Thursday, November 03, 2005
Well, I can now say that I've played a game on the Xbox 360!! Yup, much to my surprise, both of the Wal-Marts here in Possumfuck, Arkansas had playable systems in the electronics. Unfortunately, the first one I stopped at had the LCD on the wrong setting, so the pixels were the size of my cock (i.e. - rather large, thick, and meaty), but luckily the other Wally World had everything just perfect.
Funnily enough, "Kameo" was the only game I got to play. The first 360 was at the main demo menu, and I messed with it some to see what the new Dashboard looks like, and let me tell ya, it's fantastic. I quickly moved on to the first playable demo, however, which is Kameo. After spending 10 minutes with it, I got the hankering to see something else, but couldn't fucking figure out how to get back to the main menu! No button combo worked, so I guess it's on some kinda timer or other.
Anyhoo, at the other, better, WM it was already on Kameo from someone else having stepped up there, so I was stuck with it once again. However, this was not a bad thing! The texture quality was the first thing that stood out. My GAWD it looked great! The textures practically leap off the screen. Can't wait to see it on my Hitachi Ultravision HDTV. The next thing that impressed me was the animations, how fluid they were. Rare really took a lot of time to perfect enemy movement and whatnot. Most were pretty humerous, too, such as the albino trolls that hide under turtle shells. Knocking them off with Pummelweed led to some funny death animations.
Another thing I'd like to mention is how incredibly SMALL the Xbox360 was! Damn, the pictures don't do it justice, this this just looks a ton smaller than the first Xbox. I know it isn't that much smaller, but it sure seems that way. One things for sure, it's sexah.
In closing, check out the Xbox 360 linked Gamercard to the side margins. Starting on release day that thing'll show you how many eleet skills I have, biatch.
Funnily enough, "Kameo" was the only game I got to play. The first 360 was at the main demo menu, and I messed with it some to see what the new Dashboard looks like, and let me tell ya, it's fantastic. I quickly moved on to the first playable demo, however, which is Kameo. After spending 10 minutes with it, I got the hankering to see something else, but couldn't fucking figure out how to get back to the main menu! No button combo worked, so I guess it's on some kinda timer or other.
Anyhoo, at the other, better, WM it was already on Kameo from someone else having stepped up there, so I was stuck with it once again. However, this was not a bad thing! The texture quality was the first thing that stood out. My GAWD it looked great! The textures practically leap off the screen. Can't wait to see it on my Hitachi Ultravision HDTV. The next thing that impressed me was the animations, how fluid they were. Rare really took a lot of time to perfect enemy movement and whatnot. Most were pretty humerous, too, such as the albino trolls that hide under turtle shells. Knocking them off with Pummelweed led to some funny death animations.
Another thing I'd like to mention is how incredibly SMALL the Xbox360 was! Damn, the pictures don't do it justice, this this just looks a ton smaller than the first Xbox. I know it isn't that much smaller, but it sure seems that way. One things for sure, it's sexah.
In closing, check out the Xbox 360 linked Gamercard to the side margins. Starting on release day that thing'll show you how many eleet skills I have, biatch.
Wednesday, November 02, 2005
Well, here we sit, less than 3 weeks away from the Xbox 360 launch... and I'm getting SO fucking hyped up!! However, my crotch-tingling excitement has been tempered by the recent news that Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion has been delayed well into '06. This means that Bethesda went from saying it was a launch day title (which they said at X05) to a launch "window" title 2 weeks later on or around December 12th, to now saying some vague time in the future in 2006. BOO ON THEM! It's actually not that bad, I'd rather them take their time and make a good, bug-free game, than release it hurriedly. However, having said all that, it does take my X360 launch excitement down a notch...
Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories for the PSP is a life-sucking vampire! Die you retched spawn of Satan! Seriously, the Rockstar guys have done what I considered the impossible, and successfully translated a killer console title to a handheld. Now we sit back and watch as PSPs fly off the shelves, seemingly of their own free will.
I've put about 5 hours or so into this game so far and I've only barely scratched the surface (I think it tells me that I'm around 8-9% done if I remember correctly). The game is fucking huge and it is a testament to their programming prowess that it works on the PSP at all, or at least without draining the batteries dry in 20 minutes. You can tell the game isn't streaming off the disc at all times, which means they fit whatever main section of the city you are in (there's 3 of them) into memory at once. This, coupled with the fact that they added even more stuff than was in the original Liberty City, and it is just amazing. Consider me amazed and appreciative.
Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories for the PSP is a life-sucking vampire! Die you retched spawn of Satan! Seriously, the Rockstar guys have done what I considered the impossible, and successfully translated a killer console title to a handheld. Now we sit back and watch as PSPs fly off the shelves, seemingly of their own free will.
I've put about 5 hours or so into this game so far and I've only barely scratched the surface (I think it tells me that I'm around 8-9% done if I remember correctly). The game is fucking huge and it is a testament to their programming prowess that it works on the PSP at all, or at least without draining the batteries dry in 20 minutes. You can tell the game isn't streaming off the disc at all times, which means they fit whatever main section of the city you are in (there's 3 of them) into memory at once. This, coupled with the fact that they added even more stuff than was in the original Liberty City, and it is just amazing. Consider me amazed and appreciative.
Monday, October 31, 2005
So I went to see "Saw II" this weekend. Fucking GREAT! It grabs you by the sack right off and doesn't let go. I was so afraid that it would fall into the traps that so many sequels do, but it didn't. It somehow remained fresh and tense, not to mention cringe-inducing. The only criticisms I can think to levy are maybe at some of the "actors". None of them was Cary Elwes bad, but still... (Cary Elwes' performance in the first Saw being the stuff of bad-acting legend).
In gaming news... I started working on Call of Duty 2 this weekend. So far I'm loving it! It's very much like the first one, which isn't a bad thing at all. The graphics have seen a nice overhaul. I tried bumping it all the way up, settings-wise, and it played fine until there was a ton of people on screen at once, then it got kinda boggy. I ended up getting it to a playable frame-rate by setting it to 1600x1200, 2xAA, antiscopic filtering, "insane" corpse count, and leaving shadows off and smoke edge enhancement off. Shadows just murder frame-rate, alas.
In gaming news... I started working on Call of Duty 2 this weekend. So far I'm loving it! It's very much like the first one, which isn't a bad thing at all. The graphics have seen a nice overhaul. I tried bumping it all the way up, settings-wise, and it played fine until there was a ton of people on screen at once, then it got kinda boggy. I ended up getting it to a playable frame-rate by setting it to 1600x1200, 2xAA, antiscopic filtering, "insane" corpse count, and leaving shadows off and smoke edge enhancement off. Shadows just murder frame-rate, alas.
Thursday, October 27, 2005
Wow, so let's see, I need to get caught up with things here. First off, I've pretty much quit WoW. It just got to be a chore to login again, and I swore when that happened I'd quit, so I have. My account is paid up to Jan '06, so maybe I might check things out again, particularly if the Xmas stuff is cool (the Halloween stuff is fab!).
There's a lot of games I've been working on lately. First up is "Fable: The Lost Chapters" on the PC. I actually bought the first Fable for the Xbox when it hit $20 a while back, but never got past the first village when you are a child. I regret this now, since I'm having such a blast with the game on the PC. In a way it is probably a good thing I'm starting with it on the PC, since the graphics are better (6x AA for one thing, whee).
The game itself is a righteous blend of humor and action/adventure goodness. The first time I was walking by a villager and overheard them say something along the lines of "There goes the great Hero, ol' Arseface" I knew this game was gold. More on it later, but if you haven't played it yet, get it!
I've also been working my way through F.E.A.R. (hence to be known as FEAR, takes too much time to type those damned periods in) and Quake 4. FEAR is an ok game, I would give it a 6/10 were I rating it. The graphics are great, the physics are great, and sometimes I'm astounded at what the AI does, but damned if the game doesn't suffer from what the first Halo suffered from: repetative levels. How many fucking times do I have to climb the same ladder in the same abandoned warehouse, or go through the same office cubical? I mean, really. Also, it just isn't that scary. It takes WAY more than the "boo!" type scare to get me going, and I had more of a sense of overwhelming ill-will while playing Half-Life 2 than with FEAR. Hopefully it'll pick up in the game's last quarter....
I've only gotten about an hour into Quake 4, but so far it's mighty impressive. Kinda reminds me of Call of Duty a little, only set in the future and featuring aliens instead of Nazis. The squad mechanics are sweet and of course the graphics are awesome, what with it using the Doom 3 engine and all. I'll withhold judgement until after I'm done with it, but so far I likey.
Finally, to wrap this up, things are ramping up big time for the impending Xbox 360 launch. I've had mine reserved since June but I'm still not guaranteed one. I think MS is making a big mistake releasing this worldwide in such a tight window. I'd rather see an X360 in my living room come Nov. 22nd than big sales in Japan 2 weeks later. We'll see how it goes. I may have to do my first ever midnight release pickup...
There's a lot of games I've been working on lately. First up is "Fable: The Lost Chapters" on the PC. I actually bought the first Fable for the Xbox when it hit $20 a while back, but never got past the first village when you are a child. I regret this now, since I'm having such a blast with the game on the PC. In a way it is probably a good thing I'm starting with it on the PC, since the graphics are better (6x AA for one thing, whee).
The game itself is a righteous blend of humor and action/adventure goodness. The first time I was walking by a villager and overheard them say something along the lines of "There goes the great Hero, ol' Arseface" I knew this game was gold. More on it later, but if you haven't played it yet, get it!
I've also been working my way through F.E.A.R. (hence to be known as FEAR, takes too much time to type those damned periods in) and Quake 4. FEAR is an ok game, I would give it a 6/10 were I rating it. The graphics are great, the physics are great, and sometimes I'm astounded at what the AI does, but damned if the game doesn't suffer from what the first Halo suffered from: repetative levels. How many fucking times do I have to climb the same ladder in the same abandoned warehouse, or go through the same office cubical? I mean, really. Also, it just isn't that scary. It takes WAY more than the "boo!" type scare to get me going, and I had more of a sense of overwhelming ill-will while playing Half-Life 2 than with FEAR. Hopefully it'll pick up in the game's last quarter....
I've only gotten about an hour into Quake 4, but so far it's mighty impressive. Kinda reminds me of Call of Duty a little, only set in the future and featuring aliens instead of Nazis. The squad mechanics are sweet and of course the graphics are awesome, what with it using the Doom 3 engine and all. I'll withhold judgement until after I'm done with it, but so far I likey.
Finally, to wrap this up, things are ramping up big time for the impending Xbox 360 launch. I've had mine reserved since June but I'm still not guaranteed one. I think MS is making a big mistake releasing this worldwide in such a tight window. I'd rather see an X360 in my living room come Nov. 22nd than big sales in Japan 2 weeks later. We'll see how it goes. I may have to do my first ever midnight release pickup...
Friday, August 12, 2005
Osu! Tatake! Ouendan! Oh man, this game is AWESOME!! This is reason enough to buy a Nintendo DS even if you never planned on buying another game for it, ever. I only got to play about 3 hours of Ouendan last night, but that was enough for me to firmly believe the previous statements.
First off, "Osu! Tatake! Ouendan!" translates to "Hey! Fight! Cheersquad!". The basic premise of the game is that you control the movements (cheers) of a cheersquad, who roam the town helping people in need, whatever their problem. Apparently, in Japan, cheersquads are made up of black trenchcoated guys who scream and yell and basically get people excited (despite my love of all things hentai, I think having scantily-clad girls in place of the guys in this game would have taken away some of it's hilariousness). Ouendan is really a rhythm game, like Guitaroo or even DDR to some extent. You tap out the beats with the DS' stylus, timing them to coincide with dance moves of the cheersquad.
To say this game is hilarious is an understatement. Even though I can't read but a few words of Japanese, I was still laughing hysterically almost from the start. Everything from the manic expressions of those you are trying to help, to the crazy "OUENDAN!" shout that starts each round, make me shit my pants with laughter. Obviously this game will never, ever come to the US in its Japanese form, and probably not at all if I had to take a guess.
In other news... My guild in WoW did a quick 5-man run into LBRS last night to try and get their beloved leader (me) his Beaststalker Gloves. Damn you War Master Voone! Your Gloves will be MINE! Of course I'll probably have to run this thing 20 fucking times to get them... /cry
First off, "Osu! Tatake! Ouendan!" translates to "Hey! Fight! Cheersquad!". The basic premise of the game is that you control the movements (cheers) of a cheersquad, who roam the town helping people in need, whatever their problem. Apparently, in Japan, cheersquads are made up of black trenchcoated guys who scream and yell and basically get people excited (despite my love of all things hentai, I think having scantily-clad girls in place of the guys in this game would have taken away some of it's hilariousness). Ouendan is really a rhythm game, like Guitaroo or even DDR to some extent. You tap out the beats with the DS' stylus, timing them to coincide with dance moves of the cheersquad.
To say this game is hilarious is an understatement. Even though I can't read but a few words of Japanese, I was still laughing hysterically almost from the start. Everything from the manic expressions of those you are trying to help, to the crazy "OUENDAN!" shout that starts each round, make me shit my pants with laughter. Obviously this game will never, ever come to the US in its Japanese form, and probably not at all if I had to take a guess.
In other news... My guild in WoW did a quick 5-man run into LBRS last night to try and get their beloved leader (me) his Beaststalker Gloves. Damn you War Master Voone! Your Gloves will be MINE! Of course I'll probably have to run this thing 20 fucking times to get them... /cry
Thursday, August 11, 2005
Well, let's see... I'm slowly working my way through Digital Devil Saga. I'm about 11 hours in now, reaching the top of Coordinate 136 (or whatever it's called). Loving the game so far, but I think I've somewhat gimped by guys out on their Mantra picks, and I've also wasted a ton of time by not placing high stock in the Devour skill early on in the game. Still, I'm making it. Incidentally, DDS2 is on sale at outpost.com for $39 with free shipping...
I'm really digging my NDS. I got in Kirby's Canvas Curse yesterday and it ROCKS! Seriously, this game just gets more awesome the further I get into it. Meteos is great too, and I'm digging Zookeeper as well. Actually, it sucks in a way, since it makes my eyes hurt after staring at it too long. Ouendan should be coming in today or tomorrow, so that's exciting. Once again, Nintendo has impressed me. I figured by this time of the year the PSP would be kicking all kinds of ass, but instead it's the NDS that is winning over everyone. The PSP is good for one thing: Emulation. I feel sad for those that patched to 2.0...
I'm really digging my NDS. I got in Kirby's Canvas Curse yesterday and it ROCKS! Seriously, this game just gets more awesome the further I get into it. Meteos is great too, and I'm digging Zookeeper as well. Actually, it sucks in a way, since it makes my eyes hurt after staring at it too long. Ouendan should be coming in today or tomorrow, so that's exciting. Once again, Nintendo has impressed me. I figured by this time of the year the PSP would be kicking all kinds of ass, but instead it's the NDS that is winning over everyone. The PSP is good for one thing: Emulation. I feel sad for those that patched to 2.0...
Tuesday, July 26, 2005
Once again I've been sucked back into the depths of WoW. I just can't stay away for long, I guess. It helps that I play with a bunch of guys from work. Keeps it interesting, plus it gives us something to talk about during the day.
In other news, I picked up a Nintendo DS the other day, due to a great deal Circuit City had. I got Super Mario 64 DS + a case and the system itself, all for the cost of the system. I played some Mario when I got it home, and messed around with the Metroid: Hunters demo some, but other than that I really haven't touched it. I'm waiting on Meteos and Nanostray to come in from Gamefly before I really sink my teeth into it. One fucking thing pissed me off, though, and that was the goddamned DS didn't come with the wriststrap! Normally this wouldn't be a big deal, but the DS's wrist strap is actually used to control some games with it's built-in stylus nub (for lack of a better way to describe it). I thought for a second I should return it and get a different one, but fuck if I wanna bother with that. I'm a lazy mofo, I'll either pick one up at the game store or order one direct from Nintendo if they aren't too much.
I went and watched "The Devil's Rejects" this past Sunday. HOLY FUCK is this movie awesome! It's like a brutal assault that doesn't let up. It's the movie I've been waiting for for decades, i.e. - one that has the balls to try and live up to the epitome of horror: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. This is the movie I thought "House of 1000 Corpses" would be. Don't get me wrong, I love Ho1KC but it isn't nearly the movie that TDR is. Can't wait to watch it again.
In other news, I picked up a Nintendo DS the other day, due to a great deal Circuit City had. I got Super Mario 64 DS + a case and the system itself, all for the cost of the system. I played some Mario when I got it home, and messed around with the Metroid: Hunters demo some, but other than that I really haven't touched it. I'm waiting on Meteos and Nanostray to come in from Gamefly before I really sink my teeth into it. One fucking thing pissed me off, though, and that was the goddamned DS didn't come with the wriststrap! Normally this wouldn't be a big deal, but the DS's wrist strap is actually used to control some games with it's built-in stylus nub (for lack of a better way to describe it). I thought for a second I should return it and get a different one, but fuck if I wanna bother with that. I'm a lazy mofo, I'll either pick one up at the game store or order one direct from Nintendo if they aren't too much.
I went and watched "The Devil's Rejects" this past Sunday. HOLY FUCK is this movie awesome! It's like a brutal assault that doesn't let up. It's the movie I've been waiting for for decades, i.e. - one that has the balls to try and live up to the epitome of horror: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. This is the movie I thought "House of 1000 Corpses" would be. Don't get me wrong, I love Ho1KC but it isn't nearly the movie that TDR is. Can't wait to watch it again.
