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  • avatar

    Phokal 1:29 pm on May 27, 2008 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , games,   

    I can\'t let you do that, Dave

    Xbox DRM – In the age of PC Digital Distrobution

    Xbox DRM has been a bane for us all. We have all red ringed our xbox 360′s, and if you haven’t, then you just haven’t used yours enough yet. I’m not sure how they calculate their 10-30% failure rate. I believe it lies closer to 100%. It WILL fail eventually, often within a year and a half. Still, it is probably the system to own if you like to play games (lots of great exclusives), and especially if you like to game online with friends. Once your 360 dies and you (hopefully) get it replaced, you have access to your content. Restricted access that requires the owner be logged on the 360, and in some extreme cases MUST BE ACTIVELY PLAYING. This is to prevent friends from sharing Live content, but it affects us ALL once our first system dies. I have to be logged in just for my friends to have access to FREE GAMER PICS I downloaded while they make their Profile (Local or Live).

    PC Gaming, however, has even a bigger hurdle with Piracy. Yet, they are adapting in different ways with their digital distribution. Is there a solution to DRM on either platform that can make consumers happy, while giving businesses profit? The rule of a successful compromise is that neither party leaves happy; but isn’t that necessary for good/repeat business? As a consumer, shouldn’t we BE happy?

    (More …)

     
  • avatar

    Phokal 10:57 pm on May 13, 2008 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: black hole, games, it's over nine thousand!!!, ,   

    i can\'t see a damn thing

    The Darkness Progress Report #2

    I’ve been slowly working my way back through The Darkness. I have diligently put aside the bigger titles (like GTA IV and Mass Effect) in an effort to finish a half dozen or so “half-finished” games. These aren’t games I have just played, but games I was more than half completed with.

    That isn’t to say The Darkness is a bad, or sub-par game. It is actually quite enjoyable and fun. By the Chronicles of Riddick guys (Starbreeze), The Darkness is a well-developed FPS.

    It definitely is coming together even better near the end, as you finally have enough Shadow Shield (life) and Ammo to make it through a fire fight without losing either. Early game required a fair amount of hiding while shields could recharge. The game also had a very Half-life 1 feel for the ammo collection. You generally get just barely more than it takes to kill everyone. Every missed shot reduces your overall pool, and sometimes you will find yourself switching from empty guns after killing just a couple of guys.

    Luckily, I finally got the Black Hole power and nearly max level of darkness. (More …)

     
    • avatar

      phokal 11:23 pm on May 13, 2008 Permalink | Reply

      Oh. One thing to add:
      “Hell Nazi zombies.”

      ’nuff said.

  • avatar

    Phokal 10:14 pm on March 24, 2008 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: bloom blox, games, head tracking, I can see the matrix,   

    Headtracking Wii

    bloom box has head tracking.

    Remember those awesome head tracking vids of the wii? Of course you do; they are old as hell. But this link has been sitting in my archive awhile and I forgot to post it when it was new.

    Guess who else saw the videos? That’s right! None other than Steven Spielberg. Well, maybe not him directly, but the people working on his game apparently did.

    http://wiinintendo.net/2008/02/21/bloom-blox-has-head-tracking/

    Thanks for the link, Matt!

    For those not hyped about Steven’s game, know this: It’s a puzzle game, it’s cute, it has explosions, it has marching armies of chickens.

    Believe the hype.

     
  • avatar

    Phokal 12:23 am on March 11, 2008 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: games, , , space marines   

    Aliens

    pLayday: 3/11 – Halo 3

    Alright. After last weeks showing, we all learned a valuable lesson:

    Space Marines > Marines

    Sure, CoD4 may be the new CounterStrike, but it doesn’t have splitscreen. That’s what happens when you are a PC game ported to consoles, rather than a console game. (Console games ported to PC just have ridiculous system requirements).

    So let’s go back to a nice staple: Halo 3

    Depending on the number of people we get, we can either matchmake, play private matches, or campaign co-op. Any preferences?

     
    • avatar

      hintzilla 7:24 am on March 11, 2008 Permalink | Reply

      yes, all of that.

    • avatar

      Chue 6:43 pm on March 11, 2008 Permalink | Reply

      I still prefer Marines with realistic guns > Space Marines with plasticky guns.

  • avatar

    Phokal 12:08 am on March 11, 2008 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: games, , kane and lynch, lunch is an easy typo   

    Kane and Lynch

    I finally beat: Kane and Lynch

    A little late for this review, but it will draw inevitable parallels to Army of Two. In order to have those parallels, I have to discuss Kane and Lynch first.

    This game got lynched in the reviews. Receiving fairly “eh” to poor scores, not to mention the whole Gamespot fiasco (where a reviewer coincidentally gave the game a low score, ads were removed, and then he, after 10 years, was fired within 24 hours or so). The game was made by the Hitman team in the vain of their other project: Freedom Fighters (which received a very high ~9.6 at Gamespot and is an excellent game). So, where did Kane and Lynch go wrong? Well, first you’d have to prove it did go wrong. (More …)

     
    • avatar

      Owen 3:55 am on April 3, 2010 Permalink | Reply

      Hey there! Thanks for this review, I just stumbled across your website.

      I’d say this is one of the most accurate reviews I’ve seen of kane and lynch. I definitely agree that this game is a co-op game at heart, and twice as fun played with a friend. Sure, it has issues, such as the poor cover system and far from accurate aiming system, snipers are horrifically awkward to take out, the graphics are inconsistent (why’s there no syringe in your team mate’s hand when you get revived?) and the F bomb is a little over used, but it really says allot for this game that I am still singing its praises! Oh, and me and my little bro are taking on that helicopter boss at the moment, it is FREAKING hard!

  • avatar

    Phokal 11:40 pm on March 3, 2008 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: and you have a time limit, CoD4 on Veteran is EASY in comparison, games, , incredibly hard, N+, omg difficult, seriously you don't even have a gun, ,   

    PBF - Little Mac

    N+ is fucking hard

    Seriously. It’s very hard. Call of Duty 4 on Veteran? You have AI friends to help you through the hard parts. You have a GUN. In N+? Your only weapon is a self-sacrificing friend in co-op to blow themselves up on some mines. That, and you can jump. Not ON to anything, mind you, ala Mario. Touching them will kill you. But you can jump over them at least. Unless they home in on your position / lock-on and track you.

    Still, it has been getting great reviews for its 4 player co-op-ability. And in this regards, the game is excellent. The game has a stick (go left and right), and a button (jump). You can give the controller to anybody and they will understand what to do. More so than Mario Party, Halo, Raving Rabbids, Rock Band, or any of those other Party Games. The games difficulty may turn some people off, but as long as it is not taken too seriously it is hilarious to watch failure as rag doll parts clear an entire mine field for the rest of your team.

    (More …)

     
    • avatar

      Boramis 8:06 am on March 5, 2008 Permalink | Reply

      I’m one of the (lucky?) ones that can confirm that exiting to the main menu isn’t a guarantee. I’d already read the blog post so I made sure to do that and it still ate my progress from before CoD4 last night. Seems to have saved correctly the next time, so hopefully I never have to look at episode .04 again.

    • avatar

      phokal 9:54 pm on March 8, 2008 Permalink | Reply

      Just played some more. MP Coop. Still very hard. Episode Mission 5 seems…impossible?

      Yes. Probably very impossible. No way to beat it. Really.

  • avatar

    Phokal 10:57 pm on March 3, 2008 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , games, grenade spam, n00b tube, ,   

    CoD4 Price

    pLayday: 3/4 – Call of Duty 4

    I know it isn’t split-screen (and online simultaneously), and not everyone owns it. But Halo 3 two weeks in a row seems a bit lame when most of us have this game. It’s a low hp, high speed match. Think Counterstrike. Larger maps a decent teamplay help a lot. Getting the drop on somebody generally leads to a free kill (much more so often than in Halo).

    Experience gained in online matches also directly relates to new class skills, abilities, and guns. There is also a party system similar to Halo’s (though I have yet to use it). It should be fun.

    There are many different types of game modes. If anyone has any info on them, or preferences for what we play, post away.

     
    • avatar

      Chue 8:41 am on March 4, 2008 Permalink | Reply

      We can probably start with a Free For All match or a Team Death Match to get everyone accustomed. They are instant respawning types with the simple objective of kill kill kill uav kill kill airstrike kill kill helicopter support.

    • avatar

      hintzilla 1:10 pm on March 4, 2008 Permalink | Reply

      dandy. i haven’t checked out the party system much either, so this should be interesting. also, the auto update for cod4 just came out late last week i believe. i’ve only played one game to check out the new kill cams since then, which means that i ran around like a jackass trying to get people to kill me with grenades and airstrikes. the new grenade cam is all kinds of cool, but i haven’t seen any of the others yet.

    • avatar

      KFlair 2:49 pm on March 4, 2008 Permalink | Reply

      Turns out I have to make some phone calls for work tonight, so it doesn’t matter that Josh and I are CODless. Happy shooting!

  • avatar

    Phokal 11:11 pm on February 29, 2008 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: don't have a cow, , eat my shorts, games, simpsons   

    don't tell me the ending to: The Simpson's Game 

    Bart Simpson Chalkboard

    don’t tell me the ending to: The Simpson’s Game

    Player 2 doesn’t get achievements. This game is fun, but I can’t imagine playing it single player. Combined, these two facts can kill this game for many of you. I, however, have a couple friends who don’t have 360′s and couldn’t give two shits about achievements. Lucky me.

    The game itself is cartoony, but hardly pretty. I haven’t had a chance to try it, but from the game trailers the Naruto game does better cell shading. The game does contain animated cartoon clips for cinematics, which are in all their hd glory. Combined with the humor (and the graphics certainly aren’t bad), the game has a charming presentation. Nothing like running through the “Game Engine” level, where video games are made, passing posters of EA’s Bite Night 2004 (Tyson on the cover), and a skeleton’s in EA’s QA Dept.

    It also has made me laugh. I know. I haven’t seen the Simpson’s movie yet, but the show certainly hasn’t done that in awhile. We, the gamers, are certainly the target audience. One of the many level collectibles are “Cliches.” These include things like “Swimming: you can’t swim until the sequel.” or “Exploding Barrels” and “Invisible Barriers.” Each time you find one Comic Book Guy comes up and delivers a clever line of dialog. Greatest gaming references. Ever.

    I’ve been having fun with it. The running around Springfield section they brought over from Hit and Run is fairly useless, and completely unfun from a gameplay standpoint. But, the actual levels are classic brawler/platformer levels. It is Lego Star Wars fun without being Lego Star Wars. And we all know we’ve played that game pretty much to death already (released 3 times now?).

     
    • avatar

      euphoricdream 12:03 pm on March 2, 2008 Permalink | Reply

      I played this demo and I thought it was utter garbage. Glad to hear there may be some redeeming qualities. The graphics seemed fine to me, gameplay wasn’t. Even Dani didn’t like it and she played through Hit and Run a few times.

      Big old meh. Maybe they should try to release a fun stage for the demo.

    • avatar

      detnap 7:32 pm on March 2, 2008 Permalink | Reply

      That’s not Tyson that you see in Bite Night, but it’s Dedrick Tatum.

    • avatar

      Phokal 1:42 am on March 3, 2008 Permalink | Reply

      Huh?

      I don’t know enough about boxing outside of my Fight Night Round 1 experience…

    • avatar

      detnap 12:22 pm on March 3, 2008 Permalink | Reply

      Dedrick Tatum isn’t a professional boxing character, it’s a Simpson’s character (based on Mike Tyson, so they look and sound alike). In the episode where he was in, it was a spoof of Tyson’s comeback fight against the stooge peter McNeeley. Tyson picked someone who he knew he could totally whip, and in the episode, Tatum picked Homer as his opponent.

      It was a good episode.

    • avatar

      Phokal 1:17 pm on March 3, 2008 Permalink | Reply

      Ohh. hah. i think i remember that episode.

      He isn’t biting Homer, though. And, how do you know who appears in the poster? Do you have The Simpson’s game?

      Anyway, yea, the gameplay is a resounding “eh,” but the comedy of the Simpson’s game is pretty funny. Is it $60 funny? probably not. But certainly $20 (if you have a friend to play coop with).

    • avatar

      detnap 5:35 pm on March 3, 2008 Permalink | Reply

      No, I don’t have the game, but I couldn’t really believe that the Simpson’s would use Tyson when they had Dedrick Tatum. He didn’t have to bite Homer since Tatum was a parody of Tyson, so he was just biting any random guy (and if we were to draw parallels, Tatum didn’t bite Homer since Homer = McNeeley and not Holyfield (whom tyson bit)

      Did he look like this?
      http://simpsons.wikia.com/wiki/Drederick_Tatum

      Again, I will say it again. If they would have gone through and made the game with all the different gameplay genres with all the cliches intact (ie, fps, role playing game, sports games with roster updates, wacky japanese party game, racing, etc) I would have been all over it. As it is, it just seems like an oldschool action kick/punch/jump game.

    • avatar

      Chana 2:25 am on October 28, 2008 Permalink | Reply

      This is great info to know.

  • avatar

    Phokal 11:50 pm on February 25, 2008 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , boosting, bungholes, games, , halo 3 1.1, melee fixed,   

    Halo Rocket

    pLayday: 2/25 – Halo 3

    I hear Halo 3 has been patched. So I throw the disc in. Lo and behold, the first patch for Halo 3 is upon us. And from the servers descended thy AutoUpdate 1, patching ye Halo 3 to version 1 point 1. As it is written:

    “omg, did j00 fixz melee, bungholes?”

    “Yes. We have patched Halo to 1 point 1. Now Melee damage will no longer favor the advantaged over the disadvantaged, the strong over the weak. Now they will both perish in a flurry of fists if they are of almost equal skill and health. So, shutup n00bs.”

    And the peasants rejoiced.

    (More …)

     
    • avatar

      mattlindh 12:03 am on February 26, 2008 Permalink | Reply

      The hell are you talking about?

    • avatar

      Phokal 1:21 pm on February 26, 2008 Permalink | Reply

    • avatar

      hintzilla 8:42 am on February 29, 2008 Permalink | Reply

      if anyone feels like getting together for some legendary co-op or campaign scoring this weekend (or any time), shoot me a message.

    • avatar

      Phokal 9:39 am on February 29, 2008 Permalink | Reply

      i’ve still got the first 4, and last 2, levels to do on legendary. definitely down for that.

      also, 2 more skulls to go as well.

    • avatar

      hintzilla 10:06 am on March 7, 2008 Permalink | Reply

      ok, so i ended up having to be gone for most of last weekend, but this weekend, lets get some co-op going on. i’ve been playing a little bit of legendary by myself, and some parts are ridiculously frustrating, and the wicked save points don’t help much. anyways, i’m down with a marathon session of the entire campaign, or just a level or 2. anyone who is down, shoot me a message.

  • avatar

    Phokal 11:29 pm on February 25, 2008 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , CoD, games, poor skimask guy,   

    CoD4 Grenades

    CoD4 Progress Report #1

    I’ve slowly been making my way through Call of Duty 4 on Veteran (the hardest) difficulty setting. It isn’t too bad, except for a few key sequences that are exceptionally hard. Ridiculously hard. omg-i’m-going-to-beat-QA-to-death-with-my-controller hard.

    Seriously.

    If I meet someone who tested these sequences,… they better hope they have quick load handy.

    At this point, I am generally abusing the fact that my AI compatriots are invulnerable. I try to have them breach and clear the house first, since if I turn a corner and actually see someone the only breaching done is the kind that keeps you in the shower scrubbing yourself raw and mumbling.

    (More …)

     
    • avatar

      mattlindh 12:13 am on February 26, 2008 Permalink | Reply

      “If I meet someone who tested these sequences,… they better hope they have quick load handy.”

      I doubt you’d go through with it.

    • avatar

      hintzilla 11:57 am on February 26, 2008 Permalink | Reply

      i’m still struggling with the veteran levels as well. i’ve formed the terrible habit of just skipping a level if i can’t beat a certain part, which is probably screwing me over even worse. i wish they had achievements for just trying, like a participation award or something.

    • avatar

      Phokal 1:17 pm on February 26, 2008 Permalink | Reply

      “Beep Boop”
      “Hey! I got an achievement!”
      “Not quite…”

      Aspiration Unlocked: Loaded Mile High Club on Veteran difficulty.

    • avatar

      mattlindh 10:27 pm on February 26, 2008 Permalink | Reply

      My aspiration is also to join the mile high club.

    • avatar

      Les 6:50 pm on September 3, 2008 Permalink | Reply

      Just wondering the obvious I guess, how do oyou skip a level in CoD4? Mine won’t let me cheat. And the Javelin never locks onto a Tank, or anything so I can’t get past the level. Thanks.

    • avatar

      phokal 7:53 pm on September 3, 2008 Permalink | Reply

      There should be a chapter select from the main single player screen. I can’t remember if it will me you actually skip ahead though. I think Hintzilla was just dropping to an easier difficulty and the moving ahead via chapter select.

      As for the javalin, I could lock on through walls with that thing. I think you need to use left trigger iron-sights view to do it. Maybe left trigger + right thumb stick click to zoom.

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