New Mass Effect 2 Trailer

Video Games | Mass Effect 2 | E3 09: Exclusive Teaser

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

Last night on GameTrailers TV Geoff Keighly spoiled some of E3's fun and showed the E3 trailer for Mass Effect 2. I wonder how much they (Spike) had to pay for that.

More relavent to the trailer is the fact that it looks like Commander Shepard is not dead. Not really a huge surprise but I would of course like to know the details of why he might have been dead or why he is still alive.

Hopefully there is more to be said about Mass Effect 2 come June 2-4. Come back here to check because you know that I will have something to say about it.

Sorry about the obnoxious GameTrailers window that breaks this site.

Game Diary - May 28, 2009: Mass Effect... again.

For the past couple of days I have been on a strict regimen of Citadel space flights. You got it, I have been playing Mass Effect once again.

I started this playthrough about a month or so ago but in the past two days alone I have made significantly more progress than when I initially started playing the game for what I believe to be my fourth time.

It is as spectacular as I can remember and even on the fourth playthrough I am finding new dialogue tree options. I loaded the game onto my hard drive for less pop in and no loads while walking (not that these things really bothered me to begin with) and the difference is quite noticeable.

Kara purchased the game... finally, and I am eager to hear her thoughts. You should be as well.

Zune HD Revealed

Let me start off by saying that we all know that I am a pretty adamant supporter of the iPhone. What you probably do not know is that I have wanted a Zune for a while now.

While my iPhone serves its purpose as a general all-purpose device I have been on the lookout for a new media-only device. Naturaly since it [the Zune] is a Microsoft product I have a soft spot in my heart for it.

The most exciting part of Microsoft's Press Release that isn't the Zune HD is the change of branding from the 'Xbox LIVE Video Marketplace' to the 'Zune Marketplace'. This excitement comes with the hope that you will be able to use your Zune Pass to download songs directly to one's Xbox (it might give me a reason to buy a Zune Pass). I also do not doubt that the videos that you download will work across the bridge between the Zune and the Xbox.

Now for the Zune HD itself. It will be the first media player with an HD video-out output, it will have HD Radio, built in Wi-Fi (naturally), and a pretty exciting OLED touch screen technology. I think Microsoft just sold me a media player and now the only thing that I can hope for is decent storage capacity.

Update: The songs portion of the Zune Marketplace is not coming to Xbox LIVE is will only be called Zune Video. Boo Hisss...

[Via Joystiq]

Game Diary - May 26, 2009: Memorial Day Weekend Edition

Seeing as I have been away all weekend the only thing that I have been updating frequently is my Twitter page. Despite not being near a computer that I could update this blog on I still managed to get in a lot of gaming this weekend nonetheless.

Most of the gaming this past weekend was nonconventional, at least it was for myself. I did bring my 360 (and Left 4 Dead) with me to Kara's house this weekend but I was primarily playing Mario Kart Wii. Since I had five other people to play this game (not at one time) with it ended up being really entertaining (so much so that I have been reinvigorated on the idea of purchasing a Wii in the future). Still though, if I end up owning a Wii and Mario Kart, I do not think that I would take it so far as to go online to play the game. With the Wii it just feels better playing in the same room as everybody else. This is probably why most folk's Wiis end up collecting dust: people just cannot have people over often enough.

I played very little of Guitar Hero 3, also on the Wii, but in doing so I got to play a few of the unlockable tracks that I had wanted to play when the game originally came out.

I did also play some Left 4 Dead with Kara and Martin. I got to finally touch upon Survival Mode but sadly it was not a good experience because all of the people we got stuck playing with were "epic douchebags" and ending up shooting us/each other and the longest we survived was one time for about two minutes.

Other than that not much else has been played but I am looking forward to finally playing Beyond Good and Evil.

Monday MUpdate: On a Tuesday

Due to Memorial Day, I took off all of my duties yesterday and slept in. I rolled around for hours doing nothing but watching movie and getting some personal work done. And since last updating, have I once played a video game? Not really, no. I saw Nate on Friday and we played Rock Band and Guitar Hero II for all of five minutes, and I once again tried to tackle "Jordan" but lost at the 50% mark like I always do. So I don't have much to say.

...or do I?

While most of my friends know this, I figure this is something 100% worthwhile to write about for an entry as the general gaming public who make up our readers don't know this: on Thursday, as I drove between Massachusetts and New Jersey, I got a phone call from a number I didn't recognize. Even though I was "watching" Two Guys and A Girl off my laptop, I decided I was in a good mood so I would pick up the phone.

"Hello?" I said.
"Hi, is this Matthew?" said a voice on the other end.
"Why, yes it is! How can I help you?"
"Do you remember entering a contest on IGN a while back to go to E3?"
"...yes?"
"Well, I'm calling to congratulate you on being the winner!"
"..........Get outta town!!"

You see, right when I got my new fancy desk job, I started surfing several websites on a regular basis: fmylife.com, failblog.org, kotaku.com, and ign.com. One day, IGN had a contest to be a guest editor at E3. I entered it casually as I often do most prizes, figuring that I probably wouldn't win but if I did, Nate and I could go. And then I promptly forgot about it. And then I got a call telling me that I won! I'm not going to lie - I feel like the cat's pajamas. After finishing my conversation with the woman on the phone (who reminded me of GLaDOS in that she wouldn't say I could bring a friend but that I could bring a "travel companion," and I wanted to ask if it was ok if I brought a box with hearts on it but didn't want to be rude), I immediately called Nate over and over until he picked up at work so I could scream the good news into his ear.

And now, Nate and I will be going to E3. We fly out June 2nd and spend all day June 3rd on the Expo floor, me working for IGN and Nate having the time of his life running around and meeting videogame people. Expect long articles from Nate about how much he loves me followed by all the things we will see at E3. I'm excited to play games like Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2, Bioshock 2, Brutal Legend, Beatles Rock Band, Mass Effect 2, and DJ Hero. "DJ Hero?" you ask, confused. Yes, DJ Hero, because honestly, it looks kinda fun, and I want to play it without buying it. I'm also hoping to see something exciting from Valve. Oh, the week is going so slow!

So that's it for me. I'm currently making lists of things to bring, and by that I'm deciding what graphic novels I should go out and buy to read on the plane. I probably won't be bringing my laptop to LA because I don't want to risk losing it, but I may get a Twitter account so I can update it as I go about playing games and doing things. At the very least, Nate will be doing that, so expect next week to be fun and exciting for everyone.


See you at E3!

PC Gaming Diary #4 - No PC Gaming This Weekend!

Ahhhh, three day weekends are so glorious. This weekend I took a bit of a break from the PC gaming world since I had friends in town (one of which was Nate). Instead, lots of time was spent playing Mario Kart on the Wii and Left 4 Dead on the 360. My roommate owns a Wii (which she never plays) and my friend Whitney was nice enough to bring her copy of Mario Kart as well as two extra controllers for the weekend and Nate was nice enough to bring his Xbox and Left 4 Dead with him. Lots and lots and lots of time was put into Mario Kart, mostly Nate and Martin playing solo and unlocking various levels we could play in multiplayer. After the weekend, I concluded that it might be fun to buy Mario Kart for my roommate's Wii even though if she moves, I won't have the console anymore. But it was really enjoyable and definitely a game worth having for any Wii owners if they have people over. I really do enjoy the Wii and the games that come with it. The only downside is that most of the time they are really only enjoyable games if you have a decent number of people over, which I don't typically have. I think if I ever came across $250+ and wanted to waste it on something, it would be a Wii, but I don't really know if it's worth saving up for or spending money I could spend on something else knowing I wouldn't be playing it all that often.

We also got in a few rounds of Left 4 Dead. I actually own the game for PC, but have never ventured into multiplayer on the PC because I have this inherent fear of playing against/with people I don't know. I recognize (and witnessed this weekend) that a lot of online gamers are epic douchebags, so I try and avoid that at all costs. It's hard being a PC gamer these days because we are somewhat of an endangered species...well, maybe not quite that extent, but most mainstream gamers prefer consoles and you're hard pressed to find too many people to multiplayer game with on the PC and unfortunately I know none (except for people that play WoW) so the biggest draw to a console for me is the multiplayer aspect and being able to play games with friends (especially since so many of mine do not live very close). So, with that being said...I am making the jump to becoming a console gamer. Okay, maybe I'm not entirely making the jump considering my PC will always be my gaming "console" of choice, but I will be purchasing a Xbox 360 today at lunch. I was lucky enough to find a month old pro system on Craig's List for $160 and I swooped that deal up. Hopefully the deal doesn't go sour and I get scammed in the process as it will most likely sway from making a 360 purchase on CL ever again. So hopefully in the future you will see more then just "PC Gaming" entries from me.

One last note, I have been planning a couple entries for the Bioshock 2 multiplayer as well as Borderlands, but I haven't gotten around to it. I'm going to make it a priority this week to post those entries as I feel as both of them are not getting enough attention as they deserve.

Modern Warfare 2 Reveal Trailer

Since I was away from the computer all weekend this is all I have to show you for the time being. I am sure that you have already seen it but you should just watch it again and take it in.

I am happy to see that this story looks like it is going to pick up right after the last one and looks to be just as epic and just as groundbreaking. If you weren't looking forward to it with the teaser trailer are you looking forward to it now?

P.S. - Kara has some excellent news for all of you let us hope that she tells you later today.

Further Indication of Crackdown 2 @ E309

On this past Sunday's Major Nelson showgram, as outro music and Name The Game music, Larry (Major Nelson) played Crackdown theme music. They might as well announce it right now. The proverbial cat is already almost out of the bag. I am sure he is quite thrilled with himself for the theme announcement and now this.

But seriously folks this is some good subtle marketing for us who follow this sort of thing.

A Slow Run to E309

The one true thing I dislike about trade shows is the fact that news grinds to halt less than two weeks before the show. Even the rumors that have been hanging in the air aren't numerous, meaning that I have already mentioned them in passing.

I do keep getting more and more excited for The Beatles: Rock Band because of little things like this. I feel like the game is going to make me feel like Guitar Hero 2 made me feel when I originally snagged that when it hit 360. It felt new and fresh and I really feel like The Beatles: RB is going to bring that new luster to a genre that is quickly getting stale (what with Activision's, GH5, Band Hero, DJ Hero, etc.).

PC Gaming Diary #3 - I Returned to the Sea...

In a amazing turn of events, this weekend I played very little WoW compared to my normal gaming tendencies. Most of Saturday I spend organizing a few things and trying to find my birth certificate. I'm not really sure why, but I just felt bored with WoW this weekend, so I sort of took a break. I did, however, get a little bit of gaming in.

This weekend I decided to start a new run through of..................BIOSHOCK! It's probably been over a year since I did my initial play through of the game and with the new one coming out in the next year or so and seeing articles in PC gamer, I decided it was time to play through it again. This time I decided to play through it on Hard (I started on Easy or Medium, I can't remember honestly) and I think I might decide to kill the Little Sisters (as much as it pains me) this time instead of save them just to see the different outcome. I didn't get all that far into the game, but I think I might continue this play through this week while my gf is at work. Unfortunately, I won't be getting much gaming time in this weekend BUT it's for a very, very good reason!

I'm excited for this second play through. I started to appreciate certain aspects of the game more then I did in my initial play. The game really, truly plays like a movie. It's quite fascinating as no other game before has really captured me like that. I tend to be the type of gamer that cares little for storylines and cut screens with video. I tend to escape, space, return, click or do whatever I can to get out of it. I'm not really sure why, but my priority when gaming is playing the game and I often sacrifice storyline with that attitude. I hope to get more out of the game in regards to story then I did before and I'm not really sure what to expect playing on hard, so we shall see how it turns out in the end!

Game Diary - May 18, 2009: It's Monday and Cloudy

On the subject of the weekend past there was a severe lack of gaming to be had. It was not that I didn't fancy playing, I just never got to the point where I felt the need to wrap my hands around the controller.

I think that this is partially because I know what is in store for me in the coming level in COD4 (I have to disarm the nukes and I am timed and it is close quarters vicious combat) and I am really fighting not to move onto replays of other games until I finish this feat of impossibility.

I also haven't touched my DS, and in turn The World Ends With You, in just over a week so there is nothing to report on that front.

The only thing remotely game like that I have been playing is Peggle for iPhone and I just finished the Adventure mode on the train/bus ride home last night.

Hopefully there will be more gaming in the coming week and more game news at that.

Monday MUpdate: Entry and snide, sly enough to argue for a complete statement of the weekend reading anything really

I believe that the beginning of a _____ post starts with a _____ title, and there is no ______ title than an Engrish title. So from now, all Monday MUpdates will have Engrished titles in order for me to convey coy commentary to my own writing.

Aside from that, I do not have much to report in the world of gaming belonging to the video format. As this is the first weekend in a while in which I had no plans, I took it upon myself to put my nose inside of a book and leave it there for a prolonged period of time, reading a colossal 950something pages. Needless to say, my brain feels a tiny bit fried.

I did, at one point, pick up my DS and Chrono Trigger for a short time, and I found that the longer the gap in between gameplay, the more I forget what I'm supposed to do in the game. It is through this that I feel I'm not really getting my money's worth for the purchase, and that is my own fault. While I do absolutely ____ the game, I need to make more time for it. Then I could perhaps beat it more quickly and move on to newer endeavors, like The World Ends With You and Final Fantasy IV.

I also played Fallout 3: The Pitt during the week. I must say, despite how troublesome it is at time, I really found the expansion to be ____. I've been spending most of my time trying to find 100 Steel Ingots for the achievement, and while it's somewhat ______, I find that I have a ____ time regardless. This is something I also need to devote more time to, because I do want to try out Broken Steel, and of course I want to go back to re-playing certain old games.

Other than that, the only thing I want to comment on is the lack of Team Fortress 2 updates to the XBOX 360. While I recently posted an article about it, the more I read about updates (a Spy update was just announced), the more _______ I get about it. I think that it is _____ for Valve to promise one thing and not deliver, even if I have to pay for it. Not all of us have access to a PC (Kara is the only writer for this blog with one) so Nate and I get left in the dust, and that is just ____. So Valve, if you ever come across this, consider it an open letter: It would make me very _____ if you would share the wealth sometime soon, because I ____ to play the game too.

That's it for today.

Prelude to E3 (Another Mass Effect 2 Video)

"I'm so excited...
...and I just can't hide it...
...I'm about to lose control and I think I like it."

This is why I just broke out into song, I mean serious WTF, is Bioware trying to give me a heart attack?



[Via Joystiq]

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?

My E3 Rumor & Speculation

When it comes to games expos I honestly am only ever really looking forward to the Xbox news. It is in my nature (it just gets me giddy inside); I have attached all of my caring to that console. I know that there will probably be decent enough iPhone and Ninendo DS announcements but I will not care about them until I hear them.

So having you understand that the only expectations that you are going to see here are 360 in nature I'll just get this show on the road. Naturally I assume that we are all going to see some things from Mass Effect 2, Halo 3: ODST, Modern Warfare 2, Brutal Legend, Dead Rising 2, Bad Company 2, maybe that Mass Effect iPhone game, etc.

What I really want to talk about is what we are not expecting. Could we see a bigger hard drive for the 360? It seems the most likely of any announcement. We have the ability to copy games to our hard drive and my and I am sure most other's Rock Band song collection is growing and that requires a lot of space. Let's not forget the video marketplace. With all of these things together it seems more than likely that we will see a bigger hard drive unveiled at E3.

Rumors have also been swirling again (like in a circle, get it?) on a motion controller so that could be something (albeit something I do not care about).

And last of my speculations: Could we see a slimmer 360 since we may see a slimmer PS3 this year? Who knows?

What kind of announcments are you anticipating?

Really Random Star Trek Update

The above picture really has nothing everything to do with this post but I loved Star Trek and I just wanted to profess that love somehow on the blog. There it is and I also might want to play Star Trek D-A-C in the future. That's all folks, Star Trek was awesome, go see it again and again.

"Let's have a go at it."

It turns out that in between going through the Pitt searching for ingots, I do have some time to read and not only post news. Todays news is pretty exciting for me, as it is something I haven't been following at all and was surprised with this morning.

Valve has been consistently updating all the character classes in Team Fortress 2 to make sure the game doesn't become stale, and the Sniper update is now upon us. With the update, you get a brand new bow and arrow set, the Huntsman. You shoot the arrow at your enemy, the arrow sticks into their body, and if they have low enough health, they will be shot and stuck against a wall, forever being a reminder to your foes what a deadly marksman you are. I love playing the sniper personally, and this is just downright exciting for me. I mean, apparently Valve has been updating the game with new stuff for characters for months (including new achievements that apparently aren't making their way to the 360?), and I have just not been paying attention for whatever reason, so this is a great way to make me excited to go home from work.

When the Orange Box I came out, I will not beat around the bush when I tell you I bought the disc JUST for Team Fortress 2. I'd been waiting for it for years, and even though it is different than the game initially promissed to be (back in.. what... the 90's?), it was still an amazingly fun experience. Valve kind of has the corner on the market when it comes to awesome multiplayer games that are on the XBOX 360, matched probably only by the popularity of Halo multiplayer. But, unlike Halo, I can spend hours wrapped up in Valve multiplayer games. Left 4 Dead is a fine example of this, and with all the new updates for Team Fortress 2 that I have missed (due to me not paying attention), I will definitely be spending more time on that. So if you have a copy of the Orange Box, look for me online either playing that or Fallout.

Edit: Apparently, in all my excitement, I looked over the glaring fact that these updates are for the PC and not the 360. Rats. There is a forthcoming patch with all the updates included, but all things considered, it should be here by now. So rats again. I am highly looking forward to this update, though. I really want to try out all the new sniper stuff. I just kind of wish I had a PC right now, because it's a free update for them and Microsoft won't let Valve give us a similar free update (although Left 4 Dead had a huge overhaul update for free recently... harumph).

Game Diary - May 12, 2009: Pegs Part Duex

When I have been playing on the 360 I have been giving my attention primarily to COD4 on Veteran. I have most recently completed 'The Shot' achievement which for those who do not know involves waiting an extremely long period of time for a helicopter while and endless wave of hostiles would like nothing more than to shoot you to pieces try to do just that. After the helicopter actually comes you have to fight your way across the field in order to pick up your partner who got injured earlier in the mission and then carry him to the helicopter. It sucks and it was pretty hard. I am impressed with myself for completing it and today I will further my progress through another level that seems like it will never end. It is another level where you have to fight your way down a ridge in order to get to another helicopter while another boat load of guys that would love nothing more than to shoot you limb from limb, again, try to do just that. You are timed once again and you only have a limited number of "Close Air strike" that you can use. That one should take most if not all of whatever playtime I have today so I won't being playing much of anything else today or so it would seem.

Peggle for iPhone came out today and anyone in their right mind would not buy the same game for two different platforms, right? Wrong. I purchased it or Cindy's (my wife) iTunes gift card purchased it for me and I have been playing it on and off all morning. It eats my battery though so I'll have to watch myself if I plan on using my phone as a phone.

In terms of news that I have wanted to post about there has not been much other than this Modern Warfare 2 video that teases another MW2 video or this Duke Nukem Forever video that just makes me more sad that the game probably will never come out. That is all I have for you today. So sorry I know that you expect more from me.

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.