Lionhead Studios Countdown

UPDATE: The countdown is at zero at 12.42am on Wednesday; August, 19, 2009 and on the left banner where there was previously just bullet holes, there is some blood spatter added to mix if you wait for a bit. Somehow I am disinclined to believe that this will be a Fable 3 announcement. I am beginning to believe that this is for a new IP.

A few days ago quotes from famous revolutionaries (Joan of Arc, Che Guevara) have been posted as the main splash page on Lionhead's website in the form of a countdown. As you can see to the right, there is one day left until the big announcement.

Speculation on this Joystiq's part include a Game of the Year edition of Fable 2... which would be a silly thing to have a countdown for or perhaps an early Fable 3 announcement (this is naturally what I am hoping for). Perhaps it could be the official announcement for the Milo Project which as you know from E3 involved the Project Natal camera (though this is probably not the case).

If you navigate to their site by way of the thumbs up or thumbs down buttons the left banner on the site is ridden with, what look like, bullet holes (does smoke curl from any other type of holes?). If anyone has any idea what this could be, you know where to post it. Fable 2 had guns, right? What other Lionhead projects had guns? Is this something entirely new?

WAIM: August 17, 2009 - Beyond Good & Evil Edition

Since my last WAIM (What Am I Playing) I have done nothing but play Beyond Good & Evil.

I broke out my original Xbox last Wednesday and popped in BG&E.

I suppose I do not want to talk about the game too much because I am planning another Retro Review around it. The game is great fun and I need to complete it before Shadow Complex comes out this Wednesday.

The experience of hooking up my original Xbox again was a trip to the past. It was so interesting to see the old "dashboard," if you could call it that, and I remember a time when I liked the sound of the old Xbox booting up more than the 360's boot up screen. Other than that I had to get used to the enormous Controller S which just feels awkward all around in one's hand. It is bulbous in all the wrong places and at this point I really cannot find the need for the memory card slots to be in the controller.

Monday MUpdate: BBS

ATTN: To Whom It May Concern

The weekly column known as "Monday MUpdate" has been temporarily put on hold. The reason for this is undisclosed at this time, to be revealed on a later date. We apologize for the inconvenience and lack of snarky commentary.

In the mean time, enjoy two concept art pieces from an upcoming videogame.





Sincerely,

The Management

Shadow Complex Coming This Wednesday, August 19th

Get excited! Shadow Complex is gracing XBLA with its presence this Wednesday, August 19, 2009.

I am now one hundred percent excited for the game and I am reading the novel, in preparation, that the game is based upon: Empire by Orson Scott Card.

The hype train definitely caught me because everyone is talking about this game and how they cannot wait. I had been mildly interested when it was originally announced but I had let it slip into the back of my mind until recently when review outlets started getting the review code for the game.

I have never been into the Metroid style of gameplay, which is Shadow Complex's style of gameplay, but I have noticed myself falling into new games because the story just seems too compelling to just let it slip past.

Here is the E3 trailer so that you may peruse it once again. Can-not-wait.

Retro Review: The Secret of Monkey Island SE

I am often saddened that my friends - in my formative years - were not as geeky or nerdy as I was. It may have been that I did not have a wide group of geeks to get new ideas for games to play or it may just be that the internet was not what it is today. The end result was that I missed out on a lot of older games that I am now finding myself enjoying.

"Look behind you, a three headed monkey!"

Not going to fall for that? Well then, this review is all I have: 

The Secret of Monkey Island SE comes with both the HD revamped graphics (that makes it a Special Edition) and the classic edition. For purposes of this review and my personal enjoyment I decided to play the classic edition before indulging myself in the new graphical style. I wanted to experience what I did not have the chance to all the way back in 1990.

The game starts on Melee Island with Guybrush Threepwood looking to become a pirate. The beginning of the game starts when Guybrush arrives at a village on Melee Island, somewhere in the Carribean.

The game is witty, clever and is often hilarious. I found myself laughing out loud on more than one occassion. They do not make games like this anymore but with any luck the success of this and the new Tales of Monkey Island series the adventure game genre might be revitalized. The "point and click" controls transfer over well to the controller as they did with Sam and Max Save The World. There are times where the player has to "click" back and forth numerous times where the controls can become cumbersome but other than that playing the game with a game controller is a breeze. If you have not played the game before you will know what I am talking about when it gets to the mug o' grog and the storekeeper's safe parts.

One of the best parts of the game is that I do not think the nostalgia factor is lost on me. The game was made for someone my age, probably by guys who were my age at the time (mid 20s). I do not think I could have appreciated this game at the ripe age of five. I do have a nostalgia for the graphical style which is really nothing more than a few pixels heaped together. There are close-ups of the characters at certain points and one can tell that this took up the primary portion of the game's memory.

The story is simple, unbelievable, short and sweet. It is the exact story that one should expect from this game. In less words, the story was great.

Where the game succeeded in story the game lacked in challenging puzzles. The answers to puzzles were often common sense or just involved clever word use. The game still makes one feel rewarded for having solved the puzzle at hand if only barely so.

Because there are definitive answers to everything the second run through of the game was considerably less exciting than the first but I did switch to the new graphical style so that it would still feel fresh.

The controls for the SE version of the game are only okay and they feel more cumbersome than the classic version's controls. The D-Pad is used as a hot key for quickly selecting actions (ex. pick up, give, etc.) and while this works, it does not necessarily work well. The 360 controller's mushy pad is most likely at fault here but it still put a damper on the gameplay when I had to push my finger to the upper right of the D-Pad several times before I could select the "use" action.

The achievements also add to the replayability but once again, if you know what they are (they are all secret achievements (get it?)), you will probably only be playing through the game twice. I managed to mop up all of the gamerscore on three playthroughs but I would still say that I only spent 10 hours with the game.

Having just finished the game I can see that the jokes far outlive the short amount of time that you will spend with the game so if that adds value for you then this is your game.


At the end of the day the game is worth its ten dollar asking price (but never pay more than 20 dollars for a game) because it made me feel richer for the experience. Game's do not often make jokes at their own expense and when they do these days it might turn out to be something like Matt Hazard.

Game Diary: August 11, 2009 - Monkey Island SE Edition

At the beginning of last week I still found myself playing a lot of Battlefield: Bad Company but as the week progressed I found that I wanted to play something more story driven for a change. I am fully aware that I could have played the story portion of BC but I was looking for something fresh. I found something fresh in a revamped game from 1990... go figure.

At this realization I decided to pick up The Secret of Monkey Island SE on Xbox Live Arcade. I had a ball playing it all week and at some point I decided that I was going to get all 200 gamerscore.

Mission Accomplished!

The achievements were clever but not hard and even speed running through the game was easy because once you are aware of the puzzle solutions the game becomes that much easier to beat.

I also had the pleasure of discovering that Orson Scott Card wrote the insults in MI. This was a funny little happenstance because I have every intention of making the next book I read Empire, the book that Shadow Complex is loosely based on.

I do not want to say too much about MI though because that would spoil the review that I have been hacking away at for a few too many days.

I did just want to point out that I had little to no interest in Shadow Complex and now I am counting the days until next Wednesday when the game is released.

Monday MUpdate: Thanks for listening, chiiiiiiiiiiiillllllldren!

My life is in boxes at the moment, and because of this I don't really play too much. It takes too much effort on my part to sit and dig through a box for XBOX games, and I just don't every really feel up for doing that. This weekend, however, I took my 360 with me down on a trip to Jersey so I could download the Batman demo and decided to dig out a couple of games. Despite bringing 4 games, only 1 of them ever entered the console, and this is where it now resides: Fallout 3.

But more on that later. First - the Batman demo! That's right, Batman: Arkham Asylum is now available in a 15 minute demo version on your XBOX 360! Or PS3 I guess. Whichever you have. Either way, you now have access to the exact same demo on display at E3. This was my main curiousity: is this going to be the same level from E3? Yeah, it is, and with that all of my previous comments pretty much stay the same: the voice acting is phenomenal, the gameplay is fun but it feels like it would be repetitive. In playing the Batman demo in my own time (without a line behind me or crowd of people watching), I feel like I had a bit more time to sit and enjoy the gameplay, and I've gotta say, it is pretty fun. However, I still feel like all in all, the game is just rental fun. I can't imagine myself wanting to play this game more than once, and the combat is still pretty easy. Sure, it's fun to swoop over someone and kick them in the head, but let's be honest - there are a lot of games you can do this in (such as my hotly anticipated Assassin's Creed 2). In fact, I would go so far as to say the only thing that makes this game special is that it's Batman. The free flowing combat is still by far and large the highlight, though. It's a much more polished version of what Too Human tried to do, and I enjoy it. It can occasionally be annoying when I want to punch the guy on the left and Batman punches the guy on the right, but with all the complaints I make this is hardly one I apply any significance to. Hell, I'm more upset by character designs than I am by that, so it's clearly small potatoes. So Batman is fun to play, sure, but I still can't imagine paying $60 for it. That's just me, though, and I know for a fact other writers here feel differently, so take my thoughts as you will.

Then we decided to play Fallout 3 to pass the time for a little bit, and boy, when I get back into this game, I get back into it hardcore. In fact, I really wish I were at home still plugging away at my adventures in the wasteland. I downloaded the two new expansions (Mothership Zeta and Point Lookout) and finally finished my adventures in the Pitt (which involved a Thunderdome style match with a chainsaw, which was AWESOME). I'm amazed that, even now, I still think Fallout 3 is one of the best games I've played. I always look at it and feel overwhelmed due to the epic scope of the game, and I think that this intimidating nature of the game is what keeps a lot of people from going back. I mean, the original clock in time I had for the game was 56 and a half hours. Do I really want to commit another 56 and a half, probably more, hours to a game like this? After playing it again this weekend, I can definitely say yes. I am absolutely fine with devoting my life to this game again. It's just so damn fun, and now that I'm playing through with an evil character the story seems fresh as I blow up Megaton and kill some doctor who is just trying to create a cure. Of course, I'm making the game much harder for myself right now because even though I have special armor that can practically deflect bullets (thanks to the expansions!), I choose to wear a broken leather uniform that makes me look like Mad Max and run aroudn with no stimpaks. I'M JUST THAT HARDCORE. Plus I have Nerd Rage.

All in all, Fallout 3 is still definitely one of the most entertaining game experiences I've ever had. With all of the new expansions, I'd go so far as to include this game on my Best of '09 list, right at the top. It's just such a damn great game. Everything about it. The atmosphere is wonderful, the ambience is magnificent, and the gameplay still holds even after all of the time I've already devoted into the gameplay. Right now I'm doing one of the main story missions (the Galaxy News Radio mission), but as soon as I finish I plan to investigate the mysterious Alien Homing Beacon sounds my Pip-Boy has been picking up. I'll let you all know what happens.

Assassin's Creed 2 Limited Edition Now Exists In North America

I've known about this since Wednesday morning but have saved the news as a nice little way to start the weekend.

Remember when you heard about the Assassin's Creed 2 "Black Edition"? Remember how jealous you were that over seas was getting this wicked cool box set and we were getting nothing?

Fret no more, dear readers! Now you too can buy a sweet Ezio toy and put it up on the shelf for your cat to knock over and destroy! Check it out:



I present to you the GameStop Exclusive Master Assassin's Edition of Assassin's Creed 2. It retails at $79.99 and it releases 11/17/2009, giving you plenty of time to save up for this bad boy.

How does it compare with the Black Edition? Pretty well, actually. Here's the basic run down of the two:

Packaging: The Black Edition is... well, it's black. Everything about it is black. That's it's motif. Even if Ezio normally wears white, everything about the Black Edition box is black, whereas the North American Master Assassin's Edition is white. The only major difference (besides color schematics) is that the Black Edition is box is themed to also act as a display case, whereas (as far as I can see), the Master Assassin's box is not. It's just a special metal case. However, it doesn't really matter - we're all going to keep the box.

Exclusive Toy Collectible Figure: Both are the same, except one being black and one being white. Also, this thing is pretty big. Most figures that come with games are tiny, but this one is the same size as the game box (8.5"!). Pretty neat, huh? Also, I find it hilarious that Black Ezio is called "Master Assassin" Ezio in the press release of the Black Edition. So what's White Ezio?!

Bonus DVD and Soundtrack: Again, the only real difference here is that one is black and one is white. It's just a big fun color motif.

Bonus Reading Material: Well, the North American version has what is clearly labeled an Artbook to show you the concept drawings of AC2, but the Black Edition is marked as a "Conspiracy Book." Ultimately? This is probably just another case of one being black and one being white, but you never know. I mean, it is a conspiracy, right?

(Note: this is all just humorous commentary. The Conspiracy Book is in fact the art book. Don't worry.)

Bonus Maps: And HERE is the difference! North America will receive 2 bonus maps (Palazzo Medici and Santa Maria Dei Frari) where as all PAL regions will get one more bonus level: the Aresenal Shipyard Warehouse. Damn you, Ubisoft and Britains. Damn you...

Either way though. This is the only other game coming out this year that I knew I wanted to pre-order, and by the time you're reading this, I'll already have done so. I mean, it comes out in November, so all my money worries? Frak it. I'm sure I can save away the money by then.

Excited to Browse Netflix Instant Play from your Xbox come August 11? Think again...

I know that I for one was ELATED when I found out about the new dashboard update coming August 11th. My typical set up for viewing instant play on my Xbox is to have my laptop close by so I can add new movies to my queue so they will be available to watch on my TV. The prospect of being able to browse through instant play directly on the Xbox without the laptop sounded fantastic...until I read this:

It restricts users to perusing the Top 50 films in any of a handful of categories, meaning no searching by title and no browsing alphabetically.

Source

Buh...wha? Well that is disappointing. While that is a lot better then the current ability to only browse what is in my queue, it still leaves a dirty taste in my mouth. Apparently Microsoft knows our wants and needs better then ourselves...

According to Microsoft's Ben Smith, Director of Program Management for Xbox Live, that's how you want it. He says: "I think when people come to Xbox they're not really looking so much for functional, they really want to have fun, they want to be wowed."

Source

We're not looking for functionality? And we want to be wowed? Frankly, I would be much more wowed if I had the ability to browse for obscure documentaries. All in all, this is a disappointment, but still an improvement over only being able to browse your queue.

L4D DLC Announced; or, Hey Valve! 'Sup wit you these days?

The other possible title for this post was "God DAMMIT, PC Users!"

By now you've certainly heard the good news. Valve has announced some brand new DLC for Left 4 Dead! Remember when we all thought Left 4 Dead would be neglected now that they're working heavily on Left 4 Dead 2 with plans to release it within a years time of the original? We were clearly wrong! Hahaha, silly us! Check out the press release:

Entitled "Crash Course," the latest DLC delivers new single-player, multiplayer and co-operative gameplay to both platforms. Targeted for release in September, "Crash Course" bridges the gap between the end of the "No Mercy" campaign and the beginning of "Death Toll" in the original game, expanding the game universe with new locations, new dialogue from the original cast, and an explosive finale

While containing both Survival maps and a Co-operative Campaign, the primary goal of "Crash" is to deliver a complete Versus mode experience in just 30 minutes, resulting in a streamlined version of the game's existing Versus campaigns. A recharge timer for infected teammates has also been added, and item spawn behavior has changed for more balanced gameplay.

-Source

That sounds good to me. You can be sure that I'll be downloading this for free, just like the Survival Mode and 2 new Versus modes they gave us a while ago.

Wait. Hold on. I didn't finish reading the press release:

Left 4 Dead: Crash Course is targeted for release in September and will be available free of charge on the PC and for 560 Gamer points on Xbox Live.

...what?

Alright, let's cut to the chase: I'm the resident cynic and I realize this. I'm the one that points out the flaws over everything else. But let's be real here for a minute. The reason people love Valve is because they are constantly giving back to the fans that support all their crazy schemes. Since the release of the Orange Box, they've improved Team Fortress 2 ten-fold with new weapons, additions to characters, map updates, new achievements, and all of it has been free. All of it has only been on the PC as well. The 360 gamer sees nothing of this, and it looks like we never will (despite my reporting on it a while ago). Then, Valve decides to rush out Left 4 Dead 2 because it's "too big for DLC." That may be so, but it's still a slap in the face to those of us who can't pay $59.99 every time you decide to put out a new game a year (I'm looking at you, every sports game ever). And now, after giving us the Survival pack (which, all things considered, was a BIG update) for free, us folk with a 360 have to now pay for this new campaign, and the PC kids don't? How is this fair?

The answer is probably pretty simple: a while ago, Valve stated that the reason the XBOX 360 users weren't getting any TF2 updates is because Microsoft wouldn't allow them to give out such a large amount of additional content for free. Valve said, "Ok, fine, then we'll wait until we have something big to unload on the console so, if they have to pay, at least they're getting bang for their buck!" Thanks guys. It's appreciated, really. If I have to be aggressive towards someone, I at least like to know who I'm being aggressive to: Microsoft! Those cheeky devils. I would call Microsoft out on this if this weren't a system they had been doing consistently for years. Microsoft almost ALWAYS charges for it's new DLC. It doesn't matter if it's TF2, Halo Wars, Gears of War 2, you name it. You want it, you buy it. I see this as perfectly fair. And since Valve is an independent company now, they can do whatever they like when it comes to the internet. If they want to give away a Sandvich for free, they'll give that Sandvich away for less than free! So that's the logistics of it: Microsoft has rules and Valve has to comply (and I knew that without having to ask Valve for an explanation).

But is it fair? No. Not in the slightest. Look, I will still be cross at Valve for Left 4 Dead 2 because I don't see it as worth $59.99 and nothing I've read has changed my opinion on that (and I've stated my opinion as such on multiple occassions). I'll pay the $7 for a new level and other tweaked updates because I see it as worth that price, but that doesn't mean I have to like it. It is entirely unfair that one medium will get free updates and the rest of us either don't get the updates or pay for the few we do get. We don't get anything, really. As far as a community goes, the 360 is screwed. Do we get to play L4D in the Winchester? No. How about the Mall from Dawn of the Dead? If you want that, go buy Dead Rising and have someone sit next to you in order to fake a multiplayer experience. Let's face it - we're getting the raw end of the stick, and it sucks. As good as L4D is, and as fun as it is to run around and shoot zombies, the fact is we have 5 maps (soon to be 6) and all we can do is play them over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and you see where I'm going with this, right? While you can't really fault Valve here (who swear they love us but can't do anything about it) or Microsoft (because it's not like this is a weird change for them and we all knew what we were getting into when we bought a 360), we still get less than half the experience that a PC user gets.

And that, my friends, is what Penn and Teller would decree as bullshit.

BGE: New Feature and New Feature Idea Requests

My newest idea for a feature is a Retro Playback Review type of feature. I am not sure that I am going to stick with the name but it is a feature that I have been wanting to start up for a while now. I am currently playing through the Classic Edition of The Secret of Monkey Island as my first review and I have my eyes set on Beyond Good and Evil (though considerably not retro) as my second.

I will take any recommendations on games to play and review, for this feature, just so long as they are not from this console generation.

I am also taking recommendations on original features like this one (retro reviews) to amp up reader interest so post those in the comments as well.

PLEASE USE THE COMMENTS, IT IS WHAT THEY ARE THERE FOR.

WAIM (What Am I Playing): August 3, 2009 - More Battlefield Please! Edition

Though I played nothing over the weekend - which coincidentely makes me feel as though I have played nothing all week - I did play a lot more Battlefield (of both variations) this week.

I learned how to fly the planes in 1943 so I have been enjoying that a lot, often finding that I am enjoying flying and doing tricks more than actually playing the game.

Other than flying in 1943 I have been exclusively playing Bad Company. I find that even after I am passed my breaking point of playing (that point where something inside of you breaks and you find yourself not even trying) I still continue on to see what other ridiculous feats I might be able to accomplish.

I managed to place first in match (BC) overall (netting myself that achievement) so the amount of achievements that I have left for multiplayer are no longer numerous in nature.

Other than that I have been fiddling with new features from the Xbox Preview Program and as a result I have considered changing my "in-real-life" style to SteamPunk. Lastly I think I will also commission a life-size cotton swab so that I may carry it around at all times.

Monday MUpdate: The New New XBOX Experience!

Oh, the perks of being in the industry! As writers, we get exclusive access to all sorts of cool things, and the latest is early access to the new NXE dashboard and set up. Yup, only us industry peoples totes got access. There's no way anyone else could do it. Nope. No way at all.

So what can one do in this current update? Is all that stuff from E3 we were told about now readily available? No, no it isn't (and I can't say I'm complaining about that either). What we get is the long awaited Netflix and Avatar goodies we were initially promised at the beginning of the NXE. That and Games On Demand, a set up I haven't even bothered to look at yet. No offense to that system, but it just doesn't interest me at the moment. With the little time I have to play games, I'd rather play what I already paid for! Regardless, there's a whole list of things that come with the update, including little details that are supposed to make your life easier. A new way to look at Achievements, for example. I looked at it, I wasn't all that impressed, but I can see the attraction. We also get shorter clicks to different screens, such as your Active Download Queue. It's neat, but did we really need it? Are we so lazy that the two extra clicks it took before the update really brought us down?

"So Matt," you say. "If you're so negative all the time, is there nothing you enjoy about this new update?" No, silly Billy. There's plenty I like. Why, just look to your left and you'll see exactly what I like. Here's a few quick notes and thoughts on the most visually apparent new stuff:

Avatar Marketplace
See that handsome man? That's me in my current incarnation. When it was first announced that you could now pay for clothes and props, I thought, "That's stupid. Who would ever do that?" The answer is me. I totally did that. XBOX's new marketplace 100% spoke to my interests with it's Steampunk fashion setting, and I'm thrilled to say I purchased all new attire to show off (although I kept my XBOX Chucks as a small tribute to my favorite physician). I gotta say, as much as it annoys me that this stuff costs money, it is very neat. I love the props category, and was highly considering getting some of them (I used up all my money on goggles... just like in real life!) if only for the hilarity factor (such as the one item that had Nate VERY curious: a giant ear swab). I also really like that now, in the free stuff that normally came with the Avatars, they've condensed the categories to make it a bit more neat. It's not a huge change, but it definitely looks better.

My only real question that comes up with the Avatar section is the brand new Props and Awards categories. When I looked in these, they were both blank, and they told me that I needed to win these things in games... but what games? Are all games open to giving me props? Even ones before the NXE? And how exactly does one earn a prop? Or an award? I found the lack of details in this category to be a bit annoying, to be honest. Sure, I can just buy a prop, but how do I win one? If I'm playing Marvel vs Capcom 2, can I win a prop or an award, or does it have to be a full retail game? If I play Fallout 3 and I do a particularly gruesome headshot, does that get me an award? There are no standards as defined by the XBOX crew, so I'm left in a futile situation where I don't know what to do in order to attain more glory on my XBOX. I really like to know these things, so if they release some sort of comprehensive list, or at least a hint or two at what games to play, I'd appreciate that.

Netflix
Netflix's insta-watch capabilities have certainly improved. Most of the videos now have a nice little "HD" logo next to them, and even if you don't have an HD TV it'll still stream as such. The load times have also improved, and the whole streaming thing is a lot faster. That's wonderful. Also, you can set your Netflix so that when you watch a video, it'll tell everyone what video you are watching! How novel! "Oh look, they're watching Very Young Girls... huh... uhm, well, anyway." And of course, there is the full access to the Netflix instant queue, which is 100% glorious in it's entirety. It's also severely confusing! At least, to a movie buff like me. Now I have all these movies in the palm of my hand and I don't know what to do. Do I add Lakeview Terrace just because I can?! It's a conundrum, but one I openly welcome. It's important to note that you will have to do a lot of flipping through when searching the instant queue. Not only do they give you the good stuff, but you'll also have to scroll through every B-Movie in existance to find a lot of what you want. This isn't XBOX's fault though, that's Netflix's fault for offering so many bad movies on demand. Have you ever seen Mulva: Zombie Ass Kicker? I have. It's not pretty. But hey - now you have the opportunity to! Plus, we finally have the ability to watch videos in a party. So you don't have to watch Mulva alone!

So the new stuff is certainly nice. Like I said, a lot of it was done for convenience's sake. I feel like they hyped it up a lot more then it was really worth, but I'm also very cynical. I do enjoy the new additions to my dashboard and XBOX, though. I'm not having this appear with unopen arms. I'm ready for change and happy to be doing it early. I love my little Steampunk guy (and those who knew my previous gaming icon will probably get a mild chuckle out of my new one). So that was fun!

Oh. And Marvel vs Capcom 2? If you didn't get it, you're totally lame. I played that online with a group of friends and it was a wild experience. I had some friends over later to also play it, and it was so much fun. Here's a tip: use Servbot for all your characters. It makes for super hilarity fun time happiness. I also played Left 4 Dead until 4 in the morning again, which I haven't done since I worked at Target, so that was a lot of fun. I was wrecked the next day at work, but it was totally worth it in retrospect because I'm young and in love!

Quick Xbox Preview Thoughts

Last night when I returned home from the bane of my existence that is my job I booted up the XBOX to play some BF 1943. I was greeted by an auto-update message basically telling me that I had been accepted into the XBOX update preview program.

The update actually took about three minutes (my connection was running really slow last night) which surprised me because for all intents and purposes the update is not big by any standard.

After browsing around for a while I ended up buying a Fable 2 shirt from the Avatar Marketplace (give me a break, it was green and adorable) and I had found that I had been an XBOX LIVE  gold subscriber (under a few different gamertags and I had also had XBL a separate time before that) for 5 years.

I also noticed that if I press the "X" button when a disc is in the tray, it will eject. This may have been there before but if not, it is a cool little addition that I will use in the future.

I did not yet get to play with Netflix parties or the revamped Netflix app so those thoughts will come later.

Seriously though, the Fable shirt is hella awesome (I'm pretty sure that is a Hobbe drawing on there).

Game Diary: July 29, 2009 - Bet You Guess What This Week Is About

And the answer is............World of Warcraft! I really haven't had much time to play much of anything lately. Nate and I keep trying to meet up to play some Battlefield 1943, but alas, things just aren't lining up right. I've been wanting to and meaning to finish Battlefield: Bad Company considering how close I am, but I still haven't felt inclined to do so. My gaming tendencies typically depend on what time my girlfriend is or isn't working and she's been working about the same hours as I have been working and she always trumps playing games.

I got to do my typical World of Warcraft play this weekend. I average about a level a week with my playing habits. This weekend I dinged 66. I'm working slow, but surely, up to 80. I finished up quests in the glorious Zangermarsh and moved onto Nagrand. I'm really enjoynig playing BC content and discovering all these new worlds. Really revitalizes the game for me after about 4 years of playing essentially the same content. It makes me even more excited to move onto Wrath content in the (hopefully) near future. I had reached Outland and BC content on my very first toon (Walker) a few years ago, so I knew what to expect once I got Christilena there, but I haven't stepped foot in Northrend yet, so it will be an entirely new experience.

BC content has been really fun though. Nagrand looks like it'll be a blast. I haven't started any quests there yet, but just getting to the closets Horde city made me excited. As soon as I stepped into the world, I was instantly reminded of the African safari. Definitely a lot different feel then any other world on WoW that I've been in.

Hopefully this weekend I can sneak in some 1943 with my WoW time. I'm also itching to play some L4D again after listening to Rebel FM talk about L4D2. I'm also itching to play every video game I currently own and have yet to finish. These include: Fallout 3, Oblivion, Call of Duty 4, Call of Duty 5, Crysis, Grand Theft Auto 4 and The Sims 3. I also feel inclined to purchase Age of Empires III and play that again. AOE was easily one of my favorite games growing up. It's sad to think that Microsoft shut down the studio that made those fantastic games.

Game Diary: July 28, 2009: What war are you in soldier? Edition (Battlefield: Bad Company and 1943)

"WHERE ARE YOU SOLDIER?"


"I'm here Sarge, in the pacific circa 1943!"


"AGAIN SARGENT!... we need you to help us take all of these flags on this... uh... golf course dammit!"


"But I am only a private over here and the planes are much more fun to fly."

Alright, enough lame dialogue... that is obviously not the profession I should be in.

I have been fighting some ill advised internal war on which Battlefield game that I should be playing at any given moment. I am trying to only play 1943 with friends (not working, it is too addictive) and I have been playing Bad Company at every other turn.

I love the guns and classes in Bad Company but the feel of 1943 is amazing and the Air Superiority game mode is tons of fun.

What I love most about the Battlefield games in general are the in game rewards. They keep you playing in between achievements and a lot of the time they have me not even thinking about the achievements. The longevity of the 1943 achievements, patches, postcards, etc. are nothing when compared to all of the same from BC.

This leads me to believe that there is going to be a lot more content to download in the future or that this will truly be an arcade version of the Battlefield series. Just so you know, I am severely doubting the later.

Last but not least... we (I) have this to look forward to.

The Behemoth shows the world "Game 3" but is the world ready?

The Behemoth are known for their beautiful, hand drawn, and seductively funny games. This is the impression that one is given from this studio even though they only have two games on the market. These two amazing games are Alien Hominid HD and Castle Crashers. Both games released to critical and commercial success and now they are looking to do it again.

The game is currently going under the title - hopefully a working one - Game 3. There is nothing to say about the game's story, if there is one, at this moment but what we do have is this interview interjected with gameplay to better enlighten us on the specifics of this game.



It looks like the answer to all of the people who want Super Smash Bros. on the XBOX platform. Whist that is not necessarily a bad thing, it is not what I have come to expect from this studio. The hand-drawn characters look as cuddly and cute as ever but I am not sure if I will be a fan of the game if it does not add a story portion. I have never been that big a Smash Bros. fan so this will either make or break the beat em' up style of gameplay for me.

Please save this game for me Behemoth dudes.

Mass Effect is coming to the comic universe with Mass Effect: Redemption

I consider myself to be a casual fan of comic books so naturally when my favorite video game of this generation has a comic coming out based upon its universe it is natural for me to be ecstatic about it and thus find the need to let you know about it.

Mass Effect: Redemption will fill in some of the gaps between the first and the second game and will specifically follow Commander Shepard and Dr. Liara T'Soni after they become separated from the Normandy and its crew.

The first issue hits shelves January 6, 2010. Mark your calendars I am sure it will not be as disappointing as Mass Effect Galaxy was.

In addition to the Mass Effect comic news The Guild is also coming to comics - also by Dark Horse - and it plans to follow the Guildies on some of their in game adventures.

Fat Princess vs My State

Good GOD, some people in my state are pretty ridiculously stupid. "Kids are going to see a game about a fat princess and want to be one." YEAH. OK.

BRB, I was jut playing Sam and Max, and now I want to become a rabbity thing.

DJ Caruso Set To Make Dead Space Movie

The original title of this blog post was "DJ Caruso Set To Ruin Dead Space For Me." Another appropriate title would be "Matt Complains And Is Very Rude To A Movie That Doesn't Exist Yet." Take that for what you will, but I think that pretty much sums up how I feel about this. Remember Eagle Eye, the movie that told you your cell phone was evil? Remember Disturbia, the movie that couldn't just admit that it was Rear Window? Well, the guy who did those movies is now going to adapt Dead Space into a feature film, and I couldn't be more sad.

A little while ago, I wrote up a review of the Dead Space movie that was created by the team for the game. For those that remember, I very much hated it. I thought that it takes away from the magic and mystery of the game by spelling everything out for you. The whole sense of mystery is what I felt made the game a truly suspenseful experience. Sure, I love survival horror, and I love space, but the story is nothing to snub your nose at either. You get to see brief glimpses of what happened and only at the end do you realize how it all pieces together. With the animated movie, I felt they were saying, "Ok, idiots, here's how it went down." When it comes to Hollywood films, they treat the audience like idiots even more than that animated movie did, so you can only imagine the kind of dumbed down experience that DJ Caruso will bring into the mix. You also might remember that our main character doesn't really have a face due to him being in a suit the whole time, so you can probably just chuck that out the window. That and he spends the entire game alone and not speaking, so how's that for a main character, eh? Do I smell an Oscar??

I'll admit - I'm being pessimistic. Let's face it, though - there isn't much to look forward to with this. Video game feature film adaptations as a whole are boring and usually miss the point. Wing Commander, Resident Evil, Tomb Raider, Doom - all fun games to play. But when you watch the movies, you're robbed of the whole experience of the game. Add a cruddy director into the mix, and what can you really expect from this? Heck, DJ Caruso is attached to the hip with Shia Lebouf, so ten bucks says Shia gets tapped to play the main character, spends half the movie say "No! No no no! NO! No n-no no no!" and the other half being an insecure and stuttering joke of a hero. I honestly see nothing to get excited about with this movie, but I don't ever really get my hopes up for videogame films. Even with Sam Raimi behind a World Of Warcraft movie, I think to myself "What's the point?" Ok, he can direct "olde-timey" ancient medieval war epics (Army of Darkness), but can a game with no central plot line that is based around a large scale user experience make a film? There's a back story, sure, but is World Of Warcraft the movie going to be anything like World Of Warcraft the game? Nope. Is Bioshock the movie by Gore Verbinski (Pirates of the Caribbean, The Ring) going to be anything like Bioshock the game? Nope. So, even if DJ Caruso wasn't the director of Dead Space, would I be excited? Nope.

People like me will whine and moan until the cows come home. It's inevitable. Could we be wrong? Sure! It's not likely, but I'll admit to the possibility. Dead Space could be the greatest videogame adaptation the world has ever seen and could completely rejuvenate DJ Caruso in my eyes. But with his past history, it's hard to get excited over something like this. Dead Space as a game is a brilliant little sleeper hit, and I fully endorse everyone giving it a once over. I had so much fun playing it late at night with all the curtains drawn and the lights out. The movie will never match that experience though, and no film ever will. Too many random factors go into games which help make it a more real and horrific experience. As AI gets better and we have crazy directors in our games (like Left 4 Dead and it's randomly placed zombie hordes), we get more immerse experiences that no movie will ever reach. Ever. DJ Caruso's Dead Space may very well end up a brilliant horror film (doubt it) but no matter what, at the end of the day, the game will always be better.