to be doing the right thing by me on July 28, 2009 by releasing the All Fronts Collection. Here's why:

The collection includes all of the Gears 2 DLC to date, along with Dark Fronts, a collection of seven new multiplayer maps...

In order to make the pack worthwhile to those who've already downloaded the majority of the Gears 2 DLC, the package also contains an introduction from Cliff Bleszinski for "Road to Ruin", a collectible poster, a strategy guide, and a custom Xbox Live theme.

As you may or may not know I have not yet made the leap into GOW2 DLC. It has come out too rapid fire for my tastes and I have not played in a while so I was just waiting until I was ready.

Like I said, I will be ready on July 28 when I can have all that is listed above for only 20 bucks. In my opinion that is a steal. Is anyone else excited by this?

[Via Kotaku]

Game Diary - May 5, 2009: Pegs Unite!

For the past few days I have been a "casual" gamer. What happens in these instances is that I tell myself that I do not have enough time to play anything like COD4 or The Dishwasher and I convince myself that it is okay to play some Peggle instead. [Ed note: One should note that it is never a good idea to talk yourself into playing Peggle as a good idea.] As a result I usually end up spending more time playing Peggle than I would have played the other two aforementioned games. Last night alone I played for at least an hour and a half. By casual gaming standards that is a long time to be spent on one game.

So for the past few days I have been trying to get the 'Cool Clear' achievement and I have not had a lot of luck. It seems like a relatively easy acheivement to get (hit the last orange peg and then the last blue on one ball), especially when playing one of the earlier stages but it was escaping me for several days.

I say 'was' because I finally got it last night, on accident, but I got it nonetheless. I was actually expecting to fail as I had been doing but the ball bounced in such a way that I got it on a stroke of luck (now wishing that I had that instant replay). I now plan to work my way through all of the challenge levels but I know that it will take a while so I will do that "casually" over the coming months.

The only other thing that I have been playing is The World Ends With You. I have been "stuck" on Day 5 of the second week for about a week now because I have decided to really "grind" and level up my character and all of his pins (I would go into explaining all of this but I really think that if you looked it up for yourself you would be better served). That is going well and I hope that as a result of doing this it will make the games harder bosses easier to beat (probably not).

I also think it is time for me to return to Fallout 3 soon because the Broken Steel DLC has finally come out and I can now play all of that DLC I bought and gain some new levels for it.

Lastly, and more as a side note, I watched Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog and that was fantastic. If you are as much as a geek as I am, you will love it.

Monday MUpdate: Uncaged Edition

In case the title is not indication enough, my game for this week is the X-Men Origins: Wolverine movie tie-in game. On May 1st, the game came out and a demo for it popped up on XBOX Live!, just in time for the release of the movie. I, being the comic book reading nerd that I am, downloaded it as soon as I could and sat down to play it with little to no expectations. We've had Wolverine games before (such as X2: Wolverine's Revenge), and they have never been much of anything to write home about. Right off the bat, however, Wolverine sets out to prove that it is nothing like the games of the past.

The game opens with an absolutely brutal cutscene in which Hughverine fights off several attackers with absolutely no detail spared. An initial fear of mine is that Wolverine's naturally blood lust would be toned down so that a younger demographic could find the game accessible, but as soon as Wolverine had a whole blown through him and I watched the wound heal, full view of his organs and all, I got excited. As the actual gameplay started, it thankfully turned out that it wasn't just the cutscene that had all the cool brutal features of being the best at what he does. You can pick people up and impale them on a stick or pipe jutting out of the wall. You can pounce on someone and punch their face in to a bloody pulp. You can do to these people stuff you've only dreamed of seeing in a Marvel MAX series. It's a great feeling.

So to say that I recommend the Wolverine game to Wolverine and gamer fans alike is to put it lightly. This is not the deep and moving storyline you've been craving. This is the bad ass kill 'em all game you've been looking for that isn't called God Of War. It's loads of fun and definitely worth at the very least a rental so you can run around slicing and dicing. At it's very basics, it's just a fun and gorey action game.

Aside from the Wolverine game, I'd recommend the Wolverine movie itself, and you can read my review for that in another blog I write for, Multiversity Comics. I've also been plugging away at Chrono Trigger still, but to a much lesser extent now that I have Wolverine. I do have a lot more free time now that most TV shows are over for this season, though, so I guess when I'm not filling that free time with TV show catch ups and movies, I can play more. I'd really like to give Final Fantasy IV a shot, and I just heard news about a steampunk DS game called Nostalgia that's coming out. There's also a game called Borderlands that Kara told me about, it looks to be the next post-apocalyptic/Final Fantasy epic. It'll never replace the Fallout series in my heart, but I am definitely looking forward to this game, especially with all the new screenshots that they have debuted.

That's it from my front.

Brutal Legend Story Trailer (I Apparently Missed This Yesterday)

I was browsing True Achievements (good site) and their first news story today is about the new Brutal Legend trailer that you just watched. I picked the Joystiq video player because it looks better embedded on this site.

I am really getting more and more excited for this game and I think it is going to be at least as good as Psychonauts in terms of quality and laughs. I don't know that BL will ever achieve a cult status like Psychonauts did because I honestly believe that it is going to sell better than Psychonauts did. EA knows how to promote a game unlike Majesco. Anyone else looking forward to this as much as myself?

New Brutal Legend Stuff (Meaning Screen Shots), YES PLEASE!

Holy s***, this is going to to be awesome.

There is no news to be had here but you can go here to see more new screenies of the Legend that is Brutal.

If you did not remember this game is coming October 13 of THIS YEAR!!! WHY AREN'T YOU AS EXCITED AS I AM?

THIS IS MY SHOUTING VOICE.

I think I need to maybe calm down with the Mass Effect and the Brutal Legend posts... maybe.

[Hint: It probably will not happen unless both games suck and then... well and then... that would... not be good at all.]

Mass Effect: Jacob's Story - Color Me Interested

 

Joystiq recently broke this story about a Mass Effect iPhone game called Mass Effect: Jacob's Story. It was a tip from a Joystiq reader about a survey in relation to the game. This story makes me wish that I was the kind of news outlet that readers came to me with this kind of news. Obviously since this is a Mass Effect story I could not resist posting about this.

The reason that I considered not posting about it is because it is just that, an iPhone game. I have confidence in the iPhone as a gaming platform but I am skeptical on whether this game will be good as a good percentage of the games for the iPhone are crap. From what I can tell I am not sure if Bioware is developing this but as long as whomever is developing it does not take any unnecessary creative license with the Mass Effect universe everything will be fine. In the end it did not take much convincing; I am going to play this if and when it comes out.

This is what Joystiq reported about the reader survey:

The mobile game will feature top-down shooter combat and a stylized, cartoonish look. The survey notes that Jacob's Story will function as a predecessor to the upcoming Mass Effect 2, revealing some of the backstory of characters featured in the console game. The handheld adventure would be about two hours long and cost $2.99.

If the game does what this short quote says that it will do, it will be a nice experience to bridge the gap between Mass Effect 1 and 2. I am looking forward to it, I just wish there was a date on it.

An Introduction to a PC Gamer

Hello blogging world! With the recent post by Nate regarding my addition to the blog, I figured I'd give a quick introduction.

My name is Kara and I love PC gaming. I have never been a console gamer and have been PC gaming since the days of the Apple IIe when I played Castle Wolfenstein. These days I spend most of my gaming time (which is pretty limited with a full time job) playing World of Warcraft, but I also attempt to branch out now and then with some COD4, COD5, or Fallout 3. Some of my favorite PC games ever are Diablo II, Return to Castle Wolfenstein, Bioshock, Age of Empires II and Morrowind. Hopefully that gives you readers a taste of my general gaming interests. I tend to stay in the RPG/FPS realm, but every so often enjoy a good RTS. And I am not claiming to be all that great at any of these things! I just enjoy PC gaming, even if it means I get my ass handed to me at times.

I'm looking forward to contributing and look forward to some possible cross platform talk (delayed new releases for PCs, small differences in games between consoles and PC, etc) in the future!

Game Diary - April 28, 2009: Where We Go From Here

Yesterday I was privy to an experience that I do not often have anymore. I wrapped my hands around my 360 controller and I played COD4 on Veteran. I progressed myself far enough to net myself another achievement and though it is slow going I think I am going to make it through [the game on Veteran]. The only level I am worried about is the one following 'All Ghillied Up' because I know waiting for that Heli is going to be shit. I know that some people find it torturous to play these hard difficulties and a lot of time I agree with those folks but when it comes to shooters - most of the time - I feel that the challenge makes the experience more enjoyable. I know that when I was talking to Jarvis on one of our more recent podcasts he said he hates it and I know that Kara (Mercy Medical (we will get to that)) probably does not fancy it either. What is your opinion folks (seriously, drop a comment, I know your reading, where are your comments)?

Other than that I continued playing The World Ends With You on my train ride yesterday, that was, until my DS died.

But what I have been playing is really taking an aside to the other things that I have been working on regarding this blog. Matt, the author that steals news posts from me as of late (kidding of course), has been updating. As a result, more updates equals more site traffic. It is an obvious direct correlation but nonetheless I am happy about it. As a result I am adding a PC centric author: Kara (Mercy Medical), another author who can steal all of my delicious glory (again, kidding). I am enthusiastic about branching out and I think it will only mean future growth for this blog.

Lastly, I have been thinking about the site's design and the lack of an iconic logo and if there are any volunteers out there please feel free to contact myself using any way you know how. I can write the blog but I do not have the tech side of it down.

That's all for now, be sure to check back often or subscribe to our RSS feed so that you may enjoy this site on what I can only hope will be a daily basis.

Fighters and Zombies and MUpdates, oh my!

Today is a good day to be a nerd, in all regards. I'm here to drop two huge bombs of awesome on you, so please proceed to the nearest digital fallout shelter and prepare yourselves. It's about to get heavy in here.

First off, the big news this morning is that Capcom has announced the return of Marvel Vs. Capcom 2. This wonderful little fighter is being brought to the PSN and XBOX Live! Arcade in a similar way to how Street Fighter II was brought back. We're talking HD visual filters, online gameplay, and all the stuff you used to love about this little classic.



Doesn't that just look wonderful? I am personally excited because now I can stop trying to get all those Arcade emulators and bootleg copies of MUGEN to run on my Mac. I can just wait until the summer and buy it. And it should be noted that I am not a huge fan of fighter games. They're only really fun when you have someone to play with. I am, however, a huge fan of fighter games with gimmicks. I loved Marvel Nemesis: Rise Of The Imperfects back on the PS2. I also love playing Marvel Vs. Capcom in the arcades. I also also own Mortal Kombat vs. DC. This is pretty much perfect for me so I can finally get my fix of using Captain America to punch the crap out of Wolverine. For those not familiar with the characters, here is a full list, and it should be known that you'll be getting all of these right off the bat. No unlocking required. And yes, you did read Sentinel correctly.

But this is what really intrigues me - call me crazy, but I think that this could be a backdoor game to Marvel vs Capcom 3. This is the logic that I am using: to be perfectly honest, Marvel vs Capcom did not do great financially (probably due to it being released on the Dreamcast), but it has since become a cult classic and a rare/popular game (most people would agree that the Dreamcast was a highly underrated system regardless). After seeing how well Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix and Street Fighter IV have done, as well as bringing back things like Mega Man and Bionic Commando, I don't think it's entirely out there to think that any success that comes from Marvel Vs Capcom 2 could give faith to the developers to bring about a totally brand new game, and I would love that. You can be sure that when the day comes in the summer that this is released, I will purchase it. In fact, I'm putting away the money now just for it!

Check here for a little trailer/game play video.

The other big news break this morning is the release of the trailer for Dead Rising 2 complete with motorcycle chainsaw. Motor. Cycle. Chainsaw. Awesome. The first Dead Rising (which was the first game I ever played/bought for the XBOX 360) introduced us to Frank West, who has covered wars and thinks that hanging around a zombie infested mall is a good idea. Dead Rising, to me, was notorious for being rather tedious to complete in it's entirety. This is not to say that I didn't find the game to be enjoyable, but I found myself running around just killing zombies more than I would take the time to complete the actual plot. The fact that the plot elements were on a timer, and there was SO much to do, always left me feeling rather dizzy (and to cure a bad case of the dizzies, one should always pick up a katana and hack the undead apart). I do not know how much of these things will be changed for the new game, let alone what will be different at all. What I do know, however, is that I love killing zombies, and I will buy this game when it comes out to do just that.

Speaking of killing zombies, for those that don't know, the Survival DLC is out for Left 4 Dead, and I played it last night. It is ridiculous, but awesome. It's free, too, so be sure to grab it. Basically, you sit on a brand new map (which is a Lighthouse), and try to survive as long as you can after hordes and hordes of zombies attack. It's pretty outrageous, to say the least. The goal is to survive longer than 10 minutes, but if you go any longer than 14 the game will destroy you, as in, Tanks will load in 14 seconds or under. Now, I don't know how this makes it more difficult than what I was playing with because when I played, Tanks spawned pretty fast and appeared to be smarter than they were before the update. I got punched off the map twice! So yeah, to say this provides high octane zombie entertainment is to say the least. If you've got Left 4 Dead and are still reading this, I honestly have no idea why.

Game Diary - April 27, 2009: The World Ends With Me

In terms of news as of late there is not a lot going on other than this awesome Ghostbusters intro video. Why have intro videos become the new thing? I look forward to seeing them for the first time when I first boot up the game but I cannot resist watching them if I am anticipating the game. Faults of the internet perhaps?

Anyway I have not been playing much on the 360 lately other than some Peggle here and there but I have been playing The World Ends With You (DS) on my commute. For people who follow this blog, you know that I have been playing this game for over a month (and I have had it longer than that). It is an awesome game though it is beginning to get really difficult. One can control the level of difficulty but truthfully if you do not play on the harder difficulty levels you are doing your character a disservice. The story is finally starting to make sense and I really am looking forward to seeing where it is going. It is bad in a way - that I am looking forward to seeing the direction of the story - because you have to devote a certain amount of time to 'grinding' and you have to know that it is not a good idea to rush through the combat to see the story parts.

I think that I have talked about the unique combat so I will talk about what I have been wondering. When you save the game you have a rating for everything in the game. As of the time of this entry my ratings aren't all that great and it has me wondering how good my ratings are going to be at the end of the game. I hope that if they aren't that great I will be able to go back to parts of the game and change that for myself.

That is all for now, I think I am going to go play some COD4 on Veteran.

Monday MUpdate #1

So, due to my eccentricities and enthusiasm as of late, Nate and I have agreed upon me doing an update every Monday, if only so I don't randomly pop out of the woodwork once a month to review a game. So this is the first of many MUpdates to come, and I hope you enjoy it.

In the "game diary" section of the world, I haven't really been playing much. I was heavily into Mega Man recently due to a random occurence that reminded me of how much fun they were, but once I got back to playing them, I remembered that in reality, the games were detrimental to my mental health. Those games are ridiculous! I don't know when is the last time you played the original Mega Man games, or even the new one on XBOX Live, but it's just ridiculous. So, in order to stay sane, I ended up selling it back to GameStop and getting games for my new Nintendo DS. I got Chrono Trigger, The World Ends With You, and Final Fantasy IV (and I still have $50 left in GameStop credit!), and have been re-playing Chrono Trigger since. I think this is my (over all) 4th play through? Maybe? I don't know. I've been looking into finding Final Fantasy VI Advance as well, for GameBoy Advance, because I'd love an excuse to replay that. When I was little, and first got a GameBoy, my parents bought me Final Fantasy Legends III because they didn't know the difference between what I'd asked for (Final Fantasy III, which is what VI was retitled to in North America) and that. Anyways, Chrono Trigger for the DS is great. It's pretty much a port, but I love that you can seperate the battle command options from the screen for a nicer picture. I haven't come across many of the new AMVs, but the one I did see was cute(I love Robo). I highly recommend this even if you've played the game before. It's just such a classic.

I also finally beat Operation: Anchorage. Good stuff all around. I'm glad to get back into the world of Fallout. I will be purchasing The Pitt soon. Probably when I get a free chance during the week, although I may not play it for a while. The new Left 4 Dead DLC is out with new achievements and playable options, so I'd really like to give that a go. Plus, I STILL have to do my play throughs of Assassin's Creed and Mass Effect in anticipation for the new games (mostly Mass Effect though). I don't know if I posted this here or not, but a while ago I accidentally deleted all my save files for every game ever on my 360. It was devastating, but it gives me the motivation to replay things. I also plan to replay both Penny Arcade games because I had everything maxed out in all characters. Oy.

Finally, I'd like to post a little link. It's NSFW, but it's amusing. It's a combination of "I'm On A Boat" by the Lonely Island and clips from The Wind Waker. To be honest, while the video didn't have me laugh all that hard, someone's idiotic typo did. User 'LllusionX has a fanboy...' posted the comment "I think Link accidentally all the water," to which a whole slew of awesome comments came from. I think Link is a pretty cool guy. eh sails baots and doesn't afraid of anything. Gotta love the internet.

That's all I have for today. If you have time, IGN has an article up about the 10 Most Overrated Video Game Characters. This article was done through a poll, and I must say, people do not really get the concept of overrated at all. For example, Marcus Fenix was an overrated character, but all the comments really have to do with the game Gears of War, not the character. There is a very big difference. Also, Altair made the list, and he's had one game, and will only ever have one game. That's a little unfair, don't you think? Ah well.

RTS', RPG's, Platformers, OH MY (Release Dates in May for DLC, in October for BRUTAL LEGEND!!!!)

I want to start off by saying that I hope this never happens.

I have been on a sort of break since my birthday (the 21st; I'm now 24) but it was not really planned. It just became one of those stretches of days where everything in life feels like some form of work (even the things I find pleasure in). I have still been playing less games because of the dog though I did pick up and play some Rock Band on my birthday. Enough about the personal life though here is more of what you came here to read:

I am going to attempt a package of news because I only feel like writing one post right now. Count on it being longish...

First on the docket, Brutal Legend now has a release date. I can now look forward to a psychotropic adventure on a specific day as opposed to a generalized period of time. Though I wish it was just for me, I won't keep the date to myself it will drop on October 13th of this calendar year. I wonder if it would have been a different date if Sierra was still publishing it.

Second up, Halo Wars is getting some new multiplayer DLC. What this means to you is that the game is getting 3 new multiplayer modes and 100 new achievement points all of which you can read about here. I am excited because I might go back to the game which I have uncerimoniously neglected ever since I started playing Call of Duty 4 some weeks ago.

Last but not least, Fallout 3 is getting its last piece of the current set of DLC on May 5th. Broken Steel is going to raise your level cap to 30 and allow you to continue past the games original endpoint. How far past, you ask? Infinitely. Look forward to it. I know I am. I'll get back to it for sure this time, right?

Fable 2 also has some DLC coming (another game I neglect (seems like a common theme)) and I do not yet know that I find LEGO Rock Band worth mentioning. Oops.

Mupdate 3: The GAF Collection

Yeah, keep your pants on. 3 updates in a day is exciting, but you can handle it. this isn't a really legit update either, but rather something cool I found online. Some people at neoGAF.com's forum decided they would make their own series of covers for something known as the GAF Collection, which is essentially the video game version of the Criterion Collection. The point of the Criterion Collection is to distribute important classic and contemporary films, and they always come with new box art that is way cooler than what ever the original distributor puts out.

So here are some awesome picks from the GAF Collection, and be sure to check out all of the thread over here.






Personally, I think someone should make a collection like this, isntead of "XBOX's Greatest Hits" or "PSX's Greatest Hits." Something with cool new sleek box art that lets you see, "Yeah. This game is important." Something like that would be awesome.

Mupdate 2: Batman Arkham Asylum Collector's Edition - Is It Worth It?

Nate said earlier that he is getting excited for the Batman game, and me being the intense comic book reader that I am (I spent almost $50 on comic books alone last week, and I wonder why I'm so poor) also look forward to it with bated breath. I mean, someone said that it'll essentially play like the BioShock of super hero games. Awesome, right? Combine that with Mark Hammil as the Joker and Kevin Conroy as Batman (the guys who did the voices on the 90's animated cartoon... remember that?) and it looks like we'll have a great Batman game.

Now, I'll only pre-order a game if it's got some kind of special limited edition to it, because otherwise I could just go get it normally at any time. What's the rush? But when the Batman: Arkham Asylum special edition specs were released, I came up with a conundrum. Let's break it down.



Here is the $99.99 collector's edition of Arkham Asylum. With it, you get a 14" batarang for your display case, Arkham's journal in a nice leather dust jacket with information on all the inmates, a behind-the-scenes DVD, and exclusive levels. Sounds great... but almost $100 great?

Let's be honest - 9 times out of 10, super hero games fail. Most critics agree the best super hero game was Spider-Man 2, which took GTA sandbox gameplay and let you sling webs around the city. Awesome. I for one am of the opinion that Marvel Ultimate Alliance is the best super hero game, and if Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 has a pre-order package, you can be sure that I'll get it. But outside of this, what do we have? Crappy Batman games, crappy Iron Man games, crappy Hulk games, crappy X-Men games... the list goes on and on. So while Arkham Asylum might be fun, it might also just be worth one play through and then a shelf forever life span. Hell, it might just warrant a rent for a weekend play through and then return it life span. Let's be honest here - in the world of Next Gen gaming, there has never been a good Batman game. Granted, the only attempts were with Justice League Unlimited (which was fun to an extent, but the lack of Hal Jordan annoyed me) and the Batman Begins movie tie-in (let's just not talk about it). Add that to the fact that most TV/movie/comic tie-ins aren't worth the dough (I STILL haven't bought Afro Samurai, even though I loved the demo), the odds are stacked against Batman in this one. So is it really REALLY worth it to spend $100 for a 14" batarang?

I don't think I'd ever call myself a die-hard Batman fan. I know there are some people who are Batcrazy, and I look at them and judge them as I often do (considering I have mountains and mountains of comic books in my closet) and I say, "Ok, we're living in a post-The Dark Knight world now where everyone seems to think Batman is the greatest hero ever (even though he isn't), it's the perfect time to spring a hyper expensive shiny toy for all the nerds to want." And I do want it, I do. But when I hold my $100+ GameStop credits in my hand and I look down the road at all the games coming out (Assassin's Creed 2, Mass Effect 2, Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 for sequels; Prototype, Brutal Legend, Darksiders for firstquels) and then I look at my brand new DS (thank you, girlfriend), I gotta say that no matter how shiny and cool that Batarang looks, I don't think I can justify spending $100 on a 14" replica that DOESN'T LOOK LIKE THE ONES FROM THE COMICS.

There. I said it. I'm an elitist comic book snob, and The Joker looks goofy.

New Fallout Game Announced: Las Vegas Style

Once again, I am butting in my nose in a way I do not normally do. As my work cracks down on what sites are blocked and what aren't, I have less and less I can do to fill up my free "I don't feel like really working" time. I was browsing Amazon.com's video game forum (yes, you read that correctly) when I accidentally stumbled on some incredibly exciting news that I just had to share: Bethesda has announced a brand new Fallout game, called Fallout New Vegas (I'm assuming that's a tentative title).



Now, this game is not a sequel. It's simply another game in the Fallout series. I, for once, can say that this news has brightened my day extremely. I should note that I have yet to play The Pitt, but this is due only to monetary constraints (I'll probably get it next month some time). But seriously, how cool is this? Fallout's post-apocalyptic world in Las Vegas! I don't know if any of our readers have been to Vegas, but I have, and I think it'd be awesome to see how the end of the world fares over in the city of sin. Seriously - the lights in that city never go out. I can just imagine now what those giant billboards advertising Wayne Brady's live show will look like covered in graffiti, and what the ruins of each casino might look like. Every casino in Vegas is pretty unique to the building, so that's another thing to look forward to in the game (also, will you be able to hack slot machines?). I also can't help but think of that teaser trailer for the third Resident Evil movie, Extinction. Should be lots of fun.

Lots of good games coming out... I should probably stop wasting my time only playing Peggle and Marvel Ultimate Alliance and get on to my Mass Effect double replay already.

Game Diary - Hoard the Horde

I finally attained the achievement for surviving all 50 waves in Horde (GOW2). It was really fun and I probably would have not completed it if I did not get to do it with friends.

I would like to try playing this mode on other levels because it was relatively easy playing through it on 'Day One'. The only thing hard about it is finding the time to play through an entire fifty rounds.

If you have not yet played Gears of War 2, really, what are you waiting for?


The only other thing that has really been on my mind as of late in relation to games is The Beatles Rock Band. I have been listening to The Beatles like crazy lately and it has really has my wanting to get back into playing Rock Band again. Call me crazy but I want the 250 dollar bundle. I'll sell off my other RB instruments just to have this come to fruition. Anyone else looking forward to this game?

User-Created Content? Do you care?

I was just watching this video that Joystiq linked and it got me thinking about the ever controversial topic of user-created content.

When the Xbox 360 was first being announced it was touted as the platform of user-created content and user-customization of the console itself. Since that we have seen little that makes it "the console" for user-created content. Sure you have the affor-somewhat-mentioned (as in the link above that you should clickity-click) user created Forge maps in Halo 3 but really it is only modification, the basic groundwork for most, if not all (I am guessing that Sandbox could be different), levels is already laid. Sure this user-created content debacle has been talked about and Microsoft Certification is surely the one(s) to blame but the real question is how many people care about the ability to make user-create items?

I know that there is that core mod community who would love nothing more than to have mods enables in UT3 (Unreal Tournament 3) but my guess is that the greater majority of people do not give a crap. I say this perhaps because I do not give a crap most of the time. I am happy that the Forge in H3 is there, don't get me wrong, but I would not die without it. What I like about it the most is that I will always have fresh variations of that game to play.

I also thought that LitteBigPlanet was going to be great but I am telling you right now, there is a good chance I would have not created anything and there is a better chance that I would have not downloaded many if any user-created maps. So what it really comes down to is how much you care about user-created content? Comment.

On top of that, like I said earlier, 360 was shown as the user-modifiable console but we all know what road that went down. The faceplate is probably a bigger failure than the RROD itself a similar failure to RROD numbers (that still doesn't sound right) but naturally it does not matter because everyone cares about functionality more than a removable faceplate. The only time anyone cares about a faceplate is when there was only five of a specific one released. Again there is a tiny community that this caters to still but Microsoft has virtually dropped all support of these snap on pieces of plastic. Just a question, how many people thought that they broke their console when they first tried to rip one of these of the front? Another question, how many people know at this point that the thing even comes off? This isn't something I talk about when I am trying to sell someone I know an Xbox. In terms of customization, I am fine with gamer pics and themes.

I am of the opinion that if the creator did not make it, it was never intended to be there and that is just how I like it.

Game Diary - April 14, 2009 Nothing Going On

The last time I played any bit of any game was on Saturday and that was Peggle. I really need to get back to it but this new dog game I have been playing has really been monopolizing my time.

I have actually been playing 'The World Ends With You' on my train rides. It has suddenly become very difficult.

Short post.

Bioshock 2 Gameplay Trailer Impressions

I promised all of you that I would give you my opinions on the gameplay trailer of Bioshock 2 and I am here to keep that promise. First, if you have not yet seen the trailer (I will not berate you this time), here it is:



Alright... Did you watch it two or three times? Good.

I am going to say it. It does not "look" bad and I can honestly say that the Big Sister (which is still a really dumb idea) is looking to make this game sufficiently creepy. She is quick and has that same disembodied voice that is all the rage among Little Sisters. A cool effect in the trailer is when the glass breaks and you are submerged under water and the last gameplay aspect that looks fun is the ability to "be" a Big Daddy (drill and all) and still use plasmids at the same time (though it did happen at the end of the first).

Now for the obvious skepticism that really has nothing to do with the trailer. First, we know that this is a prequel and that you are the first Big Daddy. Now that we have the ground work laid, how did a Big Sis turn into a Big Pa where does she end up going at the end? Are these going to be big revelations or stupid explanations that are so full of plot holes that it makes Rapture look like a shinning star in the ocean.

I want it to be good but the question of whether it can deliver or not will remain until the game ships and critical opinion pours in. Okay enough water puns I'll speak with you all very soon.

The Amazon XBLA Marketplace and Xbox Live Primetime (XBLP)

I have not found any so called Xbox news specifically interesting lately so the fact that I am writing this post lets you know that there is something worth reading for some folks (I can't make the kind of promise that you will all care because I know that it would be rather presumptous to assume that). There have been a couple bits of Xbox news that I thought were interesting in the past week that I found myself wanting to write about.

One is that Amazon is selling Xbox Live Arcade game codes on top of the codes that they already sell for memberships and Space Bucks Microsoft Points. I think that this is cool and I may even consider this way of purchasing for some of my games (probably the ones I already know that I am going to buy). I'll do this mainly because I want to see a good service suceed in many ways (I love both Amazon and obviously Xbox and I am estatic about this little partnership).

What it comes down to is that I really think this program is designed to just sell more units on XBLA and to make it a more popular platform. I really think that it will help XBLA sales numbers. I also think that it will not matter much to the "hardcore" because they already use the online Xbox Marketplace for their online shopping needs. This could also be helpful to those who find the Microsoft Points program assinine. In the end though I think that this program could have been more viable before Microsoft launched the online Marketplace (BTW: BUY THIS IF YOU HAVE AN XBOX).

The second point of contention is that Xbox Live Primetime (XBLP) will be launching on May 15. It will be sponsored by Honda and it looks like you can win a car if you umm... win (it is is one of Xbox's Play & Win competitions so there will not be endless cars people). I am interested to see what the prizes will be beyond the initial car so bring it on Microsoft. This news post actually brought XBLP to my attention once again. I had forgotten. Awkward. Anyway I hope it is as good as I once wanted it to be.

Stay tuned for my Bioshock 2 gameplay trailer impressions: coming soon!

In Its Final Stretch of PR, Batman: Arkham Asylum has me Interested

I think every comic book geek (of which I am not as much as I claim to be (Umbrella Academy FTW)) has been looking forward to this game for much longer than I but this trailer is the first time I have even bothered to look at the game.

Despite everyone raving at how amazing the game is coming along I have just been skeptical because it is so rare that I like a game based on comic books (usually because they are based on movies). The last one that I can remember liking was Marvel Ultimate Alliance (of which the sequel I have not yet looked into either) and I did not even get to finish that game.

But more about Batman: Arkham Asylum:

Just from this little demo or "challenge level" I know that I will be playing and probably buying the game. It looks fantastic, the controls look tight, it looks like it is fun to play, and most of all it looks as though this is what it would feel like to BE BATMAN. The game looks crisp and gritty and if the story is as any bit good as this one "challenge level" 'looks' then I am sure that this will be the best Batman game ever. Rocksteady, which is apparently the name of the developer the developer, has officially piqued my interest.

For those who know more about this game than myself, what are you looking forward to about this game? Is anyone remaining skeptical? I know I am not.

Fable 2 DLC Numero Duo

This was originally going to be a post about the Assassin's Creed 2 teaser but as you may have already noticed, Matt has beaten me to that. There is a first time for everything I suppose. So here is a post that has no real news:

Fable II is going to want you to 'See The Future' in the near umm... future... I mean May... yeah that's right.

That's it right there. Did you miss it. Oh well it will come back soon (Hint: Look Up). Damn you Matt.

Assassin's Creed 2 Teaser

Most people who frequent this blog know that, as far as updates go, Nate is the one who posts the news. When I, your most humble Matthew, post, this means that I am posting a review, which I don't do often due to the lack of games I am playing. For instance, right now I am playing Mega Man. From 1987. Just a tad retro to warrant a review, don't you think? That and the fact I can't beat Fireman, and I don't review a game unless I've beaten it. So there you go.

However, this morning as I was shifting through news, I came across something that got me so excited that I had to undermine Nate's authority and post this as news myself. We're getting a lot of news these days as far as sequel's go, and a sequel that I am highly anticipating has finally (to me, anyway) been confirmed for having a release date sooner rather than later. That game is Assassin's Creed 2.



If the embedded video above does not work, feel free to click here to watch the teaser in a new window. The teaser does not give much away other than Leonardo DaVinci will play a role in the events of the sequel. This doesn't overly surprise me. DaVinci has become more popular in recent years thanks to Dan Brown's addictive novel The DaVinci Code (I loved the book but didn't much care for the movie). This new game will clearly take place in Rome then, and I just can not wait to get back into Altair's sneaky shows and hop around rooftops. I remember when I first beat Assassin's Creed and it became so clear that there would be a sequel, I immediately hopped online and researched everything I could about all of the conspiracies "discussed" at the end of the game. Needless to say, Assassin's Creed has been put back into my "Games I Need To Play Again" list, just under Fallout 3 and Resident Evil 5.

An amusing little ... I'm not sure the most appropriate word, but I suppose "incident" will do (or even coincidence) occurs in the nature of which I came to enjoy Assassin's Creed. When I first got my 360, I didn't have many games. All that I had was Halo 3 and Bioshock. However, for the holidays that year, I received Assassin's Creed as a gift from Nate, even though my interest in it was mild. When I started playing it, though, I got pretty addicted, and started making my friends play it too. This is only amusing to me, however, because I later told Nate about how much I was enjoying Mass Effect, and he went and got it and now he likes that more than I do. Is that amusing to anyone else? The quirky natures of the modern day video gamers? Not really? Ok.

I look forward to next Thursday (April 14th) to see what else is coming from the world of AC. I only know that something will happen because if you go to the official website, after the trailer there is some scribblings above where the video was. It's pretty easy to see that it's just a mirror image with a date. But golly gee, I just can't wait to hook myself back up to the ANIMUS.

A Bit Distracted (Brutal Legend, The Dishwasher)

At this very moment I am in a bit of a predicament. It is not that serious but at the same time I feel bad about it. 


I am torn between giving you, the reader, a legitimate update, about Brutal Legend perhaps, or going off to play The Dishwasher (which I am currently awful at). So I think what I am going to do is give you a little taste of both.

The embargo on the game play demo of Brutal Legend was up on Friday morning and I as well as you kind folks all probably read a lot of nice things about this fun little game. Those articles mentioned in the past sentence tell me that everyone has come away from this "demo" happier than they even expected to be and that, in turn, makes me even more ecstatic that this game is coming sooner rather than later. I am expecting this game in the summer at the latest so that it does not get crushed by the holiday tirade.

As for The Dishwasher, I am enjoyed its stylized art. It has been compared to Alien Hominid HD I think because they are both representative of artistic indie games that shatter conceptions of what arcade games are supposed to be. The fact that the two have been compared makes me happy (and it should make the sole, lone, cowboy of a developer happy).

P.S. - I also recently passed my 1000th achievement! It was for completing a level on Veteran in COD4.

Short And Sweet

Jarvis has a new podcast up that I guested on.

So... check it out.

April Fool's Game Diary (Call of Duty 4 Game Diary/Review)

So by the time that you read this April Fools day will have came and went without any interesting jokes coming to pass. What is funny is that this entry was really meant to be posted yesterday but I fell asleep with only the rough draft in hand.

I am disaapointed because this industry usually comes up with the best ones (this year Google came up with CADIE). Googles last year was much better. For Gmail they gave you the ability to send email dated for the past (funny because at first I thought that it was true) so your paper, proposal, PowerPoint, etc would always be in on time. Think of the possibilities, one could never be late.

Anyway that's not what we are here to talk about. Or was it. If you had any good ones from this year, drop it in the comments. Okay bye.

Still here? Anyway, I have been playing and completing Call Of Duty 4 for the first time [I played pieces of the single player campaign long ago but I was mainly centered on playing the multiplayer aspect]. I know I know, hang me; Sacriledge or heresy, if you will. If you saw my last post you have an idea of what I am going to say regarding this game though. It gets a ten for the single player experience alone.

I have not felt as involved as I felt in a single player, first person shooter experience, since Halo: Combat Evolved. All I can ask for in the sequel has even better visuals and brings as much innovation to the level design as they did in this one.

Let's have a little makeshift review party right here:

Let us begin with the stunning visuals. The game was just that, stunning, though I do remember it looking even better (even a short time has it's toll).

The immersion I felt was so great because of the excellent sound and gameplay design. The gameplay felt so solid I really felt like I was in it. Which brings me to the sound which was so perfect. The combination of the perfect clicks of the guns and the helis overhead were great; firefights, when you are in the middle of them, it truly feels as though bullets, grenades, whathaveyou, is coming from all directions. In less words, the sound design was perfect.

As far as replayability goes I know I am going to give it a shot on Veteran (it has scared me since COD2) tomorrow and I look forward to getting involved with the multiplayer again and giving the arcade mode a run through.

I remember what originally left a bad taste in my mouth or why I think that I stopped playing the game. I had purchased the GOTY edition which was supposed to come with the Variety Map Pack. Instead my card that was supposed to have a code on it was blank. I went through a whole hub-bub-a-loo which involved contacting both GameStop and Activision several times to no avail. I was pissed at the time - you should have really seen those emails to Activision - but what can one do? I ended up finishing the game and loving it.

Has a game every put a bad taste in your mouth, so to speak, and left you not playing it, despite it being a good game? Leave those thoughts in the comments.

All Ghillied Up (Holy F' Wow)

The fact that you just read the title of this post and are reading this now will either have you interested or knowing exactly what I am about to say...

THIS IS THE GREATEST LEVEL OF ANY GAME THAT I HAVE EVER PLAYED!!!

Okay. Now that I have that out of my system I just needed to tell you why. I was so incredibly immersed and I could feel my heart beating in my ears. The part where you were under the Jeeps... when the army is walking through the field and you have to maneuver... O.M.F.G...

Okay. I think I am better again. No wonder folks were talking about this level when the game came out. The whole time I am thinking, "This is so cool... okay move this way to avoid this guy... do I really want to shoot this one... be patient Nate... this is sooo cool." After my thoughts sounded something like, "I think I'm ready to be done now, I want that achievement," and then after I got the achievement (Ghillies in the Mist) I was thinking, "that one should have been longer."

If this does not give you a good idea of this level and you have not already played it yourself I honestly cannot figure out what you are waiting for (what was I waiting for?!).

And the level after 'All Ghilled Up', well great level also, but I wanted to murder that level.

OnLive

I just got finished reading this article about all of the details that are being shared about the OnLive service. I really want this to work and if it does it will become my second choice for gaming entertainment. I say second because there is no way that I want to give up the community and achievements that I have accumulated through the Xbox platform. Xbox is my mistress and she always treats me right.

This, however, is my biggest interest, besides the obvious lack of hardware limitations, of the OnLive platform:

Sure, there is no question that the OnLive platform will have the lowest cost of entry for a new user. But, to be clear, OnLive also will certainly be catering to gamers who are less price sensitive, and are seeking the highest performance games, and also it will be opening up a universe of games to Mac users who, before OnLive, have had a very limited selection (MTV Multiplayer Blog).

If the price is right and I can play a few games here and there that I cannot play on my Xbox I will give it a shot. I will still remain skeptical until it is in my hands, amazing me. There are not of original ideas going around as far as gaming hardware goes these days and I think that everyone is quick to rain on this parade, myself included, but I am sure we can all remember a time when publishers were skeptical when Xbox LIVE was shopping their ideas around. Let us just keep an open mind for now and then if it does not work out as planned we can all chuckle to ourselves and say, "I told you so."

Something that I forgot to mention in my previous post is that if you like reading what I have to say then check out this podcast that I guested on. Pardon the fact that a mongoose salivated all over my microphone just five minutes proir to recording (there is a lot of static coming from my end that I cannot explain).

A Cavalcade of Updates (Mass Effect, Bad Company 2)

When I sat down to write this post I only had an inkling of an idea on what I wanted to write about but, now that I have crawled through a minimal amount of my feeds, I have a few things that I would like to cram into this post.

First off, we will go with the most interesting part of the past few days of mine. I decided to pick up and play Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare after my last post. I am at least halfway through according to the Mission Select screen and the game is more awesome than I remember. Every little thing is so detailed and I feel like I am in the thick of it at all times.  An interesting thing to note is that the headphones are a big help for finding helicopters that are circling around the building that you are in. The game is so obviously well-done and it really has me wondering what they are going to improve for the next one. You can officially count me excited.

Speaking on the subject of warfare the teaser trailer for Battlefield: Bad Company 2 has made its way onto the internets via a GameTrailers WORLD EXCLUSIVE (exciting, no?). It really is quite the boring trailer but I am still excited for the game because the first one was a riot and the multiplayer was something different than I am used to. I had never really found interest in a Battlefield game before this one (Bad Company 1) and I feel than many people who primarily game on consoles felt the same way that I did (first Battlefield game exclusive on consoles = fun). The funniest, most interesting part of the trailer was a joke that I understood despite not actually playing the game that it referenced; "Specializing in warfare since 1942," was what the tag line at the end of the trailer read.

In terms of other news, Bioware did unveil thier level design videos for Mass Effect 2, but as you can see I am not giddy in excitement because they did not really show much of anything. Do not believe me? See for yourself.

The only other thing that I have to report is that I may be moving this blog over to WordPress soon because I feel that it is a site that offers more to an up and coming blog such as my own.

GDC (The One and Only Update... The Only One Necessary)

The most interesting thing to come out of GDC for me is the Modern Warfare 2 trailer. It doesn't excite me in any other way other than the fact that is coming out. Jarvis and I talked about it on his podcast which you will get to hear in a couple of days but basically I haven't completed the first one so I will have to get to that. Here is that trailer:



The only only other thing that I wanted to mention is the OnLive platform. Everyone (Joystiq, Jarvis, etc.) has high hopes for it but I am sure but without an insane amount of money it doesn't look like it will ever become profitable let alone get off of the ground. Maybe I am being shortsighted on this one but I like my physical console and I do not think that everyone is ready to give that up just yet. I will give it a shot but I think it might just be a fourth console and not the end all be all of gaming. It is gaming from the cloud like we have been talking about. Let us just see if we are there yet.

An honorable mention of GDC is Zelda: Spirit Tracks, which looks like it used all of the assets from Phantom Hourglass and added a choo-choo train.

Off the top of my head that is all I can think of. I think I have a hankering to play COD4: MW now... funny how that works.

Game Developer's Conference 2009

It kicks off today so you can look forward to my excited rants about all kinds of games and features of said games.

What I am looking forward to the most is the panel of the level design of Bioware's Mass Effect 2. I am excited to see what they are doing differently this time to hopefully make each level area a more dynamic experience.

I know that Joystiq and MTV Multiplayer will be there and I am looking forward to their hands-on opinions of Bioshock 2 and, if it is being showed, Overlord 2.

This is all I have until the news really breaks so be on the edge of your seat and I will try and bring you all the news I can in the coming days.

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 18, 2009 and Excitement For Overlord II

Yesterday I recieved my first game from Goozex, Overlord, and I love it. It is a lot of fun so far and I will have more to say about it once I have completed it but now I can officially be excited for this:

Overlord II:

For Those Who Liked The Resident Evil 5 Review

Oh my Gods, two updates in a span of time less than 24 hours? This is new. And this new update regards news and not a review? Curiouser and curiouser. Could I perhaps be possessed by Nate? While this is not a definite answer to the query, it is a definite possible answer.

Regardless, I am going to relate some information that does not even have to do with a video game console I own. Christian Svensson over at Capcom recently wrote that several old games for the Playstation have been submitted by Capcom to the Playstation Network for possible downloading. This is incredibly cool because now people who never got to play Resident Evil in all it's original glory may now get the chance to do so, not to mention you'll get other games like Dino Crisis (another survival horror game) and Street Fighter. You can already get Resident Evil 3 if you are so inclined (and 2 if you live in Japan).

On top of this, I also felt that I could throw into the pot that if you are a Wii owner, you could also play the previous 4 installments. All you need to do is go down to your local GameStop and pick up Resident Evil 1-4 on the Game Cube and then throw it into your console! It'll play just as well, and all 4 games have been put on the Game Cube (the original re-made, 2 and 3 just ports). In my humble opinion, the re-make of Resident Evil is just as good as the original if not better due to the intense graphic overhaul, script edits, and added gameplay mechanics.

Just something to dwell on in case my Resident Evil 5 review moved you so much you decided you needed to finally check out the series after not doing so for over a decade.

Resident Evil 5

It has been quite some time since I have taken a moment out of my ever so busy schedule in order to write a proper review of a video game. Part of this is due to the fact that I've been gaming a LOT less as of late. I've sold a bunch of games and I still haven't beaten the first DLC for Fallout 3. This is bad for me, I know, but with March and the release of two highly anticipated titles on my books, my XBOX 360 has once again received love for something other than a glorified DVD player/TV streamer. The first game that came out, Halo Wars, Nate and I are playing through together over XBOX Live. Resident Evil 5, however, I got and played all on my lonesome.

I'd like to add a forward notice that I've played all of the main games in this series, and by that I mean I've played Resident Evil 1, 2, 3, and 4. I've never played Code Veronica, 0, or any of the other side games. I am still well versed in all the important plot elements in those games, so it's not like I have ever had trouble following the story. Besides, with 4 we saw the beginning of a brand new story and gameplay style.

Ok, so let's do a quick retrospective here. In the original game, a group of STARS members arrive at a mansion investigating the disappearance of the previous team. What they find is a house full of zombies and an extensive laboratory underneath. You can play as Chris Redfield or Jill Valentine, and each of their stories reveal little things about the mansion and it's owner, the Umbrella Company. In the next game, you take control of Claire Redfield, who had come to visit her older brother, or Leon Kennedy, a brand new STARS agent who had just arrived in Raccoon City, only to find it had been taken over by zombies due to an outbreak of the T-Virus. In the next game, you once again take control of Jill Valentine, who has made her way into Raccoon City and is now trying to deal with the same problems Leon and Claire dealt with. At the end, Raccoon City is bombed by the US Government to stop the outbreak, Umbrella is brought to trial for crimes against humanity, and disbanded. In 4, we once again find ourselves playing as Leon, who is now a special agent for the government trying to rescue the president's daughter, and we find ourselves face to face with a new bio-terrorism threat: the Las Plagas virus. In the end, you destroy the virus (or so you think!) and save the president's daughter. All is well... for now.

Resident Evil 5 once again puts us in the very capable shoes of Chris Redfield. Now a member of the BSAA, he is sent to Africa to meet up with other BSAA agents and investigate a threat of bio-terrorism. Before the events of the game, Chris just had to deal with the death of his partner, Jill Valentine, at the hands of the infamous Albert Wesker. Chris is a bit apprehensive to get a new partner in Sheva, Alomar, but she will prove invaluable during the events of the game.

Resident Evil 5 is perhaps the first real direct sequel to any of the games. The games were always linked due to Umbrella and Raccoon City, but you could pick up any of the main games in the series and just play as if it were any kind of zombie outbreak game. Resident Evil 5 is the first game that is not new gamer accessible due to the incredibly intertwined story. The overall linking plot elements of the 5 games are actually fleshed out much more in this game, which is nice, but right off the bat, I found it a little upsetting that the plot was so directly tied into the previous games because I feel it could hurt positive reception to the game for those who were unable to play the previous games. The load screens do come with an explanation of the timeline of Umbrella and the evolution of the T-Virus, but I still feel this created a bit of a problem. Resident Evil 4 certainly did have it's throwbacks to the previous games which wouldn't make full sense without playing all of them, such as the importance of the character Ada Wong, but to anyone who didn't recognize her, they probably assumed she was just some kind of super spy. Her stealing the Las Plagas at the end of 4 plays deeply into the events of this game, though. Furthermore, Chris has flashbacks to Albert Wesker and the death of Jill who, if you didn't know her from 1 or 3, must seem confusing (not to mention they dye her hair for some odd reason). I think it important to mention, however, that Resident Evil 5 acts as the official end to all the stories created since Resident Evil, so whenever the next game comes out (and you can bet it will), there will be a brand new, new user-friendly storyline and character set.

Let's move on to things I liked about the game. First off, the visuals are amazing. I remember reading a long time ago that Resident Evil 5 would work heavy with lighting, and by that I mean that when you're outside and it's bright, the screen will be very bright, and when you're somewhere dark, it'll be very dark. This idea was apparently scrapped, but elements of it are still there. The difference between light and dark areas are pretty incredible, and there is never an instance of too much bloom. I also really like the story to it. I like how any questions that existed before this game are now tied off and finally laid to rest. More importantly, I'm glad to see the story end. When the gameplay changed, it was only natural for the story to end. We still have elements to continue off of (remnants of Umbrella, the new company Tricell, and the BSAA) but it's not just the re-hashing and continuation of the same old plot with the same villains over and over. Also, as much as I was apprehensive as to having a companion through out the entire game, Sheva really is a God send. I can't imagine playing some of the game without her. I'm reminded of a level in Resident Evil 4 which I fondly call "The Room" which was probably the hardest part of the game since you were swarmed with cultists, and I wished someone would help me out. In 5, Sheva is that helper! It's also really great to play the game with someone else because, while the AI is incredibly intelligent, a real person works much more efficiently as a team. The people behind the game Army Of Two should really sit back and take a look at how well Resident Evil 5 works before releasing the sequel because the co-op elements of Resident Evil 5 pretty much takes Army Of Two out behind the school and beats it mercilessly.

However, as much as I enjoyed this game, it is easily the worst game of the main Resident Evil series. The first 3 were truly survival horror games. In the original, you wandered one singular mansion for the entirety of the game, unlocking new things that you'd had to walk past at the beginning as you go. The puzzles were challenging, and the bosses even more so. With 4, we stopped having a survival horror game and were given a linear action game, with a beginning, middle, and end that we achieved at the game's pace instead of our own. There are barely any puzzles in 5, and the puzzles that are there are really not that challenging. Move a couple mirrors, man a turret, do some cutscene based fights. When I played 4, all of the new things seemed truly revolutionary and exciting for the series. The one fight scene made entirely of cutscene based actions and it was such a breathtaking scene to watch. In 5, there are similar ones that are stunning visually, but they seemed less exciting. There also aren't really new evolutions in the villain base in this game. There are new monsters, sure, but they're all variations off the Las Plagas from 4, and the boss fights aren't as challenging. Finally, I think it is important to mention how much shorter this game is compared to the other ones. I might be exaggerating a bit, but I do believe I spent much more time trying to beat 4 than I did this one, let alone all the previous games and their puzzles. Resident Evil 5 is truly an ACTION horror game instead of a SURVIVAL horror game, and while it can certainly stand on it's own, it doesn't fully live up to it's predecessors.

I don't mean any of that to deter anyone from playing. I plan to play through the game again myself on a harder difficulty setting to do some of the things I didn't do the first time. It's really very fun. Some of the boss monsters are pretty horrifying to look at, and there were definitely moments where I said, "Oh my God, really? Really??" And did I mention that this game is truly an achievement for co-operative gameplay? Because if I didn't properly express that, allow me to do so again in this sentence. I am very glad to have shoveled out the money for the limited edition. So if you're looking for a solid action game in today's market, look no further than Resident Evil 5. I give it a solid 8 out 10 on the Matt-meter.

There are more games I would like to play in the upcoming future... Afro Samurai, Spider-Man: Web Of Shadows, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Batman: Arkham Asylum, Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 (noticing a theme?), and more. I am trying to find more time to play games so I will probably be up to putting some more reviews in the future as that is mostly what I add to this blog. Keep an eye out for that as I am most certainly an expert, and the only real opinion you need is mine.

How Has The NXE Benefitted Your Marketplace Browsing?

It has been a while since I last brought up the NXE but it has faded into the background and it has become part of our everyday Xbox routine.

What I would like to concentrate on today is Marketplace browsing specifically.
Lately I have been thinking about how I have found it easier to locate and buy things when I am looking for them but otherwise I find that I go to the Marketplace less and less just to browse.

This is not because I am broke because trust me when I say that I love to taunt myself with what I cannot yet have. The reason for me is that there seems to be a mental block that prevents me from going that far "up" or "down" into the dashboard. I also watch Inside Xbox videos less whereas when there was an orange icon flashing (telling me that there was something new), that was enough for me to go and watch a few new videos. I do like, however, when new content, that is of sufficient importance, is posted, it is right there in the spotlight.

How has the NXE changed the way that you look at new content, Inside Xbox, friends online, etc.? I feel like right about now is the opportune moment to see how people feel about the NXE because it has had some time to settle.

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.

Bioshock 2 (Sea of Dreams (Hopefully))

So now that new details are emerging on the subject of Bioshock 2 I am feeling inclined to say something on the topic.

The first thing is that like most people who played the original, I do not feel like the Bioshock name needed a sequel. It is fair that it is receiving one seeing as the original made a few dollars and any business person's standpoint would say that the sequel would bring in a few dollars itself.

Accepting the fact that there is a new Bioshock game coming out the question is do I think it will be good? A better question still is do I think that it could be good? I think that it could be great. I think that it could stand to be amazing though I still think it would be hard to get a plot twist as good as, "Would you kindly," in there. Bioshock was not as so much about the place as it was about the characters that defined that place. Your character was quite literally a puppet in this world and I know that the sequel needs that character definition. So do I think that 2K Marin is going to be able to continue this enriched experience? I do not. I do not think this because it is a different studio, though it is still a contributing factor, I think this because that character direction was a unified experience that was wholly encompassed in this one story arc. Ultimately I think that it will be difficult for 2K Marin to break themselves off a piece of this and be able to keep up the rich character development without it feeling a little washed out at the end.

As far as I have been made aware this game is supposed to be a prequel and I have a hard time seeing, as far as plot holes go, how a Big Sister evolved into a Big Daddy or vice versa, if in fact it ends up being a sequel not a prequel. The only way something like that would make any bit of sense to me is if part of Rapture broke off and became its own separate entity which we all know is not going to have happened.

The last thing is that the first games story was based around the world and the gameplay and this one is going to be other way around. Realistically that should make the game easier to make. Raptures assets are already created, ready and waiting, so Marin should have plenty of resources to make the story great. One can only hope.

In the end Bioshock 2 is not going to be Bioshock, it will be a game that has the Bioshock name on it though one will have to try and enjoy it on its own merits.

[Via Joystiq, Jarvis Slacks, Game Informer]

Halo Wars: The Story So Far

My experience with Halo Wars so far is a good one. It feels like it is part of the Halo Universe which to me is the best part about it. The fact that it is an RTS where one can amass a huge Halo style army is just a plus.

I have been splitting my online matches between the win and loss columns. The only problem I have with this is that I do not know what I am learning from the losses. In the matches that I do lose I attempt to adapt my strategy based on the losing parameters only to find that those are not helping either.

But when I win it is completely the opposite; it is always a blow-out. I need to figure out what is happening here.

Just now I have come to the revelation that I need to stop attacking as much as I do but that is not the only thing because sometimes I am attacked when I least expect it (and other times still I am only caught a little off guard).

NEW STRATEGY: Build units fast, chill at base, be ready at all times. Good... Good.

As an aside, Halo Wars has me playing more Halo 3. The Mythic Maps that came with the limited edition are fun and I boosted for achievements for the first time with a few people the other day. I think that I feel bad about it.

Back to Halo Wars - I have come to like the extraneous things about Halo Wars the most. For example the Halo Universe timeline welcome along with the service records Ala H3.

That is it for this stream of consciousness; this is all that has been on my mind for the past few days.