MrLuigi.com

So the PSN is not playing “catch up” with XBL anymore? That to me is just fine and dandy. The more consoles out there pushing new features will only make my experience in the long run that sweeter.

I can say that sony does understand the user base a little better then microsoft. Just look at the ps3. Sony allows the user to surf the web, install an OS and let’s the user go down to the local computer store and put their own hard drive into thr console instead of having to pay 3 times the drives worth just to have it say Microsoft on it.

However for some reason I like to keep my 360 in gold tier of online though I don’t play online often. Definatly not enough to warrant the current price for 12 months.

But now with the praise I give sony about knowing the customer when it comes to features the console owner may want they still have no clue about pricing thier machine. Sony still doesn’t think and is actually getting mad about the price drop idea.

Well guess what Sony I won’t be buying your console until its at least $100 cheaper and you have more games that don’t run on the 360 as well. And for good measure some cool features to go with @home.

Sony listen to the userbase and put the console at a lower price, people do want the box but not enough to buy it for 3 games and blu ray.

Blu ray is useless unless on a nice large tv. Its slow to read and has sold less then HDDvD.

Once you give me some god of wars or heavy rains with a price cut come see me.

Console 360, PS3, Xbox

The interview where I am getting this from can be found here.

Joystiq pointed out a specific block in the article

“We set out to keep a few core fundamentals but to re-imagine everything else, discarding some very well entrenched ideas not only about the brand but also about videogames in general,” Mattes said. “What surprises me is how little these high level risks seem to be noticed and appreciated as attempts to shake up the industry and push things forward.” – Ben Mattes

Now I just finished this game the night before last. And I took full advantage of the changes to the game. First things first, the lead characters costume is horrible so I switched it to the Assassins Creed skin. Made things more enjoyable right out of the gate. I also noticed that Ubi has learned a bit from the Assassins Creed team when it comes to how the animations work of the characters with the environment. I even took as much advantage of the On Demand interactions with Elika. I liked her character a lot. Great interactions and the script was great. I am actually looking forward to the sequel.

However. I say the interactions and the actual words are great, but I don’t like the fact that the game is called Prince of Persia but the “prince” sounds more like the Prince of English Speaking America. I was actually waiting for a “Well excuse me! Princess”.

I enjoyed the art style of the game and the frame rate when using the different plates but I did not like the fact that the game feels like a giant QTE. It’s a lot of ‘press this button now’ ‘now press this button now’. I enjoyed combat, but hated that was forced into button mashing the X button whenever I got close to a wall, ledge or when a boss was doing a flailing attack.

But I am still trying to think of these new risks that is said to have been taken.

Elika worked similar to many side kicks in other games as a helping mechanism for the platforming mechanics. Sure she rescued you when you are about to die but that is no different in my head then the reverse time mechanic in Prince of Persia Sands of Time.

The game was large but there was not enough enemies to fight, in fact I received the achievement for killing the enemies before they completely spawned in my first 10 encounters with this spawning corruption enemies.

Boss battles have some really cool aspects to them, but is more or less the same as killing the normal enemies a basic dodge, gauntlet, magic/other move rinse and repeat. I just felt like there was something missing.

As for the “magic seeds” AKA the stupid orbs from Crackdown need to go. At least in Crackdown they gave me, the player something to benefit from. The fact that I need to collect 540ish of these damned seeds to beat the game is absurd, not to mention the fact there is 1001 of these damned things purely for the achievement hunters out there.

Now I have sat here and basically ripped into this game. But I do not dislike this game. In fact if I had the money I would probably buy it. But for now it’s a rental. The story is great, the characters are great and the post final boss fight stuff is pretty awesome. I really can’t wait for the sequel and I hope that Ubi learns from the mistakes of this game and makes it better.

My free piece of advice. No more hidden QTE’s. Give us the mechanics to do whatever the QTE does on our own in the end the player base will be happier.

Also give me more people to fight.

Console 360, PC Gaming, Producer Talk

 
Finally after all these years the game I have been waiting for has arrived.  Though it is not the game I was anticipating for the last decade but beggars can’t be choosers.

Now let’s get started.  The IP is now held by Bethesda.  Great company that makes great games.  Though not always a fan of their choices.  But I can appreciate what they do. 

Fallout 3 takes place 36 years after Fallout 2; 200 years after the nuclear war.  This time it is a different vault. Vault 101.  Interesting people in the vault and this game isn’t all about getting your hands on a G.E.C.K.  Play Fallout 3 to learn the secrets behind it.

I had a chance to play this game about a month ago at length and really enjoyed it.  I am not as far as then now in the game but again now that it is in my hands to play with I can take my time and explore the vast landscape of blown up objects.  Similar to Oblivion the population of the outside world is sparse, but expected in a post apocalyptic setting.

Now I was a little concerned with the change to a FPS style games for Fallout.  Being that the game I loved 10 years ago could never be replicated in the same fashion and be a viable money resource for any company I understood what Bethesda was doing by changing the game to its current format. 

The graphics are outstanding.  I have played it on my PC and the 360 and at this point I can say it might be time for an upgrade of my GPU.  More on the graphics.  It isn’t the most beautiful game I have ever seen but it is a lot nicer to look at then most.  The 3rd person cam feels like it was tacked on so the player could see their character every once in a while.  I personally don’t see a use for the 3rd person cam. The explosions, blood splatter and other particle effects suit the gritty feel of the game.

Lucky for all you old Fallout fans they are still using the same old stats and traits systems from back in the day.

Now with all this praise I had to throw in something a little negative about the game as well.  As someone who tests games for a living, I understand the factors that plague testing the game.  Now that said I still do not know how the game shipped with this many NPC issues.  I have noticed across the internet that people are complaining about NPCs disappearing. I generally am someone that finds a bypass for these issues.  But I was not so lucky.  I was 6 hours of game play in and I had to delete my game as my NPCs that I need to progress were no longer in the game.  To reinforce this issue, I was able to enter a room that I didn’t have the lock picking skill for and the door was locked.  On load of the room the game auto saved and what did I see?  A robot that one shot me.  Because I didn’t save manually since level 2 I was stuck in a death loop.  Pretty sweet.  It actually reminded me of some older games.  But I can forgive these issues as the game is still amazing.  Plus it wouldn’t be a Fallout game if you didn’t have to restart your game play 3 or 4 times.

All in all, I think everyone should give this game a shot.  Now not everyone will enjoy their time in this game.  As Fallout has always been a game to punish its players.  It is also not a FPS in the sense of Halo or GoW and it is not a JRPG as people were complaining on xbox.com forums. This game is a mean games, that looks great, has more replay ability then Fable 2 (in my eyes). Please if you are into post apocalyptic settings and want to play a game that I would call a tribute sequel that modernized the original IP then check out this game.  If anything it is worth the $5-10 to rent, and if you like it pick it up.

Plus at the end of the day every gamer should know what a Pip-Boy is

Console 360, Console, PC Gaming

I was going to write something about Fable 2, WAR and WoW in the middle of the week but I have been busy with Fable 2.  But first with WAR and WoW.

On the WarCraft front, I have been enjoying the Halloween event they are doing. I do not like their achievement set up for this event.  One of the achievements require 20 masks, where you have a certain percentage of getting these makes and you can get multiples of the same one.  This has made getting this title through the achievement process next to impossible. Hence having all the achievements but the masks done on the first day of the event.

WarHammer: Age of Reckoning.  I do really enjoy the game.  Well aspects of it really.  I played the game for almost a year before the game was released and then in the last few months before it was released I worked on the Prima guide for it.  But falling into the hype, that I knew was flawed I decided to pick up the game.  I do like levelling purely from PVP but if I wanted that I could just play Guild Wars. WarHammer was put on hiatus when the new content patch for WoW was released.  Maybe I will pick it up again soon.  But with the impending release of Wrath of the Lich King and the fact that it is now officially big video game release time I don’t know if I will get back to it until the new year.

Fable 2.  One of the biggest hyped titles to ever be created.  The biggest and best single player RPG ever.  As hyped by it’s lead designer.  None the less the game is great.  I am enjoying this bug riddled adventure game quite a lot.  To the point where I just finished the game last night, and only have 7 achievements left.  One of those achievements I will have to do another play through or hope that one of my friends are late to the party and invite me to do multi player when they do this specific task.  There is also the completionist achievement.  This is where you need to collect 50 keys, shoot 50 gargoyles, collect all the expressions for you and your dog, and skill up every skill.  This is probably the most time consuming achievement that I have ever started partaking in.  I generally don’t try for anything that will involve me playing past the end of the game.  Luckily for for me, I have 40 of the keys and 40 of the gargoyle and only need one expression for myself and my dog then that is done and then I will be easily on my way to 1000/1000 for this game.

I am not going to gripe about Fable 2 as there are many other places that are doing that on the internet.  I personally like the product that I bought and only hope that I am done with the product come Tuesday when Fallout 3 arrives on shelves.  Hopefully there aren’t as many bugs.

Oh yeah, one of the best achievements ever!

Games, MMOs 360, Console, Fable 2, WAR, WoW

Well it has been a long time since the last time I really posted on here.  Life has been busy. Crunch mode happening at work is now coming to an end, summer is slowly creeping up on us and there has been a few games to come out in the last while to keep people busy.

Since Christmas I have been playing a few games, AoC, GTA, WoW, the odd game of NHL and a couple different games in the beta phase.  Lets just say the first two weeks GTA came out I didn’t do much other then play that.

So lets start off with a quick review of Grand Theft Auto.  This is the first version of this franchise that I bought on console.  I have never liked playing the game on console in the past.  Could be something to do with the obscene load times on the PS2.  Or because when the PS2 was the big thing I really believed that anything on console will be and will control better on PC with mouse and keyboard.  Needless to say this new chapter in the GTA life has changed my mind on that. 

So I entered Liberty city as Niko, an ex merc for hire out of the Russia area of the world.  I first assumed he was Chechen.  He did not say anything through out the game to say otherwise.  But I am probably wrong.

The intro cut scene was a little slow, but it did something I wasn’t expecting from GTA.  It was a very movie like artistic intro that went straight into gameplay.  I was pretty stoked.  I probably put a good 6 hours into the game before I stood back up.  I quite like the GTA games in general but this one was different.  I found myself not running random people over, and was avoiding being chased by the police.  I didn’t find myself a weapon and instantly start killing people.  In retrospect I do not believe I even ran a red light if a cop was sitting at the lights. 

The game is full of amazing voice talent, I am happy to report I got my dose of Laslo and of course the rest of the talk radio stations.  What really amazed me though was the fact that if you failed a mission, if the person sitting in your car, or calling you on your cell phone when you are on your second attempt will have a different line of dialogue.  I personally did not mind having to start the missions all the way back at the beginning even if I had to drive over the 3 islands purely because of that.  This game blew my mind.

After completing the single player campaign that is when I jumped into the bulk of multiplayer.  I couldn’t ask for more from Rockstar on multiplayer features for a game like GTA.  They did an outstanding job.  Especially on GTA Race, that mode is fantastic.  If you know you are going to lose, just hop out of your car and get a rocket and wait for the first place car.  You get him and you will piss someone off fierce and its great. 

Now onto Age of Conan. 

I have been waiting for this game for a long time.  Since it was announced actually.  However I did not want to sully my experience by going into the beta before the game was released.  I was perfectly happy to be a complete noob the day the game came out.  Now I am usually someone who will go to whatever server my friends are on, but this game is different.  So the day the game came out while I was at work, I did a quick search on the forums for the list of guilds that are already known to be part of the server Deathwhisper.  Low and behold, there are tons of guilds I recognize either from Ultima Online, Shadowbane, and even WoW.  I had to apply to join an old UO guild that I remember fighting against back on Great Lakes.  So I joined up with Gods Wrath Clan.  Guilds been around forever.

I have been having a blast playing this game, but just like Vanguard this game was released before it was ready.  But this one I will be playing through out the bumpy start unlike what I did with Vanguard.  This client is utter rubbish and the amount of lag really gets to me when I am in the Villas.  But at the end of the day it is a decent game, and has a lot of potential.  That is if they don’t give into the complainers who joined a FREE FOR ALL PPV server.  I actually cannot fathom why so many people are complaining about being killed randomly when they are running around Pontain. The place is one of the starting areas for resource skill training.  Tonight I just trained my gathering skills, and I probably killed about 14 different people.  They were standing at a full node of silver, copper, cotton; didn’t really matter.  I was training they got in my way.  I killed them.  It was that simple.  The great part about it is only one shit talked me after the fact.

Like I have been saying, I have been having a lot of fun with this game.  However they have about two months to fix some of these massive issues in the client and in the game or I can see more then just a mass exodus happening and it will leave Funcom scratching their head.

More posts about AoC to come in the future.

Games, MMOs, Other 360, GTA, MMOs, PC Gaming

This morning I woke up a little earlier then normal (about 4 hours), and the WoW servers were down for maintenance. So I decided I would hop on my 360 and play some NHL. I promptly got frustrated being that I had recently got out of bed. So I switched gears and decided to check out a couple demos that are up for download.

Being that I have been a fan of racing games for some time. I think mainly due to the fact that I don’t drive in real life, and this uncanny ability to win against friends in most racing games. To put it plainly I just like to go fast.

So there are the demos, I tried out Need For Speed: Pro Street and Burnout: Paradise City. These are two of the more popular racing franchises out there.

These games are stunning. They look amazing. Great eye for detail on these art teams. But I really think someone messed up somewhere.

Need for Speed does not feel like a Need for Speed game. In fact it feels like Forza 1 with less in it. Better graphics, but less to it. Maybe I should rent the full game to give my opinion on this game but this demo definitely didn’t sell me. I really wanted it to sell me, as this is the first NFS title that I haven’t bought purely on name since before NFS Underground. But when I think of need for speed I now think of cheap tuner cars, with a bunch of different customizations and gimmicky characters. Not Forza.

As for Burnout, it really reminds me of Need for Speed. But doesn’t have the aspects of Need for Speed that I am looking for in a NFS game. Burnout however does nothing to entice me. This time around they seemed to go for a racing game similar to NFS MW. Why would they do that? Burnout is the definition of arcade racer/crash em up games. Did they not want to compete with Flatout or something? Because I can tell you Burnout is definitely the better game out of the two.

Anyways, that’s about it for now, but I just needed to share the frustrations I had this morning due to the change in format for two of the best racing IPs on the market.

Uncategorized 360, Console

Yesterday after work I picked up Assassin’s Creed and Call of Duty 4 for the 360. There was a deal at best buy where I could get both for only $90 plus tax. I really only wanted Assassin’s Creed but a deal like that I couldn’t turn down.

So I got home lastnight and started playing Assassin’s Creed and I have to say it is my personal “Game of the Year”. No it is not a 10/10 and some reviewers seem to have issues with it. Mainly that it’s made by Ubisoft Montreal and it reminds one of them of Prince of Persia 2. Meh. If that is all the bad things you can say about it, it means it is a great game.

Anyways I am 8 hours in and loving every minute of it.

More to come as I progress through this lovely game… well until Mass Effect comes out next tuesday.

Uncategorized 360

Halo 3 has broken the all time record for single day sales in any medium of consumer goods. I honestly have to say it doesn’t interest me at all. Got to give Microsoft kudos though, they have an amazing marketing department. Between the teaser videos, bundling the beta with Crackdown, the episode of Future Weapons and the Mountain Dew Gamer Juice people have really bought into this game with a fanaticism that boggles my mind. It just might have to do with the whole most console gamers first real experience with a online FPS is Halo. But enough of my “evil” thoughts about Halo.

Let us talk about what has come out and is keeping me away from other mediums of entertainment.

This past Monday was the first episode of Heroes season 2. I feel that I am going to be excited about this season as much as the last. But we will see where the show is at by Christmas. That is the true test of a second season. If it feels slow at Christmas then the season can be ruined. Gotta say though, I like the Peter not knowing a damned thing aspect.

Then Tuesday I got into two shows, one was Reaper. Kevin Smiths new show. I have to say I am impressed. I have been a fan of Tyler Labine for years. Since Breaker High actually. He has always amused me. The whole “Supernatural” mixed with Kevin Smith type humor is great. It actually made me laugh multiple times and that doesn’t usually happen when it comes to TV shows.

And then there was the second episode of the season of Beauty and the Geek. One of my guilty pleasures. I don’t know what they are doing this season but I can say I will be done with this season before it really takes off. These “beauties” are no good this year. Last years was a good mix of dumb, smart and hot. This year its just ignorance and bitchiness to the point that even if these women were on mute I would prefer a night with Ugly Betty.

Enough with the TV shows. Mind you the new Bionic Woman did air tonight. It is great. But I will not go too deep into it, other then this is “Starbucks” best role since well forever.

Now onto why I generally write on here. The games. I have a few that have been keeping me busy. As everyone knows from a couple posts in the last couple weeks, Team Fortress 2 has come out as part of the Orange Box if you pre order from Steam. It’s cheap you get multiple games and you get to start playing TF2 now if you pre order.

On top of that I have been playing skate. by EA for the xbox 360 quite a bit. I believe I am at the last part of the “story”. I am currently at the X-Games so I stopped playing until I can enjoy that game mode. Which will be this weekend while I attempt to quit smoking, so wish me luck! But anyways getting the 4 sponsors and making videos to upload to the skate.Reel on the skate website, I have had a lot of fun with this game. I guess the main reason is that its more of a sim with some arcade like aspects but no where near Tony Hawk. Similar to Amped snowboarding (the first one) vs Cool Boarder or SSX.

Then there is NHL 08. It’s really scary but awesome to see a hockey game getting such a great review from the reviewers. It’s actually the first time a NHL title has an average above 75/100 in a very VERY long time. The AI is awesome, the physics on the puck is awesome. The new create a play feature allows me to make the ‘Flying V’ and actually have it work if you do it at the write time. Great time playing this one. I even think this is the perfect time if you have always stayed away from hockey games, this one would be a great learning game.

Anyone with NHL 07 or 08 on 360, skate on 360 or Team Fortress 2 and want to play, you can add me on either xbox or steam with the IDs MrLuigi.

-Tom

Games, Other 360, Crackdown, Halo, Heroes, NHL, Real Life, Reaper, skate., Steam, TF2, Valve

Well it is being reported by numerous sites that Tom Morello will be one of the guitar bosses in Activisions upcoming and first attempt at the Guitar Hero franchise. Guitar Hero 3. Now being one of those people who grew up to Rage Against the Machine this becomes music to my ears. I am stoked for this game.

Those of you did not know, Tom Morello has started a side project and has been working on it for a while now. I recommend everyone check out his acoustic stuff as it is awesome. You can find his stuff over at www.nightwatchmanmusic.com. Click and enjoy.

Uncategorized 360, Music, Music Games, PS3

Well today was the start of the XBox 360 price drop. I can’t say that I am surprised. With the amount of complaints about the nasty Red Ring of Death and scratched disk problems. Microsoft can’t do anything but try to sell as many units as possible. Sure the tech is finally cheaper to make, but there has to be other reasons behind it. But I won’t go into those reasons right now.

All I can say is if anyone is in need new console come this winter I would really REALLY recommend this console. There are some great games coming out. Mass Effect alone is going to be worth the purchase.

You will be able to buy each console right now at your local retailer. Not all have updated their prices yet, but the prices will soon reflect as follows (in USD):

$449 for the Elite.
$349 for the Pro.
$279 for the Core.

I do recommend you not buy the core. It doesn’t come with anything you need. But the Pro or the Elite would definitely be worth it.

Uncategorized 360