It’s finally here! Well.. It’s supposed to be. Fans all across the country have been waiting for this night, the night Diablo 3 is released. Excitement quickly turned into nerd rage when players tried to log in only to be greeted with an error message. “Error 37.” Servers are down. Well played ActiBlizz, by cutting out any possibility of playing offline, you managed to piss off all of your fans by taking their money and spitting in their faces simultaneously. Maybe my expectations were too high to expect to be able to play a game that I paid for on the same day that I received it. Maybe I’m just cranky because it’s 4am and I just paid $60 to lose sleep. Maybe you should have gotten your shit together and been prepared! Fuck! I’m going to bed…
Today marks the release of the latest installment to the Resident Evil franchise. Operation Raccoon City strays from its usual convention by employing squad based game play as well as putting you on the Umbrella Corp. payroll.
I’m eager to see how RE:ORC ties into RE:2 and RE:3. This should be one of those times where being bad should feel good.
Kiss the wife and kids goodbye. In just eleven days (five if you’re lucky) is the official release of BioWare’s highly anticipated MMO, Star Wars: The Old Republic.
I was fortunate enough to finally get some hands on with the game during a recent beta weekend and I think this may be the most immersive MMO that I have ever played.
I like to consider myself a veteran to world of MMOs, it wasn’t too long after the launch of World of Warcraft: Cataclysm that I was able to beat my addiction to such games (thankfully in part to Activision marketing the fun out of WoW). I have lost six years of my life to World of Warcraft, I have spent an unhealthy amount of time in Karazahn. My Hunter has THE ghost wolf, not that bullshit re-release spirit animal version. My Druid ran the full quest line for his epic flight form, before it was reduced to being a trainable talent that’s practically free. I’ve done forty man raids. That is just a passing glance of the time I’ve spent playing WoW when I wasn’t collecting one of my 100+ non-combat pets (before you could just buy digital pets for $10… fucking Activision). I’m not ripping on WoW and their desperate attempt to regain players by shamelessly throwing Kung-Fu Pandas and Pokemon into the game; that’s for another day. I’m just saying that this isn’t my first time to the rodeo.
From the moment I watched the opening cinematic for SWTOR, I was hooked. I decided to play around with a Bounty Hunter in honor of my hero, Boba Fett. As soon as the game began, I felt that I had a purpose. Unlike WoW, I knew instantly what my place was in the war between the republic and the empire. I wasn’t tasked with killing X amount of boars for no good reason. I was a bounty hunter and as such I was taking jobs that a bounty hunter would take. A woman offered me money to retrieve her kidnapped child. The beautiful thing about taking the mission was that she actually asked me to help her. Interacting with NPCs in this game activates something called a Flash Point which is basically an interactive cut scene where you’re able to choose your responses in this fully voiced conversation via text wheel (as seen in Mass Effect and Knights of the Old Republic). I found that with each mission I was becoming more and more immersed in the game itself. I soon realized that I wasn’t just developing my character by tweaking gear, stats and talents; I was developing his personality. My bounty hunter was a wise cracking guy that cared only for the credits but was honorable in the sense that he never backed down from a contract or allowed himself to be bought out by his mark.
While running the first few missions on Huttah, I was surprised to see how vibrant the game environment was. There is always something going on at all times. I walked out to the door to see NPCs in combat with a rival group of smugglers that were waging war on the Hutts. Not once during my game play did I see any MOBs standing idly by, waiting for me to come though and kill them. The worlds are massive and beautifully rendered, I was genuinely excited to learn that there are hidden holochrons on each world that reward you with permanent stat increases for exploring the maps.
I could go on all day about how excited I am to jump back into the Star Wars universe but I don’t want to ruin the experience for anyone that hasn’t had any hands on yet. In the first few hours of the game, I was able to predict that I’m going to lose a few more years of my life to SWTOR. If you’re in a committed relationship, you might want to make the first step and break it off now. The dark side is coming and it will take over your soul.
Angry Zombies!! is a top-down arcade strategy title by High Mind. The goal is to wipe out the living across the world, one country at a time.
Angry Zombies features three levels of difficulty, (Normal, Hard and Angry) and two save slots.
You take control by placing zombies of varied types and abilities on a map and watch as they go about their business, infecting/destroying the living.
Completion of each stage rewards you with gold that you can spend on upgrading your zombies or purchasing new types to add to your growing horde.
Angry Zombies!! features an in-app purchase feature where you can spend your real money on in-game gold. The beautiful thing about this system is that you’re not required to spend real cash for upgrades that would otherwise be unavailable. It is possible to max out your zombies without paying a cent.
The only noticeable flaw that I have encountered was some lag when too many sprites appear on screen at once.
For the amazing price of FREE, Angry Zombies!! is a must have for any iPhone owner or zombie enthusiast.
The prophets at Nintendo have revealed more information from the 3DS’ book of Revelations. During the 3DS conference, earlier today, Nintendo announced some more details about the Slide Pad add-n for the 3DS.
The new Slide Pad is priced at about $20USD. The add-on will require the use of one AAA battery. Games that will support the new hardware will include Ace Combat 3D: Cross Rumble, Dynasty Warriors VS, Kingdom Hearts 3D, Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D, Monster Hunter 3G and Resident Evil: Revelations. It has not been confirmed if the listed games will require the Slide Pad or if it’s simply supported. There is no set release date for the new hardware; however, with an inbound system update scheduled for November, it will most likely be released some time afterwards. There is still no word of a new dual analog model of the 3DS (which I have named the WiiP) but looking at the numerous incarnations of previous Nintendo handhelds, I still feel it is inevitable.
What do you think about the post release hardware? Is is a curse or a savior? Do you even care?
EDIT: Release Dates added and additional games notes
I just finished tuning in to Nintendo’s live stream of the 3DS conference. Since I don’t speak Japanese, I’m going to speculate what it is that I saw… ahem.
Announced games:
SD Gundam 3D (I made up the title because I don’t understand Japanese)
Tekken 3D
Animal Crossing (Taller characters, companion animal, boys in skirts and swimming)
Fire Emblem – 2012 Mario Tennis
Ace Combat 3D: Cross Rumble
Dynasty Warriors VS
Kingdom Hearts 3D
Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D
Monster Hunter 3G
Resident Evil: Revelations
More videos of games we’ve already seen:
Luigi’s Mansion 2
Super Mario Land 3D – November 13th
Mario Kart 7 – December 4th – First Person view and gyro controls
Expanded speculation of Kid Iccarus: Delayed-2012
Dark Pit, possibly the main antagonist? Bringing back the 80′s with an evil twin story line?
There appears to be a card reader that applies Ally, Weapon and Enemy cards to the main game.
If you had seen the brief AR card battle at the end of their video from E3, you’ll be happy to hear that the AR battles are an implemented feature of the game and it looks as though there are hundreds of cards to use. The most notable card I saw was a Metriod (that was also eating Pit’s head during a flight scene in the game)
Nintendo also announced over twitter that. The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords will be free in the eshop on September 28th. There are also new features coming to the 3DS via system update in November. The 3D camera will receive a video capture function. Nintendo also stated that there will be more content added to StreetPass Mii Plaza; no further details have been given.
I’m sure by now, if you have had any interest in Techland’s Dead Island, you have read a ton of reviews that cover its numerous and often times trivial flaws. This is another one of those.
Dead Island takes place on the beautiful resort island of Banoi. After a long night of partying, you wake up to the island transformed into a feeding ground for the undead.
The game begins by choosing one of four available character classes (Tank, Leader, Assassin, or Jack-of-all-Trades). Much like Borderlands, each character has his own special ability [Fury ability] that compliments his play style. The different classes also have their own talent trees that cover Fury, Combat and Survival. While each character has fundamentally similar talent trees, they vary slightly to fit his specific weapon proficiency and team role.
The tank is exactly what you would expect, he can draw the attention of the zombies and is able to build up his defense in order to take more of a beating [but not by much]. The Leader, deceptively, plays more of a support role by specializing in ranged weapons as well as being able to activate a healing aura. The Assassin specializes in bladed weapons and has an ability to do massive damage with her Fury attack. The Jack-of-all-Trades is a fairly generic character that is proficient in throwing weapons, however; he is capable of building his proficiency with most melee class weapons.
Dead Island is fun to play alone but it is meant to be survived as a team. During normal play, a notification may pop up and tell you that another player with similar progress is nearby. With the touch of a button you are able to jump into his game and cooperatively complete quests and progress through the story together.
The story of Dead Island is sinple, you’re stuck on an island of zombies and you want to get off of it. Throughout the story, you’ll encounter survivors that ask for your help finding medicine, food, fuel or… teddy bears. After completing a quest you are rewarded with XP and cash or a useful item. Certain story line quests “reward” you with a “touching” cut scene that is littered with bug-eyed, emotionless characters and cheesy dialogue. The graphics engine is a bit dated in comparison to other new game released with its poor texture mapping and shifting focus, however; it isn’t so bad that the game is unplayable.
During my play through of the game, I have come across some fairly annoying bugs. The first bug I noticed was during a mission where I had to turn on a series of power generators in a basement. Everything was going well, I found the room I was looking for, skipped down the stairs and turned on the generators, easy-peasy. I left the room and tried to get up the steps to go turn in my quest but I was stuck. Each time I tried to make it up the steps I would slow down and get pushed backwards as if I was trying to walk through an invisible slingshot. Luckily for me, I’m a buggy game vet and I knew that walking backwards while jumping is THE way to get around this bug. Here is a video of someone else with the same problem:
Occasionally, a zombie has a hard time navigating around a simple obstacle or maybe it’ll get stuck trying to stand up after you kick him down. Here is another player’s video:
I wouldn’t really complain about this bug because I’m usually fighing off sever other zombies when it happens. Aside from invisible walls and dumber than average zombies there have been more severe bugs that have been reported [Bing the shit out of that topic].
With a few minor bugs and less than stellar graphics, Dead Island is still very fun and addictive. The first person action of Dead Island is capable of breathing new life into the zombie game genre. If you’re still unsure about the game, rent it; but do give it a try. If you’re a fan of zombie games, Dead Island is a must have.
I score Dead Island a 4 out of 5
+ Solid RPG Elements
+ Interesting weaponry
- Ugly texture mapping
- Annoying Bugs
= Must play
The re-re-release of the Star Wars saga for Blue-Ray is close at hand. On September 16th, the popular series of films will be available everywhere. Nerds all over the galaxy, no doubt have had this item sitting in their Amazon shopping carts, excitedly waiting to watch again in the highest definition to date. Hardcore fans, however; sense a disturbance in the force. Coinciding with his usual execution, George Lucas, once again decided to tinker with the films. This latest leak of edited footage turns a man into a boy.
The above clip from the Blue-Ray version Return of the Jedi, takes a stoic Darth Vader from years past and turns him into the whiny Anakin Skywalker that was introduced to us in Attack of the Clones (2002). In the original version of Return of the Jedi, as Darth Vader watches his only son become the galaxy’s largest capacitor, his trance like state is broken as he decides to rescue Luke by power bombing the emperor down an impossibly deep shaft to his doom. This scene was pivotal in the development of Darth Vader’s character. The wayward Jedi returns to the light side with a final act of darkness to save his son. Mr.Lucas didn’t find this moment to be dramatic enough so he decided to toss in some good ‘ol melodrama. With a single utterance from Darth Vader, whom until this moment was widely considered to be one of the biggest badasses in the universe, he is reverted to the angsty teen that annoyed the hell out of us in the prequels. Darth Vader yells, “Nooooo…” as he plunges the emperor to his doom, thus shattering the strong silent visage he had once possessed.
I wouldn’t say that I’m pissed off about the change but I do feel that it was unnecessary. I can only assume the added dialogue [for lack of a better term] is intended for the slower viewers that couldn’t understand his motives. Super fans of the Star Wars movies are a bit pissed off. This isn’t the first time that George decided to “remaster” the series. Older fans remember when the original Star Wars trilogy was re-released on DVD; Jabba made a CGI appearance in A New Hope, Han shot first, and there was an odd musical number added to the cantina scene. This is only a few of the “remastered” changes.
I think it would be a pretty good addition if we got a scene in Revenge of the Sith that involved Jar Jar Binks tripping over his goofy ears and falling into the mouth of a Rancor. I would be excited to see Obi-Wan mention Qui-Gon Jinn as his master in A New Hope. For laughs, I would have a Dug Jedi wandering about the Jedi Temple. I would even enjoy getting a mention of Star Killer’s existence at some point in any of the movies [I may be alone on that last one].
If you were going to make changes to the Star Wars series, what would you choose to do? How does Darth Vader’s new dialogue make you feel? Why is there not a spin off movie about Boba Fett?
I had some funny things to share, this week; Best Buddies action figures, a rant about what is wrong with the face of that chick in Transformers 3 and possibly a comment about the aliens in Cowboys & Aliens being retarded to get the shit kicked out of them by some inbred cowboys. You get none of that! Why? I’ll tell you why! It’s mother fucking Shark Week! See you next month!
When I finally heard about the Nintendo bringing the eshop to the 3DS, I was excited to play my favorite games from older consoles. For months after I had purchased my 3DS I waited in anticipation and press releases rolled out talking about all of the amazing exclusive content that the 3DS will receive when the store launches. Since there was (and still is) a rather poor 3D game library, I was hyped up to download the shit out of some 3D titles from the shop. Nintendo promised weekly releases that would involve console classics in 3D, virtual console games to cover Nintendo’s older consoles as well as the Sega Game Gear and stand alone 3D games from a plethora of other developers.
Since the launch of the eshop we’ve seen Pokedex 3D and a 3D remake of Excitebike. Immediately, I was psyched. The Pokedex, while not actually a game, was pretty cool to see all the new 5th Gen Pokemon in 3D, complete with hardcore amounts of information on each one (that you’ve collected) to reference while you play the base Pokemon Black/ White games as well as AR viewing and crappy 2D picture taking. For a free app, I was very impressed.
Excitebike thrilled the shit out me. What was one of my favorite childhood games on the NES was now in 3-mother fucking-D in my pocket. The best part about this game was that now you could actually save your custom tracks. Excitebike was also free (for a limited time) until a few weeks ago.
Since the initial launch of the eshop we haven’t seen shit in the way of 3D games (unless you count a bunch of trailers for games announced at E3 that have since been removed and a crappy Green Lantern trailer). Those console classics that we were promised never came either. What did we get? We got the GameBoy color version of Zelda: Link’s Awakening, which I thought was pretty cool. We also got a hand full of obscure titles from the original Game Boy, complete with puke-green and black graphics. I’ll admit there were some GB titles that I had to buy for nostalgia’s sake like Kirby and Mario Land but it seems that the garbage severely outweighs the notable content. It would be nearly impossible to find a game that you wanted in the eshop anyway because of it’s most god awful interface.
The interface consists of a series of vague icons with titles like, “Defend Your Turf” and “Get Your Sport On”. Upon choosing a category you’re taken to a list of games that appear in no particular order. Each week, the interface changes and the list of games is scrambled again. If you are lucky enough to find a title that may be interesting, you’ll find that there is no description of that game anywhere, instead; there are three screen shots of the game that you have to determine if you’re still interested in said game ::SPOILER:: they’re usually shitty games ::SPOILER::
In conclusion, I would like to say,”Fuck you, Nintendo, get your shit together!”
