Knight Games

Please Visit the NEW Blog Site

2006-09-09T21:45:00.000-07:00

I have moved the blog to a new domain. I'm also switching handles at this time to match my Xbox 360 GamerTag. Please visit the new blog: Virtuadept's Game Blog, which is the only content I have so far up on CasualGamer.Net (but that will become a lot more later on, with gaming news, reviews, and forums for gamers with lives, who don't have enough time to game. Thank you so much for continuing to visit and putting up with the switch. If you are reading this via RSS you are going to need to visit the new site to pick up the new feed links. The good news is the comments now have a feed of their own, and all the posts are now tagged with categories information.

I'm keeping this blog up long enough for people to get the news about the new blog site but I won't be updating it. Since all of the posts transfered over, eventually I'll delete this site.

Moving again.

2006-09-08T21:28:00.000-07:00

I just registered my own domain and successfully transfered Knight Games to it, but I need to edit some stuff on it first before it is ready for prime time. I just wanted to post here to let my readers know that Knight Games is moving soon, and I will be holding off on posts until I get the move complete, which if I bust my ass might be this weekend or early next week.

Dead Rising - The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

2006-09-07T13:37:00.000-07:00

Recently got Dead Rising for the Xbox 360. This game is not based on Dawn of the Dead or any other George Romero zombie movies (wink wink, nudge nudge). The fact that you're in a shopping mall surrounded by zombies? Pure coincidence, honest.

First, the Good. The game has a decent interface that only takes 30 minutes or so to get used to. You can aim and shoot or attack in first person, or you can leave it in third person mode and just "shoot from the hip," which works very well for melee weapons but not so much firearms. Since ammo is scarce, you'll end up killing a lot of zombies with melee weapons. The story seems interesting, but honestly it's the same old cliche so nothing really new there. The graphics are decent but nothing stellar. This could probably have been an Xbox game as far as the graphics are concerned. Graphics kind of reminded me somewhat of State of Emergency but are better than that. The camera is a nice touch, being able to take cool pics to gain experience is a really good idea. Being able to pick up anything and everything in the mall and use it in some way is probably the biggest selling point for this game. Almost anything can be a weapon, and nearly everything else is usable in some way.

Now, the Bad. You get one save. One. Save. Save points can easily be a good 30-40 minutes in between each other. The missions are timed. You can run out of time overall and not be able to complete the game. For many people, this will be a deal killer.

And The Ugly - well, actually this is the "not so bad". Even though you only get one save, you can save on each memory device one time. So if you have a memory card and the HDD, you get two saves. Another not so bad is that when you die, you can chose to restart the game rather than restarting from the save point. I know, that sounds crazy. Well, you get to keep your stats. So lets say you make it to level 4 and die, you can restart the game at level 4 from the beginning, meaning you'll be able to do a lot more early on quicker and shaving a lot more minutes off that ever present time limit. Also, if the time runs out, you can still play the game, you just can't complete the story (at least, not in a positive way). You can still keep playing in order to rack up experience and levels which can be useful to you on your next play though. In fact, some of the achievements are clearly designed to be completed only by ignoring the main story and just playing free-form mode.

Bottom line, if you like zombies, get this game. It does not disappoint on the zombie-killing front in any way. Great at that, in fact. The restrictive save system seems like a burden at first, but since you keep your stats when you restart the game, it's not a game killer (for me anyway). There is a demo on Xbox Live that is kind of short but gives you a good idea of the freeform gameplay. Rating: A- (could have been A+ with full featured save system, ah well).

Playstation Portable Initial Impressions

2006-09-06T13:25:00.000-07:00

I had been hesitant to get one of these newfangled PSP's every since the initial launch because I thought that $250 was too much to spend on a portable gaming device. Now, things are different. Now there are plenty of exclusive games I can only play on the PSP, to make it worth my while to justify a purchase. Plus, I didn't have to splash out any cash, I was able to procure a PSP via trade for an extra Xbox 360 I had received from doing one of those "free offers" sites. In fact, I got a nice, excellent condition used PSP and ten (10) games for it. Schweeeet.

Here are the games I snagged, and my tentative grade on F to A scale, based on pretty limited gameplay time so far.

Daxter - A+
Burnout Legends - A+
Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror - A
Mega Man Powered Up - A
Mega Man Maverick Hunter X - B
Street Fighter Alpha 3 MAX - B-
Wipeout Pure - B-
Ridge Racer - C
Field Commander (haven't tried it yet, it was sealed, didn't want to devalue it)
Frantix (just haven't had time yet)

I also picked up PoPoLoCrois, an RPG, but haven't had time to play much yet so no rating.

I have rented:
Blade Dancer: Lineage of Light - B+ (an RPG)
Legend of Heroes: A Tear of Vermillion (no rating yet)

What do I think about this device? Well, it's far too precious to actually use as a portable gaming device. :-P

Actually I have used it a few times on the bus ride to and from work and it does very well. The screen is amazing, absolutely mesmerizing. Sound is fantastic as well with my earphones, heck even without earphones the built in speakers aren't too shabby compared to say the Nintendo DS. But the buttons on the right side are a bit too far apart from each other, and it is awkward to try and use the D-pad AND the analog nubby in any games that make you use both (thinking of Syphon Filter here). I haven't gotten used to the shoulder buttons yet either but in time I'm sure I will.

How does it compare to the Nintendo DS? Well, the DS is still more fun overall I think. I have a ton of DS games and the touch screen just adds a lot to the gaming experience, plus stuff like the microphone and being able to hold in in different ways is innovative. But there is no doubt that the PSP is a much beefier system, and capable of doing a lot more graphically, and not to mention the UMD format allows PSP developers to put more frills in like voice acting and FMV movies.

Load times, on the other hand, are non-existant on the DS but plague just about every single game I have on the PSP. While 5-10 seconds of load time doesn't seem like much to bitch about, when you have that over and over and over in games, it can get pretty irritating once you realize you're spending a considerable percentage of your precious play time staring at a progress bar.

Overall I do not regret my "purchase" of the PSP, I think I will definitely enjoy it especially for all the great RPGs that are out now and more on the way. Some of the games are really amazing, such as Daxter which could easily be mistaken for a PS2 platformer, or Syphon Filter, which has all the complexity and flash of the series, or Burnout Legends which I could easily mistake for Burnout 3 Takedown on the PS2 if I weren't paying close attention. Here's hoping that more games of that nature come to the platform.

I'm thinking of trying some homebrew if I can do it without downgrading my firmware. I heard there's some new hax out. I'd like to run an SNES emu on here, that would own.

Xbox 360 Update

2006-09-06T13:17:00.000-07:00

I have, as previously blogged, recently (June) gotten an Xbox 360. My library of games is slowly growing. Here are the titles I have so far, in the order that I aquired them. I also give each game a letter grade, A+ is best, F is worst.

Perfect Dark Zero - B+
Kameo: Elements of Power - A+
Tomb Raider Legend - A
Burnout Revenge - A+
Project Gotham Racing 3 - B+
Condemned: Criminal Origins - A-
Far Cry Instincts Predator - B+
Dead Rising - A-
Saint's Row - A+

Xbox Live Arcade:
Geometry Wars - A

I'll be posting mini-reviews of each game over time.

I have also rented the following games, but decided not to purchase:
Full Auto - C-
Battle for Middle Earth 2 - B- (decided to buy PC version)

Sony PS3 Delayed in Europe and Smaller Launch in Japan/USA

2006-09-06T13:14:00.000-07:00

Sony set up us the bomb!

They are delaying their launch in Europe to March 2007! But wait! That's not all! Sony is also saying they will have fewer than 500k PS3 units for sale at launch in the USA and about the same in Japan, with as few as 2 million units produced before the end of 2006!

I imagine the fellas at Nintendo and Microsoft are laughing their asses off. Another Christmas with no PS3's in sight can only be good news for Sony's competition.

Long Time No Post

2006-09-06T13:13:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted in a long while. I'm going to try to make an effort to post more often. I will just post shorter blurbs that are more snackable and easily digested.

Weekend Gaming Binge

2006-06-12T10:33:00.000-07:00

This weekend I spent quite a bit of time gaming, and had a blast.

Perfect Dark Zero

I played Perfect Dark Zero, which is a first person shooter where you’re some kind of spy/troubleshooter character. I haven’t actually figured out what you are – it’s like you’re a spy, but you work for a private organization it seems, that works for money, not a government.

Graphics are pretty good but not better than anything I’d seen before on the PC in most recent FPS games. It really takes a lot to wow me on FPS graphics, and PDZ doesn’t really wow me.

However, the gameplay is good, albeit it’s kind of easy. I’m playing on easy, so I may bump up the difficulty and restart. I’m only on mission 4 or 5 so far. I like the fact that you can use cover, by hugging a corner of a wall, or getting behind a crate, whatever. Since I’m on easy, however, that isn’t mandatory, in fact it can just make things harder, when the easiest thing actually is to dodge and move to melee against your opponents then take them out with punches/kicks, or a quick blast from an SMG or shotgun at point blank. I think if I bump up the difficulty to the next level maybe cover will become more necessary and make the gameplay better. So far the puzzle solving has been pretty simple and not a big part of the game.

So far I'd give Perfect Dark Zero an 8/10.

Kameo: Elements of Power

I also played some of Kameo: Elements of Power. This game is a classic Rare platformer, it’s fantastic. I’m surprised it didn’t get better reviews, this game is truly special. You are Kameo, a fairy. Yes, you are a fairy. And you have magical powers to switch your form into different creatures, like you can turn into this plant guy called "Pummelweed" who can beat up on trolls and orcs, and also dig under ground to get under really low places. At the start of the game you can switch between 3 creature forms for a lot of puzzle solving opportunities. But after the first large ‘level’ (I’d guess about 2 hours of play, maybe 1 if you’re really good unlike me), you get your powers taken away in a cut scene and you have to start all over re-learning all your creature powers.

The graphics in this game are truly "Next Gen", they are amazing. It has a cartoonish feel to it but it is incredibly detailed and has all kinds of cool special effects. The gameplay also seems Next-Gen to me because it is so unique to be able to switch powers by changing forms and that makes for a lot of cool puzzle solving opportunities. Different creature-forms are definitely better at different tasks or against certain enemies. For example, the Pummelweed guy is great against orcs, while the roller-ball troll guys you can only kill by pushing them into a hazard, like lava, so the roller-ball form you can do works well for them. Figuring out how to get by all the different enemies and obstacles is what makes this game a blast.

I'd give Kameo: Elements of Power a 9/10 so far.

TEEN TITANS

I also played a PS2 game that was a renter from GameFly, called Teen Titans. This is based on the Cartoon Network cartoon. I love the Teen Titans. This game, however, is not that great, it’s just one big massively long fight, interspersed with Teen Titan cut scenes, which is the main reason I keep playing, and that’s it. So far about 4 hours into it there have been no puzzle solving whatsoever.

You learn tons and tons of combos you never need to use, and no matter which character you use, it seems like it makes no difference really, as none of the titans seem like they are better at the enemies than any of the other titans, so you could just stick with Robin the entire game and it makes no difference. Even the flyers Raven and Starfire don’t make any difference, because they hover, not fly, so it’s still essentially a 2D game even for them. Even if you’re almost out of health, switching to another Titan doesn’t help, because the titans all have a linked health meter, so whatever you’re active character’s health meter is like, that’s what they all are.

The best scenes so far have been with fights against the H.I.V.E. Five villains, Jinx, Gizmo, and Mammoth. But even against these potent super-villains, it’s still just a button masher, and the super-villains don’t require using different Titans or anything like that. Admittedly it can look pretty cool when you have all five Titans beating the crap out of everything all at once with superpowers flashing all over the screen, but gameplay is still kind of trite.

Graphically, this game is woefully ugly especially after having just played Kameo, but even compared to other PS2 games, the graphics of this game blows chunks. The Titans are not cell-shaded, comic-book style like you would expect (and like found in other PS2 games such as Ultimate Spiderman). Instead they’re goofy deformo looking versions done in 3D. I guess, though, I still enjoy this game because I like the Teen Titans so much, and it does have good voice acting that seems to have been done by the same actors from the show (or competent sound-a-likes). So I will probably end up finishing it.

Since the game’s price plummeted I was able to "buy-it" from GameFly for $15, so probably worth what I paid I guess. I did that so I could get the next games in my queue sent to me, some Xbox 360 games. Speaking of GameFly, if you are thinking about signing up for it, let me know, I can send you a referal email and I get some bonus credit if you sign up that way.

I'd probably only give Teen Titans a 5.5/10, unless, like me, you love the Teen Titans, and then maybe a 7.5/10. Loving the show gives a bit of a blind spot to overlook the game's obvious flaws. Still, it's budget priced now, at $19.99 at Amazon for PS2/Gamecube/Xbox, so if you don't expect much, and if you like the Titans, I'd say it's worth a rent for sure and maybe a buy.

Tomb Raider Legends Demo

The only other thing I played is the demo for the Xbox 360 version of Tomb Raider Legends. This is a great demo, and pretty long, it took me about an hour and a half to beat it. Someone more dexterous could probably beat it quicker, or who could figure out some of the puzzles faster. I had fun with it though. I died a lot. And I fell down a lot and had to re-climb to wherever I was. Sadly the gun fighting parts were a bit too easy, even handling 10 or 15 bad-guys at a time was no problem for Lara. They need to make it so if she gets hit it hurts a lot more. Other than that one minor flaw, I felt this game really captured the feel of the original Tomb Raider game, which was a classic. I’m definitely renting this one as soon as it becomes available on GameFly. I heard it was like a 10 hour game so I’m not paying $60 for it.

Retro Gaming

Oh, I also did play a little bit of Baldur’s Gate II for the PC. It’s a great RPG, but it’s oldish, so unless you like retro gaming you probably won’t like it. Still, it has an awesome story line, with tons and tons of quests, and great characters. You could do a lot worse! The graphics aren't that dated, yet.

I also figured out how to get Infocom games on my new phone (Treo 650). So now I can play Zork, Enchanter, and all the other Infocom Masterpieces text adventures on the bus ride every day. Plus, I can also play more current z-code adventures written by fans, available on the Interactive-Fiction Archive. Right now I'm using a z-code interpreter called FrobNitz to play them, which is nice, but there is a more feature-rich interpreter called CliFrotz that requires and supports the memory card slot that I'll be using when I get my 2gb memory card. Totally sweet! Retro gaming with a high-tech twist!

The Treo 650 phone is really cool, BTW, and I’m thinking about writing some software for it, if I can find some Palm developer tools on the cheap somewhere.

Color Change

2006-06-11T10:16:00.000-07:00

Decided to get rid of the University of Texas colors and go with a blue theme. Let me know if something looks goofy.

Treo 650 First Impressions

2006-06-09T06:15:00.000-07:00

Work was giving me some hassles about using my work phone for personal calls, so I felt I needed to just get my own phone. I did a lot of research. I already knew about the Palm Treo 650 from checking out Lyndal's phone, but I still looked at all the competing smart phones from all the major providers, comparing total cost of ownership (price of phone plus monthly plan charges), features, etc.

I looked first at T-Mobile, because Kim's phone was already on T-Mobile. T-Mobile, if you're reading this, the primary reason you lost our account is because your sales people are idiots. Kim was already getting 1600 minutes for $40 a month. They would not let us keep her minutes, we would have had to pay more money to get a family plan with less than half the minutes. That's just stupid. So that turned me off to them right away. Then after comparing their smart phones to the Treo and others, I determined that they didn't fully offer what I wanted. The only phone they had that I would consider a valid competitor to the Treo was the T-Mobile MDA. The MDA had a better camera than the Treo 650, and a very nice touch-screen and hide-away qwerty keypad. So ergonomically the MDA was I think probably at least as good if not better than the Treo 650. It also has Wi-fi support which would have made for faster browsing in wi-fi enabled areas. It used a Microsoft OS, so I assume there would be plenty of software for it, however from what I could tell you had to buy through T-Mobile. I was already partial to the Treo's software suite. The MDA was quite a bit pricier, though, at $400 with 2 year agreement versus $300 which is what I paid for the Treo via sprint. I guess the real deal killer was they treated us like 2nd class citizens when we had been loyal customers since 1998 or so, and their new deal they were going to offer us was less attractive than Sprint, our minimum would have been $90/mo, for 700 shared minutes. So we'd have paid a lot more, for a lot less, and that just ticked me off. Plus they were going to charge us $70 per phone for setup fees. Way to reward loyalty, T-Mobile!

There was also a phone called the Nokia 9300. Ergonomically, this phone is a very cool, with a bar-phone look including a color screen on the outside, but you can open it sideways and it has a really cool, extra-wide screen and full qwerty keyboard. But reading about it, the phone used Symbian which I didn't know much about, and the deal killer for me was that the reviewers I read said it wasn't very responsive compared to their palm-based Treo's. I also wasn't sure what kind of software I could get with it. Plus I could only get this from Cingular. So I passed on it.

The cheapest plan by far, which is the bulk of my expense, was Sprint PCS. To get a shared minutes family plan with free mobile-to-mobile calls and free evenings and weekends starting at 7 pm, and unlimited data for the Treo, it was only $75 a month. The next cheapest plan was Cingular, who had a plan with a few more anytime minutes with Rollover, but their data cost was higher and as a result the total monthly from them with unlimited data for the Treo would have been $110 a month, and their nighttime didn't start until 9 pm. Verizon's web site wouldn't even let me pair a Treo 650 into a family plan at all, and their cheapest single-line, unlimited data monthly fee was starting at $105 a month, plus we'd have to get Kim a plan on top of that!

The Treo does a lot of cool stuff. I've been using it to read my Bloglines feeds, it can do email, sync with Outlook, and of course, run Palm software, which I haven't got any yet but will soon. The phone comes with a USB cable you can use to sync to a PC or you can use BlueTooth for that also if your PC supports it. I haven't tried syncing yet, am about to do that today. Looks like I will definitely need a memory card, however, to store applications and mp3's.

The screen on it is just awesome. Very visible, even during the day, and in the dark it's nice because the qwerty keyboard is backlit. I like the heft of the stylus, it's fairly large and heavy, which is nice for my big ass fingers. Using the stylus is nice for navigation, but when you need to type something it is a bit awkward to have to hold the stylus while "thumbing" out what you want to type. I'm sure I'll get used to it.

The one downside to this whole affair is that they sent me the 650 sans camera, and I wanted the camera model. After about two hours on the phone last night with their support, I should be getting a new one with the camera sent to me sometime next week. Then I can ship them back the old one in a return box they are sending to me. I'll post again when I have tried more software for it, including... games!

Xbox 360 First Impressions

2006-06-08T10:12:00.000-07:00

I got my free Xbox 360 from GoGamer.Com last night. Xbox Live is awesome now. I didn’t have any games for it yet, but that didn’t matter because there was a ton of stuff to download and try via Xbox Live Arcade Marketplace. They had free demos of games, and they also had some cool arcade style games you could try for free or if you want to buy them you can just download the full game. Almost all the arcade games support multiplayer over Live. Live Arcade has classics like Joust, or Gauntlet, and newer puzzle-style games, and also a really cool shooter similar to Robotron 2089 called Geometry Wars.

I also had a buddy with a 360 that I hooked up with. The chat is awesome, you can sit there voice chatting with your buddy while playing games or just browsing the menus. You can also be downloading stuff while playing games (as long as they aren’t multiplayer online games otherwise it’s too laggy). It’s got a really slick interface and was a joy to use. You can even power on and power off the 360 using the wireless controller. The headset plugs right into your wireless controller, so you can talk and hear your buddy via the headset while playing. The only downside to the chat is that out-of-game chatting only works with one person at a time, you can’t set up like a group meeting room with all your friends chatting at once while doing different things. If you’re all in the same game then you can hear each other, but the system-wide chat is limited to one at a time. Hopefully they will improve this.

I should be getting some games this weekend, I made a deal with a guy to buy his Perfect Dark Zero and Kameo for $60. The post office tried to deliver yesterday but I guess they wanted a signature and we weren’t home. I might not get them until I can go up there Saturday. I played some of the demo for Tomb Raider Legends and it looked great, but my friend Ryan said it was really short, he spent like 10 hours to play everything and get all the points. I might end up renting that one.

Oh yeah, that reminds me… Gamer Points! You get a gamer profile on Xbox Live now that tracks your reputation and your gamer points. Each game you play you can win different “Achievements” that go on your profile record, and you can earn up to 1000 points per game. Some games make it hard to earn all the points, and some make it easier, it’s completely up to the game publishers, they can award up to 1000 points for their game, and they get to decide how to award the points to the players. But for example, I got 25 points by unlocking 3 achievements last night in the free game that comes with the 360 (a puzzle game, similar to Columns). You can view your friend’s achievements and see what games they’ve played. It’s pretty cool. The points aren’t really good for anything other than bragging rights, but it’s still kind of neat. Ryan had like 13,000 points or so. He plays a lot.

The reputation thing I think is some kind of tracker to help you weed out the idiots. I think if someone rates you as an idiot it lowers your rating and if they rate you as cool it raises it.

I’d say the 360 is a vast improvement over the original Xbox. Now if they can just come out with some great games that aren’t on the PC I’d be really happy. A lot of the games for it have PC versions, and generally I’ll take PC over console because my gaming PC is usually nicer than playing on console (although I was pretty impressed with how good the 360 looked at 720p HD). Two of the 360’s best games I already have on the PC (Call of Duty 2 and The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion). Looking forward to Gears of War later this year, that one looked great on the E3 coverage.

I’ll post more info later, when I have played some actual full retail games on it.

BTW, GoGamer.com is giving away 4 more Xbox 360's in the month of June, so be sure and read the official rules about how to play!

If you have a 360 then look for "virtuadept" on Xbox Live!

Real Arcade Redux

2006-05-23T17:19:00.000-07:00

I once blogged about Real Arcade. This is Real Network's online gaming thingy. You can access it for free, and download all the demos you want. Most of the games are priced between $10 and $20 normally, if you aren't a subscriber. However, for a subscription fee of $8/month to Real Arcade GamePass, you get 1 free game per month, and a $5 discount on all the other games you buy that month. Once you buy a game it is the full version and yours to keep and play forever*. Pretty much all the games I've played on there are worth a pidly $8 which is what you pay to get a free one each month. You do need to remember to log in each month to use your free credit, because they do not cary over at the end of the month. Use it or lose it.

So anyway the reason I am posting about this again now is that I had quit the service a long time ago, but just now resubscribed. If you subscribe now, they are giving away a free game called SuperCollapse II which is a puzzle game somewhat similar to Columns except stuff comes up from the bottom, and it has several variations. Also if you subscribe now, you get another free game of your choice. Your first month is free, and even if you keep the two free games and then quit you pay nothing and have no obligations. You can quit the service at any time. I couldn't pass that deal up.

If you like casual games, especially puzzle games, I recommend checking Real Arcade GamePass out, it's a pretty sweet deal now if you ask me. It got me to resubscribe. You can also just view the list of the games they offer. Also a really cool pirate trading game called Tradewinds Legends is now marked down to $10, or only $5 if you are a subscriber. If you're looking for another game to use your free game credit on, I recommend either Geneforge or Geneforge 2 if you like RPG games. Don't let the retro graphics of those games fool you, they have very cool gameplay depth.

Lastly, if you do decide to sign up for this, and you don't mind me benefiting from it, I can get a 15% off coupon if I email you an invitation that you can use to sign up with. But if you don't, that's okay too. Other than that I do not get any benefit from Real for writing this, I just thought it was a sweet deal (two free games with no strings attached), so I decided to post about it.

* Forever - but don't lose the email account you used to sign up to real, because to access Real Arcade to re-download the game in case you reformatted or something, you need that email address (and preferably the password but it will email that to you if you forgot). However, I think you can back the games up to a CD or something but I haven't tried that to make sure it works when you copy it back to your hard drive.

Best of E3

2006-05-13T09:25:00.000-07:00

First of all Nintendo is the "winner" of E3 this year with an absolutely amazing show this year, having 27 playable games on the floor for their new Wii console, tons of DS game announcements, and an awesome press conference for it all. They showed up Sony so bad I could feel Ken's pain. Microsoft even did better than Sony, showing actual games and having tons of great announcements for new 360 games, PC games, and Live Anywhere.

Best Console of E3 goes to Nintendo Wii. This will be a game system that changes the way we play games. I can't wait, actually, this will be the first console I'm excited enough to buy at launch in a long, long time.

This is my list of the best games shown at E3 based on watching video footage and reading previews. Since I didn't go to E3 this year, obviously I didn't get any actual play time in.

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess - Nintendo Wii - This game looks to be absolutely fantastic, probably the best Zelda since Ocarina of Time. Really looking forward to this one. The added functionality of using the wii-mote is just icing on the cake. I can see this game as a definite Wii system-seller. While there will be a GameCube version of this game, I will most definitely be buying it for Wii.

Super Mario Galaxy (working title) - Nintendo Wii - An amazing remake of the quintessential platformer, using the wii-mote for all kinds of new controls on Mario. Looks to be another system-seller for Nintendo Wii. If this and Zelda are available at launch, we're probably looking at the best console launch in the history of gaming.

Nintendo had tons of other great looking games for Wii lined up, and I could devote this whole blog entry to it, but I'll just go ahead and give some of the other platforms some time instead.

Gears of War - Microsoft Xbox 360 - Not just a standard run-and-gun, Gears of War requires strategy and careful use of cover to keep from getting blown away. Duck behind a wall, then lean out and shoot, etc. The gameplay video shown during MS's press conf. was absolutely amazing to watch. And gore is back, baby! Rated M for Mature, this game should satisfy your darker cravings.

Shadowrun (working title) - Microsoft Xbox 360 and PC - An FPS action game set in FASA's amazing pen and paper RPG setting, Shadowrun, this game had some great looking visuals, online multiplayer, and more. Just on concept alone I'm willing to give this game a nod.

Assassin's Creed - Sony Playstation 3 - Looking to be a cross between Thief: The Dark Project and platformer Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, this game combines stealth with acrobatics, in an amazingly cool concept. Unfortunately, there hasn't been any gameplay footage for this yet, but knowing how well this team did on PoPSoT, I'm expecting great things. The trailer for this game is totally awesome, worth a look, go download it now.

Final Fantasy XIII - Sony Playstation 3 - Looking to be a great addition to the premier RPG franchise. This time there will be several spin off games too.

Crysis - PC - This amazing game will be the shooter to look for on the PC. I already blogged about it below.

Dark Messiah of Might & Magic - PC - From the creators of Arx Fatalis comes an amazing action/RPG set in the Might & Magic universe. This game has amazing visuals, great environmental effects and interaction (physics, etc), and awesome AI. Looks to be as good as Oblivion, possibly, maybe even better.

There were so many other great looking games shown or announced this year at E3 it is unreal. Late 2006 and 2007 looks to be one of the best times to be a gamer in the history of games!

Crysis

2006-05-10T12:03:00.000-07:00

Crytek, the developers of Far Cry have shown their new game Crysis at E3, which uses the greatly enhanced CryEngine. I think I want to cry, this game looks to be "da bomb". Graphics are absolutely stunning, especially the jungle stuff. If this has Far Cry's excellent AI, and the rumors that they are implementing a proper QuickSave function this time out, Crysis could be the first person shooter to watch for on the PC. You can watch the videos on Gamespot's Crysis page.

World of Warcraft Movie

2006-05-10T09:46:00.000-07:00

World of Warcraft is heading to the big screen [thanks Ars Technica]. Blizzard has shown that they have a cinematic flair with all of their excellent cut-scenes in their games, so hopefully this will be a first - an actually good video game movie.

Just as long as Uwe Boll goes nowhere near it.

Vanguard to be SOE StationAccess Game

2006-05-10T08:53:00.000-07:00

Vanguard: Saga of Heroes is the hard-core MMORPG that is being developed by Brad McQuaid at Sigil Games Online. Brad was the lead designer of the orignal EverQuest. Apparently although Sigil previously had arrangements with Microsoft for them to be the publisher, they've bought those rights back and instead have made a deal with Sony Online Entertainment to add Vanguard to their stable of games under the Sony StationAccess Pass program. Good or bad? I dunno, but it's a bit more likely I might give Vanguard a try some day maybe. New brought to you via Aggro-Me, where there is a lot more analysis of this merger.

Lunar Knights DS

2006-05-10T07:51:00.000-07:00

Joystiq posted up a blurb about an upcomming RPG for the Nintendo DS, Lunar Knights. This is apparently set in the same world as the awesome Lunar: Silver Star Story and Lunar: Eternal Blue originally for the Sega CD, then Saturn, Then Playstation. This one has vampires!

Nintendo DS Upcomming Releases

2006-05-10T07:47:00.000-07:00

Joystiq has posted a list of over 100 upcomming Nintendo DS titles! Wow, 2006 and 2007 will be great years to own a NDS or NDS Lite!

Best. Game. Review. Evar.

2006-05-10T07:26:00.000-07:00

Alex at These Damn Machines Are Killing Me has an interesting take on the FPS game for Playstation 2 and Xbox, Black. Ka-BOOM!

Microsoft's Press Conference

2006-05-10T06:50:00.000-07:00

Microsoft's conference was not as exciting as Nintendo's, but still better than Sony's.

They opened up with an amazing demo including a play-through of the first level for Gears of War. This game could be a system-seller, it looks flat out amazing. It's a third-person shooter, with lots of cool gore and amazing damage and weapon effects. You use cover a lot, popping out to shoot, then back to cover, etc. This will be a pure adrenaline-junkie game, fast and furious action.

They announced a bunch of titles but many of them we'd heard of already. They did show a Halo 3 trailer, but it had no gameplay footage. They announced Grand Theft Auto 4 which will debut on the Xbox 360 (but possibly other systems as well). They showed a trailer for Alan Wake, which looks to be a great action/adventure title, but should also get a PC release. They showed some Brothers In Arms: Hell's Highway footage. Some Blue Dragon footage that I'd already seen before, but they said this game would hit Japan first, so all the Japanese players can buy it before the US players. Yes, both of them. They showed a trailer for a new Shadowrun game which will also get a PC release, and this was the most exciting news for me, an RPG fan and a big fan of the Shadowrun setting.

They talked a lot about Xbox Live Arcade and announced some games for that. This really is a cool part about the 360, and I'm sure I'll have a lot of fun with it, when I finally get my free Xbox 360. Probably the most exciting title mentioned was Lumines Live, a multiplayer version of the PSP hit puzzler.

The biggest news, however, was the changes to the Xbox Live system. They are calling it Live Anywhere, because you will be able to hook up with Live subscribers via your Xbox 360, your Windows Vista PC, or even your mobile phone. Download a puzzle game from Xbox Live Arcade, and you'll be able to play it on your 360, on your mobile phone, or on your Vista PC. Hook up for a game of Shadowrun and play it on your PC while others are playing on their 360's. It should be an amazing thing if Microsoft does it right. The only downside I see is they didn't say they'd support Windows XP, yet they were bragging about an installed base of hundreds of millions of PC users. Well, yeah, Bill, but we aren't all on Vista yet, and many of us won't even have Vista-ready hardware for a while. Hint hint.

Bill Gates was a terribly boring speaker, mostly because he talked more about the business side of things. It was fun to listen to Peter Moore talk, however, because he pronounced things so funny, like RENAY-saunce, and FRON-chises. Overall though, Microsoft put on a good show, and it was well worth watching if you have any interest in PC gaming or Xbox gaming.

Nintendo Press Conference

2006-05-10T06:09:00.000-07:00

Nintendo's press conference at E3 was amazing. They brought the Revolution/Wii out right away, and yes, Wii is apparently the official name, it wasn't a joke. But the Wii looks incredible and is going to have an amazing line-up of games. The "wii-mote" remote/wand controller truly does appear to work very well and will change the way we play games. Here's some of the games they announced for Wii:

Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess - yes, it's a full Wii game, with enhanced graphics and of course fully using the wii-mote interface, you use the nunchuk addon to control Link's movement and shield, and the wii-mote to aim and attack and for most functions. The interface looked slick. And the wii-mote apparently has a speaker and rumble capability, which is used to great effect in the new Zelda. When you pull your bow string back, you'll hear it right on your wii-mote, and feel it get taunt. When you shove your nun-chuk forward, you'll bash with Link's shield and feel it. Yes, that's right, the nun-chuk also has the motion/position detection in it, and force feedback on it too. And for those unlucky enough not to score a Wii, there will be a version of Twilight Princess released for the GameCube as well with standard GC controls. Best of all, this game will be a launch title for the Wii.

Red Steel - The Ubisoft shooter/brawler. Apparently you're some kind of vigilante or cop, I'm not sure but you shoot bad guys with the wii-mote and move with the nun-chuk, and you can also do all kinds of cool moves, plus you can sword fight with the wii-mote, using it like an actual sword (oh yeah, forgot to mention that you also do this for Link in the Zelda game). While Zelda will concentrate on the adventure and puzzle solving aspects, Red Steel focuses on the action.

Super Mario Galaxy - this will be a system launch Mario game for the Wii and it looked great. You use the wii-mote to direct mario, but it's not clear to me how that worked, although it seems like the wii-mote has very precise motion detection and can detect mere flicks of the wrist to do stuff in Mario.

Metroid Prime 3: Corruption - we only got to see glimpses of this but it looked amazing and will use a control scheme similar to what I described for Red Steel. This I think will be a 2007 release.

Wii Sports - up to four players can whip our their wii-sticks to play tennis, golf, or baseball, and the motion of the controller is used exactly like you'd expect to control your player, so you'll swing it like a golf club in the golf game, or like a tennis racket in the tennis game, or like a baseball bat in the baseball game. Should be fun, the tennis demo looked really neat.

Several others were mentioned or shown, including a Rayman game, Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam, ExciteTruck (sort of a 3D "exitebike" but with an off-road 4x4 truck instead), Metroid Prime 3, Project H.A.M.M.E.R. (some kind of beat-em-up I think), Animal Crossing, Disaster: Day of Crisis, Super Smash Bros. Wii, WarioWare: Smooth Moves, Batallion Wars Wii, Pilot Wings, Pokemon, Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz, Donkey Kong Wii, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles, Fire Emblem Wii, Mario Kart Wii, Madden 07, NCAA Football 07, NBA Live, NASCAR 07. Also they said that 27 games would be playable on the E3 floor so we should be hearing a lot more about those games this week.

But that wasn't the only thing exciting at the conference. Nintendo also revealed a bunch of new DS titles, such as a new Yoshi's Island 2, a new Kirby game, a Star Fox game, DiddyKong Racing, Magical Vacation, and more, plus games we already knew about such as the Final Fantasy III remake got some great footage shown. The DS will be the handheld to own this year.

In short, Nintendo pwned Sony, their show was far more exciting and far more cool stuff was shown, with actual gameplay footage, not just cinematics. The only downside is that they did not announce a price or a firm launch date yet.

SONY - Others Innovate, We Immitate!

2006-05-08T19:25:00.000-07:00

Sony's big E3 Press Conference was today, watched it live via GameSpot. Several big pieces of news were announced today:

1. Sony's new online service will feature micropayments ala Microsoft's Live Marketplace.

2. Sony is launching the PS3 on November 17 with two versions: a 20gb HD version for $499, and a 60gb HD version for $599.

Edit: 20GB model MAY not have HDMI, wifi, or a memory card slot. Read the spec sheet carefully, it looks like the HD may not be the only difference.

3. Sony's new controller looks exactly like their existing Dual Shock controllers for PS2, except these have some kind of gyro-sensor in them so that you can turn, rotate, tilt, lift, etc and the controller can sense these movements. Basically they are ripping off Nintendo's Revolution/Wii controller here.

4. Final Fantasy XIII will be a Playstation 3 title and looks AMAZING!

Most of the game footage they showed was obviously pre-rendered cinematics, or at the very least, in-game cinematics but not actual gameplay footage. One demo, however, showed some very impressive actual-gameplay footage, called Resistance: Fall of Man. Basically it looks like a very well done first person shooter. Excellent graphics and the gameplay looked solid, but nothing terribly innovative from what I could tell.

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2006-04-21T06:23:00.000-07:00

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Oblivion - Impressions After 16 Hours

2006-03-25T22:01:00.000-08:00

So far I've spent about 16 or 17 hours with Oblivion, and now feel like I'm familiar enough with the game to make some non-spoily comments.

Overall Oblivion is the most immersive game I've ever played, period. You really feel like you're there, in a richly detailed fantasy world, and there's very little to the game to pull you back to reality and make you feel like "oh yeah, I'm playing a game". Every time I've sat down to play I've been under for hours without even realizing the time flew by. The game lets you chart your own path and do your own things. There's a bazillion quests, a bazillion dungeons to explore, and more. YOu can play the game however you want, be it stealthy, gung-ho actiony, or however. It's extremely flexible.

Graphics are probably the best I've seen in any game, especially the outdoors landscapes. The forests literally look like real forests. The terrain looks realistic. There's plants and grass, and it's all so extremely realistic. In towns the detail is astounding, and the architecture has a very realisic style to it, you really feel like this could be a medieval town. The skies are excellent, and quite beautiful no matter what time of day it is, and constantly changing. Indoors, in the dungeons, feels like a dungeon. There are traps to avoid, it's gloomy, the rocks and walls all feel very realistic. The game's excellent physics system is another factor in adding to the immersion of this game.

The faces on NPCs are somewhat ugly in many cases, but look realistic. I think Bethesda was going for a specific realism factor over beauty and style. Facial expressions and the lip synching during the all-voice-acted conversations is also realistic. Almost all the voice work I've heard so far is very good if not great. Patrick Steward did an amazing job as the Emperor. In addition to the voice work the other sound effects are well done, and so is the game's music. The music has an epic feel to it during the highlights and battles, and a more subdued, quiet feel during exploring.

This is a game a person can spend hours and hours just exploring the world. In many ways it sticks to the same formula as Morrowind did. I never got into Morrowind, though, because I felt that the NPCs were too stale and the quests were too boring. So far that hasn't been the case with Oblivion, but this is still an Elder Scrolls game. Don't come to this game expecting a different style of game than it is. If you didn't like the style of MW, you won't like Oblivion either. Non-linear, explore the world at your own pace, that's what this game is about. There is a main quest, and I've heard that some have finished that in around 16 hours or so. I haven't really tried rushing through that, although I did do the first bit of it with the gate to Oblivion. Oblivion is another plane, where the demons come from, and you do get to explore the demon realm of Oblivion, which is kind of cool.

The game system seems pretty much the same as Morrowind's. Basically you have a "class" but that only determines what skills you start with, and the actual gameplay itself determines which skills go up. I had to restart after closing the first Oblivion portal, I couldn't handle the stuff in Kvatch and I was noticing real problems when leveling up my custom class "Asskicker" on my Dark Elf character. I had too many unrelated skills and the character just wasn't focused well enough I think.

So I decided to make a blue-haired mage name Kudos, a high-elf. I made it through the starter dungeon and started exploring some nearby ruins. I think I'm going to like this character better. I said "mage" but really this is another custom class, I call a "Spellsling". Magic specialization, favored stats of Intelligence and Willpower. Skills are Destruction, Conjuring, Restoration, Stealth, Security, Marksmanship, Light Armor. Tactics so far involve sneaking up on people, shooting them with a poisoned arrow, then shoot again until they close to melee, then fry their ass with spells. Seems to be working so far, but I haven't even gotten a level up yet. Anyone want to comment on my choices?

Yet, Oblivion is not perfect. There have been a number of complaints from people who have experienced crashes. I myself have experienced one crash to desktop in 16 hours of play. I've also had the game lock up or crash when exiting a couple of times. Performance, on the other hand, is excellent, the game runs extremely smooth for me. My rig is far from top of the line, but also not bottom feeding either. P4 3.2ghz, 1gb RAM, GF 6800GS 256mb.

The other not quite as bad flaw is the game's interface. It definitely has some consolitus going on. There's not enough customization allowed on the keyboard, and the menu system is a bit slow and cumbersome to work with. Not hard to figure out, but not efficient. The game does allow you to hotkey weapons to number slots (or spells, or potions). But you can only use keys 1 - 8, for some unknown reason. On the plus side, the game pauses if you hit the menu key (i've remapped it, it defaults to TAB), and then you can select spells or equip weapons on that screen, even during a combat.

The Journal automatically keeps track of quests which is nice. It will even put a marker on your compass to let you know where you need to go. You can also bring up a map, and if you don't want to go overland the long way, there is a quick-travel icon that you can click the places on the map you've visited (and some you haven't) and instantly travel to that location. That's pretty handy for getting around this very large game world.

In conclusion, Oblivion has sucked me in like no game since World of Warcraft. I'm thoroughly enjoying myself. Right now if I had to rate this game I'd give it 9 / 10. I consider this a must-own game for anyone who prefers a non-linear, free to do what you want style of RPG. If you played and enjoyed Morrowind, this is a must-own game, it's got everything good about Morrowind and a lot more and does it all all a lot better. If you didn't enjoy Morrowind, you might not like Oblivion depending on what you didn't like about Morrowind.

I'll post more on this game probably in a few weeks when I have played even further and hopefully know more about game balance, have experienced more of the quests, and can give more insight into the setting/story.

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion - First Impressions

2006-03-23T12:36:00.000-08:00

I never really liked Morrowind that much, so I surprised myself when I decided to pre-order Bethesda's latest RPG in the franchise, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. So far Oblivion has grabbed me like no PC game in a long while, and I just hope it lasts.

The first thing I noticed about Oblivion is the graphics. Oblivion has pretty much the best graphics of any PC game I've ever seen. The forests/outdoors are so realistic it's mind blowing. The only game I've seen that has water in the same league as this is Half Life 2's Lost Coast demo. Oblivion uses an HDR (High-Dynamic Range) technique for lighting that gives it a very realistic feel. Character models and animations are very realistic, especially facial expressions on the NPCs when they are talking to you, it's like they can convey emotion.

So, the eye candy is very nice, but Oblivion also has gameplay coming out of it's ass. But it's a lot like MW's gameplay, so if you didn't like the "explore everywhere, do your own thing, living world" aspect of MW you won't like Oblivion's. But Oblivion does it better, much better in fact than any game I've ever played. It's truly an open-ended RPG, but it also has a pretty interesting main quest so far.

The physics system is perhaps the best I've ever seen in any game. It's absolutely amazing. At the very beginning of the game you find a bow and arrows, and there's a well with a bucket hanging above the well. If you shoot the bucket, the arrow sticks in it, and the weight of the arrow alters the center of gravity on the bucket making it tilt slightly. Retrive yoru arrow and the bucket readjusts back to center. This is just one example, but everything so far in the world just feels right, it's quite amazing. Bodies of slain enemies when falling down seem to fall realistically. There was another scene that was pretty cool where a bunch of goblins were standing around down an incline and there was a stack of logs, I snuck up and pushed the logs over and they rolled down the hill, crushing the goblins.

I've been reading some reports from people that have had crashes and stability issues. So far, I've not had a single crash or lock-up. About 6 hours of play time so far, in two long sessions. It's really too early to say how widespread the crashing is.

The menu interface could be better. Not all functions can be assigned to hotkeys and not all keys are reconfigurable, but most are. I haven't bothered doing it tho, the default interface is pretty good. Much better than Gothic games, I'll say that. And I was willing to put up with a lame UI for Gothic. Oblivion's interface takes a little getting used to but it isn't non-intuitive like Gothic was. The menus aren't terribly efficient, but they're easy to figure out.

You can hotkey spells and equipment to the number keys. So I have 1 set to my sword, 2 set to my bow, and 3 set to my fireball spell. I set 5 up for the healing spell. Stuff like that. Makes it very quick to select what you want to do and do it. And as a bonus, unlike MW, you can have a spell active and a weapon active at the same time so you can bash away and heal yourself without swapping out. I haven't gotten good at blocking, I am going to have to learn that soon. But so far I'm more of a ranged guy, using stealth and then shooting my bow gives a massive damage bonus, so I can take out a lot of enemies with one hit.

Game system is a lot like Morrowind's. I'm just hoping it's more balanced than MW's was. I can't really say for sure if it is or not, still early in the game. I can say that I'm enjoying this game immensely more than MW, and the game system this time around for some reason isn't a detraction. I usually hate systems where you get better at skills by using them versus spending points on what you want, but Oblivion so far is so immersive it just feels right. That may be the "new" of the game tho, so I'll report more back after I've gotten past the initial excitement to see if it still has appeal later.

I just got a new keyboard, a Zboard MERC, which lets me customize the keys even if the game doesn't, and has a very nice "fps" layout with tons of keys very handy together on the left side. I haven't had to customize keys yet but I can see where I might want to a bit. The MERC keyboard so far is pretty nice, I can see this being a real boon for FPS games especially. So far all the keys in Oblivion mapped to appropriate and intuitive keys on the MERC without me having to do anything except for the inventory (tab) key, which is a bit smallish and I might want to reassign that one. There's even a quick-save, quick-load pair of buttons on the merc real handy like and those mapped automatically too.

Going to play more Oblivion tonight and over the weekend, and will post more about it later. I'll also post more about my impressions of the MERC keyboard when I have a chance.

Pissing Video Games

2006-03-23T10:54:00.000-08:00

BoingBoing reports about a project to add a video game to urinals so that you try and pee on targets to score points. Hilarious. Kind of leaves the ladies out in the cold, though.

Demo Discs - Dead or Still Relevant?

2006-03-23T08:57:00.000-08:00

Joystiq posted up a plea to kill off the demo disk. Here's the relative quote:

As a medium of distribution, it's time for physical media to die and never come back. Internet users have for years now been downloading game demos from myriad websites, and console gamers are now getting the chance to do the same. With the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Nintendo "Revolution" all promising digital downloads, isn't it time we did away with ecologically disastrous demo disks for good? And once we've ditched demo disks, let's work on tossing those dastardly CDs, UMDs, MDs, DVDs, HD-DVDs, and Blu-Ray disks too, like so many cookies after a rough ride at the amusement park.

Everytime I read something like this I just laugh and wonder how the writer could be so short sighted. Yes, being able to download demos is nice, but it is certainly no replacement for having demos on a physical media. Broadband penetration in the US is only at around 60%, and there's a LOT of gamers that live in remote, rural areas that can't get it even if they want it. Even then, a lot of so-called broadband connections are crappy 128k connections that are fine for web surfing but painfully slow for downloading 300mb demos. On top of that, the hard drives in consoles aren't all that large (esp. the 360), and unless people are happy with downloading, playing right then, and deleting, there's going to be a demand for a more permanent storage.

And as for full fledge games, we're nowhere NEAR ready for digital-delivery only. Not even on the PC, where hard drives are large and cheap. With games regularly being 5gb+, that's just too big, even for fast broadband, to put up with when buying a DVD is so much quicker, more convenient, and above all, permanent. Sure, you'll always have people who like digital downloads, and that's fine, but there's a LOT of people not ready for that yet who prefer a physical media.

Even in the music world, where songs/albums are relatively painless and quick downloads, there's still a demand for physical media. In conclusion, we're not there yet, and we won't be for quite a while. Broadband is going to have to get much faster, storage capacity on our devices bigger, and even then there's still advantages to a permanent physical media.

What do you think? Tell me in comments.

Two New Reviews

2006-03-15T17:23:00.000-08:00

Two of my reviews have been posted to GameChronicles. The first one is for 80 Days, an adventure game. I give it 5.7 out of 10. Would have been a lot better if some of the technical glitches had been resolved.

The other review is for the Xbox game, Crime Life: Gang Wars, an "urban violence" game that tries to mimic games like Grand Theft Auto 3. Do not buy it. Please. This is the lowest score I've ever given a game, 2.8 out of 10.

How Many Websites Do You Visit?

2006-03-07T10:46:00.000-08:00

TechDirt has an article asking how many websites do you visit daily on average? This got me thinking about my own use of the web.

For one thing, my surfing habits changed radically when I discovered RSS feeds (thanks Lyndal!). I use Bloglines as my RSS aggregator, and so I go to that site pretty much every day, and it helps me monitor some 71 websites at the moment. I have subscribed to as many as 150 feeds, but since I was marking a lot of them as read without reading them, I truncated that list down by about half recently. Without Bloglines/RSS, I would probably at best keep track of 20-30 sites.

Apart from Bloglines, I also visit the following web sites daily or almost daily:

A9 - I use this as my primary search engine because it gives me a small discount on my Amazon purchases. I've also occasionally found the search history to be useful.
Google - I use this on the rare occasion that A9 doesn't find what I want.
Gmail - This is for my public email address (knight37m at youknowtherest). I check it almost every day. Gmail is bar none the best email provider with the best spam filter. If you need an invite let me know.
Wikipedia - I use this handy online reference all the time, when I find a term I'm unfamiliar with or whatever. I know it may not be the most authoritative source, but 99 times out of 100 it's relevant. One nice thing about it is that it covers internet slang, and no print-media reference can come close to being as relevant as wikipedia in that arena.
Merriam-Webster - I use this to check for spelling and rarely for a definition.
My Bank and My Credit Card Sites - not listing what they are here but I regularly check my balances and recent transactions.
GameSpot - great commercial-quality gaming news/reviews site, I subscribe to it.
RPGdot - focuses on my favorite gaming genre, RPGs.
FilePlanet - I subscribe to this premium download service (mostly gaming oriented).
GameTZ - trading site, I regularly read and post in the forums, a great community there.
eBay - I check on auctions here all the time, use it as a "value" guide for shopping.
Amazon - Pretty much when shopping this is the first place I look.
Froogle - I use this to check prices a lot.
GoGamer - This site always has some great deals on PC games.
PayPal - I use this site to pay for online auctions and such. Visit pretty regularly.
Blogger - I use this site to post to this blog. Not as often as I'd like.

How many web sites do you visit daily? What are some of your favorites?

Now Playing: Various

2006-03-03T06:33:00.000-08:00

Last week or two since finishing Final Fantasy, I have been in "game browser" mode, as usual, playing various games and trying to find my next big addiction. I think I may have found it... and it's not at all what I would have expected.

Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time (Nintendo DS) - this is an RPG mixed with a platformer. It's basically a sequel to the GBA game Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, which I haven't played. I am trying to aquire a copy of Superstar Saga, because I think playing it first might help me. Although, the difficulty in Partners in Time ramps up pretty gradually, really. But I still kind of want to play Superstar Saga first, since Partners is sort of like Superstar but on steriods, and I'm worried that Superstar won't be as fun after finishing Partners. I'm only level 7 or 8 or so in the game so still early. It is definitely a fun game, for sure. Tentatively I'd give it an A.

DUO (PC) - this is a free little shooter by Binary Zoo that I've been spending a few hours on so far. It's highly addictive and very innovative. Kind of hard to describe. It will run on even older PCs. Go ahead, download it, you'll like it! Definitely a B+ and for free you can't beat that.

RPG Maker 3 (PS2) - this is a toolbox game. It comes with a sample adventure, but the main purpose of the sample is to show off the editor. The game lets you design your own 3D RPG game. The look and feel of it reminds me somewhat of Grandia 2 or something similar. The combat, however, is not as good as Grandia series, it's just a simple turn-based system it seems. I'm kind of bummed that they don't really include any easy way to share your adventures with others, so what's the point? I know you can supposedly somehow get the adventures off and upload them to a web site, because there is a web site for it for sharing the adventures. But it's not intuitive. Slow loading times when transfering between areas of the game and going in and out of combat was also a turn-off to it for me. This was a rental, not sure if I'll pick it up or not, might. The thing is, it doesn't seem to have a very thriving community, and any editor game has to have a community otherwise you got no audience for your work. I'd be better off waiting for Neverwinter Nights 2, or even just writing a module for the original Neverwinter Nights, which has a thriving community. So far I'd give RPG Maker 3 a C or so, and that's only if you are interested in the editor.

80 Days (PC) - this is a review game, can't say much on it except it's kind of an action/adventure. Check back here for a linky to a review on GameChronicles soon.

Crime Life: Gang Wars (Xbox) - this is another review game, a beat 'em up action game. Look for a review on GameChronicles soon.

None of those really grabbed me fully, however, to the extent of "addiction".... but .... one game has ....

Animal Crossing: Wild World (Nintendo DS) - This game is pure crack. I laughed at people who had pre-ordered this game, thinking it was going to be dorky. Well, call me a dork. I'm hooked. It's a very simple game, really. You make up a character name and a town name. You move into town and immediately get sandbagged by the local entrepreneur with a big mortgage for your house, and you got no money. But there are lots of ways to make "bells" in the game (the currency). And you'll get to meet all the talking animals that also live in your town. The main purpose of the game seems to be in collecting stuff. You can catch fish, bugs, find fossils, collect furniture and items for your house, upgrade your house, try and build up relationships with the other town folk, etc. It's got a suprising amount of depth. And you can even go online using Nintendo Wi-Fi and visit the towns of your friends. I haven't had a chance to try that yet, but plan to do it this weekend some. I wanted to get a feel for the game first. So far I'm rating this game A+, best game on the DS so far. If you have this game, post me or email me your friends code so we can visit each other in the game!

Depeche Mode Meets The Sims 2

2006-03-03T06:09:00.000-08:00

Just read on GameSpot that Depeche Mode has re-recorded their hit single "Suffer Well" from the "Playing the Angel" album, with new lyrics in The Sims gibberish language for The Sims 2 expansion, Open for Business.

I'm a pretty big Depeche Mode fan. I got to go see them in concert this fall for their Playing the Angel tour. I hadn't heard the album before the concert, but I went and got it right after that. It's great, it's probably my favorite DM album since "Violator". The concert is absolutely amazing, if it comes near you, definitely go see it.

It's pretty cool that DM is getting in a video game, even if it's a meh one like the Sims 2. Actually I shouldn't say that, I haven't played Sims 2 for PC, but I didn't like The Sims for PC and didn't like The Sims 2 for Xbox [my review]. The subtitle of Playing the Angel is "pain and suffering in various tempos". That's kind of how I feel about The Sims.

I think it would be fun to hear the new version of "Suffer Well" in the Simlish language. Hopefully someone will rip that out of the game and post it as an MP3 somewhere. ;)

Zelda SNES Commercial (Japan)

2006-02-25T13:40:00.000-08:00

This is a video of a real actual Zelda commercial that was on TV in Japan. Why don't we get awesome stuff like that in the US?

No Fallout 3 Anytime Soon

2006-02-24T09:45:00.000-08:00

I have been reading a few web sites, and learned that Fallout 3 is not going to be shown at E3. For those that don't know, the Fallout series is one of the best role-playing game series that has ever been made. Developed by Interplay's internal studio, Black Isle Games, Fallout 1 and 2 were exceptional RPGs that allowed the player unprecedented freedom of action. What you chose to do in the game had an impact on the story, and how you chose to develop your character made the games play out in very different ways. And the post-apocalyptic setting was done with such style and flavor that one couldn't help but love it. I heart Pip-Boy.

Anyway, so Interplay went kaput and so did any hopes of another sequel (after the much maligned, but still fun Fallout Tactics, a squad-based tactical strategy game that sadly didn't have the original series' style or open-endedness). That is, until Bethesda aquired the rights to the Fallout name and setting, and sometime in 2004 began production of Fallout 3. No one really knows what changes Bethesda is making to the Fallout franchise with this iteration, but based on the developers discussions the game is extremely important to them, and they are taking their time with it, much like Oblivion.

Since Fallout 3 will not be shown at E3, we can pretty much rule-out a release in 2006 and probably early 2007. I guess fall 2007 is about the earliest we could hope to see it. Here's hoping that it will be worth the extremely long wait!

Finished: Final Fantasy

2006-02-23T08:55:00.000-08:00

Finished the first game in Final Fantasy I & II: Dawn of Souls, the original fantasy in a great RPG series. It was a pretty fun 30 hours of entertainment. The story is pretty thin, really, but it was fun exploring. The endless random combats got in the way of fun a few times. I spent a lot of time playing the game in front of the TV watching superhero cartoons on our DVR, and I'd glance at the game to give new combat orders occasionally. I'm sure if I had paid more attention to the game, I could have finished it a lot quicker.

Final Fantasy is the easiest game in the series that I have played so far. I never really went looking to level up just to level up. I did very little exploring that wasn't motivated by some goal. But the goals in the game are not entirely clear all of the time. It is extremely important to talk to people in the towns, that gives a lot of clues, but even then it isn't always clear. The couple of times I had to look at a walkthrough, it was because I was confused about what the goals were.

By the end of the game my characters were level 85. The Monk (evolved to Master) was the weakest character throughout the game, but at the very end of the game I finally found a new kick ass katana that he could use, and he started dealing out the most damage (by far) of any of my characters. That was helpful in the final boss battle, but I'm not sure it was really worth having to put up with his poor performance for the first 29 hours.

The Red Mage/Wizard is a pretty decent character, I could see it possible to play the game with a party of four Red Mages. They have very good melee skills, for when you're running low on mana, and can do most of the black and white spells. They can't use that great of armor, but you would just have to spend a lot of your money on potions and heal up after battles. The lack of some of the most powerful white and black spells might become a problem in the latter part of the game, but maybe not. A hasted Red Mage with an excellent sword can dish out a lot of melee. Most of the good swords in the game were weildable by the Red Mage/Wizard.

I'd still recommend the 2 Warriors, Black and White mages party for a starter. I haven't tried the Thief tho, it might be better than the Monk. Even by the end of the game I'd only killed 75% of the monster types. I am not sure where those other critters are. But it would be fun to explore and try and find and kill them all. Some day I might replay the game using a party of Red Mages and try and kill every critter. The Bestiary shows you how many you've killed of each kind and their stats and a picture. It's like Pokemon! Gotta Kill 'Em All!!

I'm not going to start Final Fantasy II for a while, I'll give myself a little break from FF and try some other type of game for a while. But I'll definitely pick it up in a few weeks or so.

Final Score 7.5/10

Now Playing: Final Fantasy

2006-02-21T19:50:00.000-08:00

I'm about halfway through Final Fantasy for the GBA playing on my DS. This is part one of the dual-game cart, Final Fantasy I & II: Dawn of Souls. This game is old school RPGing and it's great. The plot for the game is pretty thin, but it's still got that FF charm. So far I'd give this game an 8/10, if you have a GBA or DS and like RPGs, get it.

If you decide to play this, my recommendation is to take 2 warriors, a black mage, and a white mage. I have 1 warrior, 1 monk, 1 red mage, and 1 white mage. The red mage is pretty good, sort of all-purpose mage that isn't that great at magic, but can also dish out a lot of damage in melee. But she can't do all of the spells and in the later game I'm noticing this to be a problem since I'm blocked from most of the better level 6+ spells. The monk is worthless. Even after upgrading to Master that character is by far the weakest. I hope I find some gear or something to improve him, the thing is, he's still using mostly the same gear he had since like level 8 or 10 and we're in our mid-50's now.

Evil Asshats

2006-02-20T12:52:00.000-08:00

If there was ever any doubt that the EA actually stands for Evil Asshats instead of Electronic Arts, I think this news from TechDirt removes all doubt.

From TechDirt:

If you decide to play [Fight Night Round 3 for PSP] online, it asks you to go through a registration process, and after that tells you that if you don't want the company to send your info to ESPN and other marketers, you need to pay $2. EA basically is saying that the online version costs $2, but that ESPN will pay that subscription fee for you... if you turn over your info to them.

That's pretty fucking weak. If I had a PSP (I don't), and if I were interested in Fight Night 3 (I'm not), I'd definitely use fake info. I wonder how good their info is going to be? What total tossers.

Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny

2006-02-20T11:36:00.000-08:00

The internets needs more stuff like the Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny. This rocks. Follow the links from the lyrics page to download the mp3 version of the song. You know you love it. Found some other cool flash short-films or such? Let us know!

Couple of Reviews

2006-02-04T12:08:00.000-08:00

A couple of reviews of mine were posted on Game Chronicles. The first is a review of a strategy game, Cuban Missile Crisis: The Aftermath. I give it 5.2 out of 10. Pretty much avoid unless the subject matter is really compelling to you. It mixes turn-based strategic level game which was pretty cool with a crappy and frustrating RTS battle mode.

The other review is for a great Playstation 2 old school RPG, Wild Arms: Alter Code F. This is a remake of the original Playstation Wild Arms game, and it's a good one. Great story, very fun gameplay, if you like console RPG games definitely this is worth a look. I gave it 8.8 out of 10.

Review - Texas Hold 'Em Poker DS

2006-01-22T18:38:00.000-08:00

This will be a "mini-review" of the Nintendo DS game, Texas Hold 'Em Poker DS. This is a poker game, obviously. The game has a bunch of different flavors of poker, not just Texas Hold 'Em. The game also will play Omaha and Tahoe Hold 'Em, which are basically the same as Texas version except you get four and three face-down cards respectively from which to choose 2 to combine with the table cards to make your hand. The game also has 5-card stud, 5-card draw, and 7-card stud. The game has several variations of limit-play and no-limit.

Game play is moderately fast if you turn off "tells". If you turn on tells, then you have to wait while the game shows you a little "video" of each player deciding what they want to do when it's their turn to make a bet, since they might cross their arm or lift their hat or some such. Not only that, but on your own turn you have to decide what "tell" to do, or pick "none", so that's one more click you have to do each turn. So I quickly turned off tells, since they didn't add anything to the gameplay and just slowed down the game.

Graphics for this game are about what you would expect for a card game. That is, not very great but serviceable. They get the job done. Sound is about the same, they have a fairly annoying announcer that will announce in the bigger tournaments, but most of the game is pretty quiet except for some background casino noise in a few of the settings. You could just turn off the sound and listen to an iPod or stereo instead.

Texas Hold 'Em Poker DS supports local multiplayer via wi-fi, but not internet play, which is a sorely missed opportunity. After playing Mario Kart DS online, I'm spoiled, I want to be able to play all my DS games online like that now. And the worse news is that the local wi-fi multiplayer only works if every player has a copy of the game, which is to say, most likely very rarely. I sure hope that someone releases a poker game for the DS that will support this and some other missing features I will go into in a bit.

There are two critical flaws in Texas Hold 'Em Poker DS. The first flaw is that you can not just save the state of a tournament at any time. You must finish the tournament and it only saves which tournament you're on and your winnings so far if you're doing career mode. For the quick-game mode, you can't save at all. Now this, is a major flaw, because a tournament of poker can take quite a while to finish, sometimes over an hour. That's just too long for a mobile game to go without saving. If this game supported saving at any time, like it should, it would be a lot more playable.

The second critical flaw of the game is that your AI opponents are abso-freakin'-lutely brain dead poker players. They must have been programmed with AS instead, Artificial Stupidity. I'm playing 5-card stud, which is one card face down and then each player gets dealt up to 4 cards face up, with a round of bets between each deal. I got a pair of kings showing, which is the best hand visible on the table, and the last cards have been dealt, and so I raise the bet by a significant amount. What do two of the AI players do? They CALL! They should know that there is no way possible for them to win the hand so they call? That's insane. And sometimes the AI will wildly bet All-in when they got nothing better than a high face card, not even a pair. It's whacko.

Unfortunately since I'm unable to go to the internet to find competent opponents, the AI is pretty much a deal-killer for this game. Sure, it's okay fun for a little while, but it's not nearly challenging enough to challenge even a novice poker player like myself, and so there's really not a lot of replay value here. Because of this flaw and the missing save feature, I have to rate this game poorly. The good news is, there's still room in the DS market for a good poker game that supports wi-fi internet play. Don't waste your money on this one. D-

Pics.

Nintendo DS Wi-Fi Owns

2006-01-20T18:41:00.000-08:00

Ok, I have now had a chance to get my Nintendo Wi-Fi USB Dongle working and played some Mario Kart DS online. This is totally sweet, I hope most games coming out for the DS from now on will support this, it rocks!!

Nintendo DS Owns

2006-01-19T12:39:00.000-08:00

I remember when the Nintendo DS was first announced, and I thought how stupid a portable with two screens would be. Boy, I can't tell you how wrong I was. I've only had my DS since Christmas, but I'm already spending an average of 2-3 hours per day playing it. I've already got a little library of titles for it, about 6 games or so. Not to mention that it plays GBA games too, which I have maybe 8 or 9. Here's some micro-reviews of the games I've played so far:

1. Mario Kart DS - just got my wi-fi usb thingy and have not yet played online, but this game even in single player is a blast, one of the most fun racing titles I've played on any platform. what's also great besides straight racing is that it's got missions where you have to do certain goals, and also a battle mode where the object is to take out the other racers. A+

2. Meteos - great tetris-similar puzzle game, what's so great about it is using the stylus to manipulate the blocks, it's so intuitive and fast! really the only thing lacking in this one is wi-fi internet play (you can multi-play with nearby DS's but not over the internet). A

3. Pac-Pix - another cool use of the touch-screen, in this game you draw little pac-man's and watch them gobble up ghosts, it's kind of hard to describe but it's seriously fun. this game is pretty difficult, though, and if you die, you have to restart a whole chapter (each chapter is about 5 or 6 levels). B+

4. Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney - Very cool courtroom drama adventure. You play the role of Phoenix Wright, a fledgling lawyer, and your very first case is to defend one of your friends for murder charges. Of course, you manage to not only defend your client but catch the killer too, just like old Matlock. Touch screen support is there but isn't really mandatory. Mostly what's great about this game is the story. A+

5. Mario 64 DS - I haven't spent much time on this one yet. Controls are not very intuitive, really, and seem sluggish compared to what I remember of the Nintendo 64 version. I am too early in the game to grade this one yet.

6. Nintendogs - I haven't spent much time on this one either. Graphics are very nice, and the gimmick of petting the dogs with the touch screen is neat, but I don't know enough about the gameplay to know if this game is actually fun or not. No grade yet.

I also picked up the new Castlevania GBA dual-game cart, that has both Harmony of Dissonance and Aria of Sorrow on it. So far I'm not that far into either of these yet but the gameplay is tight, I just need to figure out how to do some of the moves and how to make better use of the power-ups and items. Endless respawning of some of the monsters is slightly irritating but I can see why they do it for this game. No score yet.

Oh yah, I got a "game" for the DS called Electroplankton, which is pretty goofy-weird. It's not really a game, it's more of a toy/instrument. You manipulate various kinds of "plankton" on screen to produce electronic music. I've only spent an hour or two messing around with it, it's neat but I don't know as I'd recommend it to anyone unless you just really like unusual things.

Guild Wars Free Weekend

2006-01-17T11:54:00.000-08:00

On the weekend of January 20th there will be a Guild Wars: Factions Global Free-For-All PvP Weekend Event! This event will take place on the Battle Isles, the new PvP continent.

Your Key to PvP*
American Players: 888D9-H27PG-NM72D-PLHJ1-2HG11
European Players: 66DG9-C4RHB-9FKD6-287BJ-LRGCJ

*If you are an existing Guild Wars player, you do not need to acquire an access key for your Guild Wars account; you will automatically receive access to all Global Free-For-All PvP Weekend content when the event begins.

To download the Guild Wars client go here:
http://www.guildwars.com/downloads/GwSetup.zip

Simple Controllers

2006-01-10T06:48:00.000-08:00

I can't believe this is real. Please click the link, to witness the "next gen" console game controller. Apparently this is not a sick joke. And what is scarier than the article itself is reading the comments and finding some of them are positive!

Earth 2160 Reviewed

2006-01-06T16:48:00.000-08:00

GameChronicles has posted my review of the PC real time strategy title, Earth 2160. Overall, if you are an expert in the genre you will probably like the depth this title offers, but newcomers should look elsewhere, as the AI is killer, and other aspects make the game very difficult with a steep learning curve. It looks great, though. I scored it 7.2 out of 10.

F.E.A.R. Reviewed

2006-01-06T16:37:00.000-08:00

I should have mentioned this earlier, but GameChronicles has posted my review of the PC first person shooter, F.E.A.R. I give it 8.8 out of 10. In a nutshell, if you have a medium or high end gaming machine, you definitely need to check this one out. The AI is superb, and really gives the single player experience more realistic gun battles. You can get it at Amazon pretty cheap.

StrategyWiki

2006-01-06T16:24:00.000-08:00

There is a new wiki site that is for user-created game strategy guides, called appropriately enough, StrategyWiki. So far there is not a lot of content for it yet. It's not that easy to navigate yet, but they plan to add some functionality there. This could be a really great site if it takes off, since it would give anyone the freedom to add to the guides any tips they have for beating a game. A tip, the Works In Progress page is a good way to see what articles are in development there.

Christmas Gaming Goodness

2005-12-29T06:50:00.000-08:00

I scored some great new gaming goods for Christmas. Here's a list of my loot:

Nintendo DS Mario Kart Bundle - very cool, have been playing the crap out of it already. It also plays GBA games great and have been playing Golden Sun, a nice RPG for GBA.

Ninja Gaiden Black (Xbox)
Burnout 3: Takedown (Xbox)
Prince of Persia: Warrior Within (PS2)
Dragon Quest VIII (PS2) - can't wait to start this as soon as I finish my review games
Shining Force Neo (PS2)

What gaming swag did you haul in this year?

Oh and also, I'm stuck in Golden Sun. Does anyone know how to find the thieves' stash in the inn in Vault? I used Mind Read on the gang and found out they stole the rod, and that it's hidden in the Inn but I can't seem to find it.

Video Game Myths Debunked

2005-12-23T08:14:00.000-08:00

Henry Jenkins, MIT professor, has written an excellent, well documented, and not too terribly long essay on eight different myths about video games and why they are myth, not fact. The myths that he debunks are:

The availability of video games has led to an epidemic of youth violence.
Scientific evidence links violent game play with youth aggression.
Children are the primary market for video games.
Almost no girls play computer games.
Because games are used to train soldiers to kill, they have the same impact on the kids who play them.
Video games are not a meaningful form of expression.
Video game play is socially isolating.
Video game play is desensitizing.

All false.

Go read the article now! What do you think?

Free Adventure Games Online

2005-12-22T22:15:00.000-08:00

Quandary, the adventure game web site, has posted up a really cool guide for a bunch of different play-via-web free adventure games. Check it out here.

Advergaming - Ads in Games

2005-12-20T06:31:00.000-08:00

Joystiq has just posted a bit of news from Ars Technica about THQ and their goal of getting advertisements into the games we play. Here is a quote from Joystiq's article which I want to comment on. Be sure and click the links to get the full story.

From Joystiq:

In an article over at Ars Technica it has been revealed that THQ is strongly in support of in-game advertisement. The company has announced a deal with Massive Inc. that will eventually result in dynamically updated in-game ads for players connected to the internet.

From the THQ Press Release:

The Massive Network is the first and only network of its kind to deliver dynamic advertising seamlessly to an aggregated audience across premiere video games titles. The Massive Network enables publishers and developers to capture incremental revenues through the aggregation of the video game audience. Developers are able to integrate real-world ad campaigns that are timely, and enhance the game environment with more realism. Twenty-nine premier game publishers have committed more than 100 titles to the Massive Network.

So 29 publishers are committing 100 games to use in-game advertisement. That's pretty serious. And that's just one ad network, there could be a lot more deals being made with other networks or just between game companies and advertising companies directly.

From Joystiq (read all the links for further details about this subject):

In summary: in-game ads are excellent for deepening publishers wallets, but distracting and ultimately annoying for gamers. Unfortunately for gamers, the endless march towards ads in games seems depressingly inevitable.

How will gamers react to this? Swat 4 added games in as a patch. That seemed particularly despicable, since the original purchasers of the game didn't know they were buying an ad-infected game at the time of purchase. Also I believe that the online RPG Anarchy Online has had in-game ads for quite a while for the free version.

My personal feelings are that I will not knowingly pay full price for a game that includes advertisements. If games start coming with ads, I'll probably stop buying those games. I do not want my games to become like television, where you have to suffer through advertisements that completely break your immersion of the story and game world. In TV ads are so intrusive that most people get up and do something else while the ads play. Will gamers end up having to do this for games?

Advertisements are infecting our society on every possible front it seems, making it impossible to do anything in this world without being assaulted by blinking, flashing, screaming advertisements all day long. I don't want my entertainment infected by this any more than it already is. And we know that advertisers will start off subtle but become more and more blatant as gamers become more and more accepting to ads in games. This is why we need to stop and say NO right now, before it gets to that point.

Would you pay full price for a game that has ads in it? Would you buy a game with ads if it were signifcantly discounted? Would you play a free game that had lots of ads? What are your feelings about this? Let me know in comments.

Classic Doom for Doom 3

2005-12-18T12:25:00.000-08:00

A new mod has been released for Doom 3 which recreates the classic original Doom shareware levels. It even has a very cool intro movie that gives the background story for Doom. If you have Doom 3 you need to download this really wicked mod, it rocks. Here's hoping they release the rest of Doom and especially Doom 2 like this!

Neverwinter Nights Diamond

2005-12-09T17:45:00.000-08:00

Neverwinter Nights Diamond is out for $26.99 (been out for a while actually) and I consider this to be one of the better buys this Christmas season if you've never played it or even if you're just looking to score an extra copy to play with friends and loved ones over your LAN. Neverwinter Nights is a computer RPG, set in the Dungeons & Dragons 3rd edition rules Forgotten Realms setting. But it's a lot more than that, because it's also a great RPG construction set, and a wonderful online multiplayer RPG as well.

Diamond is a DVD version, and it includes Neverwinter Nights original campaign, Shadows of Undrentide, Hordes of the Underdark, and the Neverwinter Nights Kingmaker expansion, which includes Kingmaker, ShadowGuard, and Witch's Wake Remastered. That is a LOT of gaming hours just right there. And you can find literally thousands of user-created modules on the NWN Vault, and they are rated and reviewed so you don't have to blindly search either. You could play this game for years and not have to repeat any content.

Recent Reviews

2005-12-01T19:03:00.000-08:00

Two new reviews of mine, up on GameChronicles.

The first one is for the PC first/third person shooter GUN, a wild west hootenanny, yeeeeehaw! I gave it a 9.0. Check the full scoop in my review. This game totally rocks, if you are a western fan at all definitely check it out.

The other review is for the Xbox version of The Sims 2. I didn't like it much, but I think it is just not my kind of game. Gave it 6.8. Here's what I had to say about it. One thing is it does look pretty nice on my new HD TV in 720p.

Not much else to say, here's my Now Playing list:

Currently Playing

2005-11-10T19:13:00.000-08:00

Okay well it's been a long time since I posted to the blog. Sorry about that, just haven't had much of anything interesting to post about I guess. Here is my currently playing list:

Geneforge 3 is a great little turn-based RPG from the creative mind of Jeff Vogel at Spiderweb Software. I've written before about Geneforge, this game is more RPG goodness in the same setting. He's improved the graphics engine a bit and the interface. Grab the demo and try it!

Blades of Avernum this is another turn-based RPG that has a built in scenario editor so that you can make your own adventures or download ones that others in the community have made. Still very early in this one so far, but it is fun so far. Grab the free demo and give it a go!

Shattered Union - which I did a review of on GameChronicles. Bottom line on this one is that it has a very good skirmish mode battle system but the overall strategic level of the campaign mode isn't very enticing. Not bad as a "beer and pretzels" quick strategy fix.

Half-Life and Half-Life 2 - been replaying the original some and restarted HL2 when I deleted my Steam folder to install the GOTY edition. These are both excellent games that any FPS fan should own.

Call of Duty 2 - very immersive, almost too intense, you really feel like you're right there in a war. They've improved the graphics for this version but the best improvement is the way the health system works. Now you start to get hit and it warns you to take cover. You don't have to pick up health packs or monitor a health meter, you just need to not get hit too much all at one time, if you keep under cover you can recover heath automatically. Has no save-anytime, but the quick-save points are pretty common so far. I haven't had to replay any long portions of the game when I died.

Should be loading up Quake 4 soon. Also on the way is GUN for PC (for review) and Sims 2 for the Xbox (another review game).

Xbox 360 vs PC

2005-10-15T17:03:00.000-07:00

I've been on the fence about whether or not to buy an Xbox 360. I mean, I know I'll get one eventually, but I am debating on whether or not I get one before Christmas. Most of the launch games that I'm interested are also coming to the PC. Now, my gaming PC isn't top of the line but I bet it will still be at least a close approximation of the gameplay and graphics of a 360. Plus I get mods. And free network play.

So I got to thinking about it, and decided to do some experimentation. Just how many Xbox 360 games are going to be out for the PC also?

I took all the games that have been announced so far for the 360. I started just looking at the ones from Microsoft's Xbox page, but then I included a bunch I found out about on GameSpot. Then I weeded out the ones that don't have at least tentative release dates for 2006 or sooner, because I think too much is unknown about them to really judge yet. Then I checked GameSpot and publisher web sites to determine if a PC version was also planned. The results were that 47% of the titles that are scheduled to be Xbox 360 games will also have PC versions (and in some cases, already have PC versions).

Here is my data if you care to see it. A "1" in the PC column indicates it has a PC version
scheduled, and all of them have a "1" in the Xbox 360 column.

Game Title	Developer or Publisher	PC	X360
Amped® 3	2K Games		1
Call of Duty® 2	Activision, Inc.	1	1
College Hoops® 2K6	2K Sports		1
Condemned: Criminal Origins™	SEGA®	1	1
Dark Sector™	Digital Extremes		1
Dead or Alive® 4	Tecmo		1
Dead Rising	Capcom		1
Demonik	Majesco Games	1	1
FIFA 2006	Electronic Arts	1	1
FINAL FANTASY® XI	Square Enix Co. Ltd.	1	1
Frame City Killer™	Namco Hometek, Inc.		1
Full Auto™	SEGA®		1
Gears of War®	Microsoft Game Studios		1
Huxley	Webzen	1	1
Kameo™: Elements of Power™	Microsoft Game Studios		1
Madden™ NFL 06	Electronic Arts	1	1
Metronome	Team Tarsier		1
NBA 2K6	2K Sports		1
NBA Live 06	Electronic Arts	1	1
NCAA® Football 06	Electronic Arts		1
Need for Speed™ Most Wanted	Electronic Arts	1	1
NHL® 2K6	2K Sports		1
Perfect Dark Zero™	Microsoft Game Studios		1
Peter Jackson’s King Kong™	Ubisoft	1	1
Project Gotham Racing® 3	Microsoft Game Studios		1
QUAKE™ 4	Activision, Inc.	1	1
Saint's Row	THQ®		1
Test Drive® Unlimited	Atari®		1
The Darkness	Majesco Games		1
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion	Bethesda Game Studios	1	1
The Godfather™ The Game	Electronic Arts	1	1
The Outfit™	THQ®		1
Tiger Woods PGA TOUR® 06	Electronic Arts	1	1
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon® 3	Ubisoft	1	1
Tony Hawk’s American Wasteland	Activision, Inc.		1
Top Spin™ 2	2K Sports		1
Mass Effect	Bioware		1
Ridge Racer 6	Namco Hometek, Inc.		1
Gun	Neversoft	1	1
Halo 3	Microsoft Game Studios		1
Voodoo Nights	Mindware Studios	1	1
Chrome Hounds	SEGA®		1
Football Manager 2006	SEGA®	1	1
Splinter Cell 4 (working title)	Ubisoft	1	1
Battlefield 2 Modern Combat	Electronic Arts	1	1
Prey	2K Games	1	1
Blue Dragon	Microsoft Game Studios		1
Scarface: The World Is Yours	Vevendi Universal	1	1
Alan Wake	Remedy Entertainment	1	1
		23	49

So what does it all mean?

I don't know, but I guess it means that it might take even longer before there are enough exclusive Xbox 360 titles that I want to play before I buy one. I just thought others might be interested in this research so I put it here.

Revolution-ary Controller

2005-09-16T15:45:00.000-07:00

Well now, Nintendo has finally revealed their "super seekrit" controller for the upcomming console, the Revolution. It looks like a remote control, and it works like a magic wand. Sensors around the TV detect the movements of the controller so that you can make guestures with it to control what's going on the screen. It sure is revolutionary, I'll give the credit for being unique. I'm sure it's going to do well for the games that are designed for it, however, I worry about cross-platform games that are being developed for multiple consoles.

Right now a good 40-50% of the GameCube's games library are cross-platform games, but if Revolution has a freaky-weird controller, it may make it difficult for developers to make games that work both for it and for the PS3/Xbox360. Developers could chose not to support the Revolution if they will have to radically redesign the controls just for that platform. If this happens, the Revolution could have even fewer games on it than the GameCube, which already pales compared to the number of games out for PS2 or even Xbox.

BTW, this is not the first controller to try the "move the controller to move what's on screen" trick. I have an old late 90's gamepad for the PC that had a motion sensor in it so that if you tilted it in different directions you could do things on screen. About the only game it was good for was Motorcross Madness, where you could do mid-air tricks by tilting the controller different ways while jumping your cycle.

Death to the Game Industry

2005-09-02T17:05:00.000-07:00

This is a very interesting article that discusses why the gaming industry is paving the way for its own destruction. It's long. Take 10 minutes and read it, though, it's a very good read.

My own initial reaction was that he ignores the existence of the indie game developer and the internet's role in that equation. But we'll see, there's supposed to be a part 2 soon.

Doom Movie

2005-08-27T05:52:00.000-07:00

Ok, when they first announced the Doom movie, staring The Rock, I was pretty non plussed. I mean, we all know how great the Street Fighter movie was, or Mario Brothers. Of course, there have been some half-decent video game films. I enjoyed Resident Evil, and Mortal Kombat wasn't completely unwatchable. But as a general rule: Video Game Movies Sucketh. However, there is a new trailer for the Doom movie at Yahoo! Movies. After watching it, I'm actually a little bit interested now from zero interest before watching it. Some things that I think made it stand out were excellent special effects, cool looking weapons, and best of all, a really cool looking first person camera mode for part of the film. The FP camera really made it feel like Doom. Hopefully in the full movie they pour on the gore, which was suspiciously absent from the trailer, but IMHO an absolute requirement for a good Doom movie.

Psychonauts

2005-08-24T17:50:00.000-07:00

Just reviewed a new platformer/adventure title called Psychonauts, developed by Tim Shafer (of Lucas Arts fame). This is a great game, I give it 9.2 out of 10, and you don't want to miss this if you're looking for unusual games. Here is my review on GameChronicles.

Dungeon Seige 2 - More Demo Impressions

2005-08-06T20:57:00.000-07:00

Ok I've finished the demo. It has roughly 6-8 hours of gameplay, if you're not rushing through it. It may go faster if you do a "smarter" build of your character and if you realize, unlike me, that you can actually pick up henchmen pretty early in the game.

I played about half of the demo solo, as a melee character, and it's doable but the game goes a lot easier with the henchies, and in my opinion, it's a lot more FUN with the henchies because it gives you a lot more flexibility. Plus dying a lot kind of sucks. :)

Also I noticed that the henchies talk to you at different points in the game which kind of reminded me of Baldur's Gate. The game is not *totally* linear but it's was fairly linear and while there were a few side quests to do that didn't take you far from the action. The thing missing here is the open endedness of something like a Divine Divinity or Sacred. But still,
it's a fun romp.

PROS:

1. Best damn interface of any RPG ever maybe. Very flexible and customizable and just about any time-saving feature you could want is there. I love the Z to auto-loot, every game should have this. I also like the auto-arrange inventories. Having all the various hot-keys available for
henchmen formations and commanding them is also very nice. The Journal, which keeps track of your quests and such, is probably the best I've seen in any game. Overall I think they took the best of Diablo 2 and the best of Dungeon Siege 1 and made it even better.

2. Decent Graphics. Not HL2 quality maybe but very servicable. Way better than Diablo 2. Slightly better than NWN and KOTOR. I actually started to appreciate and enjoy the graphics about half way through, but I guess it just takes a while to get accustomed to. The forest area you start in feels kind of claustrophobic at first but it grows on you. (rim shot)

3. Decent amount of story for this type of game, good side quests, good sense of "world", with all the background info and such. There's a lot of stuff to read, stories, etc. You can also talk to some of the NPCs which can give you more background story and just general information.

4. PHAT LEWT!!! OMG. This game has loot in abundance. And it's a lot of fun. Not to mention the enchanting of items, collecting sets, uniques, it has it all. If any game can rival D2LOD's lewt system it's DS2.

CONS:

1. There doesn't seem to be any sense of being able to make choices that actually affect the game world. Sure, you do the quests, and the story progresses, but it's no Fallout where you can make meaningful choices and where the game adapts to the way you build your character.

2. The didn't really revamp the Siege Engine that much over DS1, IMHO, it's really almost DS 1.5. Although there are some improvements and I think it's got a LOT better game balance from what I can tell so far. For fans of DS1 this is probably all good news anyway.

3. Still pretty linear, at least in the demo. Players looking for the freedom to go and do things in any order may feel constrained a bit.

4. Had to fight the camera a few times to see what was happening, but overall the camera controls are pretty good.

I'm almost assuredly going to buy DS2. I may not buy it on day one, but I might, especially if I can talk one of my buddies into getting it with me so we can do it co-op. I highly recommend getting a hold of this demo if you're fans of either DS1 or Diablo 2. If you don't have broadband and can't find the demo anywhere else, email me, maybe we can work something out. I'm tempted to go back and play through the demo again as a mage this time.

Games - Art or Entertainment?

2005-08-06T10:53:00.000-07:00

Here's an interesting article on GameSpot about the nature of gaming, is it Art? Or is it just Entertainment?

Personally I got to go with option B. It's Entertainment. And not always even that. :)

But yes, there have been a few, very few, games that I consider artistic, and Art in a way. My favorite chestnut to drag out when this argument arises is Planescape: Torment. While the game had definite game qualities to it, it had such a strong story, such great dialogue, and such artistic and haunting visuals and sounds, that I have to put this one down in the Art category. If you haven't played it, try it, it may change your mind about games.

But, those kinds of games are exceptionally rare. Most of them are just plain entertainment, even if they have elements of art in them, as a whole the game itself doesn't transcend to art status. That's my opinion, of course. I also don't think every movie is art either. I think maybe for something to be considered art by me, it has to move me. It has to have an impact on me. Otherwise I don't think it is.

But that's just me.

Review - I of the Dragon

2005-08-06T10:42:00.000-07:00

I recently wrote a review for I of the Dragon, an action-RPG where you get to play a dragon instead of a humanoid protagonist. The review is not favorable, but it might be an entertaining read if you're bored. In a nut shell, avoid unless you have a major Dragon-wannabe complex.

Also I wish to apologize, or at least, explain my lapse of postings. I just haven't had time to blog lately, because some recent events at work have made it impossible for me to write a quick blog entry while at work, and I don't usually feel like it in the evenings. So I can't promise to post more often but I will try to when I have free time.

Dungeon Siege 2 Demo

2005-08-06T10:09:00.000-07:00

SPOILERS BELOW FOR THE DEMO. I spoil certain plot details of the demo below.

The demo is pretty good. For one thing, it starts you off in 800x600 mode for the default so be sure to go change your graphics settings. I bumped it up to 1280x1024 and it looked much nicer. The textures though, still look kind of muddy for some reason. For whatever reason
the graphics in DS2 just don't look as crisp and clean as DS1's graphics. In some ways they are better (more polys on the characters I believe), and maybe it's just the opening areas, but overall I was not blown away by graphics like I would have expected to be, since DS1 was
ahead of it's time graphically I guess I thought DS2 would follow in that tradition. But, graphics, of course, aren't everything.

I played through the first little bit where you're a mercenary working for the army of the Big Bad. I think the opening movies with the dragons carrying the troop transports was pretty sweet. I like the fact that you start the game off on the "wrong" side, that's an interesting
twist.

I am only just now getting the mission as the slave to go and destroy the towers of the invaders, and just kind of starting out there. I'm playing a half-giant melee type character and I'm having problems not having enough healing potions it seems. DS2 is much, much more action oriented than DS1. There is no "set the orders and then watch what happens" in this game. You have to actively seek out targets and press the right mouse button to attack them, and it seems to me that even though holding the RMB down on an enemy makes you attack continuously, it seems to be more responsive if you just keep pounding RMB on the baddies. But maybe I'm just imagining that.

Your henchmen seem to be brain dead. For example, in the opening sequence, I had a magic-using character helping me out, but when he ran out of mana he would just stand around instead of switching to melee. So I would have to switch him to melee myself, or sometimes I'd just press "M" to have him quaff a mana potion so he could keep blasting. The good news is that magic seemed to be very powerful, his fire bolts were killing the baddies quickly and at range. The reason I picked a melee character is so that I could "tank" for my henchmen who will be
ranged attackers (magic, or bow). Plus that way I could hopefully control aggro that way. I'm hoping I can find some better armor soon, because now I'm just soaking up damage like a sponge and can't last too long against multiple opponents.

I'd say melee-focused characters get kind of screwed at the start. I have died a LOT. And death sucks. You basically have to run back to your corpse "naked" or lose 25% of your gold and still run back to your corpse "clothed". When you click your corpse after a brisk walk, you get your stuff back (that you were wearing). But the good news is you can wear an alternate set of gear for your "corpse runs". I've noticed that when you save your game it works like D2... monsters respawn back in the areas you've completed. So I guess I could go back and kill easier mobs to build up my melee skill some.

Music was more Jeremy Soul remixes of the themes from DS1, it all sounded very good and somewhat familiar. Sound effects are decent. Voice acting so far has been decent, but nothing terribly great. The "queen bitch of the universe" that is your jailor once you get captured
had a lot of lines where she was supposed to sound "cold" and pissed off at you, but her lines, delivered one line per click as most RPGs do, just didn't flow that well. But not terrible either, I haven't encountered any voice acting that was overly annoying or sounding like
programmers did it. Overall sound has been as good as DS1, maybe better.

Story wise, this game has a better story than DS1. Lets face it, DS1's story was a flimsy excuse to send you through hordes and hordes of monsters, and hell if I could actually figure out what was happening. In the first 2 hours of DS2, however, not only does your character witness a major event with the Big Bad, but his best friend gets whacked, and your character gets taken prisoner, and essentially you switch sides. Oh yeah, and you rescue some people and win over some of your capturers so they think you're on their side now. I mean, things are actually happening to your character in this game, not just wandering along a path. Although yah, there's a lot of wandering along in this game but to me the story seems stronger. YMMV.

On Game Balance - one of the big complaints by hardcore RPGers was the the item drop balance and overall class balance system in DS1 was lacking.

I'm not sure this is fixed. For one thing without talking about specific mechanics that you thought were broken in DS1 I won't know if those are fixed or not in DS2. Plus I just don't have enough play time in with enough variety of character types to be able to judge if there are balancing issues or not. So really this kind of question will have to wait until after I can play the full game.

One thing I have noticed is that item drops "seem to be" (so far) at least roughly equivalent to your current level of skill. I've found junk I can't wear, but it's usually for a different "class" (set of skills?) and not meant for my character type at all. I did find one really swank "purple"
item that I have to wait a level to weild. But nothing like in DS1 where you find an item and you're not even remotely qualified to wear it.

DS2 keeps the same "skills level up the more you use them" system that DS1 had, rather than a point-buy like D&D or such. But it also has point-buy in a skill-tree type situation a lot like Diablo 2's where your lower skills are prequesites for some higher ones, etc. These typically add
modifiers to your existing skills, like increasing your % chance for a critical, or giving you a % bonus to HP.

Also I think the game is essentially a straight class-bassed system. The game even tells you "don't be wishy-washy on which skills you use or your character is fucked." OK it didn't actually use those words but it DID actually say something to that effect during the tutorial. I haven't tried to see if it's true or not. I am strictly a melee character, though. I personally think that's ass-stupid, why even have a "skill-up by doing" if you're going to penalize characters that try to diversify. Oh well, at least with the henchmen you can get access to all the abilities in your
party, presumably.

The bad thing about the potions (or good thing depending on how you look at it) is that they heal you semi-slowly, so you can't wait until the last second, chug a potion, and pop back into action. Your health slowly rises to the level that the potion can max cure you to over a period of time (few seconds really but it's not instant like in D2). So I found myself running away when my health started to get low and drinking a potion on the way, then when it healed up, run back and attack some more, etc. Hit and run tactics. Might be easier for a ranged attacker to do this.

The game does have instant-town-portal a lot like D2 has, except that it takes longer to do (they show a stupid graphic like the ending credits to Dr. Who or something ... that's what teleporting looks like I guess).

I can see this game being a hella fun multiplayer if they didn't totally fuck up the save system this time (meaning, they have enough "waypoints" in there that you don't spend all evening fighting your way back to where you left off last time).

I guess the big question is, as always, IS IT FUN?!

For me, yeah, I was having fun with the demo. I'll probably play the demo to the end of it, however long that is. If I'm still having fun by the end of the demo I'll most likely get this one. After all, it's not like we're suffering from a deluge of great RPG titles.

But, this game is not going to change your mind if you didn't like DS1, unless your complaint was that there wasn't enough "action" because it certainly has more of that (since the player is required to do a lot more than just issue orders). The game does have a lot of hotkeys for
issuing orders and such, and I'm sure when I get some henchmen in my party those will come in handy. But as it starts you off solo, it plays a lot like Diablo II in that you have to actively click on your targets to keep attacking (you can hold down RMB, but I've found that, like D2,
it's much more fun to just keep pounding the mouse button). If you didn't like DS1 because there wasn't enough RPG elements, like making choices that affect your outcome and strong dialogue, I do not think DS2, at least, not based on the demo 2 hrs in, is going to change your
mind.

I'm hoping that like DS1, DS2 will ship with a good editor, and that a decent mod community will evolve aroudn this title like it did for DS1. It will be interesting to see if any mod-developers for DS1 port their mods over to the DS2 engine, also, or if that's even going to be feasible.

The demo is large. 1.5gb. Plus you'll need a lot of room on the HD to install it. The EXE will extract into a temp folder eating up another 1.5gb or so, then it installs from that directory, eating up around 2gb or so after the install. I didn't actually check the size of the demo
directory after install but I'm guestimating 2gb or so. You can of course delete the EXE you downloaded and the temp folder where it extracted to after you've got the demo installed, but I'd say you'll want at least 5gb free before trying to install this demo. I noticed that someone said the demo was on a PC Gamer disc, so if you don't have broadband i'd recommend getting that, since downloading 1.5gb via modem sound improbable at best. It took around 45 minutes to download it via my cable modem from GameSpot's DLX with an average speed of about
570kb/sec.

Ok, welp, that's my 2cents on the demo.

Area 51 Reviewed

2005-07-01T22:10:00.000-07:00

I reviewed Area 51 the PC shooter over on Game Chronicles. Bottom line, a pretty fun shooter that doesn't do anything revolutionary, but doesn't do much wrong either.

Microsoft Still Doesn't "Get" The Console Market

2005-06-29T06:44:00.000-07:00

Just read over on Joystiq that Microsoft is again talking about adding HD-DVD to the 360, but not at launch! Why is it that Microsoft seems to be doing everything they possibly can to sabotage the launch of the Xbox 360?! First they poo poo the gaming press by announcing the new box on MTV instead of giving the press an exclusive conference at E3, which is what is usually done. And then they wonder why the press doesn't give them as much love as they gave Sony. NOW they are suggesting that the later versions of the Xbox 360 might come with HD-DVD drives. Okay... so tell me, why the fuck would I buy an inferrior one in November?! Microsoft needs to learn when just to sit down and STFU. If they have plans for adding HD, they should not be talking about it now, otherwise they're not going to sell through their target goal of 10 million 360's in the first year, because everyone will be waiting for the 360-HD.

Microsoft should look at all the failed console add-ons in the history of console gaming and realize that add-ons are usually a waste of fucking time. What matters is what's in the core box when it ships, since that's what all developers must target for their games. Talking about future add-ons before the console even launches is just going to delay sales, and that's stupid marketing.

Sexploitation and Violence in Video Games

2005-06-28T08:14:00.000-07:00

Over on Unfettered Blather, Botswana posts a diatribe about how women who complain about the portrayal of women in video games, yet dress like a cheap hookers, is a lot like the parents who bitch about violent game content, and then ignore the ratings on said games, and give it to their kids anyway. It kind of puts a torpedo in your whole argument when you do this. It's a lot like people who bitch about the government and then refuse to go out and vote. It's not that they don't have a valid point, it's just that they aren't helping the cause by saying one thing and doing something else.

In other news, I'm getting kind of bored with Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. The missions are too hard and I'm about done "playing" with the non-mission gameplay portions. I dislike intensely having to replay missions over and over and over. They desperately need to have a cheat code that does nothing but let you skip the current mission and see the conclusion cinematics for it. Of course, assuming that the difficulty is constantly ramping up, that would probably just lead to even more missions that were too hard. Maybe my 5kiLLz aren't l337 enough, or something. The story so far isn't compelling enough to bother replaying missions over and over. I am not sure how GTASA got such grand reviews, since it seems just like more of the same to me, nothing all that special except for the RPG-like stats such as driving skill and muscle and endurance.

Best of the Gaming Blogs

2005-06-24T17:00:00.000-07:00

Step right up! Step right up! Over at Man Bites Blog check out the Carnival of Gamers III which is a nicely written sampling of various gaming blogs out there. Some good posts on there! Be sure to save an hour or so to do some serious gamer reading.

World of Warcraft - Revisited

2005-06-22T12:55:00.000-07:00

I just resubscribed to WoW after letting it lapse. Tami talked me into joining her and Steven over on Hellscream. I'm playing an undead priest named Soulrezor. So far he's level 7. The undead missions are similar to the missions for the alliance races, but it feels darker somehow. For example, in one case you give "altered" food too a prisoner and watch a horrible transformation occur. I hope that the content stays diverse so that this will feel fresh.

Still Life Review (Xbox)

2005-06-21T06:13:00.000-07:00

My review of Still Life has been posted up on Game Chronicles.. Bottom line is, if you are an adventure game fan or a fan of psychological horror, you could do worse than picking up this one. My review is for the Xbox version, but from what I can tell the game plays out almost identically on the PC version so grab either one. Game is currently selling for around $20-30 street price. Keep in mind the M rating, it's there for a reason, this isn't a kiddie game.

Restricted Area - First Impressions

2005-06-20T10:15:00.000-07:00

Got myself the latest Diablo-style action/RPG called Restricted Area. I've spent about 2 or 3 hours in it so far and I have a few words to say about it based on my first impressions. First of all, the game uses Starforce copy protection, which if you are not aware of yet, is a pretty insideous form of protection that blacklists certain applications, and if you have those installed on your PC it refuses to run. Certain backup software and virtual disc software will cause it to not work. But in my case it worked okay so I guess I can not complain.

The startup screen lets you change a bunch of options supposedly related to game settings. DO NOT CHANGE ANY OF THEM. I did my first install, and the game flat out didn't work right. I later read on usenet that not changing any options might work better, so I reinstalled and wala, the game works great if you don't touch the options. Kind of stupid to put them there so that unsuspecting players break the game before it even begins.

Graphically, Restricted Area is similar to the Fallout games, with a grungy dystopic future theme going for it. It's got a cyberpunk feel to it. The animations are a bit clunky looking but the starting town area looks pretty decent. Missions so far haven't been that great graphically, but I'm told it gets better so I'm holding out for that I guess. I think the developers must have a crate fetish, there are so damn many crates all over the place. Overall on a scale of 1 to 10 I might give R.A. a 6 or so on graphics. Certainly not the worst ever but nothing to write home about.

On the plus side, the gun sounds are cool, and so is the background music. The techno beat synthesiser music fits in perfectly with the mood and themes of this game. If you're a fan of bands like Prodigy or Chemical Brothers, you'll probably like the music here. Reminded me also of Blade Runner in some ways, as did the graphics in some cases. Voice acting on some of the NPCs is good and bad on others. I'd give sound maybe 8 out of 10 just based on what I've heard so far.

Gameplay is basically just like Diablo 2. I'm playing a gun-toting sociopath, code named "Solo". He specialises in automatic weapons. It's pretty fun to mow down mutants at range before they can ever close to melee. The important thing is finding cool cybernetitcs and installing them to boost your stats and skills. Gaining levels lets you assign skill points to the skill trees and/or also beef up your attributes/stats like strength or constitution, etc. One thing that is kind of weird is that your limit on what cybernetics you can have installed is based on the strength stat, so if you want to have a walking cyborg, you gotta pump up the strength. That makes me think that maybe a melee character might be an easier build.

I do not know if there is a multiplayer or not, I haven't tried it if it exists. I'll investigate that further. More details on this game later as I explore more. Overall now I'd rate this game maybe a 6 or so out of 10, just based on first impressions, but I might decide to change that assessment based on a more in depth look. Check out the Amazon page for some more impressions of other buyers.

Update: There is multiplayer but it's either LAN or direct-IP only, there is no internet matchmaking. I still have not tried it. I am not sure my old PC will run it. Maybe I can find someone who has the game and will try a direct-IP game with me.

Co-Op RPGs

2005-06-15T18:30:00.000-07:00

Someone in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg, the Usenet Newsgroup, asked about good RPGs that support multiplayer co-op mode via the internet. I replied in detail, so I figured I would put my reply up on the blog, too.

* The old Baldur's Gate Original Saga and Baldur's Gate 2 lets you do this, but since the story is centered around a specific character, it doesn't play out that great as a co-op game but it is pretty fun that way, especially for a 'duo' versus a whole team. you can even assign multiple characters to a single player if you choose, or you can just pick up NPC characters to fill out your party. The BG1+exp goes for around $15 or $20, and BG2 + exp. goes for a little more. Getting somewhat hard to find these now that Interplay is kaput.

* Same for the Icewind Dale Games, minus the ability to pick up NPCs (you'll want to start with at least 4 characters at the start). Keep in mind that IWD series is much less story oriented than the BG series, which may or may not be to your liking. I actually have an unopened copy of IWD2 for trade/sale. You can probably find both of these games for under $15 each.

* Neverwinter Nights Platinum is a great game to play through with a duo. There's also limitless content already made with all of the fan-created modules, which some people consider to be the best part about this game. To me the MP for NWN works better than the BG or IWD series, but YMMV. The original game's story is somewhat lengthy and not as exciting as perhaps BG2, but it's worth a play IMHO. I'd rank this game my top recommendation, in fact. If you buy NWN, I suggest getting the Platinum version, which includes both of the excellent expansion packs to this game. The Platinum package runs about $35-40.

* Diablo 2 is superb for playing with up to 8 friends over the internet. This is pretty much a hack-n-slash level-up treasure-finder but if you've never done it before the story can be pretty fun the first time through. I recommend getting the Battlechest if you go this route, and install the expansion pack straight away from the start. There are a few "mods" for this made by fans which change the gameplay some but most of them do not significantly change the story. You can get the Battlechest for $15-20.

* Dungeon Siege - this game is quite fun multiplayer EXCEPT for the save system which is pretty bad, it requires long chunks of time to play through so that you can make it to the next town or portal, otherwise you won't feel like you're making any progress, because monsters respawn and it starts you off back at town each time to resume. Expect a LOT of combat for this game, with a linear story to read as you go along. There are books to tell the backstory of the game world and some side quests but mostly it's a linear dungeon crawl. There are also quite a few fan-made modules for this game as well. I recommend getting the Legend of Aranna expansion pack which also includes the full game. Asking price is around $20.

Those would be my top picks. Some other RPG games that also offer co-op online play:

Prince of Qin - Diablo 2 style game set in Mythic China
Darkstone - another diablo-style game
Nox - more action/RPG goodness here, requires a bit more twitch skills
Dungeon Lords - hard to recommend this for online play but it has it
Sacred - diablo-style game that is supposedly a lot better since patches and expansions have been added from it's launch last year, but i haven't played it recently.

If you have an Xbox I can recommend:

D&D Heroes
Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance (also on PS2)

That's about it for co-op RPGs that do not require a fee to play online. At least, the ones I have actually played. If you want to play any of the above PC games with me, just shoot me a message. :)

Nintendo Revolution - No HD?!

2005-06-14T15:56:00.000-07:00

Gamespot is reporting that Nintendo has NO plans for HD support on their upcomming console, the Revolution. WHAT is Nintendo THINKING?! This just seems INSANE to me. Is Nintendo not aware that 2006 is going to be "the year of HD" where many, many homes make the plunge and go HD because of the mandatory digital thing? Lets hope this is just some weird misunderstanding or misquote. Otherwise we can probably count Nintendo out of the next gen hardware wars before they even begin.

My Playlist

2005-06-14T12:30:00.000-07:00

Some games I've been spending time with recently:

Restricted Area - a Diablo 2 style game set in a cyberpunk setting. So far the levels haven't been that spectacular. Randomly generated treasure-hunting is the core of this game, only instead of magic swords it's cyber-limbs and implants.
Geneforge - great little shareware RPG I blogged about before. Discover the secrets of a mysterious island that you have been shipwrecked on, choose allies, and become embroiled in the politics of the islanders. Not much eye or ear candy here but the story is A+.
Call of Duty - still not quite done with this one in single-player mode. This is a superb World War 2 themed FPS. I think what makes this game fun is the weapons. They may or may not be "authentic" (like I would know) but they sure do FEEL right.
Delta Force Xtreme - great multiplayer co-op mode makes this a blast, join up with friends against terrorists, drug smugglers, and other bad dudes. Or you can go it alone with some AI helpers.
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas - open-ended deviant gameplay at its best. The only downside to this game is having to repeat the difficult missions over and over. I really think if Rockstar toned down the difficulty of the missions it would make this series a lot more fun. Or at least put in options for lower difficulty missions. The good news is that this version of the game offers a LOT more non-mission gameplay.
Planescape Torment - I just installed this on XP to see if the game still worked on my new rig and I couldn't help but get caught up in this wonderful game again. This by far is the best story-oriented RPG ever developed. Even thought it has 640x480 graphics I still love it. Besides if you edit the torment.ini you can play it in a window.
Dungeons & Dragons Heroes - This is a top-down multiplayer hack-n-slash for the Xbox that Kim and I have been playing through. We started on "easy" because we wanted to get through it faster but there really has been almost no challenge for the regular bad dudes, but for the boss fights it's just about right. Oh well.

And some demos:

Battlefield 2 - demo is pretty nice but I was getting a lot of lag in MP.
F.E.A.R. beta - this is only avaiable to to FilePlanet subscribers at the moment. The beta is for the multiplayer part only. It reminded me a lot of Soldier of Fortune MP.
Dungeon Siege 2 beta - also for FilePlanet subscribers. This also is MP only, but you can create a room for just yourself and go through the quests solo.

As usual, no one game seems to grab my full attention. :)

Fate - A Diablo-style RPG

2005-06-06T19:49:00.000-07:00

I recently tried the demo version of a new game called Fate. This game is essentially a Diablo 2 clone but it does have some unique features that sets it apart, and there is no denying the fun factor of this game. While the game is highly derivative, it does just about everything right to give it that "just 5 more minutes" addictive gameplay.

You start the game as a male or female adventurer. You get a club, one identify spell and one town portal spell. Yep, they work just like in D2, you right click a scroll to use it. You can buy scroll books also, and the game actually gives you a discount if you do. You can equip items. Items have different attribute level requirements, such as Strength 30, or Dexterity 25.

The background to the game is that there is a dungeon near this little town. The town has NPCs that either give you quests or want to sell you stuff. You can buy magic items, armor, weapons, enchantments to your items, etc. Like in D2 you have a chest in town where you can stash gear.

Combat in Fate is pretty much just like Diablo. You swing your weapon by holding down the left mouse button on a monster. You automatically pick up some loot (potions and gold) by running over it, and items you click to pick up. The items are randomized, so you can get different magical attributes on the items you find. You can cast spells if you buy a spell and learn it in town or find a spell while adventuring. There are spells to heal you and/or your allies, summon monsters to help fight for you, or do direct damage.

Leveling up works just like Diablo 2, you can assign points to skills and to attributes. The attributes you can assign to are Strenth - melee damage, Dexterity - ability to hit, Vitality - how much damage you can take, and Magic - your magical affinity and power. You have different skills like Swords or Duel Wielding or Charm Magic, etc. You can assign points to these areas to give your character bonuses when using those skills.

Instead of hiring mercenaries like in D2, you get a pet. Your pet can be either a cat or a dog. Your pet can wear rings or necklaces to improve it's abilities. The pet gains in levels as you do by killing things. The pet also has a large inventory space and you can shift-click on items on the ground to have your pet pick it up. This is great for stashing loot you plan to sell to a vendor. When in town you can shift-click the vendor and you can then sell items from the pet inventory.

Another neat feature that is unique to Fate is fishing. You can buy a fishing pole and then find fishing holes to fish from. In town there is a spot you can fish, and you'll also find spots in the dungeon. The purpose of fishing is to find different kinds of fish. When you feed a fish to your pet, it can transform into a different type of creature. For example, you might feed it a certain fish and it turns your pet into a wolf for a while. Different kinds of creatures have different stats and abilities so this can affect how effective your pet is in combat.

The music for the game is very good, sound effects are decent. The graphics are actually quite good, much better than D2's - they are fully 3D. Screenshots are on the game's web site. The demo lets you go 3 levels deep into the dungeon. I recommend downloading it and giving it a go. You can find out more about Fate on the Fate web site. I'm highly considering buying the registered version of this, which is $20.

One thing you should be aware of is that the registered game keys in on your hardware configuration and you are only allowed to install the game 3 times before you get locked out of it. Supposedly you can email WildTangent and get more installs, if you can provide proof of purchase I guess. The EULA grants you the license to run the game on 2 computers, but not simultaneously. From what I can tell there is no multiplayer to the game.

Playstation 3 May Cost Up to $500

2005-06-03T16:15:00.000-07:00

This is coming from Joystiq, a gaming blog, which, frankly, has posted up unfounded BS rumors before, but check this out:

Yes folks, it’s the latest and greatest rumor surrounding Sony’s next-gen entertainment box. And at this point, it looks like it might be close to the truth. Let’s face it, the technology the PS3 will be packing (i.e. BluRay and Cell) is simply not yet widely distributed—BluRay will not have been implemented into enough electronic devices to warrant a PS3 launch price that will presumably compete with the Xbox 360 ($350?). The PS3 is going to cost at least $400, if not closer to the $500 mark. Of course, in the estimated five-year lifespan of the next-gen console, the PS3 will certainly see a series of price drops that could help Sony end up on top in the long haul. Time will tell.

If Sony releases Playstation 3 at $500, Microsoft actually has a decent chance of becoming the dominant player in the next gen of consoles, assuming they stick to the $300 mark for their hardware. $500 is a heck of a lot of bones for a game console. The only thing that might help Sony is the Blu-Ray drive, if they can get enough movie studios to release special Blu-Ray editions of geek-popular films. Then a (rich) gamer could justify the extra expense by saying they're getting in on the next DVD-replacement. I remember when 3D0 released their extremely expensive console alongside the Sega Saturn and later N64 and PSX. It didn't fare too well, even the Saturn was more popular and it was considered a failure. This little rumor, if true, sure does put an interesting spin on the next gen console wars.

Update: Lyndal in the comments posted this:

Just read this on Gamespot...
http://www.gamespot.com/news/2005/05/24/news_6126410.html

quote... "Today, Japanese Web site Impress PC Watch reported that SCE has told its business partners that the PS3 will be under 40,000 yen ($370) at launch. The news has spurred speculation that the company might launch the machine with the same price it set for the PlayStation and PlayStation 2. Both machines were priced at 39,800 yen ($368) when they launched in 1994 and 2000, respectively."

$370 definitely puts it in the same ballpark as the Xbox 360 (and a final price on that I don't think is confirmed yet, $360 has been suggested, or $299). Even if Microsoft manages (and can afford) to drop the price at PS3's launch, it should still not be a major factor for the hardcore gamers. I heard another rumor that PS3 wasn't going to ship standard with a HDD but I really hope that's just a rumor because typically game developers target the base system and that would mean not a heck of a lot of games would support it. What Sony needs to do is make a deal with Rockstar and ship the next GTA game with the PS3. A billion units sold in week 1! ;)

Geneforge 3 for Windows is Out

2005-06-02T18:28:00.000-07:00

Remember when I posted about Geneforge? Well Geneforge 3 is out now for Windows and you can download the lengthy demo for it at Spiderweb's site.

Geneforge 3 has a huge and open storyline. You can help one of several factions, each with its own goals. There are dozens of different endings. You can help the rebels, or fight them. Slay your enemies, or use stealth and diplomacy. When you finish the game, start over, choose a different side or tactics, and experience a completely different game. No matter what you choose, Geneforge 3 offers an enormous adventure with plenty of replay value.

There is also a Macintosh version there.

Dungeon Lords Reviewed

2005-06-02T11:23:00.000-07:00

You can view my full review of Dungeon Lords over on Game Chronicles. Also relevant to provide more information you can read my preview in case you missed it. In a nutshell - game was released before it was finished and could have been so much better.

Medal of Honor Pacific Assault

2005-05-31T10:30:00.000-07:00

Spent the weekend with family, and also kind of went on a bit of a game buying binge. I got Cossacks Anthology which is really hard to find and I got it for a steal. I also snagged Warrior Kings and Shadow of Destiny for a song. And for PS2 I picked up The Getaway Black Monday. But the coolest game I picked up, and the one I installed first is Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault, which I got for $20 at Best Buy. It's a large install, the game comes on four CD's (would have gotten the DVD version but it was $30).

So anyway I start it up. You begin by attacking a Japanese held atol in some amphibious assault vehicles and soon after I die, but instead of dying, the game flashes back to basic training. From there you go through basic training (the tutorial for the game) and then you get shipped off to Hawaii, on December 7, 1941. You then get thrust into gameplay that is definitely reminiscent of the film Pearl Harbor as you try and survive the Japanese sneak attack. Very cool so far, but I am still early into it. The graphics are quite a bit better than the original Medal of Honor was, but probably not quite as nice as Half-Life 2. Lots of eye-candy to see here though, with skies filled with Zeros as you desperately try and take a few of them down from your PT Boat as the battleships in the harbor are being destroyed.

Now Playing

2005-05-27T11:33:00.000-07:00

Well last couple of weeks haven't given me much time for gaming but I did get some in. I have played more World of Warcraft, concentrating on finishing up Strangelthorn Vale on Ami who is now level 42. I'm also doing a review game, Dungeon Lords, which I can't really talk about until I do the review except to say that, yeah, it's fun. And lastly, I am playing some demos of such. I actually played a couple of scenes in Half Life 2 which I never finished last night. I have played the demo for Delta Force Xtreme and I like it but I am not sure I'm going to buy it. It's only $20 though so I might. Played a few turns of Master of Orion 2 just to check to see that it runs under Windows XP (it does) because someone claimed it didn't. And a little bit of Call of Duty when I'm in a WW2 mood. If you've bothered reading this far, tell me about the games you're playing in the comments.

Xbox 360 Redux

2005-05-19T17:21:00.000-07:00

Now that Microsoft has announced the Xbox 360 on MTV to the world, and also a lot of other press on the device from their E3 presentation and other media coverage, I can now provide more details on the system. First of all, there is going to be a single configuration shipping this fall. Price is going to be $300, or there will be a $360 version that includes extra controller and some other goodies (like some content pre-loaded on the HDD possibly). Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft, did an interview for Engadget/Joystiq and revealed quite a bit about Microsoft's strategy, I recommend reading it if you're curious. And here is a pic.

Some specs:
Processor: An IBM Power-PC 3-core processor @ 3.2ghz capable of handling 6 simultaneous threads.
Graphics: Custom ATI R520 500mhz graphics processor.
Memory: 512mb of 700MHz GDDR-3 RAM
Performance: Capable of doing over 1 teraFLOPS.
Hard Disk Drive (HDD): removable 20gb will ship with the unit. Expect bigger drives to be an optional upgrade later in the life-cycle of this system.
DVD-drive. No Blue-Ray or HD-DVD at launch, I think this could be a major liability for Microsoft. Ballmer talks about having one as an add-on, but that's stupid, IMHO, because everyone knows that console game developers target the least-common-denominator and that means whatever ships with the system at launch.
Wireless controllers are the default. This is a big, big plus. You can also use up to 3 wired.
Multimedia capability - not just for games, the 360 will also be able to watch streamed video (over the internet?) and of course do mp3's like the original Xbox.
Wi-Fi? I have heard this both ways, that it is not part of the basic box and that it is. It for sure has built in ethernet port. I'm pretty sure Wi-Fi will be an optional add-on that is available at launch.
More details on specs can be found at Wikipedia and on Microsoft's Xbox 360 site.

Of course, Xbox Live is going to be a big part of Microsoft's Xbox 360 strategy, their goal is to hook as many people at launch as they can with this.

Launch Titles:
Kameo: Elements of Power (99% sure)
Perfect Dark Zero (99% sure)
Project Gotham Racing 3 (99% sure)
Test Drive Unlimited (90% sure)
Call of Duty 2 (90% sure)
Final Fantasy XI (90% sure)
Ghost Recon 3 (85% sure)
Need for Speed Most Wanted (80% sure)

These below have been mentioned but I have no idea if they are going to be available at launch:

Quake IV
NBA 2K6
Madden NFL 06
Dead or Alive 4

Not going to be launch titles but slated for 2006:
Gears of War

It's a pretty safe bet that Electronic Arts will have some titles available at launch, but whether those are sports titles or what is still unknown.
Updated.

Nintendo Game Boy Micro

2005-05-19T11:04:00.000-07:00

Engadget has some excellent pictures of the Nintendo Game Boy Micro. This is a tiny, tiny version of the Game Boy Advance. I guess if the SP wasn't small enough, now you can mount your GBA on a key chain. I'm not exactly sure who the target market for this is. It looks too fragile for kids and the screen is way too small for adults. Heck, I squint when trying to read stuff on the orginal GBA and it's a monster compared to the Micro. When Nintendo announced that they had an new GBA in the works I was hoping it would be revolutionary, and BIG like the PSP, but I guess not. I wanted a system that could play at least PS2 quality games.

Heretic Kingdoms Reviewed

2005-05-17T18:00:00.000-07:00

Heretic Kingdoms: The Inquisition is an action/RPG game similar to Diablo 2 but with a much better plot and many more quests, and its own unique system of gaining in power. I consider it to be the best RPG to be released so far in 2005. My full review of it is here. You can download the demo here.

Geneforge @ RealArcade

2005-05-04T10:00:00.000-07:00

I want to take this time to praise one of the coolest little shareware RPGs you're ever likely to come across. The game is Geneforge, and it is written by Jeff Vogel, the guy behind Spiderweb Software. Jeff's RPGs are all good but especially good is Geneforge. And you can try about a quarter of the game for free, just go to the site linked above and download it. Geneforge has a great story and uses a very cool combat system and character advancement system. The game is real-time most of the time while walking around, but when in combat mode it jumps to turn-based. The graphics and sound are retro-80's, but what counts is gameplay and Geneforge has that in spades.

Not only does Geneforge have a good plot and writing, but it can change depending on the choices you make. You choose a "class" when starting the game, one of either Shaper (summoning mage), Defender (fighter), or Agent (rogue). That choice can have a big impact on strategy and tactics available during the game, so the game offers quite a bit of replay value if you pick a different class. You can also make moral choices during the game about how to treat the people you encounter, and also which faction among several on the island you will join up with.

Geneforge 2 is out (been out a while actually) and I ended up buying it through RealArcade. I haven't gotten far in it yet but it looks to be as cool as Geneforge is. And Geneforge 3 is out for the Macintosh and should be out for PC this fall or earlier, it is in beta now.

About RealArcade, this is a program by Real Networks (the guys behind RealPlayer and some music download site I can never remember the name of, Chord or Rhapsody or something). Anyway they have a deal where you pay $8 a month to subscribe to RealArcade and each month you get a free game. I picked Geneforge 2 as my free game last month. This month I picked Trade Winds 2, which is also a cool game, it's a pirate / trading sim, where you have your ship and it's got cannons and such and you build wealth by trading mostly and winning battles where you can loot the enemy ships. More on that game later.

So, if you like RPG games, with strong stories, that play out differently depending on the choices you make, definitely give GeneForge a try. You can download the demo at either the Spiderweb site or from RealArcade. Both sites have lots of other cool games to check out also.

The Single Player RPG Is Not Dead

2005-04-30T12:32:00.000-07:00

Some people in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg are whining that the single-player PC RPG is dead. Well here's some release dates and info on RPG titles out now or due this year. Enjoy.

Heretic Kingdoms just came out in the US, I'm getting ready to review that game. Demo is here: http://www.gamershell.com/download_7167.shtml

Freedom Force vs the Third Reich is a strategy/RPG based on comic book heroes that just came out recently. Demo on FilePlanet or maybe other places if you search around.
http://www.fileplanet.com/150322/150000/fileinfo/

Dungeon Lords is out May 3 or 5 (can't remember) and it's a single or multi-player co-op (small party) action/RPG. Demo on GamersHell:
http://www.gamershell.com/download_8736.shtml

Restricted Area is a cyberpunk single player RPG for the PC that is coming out soonish in the UK/US. The German version is already out and has gotten some good press. There is an english demo for download, link to it on the RA website here: http://www.ra2083.com/
Looking at ActionTrip they list release date of May 10, so it may be out soon.

Guild Wars is multiplayer no-fee online game, but the PvE part is very soloable and could be treated like a (short) Morrowind style game.

Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth is an FPS action game with RPG trappings that should be out in June.

There's something called "The Fall" which looks similar to Fallout. Not sure if this game is out yet or not, they got some kind of "extended version" on their web site but I've never seen this on US store shelves, it might be import-only at this point. Just looking at the web site it appears they at least have a German and a French version released so far.

The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion should be out later this year, it's got an August release date so far. Expect it to be similar to Morrowind but hopefully better.

An expansion to Sacred called Sacred: Underworld which is coming out this summer.

The Bard's Tale remake that was released on PS2 and Xbox is either out now or will be out soon for PC, and there is a demo for it available here:
http://www.pcgameworld.com/details.php/id/5833/

Dungeon Siege 2 should be out in August.

There's a combo RTS/RPG called Dragonshard that is based on D&D that is coming out this summer from Atari.

If Jade Empire does well (and it seems to be doing well) I wouldn't be surprised with an announcement soon for a PC port.

Gothic 2 Night of the Raven expansion should be getting a UK release soon so an english version. Not sure if they are going to release to the US but I bet GoGamer gets some import copies in.

And on that note Gothic 3 has been announced and will probably be out with the German version in early 2006, so maybe by late 2006 we'll get an English version.

There's something called Hellgate: London that will be a first person RPG similar to Diablo 2 in game mechanics that just got a preview here:
http://tinyurl.com/8z4b7 [ computerandvideogames.com ]
They didn't give a release date.

Geneforge 3 should be out this winter. Damn I can't wait GF1 and GF2 rocked. You can get them at http://www.spidweb.com with large demos available. The 3rd one is out now for Mac but will be out later for PC this year.

Dragon Age by Bioware should be out 2006.

NWN2 is in development. No release date yet.

Strategy First has an RPG in development called Golden Land that is single or multiplayer and supposed to have 100-120 hours of gameplay. Graphics looked kind of like Fallout ish but it's not a post-holocaust setting. No release date so far.

RPGDot lists something called ExMachina on their release dates page as a single-player RPG but going to http://www.exmachina-game.com/ it talked about a post-apocalyptic car combat game called Hard Truck Apocalyptic Wars. Like some kind of Mad Max game. Sounded cool but didn't sound like an RPG unless it's going to be like the old Autoduel game by Origin Systems.

There was something on the list called Forgotten Stories: Echos of Destiny with a November launch date, and the web site at:
http://www.oniric-games.com.ar/ForgottenStories/fs_index_en.htm
has a beta demo available. Looked kind of like a console-style RPG to me.

There were some other games I didn't bother researching that were on the RPGdot release dates page which is here:
http://www.rpgdot.com/index.php?hsaction=10055

So I think the rumors about the death of the single player PC RPG have been largely exaggerated.

Currently Playing

2005-04-28T07:41:00.000-07:00

My "now playing" list has somewhat changed:

World of Warcraft Ami is now level 41, Bip is 21, Xashi is 15... on Argent Dawn server.
Call of Duty Deluxe Ed. Great FPS set in WWII.
Heritage of Kings: The Settlers Was for review, have just quit playing it.
Guild Wars Beta, which is over now, I may end up buying it but not right away.
Jade Empire for Xbox. Great action/RPG set in mythical China.
Dungeons & Dragons Heroes for Xbox with Kim (co-op), great action/RPG.

And soon I will be starting up (for reviewing):
Heretic Kingdoms: The Inquisition
Dungeon Lords

If you would like to discuss these games send me a shout.

Xbox 360

2005-04-28T07:10:00.000-07:00

The first 6th generation* console to come out is going to be Microsoft's sucessor to the fairly successful Xbox platform, which has been confirmed to be dubbed Xbox 360. This new console unit will feature ATI video technology and an Intel processor, probably in the 2.5+ ghz range but I haven't seen firm specs on that yet. There is supposed to be a $300 base model and then a "deluxe" version for $400ish, that's also rumor and I don't know what the difference will be. The pictures that have been released so far are of a thinner, smaller, silver rectangular unit that is concave on top and bottom. Here is an image of the Xbox 360 on top of an Xbox for a size and appearance comparison. One thing that is exciting is that there are rumors that the Xbox 360 will launch with wireless controller technology as the default, so no more dragging cords all over the living room!

As mentioned in that blog entry, the Xbox 360 most likely will not be backwards compatible with the Xbox games you have today. That's kind of a real bummer in my opinion, but I can live with it. However, if the device were backwards compatible I would definitely be pre-ordering it and having my grubby little hands on it on day 1. But if not, it all just depends on the launch titles and whether or not any of them sound worth buying a system for.

As for Sony and Nintendo, they both have consoles in the works, but we're looking at late 2006 before we see those, at least in the US. Microsoft has a great opportunity here to gain momentum before the juggernaut Sony comes on the scene. Lets hope they do a better job than Sega did with the Dreamcast which was in a similar position in 1999.

* Here's the breakdown of console generations based on my own ideas.
1st generation - Atari 2600, Intellivision, Colecovision, Atari 4800, others.
2nd generation - Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), Sega Master System
3rd generation - Super NES, Sega Genesis, Sega 32x, Sega CD, Turbo Gfx16
4th generation - Atari Jaguar, Sega Saturn, Nintendo 64, Sony Playstation
5th generation - Sega Dreamcast, Sony Playstation 2, Nintendo GameCube, Xbox
6th generation - Xbox 360, Playstation 3, Nintendo Revolution

GameTZ

2005-04-26T15:59:00.000-07:00

There is a really cool web site that I've been a part of for quite some time but have only just recently re-joined and started using frequently again. The site is http://www.gametz.com. Each user gets their own page there, mine is here. The site is a huge database of game traders, what they have available, and what they want. It facilitates game trading by showing you match-ups for what you have compared to other's wants and vice versa. You can set up an Offer, where you suggest a trade to another user of the site, and it records what everyone agreed to do. It also helps by facilitating tracking of the packages, and everthing. Very cool stuff.

You can also enter in music CD's, or DVD movies, or even books for trade as well. There is an active community and the site has a bunch of cool forums to read about games. The site also has reviews online for a bunch of the games and the user-written reviews on that site are usually better quality than you'd find on say Amazon, because there is an editor process so the reviews must conform to a certain standard.

If you want to find a way to get something out of that game you never play anymore, check out GameTZ, and tell 'em Knight37 sent ya. Oh yeah, the site is free to use in a limited fashion, but to initiate trades you need to pay a subscription which is fairly resonably priced, or you can also try offering up something to someone in the Subscription Time forum and someone may trade some subscription time to you for something you have. If you're reading my blog then I'll set you up with a free week or two just for participating on my blog. ;) Reply with a comment to this post with your GameTZ user name.

Heritage of Kings: The Settlers

2005-04-26T10:13:00.000-07:00

I did a review of Heritage of Kings: The Settlers, for Game Chronicles Magazine. You can find it here. The bottom line is, it's a pretty good RTS for a beginner or for people who want a slow paced game that concentrates on building up your settlement and economy, rather than on a lot of combat. 7.5 out of 10.

Major Nelson Talks Up the Xbox

2005-04-26T07:39:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to spread the word about a really cool blog for Xbox fans, MajorNelson.com. As a Microsoft employee, he posts stuff about the Xbox and has an RSS feed, and he also does a "podCast" (audio-blog). Listening to his weekly audio blog is a highlight of my week. You can pick up on all kinds of new stuff coming out for the Xbox and Xbox Live using by tuning in here.

The PSP Looks Sweet

2005-03-26T16:36:00.000-08:00

The Playstation Portable, aka PSP looks really nice. Played with one in Best Buy today. Almost bought it (for more details see my Live Journal page). Anways, I didn't get it. But if this were $180ish I'd be so there. $250 is a lot to drop on a portable device. I know it does more than just play games but to do much more than games with it right now you ALSO need to drop another $50-$100 on a decent size Memory Stick. Lets say I spend $100 on a big 512mb Memory Stick, well now I got a $350 MP3 player that only has 512mb of memory. Bleh. Or it can watch movies (either using the proprietary disc format or using your PC to convert DVD's to MP4 format and uploading them via USB to the Memory Stick). But still, $350 is a lot for a device that holds so little media. And the 1gb memory sticks are like $150 ish. You can get a 20gb iPod for what $300? Sure it won't play games. But it is a much better song device. I guess I don't know. If they made 4gb or bigger Memory Sticks that were $150 or so, I might be tempted. Maybe in the future that will be a reality, the prices on stuff like that is always falling.

Jedi Academy Final Scenes

2005-03-21T18:43:00.000-08:00

Ok just finished Star Wars: Jedi Knight - Jedi Academy. Great game. I played through the Dark Side ending first. Very cool. At the end you get to fight Kyle Katarn and by far he is the most formiddable opponent in the game. I won't spoil what he does that is so difficult or what the ending scenes are like afterward. Then I went back and played the Light Side ending, and it was also pretty cool, you got to fight a nasty Sith Lord evil thingy at the end which was pretty hard but not as hard as Kyle. One thing is, the Light Side ending is way easier than the Dark Side ending. That is because the last level running up to the ending sequence is full of Sith AND Jedi, but if you go Light Side the Jedi will help you fight, but if you go Dark Side you have to kill all of them.

I am not sure how you could finish this game without taking both light and dark force powers. There are certain powers that aren't that useful (or at least, I didn't need them much), but certain powers on both sides are just way too useful. I am not sure how I could have finished the game without Force Grip, it's just way too convenient to Grip someone and then drop them over a ledge. Or Grip them and then run up and slash them while they have no sabre up. And I never would have made it through the last level without Force Heal, it's just too much fighting and not enough healing around and Force Drain just isn't a good enough substitute for Healing since you can't use it in between fights.

I am thinking about playing through again, this time using a female jedi (yes, the game is customized to allow you to play either as male or female protagonist and the cutscenes all change depending on which you take). I'm thinking of trying to take NO Dark Side traits this time and see if it's even possible.

Anyway, as I mentioned earlier, if you are a Star Wars fan check this game out.

Cops 2170: The Power of Law

2005-03-21T06:36:00.000-08:00

I just finished up my review of the strategy/RPG game Cops 2170: The Power of Law and the review is being posted right now over on www.gamechronicles.com. From the main page you should see the link to the review there.

Jedi Knight - Jedi Academy

2005-03-21T05:37:00.000-08:00

I already blogged a first look of Jedi Knight - Jedi Academy a few weeks ago. I'm almost finished with the game now. I got in several hours of it this weekend. This is a really fun first person shooter. Most shooters I get sick of and quit before I get finished with them, but this game stays different enough to be fun all the way through.

Near the end of the game there is a dramatic scene where you have to make a choice between following the Light side of the Force or the Dark side. I saved the game at that point and then took the Dark side path (muhahahaha). I'm pretty sure I'm making it harder on myself, though, because now at the end level I am having to fight both the good Jedi who were once my friends and also the evil Sith (because, you know, I want the Big Evil Power all to myself).

The jedi battles in this game are a hell of a lot of fun. You have a bunch of different Force powers at your disposal and you use those (so will the enemies) to try and beat them plus of course your light sabre. Forget about shooting Force-users (Jedi and Sith) with your guns, they just reflect your shots right back and you and you take the damage. Even grenades are useless, they'll bounce it back right at you. I have managed to kill a few with grenades by using indirect fire (bouncing it off a wall and then having it land near them).

I concentrated at first on the Dark side powers, such as Force Grip (lets you choke people like Darth Vader, and you can lift them up and fling them around at higher levels) and Force Drain (sucks the life out of your enemies and gives some to you). After I maxed those two I started buying up a Force Berserker thing (forgot the actual name of the power) which makes you pretty much invulnerable, but you not-so-slowly lose health points while the power is active. So after the power ends you're really weak, and easily killable. I didn't like that too much so I only put 2 points in that one and the fourth Dark side power wasn't that cool sounding so I decided to get some light-side powers. One power is extremely useful which reduces damage for any type of energy or physical damage, so with that bumped up to max, basically the only thing that can hurt you are the Jedi/Sith using their powers. Also put at least one dot into Force Healing. That way after you kill some things you can at least heal yourself back up to full. There's also a power that lets you absorb Dark Force energy but I found that it's not that useful so even though I bought it up two dots I don't use it much.

By the end of the game the Force powers I used the most were: Force Grip - I would use this as much as possible. What I try to do is get close to a drop-off, a ledge, and lure the enemy Jedi/Sith up to me, then Force Grip them and drop them over the edge. Aaaaaaahhhh! Oh, so sorry, poor Jedi fall down and go boom. Another good thing about Force Grip is that it forces them to lower their light sabre, so if you grip them and then rush up and slash with your light sabre you can get in a free hit that way.

Force Drain also I use a ton. I used the Heal when out of combat but a lot of times near the end game I was having to fight 3 or 4 Jedi/Sith at once. What's really cool is that there are Jedi AND Sith all there together (at one room I think there were like 8 force-users, some Jedi and some Sith) and so it's a massive melee, with everyone wanting to kill me but also wanting to kill each other. During those I would take cheap shots at the Jedi (because I've found that the Jedi are harder to kill, so I tried to take them out first) while they were engaged with the Sith. When you're fighting that many people the only way to stay alive is to use Force Drain to keep your health level up.

Force Push - you have to use this a lot. For one thing it's cool to Force Push people over a ledge and listen to them scream as they plumet to their death. But for another, Force Push will break a Force Grip on you, so if you are being Force Gripped you hit the Force Push button as fast as you can to get out of it.

Force Speed - This is damn useful in a battle against multiple opponents. You can dodge their attacks and maneuver behind the Jedi/Sith to slash them from behind.

Force Jump - basically this is a mandatory power that is primarily useful just to make it through the levels because they require a ton of jumping. The nice part about this power is that it's automatic, if you jump, you automatically Force Jump if you have the force power available. It can also be a life saver in combat if you are being trapped by two or more opponents you can jump away sometimes. By the end game when Force Jump is maxed out you can jump incredibly high.

Apart from jedi/sith the other enemies of the game offer little challenge. Sometimes they can gang up on you and put a hurt on, especially at earlier levels. Also some of them might have powerful weaponry that can majory hurt, like a rocket-launcher. There's some cyber-suit storm troopers that are hard to kill without heavy weaponry. There were also some light-sabre weilding droids that were very tough, and the only way to kill them was with repeated light sabre swipes or throwing the sabre at them. Also there were some jet-pack flying storm troopers that were only hard to kill because they are kind of hard to reach, but you can toss the light sabre at them and bring them down pretty easily. Overall there is a pretty good variety of enemies in the game.

There's a bunch of different types of environments too. You perform missions on planets all over the known galaxy, such as Tatooine, Hoth, Yavin, Coruscant, and tons of other places. You will fight through space stations, star destroyers, ancient temples, high rise buildings in Coruscant, desert planets, ice planets, etc. You have one really cool level where you race along on speeder bikes while other bad guys on speeder bikes try and shoot you down. There's tons of cool levels like that where you have something besides just pure gun/sabre to do. Several mini-games also. For example on one mission your ship gets tractor-beamed by a star destroyer and so you have to disable the tractor beam and then try and blow up the ship while you get away, but the ship comes under attack by tie-bombers (boggle, yeah, I'm not sure why they were bombing their own ship, unless I guess they thought you were in control of it at that point) so you have this part where you man a gun-emplacement on the destroyer and blast away at the tie-bombers.

This game is full of cool characters to encounter also. Luke Skywalker is there as a mentor and he's in a bunch of scenes. Then there is Kyle Katarn, the hero of previous Jedi Knight games. He actually will go on missions with you a few times. There's your buddy Rosch who is a fellow student at the Academy. And you encounter some other characters from the movie like Chewbacca. Not to mention - you get to fight Boba Fett!!

I can highly recommend this game to anyone who enjoys a good first-person shooter and especially if they also love Star Wars. Even if you don't typically like a FPS game, you might really enjoy this one if you are a Star Wars fan because it is just so good. Also on the easy setting the game is very playable for a novice. The graphics are somewhat dated, it feels like a 3 year old game or so, but they still are servicable and look good enough to still be a lot of fun. Plus on the bright side of that they will run on modest hardware.

One note on the graphics - I was getting a weird problem where if I looked at a light at just the right (wrong?) angle my entire screen would flash white. This was very disorienting at first and gave the beginning of the game a bad impression. I ended up having to disable dynamic lighting or some other light-related graphics feature to prevent this from happening. This was on an ATI Radeon 9800 Pro, with the latest Catalyst drivers.

Hopefully I can finish up the game this week and post my comments on the end game's story and such. I can still even without seeing that part wholeheartedly recommend this game. On a scale of 1 to 10 I would rate this game a 8.8 or so.

The Matrix Online Beta

2005-03-12T21:59:00.000-08:00

Got a betatest key mailed to me tonight so I went ahead and downloaded the 5.5 gb or so of The Matrix Online Beta. Some short first impressions - the tutorial is fantastic. There's not yet a lot of options for creating characters but it does look pretty expandable and it's not really too bad it does offer some customization. The tutorial features excellent voice acting from people who played in the movies including Laurence Fishburne.

The game just kind of went way down on the "fun" scale though, after the tutorial was over. The "missions" I did were just kind of "eh" and the 3rd one I was assigned was actually broken. I haven't re-tried mission 3 yet but if it doesn't work again I am not sure how to progress from that point onward since I think it's a mandatory mission. And just randomly killing thugs isn't very exciting.

The combat is supposed to be kung-fu matrix-style but it just isn't very fluid. Animations appear kind of choppy and robotic. Jumping, in particular, looks pretty weird and doesn't "feel right." Gun fights were even more boring. I shoot you. Then i sit there and let you shoot me. Then I shoot you. Bleh. Feels too "turn-based" and that's really why it's not exciting enough. If they had used a real-time fighting engine like found in Tekken or Dead or Alive then it would have been much much cooler. Graphics are pretty decent as far as resolution and detail but the scenery is just pretty blandish.

Oh yah one other thing that irked me is that you have to use a credit card to sign up for the beta. I mean, WTF?

I'll probably play it some more before I decide if it's worth playing or not. If it could capture more feel of the movies like the tutorial does, it would be worth it.

Sea Wolves Review

2005-03-11T21:53:00.000-08:00

Finished up my Sea Wolves review a few days ago and forgot to post up a link here. Well, anyway, you can read about it here. In short - a somewhat innovative shareware game that might amuse you for a few hours. I recommend trying the demo.

Planescape: Torment

2005-03-05T19:26:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite RPG games ever made was the AD&D game by Interplay's Black Isle Studios called Planescape: Torment. I wrote a fairly gushing review for it here a few years ago. This game is getting kind of long in the tooth and the graphics for it haven't aged that well. The artwork is still fresh and imaginative, but the screen is stuck at 640x480 which can look very grainy on the large monitors most people use today. If I had to rewrite that review, I'd probably bump Graphics rating down a notch or two. Still, this is my number one, most favorite, single-player RPG ever released for any platform. That says a lot.

I actually have a spare copy of this if anyone is interested in trading for it. If you click above on the name of the game it will take you to the Amazon web page and they currently have some copies available through their resellers program. But my copy is new! And it comes with Soulbringer, another RPG that is... eh. Less than stellar.

Dungeon Lords

2005-03-05T18:45:00.000-08:00

I managed to get a hold of the press-preview of Dungeon Lords and you can read my preview of it here.

My Other Blogs

2005-03-03T20:28:00.000-08:00

I have two other Gaming-related blogs:

Azeroth Days which chronicles my adventures in World of Warcraft, and also my city of heroes toons which chronicles my adventures in City of Heroes.

Also I have my Knight37's Rants & Raves blog for general-purpose blogging (anything goes).

All of these blogs are published for RSS, so if you use something like Bloglines or FeedDemon then you can have my blogs (and hundreds of other cool ones) delivered to you any time they change and you don't have to keep checking them all the time.

Getting ready to go make a post on Azeroth Days now, I just finished making a new toon on a PVP server. ;)

Jedi Academy First Impressions

2005-03-03T11:28:00.000-08:00

Well I have "unwrapped the shrink" so to speak on Jedi Academy and have played the first couple of levels. So here's my early take on this game.

First, the graphics. Pretty good but not great. I realize this is an older title. I have the game set to maximum eye-candy and it still looks kind of, hmm... stark. But it is colorful, I'll give it that. The models movement is kind of robotic or forced, though, they don't look very smooth. Facial modeling is not bad, I guess, for a game its age. So far I haven't seen much of the environments, a jungle, a temple, and Mos Eisley space port. I hope that there is more interesting stuff to come later on.

The sounds and music is pretty good. Voice acting is very good. And the plot so far seems interesting. I really like the fact that we get to meet up with familiar Star Wars characters like Luke Skywalker and Chewbacca. Also Kyle Katarn from the earlier Jedi Knight games.

Controls are a bit difficult for some reason. I'm finding it hard to control precisely where my character is moving and especially where he's swinging his light sabre. Jumping was seriously troubling compared to console action games like say Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, which had very intutive controls. So far there's only been a little bit of jumping but I get the feeling that it's coming in bigger doses later on. Aiming. Don't get me started. The reason Storm Troopers could never kill Luke & company is that they are so inaccurate.

The Force Powers though, are really sweet. You get them right at the start, which is different than some other Jedi Knight games, and they come in very handy. You can Force Push, which basically can shove things around, you can Force Pull which lets you trip levers and things remotely, you can do Force Speed, which makes you faster, or you can Force Jump and jump much higher. Also Force Sense lets you see hidden things. I've decided to go Dark Side on this guy and so I can also do a Force Grip (like Vader did in the movies) where you can choke the living crap out of your enemies.

More details as I progress through...

Currently Playing

2005-03-03T10:56:00.000-08:00

I am currently playing the following games:

World of Warcraft
City of Heroes
Star Wars Jedi Knight - Jedi Academy
Deus Ex Invisible War (DX2)
Half-Life 2
Dungeon Lords (Preview/Beta)

If you would like to discuss these games send me a shout.