The DLC Generation: Rockband 1 Export into Rockband 2 = $5

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Worth it?

I think so.

It is worth it to not have to deal with the Rock Band 1 disc or interface ever again.  The “paid” is just the sacrifice for the fact that you can lend a disc to someone, and they get rb1 for free.  Someone who may not have picked up Rock Band 2 otherwise.

Consumers pay the price for that kind of “piracy,” but $5 isn’t too hard to swallow for that service.  It is nice that they offered it at all.  The closest that has come before was Singstar’s disc swapping ability, and that’s a distant second to this new functionality.

At $1 i wouldn’t have even blinked.

But is that just a symptom of being conditioned in this era of DLC?  This generation of gaming was supposed to be the HD generation, but I don’t think that’s really the push this generation.  Sure, the odd game has small text, but the games themselves still look as good on a small standard def as they do on HD.  Not only that, but because of the increase in textures, most gameplay is still fairly similar to last generation.  There hasn’t really been a Shadow of the Colossus yet, and it’s been 4 years.  Dead Rising can only be touted so much.

The point is: HD isn’t the main drive of this generation.  It’s DLC.

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Free Portal Levels for PC

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This has been posted around other places, but I feel like throwing it up here:

If you have Portal for the PC, you can get a free level pack (fairly large one) here @ Portal Prelude

http://portalprelude.com/

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I finally beat: Naruto – Rise of a Ninja

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naruto_aww

It crashed a lot.  A ton.  So much that I skipped a few of the side missions near the end just to bring the game to a close.  It was incredibly frustrating.  Imagine a game filled with obsticles and traps, but instead of killing you they would hard freeze your system.  Then you would have to stand up, walk over, hit the power button and reset the console, wait for it to load, log back in, wait for it to load, boot up the game, wait for it to load, pick a storage device, wait for it to load, load your save game, wait for it to load.

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speak softly, and always carry a stick

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paddle

I played Evil in Fable 1.  It is very rare for me to play as the Evil side primarily.  The only other game I can think of was my preference for the Soviet faction in Red Alert.

Here’s a story from Fable 1:

When you first begin your combat training as a youth, you are given a wooden stick to attack your Rival.  As you easily beat this spunky girl your instructor throws in two real swords for you to get your first taste of the weight of steel and real combat.

Your Rival eagerly picks up the weapon, but is hesitant to hurt you.

I did not pick up the weapon, but was eager to hurt my Rival.

That’s right.  I kept the stick.

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Dead Space is Now Finished

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Well, I’m done.

I don’t have too much more to say other than to say that it’s pretty good. It had a plot that propelled me to continue playing, and I think here we’re seeing the birth of a franchise (with additional media from comics and dvds, probably followed soon by toothbrushes and pogs).

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Phokal's Holiday '08 Wishlist

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There are too many games coming out this holiday season to buy, let alone play, them all.

Here’s where I’m going to mentally organize what I want, what I plan to buy, and what I’m willing to wait to get.  MSRP are games that I will pay full price for. Sale are games I will wait for a deal on. And bargain are games that would need a pretty good sale before they would get picked up, not due to anything they lack, but due to the price they’d be by the time I got to play them.

This list will be updated multiple times: Last Update: 12/26

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I finally read: Wolverine Origin

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Loaned from a friend, I recently sat down and read Wolverine: Origin.  In the forward, a commenter mentions that there is no way someone could pull this off.  Despite his misgivings he grew to love the story and wish he had thought of it.  For me, there was no way it could ever live up to that hype.

Wolverine’s past has been one of those comic book mysteries for, what, 30 years?  And they expected to tell the story of his origin in what amounts to about 6 books?  With what they had to work with they did a marvel-ous (hah!) job, but by the end it certainly didn’t feel like enough.

Still, it’s a canon origin story.  Don’t *you* want to know his past?

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Naruto Progress Report #1

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Alright, brief:

I recently learned the ability to sping and dash around corners (think skidding in a racing game).  I also recently leveled up my exploration skills such as running up walls.  Combined this has really opened up the main hub world and given the game a very Crackdown or Spiderman 2 feel.  I didn’t have a crash during my last playtime experience,…but I’m still holding my breath.

And Saving Often.

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don’t tell me the ending to: Dokapon Kingdom

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Dokapon Kingdom is an almost entirely unknown game.  Recently released for the Wii and PS2 (both versions identical except for 16:9 and progressive support on the Wii), Dokapon Kingdom is a multiplayer board game.  It can be cut into ‘party game’ sized chunks, but is definetely more board game than ‘party’ (Read: Minigame) game.

Take Final Fantasy 1, add humor, and make it a competative board game.  Players take turns travelling the board.  Land on a Shop or Chest space and you collect or buy items.  Land on an empty space and a Random (often Fight) occurs.  Two players land on the same empty space and they can duel each other.   You level up as you defeat enemies, and lose equipment each time you die (and early, you die often).  The game has a variety of modes, from mini-missions that take 1-3 hours, to an entire campaign that can last 15 hours (each is savable and resumable at any point).

Hopefully that basic description gives you an idea of how the game plays.  Now, on to a few specifics.

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I finally read Y: The Last Man

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In a world with one man, the best comedian is still a man.

In a world with one man, the best comedian is still a man.

Brief introduction: I am Ben, oft-known as Pickett. If you know Aaron there is a high percentage chance you already know me as the cranky asshole who whines a lot and is not very good at video games. Ergo, I will mostly restrict my writing to comic book and television show-related topics.

As a bonus gift for reading, please download this fan-translated ROM of Mother 3, aka Earthbound 2. Available for your GBA emulators.

Get your Mother on!
And yes, you can still name your favorite food.

Brian K. Vaughan is an excellent comic writer. His Mystique stand-alone series is one of my favorite comics overall, including the non-superhero stuff. It helps to have some familiarity with X-Men, but it’s not necessary. Of course, X-Men knowledge is helpful in all facets of everyday life, when push comes to shove, as people say. In any case, outside of the author, that has little to do with Y: The Last Man.

The number one drawback to Y is that it’s very difficult to talk about audibly, as the phrase Y: The Last Man can be confusing to someone who isn’t familiar with it. Honestly, that is probably the worst thing. (It’s pretty annoying)! Also I have been asked to keep this spoiler-free to appease The Aaron, so I will do my best.

The basic premise of Y is simple enough. Except for plants, everything with a Y chromosome on the planet earth dies. The lone survivors are Yorick Brown and his pet monkey Ampersand. The letter Y itself is a pervasive symbol throughout and it can be viewed as gimmicky or thought-provoking. In any case, that is the story. What would it be like to be The Last Man on Earth? Continue reading →