cagman40 is featured in this clip

10/25/10:
Dragon Age Origins: Ultimate EditionI mentioned this one in my bit for the week of 10/11/10 because of some confusion about the release date. There’s still some confusion as it appears some places are selling it today, while Amazon doesn’t say anything about pre-ordering – instead they’re out of stock. I give up. I didn’t even like it when I played it the first time.

10/26/10:
Cabela’s Dangerous Hunts 2011Yet another I may have screwed up. I listed this for last week. Maybe I lied, maybe I was misinformed. Does it matter? I don’t think anyone’s buying it regardless of when it comes out.

SBK XAlright, already. I’m starting to think I’m a terrible researcher. This was posted last week but some reports are that it’s launching this week. Yet Amazon says it actually came out on the 10/12/10. And yet again, does anyone care?

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed III know some of you have been waiting for this one so it’s not news to you. Pick it up when you buy your Star Wars: The Clone Wars – The Complete Season Two [Blu-ray]. The Collector’s Edition has some pretty cool stuff to go with it too. Somehow I’ve convinced myself to wait for Gamefly – probably because I’m still trapped in New Vegas for several dozen more hours.

WWE Smackdown vs Raw 2011It’s been years since I’ve played a wrestling game since they were so hit or miss back then. But the reviews for this series seem to get better each year. I won’t be gambling $60 on it but it is in my GameQ.

Grand Theft Auto IV: CompleteIt’s the two year old game and the year old expansion pack wrapped up together in a whole new sku that supposedly will gain them a new audience. Seriously? If you haven’t played GTA IV already then I don’t think this package will encourage you to start.

Tony Hawk: Shred BundleThe next game to use the skateboard peripheral, you can buy it stand-alone or with the board. But didn’t the last one suck and everyone hated the board? Why are we doing this again?

CSI: Fatal ConspiracyWhen you price your brand new, licensed game at $30 I think you know how good it’s not going to be. Who is the market for this game?

Hasbro Family Game Night 3I haven’t played these games but my niece plays one of them on Wii and seems to like it. There are some classic board games from my childhood I’d like to play again and no one will play board games with me anymore. Is this the solution?

The Sims 3I played the first Sims on PC years ago, but I think I must be the only person on the planet that never actually liked it. I didn’t even know they were putting them on consoles now – mostly because I skipped all the Sims articles in my gaming magazines.

Blood DriveThis one will be at the top as a confusing entry next week. Some places have it releasing this week, other’s are next week. Either way, what is it? Looks like a low rent Twisted Metal.

The Fight: Lights OutObviously a boxing game. I’ve played a couple boxing games over the years but they have no draw for me. If I recall, last year’s version reviewed well.

Rock Band 3I wish this would have come out a while ago. I was really into Rock Band for a long time and I’ve spent tons of money on it over the years between games, instruments and DLC. This game looks like a very standout improvement in the music genre. But there have been so many music games over the last two years that the whole genre seems a little dead. I find it strange that a game I’ve spent a 100 hours or more playing has a sequel that I almost didn’t even add to my GameQ.

That’s about it for the week. Force Unleashed II looks awesome. The demo was great and looks like a big improvement on the first one. Let us know if you get any of these this week and if they’re any good or not.

As mentioned on Notch’s (the minecraft creators) blog. And shown on Kotaku. Minecraft has been crashing due to a massive DDOS attack. The following message was posted on 4channer by those claiming to be responsible.

Minecraft is currently experiencing a stimulation provided by us.
It’s purpose is to send Notch a clear message of how the future of minecraft will turn out unless he gets to work, namely by influencing the amount of sales taking place, due to the attacks.
Start providing your customers with the updates that you promise them.
We have roughly 83,000 bots available, and preserved for this seizure, we could if we wanted to keep this going for weeks, however we have decided to give it a week, and see whether or not your attitude, and commitment will change, we believe it will when money stops rolling in for the time being…
anyhow, no we’re not from roblox, or any other minecraft clone, not to mention none of us have been around 4chan for years, and nor has any real 4channers for that matter, its all newfags now, and has been for quite a few years.”
Is the official quote. I don’t know the origin of the quote, but it is happening.

I guess if they don’t get their way no one gets to enjoy Minecraft…Maybe they should leave their parents basements and reconnect to the real world for a while.

As most of the tech world that cares saw, the announcement for the WIndows 7 phones was made Monday Oct. 11, 2010. Steve Ballmer of Microsoft in conjunction with Ralph DeLaVega of AT&T stood before media and consumers monday morning and showed off the new pieces of technology brought forward by LG, HTC, and Samsung. I figured since most of you have seen the video replay, and probably read the spec sheets on the devices. I figiured I would weigh in my 2 cents after watching the presentation once or twice, and mulling it over for a week or so.

Coming to ATT we’ll be seeing the:

LG Quantum featuring:

• 3.5″ capacitive touch screen.
• 16 gig built in flash memory
• 1ghz Snapdragon processor
• A full slide-out qwerty keyboard.

the HTC 7 Surround will be featuring:

• 3.5″ capacitive touch screen.
• 1ghz Snapdragon processor
• slide out bar of surround speakers.
  (didn’t hear whether there was on board memory or what the camera involved would be. I assume 5 mpx on the camera.)

And finally the Samsung Focus

• 4″ Super Amoled screen
• 1 ghz Snapdragon Processor
• 8 giga built in memory
• 5 MP camera
• This is the thinnest of the lineup at 9.9 mm thick

The focus will be available on Nov. 8 for 199.99 with of course a 2 year service contract other devices will be available “just a few weeks later” at the same price with the same contract involved.

After seeing the three devices I find myself torn between the Focus and the HTC.. The 4″ capacitive touch screen with Amoled (as seen in the captivate) is a huge plus that Samsung has brought to the market place. However, I have a soft spot in my heart for HTC seeing as they have released the most and some of the best Android devices that I love so much.

Other carriers namely (Sprint/Tmobile, and other international companies will receive devices running the O.S. as well.) those are named.

HTC HD7 HTC 7 Mozart
HTC 7 Trophy
HTC 7 Pro
Dell Venue Pro
LG Optimus 7
Samsung Omnia 7

Now that we’ve listed devices lets talk the information on W7 mobile thus far. Organizing the device by hub seems like a natural way to move information across a phone. and giving individual people a live icon that connects to ALL of their information with simple customization adds a natural looking feel to the phone as well. Being able to have an icon with my fiances face on it showing me her facebook/twitter updates, and other important info seems like a great way to place information for those you connect with moth.

The office hub including mobile versions of word/excel/power point, to create and display on the go is something I see being helpful for large businesses, or business men in general and tech savvy college students looking for a boost in efficiency. This combined with the cloud networking features the phone brings to the table is bound to be handy.

Setting your camera to “auto upload” your photos to your Facebook, or media site of choice when snapped is also a cool addition. This addition I can see killing the battery life even faster. And causing large amounts of scandal across the world, “what do you mean you saw her on my Facebook honey?”

The games hub was by far my favorite addition, allowing you to connect your phone to your Xbox Live profile and have your avatar and gamer score a.k.a e-penis showing on the device. This functionality also gives gamers the change to increase their e-pen… I mean gamer score by playing games on the device. The online messaging system seems very fluid, and similar to that of XBox live, including game invites and match-making. The direct Zune integration into the devices add to the overall experience as well. Users will be able to purchase content on XBox Live, Zune Market Place, or Xboxlive.com and utilize the content across any devices they own compatible with Zune. This service seems much more ready than Apples GameCenter, which is probably a direct result of having the previous experience with XBox Live. Microsoft also has a strong set of launch titles ready including The Sims 3, IloMilo, Need for Speed, and promises of more to come. All reports back on the new devices are exceptionally positive.
Bonus: All AT&T phones will come with IloMilo included, and 1 month subscription to the new U-Verse streaming TV app as well.
More on the Win7 phones to come soon I’m sure, discuss below.

This is not a review of the game, more just a review of the bonus items in the Collector’s Edition and my first impression with the game. If I finish it in a reasonable amount of time (unlikely due to my upcoming schedule) I’ll post an official review. In the meantime, I’ll drop any highlights as I see them in our forum.

The Collector’s Edition is awesome. I can’t say for sure it’s worth an extra $20, but it was to me because I had $60 in Gamestop gift cards, making the game basically free.

First, the box is a good size and very sturdy with a unique, aged look. I can actually see this getting more use as a good-looking storage item than the lunchbox that came with my Fallout 3 Collector’s Edition.

The next thing I saw during the unpackaging is the “graphic novel.” Hardly. It’s more like a hard-bound single issue comic. Bethesda could have saved me $5 and made this a paper comic instead. I read the entire thing at breakfast this morning. That doesn’t mean it wasn’t good, just over-packaged. The story doesn’t make tons of sense on its own, but I think it’s going to work well with the game. I’m hoping that when I read it again after finishing the game I get something new from it. The art is fantastic. I’m not a fan of multiple page splash fights, which this has, but it’s seriously good-looking.

Removing the comic book I got my first look at the actual game box, but I ignored it for the moment to focus on the large platinum “Lucky 38” casino chip. It’s not quite as solid as I’d hoped, but what did I really think it was going to be? It’ll be a good card protector or dealer button when I play in home poker games. The other seven chips from the in-game casinos are nice. As a poker player I was impressed that they did heavy clay chips instead of cheap plastic. They’ve also got a great look. I could totally believe that these chips were left sitting in an abandoned desert casino for a couple hundred years. I’m thinking my smaller home games will incorporate these as my “deep-stack” chips by making them worth $10k or something.

Next is the deck of cards. It’s pretty, but completely worthless for any gaming other than solitaire. It’s a full deck of 52, but the backs are a mix from all the different in-game casinos instead of a unified deck. It’s only a matter of time until you figure out that your opponent isn’t holding the ace of spades because none of the cards in his hand have the right backing.

The “making of” disc is in a simple cardboard sleeve with a cool graphic. I didn’t realize it right away, but this is actually a blu-ray (PS3 version). Obviously the game disc would be, but I didn’t expect the bonus disc to be as well. I watched the videos last night after playing the game for a few hours. It’s got roughly an hour’s worth of content covering the voicework, story, characters, etc.

As for gameplay, I started and played about 4-5 hours. It took my PS3 roughly 15 minutes to do the mandatory install. I am playing in hardcore mode on normal difficulty. Hardcore requires more diligent inventory management as you must be carrying food, water and health options at all times – plus, ammo has weight. You really need to plan your load out because you can’t just carry one of each type of weapon to accomodate all situations and still have enough ammo to make it matter. I gave my character plenty of strength to carry everything and extra agility for VATS. Then I realized that type of character would be great at unarmed/melee combat, a build I’ve never tried before in a Fallout game. It’s a new experience for me but since I’ve found the spiked knuckles it’s very rewarding. A bit of advice to parents that should go without saying: Don’t let your kids play a game that literally has you punching limbs and heads off on a regular basis. Once the game started I began what I feel is a pretty neutral karmic course. I help everyone, but I expect to be well-paid; and I have no problem stealing something if it’s valuable, light and useful. I’m about to break into an NCR prison and I feel I’m well on my way to a grand adventure.

For those of you still leveling your party or training them up for online battlings, you may check the mystery gift every once in a while. Checking today brought me the excitement of  a Mew as the gift, so if you haven’t grabbed one, log on and snag it!

October 18, 1985– not exactly a day that will live in infamy but one which forever changed the world.  Twenty-five years ago, the Nintendo Entertainment System was first sold in America, almost two years after its introduction in Japan as Famicom.

Initial sales were not good.  Nintendo had to guarantee purchases of systems by retailers, who were promised they could return unsold units for a full refund.  What a contrast to today’s blockbuster releases of the PS3 and XBox 360, or the NES’s great-great grandchild, the Wii.  Like the Wii, Nintendo marketed its system differently– as a system that came with a zapper light gun and a robot– A FRICKIN’ ROBOT!!!  –as opposed to just controllers.

NES launched in the US packaged with Duck Hunt and Gyromite and only had 11 other titles:

ZOMBIElucas is featured in this clip

Short and to the point as I’m a little behind on everything right now:

10/18/10:
Power Gig: Rise of the SixStringThis seems pretty late to the party for music games and it’s clear they’re trying to pre-empt Rock Band 3, but they should probably have tried to do it by more than a week. You can also get the 6 string guitar controller bundle for $180 or a band kit for $230.

10/19/10:
SBK XSuperbike racing. This game gets my award this week for being the least heard of game before release.

Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 2Anime-based game. As usual, if you’re the audience you know. If you’re not, you might be missing something but I’m not well-versed enough to advise.

Fallout: New VegasDon’t be silly. Get this game. I’ll be hibernating in the basement for a month after I pick this up tomorrow afternoon. It looks like Amazon may have limited, if any, quantities remaining on the Collector’s Edition. I’m getting my CE at Gamestop and you’d do well to get it as well.

Edit: XBox 360 will apparently have limited exclusivity on the DLC for this game. If you’re still trying to decide on which console to buy it that might help. I’m sure PS3 will get it a year late just like last time.

Saw II: Flesh and BloodBecause the first one wasn’t bad enough?

Kevin VanDam’s Big Bass ChallengeBecause you’re fishing game fix hasn’t been met by all the other crummy titles in the last month or two?

Cabela’s Dangerous Hunts 2011Because the sport of dangerous animal hunting changes so much from year to year that you need a new title every fall just like football?

DJ Hero 2 Stand-Alone SoftwareHaven’t played the first one and don’t really have an interest – but I have heard great things. I might be missing the boat on this one. If anyone plays it, let me know. I’m keeping an open mind but I don’t know if I want to risk the money on the peripherals if I don’t KNOW it’s good.

The ShootI think the big draw on this one is the MOVE compatibility. When I first saw it I was intrigued, but now have virtually no excitement for this one.

Rock of the DeadBecause the only thing music games are missing is zombies?

Bakugan Battle Brawlers: Defenders of the CoreThis one is confusing me again. I know nothing of the game – but Gamestop has it listed for release this week and Amazon has it scheduled for next week. How does this happen?

Pro Evolution Soccer 2011Do you buy this title each year? If so, it’s out. If not, you don’t care.

VanquishFor some reason the only press I’ve heard on this game doesn’t saything about it. Apparently they want you to know that you’ll like this one if you liked Bayonetta (which I haven’t played yet).

Time Crisis: Razing StormTwo MOVE compatible shooting games in one: Time Crisis 4 and Deadstorm Pirates.

EA SPORTS: MMAI still can’t figure out how MMA can be fun in a video game but if the pre-release hype is to be believed then this should be the one to buy – assuming you care more about the mechanics than the big UFC names.

Looks like that’s it. Lots of releases, but few good ones. And one that should be great.

First and foremost, there will be “spoilers” in this review. And by that, I mean I will be discussing some of the boss fights. There is no plot for this game, so obviously I won’t be spoiling any of that.

Sonic the Hedgehog has always been one of my favorite video game characters. My brother and I played through Sonic 1, 2, 3, and 4 (Sonic & Knuckles) a billion times. The games that followed Sonic & Knuckles were pretty atrocious. Does anyone remember Sonic 3D? Yah, it didn’t work then just like it doesn’t work now. Sonic Adventure was a decent title, but it started bringing in all those alternate characters no one gives a shit about.

With this brief history, you can imagine how excited I was to hear Team Sonic returning to their side-scrolling roots and pretending like everything after Sonic & Knuckles didn’t exist. And to be fair, it is just that. Sonic running and kicking the shit out of Robotnik’s goons. The visuals are pretty and all of the acts are throw backs to previous Sonic games. This kinda brings me in for all of my cons.

The controls for this game are sluggish. It takes a good amount of time pushing in either direction to get Sonic to open it up and run. And even after hitting some of the boosts, you aren’t really going that fast. One of my favorite parts of Sonic 3 was running so fast that you passed the camera and it took a few seconds for the screen to find you. The sluggish controls also are a pain in some of the platforming found in the final 3 acts.

In one particular sequence you have to jump onto a series of platforms that are smashing into spikes on one half, and open space on the other. Seems simple enough. But due to the fact that you can’t just bump the analog in a direction to nudge Sonic over, its very difficult. You have to get a running start just to move a few feet.

In a lot of ways, this game feels more like Sonic 1.5 rather than Sonic 4. All of the cool power ups from Sonic 3 and 4 are gone. No more lightning, flame or bubble shield. Just a regular green shield. Your buddies Tails and Knuckles are nowhere to be found. The special stages are just like the stages in Sonic 1. Over all this game just feels like they “updated” the graphics and ported it to Xbox LIVE.

One new feature has been added. The homing attack. But it’s hardly new, and its difficult to implement. Especially in the boss fights. After doing a homing attack you bounce in the air for a few second recovery. Which isn’t a real hinderance until the final fight with Eggman (I’ll get to that in a second). I was also surprised to see how many extra lives were scattered about the game. By the final boss fight I had 20 something lives. Turns out I’d need most of those.

There are 4 regions that you have to get through on this game. There is the classic level, casino world, water labyrinth and Robotnik’s factory. Each region has a boss fight, and they’re all pretty cake. Mostly regurgitations of games past. All of them I easily beat without dying. After defeating Robotnik in his factory, naturally you go up to space with him for a rehash of the Sonic 2 final fight. “>Does this look familiar?

This was by far the most frustrating portion of the game. Up until this point, you could take down the fat guy with 4 hits. Now its to be expected this one will take a little longer… but geez. The first phase involves bouncing off his chest a billion times while avoiding his flying fists and when he slams on the ground. After that, he starts to short circuit and you can no longer bounce off him without going through a few complicated steps. Anyhow… after a lot of trial and error and more error the game throws its biggest cheap shot at you yet.

Robotnik is now beeping and all that jazz cause he’s going to do. His homing attack is all outta wack, so you aren’t sure where he’s going to land. He slams into the ground with his fist making it shake. And then it falls beneath you and you die. WTF. A little more trial and error to find out you have all of 2 seconds to get up and hit him one last time to stop the ground from falling out from beneath you.

After all this trouble I’m looking forward to a sweet ending. Sure, the game has been very plot thin compared to the previous two Sonic games. A huge disappointment by the way. But maybe just maybe he’ll do one of those (previously) cutting edge jumps to towards the screen and make some kick-ass pose. Nope. He runs to the left (the left?!) past a bunch of critters and rings (I know nerds, you’re supposed to try and get all these for that not-so-alternate ending) and stops. Strikes a pose. Game over.

That is unless you want to go through all those grueling special stages and find all the secrets for a lack-luster alternate ending. Sonic 4 was disappointing for me. Especially for 1200 points. For that kinda cash you should just download Sonic 1, 2, 3 or the real 4 to get your nostalgia kick. And that’s really what this game makes me want to do. It’s nice to see Sonic Team going back to it’s roots, but I think they went a little too far.