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2010-04-22T06:35:00.000-07:00

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Breach Impressions

2010-04-08T08:28:00.000-07:00

At PAX, I had an opportunity to play Breach, by Atomic Games, and I was not impressed, to be honest. Breach is a first person shooter, based in a modern warfare setting. There are five classes which you can choose from, but only three were playable at PAX, the Rifleman, the Gunner and Recon. The Rifleman was similar to a sniper, but was more mobile and wasn't crippled in closer combat. The Gunner is your standard heavy weapon class, with a machine gun and grenade launcher. The Recon class is almost like a scout, with a little more weaponry. I was able to play all three classes, and wasn't overly impressed by any of them.

I am not sure Breach offers anything more than Counter Strike: Source or the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare series. The developers at PAX were saying that the entire world was destructible, they said to the point where you could remove a single brick and use it as a whole for sniping, I didn't see it. I attempted to shoot at walls, and nothing happened, I fired grenade and there was little or no destruction. There was one wooden structure that was able to be destroyed, but it seemed to be the only thing. There was an archway where the other team would tend to hide, I attempted to drop it down on them, and nothing happened. I am not sure if it wasn't working, I was doing it wrong, or it just can't happen, but either way, it does not speak well for the game, since this was their big selling point.

The game is set to cost fifteen dollars, which is not bad at all, but I feel like they are making sure that everyone knows the game is fifteen dollars, they had a fairly prominent sign at PAX. I feel like they were trying to distract from a incomplete or sub par game by making sure that everyone knew it was much cheaper than similar games. If I was looking for a cheap game, I would still go with Counter Strike: Source over Breach, minus the "destructible" world Breach offers nothing more than Counter Strike. If you are looking for a current game, and willing to pay for it, there is no reason not to get Modern Warfare 2 or Bad Company 2. I feel like Breach attempts to cash in on the Modern Warfare trend, but it doesn't offer anything new, and Modern Warfare is a better game. I see no reason to purchase this game, to be honest, and I do not understand the hype it is getting. Though, keep in mind, the game is still currently in the very early alpha stages, so we could see much more in the way of improvement.

Pax East: Days 2 & 3

2010-04-05T21:53:00.000-07:00

PAX Day 2:

I met up with Egan and a few of his buddies around noon on Saturday. We met up at Spike's Junkyard Dogs. I was the odd ball for the conversation about Starcraft 2. It did intrigue me how everyone was discussing sick "plays", clutch wins, epic maneuvers and using brilliant strategies. The moments gamers share with each other, are just like talking about scoring the winning touchdown in the big game. Primarily being a PS3 console gamer I am missing out on a lot of inter-connectivity with other players. I do party up with some friends for PSN games, but it lacks something when no one wants to use a microphone.

We all finished our food then headed down to Hynes. The foot traffic was flowing a lot faster on Saturday. Egan and I split from his buddies and headed to the Exhibition hall. We checked out the nVidia 3D booth again. They were showing a demo for a game that has a crazy looking character sitting on a rocket sled that is shot down a set of train tracks. This 3D demonstration did not do much for me. Upon explosion pieces of debris would fly through the air. I did not feel the sensation of the 3D adding much to the experience. The game was entertaining and graphically it was pretty good, but the 3D effect was lost.

After a lap around the nVidia area we stood and stared at the Crackdown 2 area for a few minutes. Out journey then took us to the back corner of the room to a small booth showing the game Joe Danger. We spent the better part of 45 minutes there. After taking off from there we checked out some more of the booths and decided it was time for more food.

Pizza was acquired and a panel we wanted to attend was about 90 minutes away. So we checked out the line which was non-existent at that time, and went back to the console free play room. Time for more NBA Jam! I went 2-1 before our time was up. We went over and got inline for the “Fail now!” panel. I was under the impression it was about how games that have failed changed the industry in some way, and happy accidents. My assumption was way off. The discussion was less of a discussion and more of a lecture featuring graphs, and charts. The same graphs and the same charts were drawn over and over again. I started falling asleep at one point. Egan was interested because it was more focused at development and marketing. Ask him what it was about, I was snoozing,

A Podcasting (f)or PR panel was starting half way through the “Fail Now” discussion. Our priority for the weekend was to check out the Podcasting panel so we ducked out to try to get in. It apparently was the priority for a whole line of other PAX attendees as the line was already closed. We failed then and with nowhere to go; we went back to the exhibit hall and roamed around.

Finally, I was able to get in on Monday Night Combat for the final demo of the day. The game is a bit of a cluster fuck. (Note: MS Office auto corrected “clusterfuck to cluster fuck”) If I had more time to play and familiarize my self with controls and classes I would have more to say. All I took away from my experience was "Shit,its hard to kill other players, but I am getting killed every 20 seconds". By this time we were hungry and eager to go outside. We checked out Daisy Buchanan’s for 45 seconds. Enough to get inside, not move, and then leave. We found the dudes from the Rumble Pack and shot the shit with them for a while in some coffee shop that was playing Dragon Force. It was a surreal moment out side of the convention itself. We heard about “Decent Pizza’s decent pizza” with “Through the Fire and the Flames” cranking in some posh Newbury St. coffee shop. Egan and I then hit up Bukowski's for a beer and some food. PAX lanyards and badges were everywhere all weekend. It was cool to roam around the area and know everyone else was doing the something. I did not run into any one all weekend who was abrasive, angry, impolite, inconsiderate or rude. It was refreshing to have that, especially in the Back Bay. Even Egan and I didn’t act like douche bags.

Nothing was on our agenda for the rest of the night. We did another session of NBA Jam. I had another 2-1 session. Our time ran up half way through game four before I was able to come back and whoop Egan. We then set up camp on the third floor in the hall for a while debating on what to do. Egan played some Torch Light on his net book and I got through a couple levels in Metal Gear Ac!d on PSP. We called it a night around 11. I had prizes to give away all day, but didn't give out anything. No one told me they worked for Dick Jones and no one got their choice of Secret Service or Ratatouille for PS2. I still have both to give away. The next person to join our Facebook Fan Page and leave a comment gets either game.

PAX Day 3

Sunday morning we met up early and headed over to the last day of PAX East 2010. We did a lap around the exhibition hall. We got in a relatively quick moving line for Crackdown 2. I have mixed feeling about my experience in the demo. I guess Egan did alright playing in the team death match mode. I did not. I could not find any enemies. I spent time running around, flying, standing, and looking in all directions. I would find an enemy player and head in that direction. When I would arrive I would be looking for some one who was no longer there, or I would be met with a rocket to the face.

Nothing else remained we felt compelled to wait in line to play. We opted to go get pizza. Upon our return to the convention center we went to check out if a line was forming for the “Everything you wanted to know about video game journalism but were too afraid to ask” panel. We were a little too early, there was a huge line forming for the live X-play show happening in the same theater prior to the panel Egan and I were planning on going to. We had time to kill, and had our final NBA JAM session. I closed out PAX weekend with a 3 win sweep. We got in line fairly early for the “Everything …” panel. I killed 45 minutes inline by playing Chalkboard Stunts on my Ipod touch. It is a very basic game. The player is able to create a race track on a chalkboard. Ramps, loops, speed boosts and blocks are all at your fingertips to help create an obstacle course to reach the goal. The game has fun physics and allows for maps to be saved and shared. The App Store has a free version to play, with some limited features and PRO version for $1.99 which has added features like different vehicles and track construction tools. I recommend the free version to check out. The $1.99 game is up to you.

There was enough room remaining in the conference room by the time we got in for us to have a choice of some premium seats. The whole discussion was interesting some good questions were asked during the Q&A portion. They were also taking questions via twitter, DS chat, and email. One of the panelists, video game journalist, Kyle Orland answered the questions Egan and I submitted over our twitter account a day or two later which was very cool. That summed up the general PAX experience for me. Everyone was cool, friendly, and totally enjoyed talking video games in all aspects.

We left the whole weekend behind us around three or so in the afternoon. I had a blast. I enjoyed the time away from work primarily, but was pleased spending time in a gaming bubble. Everyone was playing something, discussing something, wearing something, or watching something related to games of all sorts with out any reserve, any guilt or feeling the need to apologize for just wanting to play a game. PAX East was an excellent weekend, and I feel like I didn’t truly make the most of it. It was hard to prioritize schedules. Standing in line to play a demo versus standing in line for a discussion was a game itself. Some panel discussions were staggered and again you had to prioritize staying for the whole session, or duck out early and gamble not making it in time to get into a second panel. You would essentially be missing two full panel discussions if you failed to make the cut off. The location was an excellent choice outside of the convention center. Easy access to public transportation, great food options in the area, plenty of places to meet up and hang out and retail. The Hynes Convention Center on the inside was a bit cramped, especially when lines were forming. The heavy rumor is that PAX East is returning to Boston in 2011 and 2012 to a larger, newer convention center in South Boston. The location for the larger convention center sacrifices places to go and accessible public transportation in the immediate area of the convention for a much larger space able to accommodate the massive crowds. Either way, expect to see me at PAX East in Boston next time.

Baseball Picks and MLB 2K10

2010-04-04T15:15:00.001-07:00

Baseball Picks:

It's that time of year again. Every year, I like to make my baseball predictions, and being opening day tonight, I need to it. I will also include a review of MLB 2K10 with it, since I have been playing that due to lack of The Show for XBox 360. I will break down my predictions on were I think teams will fall and a short explanation about why.

AL East
1. Boston

The new look Red Sox are going to be a very tough team to score runs against. Between having the best and deepest pitching rotation in baseball, they should have one of the best defensive teams in the league. Their offense isn't going to be what it was in prior years, but it doesn't need to be. A big question mark for the team is the DH spot, Ortiz will never be what he was from 2004 to 2006, but I also don't think he will be what he was the first half of 2009. Boston will put up a good number of runs, but their runs allowed should be near the best in the league.

2. New York(WC)

The Yankees will make the playoffs, no doubt, but we won't be as good as last year. Last year, they stayed completely healthy, which is rare for any team. I think we will see A.J Burnett spend time on the DL, which really weakens their pitching staff, I also don't think Nick Swisher will play nearly as well as he did last year, and Javier Vazquez had a ton of trouble pitching in New York in 2004, and I think we will see the same. The Yankees are still a great team, but they had an almost flawless season last near, there is no way they can repeat it again.

3. Tampa Bay

In the three headed monster that is the AL East, one team has to be left out of the playoffs. That will be the Tampa Bay Rays. They have one of the better offenses in the league, but I honestly do not believe Ben Zobrist is as good as he played last year. Their pitching staff is still fairly inexperienced, David Price and Wade Davis have not shown me anything to be blown away by. They will stay in the race for the majority of the year, no doubt, but I think similar to last year, they will fall short.

4. Baltimore

In any other division the Baltimore is a contender, in the AL East, they are not. Their pitching staff is still very weak, but this could change over time. The addition of Kevin Millwood will give them a good veteran starter to help along the young pitchers they have in the system. Their offense is going to very strong this year, they will play over .500, and playing in the AL East, that deserves to be noted. In a few years, they will be an even better team, but they need to make a couple big moves to contend.

5. Toronto

Toronto isn't going to be good this year, with that said, they still have a lot of depth in pitching, and a good couple of young hitters. The team is in a rebuilding year, and should be for the next two to three years. Toronto will not be the worst team in baseball, and they should give the other AL East teams some trouble, they will not be a definite win. We will see how they progress over the next couple of years, but this year, they are last place.

AL Central
1. Minnesota

Even without Joe Nathan, the Twins will win the Central. They are just too good. They have, in my opinion, the best player in baseball, Joe Mauer, and have a solid offense built around him. Adding J.J. Hardy and Orlando Hudson make the offense even better. Their pitching staff is filled with no names, but they are very good no names. On top of that, Francisco Liriano could return to his former self, he has looked good in spring training. The Twins will take the Central, and I think they will take it by 5 games.

2. Chicago

The White Sox are a pretty good team, but I am not sure they are any better than last year. I am not convinced Jake Peavy will succeed in the AL, but if he does the White Sox will be in the race the entire year. Their offense is pretty good, but nothing special, they have some good talent. Their rotating DH is an interesting situation, and they will need to find the RBI numbers outside of the DH, unlike most teams. Outside of my worries for Peavy, their pitching staff is solid. I just think the Twins are that much better.

3. Detroit

Detriot went from a rebuilding team to a win now team during the course of the off season. Trading away Granderson, but then signing Damon. They will play well this season, but I am not sure they have enough to win the division, or pass the White Sox. Behind Verlander, their pitching staff is somewhat suspect, and the offense is good, but not great, outside of Miguel Cabrera, they do not have a top flight bat, so they won't be able to drive in a ton of runs. Detroit will be a good team this year, but they will fall short of the playoffs for sure.

4. Cleveland

Although an all out rebuilding team, they are not the worst team in the division. Cleveland still has a good offense, and their pitching staff could surprise people. Westbrook is back after missing all of last year, if he has a good year, it will go a long way with Cleveland having a better year than last. Travis "Dr." Hafner looks the best he has been in a couple years also. Between Choo, Sizemore and Hafner, they Indians will put a good amount of runs, their pitching beyond 3 is a total crap shoot though.

5. Kansas City

The Royals are bad. The royals will be bad until they fire the entire front offense. Behind Grenkie, there really isn't much to talk about with this team, Grenkie will still put up amazing numbers, but no one else around him will do much. I do not for see them doing much at all this year.

AL West
1. Seattle

I am very torn between Seattle and Texas for the west. It is going to be a very close race, but I am giving it to Seattle. With a duo like Cliff Lee and Felix Hernandez, how can I not. Behind them is Eric Bedard, who could be a top tier pitcher, if he knew how to stay healthy. Their offense is pretty good overall, Ichiro will be Ichiro and with Chone Figgins, we will see a ton of speed on the bases with them. I think they will generate enough runs to win games, and pitch very very well.

2. Texas

Texas is much like the Twins with their pitching staff, no guaranteed ace, but a lot of solid guys. With that said, if healthy Rich Harden is a very good pitcher. If not healthy, the Rangers need to rely on their offense to carry them. With that said, it should carry them very well, they have an amazing offense. I like Texas a lot, and if they win the West, I will not be surprised at all, they will stay in the wild card race until the final day if they do not win the West.

3. Anaheim

I see a lot of regression for this team, starting with the pitching staff, Scott Kazmir is not what he once was, and Joel Pinero will be nothing like he was in St. Louis. Losing Lackey and Figgins was a huge blow to this team. I think they will play well, and won't fall out of the race to early, but I really think it is between Seattle and Texas for the West.

4. Oakland

Oakland might surprise people, they have the best defensive outfield in baseball, if you ask me, and are a machine for turning out great pitchers. They aren't going to win anything, but they very well could leapfrog into 3rd with some key injuries to other teams. I think they will end up in fourth though, they have way to many question marks to do much more than that.

NL East
1. Philly

Philadelphia is no worse than they were last year, they might be better, starting the year off with a top tier pitcher, and adding Polanco at third base. I still predict them to win the East, similar to the last few years, they are a great team. The major question mark is Brad Lidge. He seems to fall apart every few years, and then rebound, though, starting the year on the DL may not allow him to rebound this year. If the Phils can find someone to close out games and keep Lidge on a short leash, they should have no issues in the East.

2. Atlanta(WC)

Atlanta is going to be a great team this year, trading away Vazquez is going to hurt them, but they still have a very solid pitching staff. Their offense should also be better than last year, though they do have a couple question marks. Troy Glaus is coming back from injury and Jason Heyward is starting in the outfield as a rookie. Atlanta will still have a great year, and I think they will take the wild card.

3. Florida

Florida, though young and cheap, always find a way to compete. This year will be no different. I don't think they are going to be good enough to get into the playoffs, but they have a great team to build upon. Major League Baseball is now forcing them to spend money, so we might see more players go to Florida in the coming years, and they can only get better.

4. Washington

Washington is going to be bad, but not as bad as last year. And, my big surprise prediction is them not finishing in last place. They have a decent core of offensive players with Ryan Zimmerman and Adam Dunn. Their pitching could also be good enough, and if Strausburg plays this year, and lives up to the hype, they have an ace on their hands.

5. New York

The Mets are going to be awful this year. Adding Jason Bay isn't going to do much for them. They failed pretty hard at adding depth to their pitching staff, and have almost nothing behind Santana. With Carlos Beltran and Jose Reyes starting the year on the DL, their offense will suffer a lot. Omar Minaya is a bad GM, I am not sure why he has not been fired yet. I am predicting the Mets to be in last place this year.

NL Central
1. St Louis

St. Louis should run away with the Central, between Pujols and Holiday on the offensive side, and Carpenter and Wainwright pitching, they have a solid team. I think they might be the best team in the NL going into the year.

2. Cincinnati

Cincinnati might be better than most expect, they have a very deep pitching staff, and we should see Chapman at some point during the year. Their offense, lead by Votto, should be pretty decent this year. I don't think they are going to make it a race with St. Louis, but they will win a very respectable number of games this year.

3. Milwaukee

To be honest with you, I am not sure that Milwaukee has a pitching rotation this year. With that said, the duo of Fielder and Braun might be one of the best offense 1-2 punches in the league. Milwaukee should be good this year, but I think both St. Louis and Cincinnati will be better.

4. Chicago

The Cubs should be a .500 team this year. Zambrano and Dempster are both good starters, and should win a lot of games for them, but behind them, there isn't much. The offense isn't anything special, they are really a very middle of the road team, they need to clear out some of the bad contracts, and get some new players in there to fill to wholes.

5. Houston

This might be the worst Houston team we have seen in years. With Lance Berkman on the DL to start the season, Roy Oswalt can't carry the team alone. If there is any team that is going to let the Pirates pass them, Houston will be it. I still think they will be better than the Pirates, but just barely.

6. Pittsburgh

The Pirates are in a continuous state of rebuilding, but with a new GM, they are actually rebuilding right. They have a decent young core of players, but too young to make an impact any time soon. The Pirates might end up the worst team in the NL this year, but Houston will be very far behind them.

NL West
1. Colorado

Colorado is a good team, but they are a team of nobudy's, beyond Todd Helton. They hit very well, they pitch very well. The NL West is going to be a very tight division this year, but the Rockies are a good team. I think they will sneak out a division win.

2. Arizona

If Brandon Webb was starting the year healthy, this team would be very tough to beat. Danny Haren will continue to put up great numbers like he always has, I think we will see more of second half Edwin Jackson from last year with the DBacks, but he still should be good enough. They are a young team with a very good offense and a very good top of the rotation. They will keep it close the entire year, but I think they will just fall short.

3. LA

The Dodgers did not get any better this year, but, they are still a decent enough team. Their pitching staff is a big question mark, it is young, and could exceed expectations, but I do not see the Dodgers making the playoffs this year, the Rockies are too good, and the DBacks are getting better as their young players age.

4. San Fransisco

Originally, I had the Giants winning the West, not anymore. They have an amazing pitching rotation, no doubt, and they will win a lot of games as a result, but their offense does not convince me. Upon first glance, their offense does not look bad at all, but once you dig deeper, you will notice that the majority of the players are past their prime, or are injury prone. I do not for see this team going very far. The pitching staff will carry the team through the entire year, and they may stay in the race the majority of the year, but I don't think they have the offense to finish the year on top.

5. San Diego

San Diego is another rebuilding team, beyond Adrian Gonzalez, there isn't much this team has to offer. If Chris Young doesn't pitch well this year, they are in even worse shape. There is no way San Diego comes anywhere near 4th place, let alone any sort of playoff birth.

Now, for the video game section of the post. I picked up MLB 2k10 the day it came out, and jumped right into it. I did not get it last year due to reading about the bugs and how it wasn't a great game. I was craving a baseball game so I thought I would jump in and take the risk. The game isn't as buggy as 2k9, but it isn't perfect either. One game, by team bugged out and I had a completely different teams uniform on, and many times, when attempting to play the game, it would just freeze. On top of the buggy game, hitting is absolutely impossible. I am playing on the default difficulty, and I have not won a game yet. I am pretty sure in 20 games, I have 2 home runs and only 2 doubles, the game makes hitting frustratingly hard. On the other side of the coin, I really enjoy the pitching system. You choose a pitch, and use a analog stick to do a motion for the pitch, the more accurate you are with the motion, the more effective the pitch is, I like it a lot. Overall, I have grown tired of losing in MLB 2K10, and the bugs in the game make it even more frustrating. The game is not great by any means. Maybe you will have more luck hitting than I do, but overall, I am not a huge fan of the game.

PAX EAST DAY 1

2010-04-01T21:30:00.001-07:00

This weekend was the big Penny Arcade Expo at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston, Ma. I was able to go with good friend and fellow D-pad D-Bag Egan. I’m going to give a short run down of my experience with some broad and general strokes.

Friday, I met up with Egan fairly early. We hung out, scoped out the scene, and then got some eats. We sat at a bar, got a burger, a beer and watched CNN. CNN was running a story at the time about Korea being ready for a nuclear strike. After I mentioned that Korea had nukes, Egan said “Blizzard should just release StarCraft 2 as soon as possible to save the world from nuclear holocaust. “ I finished my MGD and burger with bacon. Bacon makes everything better. I was ready to head back to the convention center.

The large queue room was the next scene of our adventure. 10 minutes passed before the heat from all the people in there and the odd smell of humid August garbage got to me and I had to go get air. We walked towards the doors on Boylston Street and hung out as we saw the line getting longer and longer. Once the line got moving after 2 pm we were in the exhibition room in almost no time. We entered and took it all in.

Upon entrance to the exhibition hall, we were greeted with the Rockstar sign for Red Dead Redemption and the big 2kGames signs for Mafia II and Bioshock 2. We looked around for a few then started walking towards demo booths. I saw there was no line for D&D online, a MMO for PC. I stepped up to a station, grabbed the mouse, and fiddled with the key board and killed 2 big rats or something after 10 minutes of trying to figure out how to play. I have 0 MMO experience and found the controls to be non intuitive. I had no idea how to fix the camera so I could see what was in front of me.

The Developers Vs Journalist panel was our next stop. I found it very interesting. Some key things I took away from the discussion were Journalists communicate with consumers what to buy or not buy. Bad reviews are imminent if the writer is not a fan of the game or genre. The journalist will hate his job, hate his boss, hate the game and just trash it. They also touched upon something I found interesting when they discussed journalists writing reviews based on the individual experience. If a writer only played on easy mode, they should disclose that. They can write about general game play mechanics, but mentioning difficulty is a relative aspect to the writer, and the reader as well.

After the panel we hit the show floor again and wandered around. We stumbled upon the Monday Night Combat demo. We stopped right away and got sucked into watching other people play for a solid 20 minutes before deciding to get into line to try for ourselves. One of the loading screens has a piece of bacon giving a shotgun shell a high five. I was sold on the game right then and there. Bacon makes everything better. We spent another 30 minutes waiting our turn and when we were about to pick up the controllers the guy with the mic hosting the demo called for all people that signed up for the tournament. Neither Egan, nor myself were one of the people entered in the tourney. Defeated, yet determined we vowed to get back and get some hands on time with the vividly crazy arena combat game.

The Skate 3 demo area was our next stop after a quick lap around the exhibition rooms. We found out they were giving stuff away for getting 50,000 points on the “Beat the Meat” game mode. The “Beat the Meat” mode basically has the player trying to skate board off of a cliff, and inflict the most bodily harm possible. I waited in line, and got my turn and only hit 49,500 (approximately) I was the only person the whole weekend it seems, to not leave with a free skate deck. I did eventually win a free t-shirt at the Skate 3 demo booth, but I really wanted the board.

We also got to check out Breach. Why some one wanted to steal the code for this is beyond me. I found the game dated, and a cliché FPS. The developers at the booth were trying to upsell the fully destructible environment. I could not find much evidence of that. I also found it extremely difficult to use grenades. They did not show the grenade’s path so it was hard to effectively gauge the direction, arc, distance, and landing location of grenades. I understand that the game is in a pre-beta build right now with a projected $15.00 price tag, but I could find the same jollies playing some Team Fortress Classic.

At this point in the day, the venue started to fill up and lines got long. We took a lap around the third floor and peaked into the various rooms hosting various console and arcade game free plays. We also checked out what other attendees were doing. It looked like mostly lounging around on huge bean bags, playing Nintendo DS, engaged in some sort of CCG, or listening to music and snoozing. Egan and I then decided to get some grub and hit up Wendy’s.

When we got back to the Hynes, we had about 45 minutes or so before exhibit halls closed. We checked out the second large room. We were able to check out some of the nVidia 3D exhibits. I got to see Lost Planet in 3D I was impressed. I don’t know if it because 3D is foreign to me, and a totally new entertainment experience, or because it really is that good. Expect me to talk more about my feeling on 3D gaming and entertainment in coming weeks.

The Alienware area was where we decided to camp out next. We were able to get into a Modern Warfare 2 game on PC. I was excited and thought I stood a chance. I know the weapons and I’m familiar with the maps. I’m born to kill. I got smoked. I am a better console game by far. I am an absolutely horrible FPS player when I am on a mouse and keyboard. I had no idea what my secondary grenade key was, how to switch weapons, or how to duck.

After we got pwn3d, we checked out a crowd of people around some booth. The booth was set up by a graphics card company that was giving away free swag. Headphones, water bottle clips, processors, graphics cards, and shirts. One kid kept screaming “I’m Miley Cyrus” over and over and over again. The MC for the company got a cheap laugh the first time, and the kid in the crowd got nothing. So “Miley” kept doing this. I had a raffle ticket to win something so I wanted to hold onto hope and stick around in case my number was called. I should have realized I had no chance. “Miley Cyrus” kept yelling and screaming. Then some kid started trying desperately to out do “Miley” by repeatedly shouting “But I’m the world’s worst Ghost Buster!” After the booth announced that there were no more prizes, I took off. “Miley” went to the desk where the MC was closing up shop and was trying to barter for a free water bottle holster clip.

Egan and I ended up at Monday Night Combat again. I had images in my head that a mascot in a huge bacon suit was undulating around the crowd. I was hoping to find a huge strip of bacon willing to give me a high five, followed by a gnarly air guitar solo like Bill and Ted do. I was only greeted with a line to play the game soon before the exhibit hall closed. Egan and I stood there wide eyed watching others play this game until last call. I set a goal of playing Monday Night Combat and Skate 3 as we exited the exhibition hall.

Somehow we got corralled upstairs at 6:00 pm, just as a big panel was letting out of the main room. A huge deluge of gamers was ushered up the escalators instead of directed towards the exits. Egan and I wanted to head outside for some air, but this sea of people forced us upstairs with no way to get outside. The exit lay just on the other side of the escalator we were forced to ascend. We found a spot on the third floor hall way next to a window, against a wall with an Asian dude totally passed out next to us. Plenty of other gamers stopped to get a photo of this kid knocked out cold on the floor.

Eventually we got up and the classic console free play room was found. Holy Shit! What an excellent move. They had a Sega Genesis and NBA Jam T.E. for an epic win. Egan and I played out 30 minute allotment. I went 2-1. We then decided it was time for some beer and fun. We went to the Pour House for 2.5 beers. It was over crowded, too loud, and a mix of PAX run off and usual post 9-5er nickel and dimers. We then hit up McGreevy’s. We grabbed a beer at the back bar. They had an 8x11 plastic sign holder with a piece of paper that read “Official PAX gamer party!” Egan and I looked around and saw 3 people with PAX badges hanging around their neck and a few coats on bar stools. We pulled up two empty seats, and had a few brews before heading back to the convention center.

We planned on going to the “Losing should be fun panel” that was about an hour and a half away. We had time to kill, and did what any red blooded American gamer would do. We played some more games. We hit up the classic console free play again. And again, I went 2-1 on NBA Jam T.E. as expected. We packed up and went over to get inline for the panel. The panel was very entertaining and made some strong points. The hosts said games should be fun whether you win or lose. Essentially, losing should be fun. They got into some philosophic thoughts on how games should be fun. The player should have fun, not necessarily the character. How ever the story should progress and make sense for the character to lose in a situation, even if the player does not want to lose. I wish I took better, more legible notes but 4 or 5 Hoegaardens made me throw the rule book out the window and have some fun.

After the panel wrapped up there was still time to go to the console free play for current generation systems. I picked up Darksiders and Egan snagged God of War III for a while. I got 45 or so minutes into Darksiders. I played it on default settings and felt like I was progressing at a good pace. I enjoyed the art style, but was not too crazy on the actually beat em up aspect of it. If I had more time I would have stuck with it. I do plan on playing this game later, probably as a rental. I had to see what a lot of hype was about, but didn’t think 45 minutes allowed me much perspective. Time ran out on both of our sessions then we decided it was time to split. PAX day 2 Awaited!

Monday Night Combat - From PAX East

2010-03-31T17:47:00.000-07:00

While walking through the exhibit halls at PAX East, McAnus and I turned a corner to see Monday Night Combat from Uber Entertainment. I instantly said, "Holy Shit, that looks sweet", from just seeing the banners they had hanging up. Upon closer inspection, my initial impression was not incorrect. The game looked insanely fun. We stuck around to watch two games, hoping to get into a game. Right as it was our turn, they shut it down for a tournament. We didn't get to play at that moment. We came back later and I was able to get into a game, but McAnus was not, some fat kid stole the controller from him before he could play.

Monday Night Combat is a Third Person Shooter coming to XBox Live Arcade sometime this year. The game is made up of six classes: Sniper, Assault, Assassin, Tank, Gunner and Support. I was able to play the Assault class and watched people play the Assassin and Sniper classes. The game mode that they were demoing at PAX East was called Crossfire. The object of the game is to destroy the other team's money ball before they destroy yours. To do this, you must escort a group of NPC robots into your opponents base, once the robots are in the base, they lower the shields on the money ball and you can attack it. Keep in mind, they other team is escorting their robots into your base also. Each class is very distinct, and all have 3 special abilities, which can be upgraded. The abilities for the Assault class were a rocket pack that allowed you to hover in the air and move in any direction, a grenade and a charge ability, that when level 3, is an instant kill.

The game was a ton of fun, I enjoyed the shit out of it. I only got to play one round, but it is definitely a game that I would purchase when it comes out on XBLA. I am not overly sure on the release date of the game though, I have a post card that just says "coming 2010", so hopefully, the game comes out soon. What the game most reminded me of was a mix between Team Fortress 2 and Defense of the Ancients. It had a very cartoonish feel to it, which I like. It does not look like a Modern Warfare 2, or anything of that nature, they were not trying to be realistic. I enjoy the vibrant colors to be honest. Some games can pull it off, some games can not. This game absolutely pulls it off. I am interested to see what sense of humor the game has, I did not get a sense of it while playing, but I only played once. I can not imagine that a game that looked like this would not have a sense of humor. They were only demoing one game play mode, on one map. I really hope there are more maps and more modes. As much fun as I had with the game, I would eventually get sick of that one map. I wasn't able to ask the developers if they had more modes shipping with the game.

Overall, I recommend Monday Night Combat, for XBox Live Arcade, the game was fun, looked great and played very well. It will be something I that will be getting when it comes out. I would just keep an eye out to see if they announce more maps and modes. I highly doubt that the one I played was the only one, but if it was, I would think twice about the purchase, if there are more, it is a definite buy, hands down.

We also have a twitter account, if you are not following us, you should. On top of letting you know when we update the blog, we have a lot of fun stuff going on with our twitter. We also have a facebook fan page, look to the right side to become a fan.

Joe Danger by Hello Games

2010-03-29T12:28:00.001-07:00

This weekend, Egan and I were able to enjoy the full three days of PAX EAST 2010. The Penny Arcade Expo is touted as the convention for gamers. Games at all stages of production are available to be played. One of the games Egan and I got a lot of hands on time with was Joe Danger. Joe Danger is a motorbike stuntman and in the first game developed by The U.K.’s Hello Games, Joe Danger must race down a track in any number of game modes. One of the first things that caught my eye about the game demo at the Hello Games booth was the friendly and enthusiastic developers showing the game. There were no pitches, no fast talking, just a couple of guys that are very proud of the game they created and were eager to show off. The vivid colors of the game got my attention while watching other people play the game. All the games were running on HDTVs via PS3 or Xbox360. The colors were crisp, fun and very cartoon like. The art direction is just as cartoony and fun. Sprawling desert landscapes with ghost town saloons, big wooden boxes to drive through and big totem poles all try to hinder Joe Danger from proceeding down the track. The sound made me feel like I was in a giant arcade, lots of chimes and bells, fun music, other sounds that are played when bonus points are gained help drive home how rewarding well executed sound design is.

The game is a 2.5-D race from left to right down a track with obstacles. Any gamer would immediately compare it to Excitebike on NES right off the bat, similar ramps, jumps, speed boosts and the 3 or so lanes to race down, however Joe Danger brings some more elements to the classic formula. The player is able to control Joe Danger in air and perform stunts that increase the score, the player can also duck or bunny hop over obstacles. The player also can lean back while riding, allowing for a wheelie that links and chains stunts together in a combo system. There are a few different game modes, time trials, races vs. AI, a mode where there are bull’s-eyes on the ground and you score more points for landing on them.

Joe Danger will also support online leader boards when it comes to PSN, XBLA, and PC as a down loadable title. There is also a track editor players can work on and collaborate together by sending the files back and forth. No plans to have a space for maps to be uploaded have been announced at the time of PAX EAST; however tracks can be shared with players on each other's friend list by sending the file directly.

I am eager to check out a final version of this game when it is released sometime later this spring. The game has a lot of heart and is a wholesome fun time. The game had an excellent learning curve to accommodate the skill level of any player. The player could race through a level dead straight, or step it up and score extra points by trying stunts. If there was a race that was not completed in time, the option to try again was a button away. I know if I had this game on my PS3, I would start playing it and realize that I let 8 hours go by. Joe Danger definitely has the hook that keeps you wanting to play “just one more game, and then call it a day” about 200 times. Keep an eye out on the PSN, XBLA and PC and find out more at the Hello Games site http://www.hellogames.org/

Listed M.I.A.

2010-03-24T20:53:00.000-07:00

Let me give every one a rundown of whats been going on in the D-Pad D-Bag universe. Egan and I have been getting amped up for PAX. We've been coordinating schedules, putting in for vacation pay and days off, getting our finances in line, finding cat sitters, and going over the panel list and prioritizing what we want to hear about.

I'm looking forward to a group of panels, following a theme. Journalism. I hope to gain some insight from people who know what they are talking about on the basics of Journalism relating to the video game industry. Maybe I'll pick up a few pointers like "under no circumstance make a food network chef reference, no matter what context". Hopefully Egan and myself will pick up tips and improve our blog and find a clearer voice.

I also picked up MLB 10: The Show. I'm an early adopter of the series, and am impressed with the 2010 release. The graphics and animations are crisp, clear and beautiful on an HD TV. The beauty and detail of ball parks brings a tear to my eye because it is the closest I will ever get to stepping into the batters box and taking a swing. The difficulty of this game also brings a tear to my eye. I am horrible. I have always been horrible in most of the Show games, I doubt I will improve. I am struggling with a 1-6 record. How ever, I continue to play. It is a fulfilling moment when you hit a solid lead off double, steal third and wait on baited breath for a scoring opportunity. It is equally as heartbreaking to strike out twice, then line drive to second and end the inning scoreless. I play on the edge of my seat. That is what a good game does. The Show 10 definitely toys with my emotions and slaps me upside the head.

I got back into playing Modern Warfare 2 a lot more after 2 months off or so. I've been playing Ground War Multiplayer. Not much has changed other than my skill disappearing, my ratio dropping, everyone lapping me in terms of prestige mode and having the same level as me. I keep on fighting the good fight for now. Battlefield: Bad Company 2 is very tempting. I plan on trying to organize a MW2 PS3 game night in the coming weeks. If you are interested leave a comment. Or

Peacewalker has been delayed. The good news, it will be bundled. I will still be picking the game up on June 8th (unless it is delayed again). Only this time instead of Ruby Tuesday which has gone out of business, I will probably get my ass out of bed at 10am, head over to the crappy mall pick up my copy of Peacewalker and then spend time at Ihop or Old Country Buffet steam rolling through the game. Until I am full of waffles made of shame.

As the twitterverse has been exploding with Just Cause 2 praise and chatter, I am very curious about this game and may put it in my queue to play when I get a chance to get my hands on it. I am worried it will be the Red Faction Guerilla of 2010. RF:G was very excited, it looked good, large, expansive, destructive, challenging and a unique experience. I get the feeling from reviews and videos that Just Cause 2 is similar. I sank a lot of time just aimlessly driving and breaking stuff last summer on Mars and haven't picked the game back up since. I'd hate to get rid of it because was so refreshing.

Catch everyone at PAX, mention the blog and I'll buy you a beer.

Live Blogging at PAX

2010-03-23T12:11:00.000-07:00

This weekend, both Kyle and I will be at PAX East. We are bringing various methods to keep everyone updated. I have set up UStream on my phone, and will be broadcasting live video and interviews all through the weekend. We will be bringing laptops for full posts to the blog, and we have set up a twitter account which we will be updating over the course of the weekend.

Keep up on all the PAX happenings with us over the weekend.

Lead Developers for Infitity Ward Fired

2010-03-02T10:29:00.000-08:00

It is just coming out that Jason West and Vince Zampella, the lead developers for Infinity Ward were fired by Activision due to 'breaches of contract and insubordination.' Infinity Ward are the makers of the super successful Call of Duty: Modern Warfare series. This makes me wonder how much the next MW will change, and will be end up defiled, much like Activision has defiled the Guitar Hero series. I am interested to see how it pans out, but good luck to Jason West and Vince Zampella!

Playstation 3: Rise of the Machines?

2010-03-01T12:59:00.001-08:00

10 years ago the world was a few months removed from the Y2K bug
shutting down the Earth and bring us back to the dark ages, and a couple
years past August 29,1997 when Skynet becomes self aware and robots take
over the world. Everyone was happy they purchased 6 months of non
perishable goods, and built bomb shelters in anticipation of the end of
the world. Everyone probably still has expired Prem canned ham, and
gallons of water because that day never came. Computer glitches were
fixed with no incident, until February 28, 2010. The day PSN became self
aware.
Sony officially states that there is a bug in the clock functionality
incorporated in the PS3 system. In other words, their date and clock
broke. I turned my 80 gig PS3 fat on and played a PS2 title for a couple
of hours, at the end of my gaming session I decided to check out who was
playing on PSN and possibly join into a game. I got an error saying that
I could not connect to the network because of an Error Code 8001050F. I
figured I needed to reset my modem and router. After that did not work,
I picked up my cell phone and used the web browser to find out what
8001050F means, and how to fix it.
The most recent headlines at that time informed me that the 8001050F
code means the system is bricked. I searched around more and found out
the 8001050F problem was network wide for the Fat models and not the
newer PS3 Slims. Today Sony has released very little information about
this crippling problem. Internet related games (including, Demon Souls,
Modern Warfare 2 multiplayer) , trophy enabled games, downloaded games,
and Heavy Rain are all left unplayable. Sony suggests just keeping the
system off until this problem is resolved, by their hopefully estimated
expectation of Tuesday morning.
As a veritable Sony Fan Boy this takes the wind out my sails. I can't
gloat about having a free network service. The response from now on will
be "You get what you pay for, 8001050F TW!" This raises a question, to
me at least, would paying a monthly or yearly subscription safe guard
against 10 year old glitches that almost stopped the world? With extra
income, would Sony be able to have programmers fix bugs, or test for
them first with more resources? Would Sony be able to apologize to all
of us by giving us a discount for the month, or some DLC or something
as a make up present?
I doubt this really is any writing on the wall in bold black paint
that PSN is a mess and needs to be restructured, but this makes me
have less faith that I can even turn on my PS3 now with out worrying
about a glitch. Will I have to check out blogs, message boards, and Sony
Press releases before I pick my my controller, just to make sure I don't
damage or corrupt any data or files? I hope not

Error 8001050F, pretty sweet

2010-03-01T11:03:00.000-08:00

So, if you have a PS3, I am sure you have noticed the error 8001050F. Sony has said that it is an issue due to the internal clock of the system itself. They said it will be about 24 hours before there is a fix for it. As of right now, there are zero known workarounds that can be done at home. So, until Sony issues a solution they recommend that you don't even turn on your PS3. Hopefully they issues do not persist for more than a day, I know Kyle really wants to play The Show. I've heard that part of the issue is due to the date roll over from Feb 28th to March 1st, but I am not sure why that would be the problem. Either way, don't use your PS until the fix is in place.

8001050F

2010-02-28T20:52:00.001-08:00

Tonight, after crushing a few Colossi in Shadow of the Colossus, I
decided to pop in MW2 and attempt to sign into PSN. I got a "Could not
sign into Playstation Network error code 8001050F" message. I power
cycled my router and modem, no change. I tried it again, and found no
resolution. I opened the internet browser on the PS3 and that worked and
loaded fine. I then did some research and typed in 8001050F into Google
and found 30 news stories all posted around 10:00 pm EST stating that
there were network problems and the 8001050F problem was the culprit.
Trophies, calendars, and PSN it self are all effected and I have not
found any news about Sony's plan of attack to fix the issue. The only
news I can find is Sony admitting there is a problem on the network. A
time frame, a solution, and any word if this will effect my current
account still have not been announced as of this post. Color me
disappointed, but not surprised,we get what we pay for on the PSN.

Starcraft 2 beta

2010-02-25T06:36:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to make a quick note and let everyone know I am in the Starcraft 2 beta. I will go over the NDA and see what I can and can't say on here, but it's exciting, and really fun.

Bioshock and facebook

2010-02-15T15:07:00.000-08:00

As of late, I have been behind the times. I still had not finished Mass Effect when Mass Effect 2 came out. Even worse, I have not started Bioshock, and Bioshock 2 just came out. I have had it sitting it sitting in my steam account for over a year now and never got around to it. I started playing this week, and boy, have I been missing out. The game is set in 1960, in an underwater city. You show up after some catastrophe has turn the city into a shit show. I am about an hour or two into the game and already it's great. It has enough of a challenge but isn't frustratingly stupid hard. I have noticed that ammo is hard to come by, so that should provide for a challenge, conserve ammo instead of shooting away at everything. I plan on finishing this next, then moving on to Mass Effect 2, then Bioshock 2. That series of games should take me to Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening, or, I may slip that in between some of the other games.

We have launched a facebook fan page. You can become a fan on the left nav, or simply by searching for D Pad D Bags on facebook. We will be posting links to all our blogs there, as well as, some fun other things. Become a fan, and help spread the word!

Team Fortress 2 - Highlander Mode

2010-02-10T20:07:00.000-08:00

About a week or so ago valve announced a new game mode for TF2, Highlander Mode. When I mentioned it to people, they figured it involved cutting off heads. They are close, they got the cutural reference right. Highlander mode means that there can only be one of each class on each team...get it? "There can only be one". I played a couple rounds and it's pretty fun, I find that it really amplifies the need for skilled players, for a couple reasons. The first off is the obvious, with the ability to only have one of each class, you only get nine players on your team. If so much as three people are out of place, or dead at the wrong time, you can loose a game very fast. The second reason is that if you end up with someone with little to no skill as a specific class, you are fucked. Since you can only have one Engineer, if he is not good at placing his sentry, it becomes an issue, or if you sniper is just plain bad, you will have an issue, or a medic who only heals one person. There are a couple upsides, the first is you are almost guaranteed to have a medic on your team. I find that medics can be scarce at times, even in much larger games. The other upside is, it is fun as hell. I really enjoy it. While having a bad player bringing the entire team down can be frustrating, it is a very very fun concept, and it is implemented very well. If you have Team Fortress 2, I highly recommend finding a couple Highlander mode games. If not, I highly recommend buying the game. It is worth it, and the free updates are endless. If you are looking for someone to play with, add Phegan to your stream friends and feel free to join games with me.

MAG inpressions and weekend gaming

2010-02-07T12:06:00.000-08:00

While out getting breakfast this morning, I saw a commercial for MAG and it got me thinking. Kyle was in the early MAG beta and may have his own opinions, but I have never played the game myself. I enjoy first person shooter games, while not great at them, I do enjoy them. Didn't someone tell Sony that this is going to be a horrid, horrid idea? The major flaw in FPS games is that no one listens to anyone else. This is excluding clan matches, and dedicated servers that have a core player base. More often than not, people like to just run around on their own and kill people. A leader for each team is assigned, and there is some algorithm to assign it, but in the grand scheme of things, if people don't know that person, why would they listen to them. MAG, being a large scale game will just make it worse. For every player who is actually dedicated and will remain organized and listen to the leader, there are at least 2 players who will ignore everything the leader says, run off on their own, and call people by racial slurs. I would compare MAG to Marxism, on paper, it may be a good idea, but in practice, it will end with innocent dead people, and others in poverty. I don't plan on playing MAG, I will stick to the FPS games that don't put me in a game with 127 douchebags who will say stupid things, and get me killed. Other than the massive numbers, I haven't seen the game offer anything that peaks my interest. My other major complaint about the game is it's name, "Massive Action Game", who is the marketing genius who came up with that one? I love it when a game tells you exactly what a game is from the title, like "Driver". The difference here, it even tells you it is a game! They could have at least come up with something more original than Massive Action Game, that may be the worst game title I have heard. Though, I guess it all ties in together, the game seems to bring no innovations to the genre, other than putting a large amount of players in battle at once, and with a vanilla name, at least they kept a theme to it. "Hey guys, we have nothing new to offer you, except you can play with another 127 people on your team who are most likely assholes and won't listen to the leader." Sounds like a game I want to buy.... "Oh yeah, and we call it...Massive Action Game!!!." Wow, sign me up for this one! In closing, everything in this game sounds like a bad idea to me, maybe there are people out there who like babysitting 127 people protected by the cloud of anonymity, but for me, I will pass.

This weekend has been somewhat gaming light for me. I have been playing some Madden 09, which I haven't played in a while, maybe it is the Super Bowl hype that got me in the mood. I played two games, Keep in mind, I have not won a game yet vs the computer in Madden 09 (yes, I am that bad.). The first game went into OT, against the St. Louis Rams, I got the ball down to the 10 and threw a pick in the end zone which resulted in a loss. The second game was against the 6-1 Colts. I actually won the game. The majority of my issue was throwing over the middle. Something in Madden 09 makes the linebackers godly pass defenders. If you throw a ball within 10 yards of a linebacker, it is an interception. I swear I threw the ball to a completely open guy, with a completely open passing lane and out of nowhere a linebacker appears in the middle of the field, jumps 25 feet in the air and picks me off..it's kinda insane. I decided to stick with a running game, short passing game, and the occasional deep shot to Randy Moss. It worked out well, and I won my first game 24-7 against the Colts. Other than Madden, I plan on getting a little TF2 in before the weekend is out. I should be picking up Mass Effect 2 within the next 2 weeks, and I plan on going back and finishing the Pitt in Fallout 3, and picking up Broken Steel soon after.

NHL 10 makes me a loser.

2010-02-06T07:15:00.001-08:00

I fucking hate NHL10. I should have picked up Fifa 10 for $44.00
instead. I was in the mood for a new sports game, so I checked out what
the local retailers had to offer and found all EA 2010 titles were on
sale for $44 at Target. I originally planned on Fifa, but after some
consideration I decided on NHL 10. I still rock Fifa 2000 for PS1 and am
not a huge follower of soccer so current rosters aren't something I'm
missing. I got home with my copy of NHL, threw it in the PS3 and fired
it up. Right away I was impressed with how the game looks. The graphics
are beautiful, the animations are smooth. My living room was lit up
pretty bright by the TV. My eyes took a minute to adjust, similar to how
it feels walking out of the movies on a sunny day. I started to play the
practice mode to learn some mechanics and controls. At this point in my
life I'm 15 years removed from weekend long sessions of NHL '95 on
Genesis and SNES, so I am horribly unfamiliar with hockey games made on
anything other than cartridges. After grasping the concept of the new
control set up (left thumb stick moves your player, right thumb stick is
stick handling and shooting, passing is R2 and the face buttons are
plays and strategies) I decided to start a regular game. I am well aware
there are sliders and easier difficulties, however I started with the
defaults. I got tooled 4-0. I kept my cool, it was my first game, and my
first game back into video game hockey. I started a second game and
bumped down the difficulty and tried the NHL 94 control scheme which
maps actions (shoot, pass) to the face buttons. I found myself
appreciating the alternate control setup, but wanting the newer scheme
for certain features like being able to direct a slap shot. If I were
playing against a friend also using the NHL 94 scheme I wouldn't mind it
because we would be on the same level, playing against the CPU seemed
like I was at a disadvantage. Again, I lost. I went back to practice
mode and played a 5 on 5 team practice. I went back to the default
controls and felt a bit more confident in my skills. I started another
game and finally scored a goal. I still lost but fooled myself into
believing I was capable of winning. I played a rematch, and won. I was
riding high. I celebrated with the cat. We popped champagne, high fived,
smoked a cigar, threw confetti and I picked up the PS3 over my head like
the Stanley Cup and did a lap around the kitchen on my Heely's. I played
one more game and was shut out. I figured I was exhausted after the
victory celebration and called it a night. I was ready to get back onto
the ice last night after work. I started off strong but most games
seemed to start becoming formulaic. I score once in the first period.
Opposition scores twice in the second, then once more in the last five
minutes in the third period. I can't pin point what I am doing wrong
other than being naive, and thinking I am the master of all games of all
time. I am having a good time, but am beyond frustrated that I haven't
cracked this egg. I honestly don't care about winning or losing, but I
do want to have an enjoyable, fairly competitive game. I want to relive
the glory days of 0-0 games into the 3rd period then an upset at the
last minute, then playing a rematch to the same result. I've been steam
rolled. This game has glitched out on me and froze my PS3 twice under
similar circumstances. I made a shot on goal, the goalie held onto it
and one of my players was skating towards the net, and once he reached
it the game froze. The sound continued but the screen froze, and the PS3
button didn't bring up the menu. I still plan on playing NHL 10 and
improving my record to something better than a .071 average. I just need
to not throw my controller, and practice more. Send me a game invite on
PSN: Rozzy50 and you'll get an easy win.

Fallout: New Vegas, Mass Effect 1 and More

2010-02-04T17:20:00.000-08:00

So today, Bethesda released the first trailer for Fallout: New Vegas. Since it is a teaser, it's all about generating hype, and trust me, it's working. I am a huge fan of many of Bethesda's games, as I have said before, I love The Elder Scrolls Series, and I really enjoyed Fallout 3. I look forward to seeing what Fallout: New Vegas brings. As much as I loved Fallout 3, there are some things that could be improved upon. The first of which is a larger world, sure, Fallout 3 had a pretty decent sized world, but it was by no means huge. I am hoping for a giant world where there are insane amounts to explore. What I would also like to see are longer side quests, that span much of the world. Part of what made Oblivion so amazing was the long side quests for the fighters, mages and thieves guilds, and the Dark Brotherhood, Fallout 3 was missing those types of quests, the majority of them were short, with two to three steps max, and there wasn't a major story to any of them. The only one that compared was the Outland Survival Guide quest line, which was fun as hell, but was lacking an large overlapping story behind it. I hope that New Vegas brings some of those elements into the Fallout world. Fallout 3 was my favorite game from 2008, so if New Vegas is just as good, I will be happy man, but, I can't imagine Bethesda sitting on their hands and not make major improvements. You can watch the trailer here.

This week I also finished Mass Effect...the original. I know, Mass Effect 2 just came out, but I figured I needed to finish the original before I moved on. I have been working on Mass Effect for over a year now. The first third of the game really pulled me in. Then, while playing the middle of the game it lost me. I would spend time here and there playing, but I would stop playing for months at a time. A week or so before Mass Effect 2 came out I decided that I needed to finish the game, I pushed through what I had left in the middle of the game, and made it all the way to the final third of the game. It was worth it, the story is amazing, and pulled me back in. I should be getting Mass Effect 2 in the coming weeks and I will pick up where I left off. I highly recommend Mass Effect.

I have a couple games that I have been considering. I have been thinking of getting Borderlands for a while now, I have heard some good things about it, and some have told me to wait until I can get it on sale. I still plan to pick it up eventually, just not sure when. I also am debating which system, I don't have a ton of friends who have it on any of the systems. I will most likely get the best deal through Steam on PC, but if I had a group of people to play with on xbox, I would consider getting it there. I am also eyeing Darksiders. In Darksiders, you play War, of the four horseman of the apocalypse fame, someone accidentally triggered the apocalypse early, and your leader has betrayed you. So, you get to run around with your horse and slay darkspawn, sounds pretty damn sweet if you ask me. This is console only, so I won't find a deal on it any time soon. Finally, the other game I am considering is Dante's Inferno, I played the Demo over Kyle's and it was pretty fun. It felt a little repetitive, but I enjoyed myself. It is rife with quicktime events though, which I am not a huge fan of, so we will see. Reminds me of what God of War seems to be.

Speaking of Darkspawn, I am very excited for Dragon Age: Origins Awakening, the first expansion for Dragon Age: Origins, I look forward to seeing what is in store in that. I also need to pick up the 2 current DLC that are already out for DA:O, I may start the game again in a month or two, with the DLC and bring that save into the expansion.

Weekend Review

2010-02-01T10:13:00.001-08:00

Due to technical difficulties, the D-pad D-bag podcast has been delayed.
Egan, Koz, and myself got together Saturday night with the hopes of
recording and general mayhem. I ended up exposing Egan and Koz to the
splendid world of "Pimp my Ride". This is one of those "I'd buy that for
a dollar" bargain bin games. There were moments when Egan laughed so
hard he stopped breathing. Egan also said "ya know this isn't that bad
of a game". I also tried to put in my brand new copy of "Secret Service"
for PS2 but the game would freeze on the opening Activision spinning
logo animation. I'm a bad enough dude to save the president,but this
fucking game was broken right out of the shrink wrap. Egan pointed out
the note on the box that the game was "in no way related to,nor endorsed
by the United States Secret Service". I am also pretty sure Koz made
some reference to "In the Line of Fire", Wooden guns,Clint Eastwood,and
"Space Cowboys" being on AMC all week. I was quite bummed. Egan and I
got a game of "MLB: The Show 09" in. We had a game go into extra innings
and I pulled out a 2 run walk off for the win. Then, shit got hectic.
"Legends of Wrestlemania" was fired up. We had a 10 man Royal Rumble to
cap the night off. Koz was the Royal Rumble winner,winner, chicken
dinner. If I am not mistaken his choice was "the Big Boss Man". The
night was sponsored by Red Bones BBQ. We got some notes and ideas
together for when we do execute recording. Expect something (good?)
soon.

Batman: Arkham Asylum, Hubba Hubba Hubba, Who do you trust?

2010-01-26T15:49:00.001-08:00

I bought into the hype of the "Guiness Book of World Records Most Critically Acclaimed video game" and got my hands on a copy of Batman: Arkham Asylum for PS3. I may be a few months late to the party, but the dust has settled and I wanted to find out for myself. I played a demo at the local video game retailer earlier in the summer and was somewhat confused. All I was experiencing at the kiosk was a button mashing brawler. I had my fun for 3 minutes, thought I understood what the game was about then went to the used PS2 game bin to check for copies of "Super Trucks Racing" for $1.99. A month or two closer to the game's release date, I downloaded the PS3 demo and got a little more in depth and found there was an art to the button mashing and detective mode/sneaking/puzzle solving elements I wasn't able to uncover in my previous Batman: AA experience. I was hooked, but low on funds and trying to clear my gaming schedule for another triple A release coming up in the fall.

Christmas came and went, and a copy of Batman: AA found its way under my tree. With little hesitation I hit the eject button and send MW2 shooting across the room. I put Batman in the PS3 and embarked on one of the most entertaining and fulfilling video game journeys in my time. The opening sequence sets the tone and pulls the player into a story he or she would want to play to the end. Once the ball gets rolling the player takes control of Batman and creeps,skulks,swings,crawls and brawls through various areas of Arkham in search of the Joker. The game utilizes a "Detective Mode" mechanic that uncovers clues and hints that the naked eye would not find. This implementation is crucial to following the trail left by an enemy or citizen in need of assistance. It also uncovers other objectives such as; Riddler Trophies hidden in every area of the map, Riddler puzzles, which are riddles that are solved by using the Detective Mode option and "scanning the scene", locations of Interview tapes, which add back story and content to characters mentioned in the game and other normally unseen elements like secret walls that can be broken.

The free flow fight system may seem like mindless spamming of the square button, but after some experimenting and practice the player can control the chaos of a fight but precisely timed button presses,direction cues, and using the other face buttons to perform a long combo
that chains moves together to keep Batman bouncing around the screen from enemy to enemy. This experience really puts the player in Batman's cape and cowl. I personally felt like a complete bad ass stringing together 20+ hits on enemies and clearing a room. After you master the system you can dictate the tempo of every encounter and escape almost everything unscathed, just remember the counter attack button is your friend.

On top of the engaging story mode, there are challenge modes to play. The player has the options to sneak around a level in the shortest time possible, other maps where the player has 4 rounds to defeat a wave of enemies and other variants. These add another complete game and an arena to practice your free flow fight skills. I am still chasing the trophy for 40+ combo. I reached 36, I know I can get to 40 and these challenge modes will keep me playing now that I finished the story.

I can only bring to light one down side to this game, length. I realize that if all trophies are found, all riddles are solved, all upgrades are made,significant time to exploring and playing the game are added. However, the end came very abruptly. I was telling Egan that I would beat the game by the weekend, expecting only to play an hour or so a night 2 or 3 nights this week. I ended up only have 45 minutes or so left, and didn't realize it was the end. I will keep this
spoiler free, but will just say you won't realize it is over until the credits roll. The game leaves you hanging on, waiting on a new objective to be added.

After all was said and done, I highly recommend this game. It is still $59.99 new, if you can afford it and look to add a solid game with replay value its worth it. The used market is still a bit expensive, I saw it for $54.99. If you can hold out until it drops to $49.99 new or
$39.99 used in the next 6 months, make your move. This is a must have for any gamer.

Elder Scrolls MMO, Notes and this weekend

2010-01-20T11:53:00.000-08:00

I have been playing MMORPGs for years now, I played Everquest back in the day, switched to World of Warcraft upon it's launch. I took a little over a year off from WoW, where in that time I played Age of Conan, Warhammer Online, Tabula Rasa, and more than likely 2-3 other MMOs that I can't even remember anymore. Massively.com are reporting that Bethesda, the makers of The Elder Scroll Series and Fallout 3, have been working on an MMO for about a year now. There are rumors going around saying that it is based in the Elder Scrolls world, which pleases me greatly. If you read my Dragon Age: Origins post, you know that I am a huge fan of The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion, and I consider it to be the golden standard of single player RPG games. I have always thought, The Elder Scrolls world was tailor made for an MMO, and it seems that Bethesda agrees. I assume the game is still at least two years away, but until then, I will look forward to it eagerly.

Within the next week or so, Kyle and I are going to meet to get the Podcast going, which is going to be very entertaining, at least we hope so. I also purchased my PAX East ticket today, which should be a very fun time. Kyle and I are going with a camera to capture the ridiculous cosplay, as well as, to get some exclusive interviews that only the D-Pad D-Bags can get.

This weekend, I plan to continue working on a TF2 game play video, I have about an hours worth of play footage now. Unfortunately, there isn't a ton of highlights yet, mainly because I am just not that good. I still love playing the game, and I actually got decent at spy out of nowhere, and unlocked the Ambassador and the new watch, plus, I got Jarate for the sniper! If you are looking to play TF2 with me, add me on Steam, Phegan. Otherwise, you could always hunt down Kyle in COD:MW2. I am also working on leveling a healer in Warcraft, apparently, healers no longer like to play in my guild, so we are in dire need of them. So, I will definitely be spending time doing that. If you wish, come find me on Doomhammer, I should be on Phegan or Phezus...say hello.

This week, in gaming.

2010-01-14T12:58:00.000-08:00

So, I figured that I would give an update of what I have been playing lately. A fair amount of my time has been taken up by World of Warcraft, I am raiding 3 nights a week, doing casual 10 mans with my old crew. We killed Festergut last week, and we are having trouble with Rotface, mainly because people are idiots and don't know how to run to the correct spot. I have a Festergut kill video, which I have included. The quality is shit, I will figure out how to get better quality on future videos, but we do have our "Lando Magic" logo in it. Lando Magic originated when I had missed a raid due to going to an Orlando Magic v. Boston Celtics game. When I mentioned it on ventrilo, someone thought I said Lando Magic. It eventually became our name for Heroism, so when I needed our Shaman to use it, I would tell "Lando Magic!" on vent. It also became our logo with Lando Calrissian swinging his cape and birds flying out of it...exactly what you think of when someone says "Lando Magic". Tonight, I am going to a Chicago Bulls v. Boston Celtics game, so I will be missing the raid again, but hopefully they can slay some bosses.

Here is the Festergut kill video:

I am still playing Plants v. Zombies, it's such an amazing game. I really enjoy tower defense games, and Plants v. Zombies is a great new take on the genre. I have finished story, puzzle and mini-game modes, and I am currently working on survival mode, which can get pretty hard. I also have a zen garden, that consists of me watering plants, them giving me coins, and a snail picking them up for me. There is an iPhone version of the game coming out this month, I highly recommend it to anyone who has an iPhone.

I am still playing Team Fortress 2 all the time. I really love that game. I am average, if not slightly below average at this point, but I am getting my groove back, similar to Stella. I have been playing a ton of Demoman trying to unlock the Eyelander. I also played some sniper, which I am decent at, most likely my second best class, Soldier being the best. If you are interested in playing with me, just add Phegan to your steam friends, and join the server I am on. The Rar gaming community had a server for a short period of time, but everyone has moved on to other games, and the server eventually died off. In other TF2 news, Valve just announced that they will be allowing players to make content, including hats and avatars, for the game and submit it to them. I need to make something good and submit it. Per usual, they made a funny blog post about it. If you don't follow the TF2 Blog, I highly recommend it.

To round out my week of playing, I have Defense Grid: The Awakening. I picked it up for 2.49 on steam when it was on sale. Another tower defense game, with a spin. The purpose of the game is to stop aliens from getting to your control center, taking your energy cores, and removing them from the map. Unlike most tower defense games, they don't remove a life the second they get to your base, they actually have to grab a core and get off the map to take a life. It's very fun so far.

With Mass Effect 2 coming out this month, I really need to finish Mass Effect. I might take some time and blitz through the story line this week to finish it up. I also still have Mirror's Edge to finish. Return to Ostagar, the first DLC, has been pushed back, released, unreleased and pushed back again, all this week. Once that comes out I am getting back into Dragon Age: Origins where I will play the Stone Prisoner, and Return to Ostagar.

In other news, I am taking part in a 4 week project challenge, where you take 4 weeks to work on something, and complete it within that time. My first challenge will be getting my browser game into super pre-alpha, I also plan on working on a script or two, shooting some sketches and figuring out other things I can do.

In other D Pad D Bag news, Kyle and I will be starting our podcast very soon, we are meeting within the next week or so to get that started. I plan on using fraps to capture the majority of my game play in the coming months. I need to figure out how to have it grab game audio, instead of microphone audio though. As much as I know you guys will enjoy hearing me breath into a microphone while watching me shoot rockets in Team Fortress 2, I figure you might enjoy actual game sound more. Plus, I will run out of funny songs to use over the action eventually. Joe has also been working on a logo for us. It should be popping up on the site soon, but it is excellent. You can also notice that my xfire and xbox live gamertags are not showing up at the top of the site, feel free to add me as a friend on either. I am working on a PSN gamertag for Kyle, and a steam one for myself.

Happy 2010, I am alive, and have been gaming!

2010-01-13T20:48:00.001-08:00

Now that the holiday honeymoon of new games is winding down, I have some
time to sit down and share my thoughts. I got through Modern Warfare 2
on Veteran 100%, and I only need to finish Spec Ops and get another 60
stars and I will have all the trophies. I grew tired of the multiplayer
about the time I got some new games for Christmas so things have worked
out. I am cleansing my pallete with Batman Arkham Asylum. Holy Shit! The
free flow combat system has a bit of a learning curve,but once I figured
it out it is such a fulfilling and rewarding feeling completing a 20+
chain. The detective and forensic modes offer a unique feature I have
not scene in games before. The sneaking, stalking and hiding
elements,although not as intensive as the combat, are closer to what
Metal Gear Solid 4 should have been. I have been focusing on the story
mode mainly, but have played some of the challenges and am reminded of
brawler games that kept me playing for hours when I was young like Final
Fight, Streets of Rage, TMNT and Double Dragon. Waves of enemies coming
endlessly, and my only option to stay alive is to fight my way out. This
game gives you an glimpse of what it is like to be The Batman.
Especially when Harley starts some Japanese spin kick combo and Batman
shuts her down real quick @ the Penitentiary. Classic BAMF moments like
that are what all wanna be super heroes dream of doing.

I am waiting to complete Batman's story mode before I start back into
GTA: IV. I started on this a month an a half ago and was having a good
time. Im not too far into the game,but I am further into this than any
other game in the series between GTA 3 and IV. I look forward to what
goes on and have not read any spoilers. Call me a dipshit for being
entertained by the story of GTA IV, but I am interested in what happens
next.

News came out recently NBA Jam is getting a current gen release. Color
me excited, except for the rumor of the game being Wii exclusive. I
believe the NBA Jam franchise could have been lucrative for Midway if
they kept up with it after the 16-bit Era. As a non fan of pro
basketball, yet a fan of playing a video game version of it, there has
been a gaping void for myself, and others like me who want to break the
backboard after a half court dunk. I hope NBA Jam stays true to the
original formula on a Wii release. 2 on 2, fast paced arcade style, with
basic 2D graphics. Tinkering with that could turn the retro gaming
enthusiast or NBA Jam fan away. Some where between the 16-bit style and
the NHL Hits style on Xbox would be top notch.

Something else I am eagerly anticipating is the rumor of a public Sing
Star video library on PS3. Sing along Karaoke videos of oddities and
freak shows could supply hours upon hours of entertainment no actual
game could provide. This is along the same lines of watching American
Idol reject shows, or watching an On Demand dating channel. People
showing off in a public forum, with the intent of being noticed for
being talented is riveting when they are being noticed for embarrassing
themselves.

Stay tuned for some more insights. I have been tied up with work, MGS:
Peacewalker demo, MW2, Batman: Arkham Asylum, and watching the entire
G.I.Joe cartoon boxset as well as other wastes of time on Blu-Ray and
DVD. Happy 2010

Steam Weekly Top 10 - 12/20/09

2009-12-20T11:37:00.000-08:00

Starting today, each Sunday, I will do a weekly recap of the most popular games on Steam. Note the (-) next to every game, that is where it's last week spot will go, since this is the first week that I am doing this, there is nothing to put there.

10. Dragon Age: Origins(-)

Rounding out the top ten is Dragon Age: Origins, as you may have read, I am a huge fan of this game. I completed the game about a week or so ago and I would highly recommend the game to anyone who likes Fantasy RPG games. I should have a full on postmortem on the game coming fairly soon.

9. Global Agenda(-)

I always enjoy when a game that has yet to be released breaks it way into the top 10. I haven't seen much about Global Agenda, but it seems interesting. It is another post-apocalyptic game, after the third world war, society is on the verge of destruction, and is controlled by a very oppressive government. The game offers co-op and multi-player, but also has a single player campaign. I will continue to monitor the game and keep everyone posted on the upcoming developments on the game.

8. Borderlands(-)

Borderlands continues to stay in the top ten, it's been doing very well, and with the recent release of their DLC, The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned, the game is just getting more buyers. As I have stated before, I will most likely be getting this game in the coming weeks. The game looks very good, it may be the first successful FPS/Action-RPG/Dungeon Crawler. I am interested to see the continuing DLC and community support this game gets.

7. The Last Remnant(-)

It's rare to see a Square Enix RPG in the top ten of a PC list, but The Last Remnant has done it. Like Global Agenda I don't know a lot about this game. It looks interesting though, my guess is if you typically like Square Enix games, this will be a good game for you. I will read more on it in the coming days and have some opinions for it.

6. Star Wars The Force Unleashed: Ultimate Sith Edition(-)

The original version of The Force Unleashed did very well. Though, I heard that the PC version was very buggy. I assume, this newer version includes a large amount of bug fixes, as well as, the DLC that was not available for PC. I never ended up picking up The Force Unleashed, but I was always interested enough to keep an eye on it. I may end up picking up this Ultimate Sith Edition, provided, the bugs were fixed. I can only imagine that the PC/Console versions of the game is nothing like the iPhone version.

5. Team Fortress 2(-)

If you ask me, Team Fortress 2 was one of the best games that have been released in the last 5 years. You have to love a team based FPS, that has a complete sense of humor about itself. Valve has given the game another major update with the Solider and Demoman patch. They added three new weapons for each class, and a complete story line to go with the update. On top of that, the game is on sale for 10 dollars. Valve keeps the game fresh and updated for free, I highly recommend picking this game up.

4. Counter-Strike: Source(-)

Honestly, I am not sure how this game stays in the top ten. Don't get me wrong, it's a good game, and one of the most popular games of all time. I just figured by now, that the majority of people who were going to get the game, have gotten it already. At least, enough people for the game not to show up in the top ten still. I am very interested to know who is still buying Counter-Strike: Source, and where they were 4 years ago. Needless to say, if you don't have this game, it's worth picking up.I will admit, I am bad at it, but it's still fun to play from time to time.

3. Torchlight(-)

This game may be the sleeper hit of the year. I did a quick review of the demo a couple weeks back, if you haven't read it, I recommend it. I recently purchased the game, and it's everything that I expected. Very fun, very addicting, and on sale for $10.00. The game was just updated with 60+ new achievements on Steam, and Steam Cloud support. If you do not know what Steam Cloud is, it allows saved game data, and settings to be held online, so you can play across multiple computers without having to transfer save files. It's great for me, since I will be playing on both my desktop and my netbook. If you haven't gotten the game yet, I highly recommend picking it up today while it is on sale.

2. Left 4 Dead 2(-)

I played Left 4 Dead, I enjoyed it, but didn't end up playing nearly enough to warrant getting L4D2. If I played L4D a lot, I would absolutely get L4D2. The game looks great, the addition of melee weapons is a nice touch. There isn't much more here that needs to be said, other than it's the 3rd appearance by a Valve game on the top ten, which shouldn't surprise anyone since Valve runs Steam.

1. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2(-)

This juggernaut continues to dominate PC and console gaming purchases. I don't foresee it stopping any time soon either. I am yet to get the game, mainly because I am bad at it, but Kyle has it and loves the shit out of it. For all of your dickheads who were boycotting it, good work, I can tell it is working. With that said, I still enjoy the fact that half of the Steam "Boycott MW2" was playing Modern Warfare 2 the day it was released, this is why gaming boycotts don't do shit.

Scatter Shot! +50

2009-12-08T07:31:00.001-08:00

Metal Gear: Peace Walker has been announced to release in North
America on May 25,2009. Guess where I will be. Alone, with my PSP
sitting in the Ruby Tuesday attached to the mall after I pick up my UMD
copy because I refuse to get a PSP Go. I have been so excited for this
game. My level of excitement has been through the roof since of that
tease of a Japanese demo. I had a hard time figuring out what was going
on because I can't read or speak Japanese. I love the idea of a 2-4
player co-op mechanic. I am also eager as hell to get the story of what
goes on between Snake Eater,Portable Ops and Metal Gear; who the hell
Master Miller is/was and why I should have cared in MGS when Liquid
posed as him. "Do you like my sunglasses, Snake?" and why Big Boss had
to do what he had to do. My only concerns; none of my friends have PSP
or care to play Metal Gear, and I won't be able to find any one to play
Co-op with.
Regardless, this is a release day pick up for me. I will be planning my
work schedule around picking up this game. Look for me playing PSP in
Ruby Tuesday, sitting alone in a corner, ashamed, and nursing a beer and
eating a burger because I won't be able wait to get home to play.

I was able to get some heavy MW2 game time in the past few days as well.
I have been roller coastering in my abilities (or lack of). Late Friday
and Saturday night after a few beers I was dominant. I think I had a
string of three or four 30+ kill / 10 deaths or less matches. However, I
sucked ass most of Sunday. After being well rested, and before liquidly
dulling my senses I was getting tooled 20 deaths or more a match and on
the verge of tears because I couldn't get more than 10 kills. I am 20
levels away from my 1st prestige, a respectable 1.03 ratio, and have
hours upon hours of entertainment under my beer gut smothered belt.

With Christmas and my birthday coming up, I only made a short list of
PS3 games on my wish list.
Batman: Arkham Asylum really grabbed my attention after I played the
demo months ago. I never got around to purchasing it,and this close the
gift giving holiday its a no brainer to ask for this. I have not heard
anything negative about this game and every review sold me on the game.
Elements of games I love are supposedly implemented perfectly. I can't
wait to check this game out.
I asked for Uncharted 2 out of skepticism, and curiosity. I have the
mentality of "if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is." I want
to like this game. I played the first one and was not too wild on it. I
know I will commit to beating the game and spending time in multiplayer.
I think Uncharted 2's multiplayer is a bigger selling point to me vs
Modern Warfare 2's. Uncharted 2 seems to be the golden child of PS3 for
2009. I was (and still am) excited for the full Modern Warfare 2
experience. Uncharted 2's intrigue is the online modes. Sure, a good
story and phenomenal voice acting make for a positive gaming experience,
but I am not a big adventure sort of gamer,nor do I dig too deep into
voice acting. Poor voice acting is just as entertaining as good voice
acting, just in a different way. FFX HA HA HA HA!. Maybe its because it
is a new sort of genre to me. I'd rent it for single player, but I want
to join up with friends when I sign into PSN and see "Uncharted 2"
underneath a majority of names.
The last game I am crossing my fingers for is Little Big Planet GOTY
edition. I played LBP as much as I could. It was my roommate's copy,
then he traded it in for Hellboy 2 or Kane and Lynch or something
shitty. I would have bought my own copy, but I felt at the time I had
gotten a satisfying experience out of the game already and was willing
to wait for a better, more fiscally sound opportunity to reacquire the
game; such as used on the cheap, as a gift or borrowing/trading some one
else's copy.

I also have gifts to get primarily for my brother, a Xbox 360 owner. He
has been playing both Modern Warfare games pretty much exclusively. I
asked him if he had any other of the big titles. He has Gears of War 2,
still in the shrink wrap. He borrowed Halo 3 and has 0 interest in it. I
want to give him a game that strays from the Modern Warfare type. I can
surf the used market and bargain bins and get him something just to get
him a game,but I rather get something with some depth. I think I can cover
both by getting him something like Oblivion. I saw it used at Gamestop
for $10.00. He was a Elder Scrolls Morrowind player on PC back in the
day, maybe he'd appreciate Oblivion.

I found Pimp My Ride for Ps2 the other day very cheap. Holy shit what
a find. Imagine Crazy Taxi + Driver + Quick Time / button press events +
Cheesy stereotypical voice acting and you get this game. I will have a
write up full coming soon after I get some more time with the game.

Tonight our buddy Bill is coming over my house for some PS3 antics.
UFC, Legends of Wrestlemania, Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2, MW2 and im
sure some other online multilayer capable games. We will be playing
under my PSN: Rozzy50 , send me an invite anytime after 7:00 pm EST

We need a logo!

2009-12-07T09:02:00.000-08:00

So, D Pad D Bags has been around for a month now, we know the site isn't pretty, but we wanted to get the ball rolling. In the coming new year, we plan on redesigning the site, and maybe moving away from blogspot. For now, we are here for a bit. The first thing we want to get is a logo. Now neither Kyle or I are graphical masters, so we need a hand creating a logo.

We had an idea for a logo, we want to personify what a D Pad D Bag is. I picture a D Pad, or a Video game controller with a popped collar and a blow out hair cut. Picture a complete douchebag, in the form of a video game controller.

If anyone wants to help us out and try and give us some logos, that would be amazing. You can email them to me at dpaddbags@gmail.com.

Another thing I want to integrate is a way to show what games we are currently playing, Kyle on PS3 and myself on Steam/PC/Xbox. This is so people can add us, or join in and play with us. Any other ideas and additions to the site are absolutely welcomed. We will also be adding a podcast, so you guys can hear our sexy voices, and we will be doing more with video in the coming year.

Egan is MIA?

2009-12-06T21:17:00.000-08:00

I haven't made a post in a bit because I have been studying for the GREs like a mad man. I take them on Saturday. So a preview of what is to come: Super Mario Wii review. I completed Dragon Age: Origins, so I am plan to do a postmortem on that. I recently got Mirror's Edge on Steam for $5, so I will be talking about that. Recap of asshole thanksgiving, and much much more, So stay tuned, just 1 more week.

Weekend Wrap up for November 29

2009-12-01T09:34:00.000-08:00

This past weekend Egan, Myself and a few of our friends fired up the
Playstation 1 for some WWF Warzone, Hogs of War, Fifa 2000 and Tony Hawk
Proskater. I am pretty sure I lost all games due to the amount of lite
beer and side dishes prepared for Asshole Thanksgiving. A good time had
by all. Hogs of War is usually hilariously crappy. The game is a Worms
style turn based tactical game. Only it has somewhat stereotypical voice
acting. I also got some Modern Warfaring in. Im up to level 45 now and
closing in on getting back to 1.00 K/D.

I also went to Best Buy and saw the bin of bargain games. For $9.99
"Pimp My Ride" on PS2 is available. I am considering picking it up and
doing a short write-up. If it is still in stock this up coming weekend I
will put more thought into acquiring it, and maybe a more bargain
favorites. I'll be on PS3 this week as usual. See ya on the net.

Post Thanksgiving Weekend in Games

2009-11-27T10:35:00.000-08:00

Since I work a crappy retail job, my Friday is blocked off by working
until at least 10:00 pm then getting home about an hour later. My time
to play tonight will be limited to a few matches in MW2. I am out
somewhat earlier on Saturday and attending a Thanksgiving function at a
friends house. At any point in time a Genesis may be fired up with NBA
Jam or Mortal Kombat and some laughs will ensue. I plan on spending some
time Sunday playing MW2, Smash Cars and maybe tossing Metal Gear Solid 2
back in and crush a few levels in that on my way to beating it a 400th
time in 5 years.
I'll catch up with everyone later

Plants Vs. Zombie $5 Dollars on Steam

2009-11-24T13:47:00.000-08:00

For those of you who have not played it yet Plants Vs. Zombies it is only five dollars on Steam. I played the game, and enjoyed the hell out of it. The game is fun, and is very comedic. If you enjoy tower defense games, this will be right up your alley. This game isn't your run-of-the-mill tower defense though. It consists of 6 straight tracks that zombies come down. You place plants within those tracks to kill the zombies before they break into your house. Some levels feature night, and water where you must change your strategy to make sure you don't get your brains eaten. Either way, this game is absolutely worth picking up. It's worth the ten dollar normal price, and then some. The five dollar deal is just amazing.

You can find the game on Steam.

Weekend Review

2009-11-24T10:05:00.001-08:00

This past weekend, I got some gaming in. Between working, watching
crappy movies and general weekend stuff. I kept playing MW2, i already
mentioned playing Spec Ops in a previous post, which was fun.In standard
multilayer death matches I am starting to become crappier. As I am
levelling up, I get matched with better players. I want to be a n00b
again. I was doing well for a while and now I have hit the wall of being
out skilled. That and I also changed my primary weapon load out to a
better gun, but I don't have the thermal scope attachment which I had
been using for a long time. I hope by the time I unlock it for this new
gun, I will also have faced enough competition I can get my numbers back
up.
I also looked to play something far from a FPS, I found Smash Cars on
PSN. Its similar to RC Pro am. You control a RC Car and drive around a
few tracks at a beachside dock. You can also hit some jumps,do some
stunts and turbo boost. For $15, this game is a good game to just keep
on your hard drive. I can see myself playing this when I need a break
from other games, or if I am on the phone or something other situation
where I am not paying too much attention.
I will be playing tonight and Wednesday night. Hit throw me an invite
on PS3 : Rozzy50 , and have a Happy Thanksgiving.

Spike's VGAs - Most Anticipated Game

2009-11-21T20:08:00.001-08:00

Bioshock 2

I picked Bioshock 1 up when it was five dollars on Steam last year during their giant January sale. I still haven't played it. I know the game has quite possibly the highest metacritic score of all time, and everyone says the game is amazing. I will play it, maybe after Dragon Age is done, I do not know. Either way, Bioshock 2 should live up to the original. It should be an enjoyable game. I look forward to see what innovations they add to it, or if it is strictly like the original with just a new story. We will see though.

God of War III

I've always thought the God of War games looked pretty damn good. Full of action, based in Mythology, I am not sure what else I could ask for...oh yes, to not be a PS exclusive. I primarily game on the PC, I also own an Xbox 360, so I am more or less out of the loop on games that are Playstation exclusive. If I pick up a PS3, I will be sure to play through some of the God of War games, but until then, I will just admire them from afar and never play them. The new one should be exactly what you see in the old ones, battles with large mythological creatures and cool moves.

Mass Effect 2

I've played Mass Effect, in fact, you could say I am still playing Mass Effect. I have been playing for months. The opening 3rd of Mass Effect is amazing, great story, great action, challenging. It has everything you would ask for in a science fiction RPG. Then, you hit the second 3rd of the game. I find it very tough to get through. I went and took care of a pair of the mission I had to do, but I then just stopped playing. Running around to various planets only to ride around in the worse game vechile ever. Most of these planets have nothing more than a giant snake monster. Hopefully, Mass Effect 2 does a good job at keeping the interest after the first section of the story. I will most likely pick it up eventually, but I do not plan on picking it up at release. I will most likely wait for a sale on Steam.

Starcraft 2

I am pretty sure that Starcraft 2 was on this list last year, and I am pretty sure it will be on the list next year. My issue isn't that Blizzard makes sure that their games are complete, my issue is they announce the games 2+ years before they are actually ready. I am looking forward to Starcraft 2, I will be the first to admit, I am bad at multiplayer Starcraft, like horridly bad. With that said, I am still going to get Starcraft 2, and play the shit out of it. I am not surprised the game has taken two years since the announcement to come out, with the original Starcraft the national sport of Korea, they need to balance Starcraft 2 nearly as much as Starcraft 1. Since Starcraft was such a hit, they need to live up to the hype. It may be one of the biggest games of all time, what other game is a national sport? I will get Starcraft 2 when it finally comes out in 2011, but what I am really looking forward to is Diablo 3, which should be out by 2057.

In closing, a friend of mine pointed out how the category is somewhat bullshit. If you think about, tard is solely based on two things. The first is media hype, and the second is nostalgia from the original(s). I, more or less, agree with him. Giving out an award for how much you are looking forward to a game doesn't do much good at all. Think about it, Hellgate: London very well could have won this award a couple years ago. From the makers of Diablo 2, with a great media push. And look at the garbage that it turned out to be. Everyone knows that I bash Hellgate: London on a daily basis. I don't doubt that all four of these games are going to be good, but giving an award to a game before it comes out seems pretty bullshit to me.

My gaming this weekend:

2009-11-21T07:18:00.000-08:00

I will be on PS3 playing Modern Warfare 2. I spent some time last night
(Friday) with our esteemed colleague Koz playing some Spec Ops co-op
missions, and then playing team death match passing the controller back
and forth each round. He was introduced to racial slur screaming
children and red necks with poor quality microphones. I'll be trying to
keep my K/D ratio above 1.00 for most of the weekend aside from a game
or two of MLB The Show 09 just for some variety. Send me an invite on
PSN : Rozzy50

New Dragon Age: Origins DLC

2009-11-19T11:32:00.000-08:00

Bioware has announced the first new DLC for Dragon Age: Orgins. It consists of a return to a battle from early in the game at Ostagar. Let's just say that the battle didn't go so well, and I am surprised there are survivors for you to return to and save. The best part about it, it's only $5! I assume it only adds 2-3 hours of game play, but $5 is pretty good for any DLC. Hopefully it isn't too short though. I will most likely be picking it up. I still have to finish the main story line, but then I will pick up the Return to Ostagar DLC and let you know how it is.

I do not care about Brutal Legend.....

2009-11-18T11:16:00.000-08:00

The recent NPD report covering video game sales for October shows that Brutal Legend, excuse me, Tim Schafer's Brütal Legend, did not crack the top 10. NBA 2K10 was listed twice in the top 10, a game that I saw almost no marketing push for, no press coverage, no hour long specials on cable, no pod casts dedicated to the game, nothing. As a gamer I have 0 interest in either game. As a regular Joe, Brutal Legend irritates me for many reasons. I can't speak to the game play or actual game experience, I refuse to rent the game. I will share my opinions and thoughts, and explain why I do not want to even try a demo.

This game had an overwhelming media blitz. Magazines, TV, Blogs, Podcasts,Game stores asking you if you want to pre-order it, Commercials, Jack Black, MTV so on and so forth, all shoved this game in my face. The Media proclaimed "best game ever" "game of the year" "you like metal? Get this game. You like video games? Get this game. You like both? Get this game" This all did not work. Yes, the game placed 12th in sales for all of October, but other people probably got sick of this game being forced on them and decided to wait until its $17.99 used at Gamestop in 3 months right next to " Ninja Bread Man" and "M&M Adventures" and "Hell Boy 2". EA tried way too hard to get attention and potentially shut off customers from interest.

Another issue that disinterested me from this game is Tim Schafer. Check out this video...then continue reading.

Why is everyone putting this guy on a pedestal? He made critically acclaimed games and commercially underwhelmed people. I played Full Throttle, I played Grim Fandango. Both were fun, but I don't understand why this guy is being revered as the Prodigal Nerd Son who saved video games. He has shitty hair, did he take notes from "Penn and Teller Get Killed"? For being touted as a comedic genius, Schafer is not that funny. He's like the kid in high school who sat next to you in math class and cracked jokes all day about imaginary numbers. He probably hung out with fat chicks who thought it was funny to talk like Miss Piggy all the time, laugh about cheese, and wear princess tiaras all the time. I don't get it. Watch this.(To Mr. Schafer's credit, he is only half the reason why this clip is shitty.)
Tim Schafer is a bucket of LOLZ

X-Play | MySpace Video

One more reason I don't have any interest in this game is the over exposure of Rock, Metal and having a Bad Ass, Satan Lovin', Leather Jacket, Guitars, Whiskey and Motorcycles attitude. Since Guitar Hero 1 set the trend of bringing rock n' roll to video games, then Rock Band stepping it up, I just cant take it. If Metal is so bad ass explain this?

Jack Black is a huge perpetrator of making it cool to say "Rock" all the time, Tenacious D , School of Rock, him being the quintessential Gen X slacker, the fast talking, witty, defy authority on your own terms type of dude that makes Guy Fieri look like a choir boy compared to him, a fucking choir boy. Jack Black has the safe appeal to moms but the cool factor to appeal to 12 year olds and people that appreciate high comedy (not Redman and Method-Man high comedy, more like Arrested Development) The role of Eddie Riggs seems like it was a composite of Jack Black characters, made just for Jack Black. If any one can tell me if there are some shades of Black's Augie character from the hit film Airborne let me know! Why am I going to play a game where my lead character is Jack Black...not Eddie Riggs or another made up character. I can't get over that fact and it turned me off. Having actual metal musicians and singers in the game does not appeal to me either. Having grown up in front of MTV, and now VH1 classic Metal Mania, I get more than my fill of Judas Priest, Motorhead, Van Halen, Poison, The Crue and all of the other iconic metal bands. All their music and music videos are the appeal of those persona to me. Not hearing Ozzy Osbourne who is far over exposed in the media because being a Rocker and Metal head is cool.

Better luck next time Mr. Schafer at trying to get my money.

Mohawk Grenade?!

2009-11-16T21:32:00.000-08:00

If you enjoyed the last Mr. T World of Warcraft commercials, this one is even better. Apparently, each of the starting areas will have a vendor where you can purchase the grenade. Each grenade has 5 charges, and once it is used, you can go and get a new one. These vendors appeared yesterday, and will hang around 'until their work is done. I forsee about a million people looking like Mr. T rolling around.

Borderlands gets DLC

2009-11-15T19:09:00.000-08:00

While I haven't played Borderlands, there is a fair amount of buzz around it. People are even going as far as saying it is this generation's Diablo II. I don't buy that, but I won't deny the game looks very fun. It might be a game that I will pick up in a couple months once I have more funds and I am done with my current games.

Gearbox recently announced the first DLC for Borderlands, The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned. Now, with the success of Left 4 Dead and Zombie mode in Call of Duty: World at War, why wouldn't games want to cash in on the Zombie craze. I like zombie personally. It could be worse, it could be Vampires, fuck Vampires. Zombie Island promises an additional 6 to 10 hours of game play, which is excellent for DLC, if Gearbox continues to put out DLC of that caliber, it will make a lot of fans.

I most likely will give Borderlands a shot, eventually. We will see, I know Kyle isn't because they used 'No Rest for the Wicked' in the trailer, and that made him want to punch something. Either way, here is the ign.com preview of The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned.

Valve Holiday Cards

2009-11-14T20:12:00.001-08:00

Valve has released a group of Holiday Cards from Left 4 Dead, Left 4 Dead 2 and Team Fortress. The look pretty sweet, and who wouldn't want to get them in the mail.

Check the out at The Valve Store.

Why does love always feel like a Battlefield : Bad Company 2?

2009-11-14T14:31:00.000-08:00

November 19,2009 Battlefield Bad Company 2 is coming online for beta
multilayer. What does that mean? A ghost town considering the big game
that just hit the scene. PS3 and PC users are exclusive to this beta
trial. Why? Both are free to players. Will I try to snag a beta code and
get on? Yes, taking a break from MW2 to see what BF:BC2 has to offer
can't hurt. If it stinks, I can delete the file and go back to MW2 where
I can get keep my stats and level up. I really think the timing to beta
test this game right now was a poor decision. What is Bad Company 2
going to offer gamers right now that last three Call Of Duty games,
Killzone 2, Gears of War, and Team Fortress 2 don't? Keep checking out
the blog to find out if I get a beta code and can tell you what
Battlefield : Bad Company 2 has going on this early in the game's development
development.

The MW2 hangover

2009-11-13T08:46:00.000-08:00

I have been playing a ton of MW2 since I purchased it. I've been trying
to improve upon my decent .81 K/D ratio and play through the single
player on hardened. One of the issues I have had is Wednesdays server
crash which left me and just about any other PS3 owner in the main menu
all day. I took time then to clean the house, clean my office, watch
some peoples court and hammer out some single player levels. When the
servers were restored I tried to party up (DMX style) with numerous
friends but we all were getting the same error messages. Tuesday morning
I was able to join sessions and invite people with no problem. I was
able to join one of my friends last night for a while, but that was
after numerous attempts. I doubt the multilayer is "broken" seeing how I
have already been prompted to download updated software patches.
Hopefully this small and frustrating snag will be taken care of soon.

I've also been playing so much that I have already started to have
dreams about the game. For some reason I had a BB gun and was sniping
fat kids with glasses that looked similar to Thurmon Murmon from Bad
Santa. I was picking them off from across a desert setting and any time
I would hit one of the kids in their glasses I would get a yellow +50
Headshot graphic and the sweet bad ass guitar riff that you hear for
accomplishments/levelling up. For now I'm stuck at my sucky job waiting
for 8pm to hit so I can rush home and try up my K/D Ratio. Find me on
PSN!

Torchlight Demo Vs. Titan Quest Demo

2009-11-12T15:42:00.001-08:00

Before Dragon Age: Origins came out, I was looking for something to play to tide me over. It was about two weeks until the release, and I didn't want to spend a ton of money. I noticed that Torchlight was being released on Steam very soon. Torchlight, from Runic Games, the makers of Mythos. I was in one of the early/middle betas of Mythos, and I enjoyed the game very much. For those who do not know, Mythos was originally created as a scaled down test engine for Hellgate: London. The developers were having so much fun playing Mythos, that Flagship decided to dedicate one developer to the game, and actually release it. To continue the history lesson Flagship Studios was founded by Bill Roper, and contained much of the former Blizzard North team that left when Vivendi took over Blizzard. Blizzard North is best known for Diablo and Diablo II. So, as you can expect Mythos was a Diablo clone, also, Torchlight is also a Diablo clone. Torchlight feels very similar to Mythos, I can only assume much of the code has been reused, since Runic contains some of the former members of Flagship. Is it me, or does it feel like I am writing a soap opera here?

So, I head over to my old WoW guild forums to see what was going on with Torchlight, and if people were going to play it or not. I started a thread seeing how much interest there was, and to find out what people have heard about the game. Most people were interested, but with Dragon Age and Modern Warfare 2 so close, they didn't want to spend the twenty dollars only to stop playing a week later. One person recommended looking at Titan Quest, another Diablo Clone. He seemed to like it and it had some interesting dynamics. I decided that since I had a week to kill, and didn't want to spend money, that I would download the demo of each and see how they are.

Torchlight absolutely feels a lot like Mythos, the classes are Vanquisher(Rogue/Archer), Destroyer(Warrior) and Alchemist(Mage), which granted is the generic "We need 3 classes" line up, but they play very similar to the classes of the like in Mythos. Now, I might be going out on a limb here, but I highly doubt there is a large number of people out there who played Mythos. So my basic rundown of Mythos is as follows. The game was very fun, they did a good job, but it felt incomplete. The game was incomplete though, it never made it out of early betas before Flagship died, so it was exactly what you would expect. Torchlight, on the other hand does feel complete. A decent story begins to unfold in the demo, and the game play is very smooth and very easy to get caught up in, much like Diablo. They did some very interesting things with the game. The first of all is that every player gets a pet. You can choose between a Cat or a Dog. I am a cat man myself, but something about bringing a cat into dungeons to kill undead doesn't seem very bad ass, so I chose a Dog. The pet fights with you, and since all classes have the pet the game balanced for that, the pet isn't exceptionally game breaking but helps out from time to time. The absolutely best part of the pet is that he has a pack that can hold items, on top of your inventory. There is a small button up at the top of your screen that sends the pet back to town, and any items in his pack, he will sell and bring the money back. One of the slightly annoying things about the Diablo Series was that every 20-30 minutes, if not sooner, you had to run back to town and sell off the items that are filling up your inventory. It is one of the most innovative features that the game offers. It may not sound like much, but it allows for less breaking in actual play time.

Titan Quest is almost three years old, and some how, I didn't pick it up on my radar until recently. Titan Quest is another Diablo clone, but it is set in a world of Greek Mythology and History. Since the game is a little older, the graphics are a little dated, but the game it self isn't. Titan Quest takes the basic Diablo play style and add some improvements. One of the more useful ones is that you have three keys to see what items have dropped from monsters. The first will display all items, the second will display all items that are not gray(low quality), and the first will show all items that are better than white(non-magical) items. This becomes very useful as your inventory fills up, and you no longer want to pick up items that will only serve as vendor fodder. Titan Quest also does away with scrolls of town portal and identification of items. When an item drops, you can see all the stats on it, without spending money to identify it, or using a scroll. On top of that, you can create an unlimited amount of town portals while out in the world, this frees much inventory slots that are used to hold these portals. The class system of the game is very interesting. They have nine unique classes which you can play, and you are allowed to choose a second class later in the game, the combinations are endless on the number of classes. Of course, some of the class combinations are going to be weaker than the others, there is no way they could balance 9^2-1 classes, and actually release the game. If you are just looking for some fun without min/maxing the game, choose a class combination that seems fun for you. If you are looking to min/max, then by all means, you can.

Both Torchlight and Titan Quest were fun games. The Demo for Torchlight felt longer, and I felt like I got much more of an impression of the game. Titan Quest left me satisfied, but it didn't really open the game up to me. Torchlight did, the demo did a good job conveying the entirety of the game. I will more than likely purchase both games, Torchlight is single player only, which accounts for a lot of the reason it was released at twenty dollars, which is a very good price for the game. Titan Quest is also twenty dollars on steam, plus it's expansion. Once I am done with Dragon Age: Origins, I can see myself picking up Torchlight first. I will most likely pick up Titan Quest if I have friends to play with. Overall, I would recommend both games, both very fun. I am sure we will see more Diablo clones in the coming years until Diablo III comes out in 2097. Until then, the genre is still alive, and very fun. If I had to choose one or the other, based on the demo, it would be Torchlight.

I can't believe I made an entire blog post where Hellgate: London was mentioned and I didn't bash it. Well, Hellgate: London sucked asshole. It was horribly buggy, and it felt insanely tedious. What really kills me is the amount of hype and expectations around the game. It may have been the biggest disappointment ever. When the game wasn't crashing, it was repetitive. By nature, Diablo clones are the exact same thing over and over, but Hellgate: London didn't have the magic of all the other Diablo clones, maybe they were trying to hard, maybe they tried to do too much, or maybe it was just shitty. At the end of the day, I was sorely disappointed by this game. I'd tell you not to buy it, but Flagship is dead, and the game is owned by some Korean company now, Hanbisoft, I believe. Either way, I am not sure you could even get it in the US, if you were a glutton for punishment.

Dragon Age: Origins

2009-11-11T18:14:00.000-08:00

Over the last week, I have been playing Dragon Age: Origins, from Bioware. After the success of Mass Effect, Bioware returned to where they started and released a fantasy RPG. BioWare co-CEO Ray Muzyka described Dragon Age: Origins as a "spiritual successor" to the Baldur's Gate series. The game has been released to rave reviews, and I don't plan on saying anything different.

The game consists of 3 classes, Mage, Rogue and Warrior. Each of the three classes have 4 specializations, which must be unlocked while playing the game. I began as a mage. I enjoyed the opening story line for the mages, from the start of the game, you feel that your choices have a large effect on the world. The entire story feels epic, in many games when you are saving the world, but it doesn't feel like you actually are. In Dragon Age, every choice you make has major effects on the world, also, it effects how the rest of your party feels about you.

The game play is excellent, you are allowed 4 people in your party, yourself and 3 others that you have met along your journey. You can control one at a time while the actions of the other party members are controlled by pre-designed tactics. You can also pause the game mid-fight and queue up one action for each member of your party. This allows for some great ability chaining. You can also change the tactics so that the other members of your party do specific actions under specific conditions, very powerful.

The battles are challenging. They are not hard to the point where you want to give up, but they are hard where you want to continue playing until you win. The boss fights are excellent, all have very unique dynamics that makes the challenging and fun at the same time. I have faced a few bosses already and I have had to come up with specific strategies and utilize specific party members to win each.

As I noted before, the story feels epic. Like most Bioware games, they put a ton of time into perfecting the story, there are piles upon piles of lore, if you wish to see it. If you enjoy listening to dialog, this is a good game for you. From each quest, to just shooting the shit with your party, there is a large amount of dialog, all done with superb voice acting. You can even ask merchants for gossip, and rarely is anything repeated. It gives you a sense that Bioware put a lot of time into the world, and it's story, on top of the game play.

One of the interesting things added to the game is reputation with party member. All of your major actions either please or upset someone else in your party. If you are in good enough standing with them, they can teach your their specialization, or in some cases, you can begin a romance with them. There are also gifts that will allow you to increase your reputation with them. It ads a realistic feel to the game. As opposed to having a group of blind followers, these people have real personalities, and have no issue leaving you if you don't fit in with their own goals and feelings.

If you ask me, the golden standard of Fantasy RPGs is Elder Scrolls: Oblivion, from Bethesda. It is impossible to create a game of this nature without the comparisons. Dragon Age: Origins stands up to Oblivion. I loved Oblivion, and go back and play it as a new class every few months, but I can also see this happening with Dragon Age. There are some things in Dragon Age that make me enjoy it more than Oblivion. The extra party members that you control and the tactics are great additions. Also, the unlocking of specializations is a great touch that wants me to run around the world and discover them, and the boss fights are much more involved. On the other hand, Oblivion has elements that I like, that Dragon Age is lacking. The first and foremost is an open world. In Dragon Age, you can do whatever quests you wish, but you can't travel from one location to another on foot. When you choose your location, it goes to a loading screen where it shows your journey on a map. I enjoyed walking through the world looking for random dungeons to explore. The other thing that I feel is missing is epic side quests, at least, I have not gotten any yet. Oblivion had some amazing side quests, the Thieves Guild and Dark Brotherhood were both amazingly fun.

One thing that I am looking forward to is the toolset. I dabbled a little bit with the Fallout 3 toolset, and it was very fun, but I never got around to making any mods. With Dragon Age, you are able to create everything from campaigns, to quests, to cinematics. Some amazing modding should come out for PC. I can't wait to play with it myself. On top of that, Bioware has said that they have a full 2 years worth of DLC planned for it. I am pleased that this game will continue to grow over the next two years, and I will be able to continue to play new content.

Dragon Age is an amazing game, there is no doubt about that. If you enjoyed Oblivion, you should enjoy this game, just keep in mind they are not the exact same beast. I would absolutely recommend anyone who enjoys RPGs to pick this game up.

The Force Unleashed for iPod Touch/iPhone.

2009-11-10T09:20:00.001-08:00

I just played The Force Unleashed Demo for my iPod Touch. I thought to myself, 'Wow, I get to use force powers to fight my enemies', should be interesting to say the least. First, the game asks me if I want to enable sound or not. I go and grab my headphones, put them on and hit yes. I don't hear anything. I guess there is no music on the opening screen, oh well. I can't wait to hear the intense fight music! The game begins with talking to Darth Vader, no voice acting, still no sound, no music. After five minutes of pointless dialog, he sends me on a mission. I have to kill a Jedi and everyone on the Jedi's ship, awesome. I get onto my ship and I meet my captain. Our dialog consists of asking him 'Do you know why you are here?', the caption responds, 'To fly your ship wherever you want.' I am very impressed with the script witting on this one, it must have taken months to come up with a plot line that thick! So I go down a hallway after talking to the captain and, I enable a training mode. Cool, I get to learn my force powers now, this is gonna be "hot". After a couple minutes of learning how to throw boxes, throw people, heal and use Jedi(Sith?) Mind Tricks, I am done with training. Still no music, only a very quite sound when I do a force power. After the training ends, it turns out I am at my destination. I guess it is time to take out the Jedi, and his ship's crew. I can't wait to get my Lightsaber out.

Once I get off my ship, I am automatically moved to my location where I am do first use my force powers. The game moved me automatically , apparently, in this game, the only control you have over your character is using force powers, no ability to move freely. My first task is to deal with a stack of boxes. After moving the boxes, the game takes over again and moves me to the next location. Where, I run into some guys I need to fight, I kill them all by throwing them, and move into the next room. More of the same guys, more throwing...rinse and repeat for 10 minutes. At this point, I am thinking, when do I get to use my lightsaber? I am moved into a giant room with stairs, after fighting through six or so enemies, my character runs up the stairs, so he is so small he is about the size of a letter on your standard book page, I still have to kill off two guys. Though, I can't even see myself, or them. After finishing them off, I run into the last room. Standing there I see the Jedi I must kill. Okay, now it's time for lightsaber duels. He pulls his lightsaber out, I have mine out and, and the battle begins! We throw boxes at each other for the next 10 minutes. Eventually, I throw enough boxes at him, and it triggers a cut scene where I walk up to him and kill him. Wow, an epic duel...with boxes. This is where the demo ends, asking if you would like to buy the full game. Though, I love the idea of throwing people and boxes for 10 dollars for the next hour or so, I passed.

Overall, the game was bad. There was no music what-so-ever. Maybe it was because I have an iPod Touch, and not an iPhone, though, there was some faint sound coming out of my headphones, so I know the sound wasn't off. The game consists of making them same gesture on the screen until everything is dead, then moving to the next room and doing it over and over. The battle at the end was stupid, I know when I think of a Sith/Jedi battle it consists only of throwing boxes at each other, isn't that what the majority of the fight scenes in the movie consisted of? Right?. I understand there is limited capability on the iPhone/iPod Touch, but seriously, I have played free games much better than this. I would not recommend this game by any means. If the whole game is like the demo, it isn't worth the download space, let alone the money it costs. The demo it self is boring. I am sure you can find something better to do with your time than play this.

Modern Warfare 2 Tomfoolery

2009-11-09T15:47:00.001-08:00

I just plunked down the remaining $30 for my pre-order. It took longer
than expected because a clueless mom was struggling to comprehend how to
pick up the pre order for her kid. "So I just paid in full...can I have
it now?" "No, we can not give the game to anyone before 12" "But its
paid for, when can I get it?" "12 midnight, just present this receipt
and we will hand you the game, easy as that" "I can't stay here for
another 6 hours" "Well, we anticipate a long line so the earlier you can
show up the quicker you can get your copy" "Im the first one here right
now, can I have it its paid for"
Repeat this exchange with variant questions and points including "this
is for the ps3 right?" "yes, that is what you asked for. When you
present your receipt at midnight we will hang you a copy for PS3,its all
set" and "So when you open at 12,I can walk in? Should I show up at
12:45 after lines have died?" "We aren't closing, we do anticipate long
lines and people getting in line at 9 or 10.." "But you said no one
would get a copy before 12!" "Those people will be waiting until then"
for 3 minutes. The second Gamestop employee finally showed up, logged
on to his register, took my $30 and told me about what's going on. I
saved him the trouble of explaining by saying "I'll be back in a couple
hours" Kudos to the 2 game stop guys that kept their cool. In a way, not
freaking out or becoming irritated by customers in a retail environment
just makes the situation much more funny. When I left the lady was still
talking. Hopefully she doesn't hold the line up.

FPS Players Ruining my Reputation

2009-11-09T08:02:00.000-08:00

(The First, Best and Definitive First Person Shooter)

I'm a big video game fan and player. I'm modest in my abilities because I realize I am awful. I play casually and often am harassed and teased by others for being a "gamer". I am going to try to set the record straight and clear my name. Yes, I enjoy video games, but I am not one of the people worth mocking.

I enjoy First Person Shooter games, which by nature are looked down upon as the most pathetic, over indulgent, violent, and simple game that any neanderthal could pick up besides anything in the Madden series, Ya Dood. I have plenty of experience in PC and console multiplayer online FPS games: Halo 1 and 2, Rainbow Six games, Quake, Team Fortress Classic, The Orange Box, Call of Duty, Unreal Tournament, and the list could go on, I think I can say that I have the knowledge and authority to speak about games and other gamers. If you disagree, tough nuggets. Sign into your account, challenge me to a game, join my party, sit next to me on my couch and witness who I end up getting matched against in various games and then dispute my statement. N00b

The Redneck FPS'er is some one we all have played against. Usually its a male with a Southern Accent who takes great offense to people from other countries. Plenty of mid afternoon games involve people in Europe that are 6 or more hours ahead of U.S. time are usually flooded with people speaking a foreign language and angry Rednecks screaming at them to speak English. Rednecks also get very very upset when some one takes their weapon or vehicle of choice. They assume every player in the world knows that they are the best with a Sniper rifle, or Tank and will make it clear to not disrespect them by picking up a weapon at a spawn point. The Redneck also is an internet tough guy and calls everyone a bitch or a faggot or uses the ever relevant and funny "Your mother..." jokes to verbally beat down any one who challenges them. One of the most obnoxious ways you realize you have a shitty Redneck FPS'er is the constant background noise on their mic's. Barking dogs, nagging wives, neglected children crying the whole match. I can only imagine a big fat wife with a mumu on and rollers in her hair, one child hanging off each tit, standing in the corner of the trailer while Mr. Cool FPS'er is kicking the dog for walking in front of the TV ruining a perfect no scope head shot and blowing the match. These people are the scum that give Gamers and FPS players a bad image.

The Trench Coat Mobster is too much of a time bomb with mental issues to join the military. The Trench Coat Mobster is notorious for long gaming sessions. During these long gaming sessions with his "clan" he often will use military lingo and try to employ military strategies for a FUCKING VIDEO GAME. If you stray from his plan, or fail to cover this head case, or lose the match he will explode, get out of control because he takes the game personally. Life or death. Over the top does not describe this guys attitude. He's preparing for war. Against the football players, the science teacher and even the cops. Watch your back after you play, he will be holding the Alpha team in position ready to , plant a C4 device, breach your door, and fire on command. Take no prisoners, give no mercy.

The Juggalo Homie 420 Hip Hop crew are obnoxious, often similar to the Redneck FPS'er. Most of these players have 420 in their player names ex: Juggalo420 , xXBurnin420Xx , 420BongRippa and so on. They also call everyone bitch. Even if they loose the Juggalo Homies will talk shit after the match like they won, often citing your mother as an insult. They also announce from time to time what they are smoking or drinking and if their girlfriend is in the next room topless. They believe player playing, except for them, is a virgin and cant get laid. Audio channels are also drowned out by today's blazin' new hip hop. Kotton Mouth Kings, ICP, Lil Wayne, or any other stuff that is suppose to be intimidating to crank for 30 minutes at a time. These skinny brats wearing basket ball jerseys, side ways hats and big gold pendants on chains purchased at the silver pagoda in the middle of the mall have no idea how much they embarrass themselves when they open their mouth, and cause so much negative attention to other video game players.

7 year olds are my personal top perpetrators of giving the idea of playing games a negative connotation. They camp out, use the same cheap tactics and strategies, "own noobs", have obnoxious prepubescent high voices, are on late at night when any logical parents would tell little Ryder,Tucker, Hunter, or Shiloh to be in bed early on a school night. If there are a few of them in a game or party they probably are friends in real life and party up to play, and often talk nonsense shit about school to each other. Sorry Ryder, no one has any desire to hear about how you had a Pee fight with Jacob after 4th period. These players make everyone feel like a shithead when they lose to children. And makes you feel like a shithead for beating children. Its a children's game if they play. The world thinks you enjoy childish games and playing with children. I enjoy playing video games.

The last problematic player of FPS games that is most detrimental to reputation is the Super Fan Uber Gamer. This guy has 10000 hrs logged in, has every video game and is an expert at all of them. His user name is usually some Japanese Anime character or Final Fantasy character's name "SepirothSushimi" The Uber Gamer enjoys using glitches to show off skills. He is everywhere at one time killing you and your teammates with out giving you a fucking second to get your bearings of here you are on the map. This asshole also keeps his mic on the whole match and just breathes in a labored fashion because the weight of his chest is crushing his lungs. Between swigs of mountain dew and mixed handfuls of skittles and cheetos, this guy will keep his Kill/Death ratio above 2.0. This guy is the the ruler of his clan. He ruins gaming for every one else because he is the supreme winner, chancellor of excellence, and knows every trick in the book to maintain his virtual superiority. His dedication and fear of day light keep him gaming long hours and give the misconception that all gamers are extreme oddities and antisocial unclean condescending savants.

To put things in perspective, I like to consider myself a casual gamer. I enjoy gaming, I like FPS games, I keep my mouth shut during matches, I don't have strategies. I play to play, win or lose. Of course I enjoy winning, but if I don't so be it. Its just a game, and I don't need to call people a bitch because of it. I how ever get more annoyed and worked up being lumped in with the assholes that play games and give regular Joe everyday working members of society a bad wrap.

Waiting on Modern Monday?

2009-11-09T07:27:00.000-08:00

My copy of MW2 is probably in the stock room of my local Gamestop. I am extremely excited and have an iron clad game plan for the midnight release festivities. A majority of my "PSN Friends" are picking the game up sometime this week. One of my co-workers will be joining me at the midnight launch. I will be in full geek mode, bringing a controller with me so I can play in the store. Ill get comfortable with my own controller so when I get home I can buckle down and get my first prestige by dawn already broken into the unique feeling my controller provides. I'll be chatting with the "200" close friends of the Gamestop, partying up, talking shop with gamers , winning give aways , wearing freebie shirts and being excited for the 10 second count down at 11:59:50.

Actually, I will be working until 9:30 across the plaza from said Gamestop. As will my co-worker. We also will be with in walking distance of a hand full of chain restaurants. Our plan is to hang at the bar, get some kicking appetizers Guy Fieri style. Maybe purchasing some dessert for some hot and single ladies, just like the commercials would want us to do. They would invite us over to sit, have a drink, and chat us up. We would be so close to going home with them, until they ask us what we are doing in the area. Something tells me spilling the beans we are waiting for a midnight video game release, and killing time drinking at T.G.I. Fridays would not appeal to a couple of women looking for a good time. At least I could get some use out of my So-Cal, free wheelin', rock 'n rollin', club shirt with flames, my sweat bands, my Vans off the Walls,my wallet chain, my Oakley shades and 1990s era ska band frosted tips!
At 11:45 we plan on strolling leisurely over to the game store to pick up our copies. I might be 6 or 7 deep and full of deep fried green beans by the time I arrive to Gamestop. In all honesty, I expect the store to be fairly empty. People may trickle in and out to make their purchase. With any luck I'll be standing around long enough to get a free T-shirt. I will take photo evidence of anyone that sports the NVG's. I can see my co-worker popping his on and driving home with no headlights. Ill be finding my way home to play for about an hour. I have to work Tuesday so I won't be able to get any quality time in shooting terrorists. Wednesday and Thursday will be a different story. The fridge is stocked with Monster energy drinks and Coors Light. I also stocked up on Celeste pizza, ramen and pop tarts.

To mentally prepare gamingwise, I have been playing Pain (out of necessity) to cleanse my pallete of war time shooting games. I do not want to keep any subconscious habits from games like the previous Call of Duty games, Socom, Metal Gear, Red Faction and the Orange Box. I have high expectations for MW2's single player and multiplayer games. I also am looking forward to having a game most of my PS3 buddies have that we can all play together. Stay tuned for more MW2 hype and excitement as I get closer to acquiring the biggest game of the year.