Left 4 Dead!

Well, I pre-orded it, and I got the early access demo. I have to say, though, it really wasn't exactly what I was expecting. Sure, if you had asked me what I expected before I got the game, my description would've matched my description for it now, but it feels much different. It doesn't feel like the Source engine. It doesn't feel hard, or scary, even on expert, and although it is difficult, I just don't get that sense of desparation I expected. I don't get that rush when I get mobbed by millions of zombies that I was expecting.

But.

It's better than I expected. The AI Director really is completely dynamic, spawning zombies and bosses just at the point that it's survivable if you work with your teammates. Even the weapons and items spawn dynamically, in different places every time according to how fast your team is proceeding. It really, seriously, 100% works. Very, very well. So the game's demo is amazing, and worth the 44$ with only the 2 levels that are included. Because it playes different every single time.

What I'm playing: Left 4 Dead demo, Oblivion, Company of Heroes
Games I'm into: Left 4 Dead, Company of Heroes: Tales of Valor, Oblivion

GObama!

GObama!
Go America!
Go World!




What I'm playing:F.E.A.R. (Scary as hell), Viva Pinata (Installing)
Games I'm into: F.E.A.R., Mirror's Edge, Far Cry 2, KOTOR MMO!

Call of Duty: World at War Beta

Yes, I was skeptical at first. CoD 5? Are you insane? And it's made by Treyarch, the devs of Call of Duty 3? (Which was a flop, and wasn't even released on PC) Do they expect to get any money from this thing? Well, yeah, I was told that they do expect to get a lot of money from it, and I can say that they're getting mine when it's released on the 11th of this month. Because the multiplayer beta is totally awesome, and it seems that Treyarch has really gone in the right direction with this one. Using and updated version of the CoD4 engine, WaW takes the player back to the WWII theatre, but this time in the pacific. As you can guess, it shows a bit more brutal side of the war, (not saying that the Europian theatre wasn't terrible, but this was before they banned flamethrowers) adding more of a survival horror aspect and 2 player co-op.

The advantage to the WWII theatre is the single-shot rifle, which I never really liked untill now. But now that I've played with them, I think they are a lot more fun because of the disabling single shot format. You get one chance, and after that you've gotta switch to your side-arm or run and stab everyone in sight. Don't get me wrong though, there's a lot more than single-shot rifles in this game. The armory ranges from high-powered machine guns like the BAR, and powerfull sniper rifles like the Ariskara, with a ton of SMGs and rifles in-between like the MP40 and the M1 Garand.
The Perk system works almost exactly like the one in CoD4, with the exeption that they added a few more, and you get a vehicle perk slot.
All in all, this almost feels more like a gigantic, insane, rediculously polished total-conversion mod for CoD4. It addes a few new elements, like the ability to call a pack of dogs on the enemy team, and tanks, but it just feels like the same game. Still worth my money, especially with the Co-op, but somewhat boring at times. Here's to hoping the singleplayer is good!
Sorry for the lack of picture, I might add some soon if I don't feel lazy.

What I'm playing: CoD5 MP Beta, Company of Heroes, Team Fortress 2
Games I'm into: CoD: WaW, Halo 3: Recon, Far Cry 2

Goo . . . what?

Argh, haven't had time to blog in a long while. Makes me mad. Anyways, I'm here to promote Goozex! Goozex is a game trading site where you can ship your old games to people who want them, and they give you Goozex Points, which you can use to get other people's used games. It costs 1$ every time you receive a trade, and you have to pay shipping when you give games. You only get the Goozex points for your game if the receiver says that they got the game. How do they stop scams?

Delivery Confirmation. You give them the code, and they track your package for you. Works like a charm, as I have shipped 2 games out and I am receiving F.E.A.R. and Viva Pinata. (Shuddup, this got GOTY in '06.) 'Sa 'bout all.

www.goozex.com

What I'm playing: Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts, Call of Duty 5 Beta, CoH World Builder
Games I'm into: L4D, Fable II, World in Conflict: Soviet Assault

Crysis: Warhead

Scroll down for a Crysis Review in the next post.

Crysis: Warhead is not so much a sequel, or even and expansion, it's actually more like a gigantic patch with lots of stellar (excuse me for using that word) DLC. Except that it's completely stand-alone, and too much of an improvement from the original game to be a patch.

You play as Sgt. 'Psycho' Sykes in a parallel story line to the first game, but on the other side of the island. Although the storyline isn't memorable, it's enough to propel you through the game with moderate interest. The game play is tuned to just short of perfection, improving AI and general game flow from the original. Two new weapons include the dual-wield able SMGs, which replace your standard pistols while packing an amazing punch at close range. The other weapon is another prototype that doesn't require a lock-on to fire, which is fun for killing everything on a level in around 3 mins. The suit still functions the same, with minor tuning, and most of the guns have better skins, along with the enemies and vehicles. Two new vehicles are fun, but you don't use them more than once. The campaign runs around 8 hours, without dying once or getting stuck anywhere.

The game itself is optimized ten-fold over the original one, it runs better and looks better at the same time, but when cranking it up to max it still takes a monster to run. Shadows are more shadow-y, and the anti-aliaising even looks better. Other than that though, it doesn't look much different from Crysis.

The balance issues from the original are also mostly resolved, which makes the game much more enjoyable. You won't find yourself doing try-and-die fifty times in a row.

If you bought it at the store, Warhead gives you Crysis: Wars for free, which is the multiplayer element. Unlike the last game's multiplayer, Wars is actually a great game. It's two new modes, team free-for-all and plain FFA are fun, but those get old after several plays. The old mode, Power Struggle is polished and improved to the point that it really works well, where as the original's multiplayer was lackluster and boring.

Warhead really is the game that Crysis should have been, and if Crytek is smart they'll give the original Crysis a makeover and release both games-in-one for $50, for people who didn't play the games the first time around.

9.3/10 for improved game play and graphics, new campaign style, good multiplayer, amazing price of $30, still takes a beast of a system to make it run well
What I'm playing: Mass Effect PC, Crysis: Wars, TF2
Games I'm into: L4D, Mirror's Edge

Crysis: The Complete Pack review!

Ah, Crysis. That game that your computer won't run. I hear it's all just flash, no real material, and that it's game play is uninteresting. Is that actually the case? Quite the contrary, actually, as Crysis and it's counterpart Crysis: Warhead deliver stunning visuals and exciting game play. I'll go over Crysis first.

Crysis puts you in the suit of a super soldier, on a mission to rescue archeologists on an tropical paradise. You fight Koreans with a squad of other super soldiers like you, although most of the time you're a lone wolf, so don't get me wrong; this is no tactical shooter. The suit you and your chumps are wearing has several different features, an armor mode, which lets you absorb more damage, a speed mode, which lets you move much faster, a strength mode, which lets you, well, be strong (to jump higher, and throw things farther), and a cloak mode, which renders you invisible for a limited amount of time. The effectiveness of these modes are all based around your suit energy level, which recharges moderately fast but also is spent as fast.

The gunplay in Crysis is somewhat different that most games, the guns feel heavier, more realistic, and all around more awesome. But that doesn't stop you from dying more than ever. The difficulty of the game waxes and wains, as sometimes you'll be able to breeze through enemies like a tank, other times you'll find that you have to try and die ten times before you complete an area.
Amazing physics and great visuals really complete the game, and I know you're saying "yeah, on your computer", but I have no dream machine, I was able to run everything on medium with a dual core 2.6 ghz, and nVidia 256mb 7600gt, and it looked great.
The story of the game is interesting enough to keep you captivated, and although it's not a very original idea, it's still fun. The game play ranges from person to person combat, stealth action, survival, jet flying, car chasing, massive tank skirmishes, sniper wars, and a number of other innovative mechanics.
My only complaint is that just as you get the hang of it, you're onto the next thing.
I finished the campaign in around ten hours, minus load times and reloads due to dying, around eight and a half hours. The experience is short and sweet, at worst; lackluster and frustrating, at best; pure genius. I hear there is a map editor somewhere in there too.

Check back for a complete Warhead review in several days.

8.6/10 for innovative game play, amazing graphics, map editor. Frustrating at times, un-original story, unbalanced combat.
What I'm playing: Crysis: Warhead, Mass Effect
Games I'm into: Left 4 Dead, FarCry 2

What Blew my Mind at E3.

This post was originally posted after the Electronic Entertainment Expo event, but due to some technical difficulties it is only being published as of now.
-TJ


Alright, Jimmithen's back from summer hiatus bliss to cough up another foray into gamin' with the whole E3 biz. People can say what they will, E3 may be going downhill, but I gotta say, this year the show delivered, and no one delivered better than Microsoft. With a linup headlined by such titles as GoW2 (which actually impressed me, though not so much when Marcus and Dom talked, damn crappy dialogue), Fable 2, Resident Evil 5, and my personal favorite out of the fantastic 4 (did that on purpose, sorry guys), Fallout 3. Now, for the oldschools who played the originals, or one of the two, you can skip to the end of the article, because you already know what I'm talking about. To be continued in next post.

Far Cry 2 Video

It's not letting me embed the video so here's the youtube link.


Enjoy!
Edit: It works now
-TJ

What I'm playing: Halo 3, World of Warcraft, Starcraft

Games I'm into: Mirror's Edge, Farcry 2, Gears 2, Rock Band 2, (lots of 2's)

I love the whole world!

This great game adaption of discovery channel's commercial is Ahwsum. And did you hear?? DIABLO III was announced today in Paris! My life has ended. :)

See more funny videos at CollegeHumor

What I'm playing: Team Fortress 2, Company of Heroes
Games I'm into:Left 4 Dead,

Battlefield: Bad company

I have this great video here for everyone of EA's new title that became available today, Battlefield: Bad Company for Xbox 360.

Video courtesy of Ctrl+Alt+Del
EDIT: Okay the video isn't working so here's a link to CAD's blog post with it embedded.


What I'm playing: Team Fortress 2 (I got the new flare gun!!!)
Games I'm into: Left 4 Dead. I am so darn exited about this game that I will explode when it comes out. Let's type some of these for it's honor: !!!!!!!!!!! Exclamation point toast!!!!!!!!!!!!

P.S. There are a lot of other humorous videos about BF:BC over at gamevideos.com. LINK!

Summer Inactivity

In case you haven't noticed, we are going inactive over the summer. Thanks for reading!

What I'm playing:Company on Heroes, Battlefield 2, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfart
Games I'm into: Mass Effect, GTAIV, Rockband
Games you should check out: Synaesthete

Everyone's special. Or not?

I have recently heard a rumor about the Xbox 360's upcoming firmware patch. The rumor I heard was that you can install games and run them without the discs on your 360. Of course, this is Microsoft we're talking about, so there is going to be some kind of copy protection. It might be something ridiculous, or just a CD code. Maybe you'll have to register your "gaming library" to your 360, not letting you trade in games or borrow them from friends. Sound familiar? Unless you have been living under a rock, this is like the PC gaming storyline these last few years. These two worlds are getting closer, and closer, and closer, to the point that at this rate in 3 years, you'll be shopping on Newegg.com for an nVidia 16000 for your XboPC. Not cool? Or is a good thing? It seems like a good thing to me, as it makes everyone's hardware reflect their surroundings and personality. If you know what I mean. On the PC side, we have been getting closer in the software world rather than the hardware world, and I don't just mean 360 Ports. Take wake-on-LAN, for example (although a rather bad example it is) which let's you turn on your computer from any thing plugged into your computer's network card, similar to the way one would turn on their Xbox. I am using an Xbox 360 controller for quite a few of my games. It can't be too long until the 360 and the mother of all platforms become one!


The PS3 is pretty much a combination of the PS2, Wii, and the PC. SIXAXIS motion controls, otherwise standard controller layout, and beefy hardware. The sleeknes comes from the PC too. The Wii is the only special thing out there (besides the PC) and it is currently lacking on the visual and online side of things. Everything else is in between. I don't know there the PS/Xbox controller comes from though. Hmm. Maybe it's the wake-on-LAN thing. If I bored you or offended you or spelled bored wrong, I'm not really sorry. This is just my opinion!



What I'm playing: Company of Heroes
Games I'm into: Mass Effect, Beyond Good & Evil

Dark Void

I apologize for the recent lack of posts, we have been busy with our summer lives. But I have traveled back from the mortal realms into the video gaming realm, and upon my arrival, I looked at Capcom's Dark Void. This game looks pretty intense, mostly because all of it takes place on cliffs. No, not the tops of cliffs, the sides of them. And the sides of big alien ship-thingys. Considering you have a jetpack, that shouldn't be a problem though. But they have to spoil all that flying fun and give us more fun with climbing fun. The climbing/booster pack combination looks pretty cool, add a gun in there and we might just have an awesome game!

I'm posting a video here courtesy of Giant Bomb




What I'm playing: Audio Surf, Company of Heroes
Games I'm into: Dark Void, Mass Effect, Left 4 Dead

Beyond Good & Evil 2 Trailer

Here is the BG&E2 first trailer/gameplay video. I hope ya'll like it!
Also, Mass Effect PC came out today and I am so super CyKeD! It looks so good, with updates to everything and hotkeys (awesome!) for anything you want! And everything else is different too. This isn't just some 360-PC port. This is another game!



We recorder our most recent NewsPodcast and I hope to have it up shortly.

What I'm playing: Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2: The Sith Lords
Games I'm into: Mass Effect PC and Left 4 Dead

Salvation is Ubisoft's Middle Name.

I have just recieved possibly the best news I have heard in gaming since I saw the first footage of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (a personal gaming epiphany, but you get the idea). Ubisoft, at an event just a day or two ago, released footage of... wait for it... BEYOND GOOD AND EVIL 2! Now to me, a gamer who was blown away by the first, and the first residing comfortably at the top of my favorite games list, I had about given up hope on ever seeing a sequel, as the first sold like crap dispite critical acclaim, and left the few who did play it with a cliffhanger of the century (If you havent played the first, go onto steam right now, dont even bother finishing this article, and start downloading it. Best money you will ever spend. Then come back to the article) that was yet to be unanswered. Michael Ancel himself (the creater of the Rayman series and the rather good King Kong game) said his desire was to make a trilogy to this game, which never came. Until now.
The trailer released actually never says if it is the trailer, but to those who have played the game, you will know after watching the 2 minutes of footage that it's the real deal. Along with an incredible new graphics engine, the BG&E2 trailer features a familiar looking flying car, a woman with a red parasol (presumably Jade, the heroine from the first game) and good ol' Pey'j, the fat jovial talking pig who snorts up a bug. At the start of the trailer, "1. The Pig" comes on screen, showing that more of these untitled trailers will be coming. I, for one, have been going nuts ever since I saw this footage, and would urge one of my fellow bloggers to post the video and the pics, for my computer sucks... Anyways, look for more on this game in the future, and download the first!

What I'm playing: Rock Band, GTA4, Beyond Good and Evil
Games I'm into: Beyond Good and Evil 2 (duh), Fallout 3

Post Launch Note from Eric

Well, I don’t know exactly how many readers we have right now, but I’m starting to think that we have more writers than readers. If you just so happen to be someone reading this blog that doesn’t write for it as well then, yay for us! I think that I can speak for all of us here at PS Wii, 603 and PC when I say “thanks reading our blog!”. Please tell your friends about us and please come back to the site soon (we have new articles all the time). We are just getting starting here so forgive us for any informalities or colloquial attitudes (after all, we are gamers). If you have any suggestions or remarks (whether positive or negative) go ahead and leave a comment. I’m all for constructive criticism. I suppose it would be a good idea to start getting our blog some publicity; feedback on where or how to get hits is welcome!

-- Eric (aka Zaputh)

Left 4 Dead

Well, with the Left 4 Dead due date slowly (but surely) getting closer and closer I think that I can safely say that gamers all over the world are getting pretty psyched. We certainly have good reason to be happy, for if everything that Valve Software says is true, Left 4 Dead will be one freaking awesome entertainment product (but please-tell me-when has Valve ever disappointed?). The revolutionary AI, the stunning graphics, the immersive levels, the ballistic weapons, the swarms of zombies, the tanks, boomers, hunters, witches, and not to mention the dynamically flowing hair of Zoey are all things worth being excited about. Seriously, what could be better than getting yourself and seven other friends together solely for the purpose of consuming caffeine, owning zombies, and generally freaking each other out? I know that I’m going to be one of the many who get to enjoy these luxuries. Now, enough gloating over Valve’s future release, let’s get down to business. I would imagine that you already know this but for the off chance, Left 4 Dead is an eight player coop first person shooter that takes place in a “rabid zombie ridden world”(yes, they really do have rabies) that has no mercy for the four survivors and every bit of sympathy for the lucky four who get to play as the zombie “bosses”. Eight players in an online coop game? What happened to the swarms of zombies? Aren’t there more than four in a swarm? The answer to most of your questions is: The Director. Plain and simple, it is exactly what it sounds like. The Director is artificial intelligence at its finest. Valve and Turtle Rock Studios have put their heads together to create pure bliss, a program that tells the many computer controlled zombies and players where to spawn creating a unique style of game play that is never the same twice (for real this time, forget all of that “replay value” talk given by 2K Boston). When the four survivors are prancing down the creepy alleys of urban cities the Director is busy planning its next attack. Yes, I think you know as well as I do, Dave. Not only are you fighting the many rabid zombies, you’re fighting against the smarts of code. Don’t’ get me wrong, this evil cousin of Hal cannot be tricked. You aren’t fighting it as much as letting it mess with you. Creepy ‘eh? So, besides the world dominating Director what else is cool about Left 4 Dead? Lots, more than I want to tell you right now though! I’m going to cover the game in a few short articles, each focusing on one or two topics: The Director, the survivors and zombies, the levels, and the many weapons. Expect a few more articles from me regarding this beauty!


What I'm playing: DOD:S, TF 2, S.T.A.L.K.E.R
Games I'm into: Mirror's Edge, Mirror's Edge, and more Mirror's Edge

Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved

You know when you get 5 bucks for mowing the lawn or some other normally abnormal thing that you usually never do for money? And then you think, gee, this would buy me an Xbox Marketplace arcade game, or a Steam game. So you're browsing, you find some little games that catch your interest, then you go back and look at them all, and they all seem to suck. All but one of them suck. But you didn't know that, did you? That's why you bought an insanely priced milk-shake instead. (Or you deposited it into your bank accout, but who does that?) Rewind! You're surfing the games and you find a game called Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved. Huh? Yep, you buy it and in five minutes you're playing it, and it's really hard and you can't even get past the third "target thing" flying at you till you die. This is exactly what I did. I bought it, I failed horrendously at it, and I gave it up. What a waste, eh? Yesterday, I booted it up for no reason what so ever, and tried my mouse at it...and I got a stunning score of 86,250. (Approxomately 85, 950 more than my previous high score) That's cool right? Maybe that four dollars wasn't a waste after all. If fact, it turns out to be totally cool! The intense panick of your play screen filling with nifty green shapes that evade your lasers and crowd you is really thrilling! And totally intense! So many close calls and dissapointing defeats mixed with retro sound effects and amazing visuals makes this my casual game of 2007. Yeah, I know, I'm REALLY late, but if you didn't pick this game up the first time you saw it, pick it up now. I's only four dollars on Steam and (correct me if I'm wrong) five dollars on Xbox Live Market Place. Trust me, it's worth it. It sucks at first, but once you figure out that you can move around (yeah, I didn't know till last evening) it's truly amazing. And it's beautiful. That's about it!


GEOMETRY WARS: RETRO EVOLVED: 10/10

Awarded for outstanding visuals, sound, and being a great arcade shooter-
Loshon's Casual Pick of the year. (So far)

What I'm playing: Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved, Company of Heroes
Games I'm into: Mass Effect for PC, Mirror's Edge

Starcraft = Ecstasy

Starcraft. What can one say about such a game so old, yet so amazingly good. Starcraft is a futuristic sci-fi RTS involving 3 races all fighting for control, power, and survival. The Terran are the human race, comprised originally of a group of settlers launched hundreds of years ago from Earth in a cryogenetic sleep. The Zerg, an alien race comprised of many races of aliens all evolved over time into something useful for the Overmind, the being that controls them. And finally, the Protoss, an alien race that possesses powerful psionic abilities and very strong, but expensive units.

Each race is perfectly balaced with the others, but all 3 play very differently. This was a new concept for RTS's at the time it was released, and still few games have managed to match this concept with the quality that Blizzard did over a decade ago.

As you know, I've recently been entranced by Starcraft once again, and have finally taken to playing the campaign without cheats (I was such a cheater in my younger days). I have finished the Terran campaign, and am on the last mission for the Zerg. Why, you may ask, am I talking about a game that's so old? Because it's awesome. Also, Starcraft 2 has been announced and is coming out later in the year, hopefully. Also, I watched a couple professional Starcraft players from South Korea going at it for 5 minutes over the same expansion, and it was mind blowing. Koreans are insane at Starcraft, enough said.

Also, a couple games no one on this blog has mentioned need to be talked about. Ninja Gaiden 2 and Fable 2. Ninja Gaiden 1 for Xbox was a ridiculously hard game, but also extremely good. The second one looks to be amazing. Maybe I'll even beat this one =P. Fable 1 was a great game, but very short. Fable 2 should be awesome if they actually do everything they say they are going to do (one of my biggest quirks with the game industry at the moment). Speaking of which, I've been playing Bioshock on hard mode to get the Achievement. It's not hard, every time you die, you just respawn and go on about your business. Tsk, Tsk.

What I'm playing: Starcraft, Halo 3, Bioshock, GTA 4

Company of Heroes: How not to lose, and how to deal with it!

Company of Heroes for the PC was named E3 '06 best of show, and best strategy game of '06 and it's stand alone expansion (Opposing Fronts) had similar praise as well. These are both great semi-hardcore strategy games for the PC.
You can buy them on Steam, Valves digital distribution program for you who know not, for 19.99 (Original game) and Opposing Fronts for 29.99. Or you can save yourself 9.99 and buy them in a "Golden Edition" for 39.99. This is what you want if you're gonna buy this game, 'cause once you get the original and play online with the OF users, you're gonna die to have it yourself. So download those and continue reading this article.
Anyway, I was noticing while playing the game today, a lot of my opponents had very...low...strategic skill at this game. One of the biggest mistakes they made was not moving up enough in the first 2 minutes of the game. This is where the game is ultimately decided. The players who move up and capture and hold key points in the very beginning usually win. Another mistake that is made very often is the player moves up, and stays put without meeting any resistance. When this happens, your enemy is usually building up his(hers) force and preparing to take the map with an army. When this happens and you are just waiting around in your territory, you can't be building because your attention is on you borders. If you press and punch through with a group of engineers and totally cut off supplies, they can't build an army. You do this and you have already won the game.
MID-GAME: It seems you're in a deadlock, fighting over the middle control points (unless it's a Control Points game, those are over faster than Annihilation games) you have two or three options. As follows for each commander tree: Infantry: get some howitzers! These guns can make the game for you if you have two or three of them. Unfortunately, this doesn't work unless you have an ally or two. And keep pounding there base, soldier! Airborne. Do a recon of an area via plane then drop a squad of paratroopers and an AT gun behind enemy lines. Keep adding to them and cut off the enemy's supplies. This will stop them dead in their tracks. Now just punch through their line and rescue the para forces while defending the points you took. Armor: This is the hardest tree to use right. (Airborne being the easiest) The tree on the right is best used in the beginning and mid game, where the tree on the right is expensive, so you either have to suck to use this tree, or be really good because of the cost. I can't tell you much, except your Calliope Launcher is really nice and can be used for punching the crap out of your enemies invading force when used right.
END-GAME: If you're winning right now, sit tight, defend your points, and build up your armor. Then crush them! Muah-haha!
If you're losing, well, you're losing and unless your enemy makes a huge blunder walks into your minefield that you forgot about. Or your King Tiger/Pershing tank goes on a rampage in their base. Anyways, as we all know, defeat tastes like soggy Graham Crackers in your mouth, and there's nothing you can do about it except make it as frigging HARD AS POSSIBLE FOR THEM TO WIN. This tactic is also really fun. One of the best ways to do this as the Whermacht is build bunkers in random places all around the map. It'll take them a long time to find them. Booby traps are fun put in them as well, such as mines, people, tanks, and artillery strikes. As the American's, you can make lots and lots and lots of engineers and send them throughout the map to die. Or just keep them repairing your base from the back. That's really annoying too. But the best thing of all to do in this situation is use your off map reinforcements to hassle them around. Infantry battle groups are the best because there's so many dang things to kill! But you have to face it some time, that you are going to lose the game and eat those soggy Graham Crackers. Eww.


Check out this great article about what we learn from gaming on 1Up.com. It's really cool.

What I'm playing: Company of Heroes: Ecstasy

Battlefield: Heroes

Battlefield what? Isn't that that lame Team Fortress 2 Knock-off? Uh, no it's the most incredible and coolest game so far this year. And it has the music to go with it! A lot can be said (silently, I'm using a metaphor here) for the next installment of the Battlefield series, and probably it's popularity is on the list of what can be said. Right in between "Amazingly Awesome" and "Free". Still with me? Yeah, it's 100 % FREE. Go to their site, click the big button that says "Play Now" (it's yellow, bye the way) and let it download, then play. Yeah. But it's not out yet, so no big yellow button for me just yet. The beta is coming up I hear, so I'm gonna be in that if it's the last thing I do.

Still wondering what's so insanely cool about this game? Well, first of all, it's got that awesome cartoon style, (it IS a "cartoon shooter) it's all about balance and crazy things like 5 minute fire fights, you can sit on the wings of airplanes and blow yourself across the map with dynamite. *breath* This game is the most insane thing ever! Nothing is lethal, everything takes time to kill someone, this adds another layer of accessibility, and you can customize your character's everything! Well, everything appropriate anyway. I can't say anymore as I haven't even scratched the surface of this game, but I am giving you a video of it.





What I'm playing: Company of Heroes: Hard Market, Garry's Mod

Viva Pinata 2: Trouble in Paradise

It has been officially announced this morning that Viva Pinata 2: Trouble in Paradise is real! Wow! And it's got nothing to to with trouble in paradise (as I understand anyways) but has lots to do with awesomeness. It has a crapload of new features, including two new enviroments, (Dessert Desert, Pinarctic) and a whopping 32 new pet thingys. It also includes this crazy cool new feature, that I don't quite understand yet, but what got out of it was: You can take pictures of animals or trees or weather and put them on some kind of cards that also work on iPods and Zunes(?) and then you can put them into your game and it makes them.....real. Yeah. You tell me.

Another cool thing is that nothing is unlock able. Everything is already unlocked. I don't know how that is going to work, but that sounds good to me. Not to steal a quote or something, but Viva Pinata 2 sounds just like the Viva Pinata Special Edition. It's getting a second chance to be great! The only bad thing is that it probably won't come out on PC for a long while, if at all. I guess I'll just stick with my cool PC games.

In other news, somebody has to convince Zaputh that he's missing a ton of games on the 360. We couldn't name of any when we thought about it, so a true console gamer needs to bust in and tell us that we are wrong and that we rock too. Yay.


UPDATE: Yes, it IS coming out for PC simultaneously as the 360 and (?) PS3 (?) versions of the game. As you can imagine, I am uber exited for this game. There is an awesome article about things we learn from gaming at 1Up.com. Read it right now. (no link 'cause I found out it was illegal to link to Ziff Davis Media Publishing Corp. content with some other...stuff...or something.....?

Bye for now-Loshon


What I'm playing: Company of Heroes: Remember the Poplars, Garry's Mod, Team Fortress 2

First Post

Hey guys, this is my first post here, hopefully I'll post often, it seems pretty fun. Anyways, I want to talk about some games from the past, and mabye a little bit from the present, and then later, we might possibly travel to the FUTURE, only time will tell, or this post, whatever.

First of all, I'm going to go WAY back, to the land of classic games. Actually, one classic game in particular. Starcraft. You may have never had the chance to play Starcraft, a game generally regarded as the best RTS of all time, and a game that is still immensly fun. Infact, in South Korea they actually still have Starcraft "stars" along the lines of our sports stars. I used to play Starcraft back in my younger days, along with another Blizzard game called Diablo (also still pretty fun) and in the past few days I've been getting back into it. I can't give enough praise to Starcraft, and seeing as how its only 20 bucks for it and its expansion pack, I highly recomend you pick it up if you get the chance. You will thank me.

Another much more recent game that I know the other posters on the site were talking about, but never actually bought >:( is a little game called Audiosurf. Basically, its a game that takes your music, and turns it into a puzzle game/roller coaster/near religious experience. If I went into too much detail about it, it would start to sound stupid, which it is definitely not. It is an amazing game, and you can pick it up on Steam for the low price of 10 bucks. I can safely say that this is the best 10 dollar game I have ever played. And speaking of Steam, I have to respectfully disagree with TJ, I happen to like the new look for Steam.

Now I'm going to come to the now and talk a little about Grand Theft Auto 4. I beat it a few days ago with a game time of 24 hours 44 minutes and it is definitely the best game I've played in a long time. Other recent great games like Bioshock and Mass Effect were good, but just left me with a bad taste in my mouth when I thought of all the stuff that they promised, but failed on. I better stop here talking about Bioshock because even though its a great game, it does not deserve game of the year from every freaking website and magazine in existence. That talk is a long one though, so anyways, back to GTA. Everything promised by Rockstar with GTA4 has been given to me. It is truly an amazing game, and you've probably read all about it from other review sites so I won't go into to much detail, but basically, its the first AAA game in awhile that has actually given what it promised, and that is a very good thing.

Alright, I think I've rambled enough for this post. Saw the GOW2 and Mirrors Edge trailers, and they look awesome, but its been talked about so I guess that's about it.


What I'm playing: GTA4, Starcraft, Halo 3, Audiosurf

Gears 2 Impressions

Well, just an hour ago I experianced the first Gears of War 2 gameplay, and i must say, (unlike my first impressions of the first Gears game, which were unimpressed) I was blown away. This has evolved from whatever kind of notions that the first game inspired of being a shooter with a third person twist, this is now a new kind of game, a hectic, gory, multiple-chainsaw-kills sort of game. The video focused on a level called Assault, in which our cog friends are "tanking" their way into a city infested by locusts, and in a new twist to the gears world, is going to be sucked underground by a freaking massive emergence whole (holy crap moment). The trailer featured new enemies, such as vehicles reminiscent to the sentinals in the matrix movies and, of course, the giant monster thing at the end of the first gears game (and of which you pc gamers out there got to fight). New "doodads" in the game are a "locust shield" sort of deal where Marcus grabs a locust, uses him for cover while firing on some other enemy locust, and breaks his neck to see him fall off the tank they are riding on, which are freaking huge. Others involve a chainsaw clash, where Marcus and a locust pitted chainsaw against chainsaw until (some proof of bugs to sort out) it immidiately stopped and Marcus gutted the locust with the chainsaw. This is what really got my blood pumping, and makes me want to see how the controls are going to work for these flashy kills. More to come...

Games I'm Playing: GTA4 (blowing my freaking mind!!!), Super Smash Bros Brawl, Rock Band, Final Fantasy: Chrystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates (much better than you think it is)

Happy Mother's Day

Wuhh, Happoy Mudder's Daoy! Non drunk version: Happy Mother's Day everyone, I hope you give your moms (or mums) a cookie! She deserves it! Unless of course you're a snotty dolt who lives in some city somewhere. Or, you can send her these great flowers I made for your enjoyment. Yes, I know, they're SPACE flowers. Planted and raised by the Covenant Council of Cool flowers, an underground alien organization by the elite race, also know as the Elites. Or Sanghelli. Whichever language you prefer.


Larger here. (1024x960, click to enlarge)

What I'm playing: Battlefield 2142, Company of Heroes, *Mirror's Edge (in my mind)*

Gears of War 2: The Nemesis Chronicles

First, GoW is coming later, and it's not actually called the Nemesis Chronicles. I'm sorry.

Well, Steam has just updated their Steam Store to, in my opinion, look super stupid (in case you haven't noticed, everything is really block-y, small, and confusing. The one good thing is that Company of Heroes has made it to the top rated list. Yay for it! Enough PC talk for now though.

Okay. Gears of War 2. GOW2. Do you call is GOW, or is it just GW? Huh. Anyways, Gears of war two is scheduled to release in month numero eleven this year,(on the 15th, nerd) and the very first gameplay video is coming out on 1up EXCLUSIVELY tonight at 10:30 PM PST. (precisely 9 hours, 34 mins, and 26 seconds from when I am typing this) You can find the count down HERE. I think, that they should let everyone get it like 3 mins. before, so they can load it, and THEN let everyone play it. That would work great! So everyone get your Poped Corn and your chainsaw squirt gun on your office chair and watch Gears of War 2: The Nemesis Chronicles. Not really. But it's gonna be fun!
After watching the Mirror's Edge SCEE video almost 30 freaking times I feel like I will die for this game! It really does look like one of the most amazing games ever. If anyone read about the game on the 'ol Games for Windows print magazine exclusive, you can, in theory do every move in the beginning of the game, you just haven't learned how yet. If you knew how, you could, so just fooling around in the first half of the game should get you some really awesome stunts to use in your running job. If you haven't heard, you're a runner (I forget the character name) for some kind of shady organization in this super cool city. Running from rooftop to rooftop delivering messages and speeding around, past, and on top of guards. If you grab a gun, you can't move as fast, jump as far, or do anything, unless it's a light weapon such as a pistol or sidearm. Play this as a shooter or as a First Person Jumper, (FPJ) it's gonna be an awesomely unique experience.

There has been a rumor that it is not coming out on PC or PS3, only the 360. SMITE THOSE MORONS! That's not true!! If it was....well, I'll just say that Dice would find an angry world of PC gamers at their doorstep. I'm gonna keep it at that. I got a super cool sig of ME, so everyone can have it!



What I'm playing: Day of Defeat: Source (15 hours of it) The Orange Box, Company of Heroes, Trackmania Nations: Forever, and Saga.....Uggg.

News, Changes, and some more Mirror's Edge love!

Okay, first, the posts that have been coming up on this blog are really blowing me away. They're Great Guys!! Also, be expecting to see a LOT of changes to this place in the next few weeks, as I will be fooling around with HTML. It it freaks out, my bad.
UPDATE: Sidebar is working well, I don't really thing that we should change it. Just reformat the videos and pictures.
And a BETTER Mirror's Edge video. Ha! This game does look pretty sweet, and I have set high expectations for it. Live up to them! Please! I also hope they let you jump off the edge, and explode in a fiery shower of gore all across the street! Here is what I HOPE will happen:


*falling* 10 seconds later......PLUGUPSHUG *gore everywhere* *develish laugh*


And, the vid!



Wow, that was troublesome to embed...hmm.

Mirror's Edge First Gameplay Video!

As you probably know by now EA and Dice just released the first game play video for their highly anticipated game, Mirror's Edge. When they say they're putting the "first person" back into "first person shooter" they really mean it. Rather than analyze the video second by second I'll let it speak for its self. Enjoy!

Upcoming Console Gaming for Fall 2008

Jimmithen here. Last fall/winter, the gaming season was the greatest since 1998 (incredible year that included the releases of LoZ:OoT and Half Life) with games that tested how far gaming could really go on the next gen consoles. While last year was a great (if long overdue) jumpstart for our new consoles, this year looks to take these consoles to the very limit that they can handle. First off, on the 360, games like Mirror's Edge and Fallout 3 look to put a drain on our pocketbooks. For those of you who have yet to check out the Mirror's Edge trailer (which was released just a few days ago) do yourself a favor, save your souls from purgatory and check this out! I haven't gotten that kind of rush watching the trailer since seeing Portal gameplay for the first time. And for those who didn't play Fallout or its fantAstic successor, you at least have the chance to go forth and see what these Fallout cults are all about. A fine mixture of rpg and shooter elements being made by those geniuses at Bethesda for those hardcore types to eat their hearts out. And, of course, who can forget Gears 2's imminant domination of the console... more to come...
On the PS3, gamers are getting their love early with MGS4, which really is what sony fanboys have been salivating over the past year and a half, though gameplay and combat look to be holding up good. Resistance 2 offers up for more of a traditional shooter for the PS, while new details on Killzone 2 and Littlebigplanet also keep gamers going.
It seems as though the Wii has gotten its fun for the year though, with No More Heroes, Super Smash Bros Brawl, and Mario Kart Wii already having its releases, and with the casual game Wii Fit on the horizon. Unless Nintendo pulls some sort of glorious gem out of its hat, my Wii will probably sit gathering dust for the winter. Godspeed, big N.

Games I'm playing: GTA4, SSBB, Rock Band.

Saga Trailer

Just a Saga gameplay video. More info in my last post. My, doesn't everything look so grand in this trailer? But notice there are almost no shots of most of the units walking. Wonder why? They float!

First Impressions: Saga

Upon the 1up Network give away of the new "MMORTS" Saga,(Silverlode) I was lucky enough to download a copy and get an impression. Two words: Not Finished. BUT OF COURSE you're probably saying now, IT'S STILL IN BETA. Oh, it's off the hook then. But that's what this beta is: not finished. But hey, it has it's potential, and every time I boot it up, it has to update, so I'm assuming that means they're working on it. Also, check out this nifty little article about the ESRB.

ANYWAYS, this game has some large flaws, the most notable being almost completely floating units. Eww! It's also, well, really hard to use and understand. I still don't quite get how to deploy my troops. And why does my "CP" number look like a date. It's like 04/23/150. ???? But it is still in open beta, so I'll give it a break. For now.

AND........nothing else to talk about, except GTA IV, but you know, I'm just not gonna go into that. I think everyone's had enough GTA 'talkin.
Bye for now.

What I'm playing: Day of Defeat: Source, Saga(duh), and
Company of Heroes.


SUPER DUPER!!

Podcasting

Well, our first podcast was produced last Sunday, and I hope you all enjoy it. In it we reviewed 2007, our hopes for 2008, mods, and some tech talk. You can download it free at our website.

{SMTRX} Loshon/Nicara