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Welcome to the next step!!

When it comes to terms used in video games, or to describe them, everyone has a different opinion on what they mean. For those of you that may not have known, I am currently going to college at ITT Technical Institute for Digital Entertainment and Game Design. In a nutshell, it means I want to become a video game designer. The problem is, what we are being taught, and what we have always thought have been the definition of terms used in the industry, tend to clash with each other greatly. Take the following examples for instance, and tell me what you think of these.

Our latest assignment we were given involved creating an interface design for a fake squad-based tactical game called “Chain of Command“. Of course it isn’t that simple, there are many stipulations to it. You play as the squad leader, giving commands to three other commandos under your control. You are a player in this game, so you still have control over yourself. You play in a third-person viewpoint, and most of the combat is fought in outdoor environments.

The target audience for this game is 18-34 year olds, who are into a casual-gaming experience. Here’s where my first argument came into play. What is the difference between casual and hardcore, if we’re going to get into using these terms? In society, most people who think “casual” when it comes to video games think of people who enjoy playing something like the Nintendo Wii, or being able to pick up a game and play it without having too much trouble. That definition is actually close, looking back, but it’s wrong. When I think of a shooter game at all, though, the last thing I think of is a “casual” audience. Yet, supposedly my teacher tells me that more and more casual game players have been picking up shooter games since September 11th, because it makes them feel like they’re in the action and helping. I don’t believe a word of that, because I haven’t heard one person say that that is the reason why they would play a shooter game, if anything, I’ve heard people be more against shooters since that day. In the end, I was explained that a casual game player is someone who is able to pick up a game, learn the controls quickly, and be able to play for a short amount of time without being tied down by it. Once again, I bring up my point that I don’t agree that any shooter game, especially one with squad tactics, can be considered “casual”, but I was forced to do this assignment with that mindset.

In this game, you need to have the choice of which squad member you want to select, individually, or as a group. You also need to be able to designate a waypoint for your units, and finally, be able to issue an order movement. The three order movements are Check Position, which makes your team approach the target cautiously; Double-Time, which makes your team move to the target in the fastest speed possible; and Patrol, which makes your team follow the series of waypoints that you’ve previously set down. Using all of this, you are to create a button combination that would be best for a casual game player.

Now, just to argue semantics, for fun, I would never have an order in a game called “Double-Time”. Unless you’re making a military-specific hardcore game, where the people who play know exactly what that order means, you will never use an order like that. And the military-specific games have never been huge popular sellers anyways.

The main problem with this is that you can’t just map one button to be exactly one thing. You still need to be able to move your own character properly, and have actions for them, as well as being able to issue commands to your squad, meaning that you will have some buttons that will actually have multiple functions. The line between “casual” and “hardcore” I felt was tread very hard in this aspect, because the way we were taught, we were made to believe that having a player press multiple buttons at once was too much for a simple game to have, yet in this example, we were requiring the player to remember that one button would actually have two different actions depending on the situation that it was used in. Also, I can’t remember the last squad based shooter that I’ve played where you’ve actually been able to just control one or two of your squad mates, without being forced to move them all to the position that you designate.

My issue with all of this is simple. I feel that the curriculum is either old, and doesn’t make sense in today’s modern game-creation norm; or it is just made by someone who makes a book, and doesn’t know anything about the industry itself anymore, nullifying my interest in learning something that doesn’t actually have any hold in the industry now. Yet, our teacher has been in the industry, and claims that most of this is true, and that game companies actually will use such an idea for a game. I argue that greatly, because I can’t remember the last time I’ve ever seen a game use any of these kinds of tactics recently. Unfortunately, I’m just here to learn what they are teaching me, and therefore I need to abide by their rules. Anyways, enough of my rambling. What is your opinion on this assignment, and the terms and wording used?

By the way, here is the control interface that I came up with in the end:

Click for larger image.

The night is dark, and the cold is chilling to the bone. Grabbing my briefcase, laptop bag, and runners bag, I quickly run into the house into it’s warm safety. Trying to be quiet since the family is asleep, I quietly walk upstairs to my bedroom, where I then flop on my bed. It had been a long school day, filled with boredom, and a little bit of homework, which created a stir in me (but that will be another entry in the very near future). Laying there for a moment, I decided to get up and head over to my computer, as I did daily. Sitting down and turning on my monitor, I went to my Opera Browser to check my RSS feeds. I had a lot of them since I had been gone all day at school, and hadn’t bothered to log in to my home computer to check them. Boy was I surprised to find…

The internet just can’t be the internet unless someone wants to ruin something for other people. MacRumors was the target this time, as some skilled hackers (or so they say, but, I have my doubts more and more as time goes on) decided to make a massacre of their Live Blog from MacWorld’s keynote. Let’s just put it this way, they said some pretty rough things in it. To this story, I just have to shake my head.

Source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10132749-2.html

The story that I found to be shocking, though, is the fact that 1UP.com was acquired by UGO Entertainment on January 6, 2008. Most people will just shake their heads and go, “So what? It’s just a video game journalism site. This happens all the time.” That may be true, but when a lot of great journalists are now out of a job because the new parent company doesn’t want to keep them, then things start to go wrong. Many of 1UP’s show producers were in the midst of those layoffs, basically terminating any future episodes of their famous video podcast The 1UP Show, as well as their regular podcast 1UP Yours. Not only that, but at least 30, if not at least 40 other 1UP employees have been let go after this ordeal. Beyond all this and that, though, is that the last of Ziff Davis‘ print magazines, EGM, also known as Electronic Gaming Monthly, has been completely closed down, and will no longer be printed. EGM was one of the last impartial video game review magazines on the market. It was one of the most influential video game magazines for readers for many years, and has affected many game players, including 1UP creator Sam Kennedy, to do what they do in their life now, relating to video games.

Source: http://www.ugo.com/facelift/html/static/ugo-to-acquire-1up.asp

Now let’s be honest, I read a lot about all of this from many different sites, as this has been a big uproar from the gaming community. And the problem is, this has all happened before to other sites. GameSpot is one who is not a stranger to controversy such as this, and lost many of their loyal fan base over the past year due to the unexpected and highly controversial firing of Jeff Gerstmann, which led to the quitting of mostly all of the higher end editors from their site. Based off of the comments I’ve read to news stories from both 1UP.com and UGO.com, it is obvious that members from both sides are skeptical of this acquisition. One controversial quote from UGO’s news post about the recent events is as follows, “… 1UP is all about its personalities…”. This comes after news of many of the highest end personalities from 1UP were let go. Obviously, someone needs to learn to choose their words a lot better. While this is big, I was enlightened to something that I hadn’t realized before. Most of the major video game journalism sites are now owned by major corporations, who I have a feeling have no idea anything about them, but are in it for the money, which is highly disappointing. Quoting Sam Kennedy’s Blog, creator of 1UP.com, “GameSpot is now part of CBS, IGN is owned by FOX, GameDaily is owned by AOL, and now 1UP is owned by UGO and its parent Hearst Corporation, one of the largest and long running publishers in the nation.” It’s amazing to think that all of these once small, privately owned video game journalism sites have become so big that they were bought out by these gigantic entities. I also wonder what in the world good it does for the video game site’s side of the coin.

Source: http://www.1up.com/do/blogEntry?bId=8977607&publicUserId=4561231

A little bit of a shakeup in the world of the internet has sent a lot of people spiraling around, wondering what’s next for the gaming community! Personally, I just so happen to be losing some faith in the world of video game journalism. I mean, I understand, we’ll never know if a game is good or bad unless we rely on these websites and their opinions to tell us as such, but with all of this marketing and big corporation stuff going on, I wonder how much of it is unbiased anymore. We’ll just have to keep watching to see what happens coming up here in the next year.

One thing I hate to do the most nowadays is to Blog about my life. I feel that my life and my writing are two separate entities. The biggest problem with that thought process is that when my life isn’t going quite the way that it should be, I tend to not have the drive to write as much. Writing is one of my favorite things to do, because it pushes me to do research on something I may not have much knowledge about, or has me talking about something that I DO know a lot about, and helps inform others. Sitting here unable to write a true entry, though, has me down. Let me explain, briefly.

I, as you know, enjoy video games a lot. But, I will admit right now, I haven’t played a video game since the start of 2009. Many of you may be thinking, “Hey, that’s great, you’re breaking the addiction!”. That’s exactly what I’m NOT thinking. Video games are my leisure fun activity. Everyone has them, that one is mine. To have not played any in a week is killer. Basically because it means I haven’t had much time to actually enjoy the last of my time off.

Then, yesterday, I woke up after a terrible, short night of sleep to find myself dizzy as all hell, and throwing up. So I was forced to call in sick to work. I slept 18 hours yesterday, and then woke up today ready to take on the world. I start up my truck, and find that there is a layer of ice thicker than anything I’ve ever had before on it, and my defroster isn’t working properly. Scraping it did no good whatsoever. So I, once again, had to call in to work. That’s two days in a row. If they don’t kill me the next time I work, it’ll be a miracle. Plus, I now have to bring my truck in to get it fixed, which, I will bet, will cost me a pretty penny.

There’s a saying: “People who are always upbeat have more friends. Be depressed, and you lose them all.” I heard it not more than a week ago, and I hated to hear it, because I seem to be more downbeat in my life than anything. I know that I’m paying for it, but, I see life differently than others. I see it for what it is, not what it should be. And I will always pay for that.

Give me a day or two. I have the next two days off from work, since I have school again (and I’m not sure if being off from work is exactly the best thing to happen right now). Just bear with me a little bit longer.

Happy New Year everyone! Yes yes, I did already say that, but it really is 2009 now, so don’t forget to date everything with “09″ now instead, okay? Actually, I’m posting today to try something a little new, something to get the community more involved in the Blog process. While page views of Weasel’s Weblog aren’t terrible, comments and such are lacking a bit. I would love to see a bit more from the community with my Weblog here. I feel that it has so much potential, yet is just untapped still. And so, I present to you the first Community Activity: 20 Questions!

As you know, I like video games. A lot. So if you like video games as well, post anywhere from 1 to 10 questions in the comment you leave on this entry. Out of everyone’s questions, I’ll choose 10 to answer, and post them up here on Monday, January 5, 2009. If you want an idea of some questions that are, well, OKAY to use, check out my old entry, 10 Questions, 10 Opinions, 1 Blog.

Now there are still a lot of you out there who may read this who could care less about video games. In that case, post 1 to 10 questions about anything else, and I’ll pick 10 to answer on Monday as well! They can be anything from anime, movies, music, my opinion, etc. Just pick a handful of things that interest you that you’d like me to answer, and I’ll get right on that!

Again, the deadline for this is Sunday at Midnight, obviously, so that I have time to answer them. The response Blog will be up on Monday, January 5, 2009, so check back then! I really hope this works to get some of you more involved in my Blogging process. Also, I’ve added a new page where you can submit ideas for new entries in case you want to hear a review for a certain video game, know my opinion on something, or just want to hear about something that’s going on. Please don’t hesitate to contribute, it’s just on the Blog Ideas page! Hopefully I get a handful of you to participate a little more so that I can get this up by Monday! Thanks for reading!

Before I begin, I would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and all of those other holidays which all seem to happen to fall in to this time of the year, including my 21st birthday, for those of you who were unaware. Yes, check that About Weasel page if you are curious to finally see the first picture of me on my Blog, and with my first drink no less. It’s a month of firsts, let me tell you. Oh, and 2009 will be a year of firsts as well. I’m starting work on a secret project, which you’ll be able to find information about on the Project Source page I’ve just created. And don’t forget to check out my Video Games page, which, I promise, I’ll get around to fully updating soon enough. But, without further ado, let’s get to the real meat and potatoes of this entry. Mmmm… meat and potatoes… I’m hungry, damn.

Music and rhythm games come in all shapes and sizes these days. Obviously, some of the most popular are games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band, or one of my personal favorites, Dance Dance Revolution. They can also be karaoke, SingStar and Lips being examples of those, or even more different, Elite Beat Agents and Wii Music. But a handful of more unique, non-mainstream rhythm games have been put out on the PC, the most notable now being Audiosurf. I’ve always personally been a fan of Audiosurf, and it’s available on Steam for $4.99 until the end of their sale, so I’d recommend it.

Audiosurf

Audiosurf created something new and different that captured people quickly. The premise of Audiosurf is that it takes your music, any song that you have in an MP3 format, and scans it for it’s beat and tone. Then, it creates a highway based on the pitch the music takes, and you, playing as the vehicle on this highway, are made to run over colored blocks to create combinations, depending on which mode you play in. There are many different modes, which range from the simple mode of picking up the color blocks and avoiding gray ones, to harder modes which force you to match up at least three of each color to acquire points from it. This game can be played with your keyboard, but is the most fun when played with your mouse. This game had me hooked from the beginning, because, as stated earlier, it can be used with any song you could possibly happen to have in your entire library.

There are more than just that, though, that you can find on the internet. Take for example a game that is nothing but a Flash demo still so far, yet very advanced to begin with. The game is called Auditorium, and it’s made by a company called Cipher Prime. Even by checking out their Website and their Blog, it’s easy to see that they know a thing or two about creativity. Auditorium features a completely original orchestrated soundtrack, and it is what drives the game. The idea of the game is extremely simple. The “Flow” is a stream of white lines that come from a starting point. The objective is to change the direction of those lines using “Controls”, which range from simple directions, to the most advanced control in the demo being the “Attract” control, which makes the flow wrap around in circles around it. The destination for this flow is “Containers”, which are bars, like you would find in a recording studio. When all of the varied containers in the level are filled up to the top, you are taken to the next level. There is a lot to explain about this game, but I would recommend just heading over and trying it out yourself. The demo only contains three stages, some of which can be difficult and annoying, but with time, each one can be figured out.

Auditorium

The market for rhythm games is vast, but more unique ideas, such as the one used in Auditorium, are needed to keep it as alive as it is right now. The constant rehashes of Guitar Hero games will eventually lead to over saturation, and the amount of sales they will get will eventually fall. For my personal self, I’ve ceased buying any of the Guitar Hero games due to the fact that it is continuously being milked for all that it’s worth. There comes a point where I feel disgusted that they’ve made so many of the same thing, that I’m just torn away from wanting it anymore. Many people could come back and say that the Final Fantasy series has done the same thing, but I would like to point out that every Final Fantasy game is a unique storyline, with unique features and elements built in to them, and even if some of the mechanics are similar, the story is always many, many hours different than the others. Ideas like this, and quite possibly flOw as well, will shape the direction that music-related games will go in the future.

Also, semi-related, in the aspect of music, check out the band that did the soundtrack for the video game Mirror’s Edge, Solar Fields. They have an area where you can listen to music directly on their website, and if you love instrumental music as much as I do, you will definitely enjoy many of their tracks that they’ve created over the time.

With Christmas literally right around the corner, many people are getting pumped up for the onslaught of gifts that they’re about to receive from their friends and family. I, of course, am excited as well, although, I’m a little more excited that I get these days off from work. I’m not trying to be a Scrooge or anything, but to me, Christmas isn’t the same anymore. I don’t get as excited for it as I used to around this time of the year. Gifts and presents just don’t interest me like they used to. I still get into the spirit and everything though, I have Christmas music on right now, and we’ve got the tree lit.

Most of the reason that I think I’m not in to Christmas as much as I used to it the fact that Christmas has become so much of a retail holiday. Then again, which holiday isn’t these days, but that’s not my point. When asked what I wanted for Christmas this year by my parents, I literally told them “nothing”. While I enjoy giving gifts for the holiday, and have spent a small fortune on gifts for my family, I just can’t think of anything that I would want in return. I would rather that they save their money for something more important, something more that we, as a family, needs to live, instead of some “want” that I may have. This usually doesn’t end with a good response.

My USB-Powered Christmas Tree!

In my opinion, I just want a Christmas where I’m home with the family, spending time together, and then we have an excellent home cooked Christmas dinner. If that were all my holiday was, I’d be happier than a clam, or so the saying goes. Heck, to offset what they may have been thinking about getting me, I actually asked for clothes. Yes, you heard me right, I actually asked for my parents to get me clothes, both everyday and work clothes. I don’t expect that I’m going to get any of those homemade Christmas sweaters or anything, because my parents don’t do that, but I’m hoping and expecting more of my gifts to be that, if they listened to my request of course.

I love Christmas, I’m not going to say that I don’t. But, I just never get the excitement that I used to when I was younger over it now. To me, it’s just another holiday, where you’re expected to go out and spend your hard earned money on everyone that you know. While I am okay with that, getting something back for that isn’t something that I like seeing. I’d be more than happy seeing a smile on the person’s face, and hearing how happy they are to have gotten the gift, more than I would want something back from them which cost them who knows how much. I know, I’m an odd duck, you don’t have to tell me twice, but, that’s just the way that I am!

Happy Merry Chrismahanakwanzika!

Welcome to the Live Blog of the SPIKE 2008 Video Game Awards!

Tonight, Sunday, December 14, 2008, is the night of the 2008 VGAs, presented by Spike TV. This marks the fifth anniversary of the awards, and the first year that they’re doing the show live, instead of pre-recorded. In the past, the results have leaked onto the internet much before the show airs, ruining most of the point of it. This year, they decided to do it live, opening up many new opportunities, including using their website to show extra camera angles, and a special pre-show.

In the past, the Spike TV Video Game Awards have been mediocre. Starting out with the first year, the results of their awards were met with many questions and controversy on why such games won. As the years have gone on, the winners have improved and been more understandable. Sadly, Spike still hasn’t figured out what video game players want to see, and have just missed the mark. It will be interesting to see what they bring to the table this year, and if they can successfully come up with a presentation that’s interesting to the viewers.

Due to the fact that the winners have yet to be announced yet, I’ve decided to do this Live Blog during the show, which starts at 8 PM CST on SPIKE TV. In this Blog, you will see a list of potential winners, as well as my choices on who I want to win, who will probably win, and, as they occur, who actually won. Please feel free to enter into discussion in the comments section, and I will gladly join in as well. The following is the list. Please check back often for updates, and as the winners are announced live on the show, check back for updated results and comments on the winners.

7:01 PM CST – Well, here we begin. Visit http://www.spike.com/event/vga/page/live-pre-show to watch the VGA Preshow LIVE. Wonder how good this year’s show will be?

7:07 PM CST – So far, they just have celebrities talking about why they’re there at the VGAs, what they like to see… and seeing if they can make it through the first level of Super Mario that they downloaded on the Wii.

7:24 PM CST - Let’s be honest, some of these celebrities just don’t know anything about video games… except if it’s a super shooter, and then they love it. Listening to some of this is just disappointing, I’ll admit. Like I said, SPIKE kind of misses the mark, once again. Luckily, this is just the Preshow.

7:27 PM CST – Did I mention that all of these media venues seem to choose the most annoying person to speak for them? This woman is just abnoxious. And, wait a second, the Preshow was only a half hour? That doesn’t make much sense. Oh well, 30 minutes to go!

7:53 PM CST – One great way to keep up to date Live as well, other than just plain ol’ watching the awards on TV, is Twitter @ http://www.twitter.com . I’ve seen a lot of popular people, including the famous Jeff Gerstmann, updating his Twitter page with Live updates!

8:02 PM CST – I’ll admit, the stage looks beautiful. In fact, so does the entire theater! Wow, NOW I’m envious. Hope the show is as good as the local!

8:09 PM CST – World Premiere #1 – New map pack for Gears of War 2. Available tonight! What do you think? Cool? Three new maps.

8:18 PM CST – LL Cool J performed, kind of. And now, footage of the new UFC game. Personally, not interested. Kinda wish I was there though, even though it doesn’t look like a too terribly interesting show so far.

8:21 PM CST – World Premiere #2 – God of War III. Didn’t really announce, well, ANYTHING about the story, no in-game footage, no, uh… anything. Also, there is more commercials than there is show. Plus, did anyone else catch that Gears of War 2 ALSO won Best Xbox 360 Game in the middle of that there? Once again, SPIKE is rushing through this. Final comment for now, advertising pre-ordering on the end of the trailer? This really is COMPLETELY an advertising show.

8:29 PM CST – World Premiere #3 – Fight Night Round 4 by EA. And, Muhammed Ali? This is just a celebrity fest as well. And, once again, they advertised pre-ordering it from GameStop! How disappointing.

8:34 PM CST – So we can really tell it’s Live. Wish they knew what they were doing. Now it’s becoming even more unprofessional. And, once again, they just showed a celebrity, with no real reason.

8:42 PM CST – All-American Rejects playing. I don’t mind them at least, haha.

8:51 PM CST – World Premiere #4 – Dante’s Inferno. Seriously, Kim isn’t really that smart, is she… oh, and Tony Hawk and Will Wright are up now! Talking about the wonders of Spore. And he’s won an award for being a “Gamer God”? I really don’t like the word “gamer”, thanks to the old GameSpot, but still. Yes, he is a God, I’ll agree with that.

8:56 PM CST – World Premiere #5 – Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned. Hey, it’s an actual interesting trailer. And I hate to say that, because I’m really not a fan of the GTA series, to be honest.

9:05 PM CST – HEY LOOK, ANOTHER AWARD! Which, by the way, was a great choice. Best RPG. And now, Busta Rhymes. Who announces World Premiere #6 – Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. Excellent trailer! Really says a lot about the game actually, and has already been interesting enough to make me want to play it!

9:15 PM CST – World Premiere #7 – Terminator Salvation. Well, the graphics are good, but the gameplay looks WAY too much like Gears of War though. Third person, with a cover system way too similar.

9:17 PM CST – World Premiere #8 – Mafia II. I actually wonder what the gameplay will be like. The trailer looks pretty cool, on it’s own. But, as before, I’m just not personally a fan of that kind of game. And now, 50 Cent. I’ll admit, during the Preshow, he seemed nice, but, sounds like his song is WAY too filled with swear words. It’s getting muted left and right.

9:26 PM CST – World Premiere #9 – Watchmen: The End Is Neih. At least, I think that’s how you spell it. They fly through these trailers like they’re nothing. Still, the game looks interesting. It would be nice to know the background of the Watchmen comic series first.

9:31 PM CST – Once again, another built-in advertisement. This time for the movie Mall Cop. Honestly, what does this have to do with video games again? Oh, that’s right, nothing.

9:38 PM CST – As I was updating with who won, they decided to basically give out every other award that they could. This completely ticks me off. Basically, they just wanted to get their ad time in, and give up on the rest of the show. So, it looks like I’ll be looking up the winners later on tonight, eh? Oh well, whatever. As I said, this show is disappointing. They don’t disappoint to be disappointing, haha!

9:44 PM CST – World Premiere #10 – Brutal Legend. I love how they’re calling this the best game ever. I don’t like that at all. Ah, I see, since Jack Black is in it, they’re pushing it to no end. Again, not a fan of that at all. I think that alone has made me lost a lot of interest in this game. And, seeing the trailer, I see why I have no interest in this game. It doesn’t look entertaining at all.

9:49 PM CST – Game of the Year time! Time to see where this lands. Aaannnddd… that’s not where it should have landed. At all. I’m terribly disappointed. Looks like I’m finished with the VGAs from now on. As I should have already been years ago it seems.

9:56 PM CST – Weezer is closing out the show. I guess I got my hopes up about the show again, eh? How sad. Check the bottom of the page for my final closing comments later tonight!

Comments: Really? Huh. I guess I’m shocked. Well, if the people chose it, then so be it.  Thing is, I really haven’t heard many things, well, at all about World of Goo. That’s why it’s so shocking.

Comments: A well deserved win for Media Molecule! They worked their butts off for this, and they did it.

Comments: Exactly like I called it this afternoon, Grand Theft Auto IV won Game of the Year. I completely disagree with this choice, but, based on the way that popularity goes around these parts, it was a given from the very beginning. At least that’s it, now that the year is over, we can end the love for it.

Comments: So, what, did SPIKE forget that they had this catagory in the first place? I’ve been searching and looking for the past half hour, and there really was no winner announced. How lame.

Comments: Let me just be honest. I think Jenny McCarthy is probably one of the only most well know of them all, first of all, and secondly, Command & Conquer Red Alert 3 had more of a famous cast than any of them yet. I found it an easy choice.

Comments: How much does this rock, my favorite won! Kiefer Sutherland has an awesome voice for an action character, in TV or in a video game. He deserved this award.

Comments: I do agree with this choice greatly, as you can see by my earlier prediction as well! She did an excellent job as Meryl, and that also was a huge game, so it really stood out above the rest I feel.

Comments: Sadly, I knew that the voice of Niko Bellic from Grand Theft Auto IV was going to win this. I’m sure that he did do a good job, but out of this list, I just don’t feel that he fit right as the best male voice in a video game.

Comments: I’m actually kind of surprised by this choice. While I know that Call of Duty: World at War wasn’t as popular as Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare was, I still thought that in the popular eye it would have won. I wouldn’t have expected Left 4 Dead to take this prize though.

Comments: While my favorite was the one chosen as the winner, and the one I wanted to win, I just had a feeling that they weren’t going to select it. None the less, the Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots OST is one of my personal favorites of all time, and will be for quite some time I’m sure.

Comments: I’ll be the first to admit that I’m completely floored by this decision. I just didn’t think Left 4 Dead was THAT good of a game that it would warrant Best PC Game, but obviously I haven’t played it enough to know. Sadly, Steam is not something I enjoy using.

Comments: I’ll admit, I love LittleBigPlanet, this is a great game, but, the greatest game on the PlayStation 3 for the year of 2008? I’m sorry, I just can’t agree with that.

Comments: I’ve heard nothing but good things about Boom Blox. While I wonder if it’s the Best Wii Game of the year, I just can’t go that far just yet, but, it looks like in the public’s eye, it’s better than the others.

Comments: So, okay, this was a little bit of a shock to me actually, but, GTAIV isn’t necessarily an exclusive to the system. Although, I’ll admit, I expected the stereotypical results for this show. I’m happily surprised.

Comments: This was a rough choice on my “Probable”. I have a feeling that the Guitar Hero franchise just has more of a following than the Rock Band one does now. But I was obviously wrong, and my favorite won instead! About time.

Comments: This one was tough to decide who my “Favorite” one. I really liked all but Grand Theft Auto IV, but since I had to choose one, I chose the one I’ve put the most time into. And naturally, they chose Grand Theft Auto IV as their favorite, which I’m totally not surprised about.

Comments: Once again, I was wrong in thinking that my Favorite wouldn’t win! This is definately a game that I say should win this catagory. With how much support and free add-on content that Criterion has given it, it’s worth more than it was when people bought it, which is a great thing to be able to say.

Comments: Once again, with the following of each of the Guitar Hero and Rock Band franchises, this was not an easy choice, but I have a feeling it will be one of those two. And, of course, I was right, except, and I’m not complaining, but my favorite won, and my probable didn’t!

Comments: Wait… there’s a good game made based on a movie or tv show? Yes, I AM told, though, that the LEGO games are quite entertaining. Oh, and I had a feeling that would win, too.

Comments: Here’s a much deserved win for Kojima! Without a doubt, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots was an absolutely beautiful game, and therefore succeeded in a catagory that it was built to win in.

Comments: Once again my favorite won. I’m better at this than I thought. None the less, I still figured others wouldn’t think the same way that I did. It’s an awesome win for these guys, they made an excellently deep DS game.

Comments: Honestly, I have no idea which direction this one is going. All of these games are pretty popular to the masses. And it went to the one that I thought deserved it least, based on the fact of how horrible it was. But, as I’ve said before, whatever they say…

Comments: Shocking, actually! Definately not my first choice, or my second even for that matter! I’d be interested in hearing why they thought Soul Caliber IV was better than Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe. The character creation maybe?

Comments: Hey look, my first prediction I got right! I had a really big feeling that people would like Fallout 3 better. I’ll admit, it’s huge, lots of content, and it’s good.

Comments: I’ll admit, I don’t know what I was smoking when I thought about who the “Probable” was, haha. But, yeah, I’m not surprised, Gears of War 2 was an excellent game, I still have a better favorite.

Comments: My choice was Killzone 2 for the PlayStation 3, releasing February 27, 2009. Problem is, they never announced if there was an answer to what the fans thought was their most anticipated game. So make this your homework in the comment you’re going to leave. What is YOUR Most Anticipated Game?

Thank you for reading this Live Blog of the SPIKE 2008 Video Game Awards!

PlayStation® Home, years in the making, finally entered Open Beta today for all PlayStation 3 owners. For anyone connected to the internet on Tuesday, December 11, 2008, they were greeted with a new icon under their PlayStation® Network menu. PlayStation® Home was automatically downloaded to everyone’s PlayStation 3, and the flood ensued as early as the servers would let them in. Millions of people flocked to their PlayStation 3’s to be able to be one of the first to see the brand new Home that they’d been waiting over two years to finally see. Unfortunate for many, errors plagued the sign in process making it very difficult for most people to log on through the early hours of it’s release. Luckily, by the end of the day, most diligent users were able to check it out for themselves. While there is a lot more to do in it than there was with the Closed Beta, it’s still lacking some of the key features that they had shown off in past events.

If you were in the Closed Beta, the first thing you’ll notice is the brand new renovated Central Plaza, which looks nothing like it used to. The Central Plaza is basically the center of the world. From here, you’re given access to most of the main city areas, including the Mall, the Home Theatre, and the Bowling Alley. Within the Central Plaza is many places for sit and chat with your friends, the Listen@Home station, which features ten varied tracks from artists that no one’s heard of, and a mini-game called Saucer Pop. Saucer Pop, while just a silly mini-game within PlayStation® Home as a whole, is still quite addiciting, and features you flying a miniature flying saucer and popping bubbles with stars in them to earn points.

The Mall now finally has items that you can purchase in it. Unfortunately, unlike a few other virtual worlds which offer both an in-game method of paying for things as well as a real life cash method (see: vSide), everything that you want to purchase, down to a shirt for your back, will cost you something, and give you nothing in return, except for a prettier looking virtual avatar. General clothes for your avatar will pretty much cost you about $0.49 for each piece, furniture for your apartment will cost you around $0.99 a piece, and a new personal space itself will run you about $4.99. Right now, there still isn’t a whole ton of stuff for you to choose from, but with time, we should expect to see a full collection of items to stock the shelves.

The Home Theatre, not the one at your actual home, but the Theatre inside the city of Home, has not changed. Within the Closed Beta, it was used to show a behind the scenes video from SOCOM: Confrontation, which usually wasn’t a packed house. Now it’s being used to show the movie trailer for Twilight, followed by an exclusive music video for a song within the movie performed by Paramore. Sony has advertised the Theatre as a place to “watch game and movie trailers”, but with the internet being a very easy place to access these things as well, it will be interesting to see what this spot can offer that people can’t see anywhere else. If they can’t come up with something unique to keep peoples’ attention, then this will be one of the least used spots of the entire world.

Probably the most happening spot of the main area in Home is the Bowling Alley. Featuring five lanes with matches containing up to four people, the game of bowling is one of the most entertaining games in the area. It takes some skill, or at least some practice to get good at this, but when you are, it’s entertaining to play. There are three steps to bowling. The first is the aim, which way you’re throwing the ball. The second is speed, how fast you’re rolling it. The third and final step is spin, which allows you to spin the ball either left or right, which can be the deciding factor with some of your shots. Bowling isn’t the only thing you can do at the Alley though. Arcade machines line the two sides of the alleys, featuring Ice Breaker and Carriage Return which are unique games to the world, and an arcade version of the popular PlayStation® Network game echochrome. Not to disappoint people looking for a different challenge, pool tables are also lined across the back end of the room, allowing for two people to be able to play a game of Solids and Stripes. The Bowling Alley is definitely the area of Home that’s meant to be the most interactive, and it’s usually pretty packed because of it. None the less, everything in this room is well made, and brings peoples’ interest.

Finding an actual real screenshot for PlayStation® Home on the internet is near to impossible right now. This is one of the few I found. Currently I am running too low on time to take one myself. Expect more screenshots in the near future.

Outside of the main area of PlayStation® Home is the specific areas reserved for certain games. As time goes on, Sony plans on releasing more of these rooms for more games, but as of the opening of the Open Beta there were only areas for the games Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune and Far Cry 2. These areas feature multiple rooms which are based around areas within the game itself, and are made with great detail. The Uncharted room features an outdoor seating section as well as an indoor one, a special arcade game only found within that area, and three doors, each with a door code that one has to decipher to be able to enter the special restricted room. Inside each of the restricted rooms is more lore and other game-related props, but other than that, there aren’t many other special features to them. The Far Cry 2 area is a little more plain, just being an area to hang out that looks like locations from the actual Far Cry 2 game. In the second room, though, is interactive action points where you can view a full-scale map of the world of Far Cry 2, as well as dossiers of the characters from the game scattered about the room. Unfortunately, there isn’t really much else to do within these areas, other than having a place with a varried atmosphere to sit and hang out.

Everyone who is in the world also is given an apartment, where they are able to decorate with furniture, or have a private location to invite their friends over to sit and chat. Your apartment is completely customizable with furniture and accessories that you have purchased, including couches, armchairs, tables, lights, and more. Many of the more notable features from demos at past events, though, are still missing from the lineup, although Sony has been quick to say that Home will be ever evolving, meaning we’ll often see updates to it.

Clubs are another feature that Sony has tried to push on PlayStation® Home. Clubs are basically a group of people under the banner of a club name. Clubs can also have a clubhouse, in which they are able to post announcements to a cork board for other members to see, as well as it’s customizable with furniture just like your personal apartment is. Different from the Closed Beta though, club leaders will now have to pay a one-time fee of $4.99 just to be able to receive a clubhouse for their club, and rumor has it that Sony will begin charging people a monthly upkeep for their club starting mid-2009. All of these things taken into account, clubs are not notably high peoples’ priorities list. Another thing that isn’t high on the list is Game Launching from within Home. Currently, only one game is confirmed to be able to launch from directly within Home itself; Warhawk. Sony has said that they will be adding support for most, if not all games in the future, including LittleBigPlanet, SOCOM: Confrontation, and more.

It’s time for the opinion side of things now. While PlayStation® Home is a very cool and unique piece of software, right now the value of it compared to the rest of the PlayStation® Network, or even other virtual worlds, is still lackluster. With the only way to upgrade being to pay cash for it, it takes away from the experience and limits users as to what they are able to do with it. I’ve found this in many virtual worlds, but it’s always the people who pay more from their pocket that are able to use that creative freedom to the fullest. If you don’t like chatting with random strangers, or meeting new people who you just bump into, you’re restricted as to what you’re able to do within the world. The mini-games scattered throughout the world are a fun escape, but with little to no value to them, and a limited amount of replayablitity, as with the arcade machines, I can see how Home will become a fad that will wearing off quickly for people. I have my hopes for it; this is just the first days of it’s release, so I expect to see many more updates to it coming soon even. But for right now, the launch has just left me wondering what they can do to get more of us interested in spending our spare time in it.

Verdict: Disappointed, but hopeful.

The “console wars” have been an interesting, and usually quite stupid thing to watch. For those of you who don’t exactly like video games, know nothing about video games, or just haven’t visited a section of the internet dealing with video games ever, let me catch you up to date real quick. There are two video game systems out there that are mainstream and deal with everything from graphical power to high focus gaming. Those two are Sony’s PlayStation 3, and Microsoft’s Xbox 360. The Nintendo Wii is also in the “next generation” system of consoles, but they aren’t trying in any way to compete with the PS3 or 360. They lack the graphical power, and care to want to be better, and try to focus more on interactivity and group gaming, of which they succeed in. Unfortunately though, that leaves the other two systems, both vying to show that they are better than the other, to fight for the market and consumers to buy them.

Both systems carry a wide variety of similar features that are standard for this generation of gaming. Both carry an online store in which you can buy and play downloadable games, watch downloadable movies, buy add-ons for games that you’ve purchased and much more. They both have an online system which allows you to have a friend’s list, play online, send messages, etc. Both systems have a hard drive, minus the Xbox 360 Arcade, which can store and play music, photos, and videos. They each can play DVDs, CDs, and other media. Both use wireless controllers, both use headsets, both have typing pads for their controllers, both can have webcams. So, as you can see, the market standard for video games has been upped with this new group. But in the hardware sector, there are some notable differences between the two.

Microsoft's Xbox 360

The Microsoft Xbox 360 comes in three different bundles, each of which comes with multiple games to get your collection started. Each bundle comes with a different sized hard drive, and different accessories included. Which the arcade just comes with a Composite cable and 256 MB worth of external memory, the Xbox 360 Pro, now just the standard Xbox 360, comes with a 60 GB hard drive, a headset, a network cable, and Component cables. Finally, the Xbox 360 Elite comes in the color black, has a 120 GB hard drive, the headset and cables, but also includes an HDMI cable for true high definition output. Software-wise, the 360 comes with the exclusive Dashboard, now upgraded to the NXE, or New Xbox Experience.

On the other hand, the Sony PlayStation 3 comes in two different bundles. The 160 GB PlayStation 3 which comes bundled with Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune and a voucher for Pain, and the 80 GB system which comes standalone. Unlike the 360, the PS3 has a few more special nuggets that comes standard within it. Compared to the 360, the PlayStation 3 has free online through the PlayStation Network, while with the Xbox, you are required to pay $20 for 3 months, or $50 for a year, just to be able to play with your friends online. Also, the wireless controllers for the PS3 come with a built-in rechargeable battery pack, which the 360’s use AA batteries, or, sold separately, a rechargeable battery pack of their own. The PlayStation 3 comes built-in with Wi-Fi, meaning if you have a wireless internet point nearby, you can connect automatically. The Xbox 360 is wired-only, or you can purchase a wireless adapter which will set you back $100 to give you that function as well. Also, the PlayStation 3 has built-in Bluetooth, so if you have any Bluetooth headset, you can use that for your online gaming and chatting; the 360 only allows Microsoft headsets to be used with it. One of the biggest differences, though, is that the PlayStation 3 is also a Blu-Ray player, and all games made for it are put onto Blu-Ray discs, which contain up to four times the space of the DVDs that are used in the Xbox 360.

Out of all of that, the PlayStation 3 is a clear-cut winner, looking at the hardware side of things. But most people tend to look past that and look towards the software side of things, which is an extremely understandable thing to look at. This is what sparks most of the console wars that turn up in discussions. The most talked about issue is that of “exclusives”. The Xbox 360 has notably more exclusives than the PlayStation 3, including such titles as Halo, Gears of War, Fable, and more. The PlayStation 3, on the other hand, carry titles such as LittleBigPlanet, Resistance, and Killzone. A few games, though, have brought up much controversy in the land of gaming due to them being put out multi-platform, which used to be format exclusive games. Final Fantasy was the big shocker as it was announced for the Xbox 360 as well, while there is also a teaser that shows a possibility that Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots may also be porting over (source: http://www.konami.jp/kojima_pro/mgst/?ref=kjp_eng). The problem is, most people tend to think that the system with more exclusives, or “better” exclusives, as a matter of opinion, is the better system overall. While Final Fantasy XIII is coming over to the 360 as well, SquareEnix has announced that they are creating the PlayStation 3 version first, and porting the game to the 360 afterwards. While this doesn’t necessarily mean that the game will be worse, hands down, on the 360, it does mean that they are looking to not sacrifice the quality of the game just so that it can be made for both systems.

Sony's PlayStation 3

Another issue that I’ve found with porting games over is the fact that Blu-Ray discs hold at least four times more space on them than the DVDs used for the 360. If they were to port a game such as Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots over, they’d have to “dumb” the game down, and take out a lot of extra content just to make it fit on a disc to be played on it. While exclusives is a big part of having a good console, in the long run, making a good game isn’t just looking at the system it’s played on. If a game is good, it will be good on it’s own, not just because it’s on the PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360. Another issue that turns people to one system or another is it’s user base. The Xbox 360 has been around for longer, therefore meaning there are more people who play online with it. Even though that’s true, the PlayStation 3 online service has been picking up steam with the holidays approaching, and the longer it’s out, the more it sells. Also, being a free service, having built-in Wi-Fi, and including new features such as PlayStation Home into the mix, it creates a more easily accessible and immersive experience for players.

One thing I understand is that people are going to take this as a biased rant of a fanboy for Sony. The fact is, yes, I only own a PlayStation 3, but, I know a good game when I see one. I am currently in college for Multimedia, Digital Entertainment & Game Design, so I look at the quality of a game in general, not the fact that it’s exclusively on the system that I own. I am also a video game journalist, I write about video games, review them, and talk about them all of the time. My honest opinion does boil down to the fact that I believe the PlayStation 3 is better when it comes to a hardware perspective, and a software perspective as well, but I will not be so naive to say that the Xbox 360 does not have good games, is a very well made system, and has a fan base just as large, if not more, than the PlayStation 3 does. Surfing forums of sites that I regularly visit, and seeing threads ranting about how one system is better than the other, though, get to me, because “fanboys” and “fangirls” tend to put their blinders on, and only look at how the system that they own and use is the ultimate video game machine ever made. The fact of the matter is, video games in this day and age… are cool.

Killzone 2

Developer: Guerrilla
Publisher: SCEA
Release Date: February 17, 2009
Rating: RP

Killzone 2, a PlayStation 3 exclusive, went into Open Beta about a month ago, and I was one of the lucky people to get an invite to play in it. I’ve taken quite a bit of time, about seven hours of gameplay time alone actually, to check out all of the different modes, maps, and options that you have at your disposal in the Killzone 2 Beta, and I have been quite happy with what I’ve found. The Killzone 2 Beta is a multiplayer-only Beta, there is no single-player demo involved within it.

The Killzone 2 Beta contains three different maps: Salamun Market, a very large outdoor map with multiple routes from one base to the other; Radec Academy, a medium-sized map that is set indoors with only a few ways out of your main base; and Blood Gracht, a very small map with only one way out of your base, and the middle being a massive choke point for everyone. I haven’t been a huge fan of Blood Gracht personally, because if your opponents team happens to be too much better than your own team, you will get a huge bottleneck back at the entrance of your base, making it impossible to get out without being killed instantly. Also, with the map being so close quarters, team killing is another factor that comes into play, and you definately have to watch out so that you don’t kill your own teammates. Blood Gracht is said to be a map for 8-16 players, but it doesn’t stop you from having anywhere up to 32 within the map. Radec Academy is another map that can be dangerous if your opponent’s team is too much more skilled than yours is. The one main way out of your base can be camped quite easily by rocket wielders, and snipers can watch the top path out of your base, making it quite difficult to make any progress. Salamun Market, on the other hand, is a beautiful demonstration of how one can use many different strategies to be able to win. With it being so wide open, worrying about getting spawn killed is a moot point. Also, with multiple ways to get from one side of the map to another, it does a good job of preventing camping in a choke point of some kind.

One of my favorite unique points about Killzone 2 is the “Missions”, or “Game Modes” that you are able to play in a round. Unlike other shooters, where you get one game mode, such as Team Deathmatch, everything is based off of two teams, and different Missions that you must fulfill within a round. After one Mission is finished, another Mission is selected to be played directly afterwards, meaning you won’t be doing the same thing for the entire round. The five Mission Modes are as follows: Body Count, in which you have to kill more enemies than they kill of your team in a time limit; Assassination, where a single player is selected as a target, and the opposing team must take them out before the time is up; Search And Retrieve, a mode where your team must grab an item and bring it back to your capture point to score; Capture And Hold, a bases-type mission where you must hold control points within the map to score; and Search And Destroy, which involves one team trying to plant explosives to destroy an objective, while the other team defends that point. Within one round, each game type will be cycled through at least once, and each Mission counts as a point. At the end of the round, the team with more points from won Missions wins. I find this much more interesting than just having to play the same thing for five to ten minutes, and much more unique than I’ve seen in first-person shooters in the past.

As you progress through the online mode, you earn points for getting kills or achieving objectives from the Missions. The more points you have, the more abilities you have, or the different classes you’re able to be. Each rank is a different rank of the military, beginning with Corporal, and ending with General. As you rank up, you gain the ability to do stuff such as create Squads, create Clans, spawn with new weapons, become a Medic to aid your teammates, and so on. You can also gain more upgrades by achieving certain conditions within a round, ranging from getting ten points in a round, to killing the Assassination target in a round. Each different medal will give you another boost, such as increasing the amount of ammunition you start with when you spawn.

Squads are an interesting part of Killzone 2. If you have made it to a certain rank, you are able to create Squads. A Squad is a 1-4 person team within your team which have direct communication with each other if you have a headset, as well as they show up as a different color on your radar. You are also able to see what abilities they have selected for the round by their name, which shows up on the top part of your screen. One such ability is the ability to be a Medic. Whenever you die, you are actually still alive, just Critically Wounded, unless your opponent decides to shoot you again, which kills you for sure. You have ten seconds before you are able to respawn yourself, or, if there is a Medic nearby, they can bring you back to life with 50% health. This is a very useful ability to have because it prevents you from having to go all the way back to your base again if you are far away from it. Later on you can get the badge for being an Engineer, which gives you the ability to create sentry turrets wherever you are.

Overall, my opinion of this game is very high. Back at E3 a few years ago, they admitted that the trailer they had created was pre-rendered, but the graphics of this game look so much like it that it’s hard to believe now. This game is beautiful, and looks like it will be excellent when it comes out in 2009. With the unique way that each round goes, even for a Beta it’s kept me more interested than a lot of other shooters that I have played recently, and I have been quite happy for it. Just remember that this is NOT like other shooters. The weapons in this game are not based off of real weapons, and fire much differently, as well as the game modes are challenging and unique. If you are looking for something different, this is the game to pick up for sure.

Remember, remember the Fifth of November,
The Gunpowder Treason and Plot,
I can think of no reason
Why the Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot.

It’s a special day today, as most people should know, especially those who have a connection to the internet. While I am definately not one to preach anything that has to do with politics, nor do I enjoy the fact that there are billions and billions of ads that play on the television and radio daily, it’s still an important day. I’ll admit, there are hundreds of people today who are asking me if I voted, or reminding me to vote, or telling me who to vote for. I remind everyone just this once that if you’re old enough, don’t forget to vote, but also, don’t go around and ask every single person you know if they voted yet. There are some people that may be okay with telling you who they voted for, but out of respect, please don’t go around and ask people who they voted for. I, personally, won’t be telling anyone, because it’s none of their business.

But… in an exclusive to my Weblog, I will be showing you who I’m voting for:

Bigfoot Nessie 08 - Change You Can BELIEVE In!

I’ve gotten some GREAT comments for this shirt, and I’ve just been at school for the day for about an hour. Can’t wait to see if I can show this shirt off as much as possible at work. None the less, some comedy on a day where everyone in the country is so serious is a good thing, so please, don’t go wild over all of today’s hullabalu, just take it easy and enjoy a history making day for the U.S.

Video games are a big part of my life, so this past month, and now even this month coming up, are some of the biggest, and roughest months of them all. While it’s awesome that this many great looking games are coming out, at the same time, it’s rough on the wallet, as well as the time factor that goes in to playing all of these games. Over the next couple of days, I’m going to stick to video games, because there’s so much about them to talk about right now. Today though, I’m going to stick to video games that are coming out for this week, the week of November 2, 2008. Tuesday is going to be one helluva busy day at the retailers as most games are coming out then, and quite the collection we will see. Don’t forget to look ahead though, pre-ordering games could be essential if you want to make sure that you get a copy. So, here’s a look at this week’s new releases!

PlayStation 3

Resistance 2
SCEA, Insomniac Games
November 4, 2008

A sequel to the highly popular PlayStation 3 exclusive, Resistance 2 comes out this week in both a standard package, and in a huge collector’s edition tin, but you may have needed to pre-order that one to get your hands on it by now. The campaign once again takes off after the end of the first Resistance game, but this time, there are actually a few campaigns to choose from. With the inclusion of a brand new co-op campaign mode, which features new, unique missions to co-op gameplay only, the game is kept fresh and new. The multiplayer has now been increased to 60 players, making it one of the largest multiplayer games made yet.

Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm
Namco Bandai Games, CyberConnect2
November 4, 2008

This time coming out only for the PlayStation 3, the Naruto franchise of video games comes back stronger than ever. Your typical fighting game comes back with the quirkiness of the Naruto series of ninjas. With a few modes, including your regular story battles, and a new open world free battle mode, you can take off in the immersive world of ninjas and fight your way to the top. Choose from any of the characters that you’d be able to see within the anime series to run with, including the latest forms of characters from the latest episodes of the long-running anime.

Valkyria Chronicles
Sega
November 4, 2008

This unique real time strategy game with action role-playing elements comes exclusive to the PlayStation 3 this month. Using unique graphics, this game is more or less painted with a watercolor effect, and features classic comic book sound effect graphics during movement and battle. With a unique live time battle system, as well as a turn-based style of movement and attacking, this game shows off gameplay that isn’t seen in many strategy games. Set in a fictional European War, it features everything from scout runners, to machine-gun wielders, and even tanks.

Xbox 360

Gears of War 2
Microsoft Game Studios, Epic Games
November 7, 2008

This Xbox 360 exclusive brings us back to the fight against the Locust, as you settle back into the role of Marcus Fenix. With beautiful graphics, a huge smattering of weapons, and enough enemies to make an entire city with, you get plunged deeper into their home in order to take back the home of your own. A new co-op mode lets you take on the Locust with a friend this time, and works quite well in doing that. Multiplayer is still in, with some new modes to do so in. With a few new features, including chainsaw-to-chainsaw battles, Gears of War 2 looks to be quite the good looking sequel to it’s first, major selling counterpart.

Multiplatform

Tom Clancy’s EndWar
Ubisoft, Ubisoft Shanghai
November 4, 2008
PS3, XBOX360, PSP, DS, PC

The time for unique real time strategy games is prevalent as Tom Clancy’s EndWar comes out in the next week. Set in a period of World War III, players will get to battle in real life locations, destroying them with every weapon imaginable, and also those unimaginable. EndWar brings a heavy online focused game world, where you can fight against thousands of other war hungry players on their own couch. Using voice commands, players can command their armies to move, attack, or patrol an area just based on what they say. Being on a console, the way this is played is quite unique, but works very well, as you control your army from it’s point of view, and not one hovering miles above.

James Bond: Quantum of Solace
Activision
November 4, 2008
PS3, XBOX360, PS2, WII, DS, PC

Set to come out around the time the movie does, another 007 game has come to being. Activision and Treyarch make this game, creators of the latest Call of Duty game, World at War. Stepping into the 007 franchise for the first time, they’ve done their best to immerse yourself in the world of the movie, playing as Bond himself, of course. Since the game is based off of the CoD4 engine, multiplayer is very fast paced, and contains modes similar to the ancient GoldenEye game, such as Golden Gun. Sadly though, the Golden Gun is not a one-hit kill, but rather shoots explosive rounds. None the less, if you’re a bond fan, this game will be right up your alley.

Legendary
Gamecock Media Group, Spark Unlimited
November 4, 2008
PS3, XBOX360, PC

Legendary brings the fantasy world and our real world together for the fight of your life like no other. After accidentally opening Pandora’s Box, you unleash hordes of mythical creatures upon the world, and you set off to destroy them once again. This first-person shooter will have you killing werewolves, gryphons, and many more fantastic creatures created from worlds of dream. This game will have you at the edge of your seat as you fight enemies that are many times the size of you as they ravish New York city, and other locals in the world that we know and love.

Oh yes yes, I know, it’s the day AFTER Halloween and I’m posting about it. I just wanted to say a few things though. I hope everyone had a fun and enjoyable Halloween evening last night. Hope you all didn’t get into too much trouble, didn’t eat too much candy, and didn’t party ’til you passed out. If you DID do any of those… how was it? I was at work all night, as I will be tonight, so my Halloween was pretty “eh”. But anyways. I wanted to share with you a few pictures actually. My pumpkins tend to try and be something fun and cool that I can relate to. Last year’s pumpkin was the following:

Wolf Guild Cape Emblem Design

But this year, I decided to stick with the same theme, in case you hadn’t noticed, which most of you won’t, is the CORPG by NCsoft, Guild Wars, and use my newest guild cape emblem. Both of these pumpkins are my guild cape emblems at the time. I think this year’s was a BIT more elaborate, but it turned out beautifully. Check it out:

Phoenix Guild Cape Emblem Design

Hope you all had a good one, and hope to hear from ya soon! I’ll just be in my little corner of the internet here, so keep watching for more soon. :)

Yesterday I had a nice, relaxing day off, and I enjoyed it. Got a few video games in here and there, began work on an old project made anew, and talked with some good friends of mine from the wide world of the internet. Overall, things went well. There are a few things, though, that I still need to work on, but after a conversation that I had today with one of those aforementioned friends, I’ve been given a new outlook on how I’m planning on working on my life from here on. First, allow me to quote my friend for a moment, because I believe his words are something that everyone should ponder when you aren’t feeling 100%.

Leo: some people need to be reminded that life is short, because they put off having fun.
Leo: some people need to be reminded that life is long, so they don’t try to pack it all in today.

Words of wisdom from my friend Leo, who I’ve come to know and trust over time. He reads my Blog on a regular basis, so he was made aware of my situation based off of my last entry, and came to talk to me earlier this evening about it. I appriciate his words greatly, as I am always looking for advice. He brings up excellent points though. I have a lot going on in my life, but I still can find time to have fun in between that. And reguarding my projects, my life won’t be over, or at least, one would hope not, in a few days, so I don’t have to try and do everything all at once. It’s all amazingly good things to think about.

A few weeks ago, I purchased myself a small calendar book, in order to help me organize my life a little better. Starting in November, I plan on using it more often to help keep myself in order. I think it’s a good start into making sure my life is on the right track, and that I’m getting the most out of my life. It’s not really to schedule my whole life, because that’s impossible even if I wanted to, which I don’t. Rather, I just want to make sure I know how much time I have to be able to do whatever whenever. I always seem to lose track of the time when I’m trying to accomplish something before I have to go to work, or whatever it may be, so I’m hoping this will help me out so that I’m not running around frantically because I’m almost late.

In reguards to my Blog here, I’m hoping to make this the center of my life, or something along those lines. I’m going to begin customizing this thing so that it houses as much information about my projects that I can. I have a lot of ideas, and really would love to share them, so I’m going to attempt to do that in the next few months. If you’re more interested in reading media reviews and such instead of my personal life, I’m hoping to add more of that back as soon as possible. Oh, and expect possibly more than one Blog a day. I’m always watching for things that interest me on the internet, so expect some opinions on stuff around the world.

By the way, I think I’ve finally gotten sick for the first time in a long time. Not terribly sick, just woke up with a stuffy nose and a sore throat. I’m gonna lie low until tomorrow, just to make sure that I can hopefully get better, since I work in the morning. I don’t like being sick, but then again, who does? So, without further ado, I will leave you. Oh, and if you read this, because I know more than a few do, please leave a comment here, just so I know who of you are who are reading these. Sometimes I wonder, and it’s just nice to know. Thanks everyone.

I’m not one to usually enjoy Blogging about my life and such. Back in the day, at a website I used to use daily, I used to Blog about my life all the time, telling people all of the latest updates. I’ve realized though that personal Blogs tend to go more or less unnoticed to the general public. In fact, when it comes to the whole idea of this Blog that I’m writing in altogether, while I have some great media reviews and such, many of them have seemingly gone unnoticed to the best of my knowledge. None the less, I continue to update this page as if maybe one day some sort of miracle would happen, or something along those lines. Regarding this website and such, no such miracle has come about, and that doesn’t bother me, but at the same time, I feel the urge tonight to write down somewhere as evidence all of the things that are changing in my life. In a few weeks, my lifestyle altogether will be changing, and I wonder if it’ll be a good thing, or if it will provide another set of challenges that will tear me down like the current ones are. The more I sit here writing this, the more I begin to slump down in my chair and get a little more depressed, which I dislike being immensely. But as I sit here, listening to the song Mad World by Gary Jules on loop, with a massive headache, and thinking about my life, I find myself thinking how much is going on right now, and how much I can’t seem to deal with at the moment, or so it seems from a broad point of view.

Work seems to be the biggest change in my life. Well, for the most part at least. I’ve become so frustrated with the team that I work with in the Electronics department of the Target I am employed at, that I finally had to take my Store Team Lead aside and sit down with her to explain why I was so upset. While she, unlike the other Team Leads closer to me, tried to provide help and assistance to help remedy the problems, I fear that they just are too little, too late. What the department needs is order, and someone to keep them in line. And while I have complete faith in our current Team Lead, she just isn’t doing anything about it in a timely manner. I’ve been told before, of course, that any kind of changes take time, and I understand that, but with morale dropping heavily in the department, and the store, time is not of the essence. So, in lieu of everything going on, I have accepted a position as a member of the Flow team which I was offered recently. I worry greatly about this decision that I have made, but I hope this was a step in the right direction. The Flow team is basically the team that comes in at four AM to help get the store fully stocked for the day’s shopping ahead. Usually they leave by 12:30 PM, which gives a nice, open day ahead to actually live, unlike what I am given now. The downfalls are that I have to go to bed much much earlier than I am used to, and I have to be awake by 2:30 in the morning. A very interesting lifestyle change indeed, but I do get paid a dollar more an hour for this position, so I am hoping that it turns out to be the right decision.

Of course, this position still has to work around my schooling that I am still taking. In December, I am planning on graduating for my first time with an Associates Degree in Multimedia. This should hopefully be a stepping stone into what should be my first job in the field that I want to work in for the rest of my life. Still though, I will be returning to ITT Technical Institute for another two years or so so that I can graduate a second time, that time with my Bachelors of Science Degree in Digital Entertainment and Game Design. A mouthful to say, I know, but a BS is an amazing thing to have, no matter what it’s in. Sadly, this also has it’s many drawbacks. Firstly, I am becoming more wary every day that this is really what I want to do, or rather, really what I will be able to do. My self-confidence level is still dangerously low, and I fear that I am making a very risky decision in my life. The second issue with this all, and it is one that anyone going to a college faces, but especially me due to the specialized field I am going into, is the cost of this education. This is costing me more money that I could ever even imagine earning. And if I, say, don’t make it into this field successfully, I am going to have more debt than I can ever even imagine trying to pay back. It’s a subject that’s had me on edge for quite some time, but is really coming into the limelight more and more the closer I get to the end of this trail. Getting older, while giving one more freedoms, is giving me more problems as well.

But what about time to myself? What about my time where I get to sit back, relax, and enjoy the day? Maybe with the new position at work I’ll be able to do more of that, but I still waste away too much of my days doing too many things that I regret. Obviously, I love video games, and getting a chance to just sit back and play them makes me very happy. But lately, I’ve been getting less and less time to catch up on all of the new, fun games that have been coming out, and it’s been making me sad. I’m trying to take on too many things at once, and trying to get in enjoyment as well has just been killing me from the inside out. At the same time as trying to play these video games, including two MMOs, which is a dangerous thing to be attempting, especially for one with little extra time in his life, I’m trying to create some projects that I’ve been keeping on the back burner for much more time than I ever should have. I love Role Playing, RPing for those who didn’t get it, and I’ve made many Forums in the past for them. But I’ve come up with so many ideas, that I want to centralize them. Unfortunately, this requires a lot of time and patience to come up with so much stuff, and it’s time that I just don’t have, so I’ve kept it so far behind. There’s another web related project that I’ve been putting off as well, one in a much more grand scale that I really need to think about more, but with so little time, and so few people around me interested in helping me out on a dedicated basis, it’s becoming a very big challenge.

And to top all of this off, as you may have read in a previous entry… I met someone. While I admit, I’ve only hung out with her for one full day, we really clicked, and decided to see where it went together. Sadly, our schedules conflict heavily, so I haven’t seen, nor barely even heard from her in almost a week. Now, let me back up here for a second. This girl, I like her a lot. She’s just my type in so many ways, and we have so many similar interests, that it’s great. I’ve noticed, though, that in the past week, I’ve come off as somewhat desperate, or at least that’s how I’ve viewed my actions. Honestly, when it comes to relationships, I feel that if I’m not giving it everything that I’ve got, then there’s just no point at all in being in a relationship. But I have fears that I’ve been giving off too much, and I just am scared to death that I’m going to chase her away from me. I have a terrible self-esteem, and I fear that it rubs off in such a bad way, that it’s causing people around me to turn away and abandon me. I feel, now that I’m reading back, I’m getting a bit off topic. There’s so much I want to say about this girl, but that I just can’t. I like her, a lot, and I really hope that I get to see her again soon. Right now, the thoughts of just seeing her again is what is keeping me from breaking down into a mess right now.

Honestly, I can’t even begin to tell you when the last time I’ve written this much is. Hell, who would have ever even believed that I could write this much just about my silly life. It’s a roller coaster, it really is. Having this past weekend off really opened my eyes that I need to organize my life so much more than I am right now, and get myself on track so that I don’t lose myself in everything that’s going on. It’s just a huge problem with me being a hopeless romantic, because my thoughts, hopes and dreams always keep falling on one thing, and we all know what happens when I get my hopes up. It’s troubling when you’re mind is this enigma that you’re reading right now. I’ve truly begun to lose my train of thought. I am very tired, as my schedule lately has been that of insanity, and as it is, I should be asleep instead of writing this right now. Due to my schedule of school and work, I have to be awake in a mear five hours so that I can, once again, go back to work, of which I just got off from about an hour ago. Right now, the only thing that I am looking forward to is hearing a special someones voice again, hopefully telling me a time sometime soon where I just can sit with her and forget the world. I just want to forget the world. It’s a very, very… mad world.

You know, I’m not a Halo fan, at all, period. I mean, I’ll play it, and it’s fun, but to be brutally honest, the game just doesn’t show anything very special to me. It’s a futuristic shooter of humans versus aliens, with cool weapons, excellent looking maps, and fun gameplay. But I can find a good handful more of these on many different systems, all different than Halo, yet still the same type of concept.

But, the point of this post isn’t to rip on Halo, or Bungie. In fact, it’s to praise them for their excellent work. What do I mean? Well you may be surprised to know, if you don’t keep up with the video game world very closely, that Bungie is working on a new Halo 3 project. Yes, I said Halo 3 project, and I don’t mean a downloadable update that gives you more titles or something silly like that. I mean a full-fledged campaign, featuring a new main storyline leading character. For those of you who have played Halo 3, you’ll know exactly why there’s a new main character for it. For those of you who haven’t yet played Halo 3… well, put two and two together, I’m sure you can figure it out. Did I forget to mention that this may have been a bit of a spoiler alert?

The reason, though, that I’m so impressed and happy with them, is because Bungie is excellent at working up a story. Or at least teasing us with something that looks cool and unique. Many people have complained about the Halo trilogy storyline, and while in some cases it’s well deserved, in the overall long run, the Halo universe story has been quite good. They succeeded in creating a compelling storyline which has led our hero Master Chief from one end of the universe to the other. And now, they’re looking to continue a branch of it in their newest work.

>> PLEASE REMAIN CALM <<

Halo 3: Recon is what they’re calling it. You can find the central hub for it on Bungie’s website under the odd code-word of “whvidldshbyjsdo“. How long it’ll stay that way, who knows, but it sure is unique, and odd. None the less, by visiting that and checking out the new Trailer, you’ll find that it looks to start in New Mombasa with an ODST, or Orbital Drop Shock Trooper, assuming that the time that this takes place is after the Covenant warped from right within the city. I found the trailer to be pretty unique, coming from the city’s auto-AI viewpoints for the most part. None the less, this opens up more questions than one could ever have guessed.

Will this be a brand new game, on a disc? Will this be a downloadable update? Will this be an XBL paid download? How long will the game be? Who is the main character? What’s happening? Do these questions end? Can I end this post in only questions? What about the trailer and the game? Are you interested? If I had an Xbox 360, would I buy it? Will you buy it? What do you think?

Well, hmmm.

So, speaking of work, I’m unable to go to it today due to the fact that my truck is in the shop, because it’s pretty much ripping up on the inside.

$750 worth of repairs to be exact. Yeah, it’s pretty rough in fact. So maybe I WON’T be updating as soon as I had originally hoped.

I have a lot of things that need to be done, and I don’t really have the time to sit around and write at the moment. Sucks, but I really don’t have any choice, you know?

Guess I’ll be seeing you around a little later!

And no, I don’t mean the Portal song. But anyways.

I’m just making a REALLY quick post, before I have to run off to work, to let you know that I’m not dead [yet], and that I’ll be back to posting hopefully sometime soon.

Life has gotten really hectic and busy lately, and has been getting me down, so I’ve been unable to do much of the stuff that I’m used to. But don’t worry, I’m trying to organize my time a little better, and I hope to be back up and running very soon.

I hope you’re all doing well, and I’ll see you back here soon! :)