Thoughts of a Random Gamer

Do you remember the original Donkey Kong Country for the Super Nintendo? Well a team of developers have went through the process of porting the game so that it would work on the classic Nintendo Entertainment System. The results are a staggeringly proficient version of a 16 bit game, operating on an 8 bit platform. Check out the videos below:

Background

I've been following Fable since it was the itch in Peter Molyneux's pants known as Project Ego. I listened as promises were made and let down when they were broken. I learned to blame myself for unjustifiably putting unreleased video games on a pedestal and how to keep my expectations low until I actually play the game. I don't blame Fable for that, nor Molyneux.

It was a valuable learning experience. When Fable was finally released, though not as grand as promised, it was still an incredibly fun game. I play few games more than once, and it was one that I played for 30 hours the first time and the second, I put the controller down after 60 hours; I didn't even complete the story.

Fable is not the kind of game that is strongly story driven, nor is the player writing the story through their actions. It's a large world excelling more at sandbox gameplay than RPG or adventure. It's more fun farting in front of a crowd or enticing woman on woman action than strictly adhering to the beaten path. After almost 8 years of hype later, starting a time well before Fable was released in 2004, Fable II is much closer to Molyneux's originally advertised vision.

It might be hard to imagine by reading my posts that I always play the good role when I go through a game. I have a very stringent moral compass in real life and it forcibly reflects itself in my gameplay. Curse my parents for teaching me right and wrong. In the back of my mind, I want the in game parents to cry their digital selves to sleep at virtual night because some asshole(me) rode through town and killed everything under 4 feet tall. That's only in the back of my mind though.

The Story

Let's get down to brass tax. The story is the weakest part of the game and I knew that going in. It's not bad by any means but rather incredibly generic. Fable II's story compared to some other RPGs is like Magic Stars to Lucky Charms. Which in some cases is better than the original. Some of those Japanese RPGs have no fucking idea how to tell a story without it being delivered like a high school algebra class... taught by a woman...

Regardless, you have a requisite tragedy, followed by the discovery of hereto unknown special abilities, building up with a cross-country voyage, and culminating in revenge. The difference between this story and so many others, is at least in this story you don't have to be Mister(or Missus) fancy-pants-epitome-of-righteousness. You can be an insatiably evil dirty prick, guilty of greater atrocities than the man you are trying to deliver justice.

I'll level with you on this, I haven't played the entire story yet and I have no idea when I will. As I mentioned previously, Fable II excels at sandbox gameplay and if you play only the story, you're playing the game wrong. I had the privilege of knowing how to play the game before I even put it in my system. If you want a detailed story review, go somewhere else.

This review is based on roughly 15 hours of farting, hip thrusting, bandit killing, gambling, using my female character to make female NPCs fall in love with her, searching for prostitutes, dirty digital lesbian sex, swimming around lakes, looking for demon doors, kicking chickens, and many many other enjoyable time wasters.

The Good

Not to suck Molyneux's dick much harder(he still owes me a reach around for Black & White), there's a lot of good in this game. You are encouraged to use the revamped expression system in earnest because your character never talks, much like Link. Your dog is a clever instrument added to the game. He adds little to my emotional attachment(I'm emotionally challenged) but his contribution to exploration and general questing in invaluable. I've been looking to get him a piece of ass too and if anybody knows where I can do that please leave a comment.

Games like Grand Theft Auto get all the press when it comes to corrupting the overly impressionable youth. In my opinion, Fable offers a greater variety of debauchery and sin and I love it. When my pregnant fiancée walks in the room and gives me shit because I have condoms in my inventory and says something to the effect of "it's a little late for that," I know I have a winner on my hands.

The combat is a point in Fable's favor. A lot of the bullshit that comes with RPGs is missing. There's no mana or will bar, no turn based combat, no inventory micromanaging, no where-the-hell-did-my-sword-go weapon degradation, and no bullet or arrow count. It's just good old fashioned fighting game style button mashing, some with timing and aiming, and doesn't take a 60 minute video, online course, and practice workbook to understand, let alone master.

The graphics are good. Albeit the art direction is fairly stylized, but the rain and snow, as well as the building and character models, look good. It isn't the prettiest or most detailed game, but it certainly looks better than that beastly woman eying you from the end of the bar begging to have your illegitimate child because you drank a bottle of whiskey and bought a 75 cent truck stop vending machine condom.

The Bad

You don't have the ability to alter your appearance à la character creator style, but you get a plethora of clothing options and a halo or horns for being good or evil. You'll also scar if you suck at fighting. That is actually a step up from the first Fable, which seemed to scar my character for being born.

It's a little too easy to make evil decisions. For instance, I was on a mission where a man was looting a carriage wreck and I thought, "well I'm Johnny Law around these parts" so I killed him. This was an evil act when personally, I thought it was avenging the dead or defending their honor.

Money is very easy to make, but unlike in Grand Theft Auto IV, it actually has value in Fable. I would have preferred money from questing like in the good old days instead of playing mini-games. Most characters are shallow but I can't blame the game too much for that because, let's all take a deep breath, close our eyes, and choke down some reality for a second, they're all part of a computer program(gasps).

I'll slightly complain about the RPG leveling system in that it's too simple. It has linear progression for each skill you choose, which is more accessible, but I lean more towards the lattice upgrade approach. It's not like that approach is RPG standard or even featured in Fable but is it too much to ask, for example, if I have a fire spell and a level-whatever sword attack, since I have both, to be able to shove a flaming level-whatever sword attack up someone's ass? I can light them up and then cut them down but I can't light them up while cutting them down.

The Ugly

Your dog, in my case his name is Mr. Kensington, and several other characters will disappear into buildings and the terrain like some kind of Albion acid trip. The loading between areas takes enough time to remind me I'm wasting away in front of my television, and the map is a pile of shit. Icons on the map are too small to really tell what you're looking for and they played a very personal and dirty prank on me by making them color coded(I'm colorblind).

I haven't had the opportunity to play online co-op but I have played local co-op and this is my one glaring piece of advice to you, don't play it. You have no control over the camera and it's your worst enemy. I know this is supposed to be an experience in collaboration, but you shouldn't have to work in tandem to move the camera into a position just so you can see what's on the road ahead. If I'm playing a game with someone in the room, alcohol is involved, and trying to work together to see the road is a needlessly complicated drunken task.

Conclusion

The story doesn't mean shit to me and it shouldn't mean anything to you. The combat is quick, easy, and fun. There are a few graphical hitches but that doesn't stop it from looking pretty. There are a lot of foul things to do, or not, and overall it's an enjoyable experience. The game is fun.

As with all reviews, whether mine or someone else's, this is fairly biased. I enjoyed Fable and naturally I really enjoyed Fable II. Each system has its share of exclusive titles, some more than others, and this is an Xbox 360 exclusive. If you own the system, you should own this game.

Score: 8.9

Armor Games has been hit by hard times. To save money they have decided not to program in color. Just kidding. Or am I???

Shift is a puzzle/action type game. Your little man must navigate his way through a maze of black and white. About the third level of the tutorial, you'll figure the designer must have been smoking something! The writing's backwards and there is no way to get to your goal. Stupid game... But wait, just press the shift key and all will be revealed. The shift will switch your little man from one color to another, flipping him over in the process. Now you can happily continue on your way. Just watch out for those spikes. They provide the only color in the game when you fall on them.

Armor Games has graced us with 2 sequels to this game, cleverly titled Shift 2 and Shift 3. It's a fun, quick game... guaranteed to make you think a little. But not so much you get a headache. Give it a try.

Mega Man 9 is the part of Capcom's new strategy to revive old school franchises. In a classic return to form, Mega Man 9 channeled the days of eight bit graphics and ass poundingly high levels of difficulty, finally releasing a true successor to Mega Man 2.

Hidden secrets and Easter Eggs where staples of the 8 bit era and it looks like Mega Man 9 has one of it's own. Yesterday afternoon in Capcom's own forums, Senior Community Manager Seth Killian left a series of cryptic posts detailing a single undiscovered secret, still at large:

"There's only one undiscovered Mega Man 9 secret that I know about...

...I'm not revealing it here just yet. And go nuts--I don't predict anyone will discover this one for quite a while yet..." -- Seth Killian

He went on to clarify that this was not the already released Protoman or Fakeman DLC, which leaves me puzzled. I still haven't had the time to finish the game, so I am throwing this out to you guys: What do you think this secret might be?

It's nearly November, and that means two things; 1) it's high time I figure out what I'm going to get for my family and friends for Christmas, and 2) it's high time I tell them what I want for Christmas. I've never been good at asking for anything for Christmas - usually I want big ticket items that I just don't feel good asking for, so this year I've decided to change it around a little bit. A few small price items, a couple medium items, and then one big item. So, for everyone that loves me (or is interested in what a geek like me might want), here goes!

$0-$25

Zune Pass - 1 Month
Quite possibly the greatest thing to happen to me with regards to music since learning how to play the guitar to pick up girls, the Zune Pass has allowed me to download more music than I'll ever even care to listen to. Sure, it's laced with DRM, won't allow me to burn it to a CD and I can only store it on a maximum of three computers (pretty easy since I only have one), but it really is a heck of a racket. I'm no investment banker, but $15 for unlimited albums is better than $15 for one album - I think. The Zune Pass could theoretically go on the 3-month list since it's $44.97 for that, but since there is no price break, it still boils down to $14.99.

Logitech S-510 Replacement Receiver
Yes, my receiver is broken and I don't want to drop the $15 to get it replaced, but that doesn't mean I can't ask Grandma to get it for me!

$26-$60
This list is all video games, which makes sense, seeing as how this is a gamer blog:

Dead Space - Xbox 360 - EA - Metascore 89
I don't like scary movies because they are either lame or too gory. However, I like violent and scary video games even though I can only play them for 30 minutes at a time because my heart beats too heavy and I fear having a heart attack. Dead Space might do that and that makes me excited.

Far Cry 2 - PC - UbiSoft - Metascore 88
Are you serious?! 50 square kilometers of free-roaming environment? Flame throwers with wind-impact physics on the burning African Serengeti? It's like MMORPG size in an FPS - and the story doesn't suck like it did in the original. Sing me up!

Gears of War 2 - Xbox 360 - Microsoft - Release Date 11/7/2008
Even though I never actually played all the way through the original, I did beat the final boss on the hardest difficulty (you're welcome, Graybill HD). The multiplayer vs. mode never really grabbed me, but who doesn't love a little coop romp...

Left 4 Dead - PC and Xbox 360 - EA - Release Date 11/18/2008
...And speaking of coop, who doesn't absolutely love the idea of 4-player coop vs. a zombie hoard?! I mean, seriously?! This is probably the best concept for a video game since the Counter-Strike Zombie Mod was invented - brraaaaaaiiiiinnssss!! Why do I list both PC and Xbox 360, you ask? Well, if you must ask that, I would direct you to another website that might have an easier time understanding. Everyone else would understand that a game with this multiplayer potential must be experienced with both communities of friends, and that's why I'll take two for Christmas, kthxbai.

$61-$100
Unfortunately there isn't anything that fits in this range. Looks like it'll be a skimpy Christmas this year, as far as tech goes - I'm sure I'll get a lot of way cool socks and underwear to play with!

$100-$499
These are the big-ticket items that, should I end up with them, I'll be completely stoked, but feel ultimately guilty that I probably got the giver a mess of Elmer's and pretzels with red and green glitter shaped like O, Tannenbaum:

Guitar Hero: World Tour - Xbox 360 - Activision - Metascore 87
Me and three friends take on the world to become Rock Gawds. 'Nuff said!

Rock Band 2 - Xbox 360 - MTV Games - Metascore 92
See above - either one would be fine with me!

Zune 8GB
This would go great with my Zune Pass, and since I can load up my tunes on up to 3 devices, I'd be able to take this one with me when I work out and not have to worry about HDD shock.

$500+

Gamers around the nation, I hope you are as disappointed as I am in the natural elements that we so strongly seek to avoid by staying inside. Tonight, intense rain temporarily delayed the Phillies winning their first World Series since 1980, having lost the World Series back in 1993. The last Phillies World Championship came in a win against, of all teams, the Kansas City Royals, who at the time were in their 11th year as an organization. Guess what, Tampa Bay is an 11th year organization. My prediction: Phillies win in either this postponed game or the next one, when they return to Tampa.

It's sad that the game was delayed tonight. Surprisingly, unseasonably cold temperatures in Philadelphia could end up causing snow tomorrow. Do you think they could play baseball in that, especially considering they seemed to want to keep playing through the rain? That would certainly make for an interesting game to watch!

In other news, I wrap up a big presentation tomorrow. I told Grundy that I would be nearing the purchase of a 360 after this presentation. So it's true that I have been looking. Instead of reporting to you about something random (besides the World Series), I want your suggestions on what to purchase with my new 360 system. Should I get Madden or Rock Band? This Fallout 3 game looks like fun, but would I be better off getting Gears of War 2? Should I just get one of the other seemingly endless games that our blog has posted reviews on since we came up and running? The decision is yours!

Let me know Gamers. Not only will your input be important for me, but it will allow me to continue providing you with quality information. It may also be important for gamers who are seeking to expand their repertoire to hear things from us, the normal-joe bloggers. So step it up gamers. Let me know how to become one of you again. Who knows, maybe one day we'll be swapping bullets over an intense battle of Call of Duty 4 (or am I already behind the times?).

Game on Gamers!

Square Enix and Disney Fans rejoiced together when it was announced that Kingdom Heart: Birth by Sleep would be coming to the PlayStation Portable. Unfortunately, other than a few screenshots from Tokyo Game Show, there has been very little information on the status of the game.

At TGS, select members of the press where able to get limited hands-on time with the game, but none of that was supposed to be videotaped. Undeterred, some intrepid soul managed to sneak out with footage anyway! Check out the video below.

So is it everything you expected? I know I can't wait to get my hands on it. Now the trick is getting Square Enix to confirm an actual release date! I can assume that it will be someday between now and when hell freezes over, but other than that, your guess is as good as mine.

Welcome to a new weekly column here at Thoughts of a Random Gamer. Each Monday, I will highlight one of the games being released the following Tuesday.

This week's big release is the long overdue Fallout 3. For those of you who are wondering what happened to Fallout and Fallout 2, you missed a major point in gaming history. Fallout was released in 1997 by Interplay, with Fallout 2 being released the following year. These bird's-eye-view RPGs were set in America after a nuclear war with China. They were known for their vast open ended story lines, over the top gore and violence, and dark, yet hilarious humor.

Fallout 3 is coming 10 years after the release of Fallout 2, and boy has it been a long 10 years. The gaming industry is a very different place. Bethesda, the creators of the much praised "Elder Scrolls" series, has taken over development for the long since dissolved Black Isle Studios. No longer will Fallout be conveyed in a bird's-eye-view, but in a third person and far more three dimensional view. No longer is it acceptable for a game to allow the murder of children. However, the key elements remain. Dark humor, ridiculously violent gore and the iconic Pip-boy will still be present.

Will Fallout 3 revive a long lost series, or will it turn out to be another failed attempt? We will all have to find out tomorrow. Until then, here is a short message from the boys over at the Vault-Tec.

From a scientific point of view, it seems like Wii Fit would do very little to help one actually get in better shape. Never missing an opportunity to lampoon a worthy target, the guys over at SarcasticGamer have whipped up a hilarious parody trailer, making fun of this fact. It is good to see this media darling getting knocked down a peg or two. I can honestly say that this is one of the most best parodies I have seen in a long time. Check out the video below:

Last week, as you might have noticed, we decided to try something a little different with the publication schedule. Our new format involved every contributor taking one day and making it their own. The fresh infusion of original content has been amazing! Also, this has freed me up to do a little more on the news front, leading to some pretty significant scoops including the Halo 3 Mythbusters videos and Friday's leaked Gears of War 2 boss battle.

Needless to say, this approach has been extremely successful and has given us a significant bump in audience. While this may mean you may be hearing from me a little less, it means you will be able to hear more from the rest of the team. I can speak for the whole team when I say that we are thrilled with these new developments and look forward to more advancements in the future.

Moving into the new week you can look forward the Greedy Raven debuting his new Release of the Week segment, in which he will provide insightful analysis into one of the weeks upcoming releases. On Tuesday we can once again look forward to another Random Thought from the Gameless Gamer. You can also look forward to Andygoes, who debuting a new segment on Wednesday. As always we will have a Damnit Game of the Week, followed by Jimmy The Greek's review of Fable 2, and my review of Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway. Breaking news will be appearing periodically, so check back often.

Thanks for all of the support. Have a Great Week!!!

Anticipation for Gears of War 2 has reached a fever pitch. Details of the game have been leaking out right and left! Among the leaked material is a video featuring one of the game's new bosses. The boss is a octopus-like creature straight out of the very bowels of hell. This is like nothing you would have ever seen in the original Gears of War! Check out the video below:

Once again I venture into the tired genre known as World War II shooters. If you count my time in the Call of Duty: World at War Beta, my entire weeks worth of gaming has consisted of World War II and plastic guitars. I am sure you can take a guess at which I am enjoying more... Irregardless, Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway has been receiving some pretty favorable reviews, so I figured I might as well check out what all the fuss was about.

For the third installment in the Brothers in Arms series, you are once again placed in the shoes of Staff Sargent, Matt Baker. This time around, you are in control of more members of the 101st Airborne Division, surging toward victory in Operation Market Garden. Complete with flashbacks and hallucinations, you will be forced to relive some Baker's most painful memories from the war, while still acting as a strong leader to the rest of your team.

So far, the story of the game has been told through cinematic cutscenes that bookend the beginning and end of each mission. This establishes a very linear mission structure, that thus far has driven the game towards mediocrity, instead of the promise that it has shown in the past. Baker's strong bond with his men, also seems to have suffered in this installment. The development time was instead focused on adding a tangible destructibility to the environments.

Sure, maybe one of my regiments are pinned down from an opposing force. What motivation do I have to save those characters? When these men are left to die, I feel nothing, because I know at the end of the mission that they will respawn and be right back to normal. Personally I believe that this was definitely the wrong decision to make. Instead, the focus should have been on making you want to save these people, because they are your brothers... your brothers in arms. Yes, that screeching sound you're hearing is a rambling paragraph, coming full circle.

Though most things have stayed the same in the Brothers in Arms universe, the most recent installment pushes for a level of violence and realism that had been nonexistent in the past. Under most circumstances, it would not be odd to see a decapitation, loss of a limb and ridiculous splatter effect, all from the same cutscene. I can only assume that the developer went over the top in an effort to drive home the realities of the cost of war.

If you are still interested in the game, stay tunes for the full review coming soon.

In the meantime, check out the trailer for Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway below:

As you have seen by now, damn near anything is possible in LittleBigPlanet. Here is another example of creativity at its best, as a user has recreated the entire concept demo of Mirror's Edge, using only the tools available in LittleBigPlanet. Check out the video below and be amazed:

I can't wait until the game is officially available for sale! The floodgates of outstanding content will be wide open. The real question is, will you be able to find the gems that are hiding in everyone else's crappy levels? What do you think?

Web comics. I'm sure I'm not alone when I say web comics are shit. There are a few out there that aren't too bad, but just because they're popular doesn't mean they're good. XKCD gives me a chuckle every couple of months or so. The drawing is absolute shit and it isn't funny even when it is overly verbose. I'm an instant gratification type of person, and if I have to read a short story comprised of 500 words or more, with pictures drawn by a kindergartner, just to get to the punchline, I'm not going to read the motherfucker. Thus bringing me to the first reason why I hate Digg. When I first started visiting Digg, roughly two years ago, it was world and technology news with a handful of videos and pictures to keep it fresh. The news are articles are fine, good writers know how to write a thesis statement in 50 words or less and by that paragraph alone, I know if I want to read the rest of the article.

Now web comics are cropping up on every other Digg page and the entire comic is longer than most major news stories. I'm not saying all web comics are long, I'm saying most web comics are shit. A note to any aspiring web comics who might be reading this, stop, just don't. If you still feel the need to continue, don't take arbitrary references from geek culture and try to mash them together like a Frankenstein of a joke.

Pro Barack Obama. I have nothing against the man that I don't already have against everybody, but is it really necessary to front page every Barack Obama story in triplicate? By now if you haven't decided who you're going to vote for, I don't want you to. Just stay home and leave voting up to the rest of us. Even if you are still on the fence, I'm more inclined to believe the cynical culture that resides on Digg would be put off by seeing so much blatant propaganda. I was a Ron Paul supporter before he hit big on Digg and simply seeing his name everywhere brought out the skeptic in me. I can only pray this Obama flood will stop after the election.

Anti John McCain. We, as an allegedly educated populace, prefer no mud slinging in our campaigns. Dirt on one candidate may sway some, but for the most part I don't think people connect with negativity on that level. If this is the case, why do we have to praise one and automatically hate the other? It's clear Obama is the Digg favored candidate. McCain and I don't share the same ideals but I respect the man. He's obviously done something right to get where he is and his time as a POW should earn him a minimum amount of respect. Never fail, on the front page of Digg, there are just as many anti McCain stories as there are pro Obama. This post might get front page action if I claim McCain killed a Vietnamese prostitute and Obama resuscitated a puppy with mouth-to-mouth, no matter whether I have viable sources or not.

The Decision engine. The previous three points lead me to this one. If it's a webcomic, it jumps on the express train to the front page? Pro Obama? Get on that train. Anti McCain? There's a seat for you up front. Anti Obama, pro McCain, whoa, whoa, whoa. Sorry but you have to wait for your ride with the rest of the retards who take the short bus to hell. If it comes from Cracked, front page. Chicago Tribune? Front page. The motherfucking Huffington Post, of all "news" agencies, its got several spots on the front page. Read every front page story for a week, and you will be able to crack the decision engine.

The ads. I completely understand why a website needs to be ad driven. How the hell else are you supposed to make a living off a free service? What I don't like are the ads that are on Digg. When I think of the average digger, according to some psychological phenomenon, I typically think of myself... but fatter and geekier... and smellier. Well now that I say it like that, I guess the ads are perfect, many are for overly expensive trendy clothing, cars, and weight loss programs, oh and Barack Obama. Whether ads are needed or not I still hate them.

The community. Reading the comments on most items gives me a general idea of the mentality of the average digger. They're "new age" self loving trolls with nothing better to do than scour the internet all day and make salty anonymous comments about other people's opinions. They're the kind of person who is so vain they will take a screen shot of a thread they posted on, host it on tinypic or flickr, and then submit it with the title "What I Love About Digg." They are the people who submit the stories I've already bitched about corrupting the decision engine.

I used to love Digg, but they're trying to hard to be more than what they became popular for. A wise man once said, "Don't try to do everything or you'll fail. Just try to do one thing better than everybody else and you'll succeed." Digg, that is my advice to you.

Since most of the games posted have been my suggestions, I decided to take this post on a weekly basis. On to the madness!

For those of you who were alive (and not high on hair spray) in the 80's, this is a game for you. Brought to you by Armor Games (and this bored Grad Student) is Argent Burst. Modeled after Missile Commander, this game has a fairly simple premise, protect your freakin' squares! This game won't win any awards for graphics becuase it's basically a bunch of squares and lines. You do get missiles fired at you later on, which tend to blow your little squares to smithereens. The overdrive mode is a little trippy color wise.

If you're looking for a quick game to play when your boss isn't looking or are trying to relive your big hair days, try Argent Burst!

Succumbing to the pressure of a black and white society, I will be implementing a rating system in all the reviews I write from now on. This is not necessarily a system that will be enforced across all of Random Gamer but for the people who need a number to determine if they should buy a game, this will be helpful instrument when reading my reviews. To me this is an exercise in conformity. To fit into mainstream, sometimes you have to sacrifice certain artistic liberties. Damn the proverbial man.

The system will be the typical real valued 1-10.

1: Why the hell did I buy this buggy, choppy, broken piece of shit? I'm going to set it ablaze in a garbage can.
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5: Meh, not worth buying and sometimes not even worth renting.
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10: I might run out and buy another copy just in case I'm too lazy to walk across the room to get the copy I bought first.

I've never played a game that was a 1 and no games deserve a 10. The closest to a 1 I've bought and played is Spiderman 3, which is probably closer to a 5, and the closest to a 10 is Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. That should give you a good idea of my quality threshold. Remember, if a game is a 10, you wouldn't need to play anything else ever and if it's a 1, why didn't you do your research first and avoid wasting the money on it in the first place?

Nearly everyone is familiar with the Discovery Channel show, Mythbusters. Some industrious gamers have decided to take matters into their own hands, going through and testing numerous myths associated with Bungie's Halo 3. They have managed to produce 5 episodes worth of mythbusting goodness and the video evidence leaves nothing to doubt. Check out each the five episodes below:

Episode 1:

Episode 2:



Episode 3:



Episode 4:



Episode 5:



Here is to more Mythbusting in the future!

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare made the welcome change of extracting the franchise from the endless rut of World War II and moved it into the 21 century. When Treyarch announced that they where moving the game back into the trenches of Normandy, fans where left stunned. It seemed to make no sense why this was happening. I must admit that I was definitely skeptical going in, but tried not to let my preconceived notions get in the way.

After securing some hands on time with the multiplayer beta, I can assure fans Call of Duty 4, that there is absolutely nothing to worry about. Based on the Call of Duty 4 game engine, everything looks crisp and and detailed. Combine that with a rock solid framerate of sixty frames per second, and you have a recipe for a guaranteed success. All of the trademarks of the franchise have made a triumphant return, while adding in the variety that COD 4 was lacking.

The multiplayer gameplay feels like Call Of Duty 4, with a vintage skin. Aesthetic, feel and control have remained the same, while still customizing the game enough to give the impression of an entirely new game. Most importantly, it looks as if Treyarch has distilled what makes World War II games compelling and chose to emphasize that through the gameplay.

With locations straight out of the history book, you can't help but feel like you are in the middle of a conflict that is something far more that just you. This is further amplified when you are thrown into a gametype that teamwork is the key. Communication is now more inporant than ever, becuase of the introduction of the new powerup, attack dogs. Seemly out of nowhere, those diabolical bastards will attack you, unless your teammates have your back. If this communction is not there, you are almost guaranteed defeat.

Also making the transition for Call of Duty 4 is the leveling up and perk system. Even though this component works identically to how it has operated in the past, the weapons have obviously seen a significant change. As you could expect, all weapons are authentic to the period of World War II and lack benefit of the power assist weapons found in the last game.

All in all, so far the multiplayer has delivered solid gameplay that is a perfect balance of the new and the old. We will have a full review when the game hits retail in mid November.

Check out the trailer for Call of Duty: World at War below:

Looking back, it has been a long long time since anyone has posted a movie review, so I have decided to do just that. Oddly enough, it ends up being a game anyway, Max Payne. The flick is a decent shoot-em-up, although I must admit that I never really got involved in it. I guess that I was more of a Hitman kind of guy.

Max Payne starts out looking like a nice, crisp, somewhat old fashioned cop movie. Slightly overexposed film gives the appearance like there are more grays in everything which helps to contrast the dark office spaces of the cops. To go along with the noir feel, as in any crime drama, you can expect to see serious heat packed on both hips.

Max is working as a detective/secretary for unsolved murders. Basically, he just files paperwork for all the cases that the station cannot solve. While working these other cases, he spends his time searching for clues to his own wife's murder, which occurred a number of years beforehand. The whole movie is based on him trying to find the third man involved in her murder. Unfortunately, it takes a long time to develop into anything worth watching.

It's hard go into too much detail on the plot, without destroying the story for all of you who have not watched it yet. To keep it spoiler proof, Payne discovers that a bunch of the criminals he is searching for are tripped out on some sort of narcotic. This drug is known to lead to intense hallucinations of Valkyrie that fly around, destroying people. Interesting enough, the drug is called Valkyr. Also, each criminal has of a tattoo of a Valkyrie on their wrist. What could this all mean?

The trail goes from hot to cold , literally, but I don't dare say more on that. Just know that it heats up again for a crazy gun fight at the end of the movie that, as many movies these days do, overplays the slow motion gun dodging sequences brought about by the Matrix. Have they not been overused enough yet?

I would agree with most critics out there in only giving Max Payne about 2.5 stars out of 5. It's not anywhere near the type of movie it could have been. There were too many things left hanging at the end, with no evident desire for a sequel. It should also be noted that there are numerous characters that appear in the film, but do not add anything to the plot.

Go see it if you really enjoyed the game. However, know that it doesn't have much to do with the game besides the name and the guns. You may be better off to save your 8 to 10 dollars and wait until it hits DVD for home consumption.

Game on Gamers!

Thanks to the glory of the internets, Far Cry 2 footage is hitting us early! If you can't wait a few more hours, maybe this gameplay footage can wet your whistle. Turn up your headphones and Check out the video below...

Be sure to pick this one up when it hits store shelves at midnight!

One of the most anticipated games being released for the holiday season has been recalled. LittleBigPlanet, a game expected to help move consoles for the struggling Playstation 3, has been recalled and delayed because "one of the background music tracks that was licensed from a record label for use in the game contains two expressions that can be found in the Qur'an." The game will now be shipped sometime during the following week.

For all of those keeping track at home, this means that the following two things are true:

1) Brutally murdering thousands of people in horrific fashion: OK in a video game
2) Quoting the Qur'an: Not OK

Is Sony implying that quoting the Qur'an is more evil then mass murder?

Also note that the entire premise of the game is the ease of user generated content. That means that we can all expect a flurry of Qur'an related content to be uploaded within hours of the game being released.

Midway through last week marked the the three month anniversary of this little experiment. The site was originally started as a way for friends to stay in touch with each other and has since blossomed into so much more than that. It has been a tremendous blessing to see the support that we have gotten from our friends, as well as the whole community. We look forward to continuing in the our pursuit of excellence going forward.

This week you can look forward to a first impressions look at both Brothers In Arms: Hell's Highway and Call of Duty: World at War for the Xbox 360. We will get to hear from PriestBeast with more Random Thoughts From the Gameless Gamer, Jimmy the Greek will take aim at one of my favorite aggregate sites in his weekly What I Hate About... article, and GreedyRaven with an exclusive LittleBigEditorial. After a long posting break, you can look forward to a new Damnit Game of the Week courtesy of Reluctant_Gamer.

There are more developments in store in the coming days, so stay tuned.

Have a great week!

Resistance 2 is one of the most anticipated games of this year. The beta recently opened to the general public and videos of the gameplay are beginning to trickle out. One such leaked video features the new cooperative aspects of the game. Check the video below:

A reader just posted their coop clip into the comments section, so here is another video! It is over 15 minutes worth of Resistance 2 coop hotness, so try not to get too excited. Enjoy the video below:



Thanks for the input readers. Be sure to let us know what you think in the comments section.

DICE has been touting Battlefield: Bad Company, as the game that finally brings a solid single player campaign to the Battlefield franchise. Alongside the new Single Player mode, the game also showcases DICE's new Frostbite game engine. Many have said that this could be a winning combination, continuing the trend of excellent games in the Battlefield franchise. Is this game another spot on headshot, or is it dead on arrival?

Imagine being placed in a scenario that is so volatile that very military you serve has turned its back on you. In Battlefield: Bad Company, the player is place into the shoes of the game's protagonist, Preston Marlowe, who along with the rest of the members of the military's Bad Company, have been trust into the thick of civil unrest. Bad Company is not just any regiment in the army, it is the group of officers that have been so disobedient, distrustful and downright disrespectful, that they are now viewed as expendable bodies, at the mercy of the US Military. As the story does, the men of Bad Company have inadvertently infiltrated a non-existent middle eastern nation, in the search of Gold.

Gold you say? Yes, you see, one side of the political uprising is backed by a group of mercenaries. These mercenaries are know for the fact that they do not deal in cash, they are paid in solid bars of gold. Knowing that they are already on shaky ground with the military, the men of Bad Company decide to go AWOL, in search of money, fame and the pieces of ass that only bricks of gold can buy. This search for money leads them on a long winding journey, with about as many twists and double crosses as an Agatha Christie novel.

Though the subject matter of the plot is rather dark and sometimes downright depressing, the other members of the squad act as a buffer, injecting humor into otherwise crappy situations. For their first time out, DICE has managed to capture the essence and individuality of each character. The personality shines through as one of the true successes of the game. While progressing through the game, there is a genuine bond that is formed, drawing you further into the story, the despite its outlandish nature.

The biggest thing that Battlefield: Bad Comapny has going for it, is the technology going on under the hood. The Frostbite Engine's trademark is the ability for developers to design a completely destructible environment. Can't find the door or exit? A grenade launcher can also act as an automatic door creator. One grenade at the base of the wall, and and you have your own door. Though this is an interesting development and key component to the game design, there are some obvious faults that show up, the more you play the game. A huge issue is the fact that contrary to popular belief, not everything is destructible. This led to several situations where the enemy would hole up behind an indestructible item like a doorway or chimney and everything would turn into the same scenario seen in a standard first person shooter for the last decade.

Knowing the solid track record of multiplayer in the Battlefield series, many would expect this to be one of the best online games available. Sadly, this is far from the case. The two meager online offerings left me wanting much more. Even something like a traditional deathmatch would have been nice, but was notably absent. Game modes instead chose to focus on the teamwork aspect of the game. This can be fun when you are playing with friends, but when attempting to play it with strangers, has a tendency to leave you with a bad taste in your mouth.

Battlefield: Bad Company is not going to win any awards for an innovative story, but the destructible environments make this a must play for anyone who is looking to experience a new twist on the tired First Person Shooter formula. As long as you avoid the multiplayer, there will be enough action for a great weekend of fun. It is definitely worth a look.

Below is a trailer for Battlefield: Bad Company, featuring a special cameo:

This post has been festering inside me like a microwavable burrito. It was bound to burst out of one of my orifices sooner or later. Let me first qualify my capability to write it. I played Halo, I traded half my Xbox games for Halo 2, I bought Crackdown for the beta, and waited in line for three hours and took a day off work for Halo 3.

The gaming community. I play very few games online. The game I play online the most is Halo 3. It can be a fun alcohol fueled experience. The biggest thing to note about my previous statement is the word "can." I don't remember the last time I had fun the entire time I played online.

If it's not a racist douche, it's a 12 year old screeching with their cracking pubescent voice about how they just got a double kill. I love mothers, do I ever, and I don't mind people snapping off momma jokes, but none of them are original anymore. I love good insults but the vast majority of the people who play this game should be castrated to save the world from the horror of their offspring.

My final complaint about the online community is when it comes to women. Not women playing the game but the majority male reaction to finding a woman playing online. It's like dropping a Cheetos in a room full of hungry rats. They all cling to her, whether it's to belittle or hit on and in the end it's just very pitiful.

Fanboys. A steaming pile of horse shit has at least one person who will look at it and see nothing but gold. They can look past the fact it's shit and see... I don't know, something other than fecal matter. Such is the case with Halo. Who in their right mind would look at the games and concept and see no faults? If you guessed fanboys you'd be correct. The same people who dream of being sodomized by Master Chief, or want to be Spartans when they grow up.

Clearly I like the games otherwise I wouldn't continue to play them, but I am by no means one of its fanboys. I can see so many of the games' faults. Example: if a man can survive falling 500+ miles from space to the earth's surface, I imagine a bullet has to feel like a rain drop. Bungie took a page out of Captain America's book and made Master Chief some kind of super soldier. How is it that he can jump the regulation height of a basketball hoop, but he runs like he's in the Special Olympics?

The campaign. The major draw of Halo is the online play. The campaign lasts 15 hours at most and if not for achievements, isn't worth playing through more than once. It's seems like an unnecessary addition to the game. Specifically in Halo 3, I got so pissed at the constant interruptions from Gravemind and Cortana that I was ready to throw the controller through the TV. In Halo 2 the ending comes out of nowhere and gives the player campaign blue balls. Have you ever heard of a penguin blow job? It's just like each installment in the Halo story. It pulls your pants down to your ankles and starts rubbing you down. Just when you think you're going to get the mouth and some real satisfaction, it steals your billfold and runs away while you're stuck waddling after. Finally, in Halo: Combat Evolved the level designs, though good, were used over and over. I understand you have to battle your way into a complex, but sure as shit you had to run through each one backwards in a salty attempt to lengthen gameplay.

MMORPG like online fervor. Since the meat of the games are multiplayer, I can understand how that is the main draw. What I don't understand is how people can play multiplayer constantly with the only reward being a higher online rank. Are they playing to get the highest rank possible and maybe, as in a snowball's chance in hell maybe, get an MLG contract? I have no idea but, much like with so many other people and things, I don't understand it and therefore do not like it. It doesn't have an RPG element to make the monotonous grind seem like anything more than a waste of time.

Multiplayer map packs, themes, gamer pictures. It has been "perfected" by other games and though technically started on PCs, the microtransaction has thrived on the console since the release of the Halo 2 map packs. I'm not against significant game expansion packs. What I am against is charging for something that adds no real value to a game. Let me elaborate, lets say a new map pack is released for $10 or whatever. In order to play on the new map you have to go to a specific variant. This variant only includes maps from the map packs and not everybody has them, so you're limited by how you can play them and who you're playing them with. On top of that most map packs include a "reimagining" of previous maps that adds little to the overall design other than updated graphics.

Cheaters. I had a crack like addiction to Halo 2 for a time and that ended very abruptly when every other match I played was against a cheater. I'm sure everybody knows what I mean when I say "standby." You're running around the map and all of a sudden you're stuck in the blue screen and shortly after you return, you realize the bomb is planted, flag scored, or all your teammates are dead. No more than a minute later, the exact same thing happens again, and again until the match is over. Who remembers the modded Xboxs? You'd go into a match with a modder and all of a sudden you see somebody jump the height of the map, sprint past you at lightening speed, or fire a BR like its an AK-47.

The modded Xbox problem is mostly taken care of with the 360 but there is still the problem with standby. It's seems Walmart is selling internet connections these days. When you go into a match with someone who has a Walmart brand connection, everybody has to suffer by magically moving 10 feet without touching the controller, or being in a fight to have the opponent disappear and reappear behind you. The worst part of crappy connections in Halo 3 is when you go into the standby screen, you bet your ass you're going to be respawned well away from where you were and will die as a result.

My wife was flushed full of memories when she re-discovered Defend Your Castle, last weekend. I was then bombarded with stories of the many hours she had spent playing this game, while trying to avoid doing her homework for High School classes. Yeah, it is probably near a decade old, but it still has a hook that keep you entertained for hours.

The goal of the game is an simple as the name sounds, you have to defend your castle from attacking stick figures. While they may not seem menacing, those nasty little bastards can do a number to your walls if they manage to sneak by your defenses. You have a variety of different attacks and power-ups at your disposal, but none are more deadly or entertaining then just grabbing onto the attacker and vaulting them miles into the air, only to watch them plummet to their death.

Though mildly disturbing, there is a sick gratification to be gained from seeing hundreds of dead and bloodied stick figure corpses, strewn across the battlefield. Just try not to get to involved. I hear flash game homicide is a precursor for workplace violence. At least that is what my boss said...

As always, amuse yourself at your own risk.

Sorry, you will need the <a href="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer/" target="_blank">Flash Player</a> to play this game.

Hello Gamers, and welcome to an important day in the presentation of Random Thoughts. Today, October 15th is Blog Action Day 2008 and this years focus is poverty.

Some sick bastard has decided that LittleBigPlanet was too cute and cuddly for their liking. They have used the immense freedom that the game allows, to create a fully functional couple having sex, complete with thrusting action. All I can say when I see things like this is, "With great power, comes great responsibility." Check out the video below, if you dare...

It has been a couple of years since EA's first brilliant foray into the next generation of consoles, when they released Fight Night Round 3 for the Xbox 360. After such an amazing first time out, you would think that they would continue with their winning formula, but once again the logic of Electronic Arts boggles the mind. The brain trust at EA decided to instead make a cartoon based boxing game, in the same vain as the Dreamcast's Ready to Rumble franchise. So Last night, with great hesitation and tons of malice, I dug into Facebreaker for the Xbox 360.

Just as I had guessed, my first inclination about the game was absolutely correct. Facebreaker is nothing more than a direct Ready to Rumble clone. Everything from the flashy boxer introductions to the over the top presentation, just reeked of recycled game design. About the only thing the game was missing was Jimmy Buffer's beautiful, "Lets Get Ready To Rumble!" being bellowed in a pitch that turns heads around the globe. Unfortunately this is about the only thing the game had going for it.

I was so frustrated by this game that I have decided that I would not waste your time, previewing it any further. If you want more information, check out our original Hands-On from last month. Andygoes did a good job of summing up almost all my feelings, in his piece.

The full review will be coming soon. I just keep telling myself that bad games are like tearing off a band aid...

Check out the trailer for Facebreakers below:

Now that the LittleBigPlanet Beta has come to an end, I thought that it would be appropriate to reflect on my favorite user-created level. Some ingenious soul took the time to meticulously recreate an interactive environment inspired by the PS2 classic, Shadow of the Colossus. This is an exercise in detail on an epic scale, that is worth applauding. Check out the video below:

I would never have the patience necessary to design a level like this. How about you?

It is once again the time of year for sports games to make their grand entrance, reproduce like bunnies, and then disappear to the bottom of bargain bins, never to be seen or heard from again. In the tried and true tradition of milking sports franchises for all they are worth, EA Sports introduces Tiger Woods PGA Tour '09, available on every console known to man. Will this year's game match up with the past or fall victim to its own legacy?

After only a few minutes of gameplay, it became painfully evident that this was very much a clone of last years game, with a few new features slapped on to help warrant a new year number and sixty dollar sticker price. Further proving that EA is running out of new and original ideas, the marque feature of '09 is the inclusion of Tiger Wood's performance coach, Hank Haney, as your personal trainer. Haney will be appear at major junctions in the career mode, providing tips and drills that will help improve your character attributes. I know that he is supposed to be helpful, but so far I have only seen him as a hindrance to the progression of career.

To me, the most useful new feature was the inclusion of a Club Tuner mode. In past games I always had issues with a hook to my shoot, but after going in to get my clubs tuned, suddenly I became a God among mere men! Everything shot I took was more responsive, getting better distances, and exhibiting pinpoint accuracy. Never had I felt like I was in complete control of my destiny, until now. I will see if these improvements continue to help my game, or hold me back as my career goes on.

The theme of EA's '09 sports series seems to be, "The games are so easy, even your retarded parents can play." Following in the trend started with the Madden IQ in Madden '09, Tiger Woods PGA Tour '09 features a newly christened 'Dynamic Skill' system. Each round can have a positive or negative impact on your skills and abilities. Moves like this drive me up a wall, because not only does it limit the full potential of the ass-whooping I can administer, but it cripples the incentive for players to get better. Hopefully EA will be able to find a happy medium either by patch or in next years edition.

Despite my complaints, Tiger Woods PGA Tour '09 has quickly climbed to the top of my 'Must Play' games list. You can look forward to a full review, hopefully sometime late next week.

Below is a trailer for Tiger Woods PGA Tour '09:

This last weekend I had the opportunity to attend the Homecoming Weekend festivities at my Alma mater. It was great to get to be able to see both family and friends, as numerous nostalgic alumnus converged on a tiny Iowa town. The Homecoming football game was a nail bitter that came down to the last minute and a half. In the end the good guys prevailed, scoring the go ahead touchdown, to stave of defeat for the first time this season. PriestBeast and I even had the chance to return to our roots, playing tuba in the Pep Band, after over six months of inactivity.

As you can imagine, the circumstances this weekend where the reason for the lack of huge updates late in the week. Fortunately enough, Jimmy the Greek and PreistBeast came to the rescue with a Review of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed and another installment of the "Random Thoughts From The Gameless Gamer." We hope to continue our streak of excellence, as we move into the new week.

There are several new pieces that you can look forward to this week, including first impressions of both Tiger Wood PGA Tour '09 and Facebreaker, and last weeks promised Battlefield: Bad Company Review (sorry the weekend crept up on me!) From the rest of the team you can expect to hear from Jimmy the Greek with a "What I Hate About..." article staring a staple Xbox franchise, another look into the twisted mind of PriestBeast in a third installment of "Random Thoughts From The Gameless Gamer," and other surprises that will develop as the week goes on. Who knows? If there is time, you may even see a little bit of breaking news. So stay tuned, because the unexpected is bound to happen.

Have a great week.

After shifting development studios and almost a decade in programming purgatory, Fallout 3 has finally went gold for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC platforms.

Development on the original Fallout 3 began at Interplay early in 2000, only to have the rights to the franchise purchased by Bethesda in 2004. Recently they had encountered issues getting the game classified in both the UK and Australia, but it looks like those issues are in the past now.

Bethesda Softworks®, a ZeniMax Media company, announced today that its highly anticipated title, Fallout® 3, has gone gold and will be available on store shelves and online in North America on October 28, in Europe and Australia on October 30, and in the UK on October 31. Developed at Bethesda Game Studios – creators of the 2006 Game of the Year, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion® – Fallout 3 is slated for release on the Xbox 360®video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system, and Games for Windows. -- Press Release

I can hardly wait to get my hands on this bad boy. The real question is, are you finally ready to leave Vault 101?

Check out the trailer for Fallout 3 below:

Background
I've been a Star Wars fan since before I stopped crapping my pants, all of 2 years ago... I was 12 years old when I read the Thrawn trilogy and I've read numerous books since. The original trilogy was great, but I'm a much bigger fan of the expanded universe. It's all one big story line, some happening concurrently, others in a straight line, but only as terrible and fantastic as the author allows. The period in the Star Wars mythos that has the least history containing Jedi is between Episode III and Episode IV. That's where The Force Unleashed comes in.

The Story
Turns out no matter how bad ass Darth Vader is supposed to be, he's too much of a pansy to kill the Emperor and take over the galaxy. It makes sense. With all of that circuitry keeping him alive, his greatest weakness has to be water. The Emperor being the self assured smug prick that he is must have bottled water readily available and in great supply. Fuck force lightening, just toss some Evian on Vader whenever he gets uppity.

Being the aquaphobic that he is, Vader enlists someone else to do his dirty work. He finds a Force sensitive boy on Kashyyyk and trains him as his secret apprentice. This is what makes the least amount of sense to me. Have you ever tried to keep a bastard child under wraps? They don't stay "secret" for very long. The filthy little ingrates always find the worst way to come out in the open. I digress, so Vader sends the now 20 something year old out to kill the remaining Jedi masters, kill the Emperor, and presumably have sex with a bleach blonde empirical trollup.

Along the way Darklighter, the bastard child, learns more Force powers, meets people, and travels to interesting locations. Long story short, you're supposed to make the Force your bitch and it comes down to being good or evil. The same mockery of choice as with so many other games. You are either black or white with no grey area and the only real option is in the very last bit of the game.

The Good
With so many crappy wannabe Star Wars games in the past few years, Battlefronts, Lego Star Wars, the likes, it's about time we get a real Star Wars game. There are some phenomenal effects when you use the Force, you get a meek RPG element with upgrades, and the physics are top notch. It might be hard to tell by the previous section in this article, but the story is actually pretty good, better than the game actually. For the most part the game is fun and shows a lot of potential for similar future installments.

You can murder slews of Wookees and Jawas, which with the latter never gets old.

The Bad
It seems like they redefined the Force just for this game. Up until now the greatest act of Force usage was by Kyp Durron in the Jedi Academy trilogy, the die hards know what I'm talking about here, when he pulled the ship out of the center of Yavin. Now the die hards should find a tissue to clean up the spunk they just messed themselves with. In respect to the series as a whole, a Jedi or Sith can't bring an entire legion of stormtroopers down with a flick of the wrist, let alone a Star Destroyer. I know the Force is supposed to be "unleashed" in this game but if the Jedi were this bad ass, none of them would have died during order 66. They would have sat back laughing, killed Palpatine with a blink of their eyes, and then retired to a cantina for some mojitos.

Oh, there are son of a bitch quick time events.

The Ugly
Something that borderline ruins the game for me is the targeting system. It always manages to lock onto the crate on the ground when I want it to lock on the little bastard Jawa throwing grenades at me. The level designs are good, but much like the combat, are fairly repetitive. Most Force powers prove to be worthless. There's no time when you're surrounded and need to use repulse or lightening shield, the lightsaber throw is mostly novelty only good for killing the aforementioned Jawas, and you can't move when you levitate objects.

The one shining weakness in this game, which during development was supposed to be a strength, is the involvement of George Lucas. He has no idea how to implement realistic human elements in his stories. Is it too much to ask to have a genuinely mean heartless prick as the story's main character? If he's supposed to be nice, fine make him a savior. This guy, on the other hand, is supposed to be a Sith but he finds the right path, or not depending, but I was under the impression that very few return from the dark side.

Closing Comments
The targeting sucks, the story is fairly good, and this is the first real current generation Star Wars game. No Star Wars game story will top KOTOR but I'm going to throw my treatment for this out there just to see what everybody thinks.

Darklighter follows Vader until he kills the Emperor, then when Vader is basking in his feeling of accomplishment, Darklighter shoves his lightsaber down Vader's throat like a terminal blow job. He then slays the entire non Jedi having rebellion he previously befriended and finishes the day with a Jedi mind trick fueled three way between Leia Organa and Juno Eclipse. After he leaves and doesn't call them back, he dies of a black membrosia overdose, and the galaxy is left to take a collective shower from the anal raping Darklighter delivered... all before he was 27.

Score: 7.7

When we were in college, PriestBeast and I used to loose hours to this nasty little game. There was an art to it, and we felt that with time, it could be perfected. It eventually got to the point that if a single shot didn't go our way, we would restart the entire game! Needless to say, that stupid education thing started to get in the way. Good thing it did too, because otherwise we both would have failed out!

For those that are uninitiated as to the ways of disc golf, here is a basic breakdown. You are playing a game of golf using a variety of different discs, acting as your ball. The goal is to throw the disc, so that it lands them in the metal basket-like apparatus that acts as a hole. I have found myself to be a huge fan of the sport in real life, so it seems only natural to want to take it home. Let's see if my wife feels the same way...

Remember, we are not responsible for your lost productivity, it is your fault for being so damn lazy! Just know that we are laughing right along with you.

Be sure to enjoy the game responsibly, and don't forget, moderation is always the key!

I am going to come out and admit it, I am a whore for retro games. When I heard that there was going to be a collection of classic SNK games available for the Wii, I just needed to know what dotted line to sign on, in order to secure my copy. Thankfully, Goozex was created for this very reason. After one night of staying up late, I was first in the queue and eagerly awaiting its arrival.

When the game arrived at my door, it took every ounce of restraint that I had, not to explode in a manic fit of childish glee. With classic SNK games like Samurai Showdown, King of Fighters '94 and the ever popular Metal Slug, I knew many nostalgic hours of retro gaming were ahead of me. Then came the realization that rattled my faith in humanity, some of the games would not support the Wii Classic controller.

I was so shocked that I didn't know what to do with myself. It was just assumed that because the all games were of the classic variety, one would think that this was a no-brainer. Apparently I was very, very wrong. Though greatly disappointed, I decided grit my teeth and venture on.

Determined not to let the controller controversy destroy my experience, I dove into Metal Slug. I started to feel like a kid that started his meal with desert, because his parents were out of town. Metal Slug went down like the sweet flavored ice cream that I had been missing for oh so long. It took me back to a simpler time when I was a prepubescent boy, running through the arcade with pockets puckering out, full of as many quarters as I could muster from my meager allowance. Ah, those were the days...

After getting my fill of ammunition and carnage, I decided to move on to the timeless fighter, Fatal Fury. The control system consisted of a basic 3 button setup that seemed to give the Wii-mote a bit of a fit. Once you got the hang of the controls, the gameplay would come to you, but if you didn't use the classic controller, something just seemed to be awkward and missing.

There is much more of this game that needs to be played through before the final judgment is passed. Expect the full review in the coming weeks.

Check out the trailer for SNK Arcade Classics: Volume 1, below:

Saints Row 2 has yet to have been released, but already looks to be stirring up controversy. A gameplay video that leaked yesterday, shows a fully nude female, attempting to complete some kind of a streaking mission. Check out the clip for yourself, but be warned, it is NSFW.

If this is a ploy to sell more copies of their game, and I have a sad feeling that it just may work. Makes me wonder if this was brought to the ESA's attention when the game was being rated. Start the countdown until the first Jack Thompson comment now.

When I initially heard about Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams Collection for the Wii and PSP, I will admit that I was a bit skeptical. After all, there have been so many pinball games released over the past few years, that I have learned to stay as skeptical as possible, just to keep from getting burned. That's when things started to get weird, because I kept hearing from numerous people who had played it on the Wii and absolutely loved it! Well, I figured it was time to check it out and see what all the fuss was about.

The first version of the game I played, was on the PSP. I figured that if nothing else, it would be a safe platform to try it out on, to get a feel for the pace and flow of the action, as well as get a base familiarity with each table. As you would assume from the name, the pinball tables are an assortment of classics, from different eras in the history of the company. There are two "floors" that feature tables like, Pin*Bot, Funhouse, and Black Knight.

Instead of just playing for a few minutes, here and there to pass the time, I found myself making time to play the game. This was definitely not what I expected, but was a welcome shock. At one point, my father, who is a self professed pinball fanatic, and I were sitting on the couch in my dimly lit house, madly passing the PSP back and forth, frantically trying to top eachother's high score. Not only was it a genuine bonding experience, it was the excuse that I needed to get the Wii version.

The Wii version was pretty much a straight port of the PSP game, with waggle-ish controls that have been thrown onto the game to make it feel special. I was originally confused about how the controls would work on the Wii, especially considering how a Wii-mote has always felt so wonky in my hands, but in fact, they are more intuitive than you might think. A Wii-mote is combined with a nunchuck, using both controller's trigger buttons to control the flippers. Oddly enough, when you spread the controllers apart in your hands, it almost fells like you are playing on a real table.

This is a game that could become a serious time sink for me. Look for the full review coming soon!

Check out the trailer for Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams Collection, below:

Once again my random stumblings across the internet have struck paydirt, as I have run across the most amazing LittleBigPlanet level that I have ever seen. If you are a fan of Final Fantasy X you can appreciate the piano piece, "To Zanarkand." Well, somebody not only went and recreated it in LittleBigPlanet, they created a special level to go along with it. Check it out and be amazed!

So what do you think, a bit much or just as amazing as promised? Let me know in the comments...

As I often do, I was originally going to post to you about the necessities of something completely unrelated to gaming. It had to do with wearing your helmet while riding a bike, because a number of weeks ago I ran into a car. Boy did it hurt! Thankfully, I was wearing my helmet and am still able to game on! So keep that in mind next time your out riding.

Yesterday's post of the leaked Gears of War 2 footage brought the site to its knees. How bad was it, you ask? Bad enough that the image host for the site managed to serve up our full months worth of bandwidth in a matter of six hours. That is why things seemed to be looking a little bit on the odd side over the last twenty four hours or so. But do not worry, after calling in a few favors and kissing a few asses, we are back up and in full production, once again.

If you are a new comer to the site, welcome. If you are a frequent viewer, thanks for being patient as we were once again experiencing some growing pains. But after all, a little change never hurt anybody!

Along with the introduction of a new image hosting service for the site, we will also be debuting a new weekly segment from contributor PriestBeast, entitled "Random Thoughts From the Gameless Gamer." While patiently waiting for his opportunity to buy an Xbox 360, PriestBeast has been forced to live the life of a non-gamer. Hearing the cry of his inner gamer screaming out, he will bring to us a manic collection of his thoughts, leading up to his eventually console purchase. This slow decent into the bowels of insanity will be fun to see...

This week you can also expect to see more of the same, as the featured review will be Battlefield: Bad Company for the Xbox 360, along with first impressions of both SNK Arcade Classics: Volume One and Pinball Hall of Fame: Williams Collection for the Wii. As always, you can look forward to a "What I Hate About..." article from Jimmy the Greek, a "Damnit Game of the Week," and other surprise contributions from the rest of the team.

Thanks for the continued support and have an awesome week!

While trolling around on the interwebs today, I came across some leaked footage of Gears of War 2's newly redesigned multiplayer experience. It looks fantastic! Check out the videos below, and try not to drool.

The game releases exclusively for the Xbox 360 on November 7th. I'll see you in line!

[UPDATE: Thanks to the good folks in the N4G comments section, here is another video to add to the set!]

Windows Only: A while back, I was poking around engadget and came across a post about a D-Link media streamer that pumps online video to your TV from popular sites like Hulu, College Humor, YouTube and others, provided you have a plug-in. In that post, they referenced a program called PlayOn:

"...but we'll stick to rocking PlayOn with our 360 and PS3."

I was intrigued!

I decided to follow the link and soon found myself on www.themediamall.com. I decided to download and install PlayOn (free beta trial for 60 days) to give it a go. Now, anyone that has stumbled across this blog probably knows that the 360 will soon be adding Netflix's Watch Instantly support, but PlayOn touts some other nice features, like streaming from Hulu, ESPN, CNN and YouTube. After reading about the benefits and not being patient enough to wait for the (weak Netflix just announced an agreement with Starz Play - check it out!) selection of Netflix's streaming catalog, I fired it up and I must say, it's quite impressive. They just released another version of the beta which enables Netflix account access (the initial beta I installed did not have that enabled yet).

The system operates over uPnP on your network, and you have to have the service installed on your computer to work with your 360 or PS3. Since I don't have access to a PS3, I'll walk you through the 360 version.

If you've ever streamed media from your computer to your 360, it's easy as pie to get PlayOn to recognize on the 360. Go to your media tab and change the source to PlayOn: computername. Once that is set, you will see a list of the different sites to choose video from. I didn't really care much for the sorting method - you really need to know exactly what you're looking for - and there isn't any sort of search functionality. However, they are planning support for Hulu user accounts, so you could actually log in to your Hulu account and PlayOn will list the shows you subscribe to from Hulu.

Once you have selected the show to watch, you launch it just like any other video you'd watch on the 360 (press A if you've never watched a video) and it buffers for a couple seconds and then you have your media. The quality is actually pretty good - not HD, but you certainly can't complain.

When the 360 update hits, I don't know if the service will still be compatible, but until then, it's a great way to get streaming media off your dinky computer or laptop display and on to your big beautiful TV. Also, if you're on a PS3 and you don't have the hope of Netflix streaming media in the near future, but would like that benefit your 360 counterparts will soon be getting, PlayOn adds that and much more.

One last thing: every once in a while I suffer from a bad connection, or perhaps it's a bug, but I am unable to connect to the server source and it'll display an "Unable to Connect" message while waiting for my media options to display. If you experience this or know how to remedy it, leave a comment! Now I'm going to get caught up on It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia!

source: PlayOn!

Over my lunch today, I was looking for a suitable trailer for my next post when I stumbled across this little gem. The setting was the 2008 National Spelling Bee. The tension was so thick in the air that you could cut it with a knife, as Sameer Mishra stepped up to the microphone. What occurred next left the room in stitches:

As a Star Wars fan who has been let down by the very material that I love I feel I need to write another installation in my little "What I Hate About" series dedicated to Star Wars. With that, remember I hate you just as much as I do everything else.

Hayden Christensen. He was okay in Jumper but the movie was shit to begin with. My problem with Hayden's portrayal of Anakin is for a time, Macaulay Culkin was rumored to be in the running of Anakin Skywalker. Like anybody in my age group, I watched Home Alone I and II, The Good Son, My Girl, and a handful of others and wondered what the hell happened to Macaulay. The roles he would have starred in were given to his brothers and he basically disappearred. He has things Hayden does not, experience and fans. From The Good Son we know he can play a bastard and from My Girl we know he can insight sympathy. Look at it this way, if Lucas thought about giving a cameo to N'Sync, and continues to alienate die hard fans, the least he could have done was revive Culkin's career and cast him as Anakin.

Palpatine's dialog. Every time the Emperor speaks I'm reminded of an episode of Family Guy. "Something, something, something, dark side, something, complete!" The only real lines he has are the throwaway dialog from the prequels. In the original trilogy he only appears, in person, in Jedi. That episode of Family Guy sums up every word he says.

Being an asshole, simply to be an asshole. Darth Vader had some motivation for why he turned to the dark side. Even Tyranus had a slightly discernible lust for power. Why did Sidious go bad? Did he want to rule the galaxy? He was bad before he had his goal of running the galaxy. Did he want to kill Jedi? Was it to oppress the innocent? None of the reasons I come up with seem valid. When watching a movie or playing a video game, the main antagonist can't be an asshole simply to be an asshole. It's like kicking a puppy just because you can. If you kick a puppy, do it because it is chewing on your couch. Do it because it's just way too cute to not be kicked, but have a reason. On a side note, the Joker has no real motivation for being an asshole but he does it with gusto and is considered the antithesis or balancing force to Batman.

Merchandising. I have a couple of Star Wars lego kits and the DVDs, of course. I mentioned Jar Jar and now I have to extend to Grievous. There are far too many characters that were conceived purely because they would make a good toy(coughs)Ewoks. I haven't read the expanded universe book detailing Grievous' descent from alien to robot. I don't care about his motivations or his health problems. What I do care about is how much of a bad ass he's supposed to be even though he sounds like he has lung cancer and runs at the slightest visage of defeat. Again I can picture George Lucas sitting in his living room saying, "How about a 6 limb being... no robot... robot being... that has a terrible cough and is supposed to be a total bad ass. Nobody could get sick of hearing him wheeze and the toy will sell like children's chewable crack. GOLD!" Add to the characters the star ships and speeders designed and manufactured for the movies by Mattel and we have a recipe for shittiness.

No sympathetic characters. The only time true feeling of camaraderie or encumbrance came in Empire. It's the darkest one with the least meddling done by Lucas. The viewer felt the emotion when Han was lowered in the carbonite chamber, the tragedy of finding out Vader was Luke's father, and the fellowship of Luke abandoning his training to rescue his friends. This was in stark contrast to A New Hope where no matter how close Vader came to targeting Luke the viewer knew nothing would happen to him and the Rebellion would destroy the Death Star. The princess was a righteous bitch, Han was a greedy prick, and Luke simply couldn't act. In Jedi we got a taste of the Force but that was overshadowed by cheap quips, Ewoks, and the stereotypical asshole known as the Emperor. The prequels were no different. Big name actors/actresses had to frown constantly and no trepidation was felt past the moment it occurred.

Forced poorly written and executed love story. It might have been the lack of chemistry between Portman and Christensen, or the shitty dialog they shared, but at no time did I believe a Queen/Senator would or had actually fallen in love with a slave/Jedi 7 years younger than her. This philosophy is more like sleeping with the pool man or aspirations of being a cougar. Sure it's fun and all but she's going to choose a bread winning husband over the dirty pleb. I complain because this sordid affair was supposed to be the driving force of Anakin going over the edge.

The Clone Wars. Speak to an orthodox Star Wars fanboy and The Clone Wars was a stroke of genius. Let me put this directly and monosyllabically, it was not. I hate anime, see my previous post, and tainting Star Wars with it does nothing short of piss me off. It debuted on the Cartoon Network in 10 minute format and added to Star Wars canon, those are points in its favor. Otherwise they weren't very story driven, action driven just like all anime, and are a poor excuse for hopeless fathers to say their neglected young children are "watching cartoons."

George Lucas. I give that man all the credit in the world for coming up with the idea. That is where his involvement should have stopped. The movies are the canvas but the real painting and artwork are done by people like Timothy Zahn, Kevin Andersen, and Irvin Kershner. Lucas, like all major Hollywood types is a greedy asshole. His greed has clouded his judgement. I've given him credit for creating the idea, but I'm also going to give him the much deserved credit of shitting on it. Star Wars now belongs to us, the fans. It has gone beyond a late 70's early 80's scifi blockbuster and deserves to be catered to us. I want to see an R rated Star Wars movie following the life of a Sith. I want to see characters like Mara Jade and Talon Karrde hit the big screen. I want to see George Lucas pull his pretentious head out of his pompous ass.

Remember our original game of the week Filler? Well that idea has invaded the world of Pac Man. The concept is the same, fill up eighty percent of the screen, all while being pursued by everybody's favorite ghosts, Inky, Blinky and Clyde. It is a great time suck that will slowly eat away at your soul.

This is another gem from my wife, who I am convinced is now doing it just to sabotage my career. Don't let it do the same to you. Enjoy!

Mega Man is one of the greatest and most endearing characters ever to grace a video game console. Early eight-bit Mega Man games helped to usher in the age of the platformer, while still managing to rewrite the rules of the genre as they went along. When Capcom announced that Mega Man would be returning to his eight-bit roots for Mega Man 9, fanboys around the world experienced a collective nerdgasm.

It had been a number years since I last ventured into the asshole tenderizing world of Mega Man 2. Mega Man 9 was quick to once again welcome me, with a nightstick in hand and malice in its heart. From the very first moment you are thrown into gameplay, it becomes very evident that you will need to learn how to accept death with dignity, because it is something you are going to experience an innumerable number of times.

What stands out most is the game's attention to detail. Everything from the music and the character design, all the way down to the level layout and enemy behaviors seemed like something right out of an NES game. There was even an option in the game's settings that would purposely create a screen flicker when there are too many enemies on the screen at the same time. While having it enabled gave me a nostalgic trip down memory lane, it also reminded me why we left the eight-bit era behind almost twenty years ago.

My biggest shock was when I tried to slide under a jumping enemy, only to discover that in Mega Man 9 there was no power slide. Another missing power that I was accustomed to from past Mega Man games was the Mega Blaster. This meant that I no longer had the ability to charge up shots, in order to inflict more damage. The return to Mega Man's roots has been both a challenging and eye opening experience.

As I mentioned earlier, this game is extremely difficult, so unless you have a masochistic side that you need to indulge, only hardcore fans should apply. I will have a final review if I ever manage to complete the game. Wish me luck, because Lord knows I am going to need it!

Check out the trailer for Mega Man 9 below: