Finished it in 33 hours, kinda disappointed to be honest. It felt like a MMORPG in terms of game mechanics. The story kept me interested enough to finish. Its sad, but it seems like the great RPG experience is now only found in hybrid games, that being said, I'm really looking forward to Mass Effect 2.
PSP2 Concept - quite nice
Came across this here at Kotaku. I really think when portables get enough juice under the hood they will completely replace our home consoles. Its going to be amazing sitting around playing Xbox live at some coffee bar with your friends and instead of even having your headsets you can just tell at the guy across the table. I wonder when MS is going to admit they've built a portable Xbox
NXE : HDD loads will save Speed Run Games
I think its pretty safe to say that the most exciting thing about NXE is not the slick new interface or the Wii like avatars but the load from HD feature.
I can see tonnes of people loading up games that will reside in there 360 for a long time such as Gears2 and CoD4 (yes 4 not W@W) to shave seconds off their load time to jump into games.
The thing is I recon most of these games are already optimized in terms of load times, and asides from the Orange box which has a 1/3 saving in all load times no games will really benefit that much from the loading off the hard disk as you're going to have to wait for other online players to show up anyways.
2 titles I can't wait to load up and test are Mirror's Edge and The Club. Why you ask? Both these games are fantastic concepts that feel like mods to a fully flesh out game. The answer, Speed Runs. I wrote about how excited I was for The Club and its potential speed runs, but what killed that game for me was the long wait between rounds to reload, as for ME I'll have to give the Speed Runs a go once I beat the campaign, unfortunately unlike games like Lumines I doubt there will be people posting a whole lot of items on the leader boards.
Fable 2 - Insane Game Season
Last night I finally beat the main quest in Fable II, and I have to say Fable is one of the best RPG's I've played in a long time. Maybe its because I'm older now and don't have time for 30+ hour games. Maybe I enjoyed the fact that the game is relatively easy and sorta a cake walk. Maybe I like how streamlined the game mechanics are.
BUT I do know that this is the first RPG i've played where the decisions you make actually effect the gameworld in a meaningful way, not just something silly like some NPC who is no longer willing to give you a quest, the game world actualy changes.
Emotions seem to be the knew holy grail of video games and I will say this about Fable2 it really sucks you in and the choices you make do have some gravity. Also Fable2 fully passes the wife test as my wife is hogging my Xbox to play dammit!
Google Chrome!
Started messing around with Google Chrome, seems like a good idea so far, the biggest and coolest feature seems to be the address bar doubles as a search engine, performance seems a bit slow, and REALLY REALLY needs mouse gestures like at launch!!
Joker Confirmed - DV VS MK
He's finally been confirmed!! I don't really give a damn about anyone else but being able to use Joker and laying the smack down on Batman and other super heros, apparently as DC villans are villans they will have fatalities. Hrmmm so will Joker be able to perform the killing joke and slaughter Superman?? I wonder how that will be explained in the DC universe ?
Super Mario Galaxy - a late review
If you belong
to a certain age group, namely the aging gamer group, you'll most likely have
some sort of affinity towards Super Mario or Sonic the Hedgehog.
But lets face it, now a days, neither of these guys really appeal to the
hardcore gamers. Sure they are gaming icons that looks good on T-shirts
but outside of children and loyal fan boys most people would rather be in the
boots of Marcus Phoenix or Niko Bellic.
Razor sharp controls, creative level design, and something new is all you ever
need for a platform game to be successful. Throw in a camera that isn't
broken, and you the formula for a near perfect platform game.
Controls in SMG are simple, literally "child's play". The basic
Mario controls break down to this; the analog stick moves Mario, and the A
button controls Mario's jump. Thats pretty much always been the
formula. The new to SMG controls throw in the obligatory Wii waggle
gesture (in this case the Mario bitch slap that could have easily been mapped
to any button). And the strangely addictive FPS/light gun star bits
hunting and shooting game. Basically your cursor is constantly hunting around
the screen to collect star bits and should you see fit, use these star bits as
ammo to shoot at enemies. Why does this control scheme work? Well
it has more to do with the game design but basically given our youtube like
attention spans, we're having to platform while multi-tasking a reflex based
game of photo hunt that requires FPS like skills.
The mind boggling gravity and physics found on each level design, (or in this
case I should perhaps say planet design) really gives this game a sens of
'something new'.
This isn't a super deep game with an amazing science fiction plot line, its a
game that tests the reflexes, a game that you will pick up and put down over
the course of a year, its a game that you'll play when you've beaten your epic
story games, its a game you will play when you get off work and your brain is
too fried to think, its a game you should own.
Giant Bomb Launch!
I'm not usually THAT excited about new websites launching but Giant Bomb run by a bunch Jeff Gerstmann and a few other ex-gamespot staff who left after the whole Kane and Lynch fiasco. I've read gamespot for nearly 10 years and they were definitely my go to reviewers for games. Not sure how I feel about the wiki style content generation but there is a bunch of interesting game data on there so it will be interesting to see what kinda fun facts the borg mind of Giant Bomb turns up, hopefully the main few editors content will remain the same high quality and they start getting those early copies of games to review. I've already grabbed both the usernames I want, one strangely enough being shoulderbutton. Good Luck Giant Bomb
Wii Sword Play - Kotaku Impressions
Came across this here at Kotaku. E-I-C Brian Crencente seems to have some fencing experience, perhaps in Uni or highschool or something and his first impressions with Wii Sword Play is that its incredible sensitive and picked up on several nuances of motion control. If great reviews like this keep coming out I'm definately picking up Wii Motion Plus and Wii Sports Resort on launch!
Wii Motion Plus - Mixed reviews
Came across 2 hardware previews here at Gizmodo and here at Engadget. It seems the over arching feeling with Wii motion plus is, ummm isn't this the way Wii was originally advertised? BUT if you really think about it, they've always said gestures, and if you think back to your first bunch of wii experiences you probably still had fun, if not bored very quickly. The other thing is that Nintendo like Apple tends to hook us on concepts, then gimp us on hardware, both these companies essentially are hardware companies that keep making incremental improvements to a platform that we all feel compelled to purchase. Looking at the original NES you can see how many different pads and controllers came out and you realize, this is just the Nintendo way.
Hacked - 2GD flash drive
Came across this here at OhGizmo. This is really damn cool, if you've ever wanted to look like a thief that ran away with someone else's notebook computer, this is the flash drive for you!
Millinium Falcon birthday cake
Came across this here at Gizmodo, this is really cool
iPhone as a gaming console?
Came across this here at Gizmodo, apparently the iPhone is more powerful than a NDS, and comparable to the PSP, however there is no decent control input, no D pad, no buttons, no shoulderbuttons.
If you've played the emulators on the iPhone installer then you would know, iPhone touch screen only games just don't control properly. Maybe they need to use tilt to control for motion and 1 or 2 buttons on screen, but unless there is some clip on control pad, iPhone isn't that viable as a gaming console.
Bushido Blade Wii - That would be an awesome idea
Was listening to the Giantbomb podcast and Jeff predicted a game that I would love and I can't believe that I didn't think of immediately, BUSHIDO BLADE for WII. The number of hours I played that game with a group of friends is almost ridiculous. But I don't think the blood and gore would get past Nintendo, or maybe we'd be forced to use Mii's and lop off Mii heads! GO WII MOTION PLUS!
Wii Motion Plus - Wish list
Even though the Wii Motion Plus was announced in a press release prior to e3, I find myself drawn to it more and more. Perhaps its the total lack of new content announced this year at e3 but after seeing it demoed in the Nintendo Press Conference it looks REAL strong but knowing Nintendo they're going to pull out some dick shit after this thing is released here are my predictions and my hopes:
Predictions
1) Original Wii controller will eventually be phased out to incorporate the technology inside the add on.
2) Nunchuck which is now rather gimpy will get a version 2.0, unless the Wii motion plus somehow effects the nunchuck as well. The Nunchuck 2.0 probably get announced at next e3 along with complete controller redesign mentioned in 1 which will extend the by then ancient hardware of the Wii's lifespan even further.
3) Fully upgraded Wii controller inclusive of Wii Motion Plus and Nunchuck 2.0 will be compatible with next Nintendo system.
Hopes
1) Battery life doesn't suck
2) Generates more 3rd party games that are worth playing despite Wii's appalling graphics
3) I win the lottery and just have more damn time to play the machine.
Nintendo Press Confrence! Live ish blogging
9:00am-HRmm kinda sick of the stupid montage of people playing Nintendo products again. WOAH Reggie isn't starting the Nintendo Conference!
9:10 am - Shaun White Snowboarding - hrmm the balance board gameplay actually looks really tight and responsive, this game might actually be ok. But this Shaun White must be REALLLY stoned, eyes are blitzed and he keeps giggling during his whole presentation.
9:15 am -Iwata Speech...Paradigm shift.... boring stuff he's said before.
9:23 am -Animal Crossing, my god my wife is going to hog the TV from now on.
9:26 am -Wii Speak...room confrence? No more headsets subtle but good idea.
9:28 am- REGGIE!!!! but he's started off REALLY boring with boring stats
9:35 am-Upcoming Wii games only 3?? Clone Wars, Rayman Raving Rabbids TV and Call of Duty World at War - CoOp mode????
9:40am NDS games - Guitar Hero on Tour Decade and Spore on NDS
9:43am - GTA Chinatown Wars, hrmm wonder what this gameplay will be like! Thats gotta be a first for Nintendo!
9:47am - Wii Motion Plus, hrmm Wii Sport Resort WOAAAAAAHHH Sword Fencing looks AWESOME!! Can you say STAR WARS LIGHT SABER!!
9:56am - Wii Music, i wonder how sensitive those drum controls really are, might be way better with Wii motion control. But the air drumming looks quite nuts. Hrmm this is definitely a game for children to play 'Make Belief', in a way Nintendo is butchering children innocence and forcing a set experience on kids haha.
What I'm most curious about is will Wii Motion Plus work to improve old games, if it does then it will make every old FPS game a lot better. It seems to work with the Nunchuck but does it actually improve the Nunchuck's sensing abilities??? Wii Speak I'm not impressed but Wii Motion Plus looks really interesting.
Autumn update for XBOX
HRmmmm... the new interface looks like a jazzed up Cross Media Bar with an Apple sensibility to design, notice the reflection of the giant icons ala Apple.
The new Live Party looks like a simple and faster version of PS Home/Facebook. I guess I could see lots of people logging in to see what friends are online. Live Party seems to have beaten PS Home to the punch, you get your social networking sharing of photos, eventually and inevitably youtube links, and even can watch DVD's from netflicks together which is pretty awesome for people in the US, but doesn't mean squat to the rest of us outside of the US. All in all pretty impressive and unless Sony pushes home forward they'll be first to market. That avatars look really good, even tho they scream Mii TOO, I have to admit after initial skepticism I could see the Avatars being a nice bonus to the live experience.
I never really thought much about the way the 'blades' look, I just loaded up the games, but the whole new look is pretty cool, the big question for me now is how much of the implemented service will the rest of world see.
I could hear the collective screams of agony of Playstation fanboys around the world as FF XIII was announced for Xbox. I think they're both great systems and think to be honest just pick the system you like the first party games for.
Gamespot crashes during e3
Not one of my favourite sites ever since the whole Gerstmann thing, but seems they couldn't handle there own traffic, looks like i'll be watching e3 MS press con on IGN
Portal Still Alive
YEAAAAAHHHH!!! It would seem that Portal:Still Alive? is coming to XBL sometime in 2008!!
Wii Motion Plus
Came across this here at Kotaku. Seems that Nintendo is making a slight improvement to our Wii controllers, the Wii Motion Plus is going to somehow enhance the sensitivity of our Wii remotes. Could this be the add that makes all the 3rd party dev's jump on the Wii band wagon, if the controls can feel as sensitive as what we would imagine the gloves from 'Minority Report' to be then maybe the hardcore games will come, maybe that was the plan from day one, Wii control for the old folk and mom's the hyper sensitive Wii motion plus for hardcore gamers to get REAL control!
E3 - The calm before the storm
Its the night before e3, this has got to be every gamers favorite time of year. All the big news comes bursting out of e3. I remember when stocks went crazy for Nintendo after the Wii officially got named!
Its always a time of the year where everyone is excited for the news, but the funny thing is there is always a game drought in terms of actual releases. I've just finished GTAIV and feeling a bit empty now, guess I'll be looking forwards to Gears of War in Nov.
Flee - flying digital cameras!
I came across this here at OhGizmo. Not solid details on technical specs beyond that its bluetooth enabled, but I could see this camera being the next lomo type photo craze, OR what little boys in Japan buy to throw over the open air saunas to invade the privacy of bathing Japanese woman.
Dinner party napkins
Came across this here at Apartmenttherapy and found it mildly amusing. I guess you would find these funny the first time around or as a 1 off if you brought your own napkin to a party.
Dead Space - Box Art
Came across this here at Joystiq. This is a REALLY cool box art, don't think I've ever seen anything so abstractly cool for box art. As I've gotten older (and being from HK) and stopped buying pirated games and movies, I've come to appreciate more and more good box art as you normally have mountains of these DVD size boxes lying around as ornaments. So a cover that doesn't just come across as a typical Hollywood popcorn movie poster is a true winner, this sorta box art makes me really want to find out what this game is about, then again I've got high hopes for Dead Space anyways!
Nike McFly 2015
Came across this here at engadget. Taken the the 'Back to the Future 2'. It won't have all the fancy gadgetry but at least they will look kinda cool. Problem is I'm not sure how much of the sneaker wearing population still really knows or cares much for Back to the Future.
DIABLO III - I'm SO HAPPY!!!
Blizzard is finally going back to the cash cow and the biggest waste of my university life DIABLO!!! Read the FAQ, no release date, no system requirements out yet, but my guess is it will be VERY similar to the Starcraft 2 system requirements and is probably running on the same engine. So far they've showed off the Barb and a new Witch Doctor, I'm just waiting to see if the Assassin comes back. No more Guildwars, no more WoW, my true addiction has returned.
Super Mario Decals!!!
I came across this here at Kotaku. I'm such a sucker for this stuff, I've already got Space Invader decals at my home, I wonder if I can find room to put this in my hallway!
Liberty City vs New York
Can't remember where exactly I came across this Flickr gallery but if you've got yourself a copy of GTA IV then its interesting to see these side by side shots vs New York. Check it out here
Nalgene Latern Cap - cool beans!
Came across this here at OhGizmo. This one is definately for the campers, the cap basically soaks up energy then when you want it to lights up your Nalgene bottle like a low powered lamp. I guess if your carrying around anything but water the effects are a bit different!
XPS - PC's done and dusted?
I came across this here at engadget. It seems that XPS is only well known for its performance notebooks and that dell will be dropping 4 of its perfomance PC's and just focusing on the Alienware branding. I guess the world really is going the way of the notebook.
Thunder - striking down iPhone?
I came across this here at engadget. Looks a bit too much like the iPhone, but without going into the details of whats under the hood, this might just be the only phone that could beat the iPhone!
Ironman - WATCH THIS MOVIE
I actually caught this on opening night in HK last week, which happens to have been shown a few days before the rest of the world due to some funky long weekend holiday action. I really enjoyed this, and its definately a summer popcorn flick. Funny in places, cool in others and most importantly it passes the all important girlfriend test. Strangely the girls we went to the movie with were raving about the movie more than the boys!
Speakers in everything - stupid
Came across this here at Gizmodo. This seems really stupid and I can't see speakers being good, or resting comfortably in your hoodie ever!
GTAIV - first impressions
So its out, even in Hong Kong! The first thing I have to say is, well its more GTA, I've only played about 2-3 hours so I haven't gotten to the portion of the game where the "real" story starts to pick up. The new mechanics that have been placed into the game thus far seem to work, driving is still a bit off especially if you've played through Burnout Paradise recently.
But my early impression is this, its more GTA, if you're are addicted to Rockstar story telling and don't mind running playing a bunch of 3rd person mini games in between said cut scenes this is definitely the game for you. Having said that I've yet to jump online and try the multiplayer aspect.
In the end if you like GTA you'll like IV if you never did, this isn't some revolutionary version, don't buy into the hype, this is just the most refined version of GTA. Think of drinking an expensive wine, for some people its a waste, for others its worth half your wages for 1 glass.
PSP Waterproof Bag - simple but good idea
I came across this here at Gizmodo. This is an awesome idea any sort of wet environment like the beach or long romantic bubble baths watching porn on your psp, brilliant! I think might start enjoying baths again.
Snes controller for Wii - The first SHOULDERBUTTON
Came across this here at Kotaku. ITS THE ORIGINAL SNES CONTROLLER FOR WII!!! Awesomeness!!! and SHOULDER BUTTONS!!
Splatterhouse - more gaming revivials
EGM and 1UP have the exclusive dibs on this story. Seems that the world's first Horror Survival (even though it was an arcade game) is being revived. Seems more and more that 2008 is going to be the gaming year of revivals, heck they even have a retro SNES controller for the Wii that looks exactly the same!! The original SHOULDER BUTTON controller!
Twisty UI - everyone is aiming for iPhone
Came across this here at OhGizmo. Seems MS is developing a twisting UI for portable devices, you can squeeze and twist the machine to pull up different required functions. If they manage to lock it down into some new version of Windows Mobile and it becomes a platform, everyone is going to love MS again.
Picture Frame Speakers - good idea but...
Came across this here at OhGizmo. More and more in todays world we neglect actual photos. We all seem to love having screen savers with photos but less and less do we actually have real photos. This set of speakers probably provides really tin quality sound, but its still a good idea. Getting some real photos back onto our precious desktop space!
Kohler Karbon Articulating Kitchen Faucet - Long Name!
Came across this here at Yanko Design. This is another one of those useless and probably really expensive design products that it would be awesome to have in your home, but completely unnecessary. Made from carbon fiber and with joints that allow this Faucet to twist into any required position (sounds kinda kinky) its basically the ultimate faucet to help wash your dishes.
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