| 2012.02.04 |
I admit I squealed when I saw that Doom and Doom II were available for download
via XBOX Live.
Link to this
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| 2012.01.29 |
Greetings. The Master Control Program has chosen you to serve your system on the Game Grid.
(Specifically because my wife wants a copy of the new Final Fantasy release.) Those of you who
continue to profess a belief in the Users will receive the standard substandard training which
will result in your eventual elimination. Those of you who renounce this superstitious and
hysterical belief will be eligible to join the warrior elite of the MCP. You will each receive an
identity disc. Everything you do or learn will be imprinted on this disc. If you lose your disc,
or fail to follow commands, you will be subject to immediate deresolution. That will be all.
Link to this
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| 2012.01.23 |
My wife has always been a fan of the Final Fantasy games. Over a year ago
I bought for her Final Fantasy XIII, which she has enjoyed playing (as time has permitted -- notice
you don't read too many posts from me about new games!). We've all enjoyed watching it, too --
kiddo has taken to calling it "The Lightning Game" for reasons which escape me at the
moment. Mommy's now finished the game, and with excellent timing: the next release in the FF
franchise comes out at the end of the month. I reserved her a copy yesterday.
This ought to make my 360 happy, because it spends most of its up-time serving up Lego Star Wars --
our daughter's absolute favorite game. And we're amazed at her progress: as she's maturing, she's
now actually playing the game, as opposed to simply messing around until she remembers how
much fun it is to slap Jar Jar. (By the way, her latest favorite thing to do is to use R2-D2 to
shock stormtroopers, because they rub their bottoms.)
Lately, though, there's adult fun to be had (apart from FF XIII): Jellyvision's re-issue of the
classic PC trivia game "You Don't Know Jack". My wife and I play it often when kiddo is
away.
I recently learned that classic DOOM and content updates for YDKJ are available on XBOX Live. I view
these as two good reasons to get my box back online. I put in a bid on a wireless-N controller today --
fingers are crossed.
Link to this
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| 2011.06.23 |
You know this isn't just a rehash of Duke Nukem 3D when in the very first scene you see a context prompt that reads "Piss" and you can make
the character pick up a large turd out of a toilet.
Duke Nukem Forever is the latest in the Duke Nukem series. Released for console games and for PCs, it is about 20 times more crude than its Windows 95-era
predecesor. The game is amazingly base and filthy. It's not a question of "Do I play it while kiddo is around?"; it's a question of "Is it so base and crass
that I really want to play it at all?". 3D Realms has actually made the game so base that I'm having trouble answering the question. I suspect I'll be
uninstalling it soon. Too far, fellas. Too far.
Link to this
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| 2011.06.20 |
When American McGee released "Alice" in 2000, I found in that game an AMAZINGLY dark take on Lewis Carroll's "Alice in Wonderland." The game was
absolutely fantastic, with great "replayability."
I nearly shrieked like a little girl when I found that American McGee and EA have released a sequel to his incredible initial release. I'm very much
looking forward to playing Alice: Madness Returns... once kiddo is asleep.
Link to this
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| 2011.01.22 |
I've become a stepdad. My little girl touches every aspect of my life, including,
of course, leisure pursuits. My X360 has opened up a whole new avenue for leisure time for
the entire family - and in some interesting ways.
The kiddo LOVES Lego Star Wars. At five, she doesn't understand the Star Wars saga, but
she, like neices and nephews I've known before her, seems to have taken no time at all
to master the controller. She doesn't really "get" what's going on, but she can run,
jump, blast, use the helmet machine, AND has some understanding of what characters are
needed for specific activities -- young Anikin crawling into small spaces, for example.
And by the way, I did not introduce kiddo to Star Wars -- I believe her cousin is
responsible for that. At five, though, she doesn't have the longest attention span --
we play together for a little while before things just devolve into her making me play
the Jar Jar Binks character and her blasting me and giggling like crazy. (Jar Jar makes
funny sounds when he dies.)
Other games we picked up for kiddo include a racing game based on Disney Pixar's "Cars"
and a game based on Dreamworks' "Monsters vs. Aliens." Kiddo got a kick out of the
racing game, but I think M vs A was a flop: just too complex for kiddo at this point.
There's plenty of fun here for mommy, too -- apparently she enjoyed the Final Fantasy
franchise on her PS2, so we picked up a copy of Final Fantasy XIII. I'd never played
any of those games, and after watching her play FF XIII for a while, I'm satisfied with
that. The game itself is absolutely beautiful -- the graphics and imagery are stunning --
but I just cannot get into turn-based console or computer gaming. I enjoyed watching
her play it, though, and I'm super glad she'll get some use out of the console, too.
For my part, well, I'm still doing Firefight matches in Reach, and recently played
through Star Wars Force II. Force II was a lot of fun, and I particularly liked the
idea of having the option to use the good side or dark side at the very end of the game.
I completed it using the good side, and am looking forward to going back and doing it
again making the opposite choice.
A friend of mine and I plan to cooperatively play Portal 2 when it is released. We'll
do that via XBOX Live, which I recently joined.
I'm glad that Live is free, although the cost of a Gold Membership is pretty cheap --
paid in full for the year, it breaks down to $5 per month. I noticed that ESPN is
available via that Gold Membership -- I may try catching a game during my free month.
Since I don't have television service right now, the subscription might be worth the
coin. We'll see.
Link to this
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| 2010.11.14 |
It took little time to play through Call of Duty Black Ops. According to Steam,
through which the content is controlled, I've played for six hours. I'd believe that.
The story line is that you're a CIA operative, named Alex Mason (voiced by Sam Worthington), who
holds the key to the origin of secret radio broadcast to Soviet sleeper agents in state
capitals across the United States. It is 1968, and the Soviets are about to unleash the
deadly toxin Nova-6, wrested from the Nazis in World War II, on an unsuspecting American public.
Your CIA handler, Agent Jason Hudson (voiced by Ed Harris), is urgently interrogating you to learn the
location of the source of the broadcasts.
The framework of the game is supplied by the interrogations: each step in the interrogation
takes you back to a specific event; it is in these events that you, the player, play the game
(generally as Mason). After each scenario, you find yourself back in the interrogation room,
under the bright lights and the scrutiny of the pitch-shifted voice of the interrogator.
A constant companion throughout many scenarios is Reznov (reprised from Call of Duty: World at War and again
voiced by Gary Oldman), a Russian to whom Mason is seemingly inextricably linked, and to two
fellow SOG teammates -- Bowman (voiced by Ice Cube) and Woods (whose voice actor I didn't recognize).
The scenarios take place in Cuba, Laos, Viet Nam, and in Russia. (I've seen press reports that suggest
the Cuban government is angry about the mission to kill President Castro.)
The game also offers some very rich likenesses of Presidents John Kennedy and Richard Nixon, Secretary of Defense
Robert McNamara, and the aforementioned Cuban President Castro, for which I applaud Treyarch. This is
the first time in the COD franchise, which is founded on events in the history of war, a release has
involved the likenesses of historical figures in the gameplay. And the figures are very beautifully done.
I thought McNamara in particular looked astonishingly good.
Also seizing upon the popularity of zombie scenarios, Treyarch and Activision included a mini-game
at the end of the campaign (but may be played independently), where you play as any of the aforementioned
historical figures, repeling a zombie attack from within a federal office building. In the first such
scenario, you play as President Kennedy, fighting from within a briefing room and its adjacent hallway.
Treyarch and Activision are also to be commended for another first: using era rock music in the campaign.
Most notably, The Rolling Stones' Sympathy for the Devil is used in a scenario during which you attack
targets while driving a river boat. Credence Clearwater Revival's Fortunate Son also appears in gameplay.
The ending credits features Eminem's Won't Back Down. My guess is that licensing these for the game was
a big deal.
I have only two things about the game which don't seem to add up. The first concerns the age of Mason.
Considering the scope of the events in which he participated, it seems the character should be a little
older. Granted, I wasn't yet alive when these events unfolded. It just seems the artist should have
depicted Mason with a little more milage. The second concerns the choice of Ice Cube as Cpl. Bowman.
This, I really don't buy: Ice Cube generally doesn't speak like somebody from that era; his intonation
betrays his character severely in a couple of spots in the game. Cpl. Bowman simply shouldn't come
off as a rapper from South Central LA. (But then, to be fair, Worthington's Australian comes loose a
time or two as well.)
Link to this
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| 2010.09.17 |
Thought one is short. Well, it's "short." That's because when I powered up to play the
game yesterday, I finished the game within ten minutes.
I guess it was pretty predictable given what was happening in the storyline. Still, seems a crime
to have played the game for all of maybe 7 hours total and have completed the story. I guess
that's where games are going now, though -- they emphasize the online experience so much (which
generates revenue for Microsoft) that the players who prefer to, or must, remain offline to play
come in second. Happily, there are plenty of "firefight" scenarios to console yourself with
the "package" is delivered.
Thought two is "Covenant." Bungie made the covenant players heartier -- even on easy mode, the little
turtley dorito guys and the jackals are more durable than before. And the dorito guys don't come off
as insult comics this time -- thank you, Bungie, for giving them something to speak other than
Don Rickles meets Daffy Duck. They're alien to us, after all; thanks for making them fighters instead of
slapstick comics.
Link to this
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| 2010.09.15 |
Closer to ODST than to the original Halo, Halo Reach (XBOX 360) is a lot of fun so far.
In the solo game, you’re member #6 of “Noble” team – you’re called “Six” throughout.
They took a page out of the ODST playbook here, and kept "Six"'s helmet on the entire
game (so far) -- keeping the character as vanilla as possible to let you see what you
want to see and be what you want to be. Plus, at the start of the game, you're asked
whether you want your player to be male or female.
"Six" finds himself working with a female member of the team called “Kat.” They did
an excellent job of making "Kat" just feminine enough -- standing still and
with the helmet on, it's hard to tell "Kat" is female at all. I give Bungie big props
for that. I have to believe that playing "Six" as a woman would give your character
a similar look.
The weapons have a better “feel” in Reach – it’s grittier – not effortless
like when the Master Chief fires them. (Speaking of which -- No dual-wield.) And they’ve added little
touches like deafening and ringing in the ears for close explosions and so forth.
There's something for everybody here-- FPS action, driving warthogs and bikes, piloting
choppers, AND flying a space fighter. So far, flying the fighter has been my favorite
part of the game -- and I absolutely STINK at fighter-type games.
Bungie, I applaud you! The game looks great and plays beautifully!
Link to this
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| 2010.07.31 |
I made the mistake of driving over to Best Buy this morning. There I found that today
Super Mario 3's fu was strong, and mine was weak. Having *just* cleaned out the back seat of
my car (transporting various things to storage), I was now bringing something new back to
my place -- a Nintendo Wii. The only way I'd get to Super Mario 3 in any satisfying way would
be to download it onto the Wii and play it on my television set. So, here we are. I downloaded
SM3, the original Super Mario Bros., and Kirby's Adventure. Guess I was a major
nostalgia guy today.
Link to this
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| 2010.06.19 |
Halo 3: ODST
(link to Amazon.com)
was a fun play. Perhaps thanks to the yucky weather we've been having, I seem to have tore through it in a hurry.
The game starts with a scene in which several members of an ODST crew are talking, then get called to assemble for
a drop mission. What you may not realize at the time is that scene is introducing you to everyone you'll play, with
the exception of the Captain. One mainly plays "The Rookie" in this game -- a person for which there is no face (the
rookie's helmet visor is always darkened) and no voice. I can't help but believe these ominous omissions are meant
to help you feel that YOU ARE the rookie, with the aid of the absence of features that define the character. The
trouble with it, IMHO, is that these omissions aren't subtle at all. In fact, they're so noticeable they're disruptive
at times. But I totally get where they were going with it.
Perhaps because these are humans in these uniforms and not a Spartan, one isn't given the option of dual-wielding
any weapons. It would have been nice to at least dual-wield smaller firearms like pistols.
I really liked the augmented display. Yes, outlining friendlies in green and bad guys in red was kinda cool -- but
I LOVED what it did for the scenery, particularly at night. It really was like Halo meets Tron. Very, very slick.
Link to this
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| 2010.06.13 |
I picked up Halo 3: ODST
(link to Amazon.com)
tonight for $39.99 -- perhaps just because the game has been out for a while, but
also possibily because it's not sold well. I started playing this evening, and I kinda like it -- as a player,
you're more vulnerable than the Master Chief character is. And so far from the graphical treatment, it's kinda
like Halo meets Tron!
Link to this
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| 2010.06.12 |
I'm really glad Ubisoft added the "Deniable Ops" section to Splinter Cell: Conviction
(Link to Amazon.com).
I've been having a lot of fun with those,
although the lack of save ability was damn frustrating -- because playing them meant devoting the entire evening
to the game, because even though you "save" at various points through each scenario, they're only saved in RAM
(that's why I called the game "Splinter Cell: Groundhog Day" to begin with). Needless to say, completing the
Deniable Ops meant devoting much more time to the game than I wanted to on a given day. Still, the ops were
enjoyable, and obviously challenging (at least, to me).
Link to this
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| 2010.05.18 |
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Conviction
(Link to Amazon.com)
is still a fun play. But I've got one problem with it: the game does not persist
game data from the "Deniable Ops" section. I thought I'd try one out about a week ago. I've been trying it out every night since. That's
because I can get only so far before I have to, oh, I dunno... go to bed because it's now one-freakin'-thirty and I hafta get up at six.
Trouble is, the game doesn't persist the current op up through the most recent save point. Oh, it saves it in RAM, so when your character dies
you restart from there --- but it doesn't persist that information, so the next night when I get home from work, I start all over
again. The op I just completed (and I do mean just) was a five-part mission. In each part, you're expected to dispose of
between ten and twenty enemies, depending on how stealthy you are (if you're detected, an additional ten bad guys show up). I'll say I've
become fairly good at the first three maps, anyway.... because I've played them every night for over a week!
Link to this
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| 2010.05.10 |
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Conviction (link at end) became a fun play, with great emphasis on stealth over weaponry.
I certainly stand by everything I said in the April 20th post -- and find myself now wondering what co-op
gameplay might be like. The ending was particularly notable -- you, as Sam Fisher, have a choice to make, and are
left wondering who your allies really are. I like the intrigue in addition to the kill-kill-kill. Oh -- one other thing
() -- observant fans of the Hitman series of games will notice a man, who bears a striking
resemblance to Agent 47 -- bald, black suit, white button-down shirt, red tie, and black gloves -- dies at the hand of Black Arrow mercs
in a hallway of the White House.
Links to Amazon.com:
Splinter Cell Conviction
Hitman Blood Money
Link to this
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| 2010.04.20 |
The latest in Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell franchise, Splinter Cell Conviction (links at end)
has so far been a lot of fun. Ubisoft has made the gameplay very easy
in terms of controls, yet a challenge for the casual gamer. I bought it primarily for its two-player cooperative capabilities as a
follow-on to my very successful "Chinese and Chainsaws" get-togethers featuring EA's Left 4 Dead 2. Even though Sam Fisher isn't clubbing zombies with frying pans and
cricket bats, I have high hopes the gameplay will be every bit as engaging, and the good times will continue to roll. I've really enjoyed
every other encounter with Sam Fisher in the past (although I didn't play Double Agent). So far, this latest release is just as enjoyable --
and I'm really glad Michael Ironside is still the voice of Sam.
Links to Amazon.com:
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Conviction
Left 4 Dead 2
Link to this
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